New Music Friday - February 14, 2025

Be sure to view a list of upcoming releases here!

Essential Full-Length Releases

	Bartees Strange - Horror Watch: "Sober" Watch: "Too Much"
	Cryogeyser - Cryogeyser Watch: "Stargirl" Watch: "Blue Light"
	Horsegirl - Phonetics On and On Watch: "2468" Watch: "Julie"
	Mallrat - Light hit my face like a straight right Watch: "Horses" Watch: "Pavement"
	venturing - Ghostholding Listen: "Dead forever" Listen: "Famous girl"

Other Full-Length Releases

Denison Witmer - Anything at All Watch: "Focus Ring" (featuring Sufjan Stevens) Watch: "Shade I’ll Never See" (featuring Sufjan Stevens)

Drake & PartyNextDoor - $ome $exy $ongs 4 U Watch: "MEET YOUR PADRE" Watch: "DIE TRYING"

fish narc - frog song Watch: "my ceiling" Watch: "old band"

The Lumineers - Automatic Watch: "Same Old Song" Watch: "Automatic"

Peter Dreams - Peter Dreams and MOONRIIVR Watch: "Do Like I Do" Watch: "Arrivals"

Robert Ascroft - Echo Still Remains Watch: "Should’ve Stayed in Bed" (featuring Christopher Owens) Watch: "Devil Opens the Door" (with Kid Congo Powers)

Singles, EPs, Soundtracks, etc.

John Glacier - Like a Ribbon Watch: "Found" Watch: "Ocean Steppin" (featuring Sampha)

Kelela - In the Blue Light Listen: "Blue Light" (unplugged) Listen: "Waitin’" (unplugged)

Sabrina Carpenter - Short n’ Sweet (Deluxe) Watch: "Bad Reviews" Watch: "Please Please Please" (featuring Dolly Parton)

New Music Friday - February 16, 2024

Be sure to view a list of upcoming releases here!

Essential Full-Length Releases

	Heems - Lafandar Listen: "Sri Lanka" Listen: "Obi Toppin (Darling)"
	Middle Kids - Faith Crisis Pt. 1 Watch: "Dramamine" Watch: "Bend"
	San Fermin - Arms Watch: "Didn’t Want You To" Watch: "Arms"
	serpentwithfeet - GRIP Watch: "Damn Gloves" (featuring Ty Dolla $ign & Yanga YaYa) Watch: "Safe Word"

Other Full-Length Releases

Chromeo - Adult Contemporary Watch: "Personal Effects" Watch: "Lost and Found"

Grandaddy - Blu Wav Watch: "Long as I’m Not the One" Watch: "Watercooler"

IDLES - TANGK Watch: "DANCER" Watch: "GRACE"

Omni - Souvenir Watch: "Exacto" Watch: "Plastic Pyramid" (featuring Izzy Glaudini)

William Doyle - Springs Eternal Watch: "Relentless Melt" Watch: "Surrender Yourself"

Singles, EPs, Soundtracks, etc.

Caroline Polachek - Desire, I Want to Turn Into You: Everasking Edition Listen: "Gambler's Prayer" Listen: "I Believe" (Acoustic Version)

Kelela - RAVE:N, the Remixes Watch: "Happy Ending" (A.G. Remix) Watch: "Holier" (JD. REID Remix featuring Shygirl)

Nouvelle Vague - Should I Stay or Should I Go? Watch: "Shout" (featuring Bijou & Marine Quéméré) Listen: "Should I Stay or Should I Go?"

Screaming Females - Clover Listen: "Where I Live" Listen: "You Got It"

New Music Friday - February 10, 2023

Be sure to view a list of upcoming releases here!

Essential Full-Length Releases

	Andy Shauf - Norm Watch: "Wasted on You" Watch: "Catch Your Eye"
	Black Belt Eagle Scout - The Land, the Water, the Sky Watch: "My Blood Runs Through This Land" Watch: "Nobody"
	Kelela - RAVEN Watch: "Happy Ending" Watch: "Washed Away"
	Liv.e - Girl in the Half Pearl Watch: "Wild Animals" Watch: "Ghost"
	Paramore - This Is Why Watch: "This Is Why" Watch: "The News"

Other Full-Length Releases

Amber Arcades - Barefoot on Diamond Road Watch: "True Love" Listen: "Odd to Even"

The Golden Dregs - On Grace & Dignity Watch: "American Airlines" Watch: "Before We Fell from Grace"

Quasi - Breaking the Balls of History Watch: "Queen of Ears" Watch: "Doomscrollers"

Tennis - POLLEN Watch: "One Night with the Valet" Watch: "Let’s Make a Mistake Tonight"

Yo La Tengo - This Stupid World Watch: "Fallout" Watch: "Aselestine"

Singles, EPs, Soundtracks, etc.

The Rolling Stones - GRRR Live! Watch: "It’s Only Rock ’n’ Roll (But I Like It)" (Newark 2012) Watch: "Doom and Gloom" (Newark 2012)

Merry Christmas from 50% Hipster!

I wanted to take a moment out this holiday season to wish everyone out there a merry Christmas! It's also a time of year for many artists and musicians to share special holiday songs and surprise recordings. Here's a sampling of what we got this year:

- Bill Murray has a new Netflix holiday special, A Very Murray Christmas. It was directed by Sofia Coppola and features appearances from other comedians and even a few musicians like Miley Cyrus, Jenny Lewis, and the band Phoenix. Phoenix got together with Murray to record a cover of the Beach Boys' "Alone on Christmas Day."

- Amazon released their Indie for the Holidays compilation, including songs from Avid Dancer, YACHT, and Langhorne Slim, along with many others.

- Sondre Lerche continued his tradition of recording a cover of one of the year's biggest hits as a gift for his fans. This year, he took on Drake's "Hotline Bling."

- Run the Jewels started a 12 Days of Christmas advent calendar, giving fans the chance to win special prizes everyday!

- Kelela released a collection of remixes from her latest EP, Hallucinogen, today. It includes reworks from Sporting Life, Kahn, and Airmax.

- A number of artists released new Christmas and holiday themed EPs and albums, including: Ariana Grande, Cassie Ramone, and Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings.

- And, as usual, a number of one-off tracks were released by a wide variety of artists, enjoy them below!

New Music Friday - October 9, 2015

Be sure to view a list of upcoming releases here!

Essential Full-Length Releases

Protomartyr - The Agent Intellect I annoyed my boyfriend a bit last week when Protomartyr's "Why Does It Shake?" got stuck in my head. I was singing the title refrain over and over, and the lyrics confused him a bit. I finally had to play him the original song. The Detroit-based post-punk band has a foreboding sound that recalls the darker elements of the genre. They are part of an excellent revival of the genre that sounds much different from the British revival more than 15 years ago. Listen: "Why Does It Shake?" Listen: "Dope Cloud"

Saintseneca - Such Things Sometimes a free concert is all you need to get into a new band. Northside, Cincinnati hosts a Rock 'n Roll Carnival every year for Independence Day and Columbus, Ohio-based Saintseneca played this year. Although I didn't see them in person, I could hear their music streaming down the street and loved what I heard (I'm also always a sucker for bands from Indiana and Ohio). It wasn't long until they announced this new album, an excellent set of songs that prove they sound just as great recorded. Watch: "River" Watch: "Bad Ideas"

The Zombies - Still Got That Hunger It's amazing how many bands who got started in the 1960s are still going strong. The British band The Zombies became best known for the hits "Time of the Season" and "She's Not There." The group went through several cycles of breakups and reunions before their last reunion in 2004. This is their third album since that reunion, though just their sixth overall. Listen: "Moving On" Listen: "I Want You Back Again"

Other Full-Length Releases

Alex G - Beach Music Watch: "Bug" Watch: "Kicker"

City & Colour - If I Should Go Before You Watch: "If I Should Go Before You" Watch: "Woman"

The Game - The Documentary 2 Watch: "100" (featuring Drake) Listen: "On Me" (featuring Kendrick Lamar)

Selena Gomez - Revival Watch: "Good for You" (featuring A$AP Rocky) Watch: "Same Old Love"

Singles, EPs, Soundtracks, etc.

The Decemberists - Florasongs EP Watch: "Cavalry Captain" Listen: "Why Would I Now?"

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros - Live in No Particular Order: 2009-2014 Listen: "Truth" Listen: "I Don’t Wanna Pray"

Flying Lotus - You’re Dead! Deluxe Watch: "Coronas, the Terminator" Listen: "Protector"

Johnny Marr - Adrenaline Baby Listen: "Bigmouth Strikes Again" Listen: "Playland"

Kelela - Hallucinogen EP Watch: "Rewind" Listen: "Hallucinogen"

Mastodon - Once More ‘Round the Sun Reissue Watch: "High Road" Watch: "The Motherload"

Weyes Blood - Cardamom Times EP Watch: "In the Beginning" Listen: "Cardamom"

Zomby - Let’s Jam Listen: "Acid Surf" Listen: "Bloom"