We are coming up on the end of a really packed series of new releases. In the last two weeks, we have seen new albums from Cat Power, Animal Collective, Jens Lekman, Wild Nothing, The xx, Thee Oh Sees, etc. Quite frankly I am getting kind of anxious looking at this and have to stop now as I am now realizing I still have to listen to half of what I just listed (except The xx, am I the only one not that into them? Is there something I am missing?). Anyway, it can be easy to get fatigued with all these new releases on top of the bevy of new individual songs put out each week. Being flooded with this can be a challenge, but isn't it also invigorating? There is never an end to new music to explore and with that said, let us look at some of the best new songs released in the last 7 days. Today's column is unique in that I brought Mac in to write up another new song. So, you get 6 instead of 5. What a bargain!

Levek - "Girl in the Fog:" A gentle song reminiscent of Bon Iver but without all the baggage that we have all now associated with Bon Iver. "Girl in the Fog" is a simple piece of bedroom folk with quiet vocals winding around a very simple series of guitar chords. This is the third single off of Levek's upcoming LP, which will be released on September 25. One of the other singles, "French Lessons" is an equally interesting, albeit for different reasons, track that substitutes guitar with a catchy sampled melody straight out of one of those educational films you sometimes had to watch in elementary school. That might have seriously dated me as a reference so I apologize to any youthful types if that made no sense.


Captain Murphy - "The Killing Joke:" Another mysterious and well done track from the anonymous rapper that might be Tyler the Creator or might not be, but either way they are collaborating with Flying Lotus and that is really cool. Captain Murphy raps briefly between samples from Christopher's Nolan's Batman movies to creepy effect. The mysterious nature of these tracks has made this project, whatever it turns out to be in the end, especially interesting. Honestly, I think it would be great if this is all it turned out to be, a set of quietly released tracks with little fanfare and which don't amount to a full length album. We will see.


DIIV - "How Long Have You Known(Moons美愛Version):” Taking a standout track from DIIV's standout album, Moons remixes it into a slow moving track with Japanese vocals sung over and around the original refrain. The result is a completely different song, one as strong if not more interesting than its source materials. Definitely a highlight of the last few weeks.


Taken By Trees - "Large:" As if in anticipation of the arrival of autumn, this week's tracks all seem to be much more quiet and introspective compared to some of the stuff from a few weeks ago. "Large" is a mellow, spacey track mixing synths and strings to great effect. Taken By Trees' newest album will be out October 6.


Death Grips - "@deathgripz:" Death Grips have to be one of the more interesting acts to have come out recently. There is something intrinsically difficult to grasp yet deeply entertaining about the whole project. At every point, their music leaves little to grasp onto and urges us to keep listening to figure out exactly what is happening. This track seems to throw together several songs and alternates between them quickly, allowing, as I said, no time to really get a handle on each section.


Today we are joined by Mac McGuire, who I have asked to do a guest write up of his favorite new track this week. 

Atoms for Peace - "Default:" The newest single released from the upcoming project of Radiohead's Thom Yorke, Red Hot Chili Pepper bassist Flea, and long time Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich, the seemingly simple "Default" carries over the eerie tension from Yorke's 2006 solo outing The Eraser.  Soothing synths slowly join Yorke’s all too familiar falsetto while a constant beat and blips guide the tune.  The yet to be titled full length album from Atoms for Peace should see the light of day sometime next year.