NPR Music

Our shortlist of the week's best new albums includes a celebration of love from John Legend, a stunning release from Phoebe Bridgers, a long-lost Neil Young record, the Malian singer Oumou Sangaré and more.

Featured Albums:
1. Phantom Planet — Devastator
Featured Song: "Time Moves On"
2. John Legend — Bigger Love
Featured Song: "Ooh Laa"
3. Phoebe Bridgers — Punisher
Featured Songs: "Punisher" and "I Know The End"
4. Roy Ayers, Adrian Younge, Ali Shaheed Muhammad - JID 002
5. Bob Dylan — Rough and Rowdy Ways
Featured Song: "Goodbye Jimmy Reed"
6. Neil Young — Homegrown
Featured Song: "Separate Ways"
7. Oumou Sangaré — Acoustic
Featured Song: "Diaraby Nene"

Other notable releases for June 19: Braids — Shadow Offering; Don Bryant — You Make Me Feel; Gabby Bryant — GOLDMINE; Owen — The Avalanche; Sault — Untitled; Teyana Taylor — The Album; Wire — 10:20; Yo-Yo Ma, Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer & Chris Thile — Not Our First Goat Rodeo

This week's must-hear mix from All Songs Considered includes music inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, a quarantine anthem, a track that draws on field recordings of bats and more.

Featured Tracks:
1. Shamir "On My Own" (Single)
2. H.E.R. "I Can't Breathe" (Single)
3. A.O. Gerber "Old Blue" from Another Place to Need
4. Gracie and Rachel "Ideas" (Single)
5. Hania Rani "Buka" from Home
6. Eluvium "Dusk Tempi" from Field Works: Ultrasonic

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From new jazz albums from Ambrose Akinmusire and Norah Jones to soothing works from Gia Margaret, Eighth Blackbird and Noveller, here are the best new albums out on June 12.

Featured Albums:
1. Ambrose Akinmusire — on the tender spot of every calloused moment
Featured Song: "Tide of Hyacinth"
2. Jehnny Beth — To Love Is To Live
Featured Song: "Innocence"
3. Gia Margaret — Mia Gargaret
Featured Songs: "Body" and "Lesson"
4. Chloe x Halle — Ungodly Hour
Featured Song: "Baby Girl"
5. Eighth Blackbird — Singing In The Dead Of Night
Featured Songs: "These Broken Wings" and "Singing In The Dead Of Night"
6. Naeem — Startisha
Featured Songs: "Simulation" and "You And I"
7. Norah Jones — Pick Me Up Off The Floor
Featured Song: "Hurts To Be Alone"
8. Noveller — Arrow
Featured Song: "Pre-fabled"

Notable releases for June 5: The Prison Music Project — Long Time Gone; Katie Malco — Failures; Groupe RTD — The Dancing Devils Of Djibouti; Hinds — The Prettiest Curse; Daniel Carter, Matthew Shipp, William Parker & Gerald Cleaver — Welcome Adventure Vol. 1

Notable releases for June 12: GoGo Penguin — GoGo Penguin; Coriky — Coriky; Sammy Brue — Crash Test Kid; Momma — Two Of Me

On this week's All Songs Considered, we listen as thoughtful musicians express their utter frustrations and fears in the aftermath of George Floyd's death at the hands of the Minneapolis police.

1. Gary Clark Jr. and The Roots, "This Land (Remix)" (feat. Black Thought)
2. Chloë Nixon, "I Can't Breathe"
3. Fantastic Negrito, "How Long?"
4. Leon Bridges, "Sweeter" (feat. Terrace Martin)
5. Mickey Guyton, "Black Like Me"

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We break format on this week's show for a deeper discussion of RTJ4, an album that speaks directly to both current and historic racism in America, police violence and systemic oppression.

From the Atlanta rapper Deante' Hitchcock to the Australian ambient artist Madeleine Cocolas, hear the music closest to our staff right now.

If there's a common theme to the best new albums out this week, it's joy, from the relentlessly jubilant rock of the band Vistas, to singer Nicole Atkins' love letter to the Jersey Shore.

Featured Albums:
1. Vistas — Everything Changes in the End
Featured Song: "Sucker"
2. Nicole Atkins — Italian Ice
Featured Song: "Captain"
3. Ondara — Folk N Roll Vol. 1 - Tales of Isolation
Featured Song: "Mr. Landlord"
4. Jaime Wyatt — Neon Cross
Featured Song: "Neon Cross"
5. 2nd Grade — Hit to Hit
Featured Songs: "Baby's First Words" and "Something I'll Have To Remember"
6. Christian Lee Hutson — Beginners
Featured Song: "Atheist"
7. Teddy Thompson — Heartbreaker Please
Featured Song: "Why Wait"
8. Jake Blount — Spider Tales
Featured Song: "Move, Daniel"

Other notable releases for May 29: David Grubbs & Taku Unami — Comet Meta; Deerhoof — Future Teenage Cave Artists; Diana Ross — Supertonic; Diplo — Diplo Presents Thomas Wesley Chapter 1: Snake Oil; Flying Lotus — Flamagra Instrumentals; Hania Rani — Home; Inventions — Continuous Portrait; Kip Moore — Wild World; Lady Gaga — Chromatica; Prince — Up All Nite With Prince.

This week's new mix from All Songs Considered is all cover tunes, featuring musicians we love paying tribute to artists they love.

1. Jay Som "Lucy" from Soccer Mommy & Friends Singles Series
2. Soccer Mommy "I Think You're Alright" from Soccer Mommy & Friends Singles Series
3. Margaret Glaspy "Mythological Beauty"
4. Lucy Dacus "Tom Courtenay"
5. Sharon Van Etten "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding? [feat. Josh Homme]"
6 Caroline Spence "The Middle"
7. Palehound "Something On Your Mind"
8. Joseph Shabason "Gymnopedia No. 1"

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The best albums out this week include The 1975's sprawling masterpiece, Notes On A Conditional Form, the return of Indigo Girls, The Airborne Toxic Event, the rapper Gunna and more.