Today is New Music Friday, which means there’s loads of new songs in the world.
Here are the 10 single best songs released today I loved.
See the New Music section for all the of tracks and albums featured this week.
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1.
Niamh Regan
Her Eyes are a Blue Million Miles
Galway singer-songwriter Niamh Regan has released a cover of a Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band song from 1972, and it’s a surprising take for the artist.
‘Her Eyes are A Blue Million Miles’ eschews Regan’s typically bright folk sound for a more tense atmosphere, with Regan’s voice in reverb, bringing new qualities to the track.
“I first heard this song in the film ‘The Big Lebowski’, but never looked up the artist. I remembered really liking the short snippet I heard. Then one evening I was watching a documentary on the artist Frank Zappa when I discovered Beefheart who would have been on the scene in California the 60’s-70’s same time. Anyway, if you’re a big Tom Waits fan, like myself, exploring some of Captain Beefheart’s bizarre, fun and strange catalogue is well worth it. I’ve never released a cover song before, so this was fun and a great exercise to explore new sounds and ideas for my second record.”
Niamh Regan
‘Her Eyes are a Blue Million Miles’ was recorded and produced with Steve Lynch, and mastered by Seán MacErlaine. The video was produced by Myles O’Reilly, using old footage from 1927 German film Metropolis.
Niamh Regan 2022 live dates
3rd – 4th November | Other Voices, Cardigan, Wales, UK
5th November | Supporting Villagers, Lime Tree Theatre, Limerick
4th December | Other Voices, Dingle, Co Kerry
5th December | Prim’s Bookshop, Kinsale, Co Cork
2.
Mount Kimbie, James Blake
Somehow She’s Still Here
Mount Kimbie’s album out today MK 3.5: Die Cuts | City Planning features two distinct solo albums by Dom Maker and Kai Campos respectively. Dom’s side, Die Cuts is heavy on collabs and features James Blake and Slowthai, Danny Brown, Reggie, Nomi, Keiyaa, Wiki, Liv.e, Kucka and Choker. Kai’s album City Planning is inspired by time DJing and is “wild, warped and loopy, the album twists avant-garde signifiers from on and off the dancefloor into a deft and refined statement.”
I’m looking forward to listening in full, but for now, here’s the sumptuous James Blake track from Kai’s side.
3.
Helena Hauff
Touching Plastic
The Hamburg master of electro techno returns with a requisite dirty rhythm.
It’s from a new four-track EP Living with Ladybirds, out on November 11th via fabric Originals.
4.
Anna Mieke
Seraphim
Anna Mieke’s folk songwriting just keeps getting more classic-sounding and more individually-spun as we approach the release of album two Theatre, due out November 18th, 2022 via Nettwerk.
Like previous track ‘Mannequin’, there’s also an Anna Heisterkamp-directed video, amd the song was inspired by the unique Argentinian folk artist Juana Molina whose music often layers vocals and loops.
“While writing this song, I was listening to a lot of Juana Molina from Argentina. She has really interesting vocal rhythms going on. ‘Seraphim’ touches on loss, the ‘passing on’ of grief, and the different ways it’s expressed. But, for me, there’s something really uplifting about the song too, and having family and close friends in the video really means a lot.”
Anna Mieke
“The ‘Seraphim’ music video and the video for ‘Mannequin’ were made in quick succession and they’re definitely both part of the same body of work. When Anna and I first met to discuss ‘Seraphim,’ we realised the video was coming together around a coincidence: both of us are named after aunts who passed away before we got to meet them. This video is grappling with the idea of overcoming loss by sharing something with another, as well as focusing on what the song sounds like and how to move to it. Ultimately the video is looking at how your body always wants to react and how you can shape it continuously away from that.”
Anna Heisterkamp
5.
Moon King
Hanging On
Daniel Benjamin aka Moon King cover a Sean Nicholas Savage song in a lo-fi style.
I have a little bit of history with this song…. in 2014 I was in sean’s band for a few weeks on tour from NYC to Los Angeles. I played drum sounds on an old keyboard and sang harmonies. the album we were touring was Bermuda Waterfall, one of my favourite sean records, & I got to know the harmonies on ‘Hangin’ On’ pretty well. so years later, I thought I’d try a slow & funky version with some wah guitar, DX7, electric bass & 808 .
Daniel Benjamin, Moon King
Bonus: If you’ve never heard Moon King’s ‘In & Out’ what are ya waiting here for?
6.
Village Of The Sun
Cesca
Village Of The Sun is a project by Simon Ratcliffe (one half of Basement Jaxx), UK jazz virtuoso Binker Golding and Moses Boyd and it is firmly rooted in live jazz sounds, that has an album out today as it happens.
‘Cesca’ is the opening track on the record First Light, a cosmic jazz unfurl.
7.
HousePlants
Seaglass
HousePlants, the Irish band started by Daithí and Paul Noonan have announced a new EP entitled Seaglass, following last year’s Dry Goods debut album.
The performance video for the song features the live band members: Glen Keating, Sinead O’Brien, and Alex Ridley.
After making an album during lockdown, these new songs came out of actually real life interactions, and there’s more of those planned before the end of the year, namely:
HousePlants Live:
17th December – Whelan’s, Dublin
23rd December – Roisin Dubh, Galway
28th December – Dolan’s, Limerick
8.
Rockwell, Novelist
Peak
An old-school drum and bass and dubstep dark buzz abound on this new collab, which centres its present-day feel with talk of the cost-of-living crisis and the pressure the majority of people are feeling in Britain, but also everywhere else.
“The price of everything is going up, I’ve had to add another zero to my fee I’ve had enough… the government don’t care about a thing, they don’t want to see or hear a brother win.”
9.
Ezra Collective, Kojey Radical
No Confusion
A London hybrid jazz rap linkup from Ezra Collective’s new album Where I’m Meant To Be out today.
10.
Dora Jar
Spell
California-based New York alt-pop artist impresses with this soft and lilting autumnal track that recalls Big Thief vocally.
‘“Spell’ is a song about the feeling of calm before the storm, a pensive reflection and anticipation of change, a wish for a deeper understanding of nature, and a yearning to know my role within the ebb and flow. I usually get seasonal depression in October, which is also my sister’s and my birth month, so I wanted to release it as a gift to honour the melancholy of transition.”
Dora Jar last featured here in 2021, and is fresh from support slots on Billie Eilish’s tour.
Nialler9 Weekly Playlist
Nialler9 New Music Playlist
For more extensive Irish and new music coverage, hit up the Irish section for individual track features
For this and more Irish songs, follow the Nialler9 New Irish Spotify playlist.
