NPR Music

With the arrival of the Geese Tiny Desk, we thought we’d try to break down what it is about this band that has made them one of the most talked about and polarizing acts of the past six months.

Host Robin Hilton is joined by NPR Music's Ann Powers and host of The Ringer's Bandsplain podcast Yasi Salek to make sense of all the fuss. (Full disclosure: We all love Geese.)

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Ratboys. Beverly Glenn-Copeland. Caribou's club alter-ego. Stephen Thompson from NPR Music chats with Erin Wolf from Radio Milwaukee about their favorite new albums out Friday, Feb. 6.

The Starting 5

(00:00) Introduction & J. Cole, 'The Fall Off'
(02:11) Ratboys, 'Singin' To An Empty Chair'
(08:27) Beverly Glenn-Copeland, 'Laughter In Summer'
(16:27) Daphni, 'Butterfly'
(21:22) Charlotte Day Wilson, 'Patchwork'
(26:39) John Craigie, 'I Swam Here'

(31:26) The Lightning Round
- Melissa Carper & Theo Lawrence, 'Havin' a Talk'
- Alice Costelloe, 'Move On With The Year'
- vegas water taxi, 'long time caller, first time listener'
- Ulrika Spacek, 'EXPO'
- Music City, 'Welcome to Music City'

Sample the albums via our New Music Friday playlist on NPR.org/allsongs.

Credits:
Host: Stephen Thompson
Guest: Erin Wolf, Radio Milwaukee
Audio Producer: Noah Caldwell
Digital Producer: Dora Levite
Editors: Otis Hart, Elle Mannion
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed

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Last Sunday, Bad Bunny's DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS became the first exclusively Spanish language album to win album of the year at the Grammys. This coming Sunday, the Puerto Rican megastar will perform at the Super Bowl halftime show. For this week's episode, Anamaria Sayre and Isabella Gomez Sarmiento chat about what these two moments mean for Bad Bunny, the island of Puerto Rico, and the role of Latin music in America more broadly.

This podcast was produced by Noah Caldwell. Suraya Mohamed is the executive producer of NPR Music.

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The Beck rarity “Everybody’s Gotta Learn Sometime” has officially hit streaming services and we can’t get enough of it. We’ve also got new (not-yet-announced) projects from Friko and Asher White, a witchy new cut from the duo Sibyl, the Polish composer and guitarist Szymon Wójcik and more.

NPR Music’s Lars Gotrich joins host Robin Hilton.

Featured songs and artists:

(00:00) Intro and The Grammys

(03:31) Beck: “Everybody’s Gotta Learn Sometime,” from ‘Everybody’s Gotta Learn Sometime’

(12:29) Rat Penat: “Kijiji,” from ‘Over Easy’

(18:26) Friko: “Seven Degrees,” from ‘Something Worth Waiting For’

(25:27) Sibyl: “Witch Wife,” from ‘Sibyl’

(30:42) Asher White: “Casper,” from ‘Jessica Pratt’

(38:22) Szymon Wójcik: “it’s only begun,” from ‘when you rub your eyes, you see things you can’t describe’


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Enjoy Pop Culture Happy Hour's late-night recap of the 2026 Grammy Awards, featuring NPR Music's Stephen Thompson and Hazel Cills, as well as pop culture journalist (and former NPR intern) Reanna Cruz.

(00:00) Intro
(00:46) Album of the year: Bad Bunny
(05:24) Record of the year: Kendrick Lamar
(08:51) Best new artist medley
(13:52) Lady Gaga's three Grammys
(18:44) Song of the year: Billie Eilish
(21:05) Milestone moments and In Memoriam

Credits
Host: Stephen Thompson
Guests: Hazel Cills, Reanna Cruz
Producers: Carly Rubin, Mike Katzif
Editor: Jessica Reedy
Executive Producer, NPR Music: Suraya Mohamed
Executive Director, NPR Music: Sonali Mehta

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Lord Jah-Monte Ogbon. Emily Scott Robinson. Blood harmonies from Irish brothers Ye Vagabonds. Stephen Thompson from NPR Music chats with Dre Castillo from KVNF in western Colorado about the best albums out Friday, Jan. 30.

The Starting 5

(00:00) Introduction
(01:21) Emily Scott Robinson, 'Appalachia'
(08:58) Ye Vagabonds, 'All Tied Together'
(16:05) Jordan Ward, 'Backward'
(21:48) Lord Jah-Monte Ogbon, 'As Of Now'
(27:18) Orestes Gomez, 'No me fui porque quise'

The Lightning Round

- Don Toliver, 'OCTANE'
- Lande Hekt, 'Lucky Now'
- By Storm, 'My Ghosts Go Ghost’
- Yumi Zouma, 'No Love Lost to Kindness'
- David Moore, 'Graze the Bell'

Sample the albums via our New Music Friday playlist on NPR.org/allsongs.

Credits
Host: Stephen Thompson
Guest: Dre Castillo, KVNF
Audio Producer: Noah Caldwell
Digital Producer: Dora Levite
Editors: Otis Hart, Elle Mannion
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed

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This month Alt.Latino's been looking at the music of Venezuela from a lot of different angles. For this episode, we’ve invited trumpet player and producer Ella Bric to be our guest DJ. She shared what she thinks are the most socially, culturally and politically impactful pieces of music to come out of Venezuela in the last half century.

Ella Bric grew up in a migrant-rich town in Venezuela called San Antonio de los Altos, surrounded by a culturally-minded, socially conscious community. She’s now based in New York, and in recent years has positioned herself as a prolific producer on the rise in the Latin music space. In 2018, she won a Latin Grammy for Producer of the Year, and she says her art comes from a curiosity about the state of the world and her desire to reflect that.

(00:00) Introduction
(01:46) La Vida Bohème, 'Hornos del Cal'
(06:41) Betsayda Machado & Parranda el Clavo, 'Sentimiento'
(11:35) María Rodríguez, 'Los Dos Titanes'
(15:11) Ali Primera, 'Techos de Cartón'
(19:52) Linda Briceño & Orlando Watson, 'Unfinished Song'
(24:38) Desorden Público, 'Politicos Paraliticos'
(27:36) Bucle Lunar, 'Subió El Maldito Dolar'

This podcast episode was produced by Noah Caldwell. The executive producer of NPR Music is Suraya Mohamed.

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This week we're obsessing over the hilarious and harrowing “Where’s My Phone?” from Mitski, a slightly softer solo cut from Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon, the confounding but wondrous wordplay of Father John Misty and more.

NPR Music editor Hazel Cills joins host Robin Hilton.

Featured songs and artists:

(00:00) Mitski: “Where’s My Phone?” from ‘Nothing’s About to Happen to Me’

(09:29) Robber Robber: “The Sound It Made,” from ‘Two Wheels Move the Soul’

(16:01) Father John Misty: “The Old Law” (single)

(24:44) Kim Gordon: “NOT TODAY,” from ‘PLAY ME’

(31:39) Tinariwen: “Sagherat Assani (feat. Sulafa Elyas),” from ‘Hoggar’

(37:21) Vero: “100 Calls,” from ‘Razor Tongue’


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Lucinda Williams. Julian Lage. The debut from rising Americana star Kashus Culpepper. Stephen Thompson from NPR Music chats with Jessie Scott from WMOT in Nashville about the best new albums out Friday, Jan. 23.

The Starting 5

(00:00) Intro: Cat Power, 'Redux' EP
(02:14) Lucinda Williams, 'World's Gone Wrong'
(07:36) Carolina Chocolate Drops, 'Genuine Negro Jig' (15th Anniversary Edition)
(15:19) Kashus Culpepper, 'Act I'
(20:00) The Lowest Pair, 'Always As Young As We'll Ever Be'
(25:29) Julian Lage, 'Scenes From Above'


The Lightning Round

- Ari Lennox, 'Vacancy'
- Sammy Brue, 'The Journals'
- V/A, 'Naive Melodies'
- Della Mae, 'Magic Accident'


Sample the albums via our New Music Friday playlist on NPR.org.


Credits
Host: Stephen Thompson
Guest: Jessie Scott, WMOT
Audio Producer: Noah Caldwell
Digital Producer: Dora Levite
Editors: Otis Hart, Elle Mannion
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed

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Sometimes life imitates art - or at least the two can seem eerily connected. On Jan. 1, the Venezuelan band Rawayana released a new album, '¿Dónde Es El After?,' which began with a lyric that many interpreted as a wish for their country's leadership to be gone. A few days later, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was ousted from power and seized by American forces. For this week's episode, we chat with Fofo Story and Beto Montenegro of Rawayana to hear how the album came together, where its sonic influences lie, and how they're reflecting on the seismic changes underway in their home country.

(00:00) Intro
(01:54) How they decided to open the album
(06:26) On the song 'Qué Rico PR!'
(09:36) Caribbean influences growing up
(13:41) Childhood love for merenhouse
(16:13) Adapting tonada folk music
(21:58) Reflections on Venezuela in this moment

This podcast episode was produced by Noah Caldwell. The executive producer of NPR Music is Suraya Mohamed.

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