The latest from Hemming, Kasador, Valley, Foals and Of Monsters and Men join our big mix

It's been a little while since we've heard new music from Hemming, a singer-songwriter who's part of a vibrant indie-rock scene in Philadelphia. After a debut album in 2015 and some singles and side projects since, she's just released a four-song EP, Waiting/Wasting. Hemming, a.k.a. Candice Martello, describes her music simply as "songs about feelings," and they often explore the darker places of the heart. On our featured track, "Nest To Me," a syncopated percussion figure is gradually joined by instrumental layers as the lyric turns to a chant of longing for someone to be next to/nesting with "what's left of me."

There's an anxious undercurrent as well to "Brood & Bloom," the new single by Kasador, an indie-rock quartet based in Kingston, Ontario. It's the title track from an upcoming full-length release, following a 2016 EP and a couple of singles. The band says the album was "written through tough times" and that "the message in this [song] is clear: out of something bad comes something good, if you choose to make it happen."

From Kingston we cruise down the 401 to Toronto to catch the latest from Valley, "Park Bench." It has a sunny and breezy sound, but the disjointed lyric suggests disorientation in the modern age. “It touches on social, generational, and political ideas that we felt were relevant to us at the time,” says Valley's drummer, Karah. The track will be on Maybe: Side B, the second installment of an album the band is releasing in stages; Side A came out about six months ago and we're told they're not stopping at B. 

The new collection from Foals, Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Part 1, has been declared by NME to be the band's "best album to date." We previously featured the single "Exits," and now we're picking up "In Degrees," which Atwood Magazine calls "a real high point of the album" with "a disco feel to it thanks to an incredibly funky bass line and thumping lower register ... This is super refreshing to hear, and it works perfectly in this eclectic album."

Moving farther from the folk-pop sound of their 2011 debut, Of Monsters and Men crank up the guitar rock on their latest release, "Alligator," the first single from an upcoming album called Fever Dream. The Icelandic band’s co-vocalist, Nanna Bryndis Hilmarsdóttir, takes the lead on this track, with a lyric that never mentions the titular reptile, but speaks of releasing inner feelings: "I am open and I am restless / Let me feel it out, let it all come out."

The latest from Hemming, Kasador, Valley, Foals and Of Monsters and Men join our big mix

It's been a little while since we've heard new music from Hemming, a singer-songwriter who's part of a vibrant indie-rock scene in Philadelphia. After a debut album in 2015 and some singles and side projects since, she's just released a four-song EP, Waiting/Wasting. Hemming, a.k.a. Candice Martello, describes her music simply as "songs about feelings," and they often explore the darker places of the heart. On our featured track, "Nest To Me," a syncopated percussion figure is gradually joined by instrumental layers as the lyric turns to a chant of longing for someone to be next to/nesting with "what's left of me."

There's an anxious undercurrent as well to "Brood & Bloom," the new single by Kasador, an indie-rock quartet based in Kingston, Ontario. It's the title track from an upcoming full-length release, following a 2016 EP and a couple of singles. The band says the album was "written through tough times" and that "the message in this [song] is clear: out of something bad comes something good, if you choose to make it happen."

From Kingston we cruise down the 401 to Toronto to catch the latest from Valley, "Park Bench." It has a sunny and breezy sound, but the disjointed lyric suggests disorientation in the modern age. “It touches on social, generational, and political ideas that we felt were relevant to us at the time,” says Valley's drummer, Karah. The track will be on Maybe: Side B, the second installment of an album the band is releasing in stages; Side A came out about six months ago and we're told they're not stopping at B. 

The new collection from Foals, Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost Part 1, has been declared by NME to be the band's "best album to date." We previously featured the single "Exits," and now we're picking up "In Degrees," which Atwood Magazine calls "a real high point of the album" with "a disco feel to it thanks to an incredibly funky bass line and thumping lower register ... This is super refreshing to hear, and it works perfectly in this eclectic album."

Moving farther from the folk-pop sound of their 2011 debut, Of Monsters and Men crank up the guitar rock on their latest release, "Alligator," the first single from an upcoming album called Fever Dream. The Icelandic band’s co-vocalist, Nanna Bryndis Hilmarsdóttir, takes the lead on this track, with a lyric that never mentions the titular reptile, but speaks of releasing inner feelings: "I am open and I am restless / Let me feel it out, let it all come out."

Introducing Orwells 84; Lenny Bull's debut; plus new Bleached, Black Keys and Bruce Hornsby

From Dundalk in Ireland, the sound of Orwell's 84 reached our ears recently - and grabbed hold of them with the band's new single, "Cailín." This six-piece outfit came together and refined its sound gradually over the past few years, releasing just a couple of singles along the way. With this new release, they've stirred many flavors of music into a joyous brew that's hard to categorize but fascinating to hear. It's folk-rock with Celtic flavor, neo-psychedelica meets trad, guitar-bass-drums mixed with violin, cello - and a bouzouki solo. We'll be very interested to see and hear where this band's musical journey takes it next.

The former frontwoman of Toronto roots-rock band Torero just released her debut EP as a solo artist. Lenny Bull has assembled a tight four-piece rock'n'roll band for this project and delivers songs she describes as reminders "to be bold, strong and unapologetic." We're hearing a bit of a Pretenders vibe in songs like "Somebody's Girl," our pick for the New Music bin.

The upcoming album from Bleached, the pop-punk duo of sisters Jennifer and Jessie Clavin, is called Don't You Think You've Had Enough? It's described as their first LP written from the perspective of sobriety, after facing down addiction. The lead single, "Hard to Kill," celebrates that turn-around: "After all the damage that we've done / Turns out I'm very hard to kill."

Now we go off in another direction with the latest from Bruce Hornsby. If you know him mostly for his 80s singles you might be surprised by the avant-garde jazz, progressive and classical sounds that mix together in his new album, Absolute Zero. We're featuring "Voyager One," inspired by the NASA probe that's now some 13.5 billion miles away. NPR calls this number "pleasantly frantic, propelled by a tight funk-fusion groove and Hornsby's playfully spry vamping on the piano."

We round out the New Music bin this week with the latest piece of blues-rock from The Black Keys. "Eagle Birds" is the second single, following Lo-Hi, to spin out ahead of the band's ninth LP, Let's Rock. The two songs, and the album title, make it pretty clear that - after the Danger Mouse-produced Turn Blue and a five-year gap filled with side projects - Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney are back to playing straightforward guitar rock.

Introducing Orwells 84; Lenny Bull's debut; plus new Bleached, Black Keys and Bruce Hornsby

From Dundalk in Ireland, the sound of Orwell's 84 reached our ears recently - and grabbed hold of them with the band's new single, "Cailín." This six-piece outfit came together and refined its sound gradually over the past few years, releasing just a couple of singles along the way. With this new release, they've stirred many flavors of music into a joyous brew that's hard to categorize but fascinating to hear. It's folk-rock with Celtic flavor, neo-psychedelica meets trad, guitar-bass-drums mixed with violin, cello - and a bouzouki solo. We'll be very interested to see and hear where this band's musical journey takes it next.

The former frontwoman of Toronto roots-rock band Torero just released her debut EP as a solo artist. Lenny Bull has assembled a tight four-piece rock'n'roll band for this project and delivers songs she describes as reminders "to be bold, strong and unapologetic." We're hearing a bit of a Pretenders vibe in songs like "Somebody's Girl," our pick for the New Music bin.

The upcoming album from Bleached, the pop-punk duo of sisters Jennifer and Jessie Clavin, is called Don't You Think You've Had Enough? It's described as their first LP written from the perspective of sobriety, after facing down addiction. The lead single, "Hard to Kill," celebrates that turn-around: "After all the damage that we've done / Turns out I'm very hard to kill."

Now we go off in another direction with the latest from Bruce Hornsby. If you know him mostly for his 80s singles you might be surprised by the avant-garde jazz, progressive and classical sounds that mix together in his new album, Absolute Zero. We're featuring "Voyager One," inspired by the NASA probe that's now some 13.5 billion miles away. NPR calls this number "pleasantly frantic, propelled by a tight funk-fusion groove and Hornsby's playfully spry vamping on the piano."

We round out the New Music bin this week with the latest piece of blues-rock from The Black Keys. "Eagle Birds" is the second single, following Lo-Hi, to spin out ahead of the band's ninth LP, Let's Rock. The two songs, and the album title, make it pretty clear that - after the Danger Mouse-produced Turn Blue and a five-year gap filled with side projects - Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney are back to playing straightforward guitar rock.

New releases from Bruce Springsteen, Josh Ritter, Andrea Nardello, Collective Soul and 311

The new single from Bruce Springsteen is in our New Music bin this week, because of course it is. Mixing new music and classics is what we do, and when one of the top artists of classic rock brings out solid new material, it fits right into our big playlist. Springsteen describes his forthcoming album, Western Stars, as a set of "solo recordings featuring character-driven songs and sweeping, cinematic orchestral arrangements." The lead character in the first single, "Hello Sunshine," is trying to shake off his gloom: "You can get a little too fond of the blues." NPR describes it as occupying "the same melancholy space" as some of the songs of Jimmy Webb, John Hartford, Kris Kristofferson and the like.

In a somewhat similar vein of American folk-rock comes the new collection from Josh Ritter, Fever Breaks. On his 10th album, Ritter teams with Jason Isbell as producer and Isbell's The 400 Unit as backing band. We previously featured the rollicking "Old Black Magic," and now we're picking up the wistful "I Still Love You (Now and Then)." It joins a large catalog of songs about old flames that still smolder - an ever-growing playlist that includes Ritter's own "A Certain Light."

We recently had the chance to catch a live show by Andrea Nardello, whose singing, songwriting and energy put us in mind of Shawn Colvin and Melissa Etheridge. (We later learned that others have made those same comparisons.) From her latest EP, Human, we're featuring the title track - a song about reaching out for the help that everyone needs at times: "Hold me now / I'm human, I'm broken / Come now / Be my warrior." Starting with a simple guitar accompaniment, the track gradually adds cello, violin, piano accents and layered vocals, creating a sound that NPR has called "both intimate and expansive."

Along with those three songs on the mellow side, we're adding a couple of upbeat tracks from veteran bands:

Collective Soul is marking its 25th anniversary as a band with a new album due in June. The title, Blood, is a reference to family ties. Singer-guitarist E Roland says the LP "is an accumulation of all the different styles we’ve used over the years." The lead single is "Right as Rain" - a phrase Roland remembers his grandmother using and that the song uses to express hope for better days ahead.

Also coming in June is Voyager, the 13th album in the nearly three-decade career of 311. Vocalist-guitarist Nick Hexum says the lead single, "Good Feeling," is influenced by the pounding rhythms of Jamaican dancehalls along with Paul Simon's world-beat records. He calls the song "a three-minute party jam meant to feel like a vacation."