Throughout the week, we update our Best New Songs playlist with the new releases that caught our attention the most, be it a single leading up to the release of an album or a newly unveiled deep cut. And each Monday, we round up the best new songs released over the past week (the eligibility period begins on Monday and ends Sunday night) in this best new music segment.
On this week’s list, we’re highlighting one of three tracks we got to hear from boygenius’ long-awaited debut album, ‘20$’, which stands out for its surging desperation and climactic intensity; ‘Chosen to Deserve’, the explosive and irresistibly hooky lead single from Wednesday’s Dead Oceans debut Rat Saw Gold, which was inspired by Drive-By Truckers’ ‘Let There Be Rock’; ‘Tropic Morning News’, the lead single from the National’s upcoming album, which pushes against the dreariness of its subject matter with a deceptively light and richly expressive sound; MSPAINT’s catchy yet feverish ‘Delete It’, which features guest vocals by Militarie Gun leader Ian Shelton; ‘For Granted’, the lead single from Yaeji’s debut LP, an inward-looking track whose anxiety bubbles into frenetic drum’n’bass; and Fenne Lily’s ‘Lights Light Up’, the beautifully warm and poignant lead single from her new album Big Picture.
Sam Smith was the musical guest on last night’s episode of Saturday Night Live, where they performed ‘Gloria’ and ‘Unholy’ with Kim Petras. Watch it happen below.
‘Unholy’ marked the first song by openly nonbinary and trans artists to top the Billboard Hot 100, as well as the first single by both Smith and Petras to hit No. 1. It will appear on Smith’s fourth studio album, Gloria, which arrives on January 27. The singer is set to head out on a tour of Europe and the UK this April before embarking on their first North American tour since 2018.
Neil Young has shared a tribute to David Crosby in the wake of his death on Thursday (January 19) at the age of 81. Young posted the statement on his website Neil Young Archives, calling his friend and former bandmate in Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young “the soul of CSNY.”
“David is gone, but his music lives on,” Young wrote. “The soul of CSNY, David’s voice and energy were at the heart of our band. His great songs stood for what we believed in and it was always fun and exciting when we got to play together. ‘Almost Cut My Hair’ and ‘Deja Vu,’ and so many other great songs he wrote were wonderful to jam on and [Stephen] Stills and I had a blast as he kept going on and on. His singing with Graham [Nash] was memorable, their duo spot a highlight of so many of our shows.”
“We had so many great times, especially in the early years,” Young continued. “Crosby was a very supportive friend in my early life, as we bit off big pieces of our experience together. David was the catalyst of many things. My heart goes out to Jan and Django, his wife and son. Lots of love to you. Thanks David for your spirit and songs, Love you man. I remember the best times!
Jesus Piece have announced their sophomore album, …So Unknown. The follow-up to 2018’s Only Self lands April 14 via Century Media. It will include the 2022 single ‘An Offering to the Night’, as well as a new track, ‘Gates of Horn’, which is out today along with an Eric Richter-directed video. Check it out below, and scroll down for the LP’s cover art and tracklist.
“The making of the record was nothing short of all-consuming. It was an intense and challenging process,” drummer Luis Aponte said in a statement. “The record reflects a lot of confusion, but also, evolution. There was a lot of uncertainty and emotion during the pandemic– we all changed and grew so much. So if there is a single thought or concept to the record, it’s constant metamorphosis. That’s also how we operated as a band on this LP– spending a lot of time songwriting and fleshing things out as a unit, and then upping our game from there. It’s definitely a reflection of us as more mature, playing the best we’ve ever played and feeling like a real band for the first time.”
…So Unknown Cover Artwork:
…So Unknown Tracklist:
1. In Constraints
2. – Fear of Failure
3. Tunnel Vision
4. FTBS
5. Silver Lining
6. Gates of Horn
7. Profane
8. An Offering To The Night
9. Stolen Life
10. The Bond
Caroline Polachek has shared two remixes of ‘Welcome to My Island’, the latest single from her upcoming album Desire, I Want to Turn Into You. One is a collaboration between Charli XCX and the 1975’s George Daniel, while the other comes courtesy of the South London band PVA. Take a listen below.
Desire, I Want To Turn Into You is set to come out on February 14. In addition to ‘Welcome to My Island’, it includes the previously released singles ‘Bunny Is a Rider’, ‘Billions’, ‘Sunset’.
John Cale has returned with MERCY, his first collection of original material in a decade. Out today via Double Six/Domino, the album features the advance singles ‘Night Crawling’, ‘Story of Blood’, and ‘Noise of You’, as well as contributions from Animal Collective, Weyes Blood, Sylvan Esso, Laurel Halo, Tei Shi, Actress, and more. “This album started about two and a half years ago,” Cale said in a New Yorker interview. “I didn’t want to go that route but in the end it was impossible to avoid it—what happened in the world took over. The medical side of the world and the noisy side of the world with guns going off. Some of these songs were not a direct reaction to what was going on, but it had all the elements of it.”
Mac DeMarco has released a new album called Five Easy Hot Dogs. The instrumental LP was recorded while DeMarco was traveling across North America, with the tracklist reflecting the chronological order in which the songs were produced. “The nature of ripping around and recording and traveling in this manner doesn’t lend well to sitting around and planning or thinking about what it was that I was setting out to do,” DeMarco said in press materials. “I didn’t ever have a sound in mind, or a theme or anything, I would just start recording. Luckily the collection of recordings from this period all shake hands, they have a present musical identity as a whole. I was in it while I was in it, and this is what came out of it, just the way it was.”
Maria Jacobson, the Chicago songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who records as Fran, has unveiled their sophomore full-length, Leaving, via Fire Talk Records. The follow-up to 2019’s A Private Picture includes the previously shared tracks ‘So Long’, ‘Limousine’, ‘Palm Trees’, and ‘God’. Brian Sulpizio co-produced the LP, which features Jake Acosta on bass, Ashley Guerrero on drums, Macie Stewart and Whitney Johnson on strings, Jeff Kimmel on clarinet, Ben Boye and Ben McFadden on keys, as well as Carolina Chauffe and Emme Williams on backup vocals.
Kali Malone has issued her latest album, Does Spring Hide Its Joy, a two-hour triple-LP out now via Ideologic Organ. The album was recorded in the empty halls of Berlin’s Funkhaus in 2020 and features Sunn O))) member Stephen O’Malley on electric guitar, Lucy Railton on cello, and Malone on sine wave oscillators. “Like most of the world, my perception of time went through a significant transformation during the pandemic confinements of spring 2020,” Malone said in a statement. “Unmarked by the familiar milestones of life, the days and months dripped by, instinctively blending with no end in sight.” She added: “Playing this music for hours on end was a profound way to digest the countless life transitions and hold time together.”
Guided by Voices have put out their latest LP, La La Land. It’s the third studio album the band has released in the past twelve months, following Crystal Nuns Cathedral and Tremblers and Goggles By Rank, and was previewed with the songs ‘Instinct Dwelling’ and ‘Queen of Spades’. The new record “is somewhat of a companion piece to Tremblers and Goggles By Rank and continues to explore a path of diversity in styles and in longer, more adventurous song structures,” Robert Pollard told Rolling Stone.
The C.I.A. – the band composed of Ty Segall, his wife Denée Segall, and the Cairo Gang’s Emmett Kelly – have dropped a new record titled Surgery Channel. Following their 2018 self-titled debut, the album was written in 2021 and recorded with Mike Kriebel at Segall’s own Harmonizer Studios. Denée serves as the principal songwriter and vocalist on the LP, with Ty on bass, percussion, and backup vocals, and Kelly on bass, synth, and backing vocals. The singles ‘Impersonator’, ‘Inhale Exhale’, and ‘Bubble’ arrived ahead of the album’s release.
Gigi’s Recovery, the second full-length by Irish band The Murder Capital, is out now via Human Season. The follow-up to 2019’s When I Have Fears was produced by John Congleton. “The album is asking the questions about the life that you want to take part in, but it’s also posing the reality that you are responsible for that life that you’re in,” frontman James McGovern told NME. “It’s less wishful and naïve. This album definitely asked me those questions. This record is more grounded in itself. Gigi’s Recovery is a story of deep introspection, pulled out of necessity and it culminates in a point of surrender.”
Siv Jakobsen has followed up her 2020 album A Temporary Soothing with Gardening. Ahead of its release, the Norwegian singer-songwriter shared the singles ‘Sun, Moon Stars’, ‘Tangerine’, and ‘Romain’s Place’. “Gardening tackles a particular relationship from my past, and its effect on me in the past, present and future,” Jakobsen explained. “When writing it I felt I was doing a continuous and elaborate form of emotional gardening, whilst in real life I was tending to my modest but lovely garden in my home in Oslo. I found great pleasure and comfort in the physical task of gardening, weeding and tending to my modest patio of flowers and edible plants, and their colours and metaphors seeped into my writing. It is a record I am immensely proud of, and one that I hope can make others who have been through similar things feel seen and less alone.”
Blur drummer Dave Rowntree has come out with his debut solo album, Radio Songs, out now via Cooking Vinyl. The LP was produced by Leo Abrahams and spans 10 tracks, including the previously shared singles ‘London Bridge’, ‘Devil’s Island’, ‘HK’, and ‘Tape Measure’. “The idea of Radio Songs is me spinning through the dial,” Rowntree explained in press materials. “It sounds like you’ve got a radio tuned to some static and you spin the dial, and the song pops out of it. And then you spin the dial again, and the song dissolves back into the static.”
Other albums out today:
Ladytron, Time’s Arrow; Måneksin, Rush!; Oddisee, To What End; Palette Knife, New Game+; Låpsley, Cautionary Tales of Youth; Jadu Heart, Derealised; abracadabra, shapes & colors; Bianca Scout, The Heart of the Anchoress; The Bad Ends, The Power and the Glory; SLUG, Thy Socialite; We Are Scientists, Lobes; Katatonia, Sky Void of Stars; Tribunal, The Weight of Remembrance; New Found Glory, Make the Most of It; July Talk, Remember Never Before; Lauds, Imitation Life; Melaine Dalibert, Magic Square; Agar Agar, Player Non Player; Glyders, Maria’s Hunt; Martina Bertoni, Hypnagogia.
Miya Folick has announced her next album, Roach, which is set to arrive on May 26 via Nettwerk. Today’s announcement comes with the release of the new single ‘Get Out of My House’, alongside a visual by Noah Kentis. Check it out and find Roach‘s tracklist below.
“‘Get Out of My House’ was one of the first songs I wrote for my second album,” Folick explained in a press release. “It’s about a person, but it’s also about a certain bad habit and a certain bad feeling. ‘Get them all out of the house,’ is what I’m saying. It is absolutely an exorcism.”
Introducing Roach, she added: “It’s an album about trying to get to the core of what life really is. I think over the course of writing this record, I actually did the work and got closer to the person that I really want to be, even if that path isn’t linear and I still have moments where I disappoint myself, where I’m angry with myself.” Collaborators on the album include Gabe Wax, Mike Malchicoff, and Max Hershenow.
Folick’s debut full-length, Premonitions, came out in 2018. Last year, the singer-songwriter shared the 2007 EP, which made our best EPs of 2022 list. All six of its tracks appear on the new LP. Read a track-by-track breakdown of 2007.
Roach Tracklist:
1. Oh God
2. Bad Thing
3. Get Out of My House
4. Nothing to See
5. Drugs or People
6. Mommy
7. 2007
8. Cockroach
9. Tetherball
10. Cartoon Clouds
11. So Clear
12. Ordinary
13. Shortstop
Dolly Parton, Belinda Carlisle, Cyndi Lauper, Gloria Estefan, and Debbie Harry have joined forces for a new song called ‘Gonna Be You’. The single was written by Diane Warren for the upcoming film 80 for Brady. Listen to it below.
Directed by Kyle Marvin, the synopsis for 80 for Brady reads: “Four best friends live life to the fullest when they embark on a wild trip to see their hero, Tom Brady, play in the 2017 Super Bowl.” Brady also co-produced the film, which stars Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda, Rita Moreno, and Sally Field.
“When I wrote ‘Gonna Be You’ for 80 for Brady, I wanted to write a song that celebrated these women’s deep friendship,” Warren said in a statement. “Since ’80’ was in the title I got a crazy idea, why not get some of the most iconic singers from the ’80s, who are still amazing and always will be, to all sing it?!!!! Everyone I approached said yes and was just as excited as me!! I’m honored to have Dolly Parton, Belinda Carlisle, Cyndi Lauper, Gloria Estefan, and Debbie Harry on this song!! ‘Gonna Be You’ is that song you want to sing along to with all your good friends!!!”
Ice Spice has today released her debut EP, Like..?. The 6-track project includes the viral hits ‘Munch (Feelin U)’, ‘Bikini Bottom’, and ‘In Ha Mood’, as well as three new tracks, all produced by frequent collaborator RIOTUSA. One of those songs, ‘Gangsta Boo’, is built on a sample of P. Diddy’s ‘I Need a Girl (Pt. 2)’ and features a guest appearance from fellow Bronx rapper Lil Tja. Stream the EP below.
Metallica have released ‘Screaming Suicide’, the second single from their forthcoming album 72 Seasons. The track arrives with a music video directed by Tim Saccenti, who also helmed the visual for lead cut ‘Lux Æterna’. Check it out below.
“‘Screaming Suicide’ addresses the taboo word of suicide,” James Hetfield explained in a stateent. “The intention is to communicate about the darkness we feel inside. It’s ridiculous to think we should deny that we have these thoughts. At one point or another I believe most people have thought about it. To face it is to speak the unspoken. If it’s a human experience, we should be able to talk about it. You are not alone.”
72 Seasons is set for release on April 14 via Metallica’s own Blackened Recordings.
John Cale has returned with 
Mac DeMarco has released a new album called 
Maria Jacobson, the Chicago songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who records as Fran, has unveiled their sophomore full-length, Leaving, via 
Kali Malone has issued her latest album, 
Guided by Voices have put out their latest LP, 
The C.I.A. – the band composed of Ty Segall, his wife Denée Segall, and the Cairo Gang’s Emmett Kelly – have dropped a new record titled Surgery Channel. Following their 2018 self-titled debut, the album was written in 2021 and recorded with Mike Kriebel at Segall’s own Harmonizer Studios. Denée serves as the principal songwriter and vocalist on the LP, with Ty on bass, percussion, and backup vocals, and Kelly on bass, synth, and backing vocals. The singles 
Siv Jakobsen has followed up her 2020 album A Temporary Soothing with Gardening. Ahead of its release, the Norwegian singer-songwriter shared the singles 
Blur drummer Dave Rowntree has come out with his debut solo album, 
