New Music Friday: Oct. 5

With Robin Hilton out for one more week, NPR Music's Ann Powers and Lars Gotrich join Stephen Thompson for a whirlwind tour of a busy release day. We've got the first album in five years by the spiky pop-rock band Swearin' (featuring the great and good Allison Crutchfield); the gorgeous first album in six years by Chan Marshall, a.k.a. Cat Power; the heavy, almost absurdly ambitious rock and roll of F***** Up; the versatile country of Eric Church; the springy and inspirational anthems of multi-hyphenate powerhouse Tunde Olaniran; the sprawling, deeply searching rock of mewithoutYou; the rugged metal of Matt Pike's long-running band High on Fire; and Phosporescent's Matthew Houck, whose beatific folk-rock sprawls with winsome approachability.