Happy Friday! Alternative New Music Friday #Happens With Clairo. Charm is the third album released by Clairo, out today via Virgin. It features her lead single “Sexy To Someone” and Clairo has L.A. and New York Residency dates in September. Eminem and HARDY lead the big list of new albums out today.

New singles from little image, The Band CAMINO, Jutes, and Christian Gates are now available for airplay on Happens.vip Alternative Downloads.

Alternative Ratings! Nielsen June ‘24 PPM 6+ Ratings are being released this week and here are the latest Alternative stations to post increases: KNDD (107.7 The End)/Seattle 2.2-2.6, WDZH (ALT 98.7)/Detroit 3.7-3.8, WEND (106.5 The End)/Charlotte 3.1-3.3, KKDO (ALT 94.7)/Sacramento 4.0-5.2, WXDX (105.1 The X)/Pittsburgh 3.8-4.1, WXZX (Alternative 105.7)/Columbus 2.0-2.2, and KRBZ (ALT 96.5)/Kansas City 2.0-2.7.

Andy Hawk from KKDO had the biggest ratings increase and he told me the station is #3 P18-49 #3 P25-54. More big news, Hawk had Sacramento’s Papa Roach’s Jacoby Shaddix in-studio on Wednesday (7/10) to announce on-air that Papa Roach will play an acoustic set at tonight’s Concerts In The Park in Downtown Sacramento to benefit the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

Malcolm Ryker checks in with exciting news. He is now iHeartMedia Sr. Creative Director Rock And Alternative & KYSR (ALT 98.7)/L.A. Creative Services Dir. Alternative is back on Northeast PA as WEZX-HD3/Wilkes-Barre/Scranton debuts “Fuzz 96.1.” Amber Miller has a new gig at WXPN/Philly. Nick Petropoulos is promoted at Arista to EVP, Promotion And Artist Development. Good stuff, right! Get the 411 in Alternative News.

Good Neighbours may be coming to your area. The UK band’s first-ever North American tour begins in September. I have the tour dates for you in Alternative Music Info.

Ella Red stopped by WRIS (106.7 The Resistance)/Madison to debut her new single “I Like You Best” and share the story behind the song. There’s a picture and a Discover New Alternative interview you can check out on Alternative Photos.

Let’s dig in on the new music that needs to be on your radar today..

ALTERNATIVE NEW MUSIC DISCOVERY  

little image “STRANGE FRIENDS” (Hollywood/Crush) 

Listen & Download HERE.

Dallas trio little image released “STRANGE FRIENDS” today. 

About the new single, little image says, “STRANGE FRIENDS is a song that explores the stories and possibilities of the people in our lives. We like to keep our relationships inside a box that fits us neatly, but there is something beautiful and humanizing in being close with someone who has a completely different story than you. Even if it’s a little strange.” 

In 2023, little image had a breakout #1 Alternative single “OUT OF MY MIND” and they landed iHeart’s On The Verge Artist.

The Band CAMINO “Nostalgia” (Elektra)

Listen & Download HERE.

Memphis 3-piece The Band CAMINO released “Nostalgia” on July 10th. It’s from their latest Bruises EP, which dropped in May. 

The now Nashville-based band had this to say about the new EP: “Fresh starts are hard to come by when you’ve been a band for 9 years and almost all of your 20’s, but this release truly feels like one. Honestly for a while it felt like we were chasing something. Having a fan base and any amount of success puts this pressure on your art and it’s easy to start chasing and predicting what you think people are going to like. But in this next chapter we’ve decided we aren’t chasing anything at all – just expressing. Making something you connect with is far more fulfilling and the only reason we found our footing as a band in the first place. 

“Just know we feel these songs in our bones and we have a feeling someone out there will too. Making these songs and this EP brought us together in a way we haven’t felt in a long time honestly. We took the process back to the place we started as a band and wrote and arranged the songs in a live rehearsal setting to truly create them together with instruments in our hands. Making music in 2024 has mostly turned into sitting in front of a computer, so we really put in effort to make music with no computers in sight until it was time to hit the studio with a fully-fleshed out arrangement. We tracked everything live as a band and left the takes as raw as we could. Our live show has always been what we’re most proud of, so we really just wanted to capture that in these recordings and not over complicate or overproduce anything. A touch more humanness, imperfectly perfect.” 

The Band CAMINO’s breakout Alternative single “1 Last Cigarette” was released in 2021.

Jutes “Sleepyhead” (Jutes via Too Lost) 

Listen & Download HERE.

Toronto, Canada’s Jutes released “Sleepyhead” on July 10th. It’s the title track from his self-released EP released on June 14th. As a 90s baby, Jutes pulls inspiration from the Alt Rock bands he grew up on like Nirvana, Deftones, Radiohead and Smashing Pumpkins. 

Following his 2023 grunge rock album, Ladybug, Jutes’ has taken on a dark and cinematic tone on his latest release that cross breeds numetal with atmospheric hip hop. What began as an experiment by pulling inspiration from early Neighbourhood albums and the Deftones in the studio with his favorite collaborators Keith Sorrells and Alex Niceforo has created a whole new spark. 

Two weeks after “Sleepyhead” was released it started to gain momentum on TikTok and quickly became Jutes’ most well received single to date. Jutes had this to say about his new music. “After writing and recording an entire album trying to appeal to what labels told me they wanted and constantly thinking about what would work for rock radio, I lost my vision as an artist and put my personal taste on hold to do what I thought would help me break through after many years of trying. I decided to make something just for myself and ended up writing ‘Theraflu’ and ‘Sleepyhead’ back to back. These records reignited the passion I almost lost and made me decide to scrap the album and trust my own vision independently. Instantly ‘Sleepyhead’ became the fastest growing song of my career and I’m so grateful I bet on myself yet again.” 

Christian Gates “I Won’t Beg For You” (OneRPM)

Listen & Download HERE.

Orange Country, CA’s Christian Gates released “I Won’t Beg For You” on July 10th. Drawing from a diverse range of influences, Gates defies genre norms. 

His turbulent youth, marked by street racing and run-ins with the law, resonates in his music. Gates continues to be a voice for the voiceless, turning adversity into art. 

Gates played Lollapalooza in 2023 and is closing in on 50 Million Spotify streams.

New Music Friday #Happens With Clairo

Clairo released her third album, Charm, today via Virgin. Her new 11 song collection features the lead single “Sexy To Someone.”

Charm is a collection of warm, 70’s-inspired grooves that move lithely between jazz, psychedelic folk and soul. Raised in Carlisle, Massachusetts, Clairo tracked live to tape between the Queens-based studio Diamond Mine Recording and Allaire Studios, which is nestled in the mountains outside of Woodstock, NY. 

Producer Leon Michels, a renowned soul revivalist who has worked with funk legend Sharon Jones and The Black Keys, was enlisted to lead the strictly-analogue recording process. Charm takes everything that has won Clairo legions of devoted fans all over the world to elegant new heights. 

Clairo brings the album to life in September with five-date residencies at The Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles (9/6, 9/7, 9/8, 9/10 & 9/11) and Webster Hall in New York City (9/14, 9/15, 9/17,9/18, 9/19). All dates sold-out in just minutes.

More New Music Friday Albums Out Today

Bones Owens – Love Out Of Lemons (Black Ranch Records/Thirty Tigers)

Cigarettes After Sex – X’s (Partisan)

Eminem – The Death Of Slim Shady (Shady/Aftermath/Interscope)

HARDY – Quit!! (Big Loud Rock)

In The Valley Below – The Black Moon (In The Valley Below)

Remi Wolf – Big Ideas (Island/Republic)

Travis – L.A. Times (BMG)

MORE ALT ALBUMS HERE

GOING FOR ADDS

Impacting Songs Next Week (7/16):

The Band CAMINO “Nostalgia” (Elektra)

HARDY “Psycho” (Big Loud Rock)