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- [00:00]
Commercial Announcer
This message comes from Starz with Amadeus, starring Will Sharp and Paul Bettany, comes the new Starz original series Amadeus Experience, a tale of genius, jealousy and rivalry. Amadeus Watch the series premiere only on Starz and the Stars app.
- [00:17]
Content Warning Announcer
A quick note before the show. This podcast contains explicit language.
- [00:26]
Stephen Thompson
Happy Friday, everyone. From NPR Music. It's New Music Friday. I'm Steve Thompson here with DJ Lou from Vermont Public in Colchester, Vermont. Welcome to the show, Lou.
- [00:37]
DJ Lou
Thanks so much, Steven. I'm really excited to be here.
- [00:39]
Stephen Thompson
Well, I am really excited to have you. And you can probably tell based on this release week, why we might have asked somebody from Vermont Public to be on this show.
- [00:50]
DJ Lou
Indeed, there's this guy Noah from southern Vermont that somebody somewhere heard once, and now all of a sudden, he's a thing. So.
- [00:58]
Stephen Thompson
So yeah, yeah, it's Noah Konde.
- [01:00]
DJ Lou
Yeah, it's really exciting to hear this new album, and I think people are really gonna have a cathartic release listening to this. It's a good one.
- [01:07]
Stephen Thompson
It is a good one. And we're gonna get to it in just a moment. But we were just talking off mic about there's something about. Lou, maybe you can speak to this. You live in Vermont. I'm from Wisconsin. There's something about the music that can only come from northern men with feelings.
- [01:22]
DJ Lou
You know, we have a lot of time on our hands for a long time of the year, AKA winter stick season. You have a lot of time to reflect. You have a lot of time to get into your feels. And if you have a guitar nearby, what better thing than to start writing songs, you know, during. To pass the dark times?
- [01:38]
Stephen Thompson
Absolutely. Well, let's hear a little bit of it. Noah Kahn's new album is called the Great Divide.
- [01:43]
Noah Kahan
You edged yourself across the great divide, but we drove in the sleeve state line. I heard nothing but the bass and every ballad that you play while you swore to God the singer in your mind. The world's scared of fancy things. Yeah, they only shoot the birds. You cannot sing. I'm finally aware of how shitty and unfair was to stare at like everything was fine. You don't know I think about you all the time. My deep misunderstanding of your life
- [02:44]
Music Snippets / Song Vocals
and
- [02:45]
Noah Kahan
how bad it must have been for you back then and how hard it was to keep it all inside. I hope you settle down. I hope you Mary rich I hope
- [03:02]
Music Snippets / Song Vocals
you're scared of all the ordinary.
- [03:07]
Stephen Thompson
So Noah Khan has been rattling around for the better part of a decade now. This is actually his fourth album and first since Stick Season, his huge 2022 breakthrough that, that really put him all over the map. I should plug here that he just performed his first ever Tiny Desk concert. We published that a few days ago. He also is helping us kick off our new Tik Tok feed. I'm sure everyone listening is is glued to TikTok at all times. They can search for NPR Music and see not only clips from Noah Khan's Tiny Desk concert, but some of the behind the scenes stuff that we recorded in the office with him and his delightful band. Lou, I am such a sucker for this guy. I think he is such an incisive lyricist. His music manages to convey so much empathy and warmth and reflection. If you are somebody who likes to listen to music while contemplating your desire to be a better person, Noah Khan makes music for you.
- [04:12]
DJ Lou
You know, here's the thing. I totally agree with you. So I'm a band geek living in a like chorus kids world. Everybody's always about the lyrics and I'm always about the music. And so what I really like about Noah Kahn is that he's able to make an anthem sound with really good lyrics to back it up. And you don't always get those two things together in the same musical experience. Like sometimes you have a really good songwriter, sometimes you have a really good musician. When you bring those two things together, that's where the magic happens. And I think Noah has found that sound in this album. You are exploring kind of like what it's like to be in this divide, like the great divide, right, of being away from home, famous, trying to come back home, and then that interpersonal experience of that happening too on that, that personal level. So it really, it does make you really reflect on where you are at any point in your life. Because this is such a universal experience of both having. Wanting to be part of something and have being not part of it anymore. You know, this like this tug that happens,
- [05:18]
Stephen Thompson
You know. One of the singles from this record that kind of came out in the run up to it is called Porchlight. And I remember hearing the song for the first time. And I've probably listened to this song 50 times since it was released as a single. And you know, now this conversation, I'm a big Noah Kahn fan. I listen to it every time I'm in the car. And my reaction to the song initially I had this. I was like, wow, this is really scathing. This is really, this is this really cutting look at, you know, somebody who's, you know, who's clearly going through struggles and is, is clearly really selfish and has Put this huge burden on the person singing the song. I wonder who Noah Kahn's singing about. And then you realize he's singing it from the perspective of his own mother about him.
- [06:06]
Noah Kahan
I hope you tell me that you're burning down that you lost a taste to face the crown that whatever made you famous made you sick that you can only do it Pain alouds It ain't up to you to make it out and there ain't no shame in calling this thing quits but you don't and you don't but you don't and you don't and you don't
- [06:30]
Stephen Thompson
One, that's just a really smart songwriting conceit. But two, it establishes my favorite thing about great lyrics. I know you're a band person. I'm maybe a little more of a lyrics person. But, like, the way that that song manages to just convey so much empathy and so much reflection and humility, I just can't get enough of that. And that mentality towards songwriting just pervades this record. This is somebody who has thought a lot, not only about his own life, gazing at his own navel, but thinking about his relationships and where he fit into them and where he could have been better within them.
- [07:08]
DJ Lou
Yeah. And how other people perceive him. Right. I'm so glad you said that about the lyrics, because if you give this as a first listen to. And you think it's just from Noah's perspective, you're going to be confused or you're not going to quite get it. But if you spend some time with a few of these songs, actually, and you realize who he's singing to or who he's singing about or where he's singing from even, It's a really wildly different listen. There's a poise and a presence in each of the songs, and he's doing right, I think, by the Experience, and he's not shying away from it. And through doing that, I'm hoping he's finding that cathartic release.
- [07:44]
Noah Kahan
Yeah.
- [07:44]
Stephen Thompson
Yeah. And I mean, you talk about cathartic release. I mean, one thing about Noah Khan, he has developed a very, very powerful live show, deep connection with his fans. I got to see him at All Things Go, this fantastic Music Festival in D.C. last fall, and just seeing, like, family, parents with their kids and all wearing Noah Khan T shirts and that kind of communal experience. And you hear a song like Dashboard, and my immediate reaction to that song was like, people are going to be shouting along with that song at Noah concerts for the. For the remainder of his career.
- [08:36]
Noah Kahan
It ain't our fault that you move suddenly somebody else. Cause you worked on yourself Got a dog here and.
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DJ Lou
Well, and he said that when he was recording this album, he was recording it with the live show in mind. He. He wanted this to have that feel. And, you know, the way he is on that stage is the way he is here in Vermont too. He's come back home to do a number of shows. And if you see him live here, that's the vibe. Like we. We are all barefoot in the field, like dancing outside to Noah Khan with Across Generations. And again, because of that music component, his upbeat music, like, it doesn't matter that the lyrics are a little bit of a downer. We're all just there together having this collective moment, this awe that happens with live music. And Noah's really good at it. The stage presence, his humor. It's something different than just a listened experience about recorded music. Like, he is a live guy. That's I think, where he's at his
- [09:36]
Music Snippets / Song Vocals
best,
- [09:42]
Stephen Thompson
That is Noah Khan. His new album is called the Great Divide. Next up, Kehlani. Kehlani's new album is self titled, which is to say it's called Kehlani.
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Music Snippets / Song Vocals
I try to tell myself you're never gonna get it again Laying here next to you not what I intended again how did you crack a code when don't nobody know how to give me a position?
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Noah Kahan
I thought I blocked you I should find another way to get in Screw on my inner thoughts I'm thinking about a On every countertop I'm yelling please don't stop and you know where it's going.
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Music Snippets / Song Vocals
I would have made a decision that was better than this Instead of wasting my time try to stop myself and should have never did it I did
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Noah Kahan
it anyway I probably should have never
- [10:40]
Music Snippets / Song Vocals
did When I knew better But I did it, you know better I just wasted my time
- [10:48]
Noah Kahan
don't get it twisted I ain't ever been a regular.
- [10:51]
DJ Lou
So it's been two years since the last record, I believe. And it's a substantial record. It's 17 tracks. So this is giving us the full freight of like beautiful R and B tracks. She's got some great guests on the album this time around. I mean, there's Usher, there's Missy Elliot, there's Brandy on here. And it takes me at least right back to the 90s classic R&B vibes, which as a 90s kid, I am really enjoying the moment that we're in where you're either paying homage to it or you're quite literally bringing the 90s back with it. So Kehlani has also really stepped into their voice and into their lived experience in these tracks and singing through the experience of being a queer person, like, unabashedly out and what that is like for someone in her R and B industry. This is not actually, I think, something that I hear often in this kind of music. So it made it an extra fun listen for me as a queer person to hear again this throwback to the 90s, which was not a time that anybody was out. You know, we're talking a lot about angst and music, and this is like R and B is angst music, too, but it's sexy, you know, in some kind of way, so.
- [11:57]
Stephen Thompson
Absolutely. And I. And I've loved to see the story of their rise over the course of the last, like, 15 years that Kehlani's been floating around in this business. And this record, in many ways, feels a little bit like a victory lap. You know, Last summer they released a song called Folded. That song slowly but surely kind of crept up the Billboard charts, eventually became their first ever top 10 hit. It is still in the top 10 almost a full year later. And to me, that song is such a beautiful, kind of stylish, sleek, subtly effervescent song with this hook that slithers under your skin in such a great way. And then you hear this record, which evokes some of those same vibes. You have songs that are kind of playing with some of that same formula. But then you talk about throwbacks. You know, the song no Such Thing, you know, features clips, and it's taking you right back to the early aughts. You know, clips just had a big comeback record last year. But you know that their presence on this record is the product of a life of fandom central.
- [13:00]
Music Snippets / Song Vocals
Painful weeks tan and massage 8 days a week LV luggage or MES receipts ring around my Rosie I plays for keeps See, nothing is too much the Kelly's is too clutch the richest niggas in any city don't do Dutch Might double down on some double laws over half a million on some bumper cars
- [13:20]
DJ Lou
when you have people guest on a track, I feel like it's the musical version of blurbing, you know, like how authors do it.
- [13:26]
Stephen Thompson
Sure.
- [13:26]
DJ Lou
I think it's a way that helps people pay attention to the album in a whole other way. If you haven't heard of Kehlani, maybe this is your first time. It's like, it gives you that extra cred, like, hey, Ushers on this, you know, Brandy's on this. Missy's on this. It's an exciting way to kind of cross reference that. I really appreciate when people do that for each other.
- [13:43]
Stephen Thompson
It absolutely is like blurbing and it absolutely is co signing. I also always say about gateways that gateways go both ways and you know, Kehlani is currently in the top 10. Kehlani's very current has a great single, played a Tiny Desk within the last two, three years. There are definitely audiences that are familiar with Kehlani, but when they hear a song like Back and Forth and that may be their introduction to Missy Elliott. And I love the way that this record kind of moves around the continuum of pop, R and B and hip hop of the last 35 years.
- [14:20]
Music Snippets / Song Vocals
When I say New Kaylani, you know it's some hot shit. Let me say what I'm gonna say. Let me stay on the topic. Grown woman that do what I wanna do. Why you trippin when I come right home to you? Why you so quiet? The silence seem like sirens if looks could kill one and tonight might keep violin when it fits too far you always get too firing.
- [14:50]
Stephen Thompson
That is Kehlani. Kehlani's new album is self titled. We've got some more records we're going to talk about in depth this week. But first, let's take a quick break.
- [14:59]
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- [15:50]
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- [16:14]
Stephen Thompson
From NPR Music, It's NEW MUSIC Friday. I'm Stephen Thompson here with DJ Liu from Vermont Public. Lou, tell us what's going on at the station.
- [16:23]
DJ Lou
Yeah, Vermont Public has a lot going on. We are both the public radio station for the entire state of Vermont and we are the PBS affiliate, so the public television station for all of Vermont. And a handful of years ago those organizations came together and merged. And now we're able to do this, like really great synergy of TV and web and radio and podcast and be a one stop shop for Vermont to get their news and views and locally curated content. And that's where music comes into it. We've got a couple of great local hosts here who do shows that are jazz or folk. And then we've got the new music show, which is what I do, and another music discovery show that's kind of like, hey, you probably missed this. Let's do a deep dive into music. And so we're really calling in Vermont to take a break from the headlines and listen to some music and just, you know, discover something new, which is a fun way to do it. So, yeah, that's Vermont Public in a nutshell. Lots of great podcasts as well. If people want to listen more nationally. There's a really nerdy one for kids called but why? And then there's a very great storytelling one. If you really wanna hear the stories of Vermont and what it's like to live here, listen to Rumble Strip. That's another great podcast that comes outta here. So, yeah, it's a great. It's a great small but mighty public radio station.
- [17:38]
Stephen Thompson
Nice. And you can find that@vermontpublic.org Yep. That was just a guess. I love it when I can guess.
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DJ Lou
We keep it simple here.
- [17:45]
Stephen Thompson
Exactly. Excellent. All right, well, let's move on with the show. New album from Metric. It's called Romanticize the Dive.
- [17:53]
Music Snippets / Song Vocals
Let me take you back.
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DJ Lou
It was the start of something.
- [17:58]
Music Snippets / Song Vocals
I was there not long before all the startup Now I'm in front of you and all I see it is all my stars I was a starving artist but I was fearless Now I don't know what we are Frightened of heights when you scared to go too far How I might look to you now Whoever become trash that mirror let my black mascara run say you're never better, baby Am I a victim of life Never better, baby at last I don't give a baby I.
- [18:50]
Stephen Thompson
So Metric, great Canadian band, been around for a really long time now. Formed in 1998. Their first album came out in 2003. And I've been a fan, probably dating back maybe to that record. I feel Like, I've loved this band longer than I've been alive. Singer Emily Haynes had such a distinct, knowing voice. She put out this incredible solo record, like 20 years ago. It's so great to have this band back. And, you know, this is their 10th album full of kind of hard charging synth pop, synth rock, electro pop, all just kind of swirling together with these lyrics that just feel extremely lived in.
- [19:32]
DJ Lou
You know, Stephen, we're kind of cut from the same cloth. We're pretty close, I think, in age here. So Metric was also one of those bands where it was like my alt rock origin band, you know, like being introduced to it again, the proximity of Vermont to Canada, it's like any Canadian band just gets on your radar pretty much automatically because you get a chance to go see them in the big city of Montreal when they're touring and playing and at the time playing small venues. So one of those first Metric albums, I remember going up to Montreal to see them and it was just like, I'm at a rock show and I feel like I'm having a very fun experience in just a crowd that is smushed all together. And I had that feeling listening to this album again, because part of what I love about this is that they are unapologetically going back to that sound. They really want to kind of replug in with almost their origin story over these years. And they never went away. I mean, they are one of those hardest working bands, you know, in the room that just like, have stayed together, have continued to make album after album. We've been talking about being nostalgic and going back to the 90s. And so, like, I just. I love it when a band just goes back to something that they did really well and. And are doing it with much more kind of like poise and lived experience. Yeah, lived experience, exactly. Yeah.
- [20:42]
Stephen Thompson
And hearing this record, they just still sound, you know, at the top of their game. You know, you get a song like Crush Forever, which, you know, the arrangement kind of recalls, like, kind of that dark, propulsive quality of Depeche Mode. But then there's this synth line and Emily Haynes's voice have this way of leavening it at the same time.
- [21:01]
Music Snippets / Song Vocals
Oh, hell yes. Go Crush forevermore. My little motel without a board the night is yours I master Torch Pay my respects to trouble in a tight black dress and she's dragging someone by the hand Straight through the lobby to
- [21:31]
Stephen Thompson
a room upstairs and then you've got time is a bomb. You know, at first the lyrics are like, I am always up. I Am always down, you know, and it's kind of about romantic availability. But then there's this ambivalence that comes in amid the catchy. You know, it's so catchy and it's so melancholy at the same time. And that's something that Metric has always done so well, that they do so well throughout this record.
- [21:55]
Music Snippets / Song Vocals
I love to flirt with disaster I love to flirt with disaster Time is upon Time is upon
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DJ Lou
it's another one of those bands that, like, just make you feel something when you're listening. You know who you're listening to and you know how you want to be feeling when you're listening to a Metric album.
- [22:18]
Stephen Thompson
Yeah. And that feeling is sad. At the club.
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Music Snippets / Song Vocals
Yeah.
- [22:23]
DJ Lou
Packed in sardines with everybody else.
- [22:25]
Stephen Thompson
Yeah, exactly. And I love that this record ends with a song called Leave youe On A High, which is so appropriately titled because this record is just wall to wall bangers. And that last track on the record just really sends you right back to track one. You just want to listen to it again.
- [22:44]
Music Snippets / Song Vocals
I wanna leave you alive
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Noah Kahan
I wanna
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Music Snippets / Song Vocals
leave you on a high I wanna
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DJ Lou
leave you on a high
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Music Snippets / Song Vocals
I wanna leave you on a hide.
- [23:01]
Stephen Thompson
That is Metric. Metric's new album is called Romanticize the Dive. Next up, Gia Margaret. Gia Margaret's new album is called Singing.
- [23:11]
Music Snippets / Song Vocals
Everyone Around Me. But I am in the background Static Closer to the ground the planet equilibrium. Everyone around me is going When I am dirt and bloated
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DJ Lou
so what I love about Gia's story is that this has been six years in the making for this particular album called Singing. And it's titled this because she had a vocal injury that took her out of being able to really sing anything. So she became an instrumentalist and changed her trajectory for a little bit. In fact, I discovered Gia Margaret and I thought she was just an instrumentalist a handful of years ago. And so for me, I picked up this story and I was like, oh, my gosh, I love a comeback. I am here for these storylines. And like with all these other albums, it's telling the story of what it's like to find your voice again, literally and figuratively. And that first track on the album, Everyone Around Me Dancing. It's this moment where you can hear in the story of that song, everybody's preferably singing around her, dancing around her, doing this thing around her, while she is right here trying to figure out how is she gonna actually be able to do this thing? Is she gonna participate in the dancing or be able to sing again? And it's about regrounding Herself. And I just. I thought that song and so many others were just really thoughtful about what happens when the thing that you're here to do, use your voice and sing and be a singer you can no longer do for. I don't think she knew how long it was going to take to recover everyone so ecstatic.
- [25:05]
Music Snippets / Song Vocals
Well, I am in a bath and that's it. Lucy's next to me half smiling My little equilibrium.
- [25:24]
Stephen Thompson
I first heard her kind of around the time she was putting out her debut album. There's always Glimmer, you know, and I saw her at south by Southwest and kind of picked her as part of our south by Southwest preview and found her to be this very, very intriguing voice. You know, her stuff is, you know, is haunting, and she's got this dusky, beautiful voice. And then, you know, like, kind of checking in with her since, you know, I was like, why? Why would. Like. I didn't necessarily even know her story, you know, when she was kind of turning to more instrumental music. And then you have this record which brings those two sides together and turning the fear and crisis of losing your voice and turning that into a strength. That's a really powerful story. And I just think this record so, like, deepens and expands her sound. I think it's the best work she's done. I think she has so clearly, you know, she's learned how to make these kind of ambient soundscapes that are so beautiful and enveloping and welcoming, and she still has, you know, she has reclaimed that beautiful, beautiful voice. There's a track alive Inside that is just an exquisite song. It's kind of the. The arrangement around her is sort of warped and askew but magical at the same time. And I just. I. I'm so happy that she was able to reclaim every aspect of her music and kind of bring them all together in such a compelling way.
- [26:53]
Music Snippets / Song Vocals
I can't remember when I felt the thing alive inside. And all the songs I could have
- [27:12]
Anamaria Sayer
sung
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Music Snippets / Song Vocals
I chose to fight way. And. Yeah,
- [27:38]
DJ Lou
And I also have to say there's. There's another track on here, Good Friend, that has, like, an upbeat feel to it. And so it's like. Like, even from such a tough experience, it isn't all just, like, the doldrums of that. It isn't just, like, how heavy that was. It's like, there's still an upbeat, poppy, you know, couple of tracks in here that, like, are hopeful, right? That are, like, French about friendship and reconnecting. And it made it stand out for me this week.
- [28:20]
Stephen Thompson
And we talked about with the Kalani record the co signs of of great guests and there are some great guests here co signing her. I mean boy, just so Steven coated, you know. These are just some of my favorites. David Bazan from Pedro the Lion, Amy Milan from Stars, Kurt Vile? S Cary, Deb Talon from the Weepies, which is just like one of my favorite favorite bands. And you know, Deb Talon kind of comes in with her in the song Emotion, which closes the record. And like, oh boy, you're just bringing together two voices that have given me so much comfort with this sonic palette that is so much more expansive. Hook it to my veins.
- [29:04]
Music Snippets / Song Vocals
It hurts the face to smile when I don't feel like. But it's more comfortable to curl my lips to.
- [29:30]
Stephen Thompson
That is Gia Margaret. Her new album is called Singing. Very highly recommended. We've got one more record we want to talk about in depth as well as lightning round of some of our other favorite albums out today, April 24th. But first, let's take a quick break.
- [29:59]
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- [31:06]
Stephen Thompson
It's NEW MUSIC Friday. I'm Stephen Thompson here with DJ Lou from Vermont Public. Before we get to our lightning round of some of the other great albums out today, April 24th, we want to talk about one more record. It's by season two. It's called Power of Now.
- [31:22]
Music Snippets / Song Vocals
I think of power, I think of the. And I thought you said drown the hour in a thousand peaches. No money doesn't mean it's dead. There's a light out there but it will never reach us. I'm so sick of it all. So sick of it all. Out of My mind looking for the other side Waiting for the future.
- [32:09]
DJ Lou
So, Stephen, I picked Season of two because they stood out very clearly from the rest of the lineup. Just a stripped down, fresh, different kind of sound. This Melbourne based indie pop band. It's also a band that's like a little mini Frankenstein of other bands in Australia, like Parsons and a few others. And this is their debut album. So this is like, we're at. We're coming at you with what we got. There's five of them in this band. And what I love about it is that it's like, what genre are you guys? Like, are you Shimmer Pop? Are you like, are you like Post punk? Yeah. Is it like, are we like, Shimmer Post? Is that a thing? Like Shimmer Punky? Like, you know, so. And this is. I always have this, like, running gag about, like, let's. You can just pick your genres these days and, like, we'll believe you. You know, like, you're mushing it together and that. Like, if you can pull it off, then, like, congratulations, you've started a new genre. So we'll see with this new Shimmer punk that's coming out of, you know, Melbourne. It's kind of a band that I think is like, you show up early for the show, you know, that you're going to see, and you're like, I'm so glad I came for the opener. That's the vibe I get from Season two.
- [33:13]
Stephen Thompson
Yeah. I mean, this is their debut album. The band only formed like a year and a half ago. Right. And so like, that can sometimes be like, oh, the sound isn't fully formed, but it absolutely is. And it just feels like that youth just infuses these songs with energy. You hear Holiday and I just think I could have heard this song on a college radio station at any point between 1980 and the present, and I would love it.
- [33:52]
Music Snippets / Song Vocals
And I look away it's all the same can you hear it when they talk that way Things are the same I can clear it in a night
- [34:02]
Stephen Thompson
of day that timeless quality to it doesn't detract from a sense of energy and surprise. And as you said, this genre mix, you take what For? And that song is so salty and sweet at the same time. You've got big, chunky guitars, but also this cacophonous mix of voices. I just, just. I heard so much energy from this record. I felt so much energy from this record and I found my own energy levels increased by this record.
- [34:59]
DJ Lou
That's the thing. It's like, if you're Gonna record in a lo fi kind of way. You gotta have really good content that, like, is gonna back it up. And I. I feel like that comes through, you know, this. The song becomes a dream, has an energy for me that, like, again, I'm. I'm right back in that, like, sweaty crowd, bopping around, like, having a great time. And I don't care that I don't know who this band is, because I'm like, I'm having my. My awakening moment with them live at the show. And, you know, not that we're in Australia here, but, like, I can. I really hope they come tour the US Because I think they're gonna find people eager for that kind of experience like, that. That kind of stripped down, gritty. I'm here for some shimmer rock and roll punk vibes.
- [35:58]
Stephen Thompson
That song is so spiky and so sparkly at the same time. I also appreciate just listening to this record. There's just not a wasted second on it. You look at, like, kind of the back half of this record, and there are, like, four different songs that are between a minute and a half and two minutes long. And those songs get in, they get out, they leave you wanting more. And you just feel like this is a band that knows exactly who they are in this moment. And I also can't wait to hear what they do next. All right, that is season two. Their new album is called Power of Now. Lou, we could not even come close to getting through all the records that we wanted to talk about. This was a very busy and very fruitful release week. So we're gonna do a lightning round of some of our other favorite albums out today. I'm actually gonna kick us off. There were so many good records to choose from. We're not even getting into on this show. The new Foo Fighters record, which is called your favorite Toy, or Frico's new album of kind of clattering and crowded indie folk. That's a big Robin Hilton favorite. That album is called Something Worth Waiting for. There's a gor Glenn Hansard live record. Talk about Northern men of feelings. That record is called Don't Settle Volume one, Transmissions East. But I'm going to love. Love a preamble where you get to shout out three different records. Instead, I'm going to go with Quiet Light. It's a project by a singer and producer from Austin named Rhea Mahesh. The songs just sparkle. They're. They're nostalgic and swoony, dreamy and reflective, but still experimental and unpredictable at the same time, Quiet Lights, new mixtape called blue angel, sparkling silver 2 someone dying,
- [38:05]
Music Snippets / Song Vocals
someone younger than you, I feel sorry for you.
- [38:17]
DJ Lou
So my Lightning Round pick, Steven, is Kiki Cavazos. And this is like Troubadour vibes all across the board. So she, at 16, ran away from home, has been drifting between Alaska and Mexico, and has been clearly writing music along the way when it's coming out in this debut album, goodbye Blues. So it's a little bit, like I said before, making up your own genre, but it's in this like, folk tradition, indie tradition. She's also been part of a lot of different bands. So this is not necessarily her first go around as far as being like a musician and making good music, but it's her first time out solo. And yeah, it's just it's to me, it really sounded again, uniquely something a little bit different. And a life lived on the road is one that's, I always think, worth singing about Kiki Cavasso's album Goodbye Blues.
- [39:08]
Music Snippets / Song Vocals
I start to walk and it makes me wonder what is it makes a man a party so.
- [39:22]
Stephen Thompson
Well, to round out our Lightning Round, we're gonna turn to several of our beloved NPR Music colleagues, starting with Hazel Sills. Hazel Sills, what do you got for us?
- [39:32]
Content Warning Announcer
An album out today that I want to shout out is a new release from the Australian artist Carla delforno, and it's titled Confession. Carla delforno makes this kind of, you know, spooky minimal synth pop that I have just loved for years. And this is her fourth album and she describ it as an album about adulthood, an album that sort of reflects her growing sense of self awareness as she gets older. And it's just a really beautiful, captivating release from an artist who I think, you know, just keeps getting better and better.
- [40:09]
Music Snippets / Song Vocals
Shouldn't want to kiss you, but I do. Shouldn't want to touch you, but I miss you all, all the time.
- [40:24]
Content Warning Announcer
That was Confession by Carla delforno.
- [40:27]
Stephen Thompson
All right, next up, the wonderful Ann Powers. Anne Powers, give us your pick.
- [40:32]
Ann Powers
My Lightning Round pick this week is the album Lost Cause Lover fool by the Milk Carton Kids. Joey Roberts and Kenneth Pattenale have refocused after a period of expanding and experimenting with their sound. And the gentle and pristine songs here, the that talk about things like parenting and parenting yourself, falling in love and staying that way, questioning where you are but ultimately settling in and, you know, going for the ride that you're on. These songs are just perfectly calibrated. I especially love Blue Water. That's the one that's about being a dad, but also realizing you need some self care too. I love this album. Lost Cause Lover Fool Pool by the milk Carton Kids.
- [41:26]
Music Snippets / Song Vocals
Blue blue water Smiling up at the sky Blue blue water sinking the river's high Drowning down the by and by.
- [41:45]
Stephen Thompson
And finally, co host of NPR Music's Alt Latino Anamaria Sayer. Anamaria, what do you got?
- [41:51]
Anamaria Sayer
Okay, so this is Argentine rapper Trueno's new album, Turraso. Trueno, to me, is one of the most exciting rising rappers in Latin America right now, which is saying a lot about a region that has a rich history of rap excellence. Argentina as a country is most known for it being fundamental to rock en espanol, but he's been really changing the game in terms of putting on the map for something else it's actually celebrated for, which is underground, not so underground anymore. Rap importance. His last album was an homage to rap tradition and it covered all these kinds of American styles and R and B and roots. This one feels way more rooted in South America and somewhat in the Caribbean. He always loves to incorporate funk, but he goes hardcore on a lot of the more traditional Argentine folkloric sounds. It's honestly, I'm insanely impressed by the way he's able to consistently make something that feels innovative, smart, like it's changing the game. Trueno is one of my favorite artists, honestly, in general right now, and his youth, his energy and his vibe are all things that are really, really exciting.
- [43:15]
Stephen Thompson
And that is our show for this week. Thank you so much, DJ Lou, for taking time out of your week at Vermont Public.
- [43:22]
DJ Lou
Thank you so much, Stephen. It's been a blast.
- [43:24]
Stephen Thompson
It has been such a pleasure. If you enjoyed this week's show. We always appreciate a positive review on Apple, Apple or Spotify or whatever app you're listening to right now. This episode was produced by Noah Caldwell and Elle Mannion and edited by Otis Hart. Our production assistant is Dora Levitt. The executive producer of NPR Music is Soraya Mohammed. We'll be back next week to discuss more new music with Julie Height of WPLN in Nashville. Until then, take a moment to be well, take a good long walk in what is hopefully nice weather weather and treat yourself to lots of great music.
- [44:19]
Instacart Announcer
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Commercial Announcer
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- [45:00]
Stephen Thompson
that's ever existed in the history of the world so far has collapsed. Do we think we're different? Are we doomed? The new podcast about the end of the world.
- [45:10]
Music Snippets / Song Vocals
I don't like where this is headed.
- [45:12]
Stephen Thompson
I'm Ben Bradford. Join me for Are We Doomed? Part of the NPR Network. Listen now, wherever you get your podcasts.