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.
HIGHSCHOOL – “SONY ERICSSON”
“‘Sony Ericsson’ is about the strange dynamics of modern connection, the games people play over text, and how a single message can spiral into endless over-analysis,” say Aussie post-punk duo HighSchool of this new single. “A few words on a screen can be pulled apart, read and re-read, and imbued with layers of meaning that may never have been there to begin with. It speaks about the discrepancy between how someone appears on a phone screen versus who they are in real life, and how the digital version of a person can feel both enticing or alluring but also unreal or unknowable. It was one of the first songs we wrote for the album, but the last one we finished. For a long time, it existed as an unfinished sketch, an idea we loved but couldn’t quite crack. We had almost written it off until one session when we pulled it apart, rewrote it, and suddenly it clicked, becoming the twelfth and final song on the record.” HighSchool’s self-titled debut is out October 31 via PIAS
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WITCH POST – “CHANGELING”
Witch Post, the duo of Alaska Reid and Dylan Fraser, have signed to Partisan and shared their first new single for the label, “Changeling.” “We met a changeling that inspired this song,” they say. “We didn’t realise it ’till a year later…”
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JANE INC. – “WHAT IF”
Jane Inc’s Carlyn Bezic says “What If” is a Sliding Doors moment that “imagines a car crash as the moment I split in two. Carlyn walks away to continue a life in which the accident never happened, leaving Jane (pure, unadulterated, in her final form) to be born, hungry for life.” New album A RUPTURE A CANYON A BIRTH is out October 17.
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SHOW ME THE BODY & POPULAR FRONT – “SABOTAGE” (BEASTIE BOYS)
Show Me The Body’s new Beastie Boys cover was produced by Kenneth Blume, and the video was created in collaboration with Popular Front, featuring footage from SMTB’s London pop-up show and archival footage. “I support and consume independent journalism in general, but full disclosure, I am a straight up a fan of Popular Front,” Julian Cashwan Pratt says. “Their crew does hard work to tell true stories, or as they put it ‘honest reporting.’ To work together on ‘Sabotage’ is a self-fulfilling prophecy. New York band with a New York song reaching out to the world at war with a message of love and solidarity.”
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MOLLY NILSSON – “GET A LIFE”
Molly Nilsson’s music is usually pretty chill, but the synthwave star edges toward punk on this song from her upcoming album Get a Life.
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CHANEL BEADS – “THE COWARD FORGETS HIS NIGHTMARE”
Ahead of his show supporting Lorde at Madison Square Garden, Chanel Beads has shared a new single, “The Coward Forgets His Nightmare.” “I think I accidentally cursed myself at some point and I don’t know if I should ignore it or confront it,” he says. “Written and recorded quickly, vaping too much exploring bad health. Brought to life with Maya and Zach and stitched up with Mr. Carlson. Dedicated to the love we are given.”
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ELLiS·D – “I WANT TO BE EVERYTHING YOU DESIRE”
Fat Dog drummer Ellis Dickson also has a solo project called ELLiS·D, and his new single “I Want To Be Everything You Desire” isn’t too far removed from Fat Dog’s noisy, industrial-tinged post-punk.
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MATT PRYOR – “THE DISHONESTY”
Matt Pryor of The Get Up Kids is releasing his new solo album, The Salton Sea, next month, and the second single is “The Dishonesty.” Josh Berwanger of The Anniversary directed the accompanying video, and Pryor says, “This is a song about lying and hurting the people you love when you’re in the throes of addiction. I think Josh really captured the insanity of how that feels.”
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GRADE 2 – “HANGING ONTO YOU”
UK punks Grade 2 are back with a new single, a rousing, classic-style punk anthem called “Hanging Onto You.”
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THE LAST DINNER PARTY – “SECOND BEST”
The Last Dinner Party’s anticipated new album From The Pyre arrives later this month, and they’ve given us another preview with “Second Best.” Guitarist Emily Roberts says it’s “the push and pull of being obsessed with someone but knowing that they will ultimately betray you again, and allowing it to happen because you still love them. I wish I could go back and say to myself that I am worth more than that, and that no one needs to accept being second best. I hope that the song captures the pain, anger and despair I felt but most importantly the defiance and satisfaction I now have in being able to immortalise this person in a song and to look back on the situation with more maturity. In the early stages of writing, I took the song to Lizzie and Abi who added their own stamp and lyrics. Sparks and Wet Leg inspired the angular guitar lines, while Aurora added a dancing keys part and Georgia a formidable bassline which brought the song to life.”
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RILEY! – “WE ONLY SAY IT OUT OF HABIT NOW”
Counter Intuitive Records continues to roll out songs from its upcoming 10th anniversary compilation with the catchy, throat-shredding emo/punk of Riley!’s “We Only Say It Out of Habit Now.”
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SKULLCRUSHER – “LIVING”
“One day I was wandering around Brooklyn and I felt like I was watching everything through a window or on a screen,” Skullcrusher says of “Living,” the latest single off her new album And Your Song is Like a Circle. “I felt like everyone was moving so fluidly and certainly like moving through a piece of choreography. Living is about being a voyeur, catching a glimpse of brief moments of people’s lives. Like watching a play through a small peep hole, or through the slit of a curtain. I wonder if I am the same. If my life feels a part of this production or if it exists in a small detail somewhere off stage.”
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BIG BILL – “CAMERAS”
Austin band Big Bill’s “Cameras” is nicely nervy new wave.
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Looking for even more new songs? Browse the New Songs archive