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Music update, March 2026.

March ended with a rush of new releases and I’m still working my way through them, on top of the LPs that have already come out in April – this feels like the first big release period of 2026, with Arlo Parks, Angine de Poitrine, Snail Mail, The Twilight Sad, Brigitte Calls Me Baby, Courtney Barnett, deary, Flea, Butler Blake & Grant, Neurosis, and Avalon Emerson putting out albums in the last month that I need to listen to or that were on my to-do list.

As always, if you can’t see the widget below, the playlist is available on Apple Music and Spotify.

Young Fathers – Don’t Fight the Young. The latest War Child Records album HELP(2) has an incredible roster of names, but most of the songs are clearly throwaways for the artists who wrote and recorded them, a marked step down from their usual material. Young Fathers’ contribution, however, is on par with some of their best work, and more importantly, it sounds exactly like their usual stuff. They actually wrote several songs for the project, and if this is any indication, I hope the others show up on a future album or EP.

Snail Mail – Tractor Beam. Snail Mail is Lindsey Jordan, whose third album Richochet came out at the end of March. This single is more polished and better produced than her earlier stuff, giving her guitar a richer texture, although her vocals are still quite clear.I’ve only listened to about half of the album so far, but it’s my favorite by her to date – the stronger production values help her vocals quite a bit, and I’m getting some Velocity Girl vibes from her melodies now that they’re cleaner and more forward.

Julia Cumming – Please Let Me Remember This. Cumming is the lead singer and bassist for Sunflower Bean; her first solo album Julia is out on the 24th. The first single, “My Life,” was fine, but this one is eight levels higher, especially musically, as there are layers and layers here, not just of different instruments but of varying beats and rhythms that tap into some 1970s pop and even light jazz.

Brigitte Calls Me Baby – I Can Take the Sun Right Out of the Sky. I adored the first two singles from BCMB’s sophomore album Irreversible, while this third one is more solid than plus for me, getting them a little too far into Smiths homage territory. The first half of the album is much stronger than the second, with the first two singles as well as “The Pit” and “Truth is Stranger Than Fiction,” while the back half started to lose some steam and felt slightly more derivative of the ‘80s new wave sounds that inspire so much of their music.

Spencer Thomas – The World is Fucked and I Love You. Thomas is a multi-instrumentalist from Mississippi who seems to be able to write songs in any genre you’d like; here he goes hard into synth-pop, sounding like Heaven 17 with a Morrissey guest vocal (1980s Moz, not the current shithead version). I really love the cover of his new album Cynical Vision.

Pond – Terrestrials. Like most great Pond songs, this one starts out in an inauspicious fashion and then blossoms into a bigger sound when it hits the chorus. It’s not quite “America’s Cup” or “Neon River,” but it’s a strong lead single for this Aussie psychedelic-rock band’s upcoming album, also called Terrestrials, due out June 19th.

The Twilight Sad – Attempt a Crash Landing. I need to get to their latest album, It’s the Long Goodbye, but the tracks I’ve heard so far have been some of my favorites ever by them. I think I’d been too skeptical of them based on the name, but their music over the last decade or so has blended gloom with richly textured guitars and even some hints of industrial music.

SPRINTS – Trickle Down. A solid punk song of protest against late-stage capitalism and the lie of trickle-down economics (which is the disgraced philosophy behind both of Trump’s major tax cuts). Maybe not as immediate as SPRINTS’ best stuff, but still good.

The Afghan Whigs – House of I. Not sure if this is a one-off track or if it heralds another new album, but Greg Dulli – who still sounds fantastic – called it a “banger” and I think he’s right.

Tigers Jaw – Primary Colors. I see Tigers Jaw called emo and punk-pop, but I don’t know that either fits – here they’ve got classic pop melodies over a heavier guitar track that draws on post-hardcore. The contrast is the real hook.

TVAM – Love Like Glue. TVAM’s debut album, Psychic Data, was #2 on my list of the best albums of 2018, but I missed his 2022 album High Art Life completely and would have missed his latest, Ruins, if one of you hadn’t pointed me to it. I still prefer his first LP, which was more melodic and immediate, but Ruins is strong enough and really brings me back to the late goth/new wave sound; this track sounds like it came from somewhere in between Ministry’s shift from “Every Day Is Halloween” to the industrial sound of The Land of Rape and Honey.

Trashcan Sinatras – Bad Husband. This new track from these Scottish folk-rockers features Tracyanne Campbell, lead singer and co-founder of Camera Obscura; it’s the second single so far from their new album Ever the Optimist, due out on July 31st. I’ll forever be grateful to Beavis & Butthead for introducing me to them via their mockery of the video for “Hayfever.”

Courtney Barnett – One Thing at a Time. Barnett’s first album in five years, Creature of Habit, came out on March 26th; the three singles all point to a return to the more uptempo indie rock of her earliest work (her double EP and then her debut album). Her collaboration with Waxahatchee, “Site Unseen,” is the best track on the new album.

Metric – Time is a Bomb. I remember Metric’s first album and how XM’s Alt Nation overplayed the pretentious song “Succexy;” that was 23 years ago, and now their tenth LP, Romanticize the Dive, is coming out on the 24th. I’ve come around on Metric as they’ve also shifted their sound slightly more towards mainstream alternative, although I think Emily Haines is a better singer than lyricist.

Jessie Ware – Automatic. Ware might be my favorite straight-up pop singer right now, as her current style, dating at least back to What’s Your Pleasure?, blends disco, funk, and ‘70s pop, mixed with some great hooks, enough to overcome the occasional lyrical clunker. This is the third single from her album Superbloom, due out on the 17th. It reminds me of a specific track from the 1970s, but I can’t put my finger on it.

Jorja Smith – The Price of It All. This soaring ballad comes from the soundtrack to the limited series Bait, created by and starring Riz Ahmed, so why exactly have I not heard of this before? Someone’s done a piss-poor job of marketing it. Anyway, Smith remains one of my favorite vocalists, and I especially love when her voice isn’t competing with a drum machine that drowns her out.

Arlo Parks – Get Go. A small departure for Parks, with a twee-pop backing track and notably upbeat melodies in the vocals. Her third album Ambiguous Desire came out on the 3rd.

Maria BC – Channels. This track is barely over a minute but gives me a chance to recommend their new album Marathon, which is definitely more of a single document than a set of tracks, with their voice still reminding me a ton of Alejandra Deheza of School of Seven Bells.

Miki Berenyi Trio – Island of One. Berenyi was the lead singer/guitarist for the shoegaze legends Lush, who took a sharp turn into alt-pop with their final album Lovelife and called it a day. Her latest band includes her partner Kevin McKillop, with their debut album dropping last year; it was more shoegaze-light, with her voice still a highlight. This is apparently a standalone single ahead of a new tour.

Pye Corner Audio feat. Andy Bell – Cycle. This popped up on my Release Radar because of the presence of Bell, founding guitarist of Ride and current bassist for Oasis. This track, from PCA’s upcoming album More Songs About the Sun, is shoegazey electronica; Bell contributes guitar and vocals, and he’s apparently on three other songs on the record as well.

Soft Cell feat. Nona Hendryx – Out Come the Freaks. Soft Cell was Marc Almond and David Ball, best known for their cover of “Tainted Love,” and they had reunited after a twenty-year hiatus in 2022, recording three albums before Ball’s death last year. That third record, Danceteria, comes out at some point this year, with a tour to follow, but it’ll be the last new music under the Soft Cell name according to Almond. Oh, as for Nona Hendryx, you know her, too: She was one-third of Labelle, best known for “Lady Marmalade.”

Les Big Byrd – Hökvind. I wasn’t familiar with this Swedish psychedelic rock band before stumbling on this homage to space-rock pioneers Hawkwind. It’s bottom-heavy and intricate with a real groove to it.

The Black Crowes – Profane Prophecy. Definitely the Crowes’ first appearance on one of my playlists. I’m one of the basic Black Crowes fans: I had the first album before they got famous, loved the bluesier stuff and hated “She Talks to Angels,” played the shit out of “Remedy” when that came out, and pretty much gave up on them around the release of Amorica (with the manufactured controversy over its album cover convincing me they were a joke). I happened to see a positive review of A Pound of Feathers, their newest album, and thought, “how bad could it be?” It’s fine, not as good as their first two albums, but it’s got a few memorable numbers, led by this uptempo song.

Jehnny Beth feat. Mike Patton – Look at Me. The great Jehnny Beth of Savages and Anatomy of a Fall pairs up here with the Faith No More/Mr. Bungle lead singer Mike Patton on a weird, experimental noise-rock track with an interesting video that seems to show Beth cracking up.

Armored Saint – Close to the Bone. Armored Saint is still around! I had no idea. Granted, I was never as big a fan of their heyday, as the tracks I heard were not their best (like “Chemical Euphoria,” played to death on Headbanger’s Ball). They’re still going, singer John Bush still sounds good, and their ninth album, Emotion Factory Reset, drops on May 22nd.

The HU – The Men. This Mongolian folk-metal band has released two new tracks this year, and they’re openers on two different tours in the U.S. later in 2026 (one of which includes Marilyn Manson, unfortunately) so I assume an album is coming. Their cover of Iron Maiden’s “The Trooper”, translated into their native language, from a year or so ago is pretty badass, too.

Sepultura – The Place. Sepultura are calling it a career, releasing a four-song EP called The Cloud of Unknowing later this month that includes this crunchy, almost groove-metal track along with the mellower “Beyond the Dream.” Bassist Paulo Jr. is the only remaining original member, and I don’t think they’ve really been the same band – not worse, just different – since singer/guitarist Max Cavalera left in 1997.

Cruel Force – Whips-a-Swinging. ThisGerman band started out as yet another blackened speed metal band, but morphed into a more old-school speed metal/early thrash sound in the late 2010s. They’re back with a new album, Haneda, that sounds very 1982ish, like a band that might have inspired Kreator rather than one that was inspired by them.

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→ March 8, 2026
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Music update, February 2026.

Whew, February turned out to be a loaded month, especially with experimental or art-rock bands, along with a decent supply of new metal and more singles from the newest War Child charity album HELP(2). As always, if you can’t see the widget below, you can access the playlist on Apple Music or Spotify.

Temples – Jet Stream Heart. This British psychedelic-rock band is good for at least one absolute banger per album, sometimes more, with this track following “Cicada,” “Holy Horses,” and “Shelter Song,” among others. The guitar riff that drives this sucker is the earworm of the year so far.

Savages – Prayer. Savages’ second album Adore Life turns 10 this year, and it’ll serve as their final music, aside from this one-off track and a bizarre piano-ballad cover of Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid.” It’s a damn shame, as their first album Silence Yourself was an outstanding work of feminist post-punk.

Arlo Parks – Heaven. Another lovely vocal track from the Mercury Prize-winning British singer/songwriter, although I’m still not as big a fan of her electronic-backed songs as her folkier early work. Her third album, Ambiguous Desire, comes out on April 3.

flowerovlove – Casual Lady. An absolute gem of a pop track; recommend this to people in your life who unfortunately love the washed-out pop of Sabrina Carpenter. The hooks are better, the lyrics are wittier, and it hasn’t been produced within an inch of its life.

Jorja Smith – Don’t Leave. Smith’s best track since her last album, 2023’s Falling or Flying, is a jazzy R&B/grime track that is, as usual, powered by her indelible voice.

Brigitte Calls Me Baby – I Danced with Another Love in My Dream. They sound so British, but this new wave-revivalist quartet is from Chicago, and I think they’re about to get huge, with the first two singles from their sophomore album Irreversible (due out on the 13th) both among the best tracks of this year – and last year, too.

Trashcan Sinatras – Bitter End. I assumed this Scottish band was done, as they hadn’t released any music since an EP in 2022 and hadn’t put out a full album since 2016, so this song, very reminiscent of their third album A Happy Pocket, was a pleasant surprise. There’s apparently a new album in the offing but I can’t find any details.

Crystal Tides – Better Weather. Crystal Tides are unsigned and released their album Toothpaste independently, cracking the British top 40 albums chart last month without the typical support you get from a record label. It’s power-pop in the vein of the Lottery Winners, and this is the album’s best track.

The Reds, Pinks and Purples – Heaven of Love. I wasn’t familiar with this band, led by Glenn Donaldson, which will release its latest album Acknowledge Kindness on April 24th. This song sounds like the Cure decided to experiment with shoegaze’s atmospheric sounds, but not the heavy distortion.

Swim Deep – Pieces of You. Speaking of shoegaze, this British band will drop its fifth album, Hum, in June, with this lead single sneaking in some jangle-pop melodies and a generally more upbeat vibe than you typically get from the shoegaze genre.

Puscifer – Pendulum. I always forget this is Maynard James Keenan’s side project because it’s so unlike anything from Tool or A Perfect Circle – and I was never a huge fan of either band. This is weird, but in a very good way, a minimalist art-rock track that showcases Keenan’s baritone.

King Tuff – Twisted on a Train. I’ve heard plenty of King Tuff’s music before but I believe this is his first appearance on one of my playlists. I just like the guitar riff.

Bedelia – Valley Sadness. This is the first single from Bedelia, a trio of members of Fleshwater, Ethel Cain, and other bands you’ve never heard of. It’s dream-pop, with spacey (fine, ethereal) vocals and a sweet melody through the chorus.

Lucia & the Best Boys feat. Lauren Mayberry – Lonely Girl. Including CHVRCHES singer Mayberry on your track isn’t a guarantee to get it on my playlist … but the song is actually pretty good even before her guest verse. There’s a little Wolf Alice here, and Lucia Fairfull’s vocals in the chorus remind me of Jehnny Beth from Savages.

Charli xcx feat. Sky Ferreira – Eyes of the World. I don’t know if Ferreira’s second album, Masochism, will ever see the light of day, but getting her on a Charli xcx track – especially one this searing – has to help at least generate some buzz.

Greg Foat, Jihad Darwish, Moses Boyd – Skipping Tones. This showed up on my Release Radar because of Boyd, a jazz drummer whose work I’ve appreciated for a decade; his “Shades of You” was my #1 song of 2020. He’s part of this new project with Foat, a jazz pianist and composer, and Darwish, a multi-instrumentalist whose talents include playing the double bass, sitar, and guitar. Their album Opening Time came out last August, but I only caught it because of the new version, Opening Time (Library Edits), that dropped last month.

1000 Rabbits – Virgin Soil. This British quintet, formerly known as Rabbitfoot (although Virgin Soil would be a better name than either of these), adds a violinist to the usual guitar-bass-keys-drums combo. Their first single starts with a quirky art-rock vibe before a sudden crescendo to a big post-punk finish.

Hen Ogledd – End of the rhythm. This Welsh experimental folk-rock quartet, which includes the solo artist Richard Dawson (not the Family Feud host, he’s dead), just released its first third album Discombobulated, which includes this clever offbeat track … and a nearly 20-minute song called “Clear pools.”

Angine de Poitrine – Fabienk. A reader asked last month if I’d heard this Québécois duo, who perform their experimental rock/jazz hybrid in disguises and under pseudonyms; the next day, they appeared on my Release Radar, because the algorithm is listening. I hear Battles, Altin Gün, even a little King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. They’re called math rock and they’re using microtonal guitars, but it’s also just catchy.

Ezra Collective feat. Greentea Peng – Helicopters. HELP(2), the latest record to support the efforts of War Child International, features 23 songs from a broad array of artists, including Arctic Monkeys, Fontaines DC, Olivia Rodrigo, Depeche Mode, and Arlo Parks. This song is one of the better ones I’ve heard so far, although it’s mid as Ezra Collective tracks go.

plantoid – Parasite. More experimental jazz-rock, which seems to be the flavor of the month for February, here with a more pronounced rock guitar in front. This song actually has words, though.

Mateus Asato – Cryin’. Some fun instrumental guitar work from this Brazilian guitarist who Wikipedia tells me rose to fame through posting videos of his playing on Instagram.

Blackwater Holylight – How Will You Feel. I’m new to this doomgaze (is that a thing?) trio, but I’m into it – it’s dark and atmospheric, but rather than veering towards death metal with extreme vocals, they offer melody and the added instrumentation of Sunny Faris’ voice.

Green Carnation – Sanguis (Blood Ties). Prog metal from Norway with a dash of growled vocals in the last third of the track, which also has a Hammond organ and a very Creeper-esque melody and vibe throughout.

At the Gates – The Fever Mask. At the Gates are pioneers of the melodic death metal sound, with their 1995 pre-breakup album Slaughter of the Soul one of the pillars of the subgenre. I liked their earlier stuff more than their music since their return; singer Tomas Lindberg, who died in September of 2025 of cancer, always had a higher-pitched death growl style, but it became screechier as he got older (and maybe because of his illness). Their final album with Lindberg, The Ghost of a Future Dead, comes out on April 26. I’ll also mention Worm’s Necropalace as an incredible album of music that unfortunately gets too extreme for me in its vocals. Former Megadeth/Cacophony guitarist Marty Friedman guests on the album closer.

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→ July 4, 2021
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Music update, June 2021.

Life is busy here, in good ways, and with the draft now just a week away I’ve been extremely preoccupied … but the good new music keeps coming, so here’s a new playlist for you.

CHVRCHES featuring Robert Smith – How Not to Drown. I did not see this collaboration coming. So many pairings of current artists with some of their heroes from prior generations only serve to highlight how the older artists have lost their fastballs – especially singers whose voices have started to go. Smith sounds the same as ever, and this is the second great CHVRCHES single ahead of their upcoming fourth album.

Gang of Youths – the angel of 8th ave.GOY are stars in their native Australia, but they might be a little too indie to see that kind of success here. There’s some Echo & the Bunnymen, The Church, and even early U2 in here.

Wolf Alice – How Can I Make It OK? Blue Weekend is one of the best-reviewed albums of the year … and I think it’s good, but it has some of the same issues I had with Visions of a Life. When Wolf Alice rocks, they rock. When they slow things down, the formula doesn’t work as well. That’s not a universal truth – “Safe from Heartbreak” is a 150-second acoustic track that has a strong hook in the chorus, and “How Can I Make It OK” has a slower tempo but is boosted by a big guitar riff. I just like their music best when they let it rip.

Little Simz – Rollin Stone. I’m all in. Little Simz’ new album, Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, comes out on September 3rd, and the songs she’s released so far make me think it’s going to be her best yet.

Tom Morello, The Bloody Beetroots, Pussy Riot – Radium Girls. Morello and the Italian electronic duo The Bloody Beetroots have an EP coming out in the fall called The Catastrophists, featuring this track co-written by Pussy Riot’s Nadya Tolokonnikova, Savages’ Jehnny Beth, and frequent Morello collaborator Carl Restivo.

YONAKA – Raise Your Glass. YONAKA’s new stuff is veering towards the anthemic, which is fine in and of itself as long as the hooks are good (this one is), although I hear this song and worry it’s going to show up in a Heineken commercial in two years.

James BKS – Kusema. James BKS’s debut album Wolves of Africa is due out in the fall, and the son of the late Cameroonian musician Manu Dibango (who died last year of COVID-19) has released at least three tracks from the album so far, including this one, with a Swahili title that means “to express” and that features BKS rapping for the first time.

Jungle – Talk About It. Jungle’s third album Loving in Stereo comes out on August 13th, and this second track from the record is among the most straight-up dance tracks they’ve done (lighter on the ’70s soul and funk elements) to date.

SAULT – London Gangs. SAULT just released Nine, their fifth album in the last 25 months, although this is the shortest one to date, clocking in at just over a half an hour. The band is also saying they’re removing the album from the internet after 99 days, which means it’ll vanish from streaming sites (and from my Spotify playlist) at some point in October, which strikes me as a stunt. You can (and should) grab the album for free from their official site, although I don’t think it’s as strong as either of their 2020 releases.

Inhaler – It Won’t Always Be Like This. Solid work from this Irish band, although they can’t really get away from the U2 comparisons when the lead singer sounds so much like his father, Bono.

Everything Everything – Natural’s Not In It. The Gang of Four tribute album The Problem of Leisure was delayed five months but came out on June 4th, featuring two covers of this track, which gives the album its title, two of “Damaged Goods,” and three of “Not Great Men,” but none of “At Home He’s a Tourist.” At least EE’s singer Jonathan Higgs pronounces “migraine” in the American style.

Wye Oak – Its Way With Me. That’s the second single from Wye Oak this year, along with “TNT,” to go with singer Jenn Wasner’s solo effort as Flock of Dimes.

Kiwi jr. – Cooler Returns. I wasn’t familiar with this Canadian indie band until my friend Paul Boyé named their new LP one of his favorites of 2021 so far. There’s something a little too hipstery in their lyrics and vocals for me, but this title track from the record is strong.

Floatie – Shiny. “Math rock” is kind of a meaningless term, no? This is experimental music, and I don’t mean that adjective in the way anti-vaxxers use it, although I doubt Floatie’s debut album Voyage Out is FDA approved.

The Lottery Winners – Favourite Flavour. I’m becoming a bigger fan of The Lottery Winners all the time, and I can’t get over how prolific they are, approaching King Gizzard level, but in this case churning out one catchy indie-pop single after another.

Descendents – Nightage. I mean, all good Descendents songs sound pretty much the same, but that’s what we pay for, right?

Quicksand – Missile Command. If bands still released singles with B-sides, Quicksand should have paired this with a cover of Killing Joke’s “Asteroid.”

Accept – Zombie Apocalypse. I had no idea Accept was still around and recording music, and while I suppose purists might object that it’s not Accept without Udo, but I don’t have that same history with the band that I might with other ’80s metal acts, so the new vocalist doesn’t faze me. Their newest album, Too Mean to Die, leads off with a pair of impressively heavy songs for a band that was often lumped in with hair-metal acts in their heyday, with thrash elements in both this song and the title track.

FALSET and James Labrie – Kickstart My Heart. “Kickstart My Heart” is actually my favorite Mötley Crüe song, and this track is quite faithful. FALSET’s drummer is the son of James Labrie, longtime lead singer of Dream Theater, who does a very reasonable imitation of Vince Neil here.

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→ June 4, 2021
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Music update, May 2021.

I’m not sure if this was a weak month for new tracks or if I just missed a lot as I spent more time seeing games and working on some stuff around the house. It ended strongly, however, with a slew of important album releases on the last Friday in May and the first one in June. As always, if you can’t see the widget below you can access the playlist here.

black midi – Chondromalacia Patella. black midi are back, with their second album, Cavalcade, dropping on the last Friday in May. It’s frenetic, cacophonic, and deeply unsettling music, similar in attitude to their debut record, Schlagenheim, but differing enough in tone and style to mark a real progression in their sound. This was one of the lead singles and remains one of the better tracks on the record, which in some ways is more accessible than the first LP but which, on first listen, doesn’t have enough great hooks in the longer tracks like “Ascending Forth” or “Diamond Stuff.”

Pond – America’s Cup. Pond have always been weird, sometimes to good effect but sometimes to the point where it was easy to dismiss some of their experiments. Whatever the hell this is, though, I want more of it. This is early ’80s funk, still bearing the influence of peak disco, around lyrics about the rapid gentrification of Fremantle in Western Australia after that country’s entry won the America’s Cup sailing race in 1983 and the city hosted the Cup in 1987. This is the good shit.

YONAKA – Call Me a Saint. That’s three new singles this year from this Brighton quartet, whose feminist alt-rock made Don’t Wait ‘Til Tomorrrow one of my favorite albums of 2019. Still no word on a release date for a second LP.

Little Simz feat. Cleo Sol – Woman. The second single ahead of Little Simz’s sophomore album, Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, due out in September, “Woman” is also her second collaboration with singer Cleo Sol. Little Simz is easily one of my favorite rappers working today, both for her own vocal style and her choices of backing music.

Bobby Gillespie & Jehnny Beth – Chase It Down. That’s the lead singer of Primal Scream and the lead singer of Savages, respectively, and their album, Utopian Ashes, will be out on July 2nd. There are hints of Primal Scream’s more psychedelic leanings in here – rather than the straight-up Rolling Stones homage they did on “Rocks” – along with a fantastic guitar solo at the end.

Emma-Jean Thackray – Say Something. I’ve seen Thackray called a jazz musician, but this isn’t jazz – this is smart, textured dance music, with elements of jazz, and R&B, and house, and more. She has her own record label, Movementt, and appears to be building up towards a debut album after releasing two singles in the last two months.

Jorja Smith feat. Shaybo – Bussdown. Smith’s EP Be Right Back feels like a tease, as the nine-song, 25-minute release just isn’t enough from the talented R&B singer/songwriter, whose debut album Lost & Found came out three years ago this week. I’ll take any Jorja Smith I can get, though.

Freddie Gibbs, Swizz Beats, and Shoota93 – We Want Justice Dammit! This track comes from season 2 of the series Godfather of Harlem, and both Gibbs and Swizz Beats deliver strong verses despite the near lack of a beat beneath them.

Atlas Genius – Elegant Strangers. I was seriously concerned these guys had hung it up for good, with only one new track in the last four years, but it appears we will get a third album from the guys behind “Trojans,” “If So,” and “Molecules.”

Renée Reed – Neboj. Reed is from Louisiana and sings in both English and French, but it’s the intricate finger-picked guitarwork that drew me to this song, from her self-titled debut album.

The Lottery Winners – Times Are Changing. I was very late to this parade, but damn can the Lottery Winners churn out pop bangers as fast as anyone. Their next album, which will be their second in 18 months (third if you count their lockdown covers record), is due out on September 24th.

The Wombats – Method to the Madness. There’s a distressingly slow start to this new track from Matthew Murphy and the lads, but it picks up in the second half and sounds far more like a Wombats song. They haven’t announced when their next album, which will be their fifth, will appear, but are planning their biggest concert ever at London’s O2 Arena next April.

Cœur de Pirate – Plan à Trois. Béatrice Martin released a surprise EP of instrumental piano tracks last month, and now she’s back with the kind of synth-heavy alternative pop for which she’s known. This isn’t quite up there with “Prémonition,” still my favorite song of hers, but it’s promising.

Greentea Peng – Dingaling. Peng’s debut album MAN MADE came out on Friday, June 4th, so it’s still in my queue, but her lead-up singles have all shown off her incredible ability to combine widely divergent genres. I feel like fans of the short-lived jazz-rap movement that started with Native Tongues and peaked briefly with Digable Planets will especially appreciate this track (and, I assume, the album).

Superbloom – Pollen. The title track from this group’s debut album couldn’t sound any more ’90s – I hear Hum more than anything else – if they tried, but as someone who wanted the music of that decade to last forever, I’m here for it.

Squid – Pamphlets. The British music press loves Squid’s debut album Bright Green Field, but it’s just too much of itself for me. I can do modern punk, I don’t mind music with a sneer, and I certainly like the art-rock stylings of Squid’s guitar work, but the lyrics combined with the deliberately obnoxious delivery just leave me feeling a bit too “oh shut up already” before the record is half done. I thought this was the best song on the record, but it’s nearly eight minutes long, and that is absolutely enough of Squid for me.

Mastodon – Forged by Neron. Mastodon has so many sides to its music that saying this is my favorite style of Mastodon track does something of a disservice to their ingenuity and breadth. But I do like when they pick up the pace a little and ensure their tracks have stronger melodies.

Sabaton – Defence of Moscow. These guys are ridiculous but I love it – it’s right out of a 1989 episode of Headbanger’s Ball. Savatage would be proud.

Gojira – Into the Storm. The French avant-garde metallists returned with the long-awaited follow-up to 2016’s Magma, which Decibel named the best metal album of the decade and which earned the band a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Album, a rarity for any extreme metal band. Highlights from the new record, called Fortitude, include this track, “Sphinx,” “Amazonia,” “Born for One Thing,” and “Another World.”

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Music update, March 2021.

What a loaded month for new tracks; maybe the possibility of tours later this year has encouraged artists to put out more new music, or maybe it’s a backlog of songs recorded during the long winter, but either way, this is one of my longest new music playlists ever, with 25 songs and over 100 minutes of music even after I made some cuts. You can access the Spotify playlist here if you can’t see the widget below.

The Lottery Winners featuring the Wonderstuff – Bang. The Wonderstuff’s “Circlesquare” is one of those songs I forget from time to time, only to have something bring it back the front of my memories and remind me of how much I like it. I wasn’t aware they were still active as a group, but they toured with then-rookies The Lottery Winners in 2016, which I assume led to this joint effort that I think is my favorite LW track so far. It’s indie-pop with a rough undertone in the lyrics, just like “Circlesquare.”

YONAKA – Ordinary. The Brighton quartet’s second new single of the year, “Ordinary” might be their best song so far, and I assume this self-produced track heralds a sophomore album at some point this year.

FKA twigs feat. Headie One – Don’t Judge Me. Headie One’s 2020 mixtape GANG had a two-minute song called “Judge Me (Interlude)” that featured FKA twigs on vocals, but it was truly an interlude, hardly a finished product. This, however, is a real song, with twigs elevated to lead status, or at least co-lead with Headie One, and how could you avoid interpreting the lyrics in an entirely new light after what she has gone through in the last six months? Her last album, MAGDALENE, was outstanding, one of my favorites of 2019, and I get the sense whatever she does next is going to top that.

Jungle – Keep Moving. Jungle put two songs on my ranking of the top 100 tracks of the 2010s, “Busy Earnin” (#64) and “Happy Man” (#11), one from each of their first two albums, both heavily influenced by 1970s soul, R&B, and funk. This lead single from their third album Loving in Stereo, due out August 13th, moves forward a few years in the past to the early years of disco, with a great hook but perhaps not the high ceiling of their best songs to date because it’s lost some of the harder edges.

Ghost of Vroom – I Hear the Axe Swinging. I was hopeful that Mike Doughty’s new project would bring back some of that long-lost Soul Coughing vibe after a promising EP last summer, and I think this new single, from the group’s full-length album Ghost of Vroom 1, delivers on that promise, from Doughty’s half-sung, half-spoken word vocals to a drum-and-bass backdrop. The whole album is made of the same stuff, although I think Doughty is more front-and-center than he was on Soul Coughing’s first two albums.

The Horrors – Lout. The Horrors came on the scene in 2006 with the arty, dissonant single “Sheena is a Parasite,” went more mainstream with their stellar album Skying in 2011, and continued evolving in an even tamer direction after that, so their new three-song EP, also called Lout, is a surprise and a callback to their mid-aughts sound, with this title track the most accessible on the record.

NewDad – Slowly. This new Irish quartet is the latest in a sudden surge of shoegaze bands from that country, a quarter-century after the original shoegaze movement peaked in England, although this new wave is often more pop-accessible, as on NewDad’s sixth single, off their new EP Waves.

Japanese Breakfast – Be Sweet. “Be Sweet” is one of the most-lauded tracks of the month as far as I can see, thanks to a big hook in the chorus and a sunny, poppy sounds that should really cross over to mainstream pop radio.

BLOXX – Everything I’ve Ever Learned. I enjoyed this West London group’s debut album Lie Out Loud, including the title track and “Coming Up Short,” comparing it to California indie pop, and that’s still here on this new single, which is a little more mature and layered without losing any of their knack for a strong melody.

Sprints – Ashley. Sprints, like BLOXX, appeared on my top 100 songs of 2021, and they’re back now with another punk-influenced banger, although here the Irish quartet bring more rock/pop elements to their formula for a song that’s less indignant but still rocks, building to a powerful chorus, with lyrics that might take a little from “Every Breath You Take.”

Everything Everything – SUPERNORMAL. These art-rockers released this leftover track from their RE-ANIMATOR recording sessions, and I kind of wish it had made the record – this is the kind of frenetic music at which they excel, and which first drew my attention nearly a decade ago with songs like “Cough Cough” and “Kemosabe.”

Jorja Smith – Addicted. Still waiting for word on a second album from Smith, who has still been busy, including this stunning single and, as I recently learned, a contribution to the soundtrack of Shaun the Sheep: Farmageddon.

Sons of Kemet feat. Kojey Radical & Lianne La Havas – Hustle. This British jazz ensemble brings in elements of Afrobeat, Caribbean music, classical, and here rap courtesy of Kojey Radical. Sons of Kemet were shortlisted for the 2018 Mercury Prize for their last album, Your Queen is a Reptile, and their follow-up, Black to the Future, will be out on May 14th.

Daniel Casimir, Moses Boyd, et al – Safe (Part One). Because I’ve listened so much to Dark Matter, the 2020 debut album from jazz drummer Moses Boyd, I’ve discovered numerous other tracks on which he’s played, songs I would never have found otherwise because I don’t really know jazz well at all. Casimir is the lead artist here, a bassist and bandleader who put out his first full-length album (with Tess Hirst) in 2019 and has returned here with his longest song yet, this seven-minute opus that my limited jazz knowledge tells me bears a strong influence from John Coltrane.

DREAMERS, Big Boi, UPSAHL – Palm Reader. You might remember DREAMERS’ 2014 alternative radio hit “Wolves” or 2016’s “Sweet Disaster,” both perfectly cromulent songs, but this track expands their sound and is far more memorable for the contributions of Big Boi and the young singer UPSAHL. Just a reminder that palm reading is not a thing.

James – All the Colours of You. James’ peak output from 1989-1999, from “Sit Down” to Millionaires, should be up there in the pantheon of music in that era alongside the Oasises and the Blurs and other purveyors of smart rock/pop, but for whatever reason they’re just not remembered that way, and their music since the turn of the century has usually left me disappointed. This isn’t the next “I Know What I’m Here For,” but it’s good to hear James turn the tempo back up and bang the drums again.

TEKE::TEKE – Meikyu. Named for a Japanese urban legend about a vengeful spirit, this seven-piece, Montréal-based, Japanese band, incorporates traditional instruments into 1960s rock that sounds like the score to an early spy movie or a James Bond thriller. Their new EP Yoru Ni features two standout songs, this one and the title track.

Black Honey – Back of the Bar. This Brighton indie-pop band just released their second album, Written & Directed, which runs a scant 30 minutes but includes a bunch of catchy pop tracks, including this one, “Believer,” “Run for Cover,” and “Beaches.”

beabadoobee – Last Day on Earth. I do appreciate beabadoobee’s ’90s alternative radio sounds, but when she says “I’ve got something to say,” it just reminds me that she doesn’t seem to have anything to say. Her music isn’t catchy or compelling enough for me to overlook the lyrics yet, but she is a talented guitarist and songwriter, so she’s still a prospect with some upside.

Inhaler – Cheer Up Baby. Poor Elijah Hewson. The lead singer of Inhaler is never going to get away from comparisons to his father, Bono, because he sounds just like him whenever he extends his voice, as he does on the chorus here – but it’s a good song in its own right, and Inhaler doesn’t really sound like U2.

Royal Blood – Limbo. I’m not sure how I feel about this new single from Royal Blood, whose first single “Out of the Black” was my #1 song of 2014 and #13 of the decade, which is catchy and has that heavy bottom all their songs do (because Mike Kerr is playing a bass guitar with an octaver pedal, not a six-string), but it’s … dancy? Am I just thrown because this is a good song that is not what I think of a Royal Blood song? That bass riff at the end is pretty killer, though.

Death from Above 1979 – Modern Guy. “One + One” was the lead single from their new album, Is 4 Lovers, and I think my preferred single of these two, but I haven’t had a chance to dive into this album yet.

Wheel – Ascend. This Finnish prog-metal band has fast become one of my favorite artists in that niche, and their second album, Resident Human, has two standout shorter singles in this and “Fugue,” along with three songs that clock in beyond ten minutes, which I understand isn’t everyone’s taste.

Gojira – Amazonia. Is Gojira the best metal band in the world today? I’m inclined to say yes, especially since this is the third straight single they’ve released (“Born for One Thing” and “Another World”) that retains their trademark heaviness but strike a better balance between the not-quite-growled vocals and the showstopping music behind it.

Moonspell – The Hermit Saints. More gothic metal from these Portuguese stalwarts who seem like a throwback to heavy metal in the pre-death (pre-Death?) days.

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