There’s so much music coming out all the time that it’s hard to keep track. On those days when the influx of new tracks is particularly overwhelming, we sift through the noise to bring you a curated list of the most interesting new releases (the best of which will be added to our Best New Songs playlist). Below, check out our track roundup for Thursday, September 3, 2026.
Sam Gendel – ‘Pattern Dance’
After a series of ambient jazz and experimental records, Sam Gendel is dipping his toes into art-pop with his next record, Advanced White Trash, arriving November 6. It’s led by the glitchy, abrasive ‘Pattern Dance’. “People think of me as a saxophonist, and I get that,” Gendel said in a press release. “But a large portion of my music has nothing to do with that instrument.” He added of the album-making process, “I recorded all the instruments first, improvising the arrangements in real time, without a concept of the vocals. I recorded the vocals about six months later, in essentially one sitting.”
DIIV – ‘Kid’
DIIV’s A. G. Cook-produced album ZIRP! comes out next month, and today they’ve shared a new single, ‘Kid’. More tender than previous offering ‘The Fountain’, the track comes paired with a video filmed by frontman Zachary Cole Smith’s son Roy and Roy’s friend Julian.
Emma Ruth Rundle – ‘God’s Picture’
Emma Ruth Rundle has unveiled ‘God’s Picture’, a delicately gorgeous track that’s billed as the thesis statement of her upcoming album, These Killing Times. “‘God’s Picture’ is a meditation on the state of the world, particularly climate disaster, global conflict and class,” she explained. “Musically this song feels like a segue from Engine of Hell, with its gentle piano and guitar, to These Killing Times, with its more lush arrangements and message. This song is also a plea for the demolition of Western hegemony. Accompanied by a music video collaboration with many friends and for which I painstakingly constructed the sets for in the winter of 2025/26, ‘God’s Picture’ is the thesis statement at the core of my new album These Killing Times.”
Son Lux – ‘No God Like a King’
Son Lux have previewed their forthcoming LP Out Into with ‘No God Like a King’, a wonky cut that was stretched out of a one-take performance. “We’re all fans of hip-hop — the boom-bap era in particular,” drummer Ian Chang remarked. “Stuff that has that gridded-but-not-gridded kind of feel. With our love for liquidy beats, we’ve always been drawn to the humanity in it. And with AI changing the music industry so much, we’re interested in making stuff where you hear the hand.”
Simple Minds – ‘Beginner Boys’
Simple Minds have announced a new album, Sacrosanct, with the lead single ‘Beginner Boys’. “We called the album Sacrosanct because after a lifetime of doing this — nearly fifty years of writing songs together — it’s stopped feeling like a career and started feeling like something closer to faith,” frontman Jim Kerr commented. “Calling the record Sacrosanct isn’t an exaggeration. It’s just honest.”
Living Hour – ‘Magnet’
Living Hour have announced a new EP, Magnet, to be released September 24 on Keeled Scales. It features two new songs and two demos of tracks from their latest album Internal Drone Infinity, and the wondrously sparse titled track is out today.
Growing Pains – ‘Bottle Rocket’
Growing Pains have announced a new album, Daniel Loves Mandy Forever, arriving through their new label home Photo Finish on October 9. Lead single ‘Bottle Rocket’ is equal parts soaring and ethereal. “This song was inspired by a childhood memory of trying to send a toy rocket afar,” Carl Taylor explained. “An act of reaching for something that can never be grasped. I don’t know if this was a real memory or a dream.”
The Mary Wallopers – ‘The Big Mixers’
The Mary Wallopers have shared an anthemic new single, ‘The Big Mixer’, taken from their forthcoming album Paddywhackery. “This is a song for all the labourers, the nurses, the shelf fillers, the train drivers, the truck drivers, the Deliveroo drivers, the SNAs, the miners, the factory workers… all the people doing a hard day’s work and forced back to the Big Mixer to make profits for someone else,” the group commented. “When the ganger man Concrete Bob (aka Robert McAlpine, whose construction company once employed 200,000 Irish men) was on his deathbed, he responded to the suggestions that work on site should halted as a mark of respect when he passed with ‘No – keep the Big Mixer going, and keep Paddy behind it.’”
Armlock – ‘Half-Time’
Australia’s Armlock have returned with a lovely new song, ‘Half Time’. “‘Half Time’ is mostly trying to describe the gap between existing and feeling,” the band expounded. “‘Tell me how to hear it’ became a central lyric, treating emotion as an elusive frequency I’m trying to hear but can’t quite tap into. It’s not meant to be a sad song, it’s more anchored in the frustration of trying to extract more from every passing moment and wanting to feel what’s under the surface.” They added, “We recorded the song in our usual way in our own studios, chopping and changing as we go. Pieces recorded in different tempos and sometimes different keys. You’re listening to version 1 and version 50 at the same time. Demo memos and final takes live together in the master. Once again we got Geography and Juice Webster to jump in on the backing vocals. The video for “Half Time” was made with Tom Dunphy and Bridgette Winten. It was important to us that the video had a lot of color, in reference to the lyric “just another rainbow.” We shot everything in double time with quite a lot of over-the-top energy, though when we play it back in half time it looks pretty subdued, which is kind of perfect for the meaning of the track.”
otta – ‘MEZZANINE’
British-Finnish songwriter otta is launching her new album, ASTRA, with an eight-and-a-half-minute meditation called ‘MEZZANINE’. “It gets a bit abstract, but it’s also pop music…” she remarked. “There are multiple narratives occurring – the instrumentation is kind of a whole story in itself. It was really addictive to work on, I played around with it for ages, mainly just because it was so much fun, every sound was something I played and considered right till the very end. It is sort of like a big painting, nothing is just surface level or as it seems, different narratives, textures, magic etc… I just wanted it to feel like you’re in the song when you’re listening to it.”
