There’s so much music coming out all the time that it’s hard to keep track. On those days when the influx of new tracks is particularly overwhelming, we sift through the noise to bring you a curated list of the most interesting new releases (the best of which will be added to our Best New Songs playlist). Below, check out our track roundup for Tuesday, October 21, 2025.
Mini Trees – ‘On Repeat’
Fresh off her recent feature on Jay Som’s new album Belong, Mini Trees – the project of Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter Lexi Vega – has announced her first independently released album. Slow It Down will be out November 7, and the quietly hypnotic ‘On Repeat’ is out now. “It’s about the feeling of being caught in a loop… drawn to something or someone you know isn’t good for you, but can’t quite let go of,” Vega explained. “It’s that intoxicating mix of hope and disappointment, the quiet tension that keeps pulling you back even when you know better.”
“I wrote it the day I downloaded Ableton, just messing around with a new DAW after years of working in Logic,” she added. “I stumbled on a random arp setting that completely transformed the synth chords I was playing, and that moment of discovery became the backbone of the song – steering it toward a more pop-forward, dance-driven sound that still carries an emotional weight underneath. In the final version, we re-tracked the arp so it weaves in and out of the song, but if it weren’t for that simple discovery, I don’t think this song would’ve come together the way it did.”
Anna Calvi – ‘I See a Darkness’ [feat. Perfume Genius] (Bonnie “Prince” Billy Cover)
Anna Calvi and Perfume Genius have teamed up for a smoky, cinematic cover of Bonnie Prince Billy’s ‘I See a Darkness’. “So many songs are about romantic love,” Calvi reflected. “But I wanted to highlight the romance of the chosen family, the depth of connection that isn’t tethered to heteronormative ideals. It’s such a powerful song about the yearning for intimacy. I love inhabiting other people’s songs. When I sing someone else’s words, I feel like I’m getting closer to myself somehow, because the songs I choose express something I can’t articulate.”
Meric Long, ‘A Small Act of Defiance’
The Dodos frontman Meric Long has announced his debut solo album, Kablooey, arriving this Friday via Polyvinyl. It’s led by the fuzzy, frantic single ‘A Small Act of Defiance’. “This album was really meant to be fun and not too purposeful,” Long explained. “I put a lot into it as one would expect, but I really just wanted to make something that was fun and allowed me to follow my more ‘amped-up kid in a candy store’ impulses.”
Sleaford Mods- ‘The Good Life’ [feat. Gwendoline Christie & Big Special]
Sleaford Mods have announced a new album, The Demise of Planet X, which arrives January 16 via Rough Trade. It features Aldous Harding, former Life Without Buildings singer Sue Tompkins, reggae artist Liam Bailey, and UK grime rapper Snowy, while actress Gwendoline Christie and Big Special guest on the conflicted lead single, ‘The Good Life’. “’The Good Life’ talks about slagging bands off and the joy and misery that causes me,” frontman Jason Williamson explained. “I’m asking myself why am I slagging bands off? Why is it a continuing thing with me? My inner voices are brought to life by Gwendoline and Big Special, debating that internal tension between me enjoying a good life or submitting to the mayhem.”
Westerman – ‘Nevermind’
“‘Nevermind’ is a smirking, bitter little song ruminating on the denigration of meaning by bad agents,” Westerman said of the latest single from his upcoming album A Jackal’s Wedding. Musically, it’s more bittersweet than anything, as approachable as it is enigmatic. I especially love the amount of reverb drenched over Westerman’s hahaha.
Cardinals – ‘The Burning Of Cork’
Cardinals hail from Cork, and their ominous new single “takes its name from the act of terror inflicted upon Cork City by the British Army’s Black and Tan forces in December 1920,” according to frontman Euan Manning. “It’s the record at its heaviest and most menacing.” It arrives alongside a music video from director Greg Purcell.
Hannah Jadagu – ‘Normal Today’
Hannah Jadagu has shared ‘Normal Today,’ a radiant single from her second album Describe ahead of its release on Friday. The song was co-produced by Jadagu, Sora Lopez, and Max Baby and mixed by Blue May in Los Angeles, and mastered by Heba Kadry in Brooklyn. I was feeling love and gratitude, but also guilt about being away for my job,” Jadagu shared. Being a musician requires sacrificing time — and one thing about me, I’m a quality time girlie.”
Alexa Rose – ‘Atmosphere’
Alexa Rose has unveiled ‘Atmosphere’, the stunningly intimate opener from her upcoming LP of the same name. “Here I am, feet on the ground/ Watching the bright copper leaves flutter down/ Wishing I were as light as the absence of sound/ But I’m heavy now,” she sings.
Puscifer – ‘Self Evident’
Puscifer have announced a new LP, Normal Isn’t, which will be released February 6. It features guest appearances from Maynard James Keenan’s Tool bandmate Danny Carey and King Crimson’s Tony Levin. “We’re definitely leaning into our early influences,” Keenan said in a statement, which can be heard on the new single ‘Self Evident’. “It’s the place where goth meets punk. It’s where I came from.”
Dutch Interior – ‘Play the Song’
Dutch Interior get pretty meta on their new single ‘Play the Song’. Quietly stirring, it’s their first new music since the release of last year’s Moneyball. “I wrote it as sort of an homage to those songs that come around every once in a while and grab you in a very specific but unexplainable way,” Noah Kurtz explained. “Maybe it’s an unhealthy attachment or indulgence but you just have to put that shit on repeat until you can’t anymore.”
Oxis – ‘Piranha’
Oxis, the electronic producer currently touring with Magdalena Bay, has a new song out called ‘Piranha’. It manages to sound both gritty and fragile, and it gets pretty immersive in under three minutes.
Local Weatherman – ‘Thread’
Brooklyn band Local Weatherman has announced a new EP, Right One, arriving January 16. They’ve also shared a catchy single from it, ‘Thread’, which is about having no release valve when your mind is racing,” according to bandleader Fritz Ortman. “It’s the heaviest song we’ve made, but I think the bridge is one of the prettiest moments on the EP. This song also reckons with the rockstar dreams I had growing up (and maybe still have), and each verse ends with a nod to a song I loved as a kid.”
