Welcome to our weekly 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?
This week, Billy Idol announced his first new album since 2014’s Kings & Queens Of The Underground. Dream Into It drops on April 25, but the album’s first single, “Still Dancing,” is already here. “‘Still Dancing’ is really a reflection of my whole journey,” Idol explained in a press release. “From the punk rock period through to now. And I’m still looking towards the future, still living the life I set out to live.” The song’s anthemic chorus proves that, even at 69 years old, Idol can still belt out a lyric like no one else.
Even if the lyrics to Jeffrey Lewis’ new song, “Just Fun,” are pretty bleak, it is actually fun to see Lewis scamper giddily through the freezing streets of New York while he’s completely naked at the end of the music video. That’s the contradiction that’s always been at the heart of Lewis’ music: It might not make you feel good, but it always makes you feel seen, in ways both comforting and uncomfortable. “Just Fun” is the second single from Lewis’ upcoming album The EVEN MORE Freewheelin’ Jeffrey Lewis, which releases on March 21.
Backxwash, “9th Heaven”
“These are the songs of a person who was brought back to life but is now haunted by death itself,” reads an album note on the Bandcamp page for experimental rapper Backxwash’s upcoming album Only Dust Remains (out March 28). We got a hint that Backxwash was up to something truly monumental when she released the seven-minute-long “Wake Up” almost a year ago. Her new single, “9th Heaven,” is about three minutes shorter, but it feels just as insistent, the kind of song that makes you stop whatever you’re doing and just listen.
Banks, Off With Her Head
It’s been 11 years since “Beggin For Thread” catapulted Banks into the mainstream and she’s still out here making intoxicating, left-of-center pop music in 2025. Her new album, Off With Her Head, is a 2010s throwback with teeth. Banks’ lyrics feel particularly pointed this time around, and they fit perfectly with the album’s slick, maximalist production.
Darkside, Nothing
For nearly a decade after their 2013 debut album, Psychic, it seemed like electronica band Darkside would be a one-and-done deal. But they reunited for 2021’s Spiral and have been together ever since. Nothing is the band’s first album with new drummer Tlacael Esparza; previously, it was just a duo of musicians Nicolás Jaar and Dave Harrington. It’s also their most mature album to date: Both the lyrics and the music have evolved into a more confident version of what came before.
Panda Bear, Sinister Grift
Sinister Grift, the new album from Panda Bear, a.k.a. Noah Lennox, marks the first time he’s invited all of his Animal Collective bandmates to collaborate on one of his solo records. Cindy Lee also gets a guest spot, as does Spirit of the Beehive’s Rivka Ravede. The result is a more collaborative album than we’ve seen from Panda Bear’s solo work before. But all the contributors only enhance Lennox’s unique sound: This is still undoubtedly a Panda Bear record, first and foremost.
