Frank Turner, The Wild Feathers, Momma, Houndmouth, Coco added to our New Music bin

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Frank Turner: Haven't Been Doing So Well

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The title of his upcoming ninth album, FTHC, stands for Frank Turner Hard Core, and this advance single is one of his harder-rocking numbers. Consequence of Sound calls it "a rousing, cathartic track capturing the emotions many people have experienced during the pandemic." Turner says "It’s been a difficult time for a lot of people and their mental health, myself included, and discussing that openly is important to me. So this is a song about anxiety and the struggles that come with that.” It ends with a good reminder not to suffer in silence: "And maybe, just maybe / I'll admit that I could use a little help."

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The Wild Feathers: Side Street Shakedown

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We previously featured a couple of early singles from Alvarado, the Nashville-based band's fourth LP and the first to be self-produced. We're dipping into it again to pull out this this rollicking track. New Noise magazine says "there is a rawness and immediacy to Alvarado that has never been as obvious before on any of their earlier efforts. The driving, guitar-heavy 'Side Street Shakedown' is solid proof that this is much more than just another traditional Americana band."

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Momma: Medicine

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Love is the drug, lifting me higher, hooked on a feeling, addicted to love... Is there room for one more song comparing infatuation to intoxication? Sure, why not? "One hit / And I'm higher than I've ever been / One kiss / And I'm hooked on your medicine." The duo of Etta Friedman and Allegra Weingarten previously released two indie albums. They're joined by bassist Aron Kobayashi Ritch and drummer Zach CapittiFenton for this first single on the Polyvinyl label.

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Houndmouth: Miracle Mile

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The new album Good for You marks a return to the band's Indiana roots, as NPR puts it. "The trio avoided a recording studio in favor of their longtime headquarters, a shotgun house from the 1850s, and recruited producer Brad Cook, who helped them take a less-is-more approach in those recording sessions. The result is a recharged band and a refined batch of songs." But No Depression reports the fresh departure of bassist Zak Appleby, reducing Houndmouth to the duo of guitarist-vocalist Matt Myers and drummer Shane Cody, and describes the album as a potential farewell. It's filled with reminiscences from years of crossing the country on tour, like this song that references several cities along the way.

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Coco: Last of the Loving

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The members of this band kept their identities secret while releasing a few singles over the past year, wanting the music to speak for itself (or was it just to generate buzz?). With the recent release of their self-titled debut LP, we learn they are a trio of musicians from other bands: Maia Friedman (of Dirty Projectors, Uni Ika Ai), Dan Molad (of Lucius, Chimney), and Oliver Hill (of Pavo Pavo, Dustrider). This song, they say, "portrays the feelings and sentiments of a blossoming relationship.” Although it was written before the pandemic, some lines seem very timely: “The world turns and moves while you exist in a new little bubble."

Latest new-music picks: Dentist, NHC, Yard Arms, North Mississippi Allstars, Northern Quarter

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Dentist: Spilled Coffee

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Here come fresh greetings from Asbury Park, N.J., where this trio formed in 2013 and has been rolling out "surf-punk" music ever since. This is their third single this year; their next album, following 2018's Night Swimming, is expected in the coming year. Under the Radar writes that "the band’s fuzzy surf guitar riffs are now met with dark, churning basslines and anxious lyricism." Says the band: “For this single, we wanted to release something that coincides with the feeling you get moving from fall into winter. ‘Spilled Coffee’ has an ominous vibe, but it’s also something you’d want to dance to, to help move away from your upcoming seasonal depression.”

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NHC: Devil That You Know

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Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins and Jane’s Addiction’s members Dave Navarro (lead guitar) and Chris Chaney (bass) combine their talents (and initials) in this band that's planning an album for 2022 release. Navarro has said it will have 12 tracks and a wide "emotional range." Loudwire writes that this single "starts with a fiery, squalling guitar line from Navarro but pulls back into more melodically hypnotic verses sung by Hawkins."

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Yard Arms: Pirouettes

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The Bristol, U.K., band built around the duo of Noah Villeneuve and Billy Golding continues refining a sound that its publicity says evokes "classic '80s influence of The Cure and Echo & The Bunnymen with more present-day indie acts such as The National, Bleachers and Death Cab For Cutie." This new single "playfully explores the concept of Karma and the fragility of modern day brain health."

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North Mississippi Allstars: See the Moon

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Brothers Luther and Cody Dickinson and a rotating cast of collaborators have been making a blend of blues, rock, bluegrass and other ingredients since the mid-90s, producing a dozen albums and collecting four Grammy nominations. Their latest album, Set Sail, is set for release next month. This track features vocals by Lamar Williams Jr. and Sharisse Norman. Williams' late father was the bassist in the Allman Brothers Band in the mid-70s. The Dickinsons and Williams Jr. met while playing on the Allman Family Revival tour with The Allman Betts Band, Robert Randolph and others.

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Northern Quarter: Perfect Fit

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Hailing from "the charming Albertan mountain town of Canmore," this indie-pop quartet draws from genres "ranging from indie folk to jazzy lounge-style vibes." Vocalist and lyricist Kerry Hunter often draws on her own life experiences - as on this track. The band's drummer-producer, David Crewe, told Mountain FM that the song "was actually written by Kerry as a gift for her husband, and she sang it to him on their wedding day as a surprise. They have a lot of friends who play music so they had kind of an open mic going on at the wedding, so she surprised him by getting up and singing the song that she wrote."

New Music by Screens 4 Eyes, Glass Violet, Pete Yorn, Andrew Leahey, Soda Blonde

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Screens 4 Eyes: What to Make of You

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The latest release from the project of Tel Aviv-based musician Yael Brener is an EP, Meridians, consisting of three new tracks. It joins two albums, another EP and several stand-alone singles in the S4E catalog - some recorded with a band and others, like this one, with Brener playing all the instruments. Her brand of "indie dream pop / electro rock" is marked by dark vocals and swirling keyboard sounds creating a sense of mystery.

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Glass Violet: Indigo

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We've just been introduced to this indie band from Bristol, U.K. Its five members cite The Killers, Kasabian and The Strokes among their influences. They strive for "arena-size" songs with "huge choruses and melodramatic breakdowns." They've released a handful of singles in the past two years, but this is the first to reach our ears, and we're happy to pass it on to yours.

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Pete Yorn: Elizabeth Taylor

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The iconic actress is mentioned only in passing in this song, and we don't really know what the line means: "Why'd you have to go all Elizabeth Taylor on me?" Yorn doesn't really explain it when he says the song is "about picking yourself back up, dusting yourself off, and getting the f**k back out there.” This is the first tease of his upcoming ninth album, expected in early 2022. It's called Hawaii -- for reasons that are equally mysterious, at least for now.

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Andrew Leahey & the Homestead: Keep the Car Running

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We previously featured "Good at Gone" from this Nashville-based outfit's new album, American Static, Vol. 1, and now we're putting this high-powered track into our New Music bin. (Never mind that it was released as a single early this year. Don't go all Hermione Granger on us!) "Originally a celebration of the idea of hearing a song so powerful on your car radio that you won’t turn off the ignition until it ends, the track has evolved into an anthem of resilience," wrote Rolling Stone. Said Leahey: “It’s about finding your own stability during times that threaten to knock you off balance.”

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Soda Blonde: I Still Have Feelings for You

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This Dublin band released its first full-length album, Small Talk,in July. Now they're back with an EP consisting of stripped-down versions of four of the LP's songs, including this single. The arrangement suits this song about the difficulty of letting go: "I still can’t manage any memories that you come into / I still get weak, out of true."

The latest adds to our New Music bin: July Talk, Lake 22, Elephant, The War on Drugs, Sting

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July Talk: I Am Water

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While touring to support their 2020 album, Pray for It, the Toronto-based group has spun out this high-energy single. While the lyric seems to deal with existential questions, the band's announcement of the song emphasized its ebullient sound: "Don't know about you, but we have so much pent-up energy from staying inside over the pandemic and we just wanna dance + let it out! We hope that it brings you all sorts of joy, and that you can blast it in your kitchen and let loose."

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Lake 22: I Want to Hate You

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The buzz from the Seattle music scene spread through college radio and has now reached us - so we're catching up on this quintet's self-titled album, released several months back. The band's bio says its music "is shaped by the grunge rock of the 80s and 90s, the Punk movement, and their parents’ record collections of classic rock, pop, and jazz." This punk-ish rocker suddenly switches gears with a jazzy piano break. Other tracks on the album go off in even more directions. Variety - just what we like!

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Elephant: Calling

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Photo by Jose van der Weide

We've been spinning a couple of tracks from this Rotterdam-based band's initial EP, and now we have the first single from its debut full-length, Big Thing, due in the new year. The quartet describes its sound as "sunny melancholy in a major key." This song is described as a response to pandemic lockdown, which caused many people to reflect on their lives: “Sure, I’ll work as hard as I can in this life / For a house, a car, a kid and a wife / But I’ll try to build something, out on my own / that can’t be torn down after I’m gone.”

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The War on Drugs: Wasted

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Compared with 2017's densely-arranged A Deeper Understanding, the Philadelphia-based band's new album, I Don't Live Here Anymore, sounds "looser and less toiled-over without losing the detail" of frontman Adam Granduciel's songwriting, AllMusic writes. This track features a quick pulse behind lyrics that seem to be the conflicted ramblings of someone trying to come to grips with a breakup: "Our lives are disconnected much too soon."

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Sting: The Hills on the Border

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On his new album, The Bridge, Sting reprises the Police sound with "Rushing Water," goes all-in on light pop with "If It's Love," and explores his jazz and classical influences on other tracks. We're featuring this stylistic stand-out, a folky fable that, Riff Magazine says, "with its violins, accordion and plenty of mood, sounds like a cross between Richard Thompson and October-era U2."

New Beach House, Ana Egge, Creamery Station, Diamondtown, They Might Be Giants in our mix

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Beach House: Once Twice Melody

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The process of releasing "albums" keeps evolving. The duo of Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally is bringing out a new 18-song collection, titled Once Twice Melody, in four "chapters" over four months. It's the eight Beach House album, and the first produced entirely by the band. The first installment was just released, and we're featuring the title track. "Working with a live string ensemble for the first time, they summon a sound more surrealistic than anything on 2018’s 7," writes Pitchfork, adding that this song, with lyrics about "basking in the faraway places constructed by a wandering mind ... evokes the sensual slowness of a hot summer day."

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Ana Egge: Wait A Minute

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Photo by Shervin Lainez

This Canadian-American singer-songwriter's music crosses genres of folk, country and pop/rock without fitting neatly into any of them. She recently released her 12th album, Between Us. Folk Alley describes our featured track well: "From the snare shot that opens the song to soulful Memphis horns that cascade in a shower of golden notes, 'Wait a Minute' shuffles exultantly into our hearts and gets us up and dancing." The lyric could apply to politics or interpersonal relations. Says Egge: “Often times things can be worked out if we take the time to slow down together and talk and listen. And we need to do that in order to stop reacting to each other. When we’re just reacting, we’re still stuck in ourselves.”

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Creamery Station: Crazy Night

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This Connecticut-based band "relies on its diverse players and diverse influences to bring forth performances in the tradition of the 'Jamband' genre, allowing them to take the music anywhere the moment moves them," says its press release. It released its second album last year and is working toward a third, with songs "conceived and developed by the ensemble during the pandemic months of outdoor rehearsal sessions, when live shows were few and far between." The seven-member group, formed in 2014, wears the influences of the Grateful Dead, The Band, Little Feat and the like on its collective sleeve. 

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Diamondtown: Everyday Is Monday

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We sail down east to find this band formed by veterans of several groups from the Nova Scotia music scene. It started with the duo of KC Spidle and Evan Cardwell, accompanied by a drum machine, and has grown into a quintet. This opening track on their self-titled album starts with a few beats from that drum machine before the full-band sound kicks in, with Meg Yoshida on drums. "This record is the most rocking thing we’ve done up until this point," says Spidle. "I think adding Meg to the fold was the crucial element to make it sound like a band.”

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They Might Be Giants: Moonbeam Rays

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Photo by Sam Graff

Nearly four decades into their music career, John Flansburgh and John Linnell continue to innovate. Their latest album, BOOK, packages 15 songs with a 144-page book of Brooklyn photographer Brian Karlsson's work and with lyrics styled by graphic designer Paul Sahre. We've been playing the single "I Can't Remember the Dream," and now we're featuring this rocker with a nasty-breakup lyric (that doesn't refer at all to its title). Hot Press calls the track a Big Star-comparable pop gem, while Glide Magazine says it "feels like a Yo La Tengo jam." Mostly it sounds like TMBG being TMBG.