Everything (and everybody) old is renewed in today’s six-pack of new songs. Hear for yourself:
1 | Guitarist Marc Ribot enlisted the inimitable Tom Waits for his new song Bella Ciao, an anti-fascist Italian folk ballad from his forthcoming record Songs of Resistance 1948-2018, out Sept. 14 on ANTI-. The song also happens to be Waits’ first new recording in two years. SEZ THE PRESS RELEASE: “I played Tom a bunch of the tunes and he immediately bonded with that one. Of course, he brings a certain gravitas to everything he does—my Italian friends say he sounds exactly like an old ‘partigiano’ (resistance fighter)!” Join the resistance:
2 | Joan Jett & the Blackhearts released their first new song in five years — the typically crunchy power-pop fistpumper Fresh Start, from the upcoming soundtrack to her Bad Reputation documentary. If that isn’t enough for you to celebrate, how about this: Joanie turns 60 later this month. Here’s your present:
3 & 4 | Brody Dalle and the reunited Distillers have outdone both Waits and Jett in the waiting game — they just dropped two new songs, their first in 15 years. And while neither delivers the blast-furnace intensity and hardcore intensity of Sing Sing Death House, they’re both respectable blasts of classic guttersnipe guitar-punk. Get a taste of Man vs. Magnet above and Blood in Gutters (which Dalle previously released as a solo single) below:
5 | Veteran Nashville singer-songwriter John Hiatt offered up the superb roots gem Over the Hill, a notably spry number from his upcoming album The Eclipse Sessions, which was reportedly cut during last year’s celestial event. Shield your eyes:
6 | It’s hard to go too far wrong with a Black Sabbath cover — as fellow sludge kings The Melvins and Sleep frontman Al Cisneros prove with their suitably sluggish seven-minute slog through Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. It comes from their fittingly titled two-song Sabbath EP — or as you might call it, a single — due someday on AmRep. Meanwhile, into the muck:
