Finding new music can be a little overwhelming, right? Once I think I’ve finalized my top songs of the week, I start listening to another album and question my choices. (Looking at you, Mega Bog!)
My goal for this Substack is to hopefully introduce you to new music. Each week I add fresh songs to these playlists: Heavy Rotation - featuring new tunes from the past month & 2023: Favorite Songs (so far) - featuring new tunes from the this year.
On this week’s newsletter I’d like to showcase my top song discoveries from this week:
1️⃣ Hannah Jadagu - "Lose" ✨ Hannah Jadagu's excellent debut album, Aperture, is out today via Sub Pop. After my first listen this morning, I'm completely captivated. Jon Pareles wrote about Hannah for the New York Times this week where “Lose” is described as a folk-to-grunge track “about being scared to get serious.”
2️⃣ Chris Farren - "Cosmic Leash" 🌌 The “handsome and distinguished pop-punk gentleman” himself returns this week with a slightly heavier chorus in this tune. And I welcome it with arms wide open. Produced by Jay Som, it's a taste of what's to come from his forthcoming album, Doom Singer, out August 4 via Polyvinyl. Pick it up on gorgeous “cosmic leash mix” color vinyl, limited to 500.
3️⃣ Nation of Language - "Stumbling Still" ✨ Nation of Language never fails to impress me! Their latest single, the third from their upcoming album Strange Disciple, is a bit moodier than the previous singles, and I like that a lot.
4️⃣ Bully - "Change Your Mind" 💥 Alicia Bognanno delivers yet another killer track! "Change Your Mind" is the fourth single from her highly anticipated fifth record, Lucky for You, out June 2 via Sub Pop.
5️⃣ Blur - "The Narcissist" 🎉 SURPRISE! The britpop legends make a shocking return, to me anyway, especially after Damon Albarn’s other band Gorillaz released an album a few months ago. Blur’s first single since 2015 has arrived & The Ballad Of Darren, out July 21st, is up to pre-order on clear & deluxe marbled vinyl! Woo-hoo!
6️⃣ PONY - "Sick" 🌟 Today's the day! PONY's highly anticipated power-pop album, Velveteen, is finally here. Flood Magzaine has a great track by track write up from Sam & Matty. The whole record is such great fun. If you dig it, treat yourself to one of the many sweet vinyl variant available on their Bandcamp page.
7️⃣ Foo Fighters - "Under You" 🎸 I’m delighted to say that "Under You" might just be my favorite Foo Fighters song since the Wasting Light era. What sounds like influences from Dinosaur Jr, Sugar, and Built To Spill, it's hopefully a glimpse of what's to come on But Here We Are, out 6/2 via Roswell. It’ll be their first album since the passing of Taylor Hawkins.
As always, if you like something you’ve heard & have the means, support artists by buying merch and going to shows. There’s a lot more great music out this week from Liza Anne, Spoon, Mega Bog, Alex Lahey, Origami Angel, The Japanese House, Genesis Owusu, to name a few. Hear it all on Heavy Rotation:
Beyond what’s out right now, Dan Reilly wrote about some upcoming summer albums for Vulture. It’s worth a look if you want to see some heat that’s coming our way this summer!
And a sad note to end on, Andy Rourke from The Smiths has passed away at 59 following a battle with pancreatic cancer. Johnny Marr shared this on his Instagram:
I leave you with this performance where Andy’s excellent bass playing is on full display.
That’s all I got.
- Patrick
Hi Patrick,
you're doing a great job with your playlists!
It would be great if you could find some time to listen to death7lives' new alternative rock song (German lyrics): "Wär's doch nie vorbei"
Here is the Spotify link:
https://open.spotify.com/album/79Vv6TClgCzVzXkKEiZdk4
For more information, visit my website: http://www.death7lives.com/
Thank you very much, enjoy and have a good time!
Kind regards
Jürgen Franzen