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.
DRE SKULL & MR. EAZI - "SEKKLE & BOP" (ft. POPCAAN)
Brooklyn producer/DJ (and Mixpak Records founder) Dre Skull, Nigerian pop singer Mr. Eazi, and Jamaican dancehall great Popcaan have all linked up for this infectious, multi-continental jam.
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RUFUS WAINWRIGHT - "OVER THE RAINBOW" (JUDY GARLAND COVER)
Noted Judy Garland fanatic Rufus Wainwright, who has performed entire tribute shows to her, has now recorded one of her most iconic songs. “I was about 5 years old when I started singing 'Somewhere over the Rainbow,'" says Rufus. "My mom would occasionally wake me up in the middle of the night and make me sing the song to guests to end the party. They would feel so bad that the kid was still up that late at night and leave. Much later, she accompanied me on the piano at Carnegie Hall, the Palladium, the Olympia and the Hollywood Bowl during the Rufus does Judy shows in 2006 and 2007. After she passed away, I am only doing the beginning lines of the song a cappella without any piano accompaniment as an honor and memory to her and the hole she has left behind. It has a deeply personal meaning to me to sing this song. I think my mom and I singing that song together was also her finally acknowledging my homosexuality with which she struggled for a long time. I am sure that similarly to my experience this song means a lot to LGBTQ folks young and old and their struggles with coming out and living a proud queer life.”
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THE BRONX - "WHITE SHADOW"
The Bronx have been churning out reliably great punk n' roll for the past two decades, and it looks like their upcoming LP VI will be no exception. "White Shadow" is the third consecutive ripper they've shared from it.
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JIM WARD - "FOREIGN CURRENCY"
Jim Ward (Sparta, Sleepercar, ex-At The Drive In) has shared the third single off his upcoming solo album Daggers, which he made with Incubus bassist Ben Kenney and Thursday drummer Tucker Rule. It's a cool dose of anthemic indie rock that Jim says "dives right into the realization that the result of living without being totally honest with yourself first is going to hurt the ones you love the most."
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ALICE GLASS & ALICE LONGYU GAO - "LEGEND"
Alice Glass and Alice Longyu Gao join forces on "Legend," which was co-written with Remi Ami. "I’m so fucking grateful for my journey," Longyu Gao tweeted, "I’m an extremely lucky crazy bitch, no idea why I’m here but here we go, and we keep going. Save it to ur playlist besties run it up dont let me down."
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MAYSON'S PARTY - "YUMMY YUMMY"
Mayson's Party are a new-ish ska-punk band from Japan and they're gearing up to put out their debut album, presumably this year. Its newest single is the super fun, catchy, fast-paced "Yummy Yummy."
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YOLA - "STAND FOR MYSELF"
Yola has shared the title track of her new album, Stand For Myself, due July 30 via Easy Eye Sound. "This song is about a celebration of being awake from the nightmare supremacist paradigm," she says. "Truly alive, awake and eyes finally wide open and trained on your path to self actualisation. You are thinking freely and working on undoing the mental programming that has made you live in fear. It is about standing for ourselves throughout our lives and real change coming when we challenge our thinking. This is who I've always been in music and in life. There was a little hiatus where I got brainwashed out of my own majesty, but a bitch is back.”
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SKIRTS - "ALWAYS"
Texas singer-songwriter Alex Montenegro has announced her debut LP as Skirts, Great Big Wild Oak, due out July 30 via Double Double Whammy. The first single is "Always," a dreamy, hypnotic indie rock track that Montenegro told The FADER "reminds me of driving late at night through the city being stuck at a light and deep in thought.”
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SADGIRL - "GOODBYE QUEENIE"
LA group SaGirl, led by Misha Lindes, are back with this new single for Suicide Squeeze that evokes tear-in-my-beer country weepies of the 1950s. “The song is the first venture in a new chapter for the group, focusing more as a personal recording project than it has been in the past,” Lindes says. “It’s without a doubt the saddest song I’ve ever written… but it’s also extremely exciting to venture into a new chapter.”
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IDLES - "DAMAGED GOODS" (GANG OF FOUR COVER)
“IDLES does not exist without Gang Of Four,” IDLES said in a statement. “'Damaged Goods' still sounds new and exciting after the millionth listen. We jumped at the chance to just to play it, let alone record it. It was an honour, a joy and a privilege.” This cover is from tribute album The Problem of Leisure: A Celebration of Andy Gill and Gang of Four that's out next week.
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GIRL RAY - "GIVE ME YOUR LOVE"
Girl Ray are back with their first new music since 2019's Girl. "Give Me Your Love" is an infectious house-pop track that was produced by Hot Chip's Joe Goddard and Al Doyle at their studio off Brick Lane in London. It comes with a video inspired by Midsommar.
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JULIA JACKLIN & RVG - "ARMY OF ME" (BJORK COVER)
Julia Jacklin and RVG teamed up for a dark, haunting, post-rock tinged rendition of Bjork's classic single, for Melbourne festival's RISING's Single Club.
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THE ORANGE PEELS - "HUMAN"
The Orange Peels, the long-running indiepop group led by Alan Clapp, will release their first double album, Celebrate the Moments of Your Life, on July 16 via Minty Fresh. The album takes them into darker, noisier territory but Clapp is still a hook machine. Take the first single from the album, "Human," which falls somewhere between The Cure and The Byrds, sonically, and Clapp calls "a song for people who feel like they don’t belong."
Looking for even more new songs? Browse the ‘New Songs archive.