NPR Music

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

Sleater-Kinney's Path of Wellness, the thundering pop of Marina, Brooklyn rapper Skyzoo and the blood-slowing sounds of Dustin O'Halloran are among NPR Music's picks for the best music out on June 11.

Featured Albums:
1. Marina — Ancient Dreams In A Modern Land
Featured Songs: "Ancient Dreams In A Modern Land" and "Goodbye"
2. Skyzoo — All The Brilliant Things
Featured Song: "St. James Liquors"
3. Sleater-Kinney — Path of Wellness
Featured Song: "Path of Wellness"
4. Jesse Markin — Noir
Featured Song: "This Is A Testament"
5. Dustin O'Halloran — Silfur
Featured Song: "Opus 17"
6. Ches Smith & We All Break — Path of Seven Colors
Featured Song: "Here's The Light"

Other notable releases for June 11: Dean Blunt — Black Metal 2; Garbage — No Gods, No Monsters; Migos — Culture III; Mind Maintenance — S/T; Polo G — Hall of Fame.

All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen shares his favorite new tracks of the week, featuring former Tiny Desk contest winner Naia Izumi, West African art-folk group The Narcotix, Laura Stevenson and more.

Featured Artists And Songs:
1. Laura Stevenson: "State," from Laura Stevenson
2. Jomoro: "Nest," from Blue Marble Sky
3. The Narcotix: "Lilith," from Mommy Issues EP
4. Gone to Color: ""The 606" (feat. Jessie Stein,) from Gone To Color
5. Naia Izumi: "Voodoo," from A Residency in the Los Angeles Area
6. Maddie Jay: "Spiral," from CMYK EP

Rostam's beautifully transfixing Changephobia, Japanese Breakfast's Jubilee and Liz Phair's first new album in more than a decade are among NPR Music's picks for the best albums out on June 4.

Featured Albums:
1. Rostam — Changephobia
Featured Song: "Bio 18"
2. Poté — A Tenuous Tale Of Her
Featured Song: "Valley"
3. The Avalanches — Since I Left You (20th Anniv. Ed.)
Featured Songs: "Frontier Psyychiatrist" and "Two Hearts In 3/4 Time"
4. Loraine James — Reflection
Featured Song: "Simple Stuff"
5. Japanese Breakfast — Jubilee
Featured Song: "Savage Good Boy"
6. Liz Phair — Soberish
Featured Song: "Spanish Doors"
7. Tristen — Aquatic Flowers
Featured Song: "Complex"
8. Juana Molina — Segundo
Featured Song: "Martin Fierro"

Other notable releases for June 4: August Fannon and Defcee — We Dressed The City With Our Names; Hailu Mergia and The Walias Band — Tezeta; Joy Oladokun — In Defense Of My Own Hapiness; Lil Baby and Lil Durk — The Voice Of The Heroes; Wolf Alice — Blue Weekend.

In May, we swooned to Olivia Rodrigo's Sour, marveled at Sharon Van Etten and Angel Olsen, went back to the '90s with The Zolas, bathed in the opulent luxury of Sinéad Harnett's voice, got lost in Bill Laurance's piano universe, and jazz group Sound Prints expanded its possibilities.

Songs featured on this episode:
• Olivia Rodrigo: "jealousy, jealousy" from Sour
• Sharon Van Etten & Angel Olsen, "Like I Used To"
• The Zolas: "Yung Dicaprio" from Come Back to Life
• Sinéad Harnett: "Stay" from Ready is Always Too Late
• Bill Laurance: "Cables Rewired" from Cables Rewired
• Sound Prints: "The Flight" from Other Worlds

Follow the Press Pause playlist for the NPR Music staff's favorite new songs.

NPR Music picks the best new albums out this week, including new releases by DMX, Bachelor, Mustafa, Natalia Lafourcade and more.

Featured Albums:
1. Bachelor — Doomin' Sun
Featured Song: "Spin Out"
2. DMX — Exodus
Featured Song: "Hold Me Down"
3. Mustafa — When Smoke Rises
Featured Song: "Ali"
4. Various Artists — Fire in Little Africa
Featured Song: "City of Dreams"
5. Mereba — Azeb
Featured Song: "Rider"
6. Natalia Lafourcade — Un Canto por México, Vol. 2
Featured Song: "La Llorona"

Notable releases for May 28: Black Midi — Cavalcade; GWAR — The Disc With No Name; k.d. lang — Makeover; Moby — Reprise; Porter Robinson — Nurture; Quivers — Golden Doubt; Lou Barlow — Reason to Live; Juanes — Origen; Scotch Rolex — Tewari

This weeks All Songs Considered features a striking collaboration between Sharon Van Etten and Angel Olsen. I also share a conversation and music with Angélique Kidjo, psych-guitar from Mdou Moctar and more.
1. Sharon Van Etten & Angel Olsen: "Like I Used To" (Single)
2. Aerial East: "The Things We Build," from Try Harder
3. Saint Sister: "Manchester Air," from Where I Should End
4. Sunny Jain: "Where is Home," from Phoenix Rise
5. Angélique Kidjo: "Africa, One Of A Kind (feat. Mr Eazi & Salif Keita)," from Mother Nature
6. Mdou Moctar: "Afrique Victime," from Afrique Victime

NPR Music picks the best new albums out this week, including new releases by Olivia Rodrigo, Allison Russell, Audrey Nuna and more.

Featured Albums:
1. Olivia Rodrigo — Sour
Featured Song: "Brutal"
2. Patrick Paige II — If I Fail, Are We Still Cool?
Featured Song: "Curfew"
3. Allison Russell — Outside Child
Featured Song: "4th Day Prayer"
4. Georgia Anne Muldrow — VWETO III
Featured Song: "Old Jack Swing"
5. Audrey Nuna — A Liquid Breakfast
Featured Song: "Damn Right"
6. Erika de Casier — Sensational
Featured Song: "Polite"

Notable releases for May 21: Twenty One Pilots — Scaled and Icy; Blake Shelton — Body Language; Counting Crows — Butter Miracle, Suite One; Mdou Moctar — Afrique Victime; CHAI — Wink; Lambchop, Showtunes; Lord Huron — Long Lost; Edmar Castañeda — Family; Sunny Jain — Phoenix Rise; Rising Appalachia — The Lost Mystique of Being in the Know; Claire George — The Land Beyond the Light; BLK JKS — Abantu: Before Humans

1. Sleater-Kinney: "Worry With You," from Path of Wellness
2. Billie Marten: "Human Replacement," from Flora Fauna
3. Sleepersound: "Silence Otherwise," from Idle Voices
4. Green-House: "Peace Piece," from SC25
5. Lowland Hum: "In Your Eyes," from So Low
6. Briars of North America: "Sala," from Supermoon

NPR Music's picks for the best albums out on May 14 include Jorja Smith's Be Right Back, St. Vincent's homage to early '70s rock, a staggering new project from saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings and more.

Featured Albums:
1. Jorja Smith — Be Right Back
Featured Song: "Digging"
2. St. Vincent — Daddy's Home
Featured Song: "Melting of the Sun"
3. Paris Texas — Boy Anonymous
Featured Song: "Force of Habit"
4. Maxine Funke — Séance
Featured Song: "Quiet Shore"
5. Giant Claw — Mirror Guide
Featured Song: "Until Mirror"
6. Shabaka Hutchings and Sons of Kemet — Black to the Future
Featured Song: "Let The Circle Be Unbroken"
7. Billy Bang — Lucky Man
Featured Song: "Jungle Lullaby"

Other notable releases for May 14: The Black Keys — Delta Kream; Damien Jurado — The Monster Who Hated Pennsylvania; Fatima Al Qadiri — Medieval Femme; Holly Macve — Not the Girl; Juliana Hatfield — Blood; Rodrigo y Gabriela — The Jazz EP; Sarah Neufeld — Detritus.