Starting today, Louder is bringing you the biggest and best new songs across rock and alternative music, each and every week. Showcasing everything from alt-rock to punk, rising stars to veteran oldies, we're on the case to find the greatest tunes out there, including some you may have missed. Plus, with our weekly poll, you get to pick what track you think is deserving of being our weekly number one.
Check out our favourite songs from this week below, where we serve up some new tracks from Foos, Florence, Noel Gallagher and more, plus some patriarchy-smashing Brighton punk, enchanting Rolling Stones-approved art-rock and searing hardcore. Oh, and a new supergroup! Check it all out below.
Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds - Council Skies
If you were to tell us that this new release from Britpop legend Noel Gallagher was to appear on the next James Bond soundtrack, we'd probably believe you. Tropical-tinged percussion and slick, sunny melodies come together like two lovers in a frisky holiday liaison, while cool breezy vocals brings the heat back down to a tepid reality via the melancholic yet hopeful lines: 'Hiding what we find behind the sun / Thinking of what might have been' and 'Taking the long way home / So we can be alone'.
Foo Fighters - Rescued
Dave Grohl and co.'s first offering since the untimely death of the late Taylor Hawkins is as heart-rendering as expected. There's a heavy sense of nostalgia here, as guitars surge to steady drum stomps, as if calling out for a sign for better days. Underneath the sorrow, however, there's a burgeoning seed of hope, as Grohl poignantly bellows: 'We’re all free to some degree / To dance under the lights / I’m just waiting to be rescued'.
Florence + The Machine - Mermaids
This darkly ethereal new offering from the Dance Fever universe of Florence + The Machine summons visions of sharp-toothed sirens pulling sailors to their deaths. Elsewhere, frontwoman Florence Welch marvels over scenes far closer to home. 'England is only ever grey or green' she sings, as trumpets bloom menacingly like a Venus flytrap, pulling the melody forward under a firm grasp. It's a Grimms' fairy tale come to life; enchanting, otherworldly, yet cast under a shadow, foreboding a silent danger.
Sleep Token - DYWTYLM
Sleep Token lean into their more radio friendly side on new single DYWTYLM, the latest to arrive from upcoming album Take Me Back To Eden. As flickering orbs of synth dance around a light, trilling drum beat, frontman Vessel warbles a potent, brooding melody, quivering in his honey-thick timbre 'do you wish that you loved me?'. With none of their towering metalcore riffs in sight, the British anonymous collective once again startle listeners with a song that could fit snuggly between ballads by Selena Gomez or Lewis Capaldi.
Lambrini Girls - Lads Lads Lads
Lambrini Girls present a glaring mirror to the ugly truth of lad culture in this no-punches-pulled, riotous punk take-down. As they drag listeners along by the scruff of their necks, vicious riffs thunder under the snarling shouts of Phoebe Lunny, who aims a defiant fury towards the violence-hungry homophobes that can usually be found squatting in pubs. Urgent and unstoppable, the Brighton-based trio declare: "Lad culture is the shit stain on the bathroom floor and toxic masculinity is the toilet paper that refuses to unstick from the shoe of society. Nobody wins". Like what you hear? Find them at Iggy Pop's Dog Day Afternoon in Crystal Palace this July.
The Last Dinner Party - Nothing Matters
To support The Rolling Stones without a single official release to their name is quite the feat, but, judging by the standard of their newly-arrived debut, their early success has been more than well deserved. A richly indulgent tryst between art pop and indie rock, The Last Dinner Party serve up surprisingly stylish nods to Queen and ABBA via a flamboyant yet ethereally profound melody, anchored by a vocal that sounds like a poppish Siouxsie Sioux with a hint of Florence Welch. Its accompanying video is a similarly eclectic experience, with striking, romantic visuals of wind-struck young maidens that appear as if drawn up from a painting.
Better Lovers - 30 Under 13
The new project of former Dillinger frontman Greg Puciato, three ex-Every Time I Die members and producer/Fit For An Autopsy guitarist Will Putney have unleashed their debut single; a scorching, razor-sharp slab of ferocious hardcore. As riffs stab in a staccato motion under the titanic weight of the percussion, Greg's vocals skewer through the mix like a red, hot iron poker, as he blisters out scathing lines such as 'moral mind of a fool that never learns / you’re fucking nothing to me / only known because I made you so'.
Bully - Hard To Love
The best 90s fuzz anthem released this year, Bully's Hard To Love is driven by strutting, twanging guitars and purring vocals. Self-assured and effortlessly cool, it's soaked in a lipstick-smudged, frivolous attitude that fearlessly bares its vulnerabilities in a "take it or leave it" kind of way. As vocalist Alicia Bognanno explains, it's all about “growing up never fitting into society’s constructed gender stereotypes and expectations" and feeling like love is out of the question. It's for anyone tired of feeling needlessly set aside.
