New music variety: Dawes, Beachwood Sparks, DBIG, Strand of Oaks, Alyssa Sequoia

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Dawes: House Parties

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The upcoming album Oh Brother is appropriately titled, given that brothers Taylor (guitar, vocals) and Griffin Goldsmith (drums) are now the only regular members. This song leans into dad-rock in a literal way. Its narrator is a father hitting tourist spots with his family, while wishing he was at a laid-back party with fans of Bowie, Joni, and live music. "A nostalgic song," says older brother Taylor. "A song about how true cultural experiences aren’t in the tourist traps but within human connections among specific communities. It’s a goofy lyric but the sentiment is not."

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Beachwood Sparks: Torn In Two

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This LA band's first album in a decade, Across the River of Stars, "embrac(es) the psychedelic '70s country-rock of their early work with an added sonic shimmer," writes AllAccess. Chris Robinson of the Black Crowes produced the LP. The group has been labeled alt-country, and we hear echoes of classic Laurel Canyon (e.g. Byrds) and modern AAA (e.g. Lost Leaders) bands.

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Don't Believe in Ghosts: Drowning

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Here's an upbeat dance track about "the overwhelming sensation of struggling to keep up with daily life amidst constant distractions." Key lyric: "I see you drowning, in and out of it, Climbing higher just to see around it." The New York group is led by singer-songwriter-producer Steven Nathan, with Dan DelVecchio on guitar and Ken Yang on drums.

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Strand of Oaks: Communication

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Since we last heard from Tim Showalter, he's taken time off from his Strand of Oaks project to focus on painting - and try acting, as a biker in the TV drama "Mayans M.C." His new album, Miracle Focus, sheds the melancholy of his previous records and brings us a "love letter to bliss." He says he wanted to make this track "sound like the type of song I called into a radio station and requested in 1990."

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Alyssa Sequoia: And I...

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Described as a neo-folk-soul artist, Sequoia grew up in the suburbs just north of New York and has been signing in the city's cafes and clubs since she was 19. "This song goes back in time to when I rode the subways - When I always needed change to use the pay phone - When life and the city had its own rhythm ... [It also] is about being full of strong powerful emotions and the pain of letting someone I love go."

Phish, Rubblebucket, Aurora, Rise Bailey Rise, plus Don McLean in our New Music Bin

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Phish: Wave Of Hope

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For those of us who have not avidly followed them over the decades, the release of Evolve provides an excellent way to catch up with the veteran jam band. Many of its 12 tracks have been turning up in their live-show playlists in recent years, and a recording of this song previously appeared on Trey Anastasio's 2020 solo release Lonely Trip. Dave Campbell of The Associated Press calls the track "‘70s-style rock with space for Page McConnell to pound on the keys amid racing guitar riffs." The hopeful-ish refrain: "This too shall pass, this too shall pass."

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Rubblebucket: Rattlesnake

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The Brooklyn art-pop project's new single derives from a poem vocalist Kalmia Traver wrote after a bike ride with her mother: "Just off the path we spotted a massive rattlesnake lounging in the dappled forest sunlight. It was my first time ever seeing one and my instinct was to stop and get a good look. My mom’s instinct was to get the hell out of there, and we laughed later about this dynamic." Relix writes the the track "builds to neo-disco pop perfection with a chorus of horns, prowling congas and the first string arrangement featured on an entry from the band since 2014’s 'Carousel Ride.'" 

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Aurora: To Be Alright

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"The world has grown so accustomed to being apathetic," the Norwegian alt-pop artist told NME about the thought-process behind her fifth album, What Happened To The Heart?’ The mag calls the album a "career high" and "a heavy, rave-y call for humanity." It's filled with imagery of the heart and blood representing love and emotions. "What is life worth living / if you don’t bleed for anything?” she sings here.

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Rise Bailey Rise: Never Know

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Coming to us from Buckinghamshire, England, is the latest single by singer-songwriter-producer-remixer Rich Patmore. After playing with various bands, he quit that scene to focus on fatherhood - but soon returned to making music, this time in a home studio. He's released several singles and EPs in recent years, drawing on influences from 80's UK pop and 90's grunge as well as edgy alternative artists like Radiohead and NIN. 

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Don McLean: Thunderstorm Girl

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The title track of the new album American Boys celebrates and name-checks rock'n'roll pioneers. He doesn't list himself, but the LP is filled with 60s-style songs, including this ditty that's landed in our New Music bin. Like much of the album, it's relaxed fun, although not terribly original - a bit like recent Ringo Starr songs. As Spill Magazine says, this and some other tracks "are performed and recorded well, but McLean seems to be playing it safe with the content. One should not go looking for McLean’s poetry and poignant observations of albums past. It is largely absent here."

New indie music by The Rift, Ravenhall, Kasha, Alanna Matty, Washed Out

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The Rift: Just Fine

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This Southern California indie-rock band says the phrase "'Just Fine' has become a humorous motto for us, reflecting our philosophy of resilience and defiance even when things aren't going our way. Drawing inspiration from Monty Python's iconic 'flesh wound' scene, the song embodies a spirit of gallows humor and unwavering determination."

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Ravenhall: A Traveling Story

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The Auckland, New Zealand, duo of Joe Ravenhall and Chris Brebner has been releasing singles since 2015, and brought out its debut LP, Brother, earlier this year. This track has now found its way around the globe and landed in our New Music bin. We hear a hint of Bob Seger in the vocal on the refrain 'The road keeps calling / Freedom come to me now."

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Kasha: Do Me So

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It's a hint of Sade that hits our ear as we listen to this single by an artist born in the Congo and raised in Norway. Her music is a blend of neo-soul, R'n'B, pop, and Afropop. "I wrote this song to deal with the sorrow and joy of emerging stronger from psychological abuse. It's painful, frightening, but most of all, it's satisfying to finally understand more."

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Alanna Matty: Restless

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Originally from Toronto, now living in Halifax, this singer-songwriter-producer (and video-game sound designer) brings am-I-working-hard-enough anxiety to this new single. She explains: "Everyone says ‘you need to take time off’ or ‘you have to recharge’ but how can you? What if that moment you spent sitting on the couch decompressing is the moment where you could have created the thing that was going to catapult you to the next stage of your career?" Such as, perhaps, her upcoming album, Subject to Change.

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Washed Out: The Hardest Part

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Once dubbed "the godfather of chillwave" by Pitchfork, Ernest Greene just released his fifth album (and first in four years), Notes from a Quiet Life. In 2021, he moved from Atlanta to a 20-acre former horse farm in the Georgia countryside, not far from where he grew up, and where he presumably is living quietly. This track's smooth, shiny sound belies its lyric about pining for an ex: "I hope that you've noticed I've tried to move on / Still can't admit that our time is done."

Latest from Mavis Staples, Wilco, JD McPherson, Valley, Pete Yorn added to our big mix

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Mavis Staples: Worthy

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“It’s a pick-me-up song - it’s a celebration, and you can’t help but move,” says the R&B icon of her new single. Written and produced by MNDR (Amanda Lucille Warner), the song has an uplifting message of self-worth. It's a perfect fit for Staples, still sounding ebullient as she's turning 85. Warner says working with Staples - "listening to her soulful voice, spending time in her grace, and watching her artistry in the studio ... was an experience too profound to put into words."  

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Wilco: Hot Sun

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Here's the title track from a new EP that bandleader Jeff Tweedy describes as having a "summertime-after-dark kind of feeling." Pitchfork says the song "practically melts from the heat, guitar notes bending and warping as Tweedy sings about the physical pleasure of sunlight hitting skin. With that sensation comes a nagging doubt, possibly about climate change: 'Shouldn’t I be doing something?' he asks himself." (Photo by Akash-Wadhwani)

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J.D. McPherson: Sunshine Getaway

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Speaking of sun on the skin, that's what the narrator in this song longs for, as an escape from the "same old same old day after day." The single precedes Nite Owls, McPherson's first (non-Christmas) album since 2017's Undivided Heart and Soul. In the meantime, he's been touring as band leader and opening act for Alison Kraus and Robert Plant. The Oklahoma native is known for a 60s rock-and-roll sound, but this track features a riff reminiscent of "Bang a Gong." McPherson told Variety: "Well, any playlist of mine, you’re gonna see Little Richard right next to T. Rex." (Photo by Joshua Black Wilkins)

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Valley: Water the Flowers, Pray for a Garden

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Founded in 2014, this Toronto-based band has been growing its fan base steadily with what AllMusic calls "their buoyant blend of indie pop uplift and melodic hooks." We would add: with lyrics that describe the ennui of many young adults today. That continues in this title track: "I guess that I'd rather laugh than cry 'bout my problems / When, honestly, I don't know how to solve them." But that refrain alternates with another urging, "Quit wasting the sunlight, it's always the right time / Just open your eyes, 'cause it's always the bright side."

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Pete Yorn: Real Good Love

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There's word that the California-based New Jersey native has an album coming out later this year. Along with January's single release, "Someday, Someday," it will presumably include this new song. Both are simple, quiet, acoustic tracks, this one musing on how "real good lovin' is so hard to find."

Coldplay, Lake Street Dive, Rachel Hickey, Vacations, Sarah Kinsley bring the new music

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Coldplay: feelslikeimfallinginlove

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This is the first track to emerge ahead of the veteran U.K. band's 10th album, Moon Music, due in October. After nearly a quarter century of releasing anthemic hits, Chris Martin and company don't break new ground here, and the lyric about new-love euphoria isn't terribly original - but they're no denying it's catchy, and easy to imagine as a stadium sing-along.

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Lake Street Dive: Far Gone

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We picked up the title single back in March, and now with the full release of Good Together we're highlighting this track that departs just a bit from the band's typical style. Americana Highways notes that this track features guitarist James Cornelison "providing an excellent riff to counter [Bridget] Kearney’s deep groove" - and adds that "Kearney is seriously undervalued as one of rock’s best bass players." We heartily agree. For his part, Cornelison replaced founding member Mike “McDuck” Olson, who parted on friendly terms in 2021.

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Rachel Hickey: Back On Track

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Following two EP releases since 2021, this Toronto-based singer-songwriter just released her first full-length, The Eve of St. Agnes - a title the former English lit/psych double- major borrowed from a Keats poem. 

Hickey's music is described as "folk-focused with a blend of indie, pop, and rock." We previously featured an early single, "High," and now choose this peppy track for our New Music bin.

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Vacations: Midwest

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Here's the latest single to break out from this Australian quartet's third album, No Place Like Home. Lead singer Campbell Burns says: "I’d never directly written a break-up song until ‘Midwest.’ ... I enjoy having songs that are universally relatable and open to interpretation ... Lately though, I’ve been writing about my memories and unravelling them in exact detail. Almost like therapy, except you’re all there in the room with me."

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Sarah Kinsley: Last Time We Never Meet Again

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This classically trained singer-songwriter-musician-producer's first full-length album, Escaper, is set for release in September. This first single "is meant to be celebratory," says the artist, but it is also "a goodbye - the closing of all these worlds that you inhabit with the people you love. A celebratory goodbye."

The latest from Mondo Cozmo, The Offspring, Susan O'Neill, Belfountain, The Heavy Heavy

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Mondo Cozmo: Wild Horses

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This track heralds Josh Ostrander's fourth studio album under the Mondo Cozmo moniker, It’s PRINCIPLE!, due in August. The song "draws you in with its bold, galloping beat, and exudes power in the first half," writes his home-area radio station WXPN-Philadelphia. "However, the song takes a turn ... into a piano ballad, giving way to Cozmo’s raw vocals, expressing the range of emotions he was dealing with during the writing process as his dog (and band namesake) Cozmo was nearing the end of his life."

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The Offspring: Make It All Right

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AllMusic has called The Offspring "perhaps the quintessential SoCal punk band of the 1990s," which turned out a string of "snotty, satirical alt-rock hits." After a nine-year break, they released Let The Bad Times Go in 2021, and now they've announced Supercharged for October release. The song "talks about the people in our lives who make us feel strong when we are feeling low — our partners in crime who make us feel all right," says group leader Dexter Holland.

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Susan O'Neill: Bright Eyes

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This singer-songwriter from Ireland's County Clare will release a solo album, Now In A Minute, in September. She has previously recorded and toured as SON, and in 2021 collaborated with Cork singer-songwriter Mick Flannery on a concept album called In The Game, the biggest-selling independent selling Irish album that year. We're told Flannery co-wrote some of the 12 songs on the new album.

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Belfountain: Tell Me When It Rains

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An indie-folk-rock project fronted by Canadian singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Chris Graham makes its debut this week with Some Hearts. The album is billed as a "roots-inspired collection ... an earthy mix of old and new." This second track has a soulful flavor, and the sound and subject matter put us in mind of old songs like the Temptations' "I Wish It Would Rain." (Photo by Dzesika Devic)

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The Heavy Heavy: Happiness

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Will Turner and Georgie Fuller started their Brighton, UK-based band with the ambition of “making records that sound like our favorite records ever." We picked up on their 2022 EP Life and Life Only, and now they're out with their debut LP, One Of A Kind, expanding on their "sunshine psych-pop and folk sound." This track certainly has a 60s retro sound.

The Wild Feathers, Ray LaMontagne, Burnstick, The Hard Luck, Arkells now in our New Music Bin

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The Wild Feathers: Sanctuary

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The Nashville group will release its next LP, Sirens, in October. It's billed as a collection of "road-worn, sharply-woven tales chronicling a life worth living, love worth holding and the hard-earned lessons found along the ride." This first single is about standing up for oneself in a one-sided relationship.

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Ray LaMontagne: Step Into Your Power

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The singer-songwriter's next studio album, Long Way Home, is coming out in August, and this is the first single. "Anything that your heart can dream, you can make it reality," he sings, as The Secret Sisters provide choral backing vocals. (Photo by Brian Stowell)

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Burnstick: Closer

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The indigenous Canadian contemporary-folk duo of Nadia and Jason Burnstick recently released their sophomore album, Made of Sin. This song is "about the willingness to do anything necessary for loved ones - inspired by the birth of the couple's son.

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The Hard Luck: Tonight

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This track is billed as the debut single from a new solo project by Canadian singer-songwriter Cory Dee, a member of the alt-rock band Owls By Nature. But we found another single released several months ago, called "Still Having Fun," and we'll be add that to our mix, too.

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Arkells: Big Feelings

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The Ontario band is out with this new single, asking the musical question, "Are you afraid of big feelings?" Frontman Max Kerman says: "In the studio, this track was a burst of energy and felt like it came together quickly. ...Immediately, we understood it would be unruly, and that the spirit of the song was more about the collective unvarnished expression than any conventional 'songwriting rules.'"

New tunes by Richard Thompson, Crowded House, Lynne Hanson, Vanishing Shores, The Metal Byrds

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Richard Thompson: Maybe

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One of the pioneers of folk-rock returns with Ship to Shore, his latest collection of "curious characters, love laments, dark chords, dark humor and peerless guitar work," as The Associated Press puts it. AllMusic calls calls the album "one of the tightest collections he's made in the past quarter-century, exhibiting a wide tonal palette and a vitality belying his 75 years." Our pick for the New Music Bin is this ditty about infatuation: "There’s a girl I know / I want to know her better." As Thompson catalogs her virtues - "She rolls with the punches / Follows her hunches" - we're reminded a bit of Cake's "Short Skirt / Long Jacket."

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Crowded House: The Howl

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In 2020, Neil Finn and Nick Seymour, original members of the 80s hit-making band, were joined by Finn's sons Liam and Elroy, along with Mitchell Froom, who produced the band’s first three albums, and released Dreamers Are Waiting the next year. The new lineup is back now with Gravity Stairs. Rolling Stone Australia says "the five-piece gell[s] wonderfully on this loose, gently psychedelic LP that’s still guided by Finn’s immaculate pop instincts." 

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Lynne Hanson: Outlaw Lover

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This Ottawa-based singer-songwriter is billed as "too tough for folk and too blues-influenced for country." But in fact there are traces of all those styles, and more, in her music. On this track from her new album Just A Poet, Americana Highways says her "smoky, seductive voicing" results in "a jazzy lounge performance that shimmers." The lyrics combine a love-'em-and-leave-'em history with a take-it-or-leave-it attitude: "I lost count of the goodbye notes / No fixing all the hearts I broke / Roll the dice, take the leap."

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Vanishing Shores: We Still Own the Night

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Cleveland's Kevin Bianchi and company have just released Possible Light, Pt. 1, consisting of a few previously released singles along with a half-dozen new songs - including this one. Bianchi says he wrote it "to promote a feeling of defiant love. ... I wanted to affirm the reality that love can truly conquer whatever attempts to tear us down and separate us from having meaningful relationships and welcoming communities."

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The Metal Byrds: I, Fall

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Here's the first single to emerge from an new album, Lights Out, coming soon from this Houston indie-rock band. London-born vocalist Suzanne Birdie and lead guitarist Sly Rye founded the band in 2018. Bassist Mac Jacob and drummer Charlie “Breeze” Janto round out the current lineup.

Lenny Kravitz, La Luz, Night Talks, Cabin Beat and The Blue Herons added to our New Music bin

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Lenny Kravitz: Bundle of Joy

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The AP calls the new LP Blue Electric Light "the rocker’s best stuff in years, offering a welcome blast of funk in 2024. There’s joy and swagger in almost every track." Don't let the title of this track fool you -  He's not singing about a baby, at least not in the sense of an infant: "We venture out and we play at night / We come back home, we play inside."

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La Luz: News of the Universe

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Here's the title track from the band's fifth album - its first on SubPop, and its last with contributions from keyboardist Alice Sandahl and bassist Lena Simon (bass), leaving frontwoman Shana Cleveland as the remaining founding member. Clash calls it "a darkly sweet record, inspired by some heavy themes – cancer, death, motherhood – but delivered with a newfound confidence.' 

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Night Talks: Applause

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Frontwoman Soraya Sebghati said in a post that this song is about failing to reach high expectations you had as a child. "One day you wake up and you're 30 - you officially never became the wunderkind you always thought you'd be." But as she sings mid-way through the track: "At least I'm still having fun."

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Cabin Beat: Smoking Gun

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This is the debut single by a trio from Selby, North Yorkshire, UK. Despite the title, the song doesn't seem to refer to shooting; in fact, we're not sure what it's about, with lines about being on a holiday and waiting another day, but it's a fun piece of indie rock.

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The Blue Herons: Clouds

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Andy Jossi in Switzerland and Gretchen DeVault in the U.S., each members of other bands, began a trans-Atlantic collaboration in 2020, creating a dreamy blend of jangle pop. Their new album, Go On, is a compilation of the singles they released over the past few years, along with this new track.

New from Nada Surf, Blitzen Trapper, Kaia Kater, Parlour Panther, Winnetka Bowling League

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Nada Surf: In Front Of Me Now

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The New York-based trio of Matthew Caws, Daniel Lorca and Ira Elliot will release its 10th album, and first for New West Records, in September. “Every time we make an album, I’m asked (and ask myself) what it’s about,” says Caws. “I’m still trying to figure everything out, and that’s probably as close to a theme as there is. ... I’m just trying to stay honest with myself and take my best guess at making sense of the world.” Brooklyn Vegan says this first single "is the kind of soaring guitar pop Nada Surf do so well."

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Blitzen Trapper: Planetarium

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Photo by Jason Quigley

Eric Earley and company just released their 11th album, 100's of 1000's, Millions of Billions. As AmericanaUK writes, Earley "is a recent student of Buddhist writings and teachings and his two latest albums are dotted with existential songs about the purpose of life and the nature of existence." Earley himself says this track is "a love song at heart [that] tracks my journey through therapy and beyond. Growing comfortable with impermanence and emptiness, the endless flow that surrounds us." It features Anna Tivel on violin and Eric Johnson of Bonny Light Horsemen on banjo and vocals.

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Kaia Kater: The Witch feat. Aoife O'Donovan

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This Montreal singer-songwriter's new album, Strange Medicine, "feels more like a cinematic odyssey than a straight folk album," writes Exclaim. "The songs ... feel fully realized, featuring strings, melancholic horns, R&B synth work, frenetic jazz drumming and of course, [Kater's] expert banjo playing." It's the kind of album that deserves listening from beginning to end, but for our New Music bin we're picking this story of a Salem Witch Trial victim who comes back to haunt and take revenge on her "pious pilgrim" accuser.

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Parlour Panther: All I Need

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Photo by Carol Gandra Photography

From Vancouver comes this band led by trans/non-binary couple Frankie and Reidar, who have been making music together since 2014. Their new album, Bloom, "boasts a vibrant mix of blues-inflected vocals, playful synths and an energetic low-end," writes Exclaim. "Tracks like 'OMG' and 'All I Need' pack a punch with their fuzzy riffs, adding a welcome edge to Parlour Panther's typically soft sound."

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Winnetka Bowling League: America In Your 20s

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The LA band's frontman, Matthew Koma, says this track from the new album Sha La La "is my own bullshit about loving and hating where I come from. You ask a lot of questions in your 20’s and I think that’s when you start to realize the answers are all grey and nuanced."