14 New Songs Out Today
So many artists, so little time. Each week we review a handful of new albums (of all genres), round up even more new music that we’d call “indie,” and talk about what metal is coming out. We post music news, track premieres, and more all day. In these concertless times, that includes daily livestreams and live concert videos we love. We update a playlist weekly of some of our current favorite tracks. Here’s a daily roundup with a bunch of interesting, newly released songs in one place.
BRITTANY HOWARD – “(YOUR LOVE KEEPS LIFTING ME) HIGHER AND HIGHER” (JACKIE WILSON COVER)
Alabama Shakes leader Brittany Howard performed Jackie Wilson’s “Higher And Higher” regularly at solo shows (back when those happened) and they enjoyed doing so much, they went into the studio to record a version, which is out now via Amazon Music Originals.
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RYLEY WALKER – “AXIS BENT
Ryley Walker is finally back with a new solo album, Course in Fable, which will be his first proper one in three years. Tortoise’s John McEntire produced it and it features Bill MacKay, Ryan Jewell and Andrew Scott Young, with string arrangements by Douglas Jenkins. It’s out April 2 and he’s just shared another track from it, “Axis Bent,” that’s got a decided late-’70s feel to it. Cool stuff.
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YACHT – “THEY WANT TO EAT YOUR LUNCH”
Pacific Northwest duo YACHT are back with this slinky new single that has a distinct minimal post-punk vibe about it.
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SKULLCRUSHER – “STORM IN SUMMER”
Hellen Ballentine, aka singer and songwriter Skullcrusher, has announced a new EP, Storm in Summer, due out April 9 via Secretly Canadian. It includes “Song for Nick Drake,” which she shared last month, and the new title track which she’s dropped today. “I wrote ‘Storm in Summer’ after releasing the first Skullcrusher EP,” Ballentine says. “Over that summer I thought a lot about what it means to really put myself out there and share something personal. I felt so vulnerable and overwhelmed by the fact that these songs I had written in private were exposed and likely being misinterpreted or disliked. I think the song really tries to communicate these anxieties in a cathartic way while also leaning more into the beauty of relinquishing part of myself.”
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GRAVE MIASMA – “ROGYAPA”
UK death metallers Grave Miasma will follow 2016’s Endless Pilgrimage with a new album, Abyss of Wrathful Deities, on May 14 via Dark Descent/Sepulchral Voice. First single “Rogyapa” is both grimy and psychedelic, and it comes with a well-matched video that splices together raw performance footage with trippy visuals.
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YOUNG MOUNTAIN – “LOVELY” & “WORM”
Gothenberg’s Young Mountain make an ambitious blend of screamo and post-hardcore that clearly takes influence from the ’90s/early ’00s greats but this band make it their own. Their new record Infraröd arrives March 26 via No Funeral, and you can hear two very promising songs now.
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SUBSTANCE CONTROL – DEMO ’21
Zac Eisenstein sings and plays guitar in the pop punk band Man Overboard, and he also just released the first demo by his new political melodic hardcore band, Substance Control. He writes, “Heres my new punk project. I play guitar and wrote the music. For fans of The Unseen, Anti- Flag, A Global Threat.”
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YAW TOG – “SORE” (remix ft. STORMZY & KWESI ARTHUR)
Drill continues to spread around the world, and Yaw Tog is one of the rising voices in Ghana’s drill scene. He released his breakthrough single “Sore” (which means “rise up”) last year, and now he put out a new remix of it featuring one of the UK’s biggest rap stars, Stormzy.
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JAKE XERXES FUSSELL – “HILLS OF MEXICO”
Jake Xerxes Fussell has released an interpretation of this traditional 19th century ballad about working a cattle drive and the hardships of migrant work. “’Hills of Mexico’ is one of many narrative ballads where the singer-narrator is approached by a stranger in transit with a business proposition that turns out to be not so great for singer-narrator,” says Jake. “Many of the European ballads of this kind deal with highwaymen and their exploits, mostly in the 17th and 18th centuries. In this particular (19th century) instance the proposition entails going to Mexico to work the cattle drive. Many regional variants from this family, alternately known as ‘The Trail of the Buffalo,’ have been sung in a variety of musical contexts and communities. My version borrows heavily from Roscoe Holcomb’s narrative, which is mysterious in that it omits the Mexico part itself almost entirely.”
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WOODY & JEREMY – “ROLLIN IN THE BASEMENT”
Chicago’s Woody Goss (Vulfpeck) & Jeremy Daly will release new album Gravy in My Coffee on June 4. The catchy first single is a charming tale of teenage rebellion and good times, raving in the basement and hopefully not being caught by their parents.
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HISS GOLDEN MESSENGER – “IF IT COMES IN THE MORNING”
MC Taylor is back with a new Hiss Golden Messenger album, titled Quietly Blowing It which will be out June 25 via Merge. It was written during the height of the pandemic and the George Floyd protests, and reflects the time. “I went looking for peace,” says Taylor. “It’s not exactly a record about the state of the world — or my world — in 2020, but more a retrospective of the past five years of my life, painted in sort of impressionistic hues.”
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BLACK SABBATH (DIO-ERA) – “SLAPBACK” (PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED)
A rehearsal recording of a previously unreleased Dio-era Black Sabbath song has been released by former Black Sabbath live member/collaborator Geoff Nicholls’ estate. Read more about it here.
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RUNDOWN KREEPS – “HELD DOWN”
LA ska-punks Rundown Kreeps have signed to Wiretap Records’ new Latinx punk imprint My Grito, who will release their second full-length album this year, and their first single for the label is “Held Down,” which you can read more about here.
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FLÉAU – “AFFLICTION”
Fléau is a new Oi!/street punk band from France, and they’re gearing up to release their self-titled debut EP on March 19 via Red Scare, Pressure (France) and Contra Records (Germany). You can read more about new single “Affliction” here.
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Looking for even more new songs? Browse the ‘New Songs archive.