3 new songs and 3 new albums to check out this weekend

The Mountain Goats return, Kali Uchis dares us to cry, and Guerilla Toss finally share You're Weird Now.

By A.V. Club Staff  |  September 12, 2025 | 3:00pm
Images: Sub Pop, Capitol Records, Cadmean Dawn
Music Features 3 new songs and 3 new albums
3 new songs and 3 new albums to check out this weekend

We took a couple of weeks off, but welcome to our Friday music post, where we spotlight our favorite new songs and albums. Hop in the comments and tell us: What new music are you listening to?

The Mountain Goats, “Armies Of The Lord”

The Mountain Goats have said that their forthcoming album, November’s Through This Fire Across from Peter Balkan is a “full-on musical,” and there’s perhaps no more immediate way to convey that than bringing Lin-Manuel Miranda aboard for the lead single. “Armies Of The Lord” establishes the central concept of the album, the band’s 23rd: a fishing expedition hit a storm and left only three men alive, including Peter Balkan. The album announcement promises “apocalyptic visions” to come in the rest of the story, but this first taste is classic Mountain Goats. [Drew Gillis]

Brandi Carlisle, “Returning To Myself”

Brandi Carlile is returning to both solo music and herself with a newly announced LP, appropriately titled Returning To Myself. While fans will have to wait until October 24 to hear the folk rock balladeer’s first solo album in four years, Carlile gave us a little taste with the title track last week. Despite any sense of personal fulfillment that the name might imply, however, the track isn’t remotely self-helpy. “Returning to myself is such a lonely thing to do/But, it’s the only thing to do,” she sings over an acoustic accompaniment produced by Aaron Dessner, Justin Vernon, and Andrew Watt. It may have been a long journey, but it’s good to have her back. [Emma Keates]

Kali Uchis, “Cry about it!” (featuring Ravyn Lenae)

“Cry about it!” starts with a drumroll and a kick that almost feels like it was pulled from The Ronettes’ catalog. The comparisons don’t end there, but where Phil Spector’s Wall Of Sound was all about power, Kali Uchis and Ravyn Lenae deliver something dreamier. “Cry about it!” is a breakup anthem that seems to waft through the air, making its title seem more like a dare than an invitation. [DG]

Kassa Overall, Cream

Kassa Overall has always existed in the intersection of jazz and hip hop, and he still does; a standout from Cream interpolates one of Outkast’s best known riffs. But Cream might be his most straightforward jazz album ever, bringing classic jazz instrumentation—copius saxophones and drums beating on their own time—and chaotic chromatics to the forefront, even when they’re riffing on turn-of-the-millennium rap classics. Cream eschews the rap features of Overall’s past for extended piano and flute solos, rewarding close, and repeated, listens. [DG]

Guerilla Toss, You’re Weird Now

The singles Guerilla Toss have teased in the lead up to You’re Weird Now have sounded like little else we’ve heard in 2025, and the album seems ready to deliver on that promise. The band’s sixth full-length album, and second since signing to Sub Pop in 2022, recalls the industrial metal of contemporaries like Model/Actriz while still bucking trends entirely. You’re Weird Now yelps and howls toward a deserved moment in the spotlight. The band’s music can be loud and frantic, but more than anything, it tends to be a lot of fun, too. [DG]

Frost Children, Sister

If Frost Children’s last album, 2023’s Hearth Room, aimed for 2000s nostalgia by way of Fall Out Boy or Panic! At The Disco, Sister is more interested in the David Guetta and Robin Schultz end of the spectrum. With guest features from Kim Petras and Babymorocco, much of Sister embodies the sugar rush of 2010s EDM while maintaining the punk edge of the bloghouse era that preceded it. [DG]

 
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