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New Music Friday: The best albums out Jan. 17

Mac Miller's posthumous album Balloonerism arrives two days prior to what would have been the rapper's 33rd birthday.
Katharine Lotze
/
Getty Images
Mac Miller's posthumous album Balloonerism arrives two days prior to what would have been the rapper's 33rd birthday.

NPR Music's Stephen Thompson welcomes aboard Kara Manning of New York City public radio station WFUV to discuss the best new albums hitting streaming services Friday, Jan. 17.


Featured albums

  • Mac Miller, Balloonerism
  • The Weather Station, Humanhood
  • jasmine.4.t, You are the Morning
  • Victoria Canal, Slowly, It Dawns
  • Blue Lake, Weft

Other notable albums out Jan. 17

  • Songhoy Blues, Heritage
  • Ela Minus, DIA
  • Kele (of Block Party), The Singing Winds, Pt. 3
  • Pastel, Souls in Motion
  • Rufus Wainwright, Dream Requiem
  • Wafia, Promised Land
  • Rebecca Black, SALVATION• Yola, My Way EP
  • chlothegod, I Feel Different Every Day EP
  • Black Nāo Maya, Despertar
  • Amayo, Lion Awakes
  • Benjamin Lackner, Spindrift
  • Brendon Moeller, Blue Moon
  • Busta Rhymes, Dragon Season... The Awakening
  • David Gray, Dear Life
  • Delivery, Force Majeure
  • Ex-Vöid, In Love Again• Flora Hibberd, Swirl
  • Niambi, Taboo EP
  • Pigeon Pit, Crazy Arms
  • Rose Gray, Louder, Please
  • Son Lux, Risk of Make Believe EP
  • Sophie Jamieson, I Still Want to Share
  • Stile Antico, The Golden Renaissance: Palestrina
  • Television Personalities, Tune In, Turn On, Drop Out: The Television Personalities Radio Sessions – 1980-1993
  • The Pro-Teens, MF TEEN: Your Concurrence In The Above Is Assumed (MF Doom covers)
  • Tim Berne, Yikes Too
  • Willow Avalon, Southern Belle Raisin' Hell
  • ZORA, Belladonna

Copyright 2025 NPR

Stephen Thompson
Stephen Thompson is a host, writer and reviewer for NPR Music, where he speaks into any microphone that will have him and appears as a frequent panelist and guest host on All Songs Considered. Thompson also co-hosts the daily NPR roundtable podcast Pop Culture Happy Hour, which he created with NPR's Linda Holmes in 2010. In 2008, he and Bob Boilen created the NPR Music video series Tiny Desk concerts, in which musicians perform at Boilen's desk. (To be more specific, Thompson had the idea, which took seconds, while Boilen created the series, which took years. Thompson will insist upon equal billing until the day he dies.)
Kara Manning