It's Friday, and while the sun may have set across the Labor Day skies, over here in the land of new music we're still technically working through our list of summer releases both highly anticipated and completely unexpected (hello, Justin Bieber's SWAG II). When we're done with those, there will be a fresh batch of fall releases waiting for us.
On Double Infinity, a highlight of this first release week in September, the spiritually-minded indie rock band Big Thief wrestles with questions like: "How do we age when time is infinite?" and "Who are we sitting with when we're alone?" Contrary to its title, icon-in-many-genres David Byrne asks a series of significantly more mundane questions across his latest album, Who is The Sky?, like, "Is it possible to moisturize too much?" and "Does my apartment think about me when I'm not around?"
Stephen Thompson is joined by Alisa Ali of New York City's WFUV to take on these artists' existential puzzles, while also diving into El Michels Affair's love letter to the sports theme song, Curtis Harding's newest concept album and a few more favorites.
Listen to the show wherever you get your podcasts and then scroll down for this week's long list of the very best in new music.
The Starting Five
Our hosts share the backstories and best songs from the following albums:
💿 Big Thief, Double Infinity (Stream)
- Recommended If You Like: Leith Ross, Alex G
💿 El Michels Affair, 24 Hr Sports (Stream)
- RIYL: BADBADNOTGOOD, Kokoroko
💿 Curtis Harding, Departures & Arrivals: Adventures of Captain Curt (Stream)
- RIYL: SAULT, Durand Jones
💿 Lucrecia Dalt, A Danger to Ourselves (Stream)
- RIYL: Mabe Fratti, LEYA
💿 David Byrne, Who Is The Sky? (Stream)
- RIYL: The Talking Heads, Jonathan Richman
New Music Friday is a feature of NPR's All Songs Considered podcast. Hear the discussion on the NPR App, Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
The Lightning Round
Five more albums we wish we had time to discuss on the podcast:
💿 Saint Etienne, International
💿 james K, Friend
💿 Ivy, Traces of You
💿 Anaïs & The Hoops, Growing Pains
💿 V/A, I Will Swim to You: A Tribute to Jason Molina
Listen to each album's best songs on our New Music Friday playlists on Spotify and Apple, or wherever you stream music.
The Long List
For those who want to dig even deeper, here are the week's new albums sorted by genre:
Country/Folk/Americana
- Gwenifer Raymond, Last Night I Heard The Dog Star Bark
- Katie Spencer, What Love Is
- Liam St. John, Man Of The North
- Sparrow Smith, Carolina Mountains
- Jessica Simpson, Nashville Canyon Pt. 2
Rap/Hip-Hop
- SL, Block Tales
- Slim, Free of 3
- 310babii, webkam
- El Snappo, Not Fa Da Industry
Electronic/Out There
- Titanic (I. la Católica and Mabe Fratti), Hagen
- Orcutt Shelley Miller, Orcutt Shelley Miller
- Faithless, Champion Sound
- Flava D, Here & Now
- Graham Smyth, Music For Babies To Rave And Sleep To
- Lynyn, Ixona
- SG Lewis, Anemoia
- V/A, Telepathic Fish: Trawling The Early 90s Ambient Underground
- Weval, CHOROPHOBIA
- Akasha System, Heliocene
- Okkyung Lee, Just Like Any Other Day (어느날): Background Music For Your Mundane Activities
- Al Wootton, Crux EP
- Area 3 (Khotin), View EP
R&B/Soul
- Elmiene, Heat The Streetsj
Jazz
- Nils Petter Molvær, Khmer Live in Bergen
- Mal Waldron, Candy Girl (reissue)
Pop
- Fujii Kaze, Prema
- Tom Odell, A Wonderful Life
- G Flip, Dream Ride
- Justin Bieber, SWAG II
Rock/Alt/Indie
- Suede, Antidepressants
- Hot Chip, Joy In Repetition
- Joni Mitchell, Joni's Jazz (box set)
- Alicia Clara, Nothing Dazzled
- Cut Copy, Moments
- Rachel Kitchlew, Flirty Ghost
- Dead Famous People, Wild Young Ways
- Deaf Club, We Demand A Permanent State of Happiness
- Faetooth, Labyrinthine
- GHOSTWOMAN, Welcome to the Civilized World
- Grandson, INERTIA
- Grant-Lee Phillips, In The Hour Of Dust
- Green Gardens, Thistlesifting
- JayWood, LEO NEGRO
- John Butler, Prism
- La Dispute, No One Was Driving the Car
- Metronomy, Greatest Hits
- Modern Life is War, Life On The Moon
- Monty Oxymoron, The Piano Plays 'til Midnight: Monty Oxymoron Plays The Songs of The Damned
- SAADI, Birds of Paradise
- Shame, Cutthroat
- Silver Snails, Speed of Light
- Whitmer Thomas, Tilt
- ear, The Most Dear and The Future
- Tchotchke, Playin' Dumb
- No Peeling, S/T
- OHHara, Ode
- Shrunken Elvis , Shrunken Elvis
Credits
- Host: Stephen Thompson
- Guest: Alisa Ali, WFUV
- Audio Producer: Noah Caldwell
- Digital Producer: Elle Mannion
- Editor: Otis Hart
- Production Assistant: Dora Levite
- Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
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