So many artists, so many songs, 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. 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.
LYNKS – “(WHAT DID YOU EXPECT FROM) SEX WITH A STRANGER”
“Now, Grindr can be a wonderful thing – don’t get me wrong,” Lynks says of the inspiration behind this saucy new single. “But I wrote this song during a time when I was using Grindr almost like TikTok or Instagram; as a way to distract myself from reality – to not be alone with my thoughts. And, unsurprisingly, the s*x that came from that wasn’t hugely fulfilling. I was seeking these encounters to try and distract myself from the mundanity of life, but ultimately leaving them feeling no different. I wanted to try and capture that weird oxymoron; s*x without feeling, romance in a coma. What does s*x become when it’s devoid of emotion? Transactional? Routine? Obligatory? Compulsive? It’s a funny idea. And one I hadn’t really heard put to music before. So I thought I’d better do it! And shout out the Docklands Light Railway in the process.” Bonus: the video features some cool choreography.
—
REAL LIES – “SINKING SUBURB”
London duo Real Lies are back with this new three-song EP that mixes trance-y beats with spoken word vocals.
—
SKINHEAD – “SICK CUNTS,” “NO SIR, NOT FOR ME” & “OUT (OF THE GANG) TRO”
Skinhead is a punk/hardcore/Oi! band led by Josh Long (of Criminal Instinct), and according to Discogs, their lineup also features other current and former members of Criminal Instinct, Conservative Military Image, ACxDC, Section H8, Buried Dreams, Terror, God’s Hate, and more, and their upcoming record Everything Was Beautiful, and Nothing Hurt was engineered and mixed by Taylor Young, who also appears to be in the band. The album comes out next week (12/8) via Closed Casket Activities, and three songs are out now that nail a mix between catchiness and aggression.
—
NADINE SHAH – “TWENTY THINGS”
Nadine Shah’s fifth album, Filthy Underneath, is due out February 23 via EMI North, and the second single is “Twenty Things,” which Nadine says is “a love letter of sorts, to the people I met whilst in recovery. No-one tells you that you’ll end up feeling so deeply for the people you meet there. What makes it more intense is the fact that you know, statistically, that not everyone is going to make it once they’ve left the place. Some of the most unspeakable things had happened to these people and equally some of the most heinous things were done by them. You’re supposed to love the sinner and hate the sin. I loved them all.”
—
BAS – “179 DELI” (ft. AJ TRACEY)
Bas’ new album We Only Talk About Real Shit When We’re Fucked Up is due in December via Dreamville, and it’ll include this dancey collab with UK rapper AJ Tracey.
—
KATY KIRBY – “PART OF THE CENTURY”
“I wrote ‘Party of the Century’ on FaceTime with my friend Christian Lee Hutson, just kinda haphazardly sending lyrics we’d saved in our respective notes,” Katy Kirby says of the latest single off her new album Blue Raspberry. “It turned into a sort of slow-danceable, semi-sweet love song about seeking connection when it feels like the chaos is probably never going to stop. It’s kind of also about physics and anti-natalism, and climate change, and also how much we love our friends. When we recorded it, I asked my band to try to make it sound like an Ed Sheeran song, which they refused to do.”
—
VIAL – “UR DAD”
Minneapolis indie-punks VIAL are back with a sassy, campy new single that intentionally nods at “Stacy’s Mom,” with the genders flipped.
—
MASTA ACE & MARCO POLO – “LIFE MUSIC” (ft. STRICKLIN, SPEECH, E SMITTY)
Veteran Brooklyn rapper Masta Ace and Canadian producer Marco Polo will release a collaborative album, Richmond Hill, on January 26 via Fat Beats. Of new single “Life Music,” Masta Ace says, “I wrote ‘Life Music’ while riding on a local bus to town in Barbados. Listening to that beat and looking at the masked faces of the working class passengers sitting around me combined with seeing the many impoverished residents in the neighborhoods the bus rolled through, I was inspired to write a song that celebrated life. There are so many songs on the charts that glorify and celebrate death, I felt it was important to rail against those themes which we have somewhat normalized in our culture. I’m challenging the listener to embrace life and reject the negative messages we are constantly being fed in music.”
—
SMALL ISLES (GRANDADDY, MODEST MOUSE) – “SURE I’M HAPPY”
Jim Fairchild of Grandaddy (and a later-period member of Modest Mouse) will release a new Small Isles EP, Everything on Memory, next week (12/5) via Modern Recordings/BMG. It’ll include the wordless indie pop of “Sure I’m Happy.”
—
THE CHISEL – “FUCK ‘EM”
UK punks The Chisel have announced a new album, What A Fucking Nightmare, along with the release of new single “Fuck ‘Em.” Read more here and pick up our exclusive half black/half red splatter vinyl variant.
—
THE HIGH LLAMAS – “HEY PANDA”
It’s the first single and title track from High Llamas’ first album in eight years. Sean O’Hagan is applying some modern production styles to his signature sound.
—
Looking for even more new songs? Browse the New Songs archive