NPR Music

NPR Music's picks for the best albums out this week include the pairing of 2 Chainz and Lil Wayne, drumless Daft Punk and more.

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Earlier this year, Peso Pluma — a 24-year-old who grew up in between Guadalajara, Jalisco and San Antonio — became the first regional Mexican artist to hit No. 1 on the Billboard Global 200 chart. Something in the music industry was changing. Streaming numbers for regional Mexican shot up astronomically, as the musical stylings of banda and norteño made their way onto the Coachella main stage and burgeoning stars like Peso Pluma began to book their first U.S. tours in major markets. But what accounted for regional Mexican's rise? And what does the genre's continued popularity say about not just changing trends in the Latin music industry, but the changing shape of America?

For the next three episodes of Alt.Latino, Anamaria Sayre and Felix Contreras dive into the regional Mexican explosion, revealing the complex relationships both Mexicans and Mexican Americans have with identity from either side of the border. In this first episode, Felix and Anamaria travel to Nashville, Tenn. to witness Peso Pluma's performance and to try to understand the root of the phenomenon, through their own personal experiences and the people they meet along the way.

Audio for this episode of 'Alt.Latino' was edited and mixed by Janice Llamoca and Joaquin Cotler, with production support from Shelby Hawkins, Suraya Mohamed, Natalia Fidelholtz and Lauren Migaki. The editor for this episode is Jacob Ganz and our project manager is Grace Chung. Our VP of Music and Visuals is Keith Jenkins.

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For the first time in nearly two decades, André 3000 is releasing an album of new music. New Blue Sun, set to be released this Friday, Nov. 17, is a stunning 87-minute mind-bender, minimalist and experimental, tribal and transcendent.

One thing it is not, however, is a rap record. In a conversation with NPR Music's Rodney Carmichael, the legendary musician talks about creativity, grief and inspiration, about finding his voice in a new instrument, and explains why he took his music in a wildly unexpected direction.

You can read the full interview with André 3000 at NPR.org/music.

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The holiday season is a time for reflection — so, we're reflecting on music, with stories and memories from listeners who recall what they first discovered from their parents' record collections.

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The week's best albums include the gothic Heaven Knows from PinkPantheress, a meticulously recreated — and legendary — Bob Dylan concert from Cat Power, Mon LaFerte's seductive Autopoiética and more.

Featured Albums:
1. PinkPantheress — Heaven Knows
Featured Songs: "Another Life (feat. Rema)," "Nice to Meet You (feat. Central Cee)," "Blue"
2. Cat Power — Cat Power Sings Dylan: The 1966 Royal Albert Concert Hall
Featured Songs: "Fourth Time Around," "Ballad of a Thin Man," "She Belongs to Me," "Just Like a Woman"
3. Mon LaFerte — Autopoiética
Featured Songs: "Autopoiética," "Tenochtitlan," "40 y MM," "Casta Diva"
4. Aïsha Devi — Death is Home
Featured Song: "Immortelle"
5. mxmtoon — plum blossom (revisited)
Featured Song: "1-800-DATEME (revisited)"
6. Chris Stapleton — Higher
Featured Song: "White Horse"
7. Lila Blue — Sweet Pea
Featured Song: "Sweat Pea"
8. Aesop Rock — Integrated Tech Solutions
Featured Song: "Infinity Fill Goose Down"
9. R.E.M. — Up
Featured Song: "Lotus"

Other notable releases for Nov. 10:
AJR — The Maybe Man
Beirut — Hadsel
Brandy — Christmas With Brandy
Daneshevskaya — Long is the Tunnel
Jelani Blackman — The Heart of It
Scream — DC Special
Tyvek — Overground


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Mind-blowing AI tools made it possible for The Beatles to release what they're calling their last song, "Now And Then." To mark the occasion, we're revisiting a conversation with producer Giles Martin, who used the same AI to remix the original mono recordings of The Beatles album Revolver.

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The week's best albums include rapper and singer Tkay Maidza's menacing yet beautiful Sweet Justice, the ever-shifting jazz rock of Sen Morimoto's Diagnosis, Actress' spellbinding LXXXVIII and more.

Featured Albums:
1. Tkay Maidza — Sweet Justice
Featured Songs: "WUACV," "Ring-A-Ling," "Ghost!," "Free Throws," "WASP"
2. Sen Morimoto — Diagnosis
Featured Songs: "Bad State," "Feel Change," "St. Peter Blind," "Pain"
3. Actress — LXXXVIII
Featured Songs: "Push Power," "M2," "Typewriter World," "Its me"
4. Resavoir — Resavoir
Featured Song: "Inside Minds"
5. Kevin Abstract — Blanket
Featured Song: "Blanket"
6. Hilary Woods — Acts of Light
Featured Song: "Burial Rites"

Other notable releases for Nov. 3:
Cold War Kids — Cold War Kids
Ian Sweet — SUCKER
Jean-Michael Jarre — OXYMOREWORKS
Jimmy Buffett — Equal Strain on All Parts (final album)
Joey Alexander — Continuance
Jung Kook — GOLDEN
Kevin Drew — Aging
King Creosote — I DES
Laura Veirs — Phone Orphans
Matmos — Return to Archive
Michael Franti & Spearhead — Big Big Love
Semisonic — Little Bit of Sun
Snail Mail — Valentine Demos
The Struts — Pretty Vicious


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We asked listeners to send us stories about a time when music came to the rescue, particularly when they were growing up. On this episode we share some of those stories, along with the music they say helped them get through their teens.

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NPR Music's picks for the best albums out this week include the long-awaited sophomore full-length from Black Pumas, Peruvian electronic artist Sofia Kourtesis, The Mountain Goats and more.

Featured Albums:
1. Black Pumas — Chronicles of a Diamond
Featured Songs: "More Than A Love Song," "Gemini Sun," "Angel," "Hello," "Rock and Roll"
2. Sofia Kourtesis — Madres
Featured Songs: "Funkhaus," "Vajkoczy," "Habla Con Ella," "Estación Esperanza (feat. Manu Chao)"
3. The Mountain Goats — Jenny from Thebes
Featured Songs: "Fresh Tattoo," "Only One Way," "Going to Dallas"
4. María José Llergo — ULTRABELLEZA
Featured Song: "RUEDA, RUEDA"
5. Mint Field — Aprender a Ser
Featured Song: "Respiro Profundo"
6. Taylor Swift — 1989 (Taylor's Version)
Featured Song: "Wildest Dreams (Taylor's Version)"
7. Shabazz Palaces — Robed in Rareness
Featured Song: "Binoculars (feat. Royce The Choice)"
8. Nirvana — In Utero (30th Anniversary Super Deluxe)
Featured Song: "Heart-Shaped Box (Live In Seattle, Seattle Center Arena - January 7, 1994)"

Other notable releases for Oct. 27:
Angie McMahon — Light, Dark, Light Again
DJ Shadow — Action Adventure
Duran Duran — DANSE MACABRE
The Gaslight Anthem — History Books
The Kills — God Games
Mayer Hawthorne — For All Time
Mike Reed — The Separatist Party
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark — Bauhaus Staircase
Poppy — Zig
Wild Nothing — Hold

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With Halloween coming up we thought we'd revisit an episode featuring songs that rattle the nerves, from Bernard Herman, Iron Maiden and yes, Sufjan Stevens, plus a whole lot more.

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