Happy Monday! Hope you had an amazin’ weekend! We kickoff the first day of the week with Clifford from WRXL (ALT 102.1)/Richmond, VA sharing his fun stories on #HAPPENS Famous Firsts. 

Wet Leg “catch these fists” is the #1 Most Picked song again this week on Alternative Picks. Lots of new picks on Turnstile, which just arrived last Tuesday. Find the rest of the Top 5 songs buzzing right now on Alternative Picks. 

Cage The Elephant “Metaverse” remains the #1 song this week for the second-consecutive week on the Mediabase Alternative Chart. “Metaverse” marks the 13th #1 single for Cage The Elephant.

There are 2 new songs on the Mediabase Alternative Chart this week: Blue October “HOT STUFF” is the highest chart debut at 33* and Evanescence “Afterlife” debuts at 40*.

Alternative New Music Discovery #HAPPENS with new singles from Turnstile “Never Enough”, Garbage “There’s No Future In Optimism”, NEIKED x Portugal. The Man “Glide”, OK Go “Love”, Winona Fighter “You Look Like A Drunk Phoebe Bridgers” and Sitting On Saturn “Ticket To New York” was just released today. These are the latest songs now available for you to listen, download, and get song info now on the #HAPPENS Alternative Downloads page. 

Cumulus announces Linkin Park “Up From The Bottom” for Your Music Plus feature. Find more info on Alternative News.

Danny Wimmer Presents announces 10-year deal for Bourbon & Beyond and Louder Than Life in Louisville. Get the 411 on Alternative Music Info. 

Mike Jones from WWDC (DC101)/Washington shares a great interview with Linkin Park from last week. Their new single “Up From The Bottom” is already moving up inside the top 10 on the Alternative Chart. Check out the smiles on Alternative Photos. 

ALTERNATIVE NEW MUSIC DISCOVERY  

Turnstile “Never Enough” (Roadrunner/Atlantic) 

 

Listen & Download HERE.

Baltimore’s Turnstile released “Never Enough” on April 8th. It’s the band’s first new music in over 3 years and the title track from their fourth album that will drop on June 6th. 

Recorded between Los Angeles and their homes in Baltimore, Never Enough is produced by Turnstile frontman Brendan Yates. Never Enough follows Turnstile’s widely celebrated album GLOW ON, which earned the band four GRAMMY nominations. Brendan is directing his debut film to be released with the album as a visual companion. 

Turnstile have several International and North American festival appearances slated for 2025 including: Primavera Sound in Barcelona, Spain (6/7), Outbreak Fest in London, United Kingdom (6/13), Primavera Sound in Porto, Portugal (6/14), Hellfest in Clisson, France (6/21), Jera On Air in Ysselsteyn, Netherlands (6/28), Glastonbury in Somerset, United Kingdom (6/29), Ottawa Blues festival in Ottawa, Canada (7/12), and Aftershock in Sacramento (10/3). Find the tour dates HERE.

Garbage “There’s No Future In Optimism” (BMG)

Listen & Download HERE.

Madison’s Garbage released “There’s No Future In Optimism” on April 9th. It’s from the band’s highly anticipated eighth album, Let All That We Imagine Be The Light, out May 30th. It’s the first Garbage album since No Gods No Masters in 2021. 

According to lead singer Shirley Manson, the new album was forged out of the need to find an uplifting thread amidst the swell of chaos and extraordinary upheaval in the world. Speaking about the lead single, “There’s No Future In Optimism,” she says: “I really wanted that song to open the album. It starts out with an anthemic call to arms, a clarion call. It’s pretty much a rallying cry to all likeminded people. If you are interested in meeting this world with love, if you are willing to invest in tenderness and not violence or hate, then we are with you. You should come with us. I have to believe that music and art can still impact culture. I know it still impacts me – that mysterious power which no government on earth can co-opt or buy. Great music exists entirely within its own microcosm in a way – without any interference or corruptive influences. That’s what always makes it so pure and precious. Even though all the pointers in our society say otherwise, I do feel music still has the power to shift atoms, shift thinking and shift positions.” 

All four original band members, Shirley Manson, Duke Erikson, Steve Marker and Butch Vig, have been  with the band since their inception in 1995. Garbage is playing Cruel World Festival on May 25th and Minnesota Yacht Club Festival on July 20th before heading out on their “Happy Endings” headline tour in September. It will be the band’s first US tour in almost 10 years. Find the tour dates HERE.

NEIKED x Portugal. The Man “Glide” (Arista) 

Listen & Download HERE.

Swedish producer duo NEIKED and Portland, OR’s Portugal. The Man have collaborated on a summer feel-good song “Glide”. 

On the origin of the track, NEIKED shares: “Life can get crazy. It can hit you hard, right in the gut when you least expect it. Sometimes you learn. Sometimes you don’t. Sometimes you just gotta surrender to the feeling. Stick ’em up and Glide.” 

On teaming up with NEIKED, John Gurley, lead singer of Portugal. The Man shares: “First off, it’s a really great and well-written song. It speaks to you kind of immediately melodically, but it reminded me of our early tours in Germany. Like, the indie rock nights at the clubs, dancing and having fun. It’s got this distinct European dance vibe, and I really like that.” 

OK Go “Love” (Paracadute) 

Listen & Download HERE.

Chicago’s OK Go released “Love” on April 11th. It’s from the band’s new album, And the Adjacent Possible, released today via the band’s own label Paracadute via CO5 Music. It’s the first new album in 11 years from the LA-based 4 piece. 

Lead singer Damian Kulash says, “You know that dream where you’re somewhere familiar, maybe your childhood home, but there’s a door, one that was never there before, leading to some impossible magical place? Having children did that to my understanding of love. Suddenly a huge new ballroom opened up off of the little apartment I’ve inhabited so long: a whole new wing of love, grand and soaring and utterly overwhelming. It is endlessly amazing that we exist — little, conscious clusters of stardust occurring, apparently by chance, in the vast emptiness of the universe. And we get to experience love. It is unbelievable.” 

The video was shot in Budapest Hungary in an old train station, it is one shot with robots and mirrors. OK Go’s breakthrough single “Here It Goes Again” won a Grammy Award for Best Music Video in 2007. OK Go will be on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Tuesday, April 15th. And the Adjacent Possible Tour 2025 begins April 23rd. Find the tour dates HERE. 

Winona Fighter “You Look Like A Drunk Phoebe Bridgers” (Rise/BMG) 

Listen & Download HERE.

Nashville-based 3-piece Winona Fighter released “You Look Like A Drunk Phoebe Bridgers” today following early support from Audacy ALT stations.  It’s the lead single from the band’s album, My Apologies To The Chef, released on February 14th. 

“We love being able to give fans a behind the scenes look at a Winona Fighter show day with the new ‘You Look Like A Drunk Phoebe Bridgers’ music video. I think it really shows listeners what we are all about on and off the stage,” shares front woman and multi-instrumentalist Coco Kinnon. “Lots of laughs pre + post show, but during the shows it’s a ball of energy and fun. Maybe it will even inspire a few skeptics to come out and experience.” 

The band formed after Coco moved from Boston and released their Father Figure EP in 2022. Following a UK run, Winona Fighter begins the second leg of the Yes, Chef Tour on May 31st in Cleveland. Find the tour dates HERE.

Sitting On Saturn “Ticket To New York” (SKP)

Listen & Download HERE.

L.A. 3-piece Sitting On Saturn released “Ticket To New York” today

Vocalist/guitarist Hoyt Yeatman says, “This song started as a simple voice memo—just an acapella melody Hoyt had sung while dog sitting—but it stuck with him and it quickly grew into something bigger. It became a collaboration between our band and two of our friends, Sean and Diegok who are also musicians. We pulled from past relationships as an inspiration for the lyrics and recorded, produced, and mixed it ourselves at our home studio, and we’re stoked to finally share it with everyone.” 

Sitting On Saturn have toured extensively with Sublime with Rome and have done shows with Dirty Heads, Artikal Sound System and Expendables. In March, they joined 311 for select dates on their “Road To 311 Day” and performed on the annual 311 Caribbean Cruise. Sitting On Saturn are set to play BeachLife Festival 2025 on May 3rd in Redondo Beach, CA ahead of more tour dates with 311 and Badflower that begin on June 20th. Find the tour dates HERE.