New Music Friday: The best albums out May 22

Summary

NPR Music — New Music Friday: The Best Albums Out May 22

Date: May 22, 2026
Host: Ann Powers
Guest: Aurora McGuckin (MVY Radio, Massachusetts)

---

Episode Overview

This episode of NPR Music’s "New Music Friday" explores the best new album releases for the week of May 22, 2026. Host Ann Powers and guest Aurora McGuckin dive into anticipated projects across indie, hip-hop, jazz, spoken-word, and global music. The conversation balances thoughtful critique, personal impressions, and engaging back-and-forths, providing a fresh take on hyped artists and hidden gems alike.

---

Key Albums & Discussion Points

1. Bleachers — Everyone for 10 Minutes

Artist: Jack Antonoff / Bleachers
Segment start: 01:21

• Theme: Revisiting Jack Antonoff’s signature heartfelt pop-rock with fresh ears, focusing on themes of connection, nostalgia, and community.
• Musicality: Stadium rock scale meets intimate, reflective songwriting; layered production echoing Springsteen’s influence melded with personal nostalgia.
• Standout Tracks: "The Van Rolled into Wawa," "Forever Darling"
• Lyric Highlight:

  "That's the story about kids in the shadows, we just didn’t want to be lonely, that’s why I still sing. Glory to the ones who know the vein." — Jack Antonoff, The Van Rolled into Wawa (02:16)

• Critical Insight:
  • Ann Powers: “He’s trying to replicate something really big. But then this album really focuses on ideas of smallness in a way — small communities … it's like the dream of giant rock rather than actual giant rock.” (05:08)
  • Aurora: “There is something sort of distant about all of it … the choice to hold back almost a little bit.” (05:45)
• Memorable Moment: Discussion about erasing preconceived notions of Antonoff and hearing “longing for connection” as the new throughline of his work (02:50).

---

2. JPEGMAFIA — Experimental Rap

Segment start: 07:16

• Theme: Maximalist, genre-blending hip-hop that shifts between punk, gospel, techno, and more, as JPEGMAFIA (Barrington Hendricks) asserts his position as the true experimentalist.
• Musicality: Lightning-fast rapping, heavy production, and shifting soundscapes; 25 tracks that move at “hurricane” pace (08:17).
• Ye (Kanye West) Connection:
  • JPEGMAFIA claims Ye as his "North Star," directly referencing him in tracks like "Lights" and "Since I Met Ye."
  • Aurora: “He is choosing to give grace to Ye in a way that larger media or a lot of people are maybe not… what to do with that, I don’t know.” (10:44)
• Standout Track: "Sora Bomba"
• Quote:

  “It's got like techno elements, kind of like video game elements. His rapping is just rapid fire. Kind of reminds me of Busta Rhymes at times.” — Ann Powers (08:26)

---

3. Ed O’Brien — Blue Morpho in a Sweet Spot

Segment start: 14:16

• Theme: Healing through ambient, immersive sound—Radiohead guitarist Ed O’Brien’s second solo album finds peace after deep depression.
• Musicality: Largely instrumental and ambient, featuring Brazilian influences and collaborations with jazz and world musicians like Chewbacca Hutchings (flute on “Thin Places”).
• Personal Context: Written in response to depression post-pandemic, blends introspection with hope and movement toward light.
• Quote:

  “A Blue Morpho, I think, is a type of butterfly, and you feel like the butterfly kind of in listening to it.” — Aurora McGuckin (15:57)

• Standout Tracks: “Thin Places,” “Teachers,” “Obrigado”
• Favorite Moment:
  • Ann’s reflection on O’Brien’s quiet but essential influence within Radiohead:

    “…his guitar in this record, it made me want to go back to Radiohead’s albums and seek out, like, his parts there... you can definitely feel a kind of a… frequency that runs through this record that... Oh, wow. That’s in Radiohead’s music as well.” (19:09)

---

4. Aja Monet — The Color of Rain

Segment start: 20:44

• Theme: Blending poetry, jazz, and hip-hop — Aja Monet’s new album channels resilience, love, and protest, grounding urgent politics in warmth and community.
• Musicality: Poetic spoken word paired with lush jazz arrangements; guest artists include vocalists Mareeba, Ganavia, and harpist Brandee Younger.
• Quote:

  “She’s sounding the alarm on a lot of very, very urgent issues. And at the same time bringing so much warmth. …There’s real, like… connection and community being so, so, so important right now.” — Aurora McGuckin (22:30)

• Memorable Lyrics:

  “Love is a choosing.” — Aja Monet, “Love Is a Choosing” (23:26) “I do not trust a mouth that has never pronounced sister.” — “To Sister” (24:16)

• Standout Tracks: “Love Is a Choosing,” “To Sister,” “Holly Weird” — the latter a pointed critique of LA culture (“…casting side eye very, very vocally at Hollywood and the hypocrisy that she has seen there.” — 25:34)
• Critical Insight: Monet's work bridges the personal and political, reminiscent of Gil Scott Heron, Maya Angelou, and Nuyorican Cafe legends (22:02).

---

5. Lowertown — Ugly Duckling Union

Segment start: 28:03

• Theme: Indie rock duo spins a coming-of-age story via concept album about an outsider duckling, blending multimedia (including a Minecraft world) with intimate, vulnerable songwriting.
• Background: Olivia Osby & Avcha Weinberg began writing sad, youthful songs in Atlanta; now they explore identity and community through the fictional Dale the Duckling.
  • Aurora: “This album is a concept album. It's about Dale the Duckling, who is an outsider … and along the way … Dale finds community… There’s a Minecraft world. There’s a plush duck that's on tour with them.” (29:12–30:02)
• Musicality: Eccentric vocals, vulnerable lyrics, and playful, experimental arrangements.
• Memorable Quote:

  “With the distance and with the levity, then you can get to this ugly, awkward core that we all feel and don’t articulate, I guess. And they do it so beautifully.” — Aurora (32:14)

• Standout Tracks: “Mice Protection,” “Echo of Desire,” “Cover U”

---

Lightning Round: Staff Picks

Segment start: 32:59

• Alela Diane — Who's Keeping Time? (Ann Powers pick)

  • Reflective folk work, exploring individuality and loss; ties back to American freak folk roots.

  “Alela Diane is kind of like that cool hippie mom who makes everything in her life into art…” (33:21)

• Mexican Institute of Sound & Meridian Brothers — Ruido Tovar (Aurora McGuckin)

  • Infectious, retro-futurist cumbia collaboration; energetic and playful.

  “...They’re bringing together both the Colombian musical influences, Mexican tropical musical influences, and then also this fresh energy…” (34:50)

• Balming Tiger — Gongbu (Robin Hilton)

  • Korean collective fusing group vocals and global sounds in concept about recording dreams.

  “...I think this is the coolest thing that I’ve heard all year. It's trippy. The grooves go deep...” (36:10)

• Bill Orcutt & Mabe Fratti — Almost Waking (Lars Gottrich)

  • Dialogues of cello and restrained, emotional avant-garde guitar.

  “Even though these songs were made by trading audio files back and forth, there’s a quick intimacy here.” (37:29)

• Tromprins — Life (Noah Caldwell)

  • Mysterious German techno producer blending acid, boom bap, and ambient influences.

  “...Moody ear candy that works for both a dark dance floor or just sitting alone with your headphones.” (38:53)

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On connection and community across all albums:

  “Again, going back to this connection and community being so, so, so important right now.” — Aurora McGuckin, discussing Aja Monet (22:30)

• On the spiritual and political:

  “Let’s stay in the spiritual zone while also getting a little more political, a little earthier…” — Ann Powers (19:34)

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• Bleachers - Everyone for 10 Minutes: 01:21–07:16
• JPEGMAFIA - Experimental Rap: 07:16–12:03
• Ed O’Brien - Blue Morpho in a Sweet Spot: 14:16–20:44
• Aja Monet - The Color of Rain: 20:44–26:28
• Lowertown - Ugly Duckling Union: 28:03–32:59
• Lightning Round: 32:59–39:44

---

Tone & Style

The show maintains a warm, conversational tone while also tackling nuanced criticism, musical analysis, and moments of wit. Ann and Aurora bring distinct perspectives, celebrating creativity but not shying from difficult or culturally loaded discussions (e.g., JPEGMAFIA’s public support of Ye). There is a sense of inclusivity—listeners are welcomed to join the communal excitement for new music discoveries.

---

Final Thoughts

This episode offers a rich exploration of music’s current landscape: nostalgia, radical experimentation, the healing power of sound, political urgency, playful creativity, and barrier-breaking genre blends. Whether you’re seeking the “stadium nostalgia” of Bleachers, the hurricane-like swirl of JPEGMAFIA, Ed O’Brien’s journey inward, Aja Monet’s soulful activism, or Lowertown’s concept-album whimsy, there’s a recommendation—and a new feeling—for every kind of listener.

---

For full artist lists, track samples, and deeper commentary, listen to the full episode on NPR Music’s "New Music Friday."

Transcript

[Announcer]

Support for this podcast and the following message come from Rivian, makers of the all electric three row R1S SUV and the always capable R1T pickup. With impressive range, storage for any expedition and technology that feels like second nature. Rivian vehicles are designed for those who seek to explore the planet and preserve it for generations to come. Learn more or schedule a demo [e-mail]

[Ann Powers]

A quick note before the show. Thank you.

[Narrator/Ad Reader]

This podcast contains explicit language.

[Ann Powers]

Happy Friday everyone. I'm Ann Powers and I have the absolute joy of hosting new music Friday today. I am here with the wonderful Aurora McGucken from Mvy Radio in Massachusetts. Hi Aurora.

[Aurora McGuckin]

Hi Ann. Thank you so much for having me.

[Ann Powers]

How are things in your world? Are you having a a wonderful weekend planned?

[Aurora McGuckin]

Honestly, it's gonna be a pretty chill one. I kind of forgot that it was Memorial Day. I'm gonna be avoiding all the traffic and the chaos.

[Ann Powers]

Well, I believe in holidays as a time for rest and reflection and listening to music. And we have so much great music to talk about this week, even more

[Aurora McGuckin]

than we're gonna have time for. It's a good problem to have, definitely.

[Ann Powers]

We've narrowed down the field and there are some very big releases this week and we're gonna start with one of the biggest from maybe the most famous or buzzed about, or certainly the hippest producer at the moment in certain circles. And that's Jack Antonoff. He's back with his project Bleachers and their album everyone for 10 minutes. Let's hear a little bit of, I think, the catchiest song on the record. It's called the Van Rolled into Wawa

[Jack Antonoff / Bleachers (song lyrics)]

in Philly in 2000 Blue Magic coming from the speaker at the Gas Bowl All Jersey kids we never learned to pump gas so we sat there with the soundtrac Met em on the Wayne firehouse Glory days Packed the van and spun through being cool man those drive through years really went slow Wawa lights in the rear view was making it we packed my van our time is there that's the story about kids in the shadows we just didn't want to be lonely that's why I still sing Glory to the ones who know the vein

[JPEG Mafia (song lyrics)]

Glory to the ones on the edge I just don't want to be

[Jack Antonoff / Bleachers (song lyrics)]

lonely I just don't.

[Ann Powers]

So Aurora, when we were talking before, I posed a challenge to you. I said, okay, we have a lot of presumptions about Jack Antonoff. Let's see if we can erase them from our minds and come at this record almost like it's a new project. And I wonder what you heard listening

[Aurora McGuckin]

hard to this record, that was kind of a challenge. You know, there's so much content discourse all around Jack Antonoff. His music as a musician, his music as a producer, his personality, his Persona. He's become somebody that the media kind of goes to for questions on like the state of pop.

[Ann Powers]

Yes.

[Aurora McGuckin]

So it was hard to just listen to it as if I didn't know anything at all. And on that listen, I heard a lot of longing. Longing for connection, I guess.

[Ann Powers]

Yeah.

[Aurora McGuckin]

And that's a common theme, it seems. He's talked so much about living with loss and loving life and also living a life that carries loss. And on this record, you hear him look back, way, way, way back. You know that song, the Van? He's talking about early days of the band driving around in the van and doing it just for the love of doing it. And then you see him looking forward, he got married and looking at this life that he wants to leave, that he has kind of everything he wants, but also looking at a world that maybe doesn't add up with that.

[Ann Powers]

I totally agree with you that this record is all about connection and community. And one reason why it was kind of fun to try to listen with fresh ears to bleachers was because of the content of this record, as you're saying. I mean, he does go back to that kid, the one who. What's the line about a kid in the shadows? He just doesn't want to be lonely. That's one of those great pop hooks that Jack Antonoff can craft so well. And the love songs too. I mean, you just mentioned his marriaged with Margaret Qualley, the wonderful actress. And the love songs are so wide eyed.

[Jack Antonoff / Bleachers (song lyrics)]

Forever Darling Just here and forever now it's just you and forever back and gone forever back Happy forever Back home forever.

[Ann Powers]

I do feel like the producer that Jack Antonoff is brings a lot of, you know, tricks into the studio. There's a lot of layering on these songs. On the one hand, he's kind of trying to replicate stadium rock, you know, like he's talked so much about how Springsteen is his inspiration, but he's trying to replicate something really big. But then this album really focuses on ideas of smallness in a way, small communities. And maybe I could describe it as like a black mirror effect to these songs where they feel like it's kind of like the dream of giant rock rather than actual giant rock. Does that make sense?

[Aurora McGuckin]

It does, it does. Because there is something sort of distant about all of it, yes.

[Ann Powers]

Reflective.

[Aurora McGuckin]

Yeah. And two people talk about bleacher shows being this like explosive experience. I haven't gotten to see one, but I wonder. Yeah. The choice to kind of hold back almost a little bit.

[Ann Powers]

Maybe he wants us to like have that interior experience, the one that he's having, you know, where he's reflecting on all of these aspects of his life. Maybe he wants us to dream in our bedrooms along with this music. That's a very old fashioned thing to want, you know?

[Aurora McGuckin]

Right, right. But again, like, he. I think he is kind of a student of pop and rock's music's history and really just a lover of music. It seems in the most like basic. Not basic as in simple, but innate and essential way.

[Jack Antonoff / Bleachers (song lyrics)]

So you retrace the steps and you dust the past and prints There's a wasteland in you Is there something you've missed? These grand self obsessions are a way of hidden snif the truth is too dark and there is too much to lose but inches of glory and a leaps of true faith no, they don't come easy but they are the ways that another day over a moment or a year Bring me right back to the start with the same damn words I feel I can't believe you're gone

[Ann Powers]

and that's bleachers. The new record's called everyone for 10 minutes. Well, let's move on to another prolific artist, someone who also is a producer, although in a very, very different way than Jack Antonoff. This is the rapper, producer, songwriter, all around character, JPEG Mafia and his new album, Experimental Rap.

[Aurora McGuckin]

People come and people gonna

[JPEG Mafia (song lyrics)]

be after nine if you bust in my business it's all on my own I can't take with no limits. You got Mrs. Daddy's I'm Feel.

[Aurora McGuckin]

25 tracks and it just goes by like a hurricane. In a good way, you know, if that's possible. A roller coaster. I'll say a roller coaster.

[Ann Powers]

Yeah, that's for sure. JPEG Mafia, who. His real name, by the way, is Barrington Hendrix. Also goes by Peggy. This is his sixth solo album, but he's also done many collabs. He's like known for starting beefs and just like saying very incendiary things. But he's also known for his sound, which is so, yeah, super maximalist. Right. I mean, it's got like techno elements, kind of like video game elements. His rapping is just rapid fire. Kind of reminds me of Busta Rhymes at times. But there's also like gospel on this record. There's just like so Many different things. It's hard to separate anything out.

[Aurora McGuckin]

Yeah, even a little like, punk rock. And he is said I was listening to an interview he did recently where he was like, I am real punk rock. You know, like. And that's what this. This album title, Experimental Rap. He named it that because he's like, this is what I'm already doing. And other people might say that that's what they're doing, but I've been doing it. I'm the only one who's really doing it. And I wonder if this album, like, lives up to that title in the way that his previous work does.

[Ann Powers]

I mean, I think it does in some ways. I mean, if you listen to a song like Sora Bomba, that just that ag intense electronic bed that he's building his wraps over, it totally is experimental.

[JPEG Mafia (song lyrics)]

Most of these weapons, they came from the south. I miss having grown in my mouth My neck is what you will put down and I your ex only who rapid dick in a mouth. So I took my turn and I threw that bitch out My new bitch reported me I'm coming in a house I rest until bellies to sleep on the couch Look, I cannot help if I turn a bitch out Nigga, how would you know? Window thinking you proud?

[Ann Powers]

Well, what do you think about the ye connection? Because JPEG Mafia has always said that ye formerly Kanye west, is his North Star. And here he really doubles down on that. There's not only a song called Lights, which is based on, of course, Kanye West's great hit all of the Lights, but there's also a song Since I Met Ye, where he just openly says, you know, I'm sticking by this guy. How does that feel to you?

[Aurora McGuckin]

I mean, it seems like he's sort of saying nothing that you're saying about me, I don't alter, and I don't have an answer to. And there's nothing that you can do or say about me that is going to change who I am and sort of how I live my life. He has not at all said that he agrees with the things that ye has said that have made him this troubling figure in recent years. But he doesn't think that. I heard him use the word grace a lot when he was talking about this in a recent. It was a Pigeons and Planes interview leading up to the album release. You know, we choose sort of selectively who we give grace to, and he is choosing to give grace to ye in a way that larger media or a lot of people are maybe not. And what to do with that, I don't know. I don't know if I want to touch.

[Ann Powers]

The record we've been talking about is experimental rap by JPEG Mafia. And now we are going to take a little break.

[Narrator/Ad Reader]

Support for this podcast and the following message come from Strawberry Me. Be honest, are you happy with your job? Are you stuck in a job you've outgrown or never wanted in the first place? Are your reasons for staying really just excuses for not leaving? Let a career coach from Strawberry Me help you get unstuck. Discover the benefits of having a dedicated career coach in your Corner and get 50% off your first coaching session at Strawberry Me. NPR.

[Announcer]

This message comes from NPR sponsor Carvana. Your time is worth more than a waiting game. Carvana gives you a transparent offer for your car in minutes and picks it up from your door. Sell your car [e-mail] pickup fees may apply. This message comes from Lisa from night one. You'll feel the difference. Premium materials that deliver serious comfort and full body Support. Go to Leesa.com for 30% off mattresses, plus get an extra $50 off with promo code NPR.

[Ann Powers]

Hey everyone, it's Ann Powers and it's my absolute pleasure to be here with Aurora McGuckin from Mvy Radio. Aurora, can you tell us a little bit about MVY Radio for those who might not know?

[Aurora McGuckin]

Yeah, absolutely. And thank you again so much for having me. This is, this is so fun. MVY Radio is located on Martha's Vineyard and we are a station that is year round in a place that a lot of people don't consider to be a year round destination. So we really focus on both servicing that smaller local population. And then of course, there are plenty of vacationers who come to the island for, for parts of the year, probably, you know, starting in a week or so. And then take us with them. We were an early streaming station, so we like to say Martha's Vineyard and the world because there are so many people that are very far away who listen to us when they're not on the island.

[Ann Powers]

And you got into radio via college radio, right, at Wesleyan, I think.

[Aurora McGuckin]

Yeah. WESU was where I got my start and I never, I never looked back. Well, that's not true. I thought about some more stable career options, but I couldn't the pullback to radio, all I wanted is talk about music, which is why I'm so happy to be here today.

[Ann Powers]

I love it. So we're gonna talk about a band that in some ways got its start via college radio and one of Their members who now has a new solo record. The band I'm talking about is Radiohead, and guitarist Ed o' Brien is the member who has a new record out. It's called Blue Morpho in a Sweet Spot.

[JPEG Mafia (song lyrics)]

Do you Lightning strikes? Be no lightning strike. Do you know.

[Ann Powers]

Okay, Aurora. So Ed o' Brien's made two solo records. The first one he released right at the beginning of the Pandemic. And I don't know if it was in the aftermath of that release or because of the Pandemic or whatever, but he went through a deep depression after that and kind of had to pull himself out of it. That's the story behind this album, Blue Morpho, his path toward healing, which caused him to confront a lot of traumatic stuff in his own background, in his own childhood. And also, I think maybe about, you know, his work as an artist. And how did you find this music? What was your door into this music when you were listening?

[Aurora McGuckin]

Well, you know, I had read that he wrote this record trying to come out of a place of depression. And to me, it does sound like an antidote in itself. You know, listening to it, even though a lot of it is instrumental and kind of ambient, it was not like an easy or passive listen for me. It felt very transportive. Creating the better feeling or the world or making sense of it all, that he was trying to sort of break himself out of that, like, pull from the darkness into the light. A Blue Morpho, I think, is a type of butterfly, and you feel like the butterfly kind of in listening to it or. I did.

[Ann Powers]

I was interested to read that Chewbacca Hutchings, who plays flute on the track thin places, taught O' Brien about the 430Hz frequency, which is a frequency that supposedly induces calm. I don't know. Do you ever do that thing where you're like, it's late at night and you are like, I have to sleep. And you go to YouTube on your phone and you're like, looking at those. You're looking at those videos that are like, this frequency will change your life and cause you to completely become, you know, the Buddha or whatever. Do you ever. Do you ever listen to those tracks?

[Aurora McGuckin]

I have been there. They haven't worked for me yet, but I have gone down that rabbit hole before.

[Ann Powers]

I feel like the calm is in that track, Thin Places. You know, it works. I don't know if it's just now. Whenever I hear Hutchings playing the flute, I instantly feel calm. I've been lucky to see him do that a few times live. And it definitely brings me to a happy.

[Aurora McGuckin]

I definitely felt a sort of sense of overall peace, both, like, in just myself as the audience and also in him. But then you have tracks like Teachers that sound just like a kind of a proper Radiohead song.

[Ann Powers]

I know a proper Radiohead song without Tom Yorke singing.

[Aurora McGuckin]

Yeah. Well, it made me sort of question what I know about Radiohead. We always, in any band, we kind of think about the front man or the. Or the lead songwriter as the driving force behind the band. But it made me think about Ed o' Brien differently in his role in Radiohead.

[JPEG Mafia (song lyrics)]

Midway through life I just lost my way Lost my way A little way through life I just lost my way Lost my way. Middle way through life I just lost my way Lost my way. Midway through life I just lost my way Lost my way. Flying high

[Ann Powers]

I think you're right. Like, his guitar in this record, it made me want to go back to Radiohead's albums and seek out, like, his parts there, because you can definitely feel a kind of a. Again, like a frequency that runs through this record that. Oh, wow. That's in Radiohead's music as well.

[Aurora McGuckin]

Totally. And it's. It's fun to see him play around with it too, and take it elsewhere, take it to Brazil, you know, on that final nine minute track.

[Ann Powers]

I love that track, Obrigado. It's really. I'm always worried when. I'm just gonna say it, when, like, white people decide they can play Latin music or whatever, spiritual jazz or whatever. Like, I always hope for the best in those situations. But I think o' Brien really achieves a true fusion with that track Obregato, where he brings his own soul and heart and experience into it, but then fully also brings everything he's learned from listening to Brazilian music. That's Ed o'. Brien. His album is called Blue Morpho and Aurora. Let's stay in the spiritual zone while also getting a little more political, maybe a little earthier. Maybe it's more down to earth because we're going to talk about the new album from the poet Aja Monet. It's called the Color of Rain.

[Aja Monet (poetry/spoken word)]

We be somebodyness when the street lights in your veins go on and some are walking up and down the sidewalk of your grin Diamonds twinkling on the street the thirst of our cool on the shorelines Of a smile Washing up against moon shuttle lit eyes Freeing impulses Whereas folk we lure laughter in the face of death the carnival of flowers sprouting from closed Fists, earth, skin, the perfume of stones, Kissing, cuss words.

[Ann Powers]

So Aja Manet is an incredible spoken word artist. She's also a published poet. She has several volumes of poetry out. She came up in the New York scene. I don't know. Do you ever go to the New Yorkin Cafe down on the Lower east side, Aurora?

[Aurora McGuckin]

I haven't been in a long time for context. I grew up in New York City, and I did go in high school. Sometimes I feel like the moment that I was in high school, spoken word was having a big resurgence in popularity.

[Ann Powers]

Yeah. And Aja Monet came up in that scene. And her previous album, when the Poems do what they do, came out in 2023 and immediately established her space in the scene. You know, her space in the world of kind of hip hop, R and B jazz, which is firmly in the tradition of people like Gil Scott Heron or Maya Angelou or other Nuyorican poets. Cafe alums like Tracy Morris. She's doing something that I don't hear really anybody else doing right now.

[Aurora McGuckin]

Not that I can think of, no. And she's sounding the alarm on a lot of very, very urgent issues. And then at the same time, bringing, like, so much warmth, it feels like a hand kind of reaching out to you. So many of these songs, there's real, like, again, going back to this connection and community being so, so, so important right now. And she talks about that in such deep and just really loving ways.

[Ann Powers]

Loving, and yet there's, like, a little bit of saltiness, like in Love Is a Choosing, for example, which is such a generous, beautiful love song that also features the vocalist Mareeba. That song, it is so romantic, but there's also, like, a practicality to it. It's just like, hey, I'm gonna choose this love. I'm not falling, I'm not swooning. I am choosing. I love that. I mean, I just love the strength that Ajah Manet projects in these songs.

[Aja Monet (poetry/spoken word)]

They tell you tales of how love ought to be tangled Steady with standards built on lofty clouds Never mind the hands of learning Yearning eyes the delicious unsaid that binds us the miracle is a muscle we practice the delight of dancing with all our utterances Love is nearly never rehearsed Always on accident Startling us into stolen breaths and first forevers Love is a choosing.

[Aurora McGuckin]

There's the sense of choosing in every single moment of this record. I love that song to Sister, and she says, I do not trust a mouth that has never pronounced sister. That was a lyric that you had flagged And I had actually written down the same one.

[Ann Powers]

Yeah, I love that. I love that song too. You know, it features two of my favorite artists kind of aligned with the jazz world, the vocalist Ganavia and the harpist, Brandy Younger. And together, those three, they just form this beautiful nest that I just want to crawl into. You know, it feels like a spiritual slumber party, that song, you know, I absolutely love it.

[Aja Monet (poetry/spoken word)]

Unself yourself the best of your beaming is a bread to hungry mouths you are shimmering we need a revolution Rivers of risk tend to your tending sauntering she swung her hips across borders A

[Aurora McGuckin]

standout track for me. I was gonna talk about Holly Weird. Where?

[Ann Powers]

Oh, that's a crazy one.

[JPEG Mafia (song lyrics)]

Right?

[Ann Powers]

Cause she's moved to la and this is, I guess, her little, like, welcome to the neighborhood song.

[Aurora McGuckin]

Right, Right. Where she's casting side eye very, very vocally at Hollywood and the hypocrisy that she has seen there. And on a track like that too, the music kind of goes with the mood. You know, it's a little bit frenzied and you get worked up both by the lyrics and by the music.

[Aja Monet (poetry/spoken word)]

Burning bushes pop across the screen Threads of prayers between watch duty app notifications evacuate holly wheel gridlock sparks of fear and arsonist's wet dream Rolling down runyon Cany weather in the mind Santa Anna's hands shivering against the window Shattered winds ash on the lung A sky of blazing breath A flame on the distance looking back the hue of cough the scent of tickling sneeze it is not rain it is not rain Dry as silence in the dragon's mouth Boulevards between

[Ann Powers]

capitalism's teeth That's Aja Monet and her new album is called the Color of Rain. We are talking about the best releases from this week. We're gonna take a little break right now.

[Aja Monet (poetry/spoken word)]

Some say smart meters, directed energy weapons or Edison power lines are to blame and oligarchs impending inauguration.

[Narrator/Ad Reader]

This message comes from Midi Health, a virtual care platform for women in perimenopause and menopause. CEO Joanna Strober shares the mission behind working with women in midlife.

[Aurora McGuckin]

It's not just about hormones. It's not just about weight loss medications. We are very much a holistic care platform and our job is to figure out whatever medications are appropriate for you

[Narrator/Ad Reader]

and offer you those medications. Midi Health committed to helping women in midlife with perimenopause and menopause care Accessible via telehealth [e-mail] this message comes from BetterHelp. May is mental Health Awareness Month. A reminder that you don't have to do this life alone. From loneliness to anxiety to financial stress, Right now, people everywhere are struggling. But having a licensed therapist with you by video phone or chat can make a difference. And BetterHelp makes it easy. Sign up now and get 10% [e-mail] NPR that's betterhelp.com NPR hey, everybody.

[Ann Powers]

I'm Ann Powers, and I'm here with Aurora McGuckin of Mvy Radio. And we're talking about the best releases out this Friday. And we have one more. Aurora, this is one you really liked. You brought this in, I think.

[Aurora McGuckin]

Yeah. So the final record that we want to talk about today is from the New York indie rock band Lowertown. It's called Ugly Duckling. I want to hear hear a little bit of the opening of the album. This opening track, it's called Mice Protection.

[JPEG Mafia (song lyrics)]

Maybe I'm happy, maybe I'm sad. Hard to know when I think about it. Maybe I'm a baby that's just been born new, fresh before. I was told

[Ann Powers]

that song is so odd. But in the best way, believe me, in the best way. Or there's some kind of, like, story behind that. This record. I mean, it's telling a story or something.

[Aurora McGuckin]

Yeah. So this is a proper concept album. Ugly Duckling Union. They're in their early 20s now. They started off in high school in Atlanta, Georgia. Just two people, Olivia Osby and Avcha Weinberg. And a lot of their music, you know, has thus far dealt with sort of like being sad and young. And I think they would probably say that themselves, and it's true. But this album is a concept album. It's about Dale the Duckling, who is an outsider, Ugly Duckling who has to kind of navigate this corporate media power that's trying to seek control and isolate. And along the way, through these, I believe, 12 tracks, Dale Fiennes Community starts the Ugly Duckling Union. They're fighting back, but there's a multimedia component. There's a Minecraft World.

[Ann Powers]

Wow.

[Aurora McGuckin]

There's a real plush duck that's on tour with them.

[Ann Powers]

Wait, stop. Don't go on.

[Aurora McGuckin]

Yes, sir.

[Ann Powers]

There's a duck on tour with them. What?

[Aurora McGuckin]

Sorry. A plush. A plushie. I think it's just sort of like a big stuffed animal.

[Ann Powers]

Oh, man. I was hoping for someone in a giant duck costume, but that's cool.

[Aurora McGuckin]

But no, they've really built out this world. But at the same time, this record feels very, very intimate. It's a record about coming back to

[Ann Powers]

Themselves, there's an eccentricity to their vocals especially, but to the arrangements as well. But as you said, even though this is the story of a duckling, the songs are very human and very vulnerable and relatable. What's the name of that one? That's about, like, I dreamed I was gonna marry you.

[Aurora McGuckin]

And then I think it's Echo of Desire.

[Jack Antonoff / Bleachers (song lyrics)]

Yes.

[Ann Powers]

Oh, my gosh. That song is definitely contender for my year. Endless. I love the way it tells the story of how you feel desire for someone, how it comes to dominate your life, and then when you get with them, it is not. Not what you hoped for, right?

[JPEG Mafia (song lyrics)]

Oh, awake under covers with you as my lover we were made for each other When I saw your sleeping face Woke up wrapped in your embrace I felt wet.

[Aurora McGuckin]

You're right. These songs are all. You know, there's this story about this duckling, but a lot of them are just sort of like learning about your own identity and your place in the world and sort of like what it's like to be an adult almost.

[Ann Powers]

Yes.

[Aurora McGuckin]

And I think that the conceptual structure of the album and it being this whole other world almost, it gives them license to get even more vulnerable and personal.

[Ann Powers]

Oh, wow, that's a great insight, Aurora.

[Aurora McGuckin]

There's like, with the distance and with the levity, then you can get to this ugly, awkward kind of core that we all feel and don't articulate, I guess. And they do it so beautifully. I mean, cover U, which I think probably is the end of side A on the record. It's like five minutes and Olivia's playing the flute and it's mostly instrumental. And it's amazing that. That they have so much range that they get to play around with it, thanks to the Ugly Duckling.

[Ann Powers]

This is Lower Town and the album is called Ugly Duckling Union. Well, Aurora, we've gone over five of our favorite albums from this week, but we can't stop here. We have to have a lightning round. So let's get into it. And I have a record that I want to share that just means a lot to me from an artist who I really love. This is a record called who's Keeping Time? By the Portland based Portland, Oregon. That is a Lela Dayan. So I first discovered a Leela Diane in the early 2000s through Joanna Newsom, who, like Diane, grew up in the dusty town of Nevada City, California. Back then, a Leela Diane was part of the whole, like, freak folk thing. A new generation discovering the old weird elements of acoustic. And you can hear that freakiness in her early albums, but since then, she's developed into one of my favorite songwriters. Aelila Dayan is kind of like that cool hippie mom who makes everything in her life into art. You know, like, she crochets and her cooking is really good, and she built that shed in the back of her yard, and her art is just of the highest quality. This new album, who's Keeping Time? Was written after the death of Diane's friend and mentor, the folk legend Michael Hurley. And it considers the fragility and the beauty of life, the shifting sands of identity and the importance of being where you are. That's a Leela Dayan who's keeping time.

[JPEG Mafia (song lyrics)]

Little sister in the shallows Laughing down the hallways of my mind I hear the screen door slam behind her California treater kite

[Aurora McGuckin]

I want to talk about the new record from the Mexican Institute of Sound and the Meridian Brothers. It's called Ruido Tovar. This record is so fun. You've got Meridian Brothers led by Ibliz Alvarez in Bogota, Colombia, and Camilo Lara, Mexican Institute of Sound, combining forces and making an ode to this revolutionary period in Mexican cumbia music in the 70s. So they're. They're bringing together both the Colombian musical influences, Mexican tropical musical influences, and then also this fresh energy, you know, all of the electronic elements that Mexican Institute of Sound are known for, and it is just gorgeous. It sounds great in the car. It's fun to groove to. There are a couple Beck features on this record as well, and a great exploration of, you know, a moment in music history that I wasn't very familiar with, and also bringing it into the future. That's Rouido Tovar from the Mexican Institute of Sound and the Meridian Brothers.

[Ann Powers]

And now we're going to be joined by a few of our other colleagues who have special favorite albums they want to talk about this week. First, Robin Hilton.

[Robin Hilton]

Yeah. The album I want to get on everyone's radar this week is called Gongbu. It's from a band called Balming Tiger. This is a pretty big group. It's 11 members. They're from Korea, and the music is pretty wild. It's lots of mood shifts, lots of global sounds, all kind of mixed together with found sounds. Sometimes it's a collage of things that you can't even identify. But honestly, I think this is the coolest thing that I've heard all year. It's trippy. The grooves go deep. It's got these big group vocals that are super infectious, and it's all a concept record. It's about a fictional research institute called Gangbu Korea, where scientists record and conduct experiments on human dreams. But you know, even if you don't speak the language or understand the stories in it, I think it's still an incredible listen. This is a top five album of the year so far for me, Gong Boo from Balming Tiger.

[Ann Powers]

Next we have a lightning round pick from Lars Gottrich.

[Lars Gottrich]

So you never know what you can manifest until you speak it, you know. A few years ago, the Guatemalan cellist Mabe Frati named an album by the avant garde guitarist Bill Orcutt as one of her all time favorites. He reached out for a collaboration and now we have this stunning album called Almost Waking. Bill Orcutt can really shred some gnarly improvisation, but here he's restrained, even elegiac. And in response, Bobby Fratti takes those quiet, scraggly melodies and overlays them with long, sinuous lines, sometimes aching, sometimes full of fuzzy distortion. And even though these songs were made by trading audio files back and forth, there's a quick intimacy here. That's the album Almost Wait by Bill Orcutt and Mabi Fratti.

[Ann Powers]

And finally, we have a pick from our own favorite producer, Noah Caldwell.

[Noah Caldwell]

So I've got an album from the mysterious and beloved electronic producer Tromprins. It's called Life. Tromprins is from Hanover, Germany, but details beyond that are scarce. He's stayed anonymous his entire career and he uses a ton of different aliases and artist names like DJ Metatron, DJ Healer, Prince of Denmark, Irini, the list goes on. And his sound is just as slippery to try to pinned down. I mean, he's definitely in his techno guys here. This album has techno at its core. It's got that low, like hypnotic rumble the four on the floor kicks. But it also borrows production elements from a bunch of different styles. There's some acid bass lines, there's these big lush Enya like pads that evolve super slowly over the percussion. There's even some boom bap. All in all, just super moody ear candy that works for both a dark dance floor or just sitting alone with your headphones. So that's the new album from Tromprins

[Tayo Tyler Amin]

called Life,

[Ann Powers]

And that's our show. But before you go, I just want to tell you about one other offering we at NPR Music have. It's under our NPR program and it's a podcast I do with my dear friend and colleague Tayo Tyler Amin. We call it Old Songs Considered. And every week we consider a song from the hallowed history of pop and think about how it's resonated through the years. This week we're taking one of my favorite songs of all time, closer by Nine Inch Nails. And that's our show for this week. Thank you, Aurora McGucken from Mvy Radio in Massachusetts, for joining us. It's really been a pleasure.

[Aurora McGuckin]

Thank you so much, Anne, for having me. This has been so much fun.

[Ann Powers]

If you enjoyed this week's show, we always appreciate a positive review on Apple or Spotify or whatever app you're listening to right now. This episode was produced by Noah Caldwell and Elle Manion and edited by Otis Hart. Our production assistant is Dora Levitt. The executive producer of NPR Music is Saraya Muhammad. Stephen Thompson will be back next week to discuss the new Boards of Canada album. I know that's big news for some people. And more great releases with Andrew P. Brown of NPR member station KUTX in Austin, Texas. Until then, have a great weekend, listen to tons of music and make sure you come right back here to hear more fabulous releases on our next new music,

[Tayo Tyler Amin]

New shows, new music, new movies. Keeping up with pop culture sometimes feels like a full time job. Thankfully, over at Pop Culture Happy Hour, it's literally our job. We break down what's actually worth watching, listening to and pretending you already knew about. So the next time someone says, did you see that? That you can say, yeah, obviously. Follow NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour wherever

[Noah Caldwell]

you get your podcasts.