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.
BIG|BRAVE – “THE INEPTITUDE FOR MUTUAL DISCERNMENT”
Trio BIG|BRAVE have announced their 10th album, in grief or in hope, which will be out June 12 via Thrill Jockey. The band’s Robin Wattie says, “I wanted to explore catchy, melodic phrasing weaved throughout the intensity of the instrumentation and droney chord changes. All that I could reflect on was grief and hope; death and life; cause and effect; shared experiences of being a human person.”
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SADIE – “WASH”
NYC-based songwriter and produced Schwab will release her debut album as sadie, Better Angels, on May 8 via bloody knuckles. She’s shared the opening track, “Wash,” and says, “I wrote this song at a time where I was feeling stifled by routine, and numbed by the steadiness and security of certain aspects of my life…I felt that my senses had dulled and my life had lost its sharp edges.”
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THUNDERCAT – “THUNDERWAVE” (FT. WILLOW) (ME)
Thundercat’s new album Distracted will be out April 3 and he’s just shared this new atmospheric new song featuring WILLOW. He says: “Willow, the weeping, the whimsy, the whispy, the wizard. Grateful for the opportunity to create and spend time with such a beautiful human. Our journey together has been quite a fun one. Creating this song together, felt very much like the real us. So happy to be able to share.”
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ARLO PARKS – “GET GO”
“‘Get Go’ perfectly encapsulates the sense of melancholy euphoria at the center of the record,” Arlo Parks says of the latest single off her new album Ambiguous Desire. “It’s about the dance floor as a means of healing, understanding yourself and discovering your relationship to love.”
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BLEACHERS – “DIRTY WEDDING DRESS”
Bleachers have given us a second taste of their fifth album, everyone for ten minutes, which arrives in May.
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ALABASTER DEPLUME – “BRINGING UP THE NAKBA”
“I wasn’t given permission to talk about 1948 before I started doing so,” says Alabaster DePlume of his new single. “Yet I’ve learned about people I’m talking to, about myself, my history and the Nakba itself, by talking about it. You don’t need to be a scholar, to speak the names of dark moments from the past. We won’t learn more about them by not mentioning them. If you wish to have someone’s permission to speak about them, you have mine.” New album Dear Children of Our Children, I Knew: Epilogue is out May 5 via International Anthem.
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MISS GRIT – “MIND DISASTER”
Miss Grit’s new album Under My Umbrella is out next month, and they’ve given us another preview with “Mind Disaster,” which they say is “the one that really helped create the palette for the rest of the album for me. It’s my favorite instrumental on the record and so many good friends helped make it happen.”
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MIDGE URE – “JUST WORDS”
Midge Ure of Ultravox and Visage has announced A Man Of Two Worlds, his first album in 12 years, which will be out May 8 via Chrysalis. The album features eight vocal songs and eight instrumentals. First single “Just Words” is, as you might expect, one of the vocal songs.
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RUNO PLUM – “BUTTERFLIES”
Minnesota singer-songwriter runo plum announced a new EP, Bloom Again, due out May 8 via Winspear. About new single “Butterflies,” she says, “You might assume it’s about the giddy feelings of having nervous butterflies when you have a crush, and I suppose it is, but it’s more so about those feelings being crushed, and not knowing what to do with those feelings. I recorded the main guitars and vocals in my home studio in my apartment in Minneapolis, and Philip Brooks added drums, guitar and bass at their home studio in Germany, they have a way of adding depth to songs that feels so magical. It’s a really tender song I wrote during the period when I wrote ‘patching.’”
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CORROSION OF CONFORMITY – “YOU OR ME”
“Deep from within the forests of Romania and the twisted mind of our dear friend Costin Chioreanu comes his twisted visions put to CORROSION’s music. It’s a match made in purgatory,” Corrosion of Conformity say about the video for their latest single. “There’s some special additions from [director] Mike Holderbeast’s crew as well.” Double album Good God / Baad Man is out April 3.
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LOWERTOWN – “BIG THUMB”
“‘Big Thumb’ was written during Olive’s obsession with collecting newspaper clippings and found pieces of writing,” Lowertown’s Avsha Weinberg says of “Big Thumb,” the latest single off their new album Ugly Duckling Union. “She had always wanted to write a song in the way the 90’s industrial scene had by using newspaper clippings to inspire lyrics. Olive collected many different clippings and writings for us and spread them out on the ground, so that when we would begin to play together, Olive on harmonica and me on 12-string guitar, we could sing the words that inspired us most. What stuck was an almost mantra-like repetition of the words ‘Holding out the Big Thumb’ which became the song’s conceptual core. The song became a reflection on the feeling of directionlessness in our generation, and how the paths of life that were carved out for previous generations are now void. We are left to drift along aimlessly or hopefully carve out some brand new path.”
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AESOP ROCK & HOMEBOY SANDMAN – MIAMI LICE: SEASON FOUR
Aesop Rock and Homeboy Sandman have returned with the fourth installment in their celebrated Lice series Miami Lice: Season 4. This is their first major Lice release in nine years.
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FATBOI SHARIF & CHILD ACTOR – “CHEMO CRYSTAL BALL”
Fatboi Sharif and Child Actor announced a new collaborative album, Crayola Circles, due out April 24 via Backwoodz Studioz. They’ve shared the first single, which is accompanied by a video that Child Actor directed and edited.
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THE ORIELLES – “WASP”
“Inspired by the film Black Narcissus I wanted to capture this feeling of questioning faith, purpose and the self when confronted by such vastness, using a wasp to exaggerate this magnitude even further,” say Liverpool’s The Orielles about the final pre-release single for their upcoming album. “In seeing through its perspective maybe we can relate to the plight of the wasp, but the real sting in the tale (hah!) is that ultimately it is nature itself that conditions the wasp to hurt us.” New album Only You Left is out this week.
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YOUBET – “RECEIVE”
youbet’s new self-titled album is out on May 1, and they’ve given us another preview with “Receive.” Lead singer Nick Llobet says, “I wrote this chorus I really connected with years ago and struggled ever since to find the right song to put it in. Receive is my third attempt. There are a few disparate themes here: self deprecation, exploitation, family survival, anger.”
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DEER TICK – “MARY SINGLETARY”
It’s the first single from Deer Tick’s ninth album, Coin-O-Matic.
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ROSTAM – “LIKE A SPARK”
Former Vampire Weekend member Rostam announced his third album, American Stories, and shared the lead single, which you can read more about here.
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THURSTON MOORE & BONNER KRAMER – “INSIGHT” (JOY DIVISION COVER)
Thurston Moore and Bonner Kramer (aka Kramer of Shimmy-Disc) will release their collaborative album They Came Like Swallows – Seven Requiems for the Children of Gaza on May 1, and in addition to the album’s original compositions is a cover of Joy Division‘s Unknown Pleasures deep cut, “Insight.” Their version puts the bassline even more in the forefront than the original, with ticking percussion and atmospheric sound design lifting their arrangement alongside Moore and Kramer’s whispered vocals.
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MODEST MOUSE – “LOOK HOW FAR”
Modest Mouse shared their first new song in five years, “Look How Far.” Read more about it here.
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KIM GORDON – “PLAY ME”
Kim Gordon’s new solo album PLAY ME is out Friday and here’s the title track.
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EARL SWEATSHIRT, MIKE & SURF GANG – “MINTY // EARTH”
Earl Sweatshirt, MIKE, and Surf Gang announced their new double LP, POMPEII // UTILITY, and shared a double single to preview it.
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Looking for even more new songs? Browse the New Songs archive