New Music Releases
Black Belt Eagle Scout Returns with New Single “Don’t Give Up”: Stream
It’s been three long years since we’ve heard from Swinomish, Washington’s Black Belt Eagle Scout, but today, the indie rock project of Katherine Paul returns with the new single “Don’t Give Up.” “Don’t Give Up” is a song of persistence that flits seamlessly between steady moments of calm and roaring cacophonies of shoegaze-inspired guitars. “Slow, important love/ It keeps me alive,” Paul sings in the opening lines. “You wanted a second chance at life/ Well, you’re alive.” The song’s title isn’t quite a pep talk, but a reflection of personal growth: “I don’t give up anymore,” she repeats in the chorus. “Spending time with the land and on the water are ways that strengthen my connection to my ancestors and to my culture,” Paul says of the inspiration behind the track. “It helps heal my spiri...
Local Natives Share Sleek New Single “Just Before the Morning”: Stream
Local Natives are continuing to keep themselves busy between albums, and today, they’ve shared a new single called “Just Before the Morning.” While “Just Before the Morning” teeters more towards the pop end of the scale for the indie rock veterans, it still feels quintessentially Local Natives: Taylor Rice’s lead vocals are gorgeous as ever, and there’s no shortage of their distinct sweeping harmonies. With its sleek production, “Just Before the Morning” evokes the effortless cool of the band’s Los Angeles home base, recalling the heavy haze of a peculiarly warm autumn night. “‘Just Before the Morning’ came from a burst of creativity after we finally reconnected in the studio,” the band explains in a press release. “The song explores the cyclical nature of life and the many ways in which w...
Weyes Blood Drives Through Her Feelings on New Song “Grapevine”: Stream
As Weyes Blood, Natalie Mering hopes that a nice long drive will sort her feelings on the new song, “Grapevine.” “Grapevine” takes its title from a stretch of Interstate 5 with the same name in Southern California. Over pensive acoustic guitars, she sings, “Six hours on the grapevine/ And I feel kidnapped this time/ ‘Cause my baby thinks/ He always believes/ That he’s always right/ But I still think of him at night.” During the second verse, her “car broke down/ In an old ghost town/ Right around where they got James Dean,” and by the song’s conclusion, she comes to the realization that, “Now we’re just two cars passing by.” Advertisement Related Video “Technology is harvesting our attention away from each other,” Mering wrote in a statement. “We all have a ‘G...
Robert Glasper’s New Song “Therapy pt. 2” Features a Freewheeling Mac Miller: Stream
Robert Glasper has shared a new song called “Therapy pt. 2” featuring the late Mac Miller. It’s the first single from the “Supreme Edition” of the pianist’s album Black Radio III, which is out this Friday, October 14th, via Loma Vista Recordings. “Therapy pt. 2” finds Miller at his most carefree, as he spits freewheeling rhymes over Glasper’s keys. “I’m a, alien communicator, fuckin’ up the human nature,” he raps. “Projectile vomit on a song, the fluid nasty, uh/ I just got the iPhone 6/ It looks like Steve Jobs done ran out of tricks.” In a statement, Glasper explained how the song was made. “I was working with my friend. We were just finishing up this specific beat,” he said. “I immediately sent it to him, and literally within an hour he sent me back that track. Everything was on there —...
easy life Break Down New Album MAYBE IN ANOTHER LIFE… Track By Track: Exclusive
Track by Track is a recurring feature series in which artists share the story behind every song on their latest release. Today, easy life break down their new album, MAYBE IN ANOTHER LIFE… There’s something comforting about easy life‘s homespun sound: the drums are crisp and worn, the keys and guitars flutter in a dreamy glow, and frontman Murray Matravers rounds out the band’s energy with clever, intimate verses, stuck halfway between hip-hop and indie rock. As far as bedroom pop goes, easy life have been major champions of the vibe-centric formula since their 2018 debut mixtape, Creature Habits. But now, easy life have moved far beyond their bedrooms to a breezy, escapist world for their second album, MAYBE IN ANOTHER LIFE…, out Friday, October 7th. The Leicester quintet, rounded ou...
Hans Zimmer Announces New Live Double Album
Over two hours worth of Hans Zimmer compositions get a new life on Hans Zimmer LIVE, a forthcoming live double-album commemorating the legendary German composer. Ahead of its March 3rd release, we can hear a reimagined version of “The Last Samurai Suite” today. Recorded during his 2022 European concert tour of the same name, Hans Zimmer LIVE compiles highlights from the soundtracks to films like The Lion King, The Dark Knight, X Men: Dark Phoenix, Dunkirk, Gladiator, Inception, Interstellar, The Last Samurai, Man of Steel, No Time to Die, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Wonder Woman 1984. Recording took place over the span of 10 nights, alongside Zimmer’s 20-piece band “The Disruptive Collective.” “I simply wanted to produce the best album,” Zimmer said in a press release. “I ...
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard Unveil New Album Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava: Stream
King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard are releasing three albums this month, and the first one, Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava, is out now. Listen to the project below. King Gizzard wrote Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, Mushrooms and Lava in the studio, assigning every song on the seven-track album a specific beats-per-minute value and a mode of the major scale. “We’d walk into the studio, set everything up, get a rough tempo going and just jam,” band leader Stu Mackenzie said in a statement. “No preconceived ideas at all, no concepts, no songs. We’d jam for maybe 45 minutes, and then all swap instruments and start again.” Even the album’s lyrics were a group effort, with the band utilizing a collaborative Google Doc for the writing process. Ice, Death, Planets, Lungs, M...
Måneskin Are Singing (and Crying) in the Rain on New Song “The Loneliest”: Stream
Måneskin are back with a new single called the “The Loneliest,” and the track does what the Italian rockers do best: revel in theatrics. “You’ll be the saddest part of me/ A part of me that’ll never be mine, it’s obvious/ Tonight is gonna be the loneliest,” Damiano David sings. In the track’s music video, he delivers these words while breaking down in the rain, recalling the best dramatic, anthemic — and let’s face it, kind of emo — rock of the 2000s. Check it out below. “The Loneliest” follows Måneskin’s 2021 album Teatro d’ira: Vol. I. Back in April, the band covered the likes of Britney Spears and The Stooges during their Coachella debut, and while playing “Supermodel” at the MTV Video Music Awards in August, bassist Victoria De Angelis’ top fell off, prompting MTV to censor their perfo...
Jamila Woods Sets Her “Boundaries” on New Song: Stream
Chicago poet and singer Jamila Woods is back with “Boundaries,” her first new solo music since 2020. The follow-up to “Sula (Paperback)” was produced by BLVK and recorded at LA’s Complex Studios. On the track, Woods addresses the complexities of navigating the early stages of romance, floating over the beat with lyrics like, “If I let you come inside/ You’ll track in all the mud I’m bound to see/ It’s safer on the outside/ I’d hate to find a reason I should leave.” In a statement, Woods explained the inspiration for the track. “‘Boundaries’ is a song about the negotiation between private and shared space in a new relationship, the risk involved in letting someone get close enough to see your rough edges,” she explained. “I think a lot about the Prentice Hemphill quote, ‘Boundaries are...
New Zealand Band Crooked Royals Premiere New Song “Counterfeit”: Stream
New Zealand-based band Crooked Royals are premiering their new song “Counterfeit” exclusively via Heavy Consequence. The track arrives ahead of the group’s debut album, Quarter Life Daydream, out October 21st via Periphery’s 3DOT Recordings. The band notably features two vocalists — Christian Carstensen on clean parts and Lee Mackley on gutturals — who trade off to create a push-and-pull effect. It works splendidly on “Counterfeit,” evoking hints of Linkin Park, albeit with a more metalcore edge. Tapped guitars and tightly pocketed rhythms guide the track through its near-three-minute duration. “‘Counterfeit’ is about the duality of perception,” remarked Crooked Royals in a collective statement. “The song is an argument with yourself about why we do things, observing other people’s motives...
Liturgy Announce New Double Album 93696, Release Title Track and Mini-LP: Stream
Liturgy have announced a new double album and shared the title track “93696.” The band also released a new stand-alone mini-LP, As the Blood of God Bursts the Veins of Time, that is available to stream now. Clocking in at 15 minutes, “93696” is another ambitious sonic leap for Liturgy. The genre-defying epic is structured into three movements that are crammed with musical flourishes. At any one point, you might hear tremelo-picked black metal riffs, a Melvins-y breakdown, or mind-boggling mathematical prog. The howls of guitarist/vocalist Ravenna Hunt-Hendrix (formerly Hunter Hunt-Hendrix) peek in and out of the fray. Hunt-Hendrix has been at the center of Liturgy since its inception, often joined by a revolving-door lineup of musicians who can achieve her complex musical vision. Here, the...
Japanese Breakfast Shares Delicate Cover of Brandi Carlile’s “The Story”: Stream
Japanese Breakfast has today shared a cover of Brandi Carlile’s 2007 single “The Story” as part of The North Face’s 2022 “It’s More Than a Jacket” campaign. While Carlile’s voice is quite different from Japanese Breakfast’s Michelle Zauner’s, the latter’s version of the song is still faithful to the original’s emphatic emotion. Instead of the pummeling electric guitars that mark the climax in Carlile’s version, Zauner enlists a string section to back her acoustic guitar, giving the song a milder feel. “It was a joy to take on the iconic ballad, ‘The Story,’” Michelle Zauner said in a statement. “I think the song captures the depths of human tenacity and the spirit of the journey so well. We wanted to keep our rendition sparse and acoustic. A beautiful string arrangement written by Craig He...
