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.
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;
The Starting 5
🎵 Mitski, Nothing’s About to Happen to Me (Dead Oceans)
- Recommended If You Like: Alex G, Phoebe Bridgers
🎵 Gorillaz, The Mountain (Kong)
- RIYL: De La Soul, Arctic Monkeys
🎵 Heavenly, Highway to Heavenly (Skep Wax)
- RIYL: Belle & Sebastian, The Vaselines
🎵 Voxtrot, Dreamers in Exile (Cult Hero)
- RIYL: Girls, Radiator Hospital
🎵 Nothing, A Short History of Decay (Run for Cover)
- RIYL: DIIV, They Are Gutting a Body of Water
The Lightning Round
Five more albums we wish we could have discussed on the podcast, recommended by NPR Music’s staff:
⚡Buck Meek, The Mirror (4AD) — Raina Douris
⚡Maria BC, Marathon (Sacred Bones) — Hazel Cills
⚡Bill Callahan, My Days of 58 (Drag City) — Ann Powers
⚡GENA, The Pleasure is Yours (Lex) — Sheldon Pearce
⚡Sarah Kirkland Snider, Forward Into Light (New Amsterdam/Nonesuch) — Tom Huizenga
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.
💿 cootie catcher, Something We All Got (Carpark)
💿 Sideshow, TIGRAY FUNK (10k)
💿 2charm, star scum city (STAR SCUM)
The Long List
Pop
- Blackpink, Deadline EP (YG)
- Juliet Ivy, Cosmic Wink EP (AWAL)
- Molly Millington, Frank Morgan (Nettwerk)
- Monster Rally, Echoes of the Emerald Sands (Flowering jungle)
- Ms*Gloom, J is for Joon (Mad Decent)
- Ritt Momney, Base (DIY)
- The All-American Rejects, Sandbox (DIY)
Classical
- Alexander Malofeev, Forgotten Melodies (Sony Classical Records)
- Daniel Bjarnson, The Grotesque & The Sublime (Sono Luminus)
Country/Folk/Americana
- Iron and Wine, Hen’s Teeth (Sub Pop)
- Lucy Kitchen, In the Low Light (Bohemian Rose)
- Magnolia Electric Co., Hard to Love a Man (Anniversary Reissue) (Secretly Canadian)
- Magoo, What a Life (Magoo Grass Records)
- Sibyl, Sibyl (Gold Bolus)
- Trey Pendley, Podunk (Leo33)
Electronic/Out There
- Alinka, Changes EP (!K7)
- catbeats, All Cats are Cute (Org Music)
- Caterina Barbieri & Bendik Giske, At Source (light-years)
- Jesse Hackett, Nocturnes (Hive Mind)
- Julia Govor, Riders On The Roof (JUJUKA)
- KABEAUSHÉ, KABEAUSHÉ PRESENTS: I.S.U.I.L.P
- Kent Watari, subtraction in spiral (Phantom Limb)
- Kevin Richard Martin, Sub Zero (PRESSURE)
- kwes., Kinds (Warp)
- LB aka LABAT, Feel So Good Around U (Because)
- Molto Ohm, Reality Pills (Soap Library)
- Noémi Büchi, Exuvie (-OUS)
- Nondi, Nondi (PLANET MU)
- Rafael Anton Irisarri, Points of Inaccessibility (Black Knoll Editions)
- Ryuichi Sakamoto, Disappointment–Hateruma (Reissue) (wewantsounds)
- Shane Parish, Autechre Guitar (Palilalia)
- Taroug, Chott (Denovali)
- The Early, I Want To Be Ready (Island House)
- TVAM, Ruins (Invada)
- Violent Magic Orchestra, EXO SWAG KILLA (Transatlantic)
Global
- Fabiano do Nascimento & Vittor Santos, Orquestra Vila (Far Out)
- MODAR, Isithebe (Empire)
Jazz
- Asher Gamedze, A Semblance: Of Return (Northern Spy)
- Bill Frisell, In My Dreams (Blue Note)
- Booker Stardrum, Close-up On The Outside (We Jazz)
- Dave Stapleton, Quiet Fire (Edition)
- Pat Metheny, Side-Eye III+ (Uniquity Music)
- Vadim Neselovskyi, PERSEVERANTIA (Tzadik)
R&B/Soul
- Michelle David & The True-tones, Soul Woman (Record Kicks)
- Foggieraw, With No Due Respect (Mercury Records)
- Master Peace, Stupid Kids (Big Family Music)
- RJD2 and Supastition, According To… (RJ’s Electrical Connections)
- Stove God Cooks, GOAT Stamp (Babygrande)
- Wale, everything is a lot (Get On Down)
Rock/Alt/Indie
- Archive, Glass Minds (Dangervisit)
- Bibi Club, Amaro (Secret City)
- Bill Pritchard, Haunted (Tapete)
- Crooked Fingers, Swet Deth (Merge)
- Deathcrash, Somersaults (Untitled)
- Dog Chocolate, So Inspired, So Done In (Upset the Rhythm)
- EKEX, Prove The Mountains Move (DFA)
- Final Gasp, New Day Symptoms (Relapse)
- Flaccid Mojo, Loose Jacks (Post Present Medium)
- Fleur Electra, Strike the Match EP (Victory Pool)
- FORAGER, Even a Child Can Cover the Sun With a Finger (La Reserve)
- Geese, Live at Third Man Records (Third Man)
- Geir Sundstøl & Joe Harvey-Whyte, Langeleik (HUBRO)
- Gord Downie, The Sadies, And The Conquering Sun, Live At 6 O’Clock (Arts & Crafts)
- Hey Colossus, Heaven Was Wild (Wrong Speed)
- Host Family, Extended Play EP (Pleasure Tapes)
- Hotel Fiction, (Deluxe) (Paid Vacation)
- Jackie West, Silent Century (Ruination)
- Jeremy Fetzer, An Evening At The Fetzicon Lounge (Fetzicon/Thirty Tigers)
- Julianna Riolino, Echo in the Dust (MoonWhistle)
- Jupe Jupe, King of Sorrows (No-Count)
- Kishi Bashi, Sonderlust (10th anniversary reissue) (Joyful Noise)
- Lala Lala, Heaven 2 (Sub Pop)
- Landowner, Assumption (Exploding in Sound)
- Market, Cleanliness 2: Gorgeous Technologies (Western Vinyl)
- Mateus Asato, ASATO (Asato Records)
- Rob Zombie, The Great Satan (Nuclear Blast Records)
- Rosie Carney, Doomsday… Don’t Leave Me Here (Ultra)
- Stephen O’Malley, Spheres Collapser (XKATEDRAL)
- Telenova, The Warning (EMI Australia)
- The Dream Machine, Fort Perch Rock (Run On)
- The Head and the Heart, Ghosts in the Machinery (Verve)
- The Julies, Cherisher (Lost in Ohio)
- Toth, And the Voice Said (DIY)
- Triple Blind, Cold Walk (DIY)
