New songs: They Might Be Giants, Michael Kiwanuka, Bon Iver, more – Brooklyn Vegan
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. 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.
MICHAEL KIWANUKA – “BEAUTIFUL LIFE” / “ALL MY LIFE”
Michael Kiwanuka has released his first two songs in two years for the new Netflix documentary Convergence: Courage In A Crisis. “Beautiful Life” is a bold, melancholic, slow-burning soul song, while “All My Life” is every so slightly more upbeat and just as powerful.
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THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS – “PART OF YOU WANTS TO BELIEVE ME”
They Might Be Giants’ new music and art book project BOOK will be released November 12 and here’s another track from it, a new wavey earworm from John Linnell.
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HAYDEN THORPE (WILD BEASTS) – “GOLDEN RATIO”
“When I was writing ‘Golden Ratio,’ I landed upon it as a kind of simple devotional song to science,” former Wild Beasts member Hayden Thorpe says of his new single. “I see music very much as a replication of nature, the shapes and patterns that we perceive in music are found in all kinds of things like flowers and shells. Science and mathematics have allowed us to decipher this hidden order. Writing songs therefore becomes less about summoning from within and more about noticing what’s already there.” Hayden’s new solo album, Moondust For My Diamond, is out Friday.
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SAM EVIAN – “NEVER KNOW”
“‘Never Know’ is kind of about escapism, dystopian realities, and aliens,” says Sam Evian. “Sometimes it’s more fun to sit there and look out, you know? It’s a wild time to be alive, for better or for worse. It used to be that we only had fiction and conspiracy to feed our off-world fantasies. Now we have fighter pilots coming forward about strange, impossible experiences they’ve had in the sky.” Sam’s new album, Time to Melt, is out October 29 on Fat Possum.
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SPRINGTIME (TROPICAL FUCK STORM/DIRTY THREE/THE NECKS) — “THE VIADUCT LOVE SUICIDE”
Springtime, trio featuring of Gareth Liddiard (Tropical Fuck Storm, The Drones), Jim White (Dirty Three, Xylouris White) and Chris Abrahams (The Necks) will release their debut album on November 5. Here’s a second single from it, the mournful “The Viaduct Love Suicide.”
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COCO – “ANYBODY’S GUESS”
Coco, aka Maia Friedman (of Dirty Projectors, Uni Ika Ai), Dan Molad (of Lucius, Chimney), and Oliver Hill (of Pavo Pavo, Dustrider), will release their debut album on October 29 and the band have shared another track from the album. Anybody’s Guess” is the last song on our record, and serves as a summary of sorts,” say Coco. “In general we were thinking less about traditional song form and more about creating a narrative arc through scene changes – a suite. The bassline melody that accompanies the “doot doot”s is worth pointing out because its origins were in some ways emblematic of the whole record’s approach – we all came up with our own basslines and stitched together the best bits from each one.”
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MAKTHAVERSKAN – “CLOSER”
Makthaverskan’s new album För Allting is due out in November, and the latest single is “Closer,” another atmospheric slice of pop-punk bliss.
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TOTH – “MUERTO”
Brooklyn artist Tōth has a new EP, Death, out on 10/29. The EP opens with “Muerto,” a song “written from the perspective of Death or a bodiless entity pleading to someone who is still alive not to give up.”
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SAME SIDE (THE STORY SO FAR) – “DENSITY” & “WHAT A WORLD”
Same Side, aka Kevin Geyer of The Story So Far and Elder Brother, will follow his 2020 debut solo EP with the In Place EP on November 19 via Pure Noise. Lead single “Density” has sort of a Turnover-style emo/dream pop blend, while “What A World” is a moody, electronic ballad.
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SANTANA – “JOY” (ft. CHRIS STAPLETON)
Following the Santana/Rob Thomas song, here’s the Chris Stapleton collab from the new Santana album, which arrives this week. It’s a reggae/rock/country blend, and as far as Santana songs in 2021 go, this one’s really not bad at all.
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BON IVER – “BETH/REST” (AIR STUDIOS – 4AD/JAGJAGUWAR SESSION)
Bon Iver has shared an alternate version of “Beth/Rest” from the upcoming Bon Iver, Bon Iver 10th anniversary reissue. This one’s just Justin’s voice and piano, and it’s cool to hear the song in this stripped-down form.
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LEO NOCENTELLI (THE METERS) – “GIVE ME BACK MY LOVING”
Back in the early 1970s, Leo Nocentelli of funk greats The Meters recorded a solo album called Another Side that went unreleased for nearly 50 years, but now it’s finally coming out on Light In The Attic. Here’s the genuinely awesome second single, which finds Leo delivering bluesy piano rock.
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MINUS THE BEAR – “LEMURS, MAN, LEMURS” (LIVE)
Minus The Bear have shared another track from their upcoming Farewell live album, which was recorded during their 2018 farewell tour. This one’s of “Lemurs, Man, Lemurs” from their classic 2001 debut EP This Is What I Know About Being Gigantic, and it’s a reminder of how timeless the song is, and of how great a live band Minus The Bear remained until the end.
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MONOLORD – “I’LL BE DAMNED”
Swedish doomers Monolord have shared the second single off their upcoming album Your Time To Shine (due 10/29 via Relapse), and it’s a dose of crushingly heavy, addictively catchy trad-doom.
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SAVE FACE – “SHARPEN YOUR TEETH”
Save Face have shared the third single off their anticipated sophomore album Another Kill For The Highlight Reel (due 10/29 via Epitaph), and it’s got more of their theatrical My Chemical Romance worship, but this one’s a little heavier and more chaotic than the last two singles. It also comes with another very awesome video (which comes with a photosensitivity or epilepsy warning; there’s an alternate visual for those who need).
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LOTIC – “ALWAYS YOU”
Here’s another very cool dose of experimental pop off Lotic’s upcoming album Water.
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SHAMIR – “GAY AGENDA”
“‘Gay Agenda’ is a song about radical acceptance internally and externally,” Shamir says about his new single, a glitchy, industrial-leaning track. “We are only leasing our lives, so we gotta make it our own.”
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SCOWL – “FUCK AROUND” (ft. DRAIN’s SAMMY CIARAMITARO)
Santa Cruz hardcore band Scowl’s anticipated debut LP How Flowers Grow is coming out soon via Flatspot Records and here’s second single “Fuck Around,” which features Drain vocalist Sammy Ciaramitaro. Read more about it here.
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BUMMER CAMP (TEENAGE HALLOWEEN) – “GONE ROTTEN”
Bummer Camp is the project of Eli Frank, who also plays guitar in Teenage Halloween, and you can read more about their new single “Gone Rotten” here.
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ZACH HILL, XIU XIU, PRISSY WHIP & BODY DOUBLE SONGS FROM ZUM AUDIO VOL 4
The long-running Zum label is releasing a new compilation, and here’s four songs from it. Read more here.
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FRUIT BATS – “RIPS ME UP”
Fruit Bats have announced a 20th anniversary compilation, which includes this new song, which you can read about here.
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BLACK COUNTRY, NEW ROAD – “ANTS FROM UP THERE”
Rising UK art rockers Black Country, New Road only just released their debut album earlier this year, and now they’ve already announced their sophomore LP and shared this lead single. Read more about it here.
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PASS AWAY (I AM THE AVALANCHE, CRIME IN STEREO) – “HALLOWEEN”
Brooklyn punks Pass Away (members of I Am The Avalanche and Crime In Stereo) will release their sophomore album, Thirty Nine, in November via Suburbia Records, and you can read more about lead single “Halloween” here.
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SPIRIT WAS – “STRANGER TO THE ONE”
The debut LP from Spirit Was, aka Nick Corbo, formerly of LVL UP, Heaven’s Just a Cloud, is out next week, and the latest single is “Stranger to the One,” another dark, heavy track that Corbo told FLOOD is “mostly about daydreaming.”
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AMERICAN THRILLS – “BLUE COLLAR”
Connecticut heartland punks American Thrills have shared their contribution to their upcoming 4-way split with Nightmares For A Week, Tired Radio, and Neckscars, and you can read more about it here.
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MICHAEL HURLEY – “BOULEVARD”
Cultishly loved folk legend Michael Hurley has announced his first new studio album in 12 years, and you can read more about lead single “Boulevard” here.
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THE BOO RADLEYS – “I’VE HAD ENOUGH I’M OUT”
Shoegaze/Britpop vets The Boo Radleys announced their first album in over 20 years, and you can read more about this new single here.
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KEVIN MORBY & HAMILTON LEITHAUSER – “VIRGINIA BEACH”
Kevin Morby and Hamilton Leithauser embark on their co-headlining “Fall Mixer” North American tour this week, which will have them sharing a band and sharing the stage. Ahead of that they’ve released a collaborative single, “Virginia Beach.”
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CATE LE BON – “RUNNING AWAY”
Cate Le Bon will be back with a new album, Pompeii, on February 4 via Mexican Summer and you can check out the first single now.
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LAND OF TALK – “MOMENT FEED”
Land of Talk are back and will release the Calming Night Partner EP on November 12 via Saddle Creek. Elizabeth Powell and the rest of the band made the record during lockdown, not long after releasing last year’s Indistinct Conversations. The first single from the EP is the driving, swirling, excellent, “Moment Feed.”
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SONDRE LERCHE – “DEAD OF THE NIGHT”
Sondre Lerche is back with a new single, “Dead of the Night.” It’s unlike anything he’s released before, and not just because it’s 10 minutes long.
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BAXTER DURY – “D.O.A.”
“It’s a kind of provincial nod to the music I got into over lockdown because Kosmo was playing it – Frank Ocean and Tyler the Creator and Kendrick Lamar,” Baxter Dury says of his new single which will be included on his upcoming Best Of album Mr Maserati. “I became obsessed. They’re embracing everything – sexuality, politics, all of it – and I find that inspiring. So D.O.A. is me trying to move towards some of that without ever trying to sound like it’s appropriated. You need to be very careful to not be a knob by thinking you are something you’re not.”
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BAND OF HORSES – “CRUTCH”
Band of Horses announced their first album since 2016, Things Are Great, and shared the first single, which you can read more about here.
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ELIZABETH HART – “I’LL WALK WITH YOU” FT. HOPE SANDOVAL
Psychic Ills’ Elizabeth Hart and Mazzy Star’s Hope Sandoval duet on this gorgeous track from a new tribute album to Tres Warren, Songs For Tres.
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DANNY ELFMAN – “SERIOUS GROUND” (XIU XIU REMIX)
Danny Elfman released Big Mess in 2020, and this year he’s been collaborating with a disparate group of artists on remixing and reworking the album’s tracks. The latest of those is a remix of “Serious Ground” by Xiu Xiu. The original is one of the more orchestral, less caustic tracks on Big Mess, and Xiu Xiu’s Jamie Stewart takes it into dubbier, darker, more atmospheric territory.
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CASSANDRA JENKINS – “HAILEY PREMIX”
This early version of “Hailey” from Cassandra Jenkins’ 2021 album An Overview on Phenomenal Nature is the first track from her collection of previously unreleased “sonic sketches, initial run-throughs, demos, and sound recordings” from the album, (An Overview on) An Overview on Phenomenal Nature.
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MOLLY NILSSON – “ABSOLUTE POWER”
Swedish artist Molly Nilsson has announced Extreme, her 10th album and first in three years, which will be out January 15. Listen to the anthemic first single.
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Looking for even more new songs? Browse the ‘New Songs archive.