Ann Powers, Sidney Madden and Stephen Thompson make predictions ahead of Sunday night's 66th annual Grammy Awards.

Notable albums out Feb. 2:
• The Last Dinner Party, Prelude to Ecstasy
• J Mascis, What Do We Do Now
• Kirin J Callinan, If I Could Sing
• Lee Scratch Perry, King Perry
• Paul McCartney & Wings, Band on the Run (Underdubbed Mixes)
• The Paranoid Style, The Interrogator
• Liquid Mike, Paul Bunyan's Slingshot
• Vijay Iyer, Linda May Han Oh, Tyshawn Sorey, Compassion
• Jenny Sturgeon & Boo Hewerdine, Outliers


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With Green Day's stellar new album, Saviors, the 20th anniversary of American Idiot and 30th anniversary of Dookie, NPR's Daoud Tyler-Ameen, Stephen Thompson and Robin Hilton look at the band's legacy.

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There's plenty about Wall of Eyes, the new album by the British rock trio The Smile, to remind you of Radiohead, the band with which The Smile shares Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood. But there's something about The Smile that resists feeling like Radiohead redux, and on this week's episode Ann Powers, Tom Huizenga and Sheldon Pearce get to the bottom of what makes Wall of Eyes so satisfying on its own terms.

Plus: Discussion of a week's worth of great albums leads to a conversation about the state of music criticism, which took a blow last week when the long-standing, much-beloved, occasionally-hated website Pitchfork was folded into the men's magazine GQ and much of its staff laid off.

Featured Albums for January 26, 2024:
1. Patricia Kopatchinksaja, Reto Bieri, Polina Leschenko — Take 3
2. Benny the Butcher — Everybody Can't Go
3. Katy Kirby — Blue Raspberry
4. The Smile — Wall of Eyes

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In this week's Alt.Latino episode, Chilean rapper and singer Ana Tijoux talks to hosts Felix Contreras and Anamaria Sayre about her new album, Vida, and why it took so long to return to the studio.

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With the announcement of the 96th annual Oscar nominees, we're revisiting our conversation with Volker Bertelmann, who won the Academy Award for Best Original Score last year for All Quiet On The Western Front.

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NPR Music's Sheldon Pearce, Rodney Carmichael and Sidney Madden dig into hip-hop superstar 21 Savage's new album, his notorious ICE arrest and what it means to capture the American dream.

Noteworthy albums out January 19:
- Sleater-Kinney, Little Rope
- Green Day, Saviors
- Eladio Carrión, Sol María
- Ana Tijoux, Vida
- Brittney Spencer, My Stupid Life
- Mary Halvorson, Cloudward
- Ethan Iverson, Technically Acceptable
- glass beach, plastic death
- ericdoa, DOA
- Neck Deep, Neck Deep
- Fredo Bang, Yes, I'm Sad
- Keyon Harrold, Foreverland
- Jozef Van Wissem, The Night Dwells In The Day
- Oren Ambarchi, Jim O'Rourke & Keiji Haino, With pats on the head, just one too few evil one too many is good that's all it is
- Mali Obomsawin and Magdalena Abrego, Greatest Hits


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Host Robin Hilton hangs with NPR Music's Anamaria Sayre and Tom Huizenga to share their current musical obsessions, from the solo piano of Philip Glass to the garage punk of Sprints, Spain's super chill Club del Rio and more.

Featured Artists And Songs:
1. Lavinia Meijer: "The Departure" from Winter
2. Xavi: "La Diabla (Single)
3. Faye Webster and Lil Yachty: "Lego Ring" from Underdressed at the Symphony
4. Philip Glass: "Opening," from Philip Glass Solo
5. Club del Rio: "Una Vida" (Single)
6. Sprints: "Literary Mind" from Letter to Self

Enjoying the show? Tell your friends and leave a review for us wherever you listen to podcasts. Feedback welcome at [email protected]


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To ring in the new year, NPR Music's critics take over the latest episode of New Music Friday to offer predictions about the artists, genres and stories that might dominate conversations about music in 2024.

Ann Powers, Rodney Carmichael and Nate Chinen join editor Jacob Ganz to discuss whether Usher's Super Bowl performance or Dua Lipa's new sound could launch these hardworking artists to new levels of ubiquity. Is it possible for either to one steal some of the spotlight that Beyoncé and Taylor Swift dominated last year?

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Hosts Felix Contreras and Anamaria Sayre share the latest new songs that live rent-free in their heads.

Featured songs:
Candeleros, "Le Quedan Dos"
Cuco, "When The Day Comes To An End (DJ Sliink Remix)"
Gaby Moreno, "Dance the Night Away"
Ed Maverick, "Lagunas"
Helado Negro, "I Just Want To Wake Up With You"
Ana Tijoux, "Tania"

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We take a spin through the albums we're most excited about for this year, including Sleater-Kinney, Brittany Howard, Hurray for the Riff Raff and more, plus a few rumored releases.

Featured Albums:
1. Sleater-Kinney — Little Rope
2. The Smile — Wall of Eyes
3. Brittany Howard — What Now
4. Mary Timony — Untame the Tiger
5. Lee Scratch Perry — King Perry
6. Grandaddy — Blu Wav
7. Hurray for the Riff Raff — The Past Is Still Alive
8. serpentwithfeet — GRIP
9. Chelsea Wolfe — She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She
10. Erika de Casier — Still

Other notable releases for 2024:
Jan. 12: Kid Cudi — Insano
Jan. 12: Kali Uchis — Orquideas
Jan. 19: Green Day — Saviors
Jan. 26: Future Islands — People Who Aren't There Anymore
Jan. 26: Torres — What an enormous room
Jan. 26: Ty Segall — Three Bells
Feb. 9: Helado Negro — PHASOR
Feb. 16: Laura Jane Grace — Hole In My Head
Feb. 16: IDLES — TANGK
Feb. 29: Jacob Collier — Djesse Vol. 4
March 1: Sheer Mag — Playing Favorites
March 8: Bleachers — Bleachers
March 29: Chastity Belt — Live Love Laugh

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