Category: Digital Music

The Dream Syndicate returns with new album ‘These Times’ — hear single ‘Black Light’

The Dream Syndicate returns with new album ‘These Times’ — hear single ‘Black Light’

Paisley Underground-era rockers The Dream Syndicate in May will release their second album since reuniting, a 10-song collection that’s preceded by the hypnotic single “Black Light” — hear it below — and will be followed by a string of concerts in the eastern U.S. Full details and tour dates here.

The Go-Betweens’ Robert Forster to release new album ‘Inferno’ — hear the title track

The Go-Betweens’ Robert Forster to release new album ‘Inferno’ — hear the title track

Robert Forster, who co-founded and led the beloved Australian indie-pop combo The Go-Betweens with the late Grant McLennan, will release Inferno — his seventh solo LP and first in four years — next month. Below, you can stream the title track, “Inferno (Brisbane in Summer).”

Listen: The Wedding Present covers James Bond theme “You Only Live Twice”

Listen: The Wedding Present covers James Bond theme “You Only Live Twice”

The Wedding Present has just released a third collection of recordings that the David Gedge-led band made for Marc Riley’s show on BBC radio, and the group is promoting the collection — titled, naturally, Marc Riley Sessions Volume 3 — with a cover of the theme for the 1967 James Bond film “You Only Live Twice.”

Premiere: Marty Willson-Piper’s Noctorum returns with fourth album ‘The Afterlife’

Premiere: Marty Willson-Piper’s Noctorum returns with fourth album ‘The Afterlife’

Fans of Marty Willson-Piper who’ve missed his contributions to The Church since his departure five years ago are in luck: the singer-songwriter/guitarist is back with a brand-new studio album with Noctorum, the duo he formed in 2003 with producer Dare Mason. Stream the full new album ‘The Afterlife’ right here.

Listen to The Smiths’ earliest studio demo from 1982 — including isolated guitar, vocals

Listen to The Smiths’ earliest studio demo from 1982 — including isolated guitar, vocals

In August 1982, Johnny Marr and Steven Patrick Morrissey went into Manchester’s Decibelle Studios to record the first two songs they’d written together, “The Hand that Rocks the Cradle” and “Suffer Little Children,” both of which would appear on The Smiths’ debut two years later. Here some of that session here.

Listen: Johnny Marr and Matt Johnson release recording of Lovin’ Spoonful’s ‘Summer in the City’

Listen: Johnny Marr and Matt Johnson release recording of Lovin’ Spoonful’s ‘Summer in the City’

Last month, Johnny Marr brought his old friend Matt Johnson onstage in London to perform a cover of the Lovin’ Spoonful’s 1966 single “Summer in the City” — their first time onstage together in 25 years. Turns out they also recorded a version of the song at soundcheck that night, and now have released it digitally.

Listen: The Specials, ‘Vote For Me’ — first new single with Terry Hall since ‘Ghost Town’

Listen: The Specials, ‘Vote For Me’ — first new single with Terry Hall since ‘Ghost Town’

Legendary 2 Tone ska act The Specials this week released its first single with original lead frontman Terry Hall since 1981’s “Ghost Town,” a lilting new song called “Vote For Me” that is the first cut to surface off the band’s forthcoming reunion album Encore. Listen to the full track right here.

Ian Brown to release new solo album ‘Ripples’ — hear single ‘First World Problems’

Ian Brown to release new solo album ‘Ripples’ — hear single ‘First World Problems’

Ian Brown, the once-again-former lead singer of The Stone Roses, will release his first new solo album in a decade next year, a 10-song collection called Ripples that is preceded by the release of lead-off single, and lead-off track, “First World Problems” — which you can hear right here.

Bob Mould announces new album ‘Sunshine Rock,’ 2019 tour dates — hear the title track

Bob Mould announces new album ‘Sunshine Rock,’ 2019 tour dates — hear the title track

Bob Mould, the legendary frontman of Hüsker Dü and Sugar, is back with a new album and single — both called Sunshine Rock — that he says find him looking on the brighter side of things after a few years living abroad. Or, more simply, “This is not Black Sheets of Rain.” He’s also going on tour next year.

Listen: R.E.M. performs ‘Orange Crush’ on the BBC in 2003 — off upcoming box set

Listen: R.E.M. performs ‘Orange Crush’ on the BBC in 2003 — off upcoming box set

R.E.M. continues to dole out samples of the material that will be found on its upcoming 9-disc R.E.M. at the BBC box set, most recently in the form of a 2003 on-air performance of Green-era single “Orange Crush” on the BBC’s “Mark and Lard” program — which you can stream in full right here.

Listen: Dead Can Dance, ‘The Mountain’ — first taste of upcoming album ‘Dionysus’

Listen: Dead Can Dance, ‘The Mountain’ — first taste of upcoming album ‘Dionysus’

Dead Can Dance — led by co-founders and mainstays Brendan Perry and Lisa Gerrard — today offered up the first taste of their upcoming ninth studio Dionysus in the form of “The Mountain,” the opening of the forthcoming record’s second act. Stream the full track right here.

Listen: R.E.M. rip through ‘Radio Free Europe’ in 1984 recording from ‘At the BBC’ box set

Listen: R.E.M. rip through ‘Radio Free Europe’ in 1984 recording from ‘At the BBC’ box set

For longtime fans, one of the key lures of the upcoming 9-disc R.E.M. at the BBC box set is the inclusion of a 16-song live set recorded at Rock City in Nottingham, England, in 1984 during the Reckoning tour. The band is now previewing that disc with the high-octane live version of “Radio Free Europe” that you can stream here.

Listen: Echo & The Bunnymen debut new ‘transformed’ version of ‘The Killing Moon’

Listen: Echo & The Bunnymen debut new ‘transformed’ version of ‘The Killing Moon’

Echo & The Bunnymen have premiered a new recording of what the band subtly calls “the greatest song in the world,” a slowed-down, piano-and-strings take on the classic 1984 single “The Killing Moon” that is to be included on the group’s upcoming album The Stars, The Oceans & The Moon.