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.
CROOKED MAN – “CUNTS” (JARVIS COCKER COVER)
Richard Barratt, the Sheffield DJ and producer who sometimes records as DJ Parrot, has announced a new album under his Crooked Man moniker. It’s titled Crooked Stile and will be out January 16 via Damian Harris’ Viscious Charm Recordings label. The album includes his recent cover of “Don’t Leave Me This Way” and the new single is a cover of Jarvis Cocker’s solo single “Running the World” from the Children of Men soundtrack which he has retitled to to something more blunt because we are living in blunt times. It’s a banger and comes with a video made by collage artist Dominic McGill.
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THE WEATHER STATION – “AIRPORT” & “ONLY THE TRUTH”
The Weather Station shared two previously unheard tracks from the sessions that produced their January album Humanhood. “There were so many strong songs I left off Humanhood because the album had such a narrative arc to adhere to,” Tamara Lindeman says. “‘Airport’ was one of them that I’m glad to release now. I’ve always hated airports; I find them so dehumanizing. This song tells a story of a person trying to mirror what is around them; that sort of shutting down, not caring, acting like you don’t care even when you really do. At the heart of it though is, of course, an intense longing, and a hope for something alive that feels like it can’t be.” She says the second track, “Only The Truth” is “one of my favourite songs from Humanhood and just didn’t make the tracklist at the very last moment, but it feels so relevant and connected with the record. It intersects with ‘Neon Signs,’ it expands on the same idea; that the truth is this sort of lumpen, complicated, organic thing. Falsehoods and lies glimmer, reach towards you, need you; but the truth ‘doesn’t care if you care / all it ever is is there.’”
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GARY NUMAN – “LIKE A B-FILM”
Here’s a previously unrleased song from the sessions for Gary Numan’s Telekon album that is one of a few bonus tracks on the 45th anniversary edition of the album.
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LUCINDA WILLIAMS – “WORLD’S GONE WRONG” (FT. BRITTNEY SPENCER)
Lucinda Williams announced her 16th album, World’s Gone Wrong, due out on January 23 via Highway 20 Records, and shared the title track, which features Brittney Spencer.
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ANNA MCCLELLAN – “ALWAYS CHANGING” (ESTHER ROSE COVER)
Father/Daughter Records is celebrating its 15th anniversary with a series of current artists and alumni covering each other, and the second entry is Anna McClellan’s rendition of Esther Rose’s “Always Changing.” “It’s an amazing song,” Anna says. “And I knew I would be on the road when it came time to record so I wanted to pick something with a simple structure to easily bring in other people. I ended up in Kittery, ME staying with Lincoln of Hello Shark for a few weeks and enlisted him and Kelsey and Austin to help with the recording. Kelsey already had ‘Always Changing’ in her repertoire so it came together naturally. We spent two beautiful mornings tracking the parts with the sun shining in through the window.”
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LANKUM – “GHOST TOWN” (THE SPECIALS COVER)
Lankum’s eight-minute version of The Specials’ classic “Ghost Town” manages to honor and possibly out-creep the original, do new and cool things with the song, and retain Lankum’s signature droney, electronic-tinged celtic folk sound. Likewise for the video, directed by Leonn Ward and conceptualized by Oona Doherty, which is an homage to the Specials’ video.
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Looking for even more new songs? Browse the New Songs archive