7 New Releases You Should Listen to Immediately [October 2025]
They're fresh (fresh!), exciittiiinnnngggggggggggg.
Here we are—another new release rundown list to kickstart your Fall listening schedule.
If you’re new here, this post (and others like it) showcases some recent releases that caught my ear in the past month or so and deserve your attention. At least one (possibly several) of these records will be in the running for my “best of the year” list.
This edition of the column will likely be the final one before the 2026, but there’s still plenty of exceptional new music to catch up on. Revisit previous new release roundup posts to enjoy more of my favorite records of 2025.
Also, a reminder to subscribe if you haven’t already.
Let’s go:
1. “Am I the Drama?” by Cardi B
Genre: Hip-Hop, Trap
Label: Atlantic
Release Date: September 19, 2025
Vibe: 🔥🎤
Cardi B fandom is much like AC/DC fandom (stay with me). Either you get what she’s doing and you’re fully on board with what she’s doing, or you’re not. Arriving seven tumultuous years after her breakthrough debut LP, Invasion of Privacy, this record isn’t going to earn her a ton of new converts. But, for supporters like myself, it feels like a shiny new end-of-summer gift.
Though I could take or leave the relationship drama exposition on a track like “Man of Your Word,” those craving more bangers with ice-cold bars from Cardi won’t be disappointed. Cuts like “Pretty & Petty,” “On My Back,” and the Caribbean-inspired “Bodega Baddie” are as fun as they are sharp. Anyone thinking Cardi’s lost a step in those intervening years is sorely mistaken.
2. “Bleeds” by Wednesday
Genre: Rock, Alternative, Shoegaze
Label: Dead Oceans
Release Date: September 19, 2025
Vibe: 🤘🌒
Bleeds is Wednesday’s sixth studio album, their latest since 2023’s critically-acclaimed Rat Saw God. Though I wasn’t as big a fan of the latter record as a lot of alt-rock commentators, I think Bleeds is an improvement on almost every front, particularly when it comes to narrative intensity to match that of the music.
From the ghostly imagery of “Wound Up Here (By Holdin’ On)” to the aching subtlety (relative to their sonic resting position, anyway) of “Elderberry Wine,” there’s a gothic, distinctly Southern sensibility in the storytelling. It’s another milestone in the North Carolina outfit’s continued maturity and growth.
3. “Black British Music (2025)” by Jim Legxacy
Genre: Hip-Hop, Alternative, Afrobeat
Label: XL Recordings
Release Date: July 18, 2025
Vibe: ⚡🌍
This mixtape has been out for a little while now, but I was so impressed with Jim Legxacy’s most recent effort that I couldn’t not share it here. His first release under a major label, the young rapper wears his influences on his sleeve, including UK garage, emo, Afrobeat, and pop, all without getting swallowed up by the mechanics of making all those work on one record.
The project’s biggest strength, beyond Legxacy’s aptitude for spitting precise bars, is his self-assured nature. He ping-pongs from deep, emotional catharsis (”Father”) to mischievous genre-shifting (”New David Bowie”) without ever sounding like he’s treading water or meandering to fill out a streaming-length tracklist. He’s a talent to keep tabs on.
4. “Gift Songs” by Jefre Cantu-Ledesma
Genre: Ambient, Experimental, Electronic
Label: Mexican Summer
Release Date: March 21, 2025
Vibe: 🌊🌌
Music is a gift, a form of magic, born from specific conditions,” writes Jefre Cantu-Ledesma in the Bandcamp description for this album, a delicate marriage of the natural and spiritual realms. Made up of five minimalist compositions, Cantu-Ledesma nevertheless has a lot going on sonically, blending the acoustic and electric, strings with sythensizers. The result is nothing short of mesmerizing.
In reflecting on what makes this album so powerful, I think it’s how calming and contemplative it is. I don’t have to tell you how chaotic the general vibes out in the world are right now, so giving your body and mind over to a listening experience this austere and beautiful serves as a soothing balm in times like these. You’ll find it lingers long after it ends, too.
5. “That Wasn’t a Dream” by Pino Palladino & Blake Mills
Genre: Jazz, Experimental, Ambient
Label: New Deal / Impulse!
Release Date: August 22, 2025
Vibe: 🌒🎶
That Wasn’t a Dream is legendary bassist and producer Pino Palladino’s second collaboration with singer/songwriter Blake Mills (their first, Notes With Attachments, dropped in 2021). On this album, the duo strips the instrumentation back to its bare necessities, letting long, drawn-out chords and the negative space around them carry the bulk of the emotional heft.
The centerpiece is the slow-burn “Heat Sink,” a brooding journey thourgh multiple harmonic and textural shifts that make the composition feel like a living, breathing organism instead of a static piece of art. Another revelation is “Taka,” an impressive example of how Palladino and Mills play off each other to create compelling moments of tension and release.
6. “The Passionate Ones” by Nourished By Time
Genre: Pop, R&B, Soul
Label: XL Recordings
Release Date: August 22, 2025
Vibe: 💔💡
The Passionate Ones was among my most anticipated albums of the year and, even with high expectations, it didn’t disappoint. Marcus Brown’s second full-length project under the Nourished by Time moniker, it continues his hot streak when it comes to delivering polished, melancholic R&B fusion.
The most enthralling aspect of Brown’s music is how he’s able to ratchet up the intensity without having the subtext boil over into overbearing grandstanding. You can hear this dynamic in action on tracks like “Max Potential,” which twists corporate language into something much darker, and my personal favorite, the existential “9 2 5.”
If you give only one album from this month’s list a spin, let it be this one.
7. “Who Is the Sky?” by David Byrne (with Ghost Train Orchestra)
Genre: Art-Pop
Label: Matador
Release Date: September 5, 2025
Vibe: 🌀✨
Let’s close out this new release rundown with the latest from David Byrne, Talking Heads alum and, more importantly for this review, the creative force behind one of the best concert films ever made. This LP, created in tandem with the Ghost Train Orchestra, brings a renewed sense of intimacy to Byrne’s conceptual ambition. If you don’t think an acoustic guitar can lead a full orchestra, think again.
I’ve read some critical takedowns of what’s been described as a sort of relentless optimism that runs through the album, like on “Everybody Laughs.” Whether you think that aspect rings true for you or not, there’s no denying that Byrne’s idiosyncratic pop framing is consistently interesting, if not a joy to listen to. Again, who else but him could come up with a song called “I Met the Buddha at a Downtown Party,” in all its obtuse glory?
What other recent releases have you been rocking? Sound off in the comments.
Matt Jalbert’s Sauce Buffet. Give that a shot.
How the mighty have fallen...that D. Byrne track is so...same old, same old...rehash of his earlier hits...with better musos...I'd rather listen to his Talking Heads stuff than his latest output...