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 Wednesday, September 16, 2026.
Kevin Morby – ‘PBJ’
The origin story behind Kevin Morby’s new song ‘PBJ’ is a fun one. “Once, long ago, a friend described the act of driving with the windows down while still blasting the air conditioning as ‘Peanut Butter Jelly,’” Morby explained. “She told me this phrase was common where she came from but no one I’ve ever talked to has said the same nor can I find anything about it online. But I always loved the phrase and have used it ever since. I also love a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (and all its variations) and so this is a very fun song for me. An end of summer song. Listen to it with the windows down…and the air conditioning up.” The breezy track – featuring Justin Vernon on guitar, Aaron Dessner on bass and guitar, and Andrew Barr on drums – follows his latest album Little Wide Open. To promote it, Morby has collaborated with businesses around the US to create meals, snacks, and drinks “in celebration of the single,” he added. “All are a play off of one of the most timeless recipes ever.”
David Byrne – ‘My Madness’ and ‘What and Where’
David Byrne has released the deluxe edition of his latest LP Who Is The Sky?, featuring two new songs from the album sessions: ‘My Madness’ and ‘What and Where’. “So here’s my most recent album now expanded with 2 songs that were cut, not because they weren’t good (I hope) but to give the initial album a nice variety of grooves and subjects,” Byrne shared. “My Madness – this is one of my personal favorites- the singer imagines their “madness” as a separate entity from themselves, one that they come to love, understand and respect. There’s a reconciliation. There’s an old song (T Shirt) that we added to our set list with images of statements folks wear on their T Shirts. And a wonderful reimagining of What is The Reasons for It created by Mexican Institute of Sound and co-written and sung by Natalia Lafoucade.”
Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul – ‘Googoo Gaga’
Charlotte Adigéry and Bolis Pupul are back with a new single, ‘Googoo Gaga’, their first release since their 2022 debut album, Topical Dancer. It might just be the title, but its odd charm reminds me of CA7RIEL & Paco Amoroso’s relatively recent ‘Goo Goo Ga Ga’, though Soulwax’s production here goes a lot harder. ”It takes a village, and yet you’re doing it alone,” the duo stated. “This record was made as we both became parents: ‘Googoo Gaga’ is about feeling drained, the self-sacrifice, the overwhelm, yet embracing all of it.”
untitled (halo) – ‘easy rider’
‘aimee lou wood freestyle’, the last single from untitled (halo)’s upcoming album, made our list of the best songs of August. The band’s new single, ‘easy rider’, is a little gentler but just as good. “The closer for the record – where we feel the summation of all the previous tracks,” vocalist Ariana Mammon explained. “A classic rock song, strong simple guitar, a jam at the end, a moment where the band sings together echoing lyrics.”
Dana Margolin – ‘Big Beautiful Sound’
Porridge Radio called it quits shortly after the release of 2024’s Clouds in the Sky They Will Always Be There for Me, and now frontperson Dana Margolin is launching her solo career with ‘Big Beautiful Sound’. It reminded me of hearing Porridge Radio’s expansive sound stripped down to its core during a solo set at Primavera Sound 2022, which was pretty magical. “This is the first time I’ve released music using my own name,” Margolin remarked. “This is a song for finding the magic again when you’ve lost it.”
Dragonflies – ‘Setting Sun’
Dhani Harrison and Nigel Godrich have released a new Dragonflies single, ‘Setting Sun’, ahead of the release of their self-titled debut on Friday. (Godrich also produced the new Beck album that comes out this week.) It’s hypnotically propulsive in a Darkside sort of way; Godrich calls it “angular pop music.”
Beach House – ‘April Suzanne’ (Robert Lester Folsom Cover)
Beach House have shared a mesmerizing cover of Robert Lester Folsom’s ‘April Suzanne’ for a 50th anniversary special edition of the Georgia singer-songwriter’s cult classic LP Music and Dreams. “We love so many Robert Lester Folsom songs and are very pleased to be included on the 50th anniversary edition of Music and Dreams,” the band said. “We had a lot of fun trying to bring such a classic as ‘April Suzanne’ into our world.”
Anxious – ‘Secret Weapon’
Anxious have returned with an explosive new single, ‘Secret Weapon’, which follows last month’s ‘Don’t Move’. “The ‘Secret Weapon’ is the business of music, the weaponization of the stats and current fads to decide who you are as an artist, and who you should strive to be,” guitarist/co-vocalist Dante Melucci explained. “I’m seeing artists with this objectivity in their style, their songs, that to me just comes across as desperate; I don’t believe that something beautiful can be created in a lab.”
Σtella – ‘Belinda’
Greek artist Σtella has released a new single, ‘Belinda’, which is cheekily described by a press release as “stellar.” (It’s not inaccurate.) She co-produced the single with Rodaidh McDonald (Jamie XX, Weyes Blood, Youth Lagoon), and it features recordings by Rafael Cohen, who also worked with Σtella on her 2025 Sub Pop release, Adagio.
Aesop Rock & Blockhead – ‘Trouble Trouble’
Longtime collaborators Aesop Rock and Blockhead have reunited for a new album, Trouble Mountain, out November 13 on Rhymesayers. Led by the riveting new single ‘Trouble Trouble’, it boasts guest appearances from Open Mike Eagle, Hanni El Khatib, Cavalier, Baby Dayliner, and 4-IZE. “Growing up in NY we were bombarded with TV ads tempting us to visit the Poconos,” Aesop reflected. “I do not ski, but I did have relatives who lived in the Poconos area and I spent many weekends there as a kid—though, of course not in a sick party lodge. Trouble Mountain is me and Blockhead’s (fake) Ski Lodge where you might meet your future spouse or you might have to fight some local ski gangs – (which I assume is a thing.) Anything can happen. (It’s a metaphor for life, y’all!)”
Catrin Vincent – ‘Chicago’ (Sufjan Stevens Cover)
Catrin Vincent, best known as the frontperson of early Artist Spotlight alums Another Sky, recently came up in our conversation with ambient-folk artist Hanna Stretton. Today, she’s released her debut solo single, and it’s a crushing, ambient-leaning cover of Sufjan Stevens’ ‘Chicago’. “Chicago was the first song I recorded by myself in the Crypt and started thinking of making a solo record, back in 2021,” she recalled. “I built a vocal loop on my OP-1 and felt it sounded like a ‘woo’ on a roller-coaster. I really felt like it was the sound of joy, then thought of the song Chicago by Sufjan Stevens. I sampled my friend playing cello on the OP-1 to create a programmed orchestra, then got Hana Stretton and other musicians to perform on the song. I felt the line, ‘if I was crying in a van, with my friends’ encapsulated the story of the record.”
Susanne Sundfør – ‘All Shall Be Well’
Susanne Sundfør has unveiled ‘All Shall Be Well’, a stirring meditation on childbirth that’s taken from her forthcoming album Revelations of Divine Love. It’s “one of the most misunderstood human experiences,” the artist said, “often stripped of its emotional and spiritual dimensions.”
MX LONELY – ‘Ex Rae Punk’ [feat. Caitlin Starr]
New York’s MX LONELY have a stormy new single out from their forthcoming EP, PERFECT HOUSE. ‘Ex Rae Punk’ features Caitlin Starr and is named after vocalist/syntheist Rae Haas. “‘Ex Rae Punk’ is about loving someone so hard you end up looking around for the pieces of someone for the rest of your life,” Rae explained. “It’s a reimagining of the first song I ever wrote in 2019 with Jake when we used to be called ‘v0idb0ys’. I briefly dated someone who would constantly refer to me as their ‘ex rae’ (x-ray) after we stopped seeing each other. I realized quickly that they never really saw me at all (see right through you, see right through me).”
Rae added: “It really laid the groundwork for the themes of ownership and heartbreak throughout ‘DOG’ (the 1st and only v0idb0ys record). The opening riff from our first voice memo recordings didn’t really fit the world of the record, and we opted for a more folky rendition for the album, but there was always something a little bittersweet about putting the ‘punk’ version on the shelf. Last winter, I was playing the song for Caitlin Starr on acoustic guitar in her living room, and we found these natural harmonies really intuitively; she just really got the song, and I knew we had to revive the song with her voice and an iconic feral Caitlin guitar solo.”
Horsepower – ‘Do you think you can live without dying every day?’
Horsepower, the project of Brooklyn-based musician Charlotte Weinman, has announced a new EP, Happiest Day of My Life, landing via Rose Garden on November 20. It features contributions from Robber Robber’s Zack James, and today’s strikingly dynamic new single, ‘Do you think you can live without dying every day?’, reminds me of another collaborator of his, Lily Seabird. “‘Do you think you can live without dying every day?’ is a song about struggling to decipher my own behavior, feeling so dislocated from my emotions that I can’t tell if I’m having any fun or not, and being unable to level a reality of mistreatment with a reality of love,” Weinman explained. “It’s also about perspective, and wondering, ‘who and where is the ‘me’ observing myself, and who and where is the ‘me’ I’m observing?’. The truth for me right now is, the very question is a waste of time, and every second contains both vivid association and misty dissociation. Presence is a drain I circle unendingly!”
Raveena – ‘Blissed Out’
Raveena has unveiled her first new music of 2026, ‘Blissed Out’, which feels both aptly titled and surprisingly mournful. “Blissed out (in contrast with its title) is one of my most vulnerable songs I’ve put out, about the aftermath of grief and loss,” the singer-songwriter expounded. “I had one of the hardest years of my life in 2025 and wanted to let fans meet me where I was at in the midst of all that change and pain. I love the kaleidoscope of emotion that happens in the song- by the end it feels like you are flying down the freeway or in the midst of colorful lights at a club, crying and feeling everything. To me, that’s what this last year has felt like. Feral, human, emotional, and even psychedelic in ways. I’m excited to tap into this new era of my artistry and sonics, informed by all this transformational experience I’ve had.”
Trusselina – ‘The Club’
Trusselin – the experimental pop duo of Mikaela Oppenheimer and Hayden McGarvey – have announced their debut EP, The Point’s a Truss, My Trusselina, due October 9 via Jolt Music. The glitchy, mesmerizing lead single, ‘The Club’, is out now. “The lyrics are about being sneaky and feeling guilty,” McGarvey quipped.
LUCY – ‘Forgivable’
New England artist Cooper B. Handy, aka LUCY, has dropped the single single from his new album, CITIZEN’S ARREST. ‘Forgivable’, which also fits Nigel Godrich’s aforementioned descriptor of “angular pop music,” comes paired with a video.
Grace Elizabeth Harvey – ‘Devotion’
Liverpool singer-songwriter Grace Elizabeth Harvey has previewed her Songs of Devotion EP with another tender indie folk tune, ‘Devotion’. “I wrote this song a week before recording with Gus in March,” she explained. “It’s a song about the intrinsic need we have to connect with others and the emptiness we experience when communication breaks down. Words abandon us just as people can, and we depend on them in the same way. The last verse is particularly important to me, ‘Forgive me if I sing the same crooked rhymes… whenever I dream, or I read or I write, I’m left wanting.’ This confession addresses the motivation for the EP, which is an attempt to confront the failures of language and explore the in-between spaces where meaning seems to hide.”
Hotel Fiction – ‘Cold Cold Heart’
Athens, GA band Hotel Fiction are back with a groovy new single, ‘Cold Cold Heart’. “For ‘Cold Cold Heart’, we revisited the musical elements of a song we had sat on for a few years and revamped it to be groovier, adding more percussive strumming and a full band,” Jade Ireland Long (piano, vocals) and Jess Thompson (guitar, vocals) explained. “Musically we were inspired by 70’s music, Motown artists like Earth Wind and Fire, and modern bands like Parcels. The lyrical concept for the song began as a reaction to current events: a fabricated story of someone falling in love with their AI chatbot. We imagined the dramatic yearning that would be present if you had feelings for some ‘thing’ but were unable, truly unable, to ever reach their heart. The emotional distance would not be large, but rather infinite. The impossibility of ever knowing someone’s heart would be inevitable, because their heart has never existed. Cold Heart is a song of deep yearning.”
