NPR Music

The best albums out this week include Wilco's double-length Cruel Country, a debut from the singer UMI, the latest installment in Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Adrian Younge's Jazz Is Dead series and more.

Featured Albums:
1. Jean Carne, Ali Shaheed Muhammad & Adrian Younge — JID012
Featured Songs: "Black Love," "Visions"
2. Wilco — Cruel Country
Featured Songs: "I Am My Mother," "The Plains," "A Lifetime To Find"
3. X Alfonso — Ancestros Sinfonicos
Featured Song: "Yakuma Kareré"
4. UMI — Forest in the City
Featuared Song: "what would u do?"
5. Nduduzo Makhathini — In the Spirit of NTU
Featured Songs: "Mama," "Emlilweni"

Other notable releases for May 27:
Brian Jackson — This Is Brian Jackson
Bright Eyes — A Collection of Songs Written and Recorded 1995-1997, Letting Off the Happiness and Fevers and Mirrors
Dehd — Blue Skies
HAAi — Baby, We're Ascending
Isaac Dunbar — Banish the Banshee
Jonny Greenwood — The Power of the Dog OST (physical release)
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith & Emile Mosseri - I Could Be Your Dog / I Could Be Your Moon
Liam Gallagher — C'MON YOU KNOW
Maria BC — Hyaline
Rosie Carney — I Wanna Feel Happy
Sean Paul — Scorcha
Sofie Birch — Holotropica
Stars — From Capelton Hill
Steve Earle & The Dukes — Jerry Jeff

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

In this special episode from our friends at Pop Culture Happy Hour, host Stephen Thompson talks with critics Christina Lee and Marcus J. Moore about Kendrick Lamar's new double album Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers.

It's been five years since Lamar released his previous album, DAMN. Since then, he's won a Pulitzer Prize, been nominated for an Oscar, and become a parent. But Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, is anything but a breezy victory lap. Lamar examines generational trauma, sexual politics, and his own attempts to grow amid high expectations and heavy introspection.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

The best albums out this week include Harry's House from Harry Styles, jazz pianist Joey Alexander's Origin, new ones from R&B singer Ravyn Lenae, rapper Boldy James, Porridge Radio and more.

Featured Albums:
1. Harry Styles — Harry's House
Featured Tracks: "Music for a Sushi Restaurant," "Grapejuice"
2. Joey Alexander — Origin
Featured Tracks: "Remembering," "Summer Rising"
3. Ravyn Lenae — Hypnos
Featured Tracks: "3D," "Inside Out," "Xtasy"
4. Porridge Radio — Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder to the Sky
Featured Tracks: "Back to the Radio," "End of Last Year"
5. Boldy James & Real Bad Man — Killing Nothing
Featured Track: "Game Time"

Other notable releases for May 20:
Charlie Hickey — Nervous At Night
Craig Finn — A Legacy of Rentals
Flume — Palaces
Hanson — Red Green Blue
Joe Rainey — Niineta
Kronos Quartet — Mỹ Lai
Lykke Li — EYEYE
Mary Lattimore & Paul Sukeena — West Kensington
mxmtoon — rising
SOAK — If I never know you like this again
Uffie — Sunshine Factory

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

All Songs Considered's Bob Boilen introduces this year's Tiny Desk Contest winner, Alisa Amador, plus new music from SOAK, the identical twins duo Companion, Swedish singer-songwriter Jens Lekman and more.

Featured Artists And Songs:
1. Alisa Amador: "Milonga accidental" (Single)
2. Jens Lekman: "The Linden Trees Are Still in Blossom," from The Linden Trees Are Still in Blossom
3. Companion: "If I Were a Ghost," from Second Day of Spring
4. SOAK: "purgatory," from If I never know you like this again
5. Jasmyn: "Cruel Moon," from In The Wild


Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

Kendrick Lamar's highly anticipated Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers, Leikeli47's Shape Up, Florence + the Machine's Dance Fever and more are on our shortlist of the week's best new albums.

Featured Albums:
1. Kendrick Lamar — Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers
2. Leikeli47 — Shape Up
Featured Track: "Chitty Bang"
3. Florence + the Machine — Dance Fever
Featured Track: "Choreomania"
4. Quelle Chris — DEATHFAME
Featured Track: "King in Black"
5. Tank and the Bangas — Red Balloon
Featured Track: "Communion in My Cup"
6. John Carpenter, Cody Carpenter & Daniel Davis — Firestarter
Featured Track: "Charlie's Rampage"

Other notable releases for May 13:
The Black Keys — Dropout Boogie
Kevin Morby — This Is A Photograph
Mandy Moore — In Real Life
Mary Halvorson — Amaryllis and Belladonna
Monophonics — Sage Motel
Pkew Pkew Pkew — Open Bar
Sam Gendel & Antonia Cytrynowicz — Live a Little
Say Sue Me — The Last Thing Left
The Smile — A Light For Attracting Attention
They Hate Change — Finally, New

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

All Songs Considered's Bob Boilen shares the "most astonishing song" he's heard this year: Regina Spektor's "Up The Mountain," plus Stella Donnelly's "Lungs," the many colors of MABUTA and more.

Featured Songs And Artists:
1. Regina Spektor: "Up The Mountain," from Home, before and after
2. Rachel Bobbitt: "More" (Single)
3. Shane Cooper & MABUTA: "Finish The Sun," from Finish The Sun
4. Tomberlin: "idkwntht," from i don't know who needs to hear this...
5. Kathryn Joseph: "The Burning of Us All," from For You Who Are the Wronged
6. Stella Donnelly: "Lungs," from Flood

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

Jewly Hight from member station WNXP talks with Bonnie Raitt about the folk-and-blues legend's new album Just Like That... and how she's navigated five decades of storied music-making.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

NPR Music's picks for the best albums out this week include Sharon Van Etten's We've Been Going About This All Wrong, Jack Harlow's Come Home The Kids Miss You, Arcade Fire's WE and more.

Featured Albums:
1. Jack Harlow — Come Home The Kids Miss You
Featured Tracks: "Nail Tech," "First Class"
2. Ibeyi — Spell 31
Featured Tracks: "Made of Gold," "Sister 2 Sister"
3. Arcade Fire — WE
Featured Tracks: "Age of Anxiety I," "End of the Empire"
4. IDK & KAYTRANADA — Simple.
Featured Track: "Dog Food"
5. Sharon Van Etten — We've Been Going About This All Wrong
Featured Tracks: "Headspace," "Born"

Other notable releases for May 6:
!!! — Let It Be Blue
Bad Bunny — Un Verano Sin Ti
Belle And Sebastian — A Bit of Previous
Bryan Ferry — Love Letters
Ella Mai — Heart On My Sleeve
Emile Sandé — Let's Say For Instance
Jermiside & The Expert — The Overview Effect
JOYFULTALK — Familiar Science
Kikagaku Moyo — Kumoyo Island
Midland — The Last Resort: Greetings From
Otoboke Beaver — Super Champon
Suki Waterhouse — I Can't Let Go
Sunflower Bean — Headful of Sugar


Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

April brought us albums from a re-energized Pusha T, reggae legend Horace Andy, Myra Melford's improvised suite, Syd's broken-hearted R&B ballads and Straw Man Army's paranoid-but-expansive post-punk.

Featured Albums:
1. Horace Andy: "Watch Over Them" from Midnight Rocker
2. Pusha T: "Dreamin of the Past" from It's Almost Dry
3. Myra Melford's Fire and Water Quintet: "VII" from For the Love of Fire and Water
4. Syd: "CYBAH" from Broken Hearts Club
5. Straw Man Army: "Human Kind" from SOS

Other notable releases for April:

• Fontaines D.C. — Skinty Fia
• Taj Mahal & Ry Cooder — Get On Board
• Joel Ross — The Parable of the Poet
• Miles Okazaki's Trickster Quartet — Thisness
• Albert Ayler — Revelations
• Vince Staples — Ramona Park Broke My Heart
• Omar Apollo — Ivory
• Bonnie Raitt — Just Like That...
• The Linda Lindas — Growing Up
• Wet Leg — Wet Leg

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

The week's best new albums include Toro y Moi's spectacular MAHAL, hard-hitting rap from the New Jersey hip-hop duo Dälek's Precipice, R&B singer Kehlani's blue water road and more.

Featured Albums:
1. Toro y Moi — MAHAL
Featured Tracks: "Magazine," "The Medium"
2. Girlpool — Forgiveness
Featured Track: "Nothing Gives Me Pleasure"
3. Dälek — Precipice
Featured Tracks: "Devotion (When I Cry The Wind Disappears)," "Boycott"
4. Kehlani — blue water road
Featured Tracks: "wish i never" and "wondering/wandering"
5. Let's Eat Grandma — Two Ribbons
Featured Tracks: "Watching You Go," "Strange Conversations"
6. Girl Ultra — El Sur
Featured Tracks: "Bombay," "Nade Que Hacer"

Other notable release for April 29:
Bloc Party — Alpha Games
Burnt Pink — Afterlife Dub
Congotronics International — Where's The One?
Corb Lund — Songs My Friends Wrote
Diane Coffee — With People
Ebi Soda — Honk If You're Sad
The Head and the Heart — Every Shade Of Blue
Kelly Lee Owens — LP8
Melody's Echo Chamber — Emotional Eternal
Miranda Lambert — Palomino
Röyksopp — Profound Mysteries
William Basinski & Janek Schaefer — ...On Reflection


Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy