Five songs to hear this week (Aug 12-18)

Four years since they released a trilogy of albums, pop punk giants Green Day have recovered from that creative splurge enough to release a new single. Bang Bang hit the internet on Thursday.

Rodent-hatted techno star deadmau5 is putting out his latest compilation of music by his pals, We Are Friends Vol. 5, today. His is the lead track, already on YouTube, a slow-building beast that takes almost 10 minutes to reach its conclusion.

That’s nothing compared to the comeback song from alt-country veterans Lambchop, however. The Hustle, from a new album due in November, is inspired by a Quaker wedding and takes in sparse electronic rhythms, gentle piano and muted horns over the course of around 18 minutes.

Long-running instrumental musician Jimmy LaValle is coming back with his latest long-player as The Album Leaf at the end of this month. It’s preceded by Back to the Start on Soundcloud, a relatively lively track that still has his characteristic melancholy feel.

Rostam Batmanglij disappointed a lot of Vampire Weekend fans at the start of this year when he announced that he was leaving the band. Now they can hear what he’s been up to: a new collaboration with singer Hamilton Leithauser of The Walkmen. An album is coming in September and there are two rocky songs on Soundcloud so far.