Freshly Squeezed, Vol. 56: Kate Vargas, Rue Snider, Morgan St. Jean & more

Welcome to Freshly Squeezed, a weekly new music playlist: spanning country, pop, EDM and urban, mainstream and other.

Rue Snider‘s new album City Living captures the magic of New York City rather unapologetically. Songs like “Hot Summer Nights,” which kicks off our new playlist, paint a rosy snapshot of making out on rooftops while the orb-like moon hangs overhead and imbibing a little too much. His voice is thick and muggy, adhering to the ’80s-powered production like a high industrial adhesive. “Life in the city is the best,” he sings, scruffy and cutting. That kind of intensity is a prime feature of the new record, which contains one of our favorite songs of the year with “Run Away with You” (see our premiere). It’s a relentless roster of remarkable tunes, reconfiguring what it means to grab life by the horns; Snider’s living his best life, and there’s no other option than to join in on the fun.

Kate Vargas unleashes a new record, titled For the Wolfish & Wandering, today, too. Her voice is the kind that’ll haunt your every waking hour and leave you with nothing but insomnia at night. “Roll Around” punches the skull, and as the lead single, that’s exactly the kind of reactionary motion you’re gonna want. The album’s second track “Mountain Song” is a swampy, mid-mountain driver that plays a bit more coyly, hissing between dank crags of guitar and drums. It’s as country as it is rock ‘n roll, and blues, too, the no-fucks-given kind of blues that’ll leave you breathless and screaming for help at the same time.

Morgan St. Jean makes a long-awaited return with “Fake It,” a smooth-sailing doozy that she utilizes to get over an ex, and The Last Bison‘s “Gold” is exactly that, a sparkling, earth-bound gemstone that grooves hard and long and exhilarates your heart. Then, quick jabs from Cody Jinks, Pale Waves, Becky Warren, Lucie Silvas and Couch Jackets put us down for the count, stylistically varied tracks that give us hope for the future.

Our new playlist also includes: Sam Setton, Andrew Combs, Stela Cole, Kyan Palmer, Maggie Rogers, Alec Benjamin, Colter Wall, Tom Odell, The Ready Set, Dagny, lovelytheband and Kate Teague, among many others.

In all, we’ve got 30 new songs spin and spin and spin some more.

Each playlist will be refreshed every Friday morning/afternoon. We reserve the right to update anytime during the week, so make sure you bookmark this page.

Take a spin:

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