NPR Music

NPR Music's picks for the best albums out this week include Willow's Lately I Feel Everything, new ones from Clairo and John Mayer, a posthumous release from Alice Coltrane and more.

Featured Albums:
1. Willow — Lately I Feel Everything
Featured Songs: "Breakout" and "Xtra"
2. Clairo — Sling
Featured Song: "Zinnias"
3. Rodrigo Amarante — Drama
Featured Song: "Tao"
4. John Mayer — Sob Rock
Featured Song: "Guess I Just Feel Like"
5. Cakes da Killa — MUVALAND Vol. 2
Featured Song: "Lite Werk"
6. Alice Coltrane — Kirtan: Turiya Sings
Featured Song: "Jagadishwar"
7. John Vanderslice — I Can't Believe Civilization Is Still Going Here In 2021! Congratulations To All Of Us, Love DCB
Featured Song: "I Get A Strange Kind Of Pleasure From Just Hanging On"
8. John Vanderslice — Ethical Jute Mouse: Lost Songs from Tiny Telephone 2001-2021
Featured Song: "Advancing Army Clip"

Other notable releases for July 16: Charlie Worsham — Sugarcane; Ida Mae — Click Click Domino; Jodi — Blue Heron; Karen Black — Dreaming Of You: 1971-1976; Pop Smoke — FAITH.

All Songs host Bob Boilen shares his favorite songs of the week, including a long-overdue celebration of Sparks, a Ben Gibbard collaboration with Tycho, the return of Courtney Barnett and more.

Featured Songs And Artists:
1. Sparks, Adam Driver & Marion Cotillard: "So May We Start (feat. Simon Helberg)," From Annette
2. Courtney Barnett: "Rae Street," From Things Take Time, Take Time
3. Indigo De Souza: "Kill Me," From Any Shape You Take
4. Tycho & Benjamin Gibbard: "Only Love" (Single)
5. Lala Lala: "DIVER," From I Want The Door To Open
6. Mega Bog: "Station to Station," From Life, And Another

The best albums out this week include a revealing, self-titled release from rapper Vince Staples, Snoh Aalegra's Temporary Highs in the Violet Skies, Half Waif's Mythopoetics and more.

Featured Albums:
1. Vince Staples — Vince Staples
Featured Song: "Are You With That?"
2. Attacca Quartet — Real Life
Featured Songs: "Real Life" and "Drifting Circles"
3. Snoh Aalegra — Temporary Highs in the Violet Skies
Featured Songs: "Tangerine Dream" and "Indecisive"
4. Half Waif — Mythopoetics
Featured Song: "Horse Racing"
5. The Goon Sax — Mirror II
Featured Song: "In The Stone"
6. Les Filles de Illighadad — At Pioneer Works
Featured Song: "Eghaas Malan"

Other notable releases out on July 9: The Alchemist — Rapper's Best Friend 6; Rejjie Snow — Baw Baw Black Sheep; Royal Canoe — Sidelining; The Wallflowers — Exit Wounds.

All Songs Considered's Bob Boilen shares his favorite new tunes of the week, including one with The National's Aaron Dessner and Bon Iver's Justin Vernon, a Jack Antonoff-produced song from Clairo and more.

Featured Songs:
1. Orla Gartland: "You're Not Special Babe," from Woman on the Internet
2. Aldous Harding: "Old Peel" (Single)
3. Matthew E. White: "Genuine Hesitation," from K Bay
4. Big Red Machine: "Latter Days (feat. Anaïs Mitchell)," from How Long Do You Think It's Gonna Last?
5. Dos Santos: "A Shot in the Dark" (Single)
6. Clairo: "Blouse," from Sling
7. jess joy: "her0," from PATREEARCHY

NPR Music's picks for the best albums out now include Chicago rapper G Herbo's 25, the wild euphoria of The Go! Team, singer Laura Mvula's first new music in five years and more.

Featured Albums:
1. The Go! Team — Get Up Sequences Part One
Featured Song: "Let The Seasons Work"
2. G Herbo — 25
Featured Song: "Demands"
3. Laura Mvula — Pink Noise
Featured Song: "Conditional"
4. Declaime and Madlib — In The Beginning Vol. 1
Featured Song: "Cool Ways"
5. boyband — Never Knows Best
Featured Song: "IRL"
6. Izzy Johnson — Earth Tones
Featured Song: "Existing"

Brandi Carlile has become one of Joni Mitchell's greatest interpreters. NPR Music's Ann Powers talks with the singer-songwriter about her life with Blue, conversations with James Taylor and the gift Joni gave her.

Doja Cat, SAULT and Tyler, The Creator lead a crazy-packed day for new releases, along with Lucy Dacus, Cautious Clay and more.

Featured Albums:
1. Doja Cat — Planet Her
Featured Song: "Payday (feat. Yung Thug)"
2. Tyler, The Creator — Call Me If You Get Lost
Featured Song: "Lumberjack"
3. SAULT — NINE
Featured Songs: "London Gangs" and "9"
4. Hiatus Kaiyote — Mood Valiant
Featured Song: "Chivalry Is Not Dead"
5. Lucy Dacus — Home Video
Featured Song: "Hot & Heavy"
6. Squirrel Flower — Planet (i)
Featured Song: "Roadkill"
7. Cautious Clay — Deadpan Love
Featured Song: "Whoa"
8. Faye Webster — I Know I'm Funny haha
Featured Song: "Sometimes"
9. Pom Pom Squad — Death of a Cheerleader
Featured Song: "Drunk Voicemail"
10. Lightning Bug — A Color Of The Sky
Featured Song: "September Song, Pt. ii"

Other notable releases for June 25: Cedric Burnside — I Be Trying; Hiss Golden Messenger — Quietly Blowing It; L'Rain — Fatigue; Matthew Dear — Preacher's Sigh And Potion: Lost Album; Modest Mouse — The Golden Casket; The Mountain Goats — Dark In Here.

Our favorite new artists of 2021 (so far) include Jay Som and Palehound together as Bachelor, the queer pop celebrations of girl in red, Olivia Rodrigo, the warped rap duo Paris Texas and more.

1. Bachelor (Jay Som & Palehound): "Back Of My Hand," from Doomin' Sun
2. girl in red: "Serotonin," from if i could make it go quiet
3. Arlo Parks: "Hurt," from Collapsed in Sunbeams
4. Celeste: "Strange," from Not Your Muse
5. mehro: "lightning," from SKY ON FIRE
6. dodie: "Hate Myself," from Build A Problem
7. Olivia Rodrigo: "brutal," from SOUR
8. Paris Texas: "A QUICK DEATH," from BOY ANONYMOUS

The best albums out this week include GoldLink's Haram!, H.E.R.'s Back of My Mind, a comic book soundtrack called Dark Nights: Death Metal, a debut album from trans punk Cher Strauberry and more.

Featured Albums:
1. Goldlink — Haram!
Featured Songs: "Terrordome" and "Evian"
2. Various — Dark Nights: Death Metal
Featured Song: "Diana" by Chelsea Wolfe
3. H.E.R. — Back of My Mind
Featured Song: "We Made It"
4. Amythyst Kiah — Wary + Strange
Featured Song: "Wild Turkey"
5. Donnie — The Colored Section (20th Anniv.)
Featured Song: "Beautiful Me"
6. Ambar Lucid — Get Lost In The Music
Featured Song: "The Door"
7. Mykki Blanco — Broken Hearts & Beauty Sleep
Featured Song: "Free Ride"
8. Cher Strauberry — Chering Is Caring
Featured Song: "Swish And Spit"

Other notable releases for June 18: Angelique Kidjo — Mother Nature; Azure Ray — Remedy; Francis Lung — Miracle; Hania Rani — Music For Film And Theater; Joan Armatrading — Consequences.

Lorde talks about her new song, we get an update on the Tiny Desk contest, Pokey LaFarge recalibrates his sound, Illuminati Hotties go "Pool Hopping" and other great new songs to fall in love with.

Featured Artists And Songs:
1. Lorde: "Solar Power" (Single)
2. Illuminati Hotties: "Pool Hopping," from Let Me Do One More
3. Azure Ray: "Bad Dream," from Remedy
4. The Go! Team: "A Bee Without Its Sting," from Get Up Sequences Part One
5. The Goon Sax: "Psychic," from Mirror II
6. Lea Thomas: "Howl," from Mirrors To The Sun
7. Pokey LaFarge: "Get It 'Fore It's Gone," from In The Blossom of Their Shade