New Mix: Metric, Villagers, Richard Thompson, Mirah, More

Happy National Corn Fritter day! Or, if you want to travel back in time to Friday, when this episode was recorded, happy late National French Fry Day, too. Whatever you want to celebrate, it's always a special occasion when there's new music.

This week's episode of All Songs Considered features the return of several veteran favorites. The Canadian rock band Metric released a raw and ragged new single called "Dark Saturday," a biting track about the super-rich that portrays, as frontwoman Emily Haines puts it, "a dystopian nightlife scene of gaudy wealth where oblivious party girls say nauseating things like 'I'm so rich, everything's free.'" Ireland's Villagers returns with their single "A Trick of the Light," and guitarist Richard Thompson, whose mastery over the instrument has won him recognition as one of the Top 100 Guitarists of All Time, just announced his first self-produced album in over a decade called 13 Rivers. We play "The Storm Won't Come," a powerful display of his talent.

This episode is also full of previously-unknown discoveries, like the self-proclaimed "radical indigenous queer feminist" Black Belt Eagle Scout, whose quixotic "Soft Stud" showcases a lyrical intimacy and fuzzy guitar edge reminiscent of Mitski. We also play the Australian band The Goon Sax, which produces pop so mature and observant from three band mates all under age 20.

All that, plus a sparse and dreamy electronic track from songwriter Mirah and gritty experimental guitar from Ohmme.

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