NPR Music

June brought us The Suffers' socially conscious party music, Saya Gray's headphones-worthy debut, GIVĒON's R&B ballads, Regina Spektor's elaborate songwriting and Petrol Girls' amped-up punk.

Featured Tracks and Artists:
1. The Suffers: "Don't Bother Me" and "Yada Yada" from It Starts with Love
2. Saya Gray: "I FOUND A FLOORBOARD UNDER THE SOIL!" from 19 Masters
3. GIVĒON: "Scarred" from Give Or Take
4. Regina Spektor "One Man's Prayer" from Home, before and after
5. Petrol Girls: "Preachers" from Baby

Our panel's additional recommendations for June:
• S.G. Goodman, Teeth Marks
• Jessie Buckley & Bernard Butler, For All Our Days That Tear the Heart
• Beyoncé, "BREAK MY SOUL"
• SZA, "Jodie"
• Linda Ayupuka, God Created Everything

Discover NPR Music's favorite albums and songs of 2022 (so far).

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The singer explains why Blue Note Records rejected her first version of the beloved album and shares her original, previously unheard tracks, now released for a 20th anniversary edition of the record.

Plus a deep dive on the album with NPR Music's Ann Powers, WBGO and Jazz Night In America's Nate Chinen and host Robin Hilton.

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NPR Music's picks for the best albums out this week include new ones from the electro-pop band MUNA, R&B singer GIVĒON, country star Jimmie Allen, Soccer Mommy and more.

Featured Albums:

1. MUNA — MUNA
Featured Song: "What I Want"
2. GIVĒON — Give or Take
Featured Song: "Lost Me"
3. Soccer Mommy — Sometimes, Forever
Featured Song: "Don't Ask Me"
4. Jimmie Allen — Tulip Drive
Featured Song: "what i'm talkin' 'bout"
5. Lupe Fiasco — DRILL MUSIC IN ZION
Featured Song: "AUTOBOTO (feat. Nayirah)"

Lightning Round
• Ella Fitzgerald — Ella at the Hollywood Bowl: The Irving Berlin Songbook
• Katie Alice Greer — Barbarism
• Dear Silas — It's Giving SELF LOVE!
• Regina Spektor — Home, before and after
• Luke Combs — Growin' Up
• Arooj Aftab — Vulture Prince (Deluxe Edition)
• Zola Jesus — Arkhon
• Various Artists — Elvis (OST)
• Joan Shelley — The Spur

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All Songs Considered's Bob Boilen shares an anthemic call to action from Jesca Hoop, a song for a stressed-out brain from Dry Cleaning, and two tunes inspired by television shows.

Featured Tracks And Artists:
1. Jesca Hoop: "Hatred Has a Mother," from Order of Romance
2. Jake Blount: "Didn't It Rain," from The New Faith
3. Alex G: "Runner," from God Save the Animals
4. Rubblebucket: "Morning in the Sun" (Single)
5. Marlon Williams: "Thinking of Nina," from My Boy
6. Dry Cleaning: "Don't Press Me," from Stumpwork

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NPR Music's picks for the best albums out this week include new ones from R&B singer Yaya Bey, the shape-shifting rock of Bartees Strange, Perfume Genius, DJ and producer J. Rocc and more.

Featured Albums:
1. Yaya Bey — Remember Your North Star
Featured Songs: "alright," "rolling stoner," "meet me in brooklyn"
2. Bartees Strange — Farm to Table
Featured Songs: "Mulholland Dr.," "Hold the Line," "Hennessy," "Cosigns"
3. Wild Up — Julius Eastman, Vol. 2: Joy Boy
Featured Songs: "Stay On It," "Touch Him When (Heavy)," "Joy Boy"
4. J. Rocc — A Wonderful Letter
Featured Songs: "Keep On (Yeah)," "Pajama Party," "Dancing With the Best"
5. Perfume Genius — Ugly Season
Featured Songs: "Teeth," "Cenote," "Scherzo"

Lightning Round:
Erica Banks — Diary of The Flow Queen
Harkin — Honeymoon Suite
Kevin Gates — Khaza
RY X — Blood Moon

Other notable releases for June 17:
Alanis Morissette — The Storm Before the Calm
Carlos Simon & Marco Pave' — Requiem for the Enslaved
Flasher — Love is Yours
Foals — Life is Yours
Hercules & Love Affair — In Amber
Infinity Knives & Brian Ennals — King Cobra
Logic — Vinyl Days
Mt. Joy — Orange Blood
Sound of Ceres — Emerald Sea


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All Songs Considered's Bob Boilen shares new tracks from Belgian-Egyptian singer Tamino, Sylvan Esso's Amelia Meath and Daughter of Sword's Alexandra Sauser-Monnig together as The A's and more.

Featured Tracks And Artists:
1. The A's: "He Needs Me," from Fruit
2. S.G. Goodman: "Dead Soldiers," from Teeth Marks
3. The Beths: "Silence Is Golden," from Expert In A Dying Field
4. Madison Cunningham: "Hospital," from Revealer
5. Katie Bejsiuk: "Olive, Ny" from The Woman on the Moon
6. Tamino: "The First Disciple," from Sahar


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NPR Music's picks for the best albums out this week include Nature's World from the Chicago hip-hop duo Mother Nature, FKJ's VINCENT, a meditative album from Japanese composer Midori Takada and more.

Featured Albums:
1. FKJ — VINCENT
Featured Songs: "Let's Live," "Greener"
2. ELUCID — I Told Bessie
Featured Songs: "Ghoulie," "Smile Lines"
3. Nick Mulvey — New Mythology
Featured Songs: "Mecca," "Star Nation"
4. Mother Nature & Renzell — Nature's World
Featured Song: "Midnight Garden"
5. Midori Takada — You Who are Leaving to Nirvana and Cutting Branches for a Temporary Shelter
Featured Songs: "Kannon Daiji," "Cutting Branches for a Temporary Shelter (In the Morning)"

Lightning Round:
BTS — Proof
Flora Purim — If You Will (physical release)
Julius Rodriguez — Let Sound Tell All
Shearwater — The Great Awakening

Other notable releases for June 10:
Bloomsday — Place to Land
Carrie Underwood — Denim & Rhinestones
Free the Robots — Kaduwa
George Ezra — Gold Rush Kid
Joyce Manor — 40 Oz. to Fresno
Judah & The Lion — Revival
Mapache — Roscoe's Dream
Max Richter — The New Four Seasons
Moonchild Sanelly — Phases
Vance Joy — In Our Own Sweet Time
Yann Tiersen — 11 5 18 25 18


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All Songs host Bob Boilen shares his favorite new tracks of the week including the return of Death Cab for Cutie, a rare demo from Lou Reed, the singer-songwriter known as NoSo, Sylvan Esso and more.

Featured Songs And Artists:
1. Sylvan Esso: "Sunburn" (Single)
2. Annie Hamilton: "Exist," from the future is here but it feels kinda like the past
3. Death Cab for Cutie: "Roman Candles," from Asphalt Meadows
4. NoSo: "Parasites," from Stay Proud of Me
5. Tess Parks: "Wow," from And Those Who Were Seen Dancing
6. Lou Reed: "I'm Waiting for the Man - May 1965 Demo," from Words & Music, May 1965


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The week's best new albums include Fantastic Negrito's White Jesus Black Problems, Angel Olsen's Big Time, rapper Namir Blade's sci-fi-inspired Metropolis, 070 Shake's You Can't Kill Me and more.

Featured Albums:
1. Fantastic Negrito — White Jesus Black Problems
Featured Songs: "Venomous Dogma," "In My Head"
2. Angel Olsen — Big Time
Featured Songs: "All The Flowers," "Big Time"
3. 070 Shake — You Can't Kill Me
Featured Songs: "Cocoon," "The Body," "Wine And Spirits"
4. Namir Blade — Metropolis
Featured Song: "BoA"
5. Editrix — Editrix II: Editrix Goes To Hell
Featured Song: "Cowboy"

Lightning Round:
700 Bliss — Nothing to Declare (released May 27)
Horsegirl — Versions of Modern Performance
S.G. Goodman — Teeth Marks
Post Malone — Twelve Carat Toothache

Other notable releases for June 3:
Andrew Bird — Inside Problems
Chronophage — Chronophage
GWAR — The New Dark Ages
Jasmyn — In the Wild (former Weaves lead singer)
Merzbow & Lawrence English — Eternal Stalker
Michael Franti & Spearhead — Follow Your Heart
Purity Ring — Graves
Queen of Jeans — Hiding in Place
Remi Wolf — Juno Deluxe
The Suffers — It Starts with Love
Tash Sultana — MTV Unplugged (Live In Melbourne)

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May brought us Bad Bunny's stacked summer album, Kendrick Lamar's unsettled opus, Ravyn Lenae's otherworldly debut, Julia Reidy's microtonal guitar dissonance and Ethel Cain's haunted pop.

Featured Tracks and Artists:
1. Bad Bunny: "Después de la Playa" and "Otro Atardecer" from Un Verano Sin Ti
2. Kendrick Lamar: "N95" and "Mother I Sober" from Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers
3. Ravyn Lenae: "Where I'm From (feat. Mereba)" from Hypnos
4. Julia Reidy: "World in World" from World in World
5. Ethel Cain: "Family Tree" from Preacher's Daughter

Our panel's additional recommendations for May:
• My Chemical Romance, "The Foundations of Decay"
• Flores, The Lives They Left
• Leikeli47, Shape Up

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