Welcome to New Music Friday, NPR Music's podcast dedicated to sharing the best albums out each week. We listen to dozens of new releases in advance, identify the ones we think you need to hear, and highlight our favorite five in a brisk mix of clips, context and commentary.
The podcast is hosted by NPR Music's Stephen Thompson, and each episode features a member of the NPR Music Network of public radio stations. This week, our guest is Liz Warner from WDET in Detroit.
Scroll down to see which albums we discussed this week and links to our New Music Friday playlists, where you can hear singles from each album. Then scroll down to see the long list and Dora's Corner, where NPR Music production assistant Dora Levite shares her favorite albums that didn't make the podcast.
The Starting Five
- Ravyn Lenae, Blue Island (RIYL: Dominic Fike, Tame Impala)
- Overmono, Pure Devotion (RIYL: Joy Orbison, Daphni)
- Margaret Glaspy, I Am Both (RIYL: Hurray for the Riff Raff, Joan Shelley)
- Man/Woman/Chainsaw, Cannonball (RIYL: Mary in the Junkyard, The Velvet Underground)
- Arun Sood & Angeline Morrison, Donn/Dubh (RIYL: Shiela Chandra, Cinder Well)
The Lightning Round
Five more albums we wish we could have discussed on the podcast, recommended by NPR Music's staff:
- The Mountain Goats, Days (Cadmean Dawn)
- CEREMONY, Tell Me Your Dream (Relapse)
- Cletus Strap, rappers suck. (Tan Cressida)
- Various Artists, Sittin' with Blaze (Lost Art)
- Roy Montgomery & Martha Skye Murphy, Nebular (AD 93)
Dora's Corner
Dora Levite is New Music Friday's production assistant, an occasional All Songs Considered guest, and 17 years old according to her Spotify Wrapped. Below are her picks for the best albums not featured on the show.
- god of war, molly picture (Julia's War)
- Roy Montgomery & Martha Skye, Murphy Nebular (AD 93)
- Ela Minus & Nick León, qué les pasó a mis amigos? (Smugglers Way)
The Long List
Rock/Alt/Indie
- Absolute Grey, CBGB's 1985 (Heyday Again)
- Alex G & Paul Buchanan, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (Original Motion Picture Score)
- Andy Crofts, Melody Boy (Colorama)
- Art Feynman, Orphans (Western Vinyl)
- Blums, Sunk Cost Fantasy (Take Care)
- Citizen, Halcyon Blues (Run For Cover)
- DMA'S, DMA'S (Wonderlick)
- Jane Weaver, Like An Aspen Leaf / Seven Day Smile / Cherlokalate (Reissues) (Fire)
- Keyside, Keyside (Modern Sky)
- Lee Bains, Free South 2025 (Don Giovanni)
- maya ongaku, Nothing Space Music (Guruguru Brain)
- mclusky, My Pain and Sadness Is More Sad and Painful Than Yours (Reissue) (Too Pure)
- Slow Fiction, dollhouse (Tight Knit)
- Sunken Cages, Neram Pularumbol (As The Dawn Breaks) (Mahorka)
- The Anchoress, As We Once Were (Last Night From Glasgow)
- Uh Huh Her, Nocturnes: Redux (Kill Rock Stars)
- wave to earth, bad pieces (WAVY)
- Why Bother?, Beyond Step One (Feel It)
- Xandria, Eclipse (Deluxe Edition) (Napalm)
Electronic/Out There
- John Carpenter, Cathedral (Sacred Bones)
- Asian Glow, Arin Cot (self-released)
- imy3 & towhead, imy3 & towhead (Cherub Dream)
- abracadabra, peel away EP (Melodic)
- Beacon, How drie a Cinder (Apparent Movement)
- Din of Celestial Birds, Takeoffs & Landings (self-released)
- Lawrence English, The Rest Is My Ghost (Room40)
- Megasound, Megasound (Don Giovanni)
- Nikki Nair, The Sick Dimension EP (dh2)
- Reger, FM-E (self-released)
- Sproton Layer, Emit Time (12XU)
- SEES00000, FREEWIFI EP (MIRACLE-TECH
- Team Work, Somebody's Gotta Do It (Feel It)
- V/A, Fully Nowhere: a World Resources archive (World of Echo)
Country/Folk/Americana
- Charlie Worsham, Once Upon a Second Time Around (Warner)
- Cimarron 615, Same Sky (Élan)
- Corb Lund, Dark Horses (New West)
- Rowena Wise, Bad Things Feel Good* (Beloved)
- Red Shahan, Hard Land (Make Wake/Lemon Pepper)
Global
- Picheolin, 吉BOARD(Gilboard) (PLEDIS)
- Alfonso Soliano, Tiga Trombone (Audible Beauty 001)
- Johari Salleh, Jazz Dari Angkasapuri (Audible Beauty)
- Karol G, NO ME ARREPIENTO DE SENTIR TANTO (Interscope)
Jazz
- Adrian Younge, Joyce Moreno, Tutty Moreno, Joyce e Tutty Moreno JID027 (Jazz Is Dead)
- Dinner Party, Whatchu Bringing? (EMPIRE)
- Edena Gardens, Quintessence (El Paraiso)
- Kokoroko, Tempos Difíceis Sempre Passam EP (Brownswood)
- Somi, What Does It Take to Bloom? (Salon Africana)
- V/A, The Zarabanda Variations (Carrier)
- Vince Guaraldi, It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (60th Anniversary Reissue) (Craft)
Pop
- FLO, Therapy at the Club (EMI)
- María Isabel, Miss Me Much? (Nuevo Rico / Sony Latin)
- Role Model, Chuck Timely & The Hourglass (Interscope)
- Stray Kids, This & That (Universal)
- The Pussycat Dolls, PCD (Extended Tracklist Edition) (Many Hats)
R&B/Soul
- Dionne Warwick, DWuets (Elliott)
- Fana Hues, Catch n' Release EP (self-released)
- Q, DO YOU SEE ME? (Columbia/Boy Meets Euphoria)
Rap/Hip-Hop
- Jon Keith, AND FLY (Alienz Alive)
- Nino Paid, Somewhere Over The Rainbow (Signal/Columbia)
- Lil Uzi Vert, Almost Forever (Roc Nation)
- Inspectah Deck, Dragon's Breath Urban (Icon/DNA)
Credits
- Host: Stephen Thompson
- Guest: Liz Warner, WDET
- Audio: Noah Caldwell
- Producer: Elle Mannion
- Production Assistant: Dora Levite
- Editor: Otis Hart
- Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
- Executive Director: Sonali Mehta
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