NPR Music - New Music Friday: The best albums out April 18

Episode Date: April 18, 2025

Julien Baker & Torres. Rhiannon Giddens & Justin Robinson. TV On The Radio's Tunde Adebimpe. NPR Music's Stephen Thompson welcomes Brian Burns of North Carolina public radio station WUNC to the show to discuss the best albums out today.Featured Albums:• Torres & Julien Baker, 'Send a Prayer My Way'• Rhiannon Giddens & Justin Robinson, 'What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow'• Tunde Adebimpe, 'Thee Black Boltz'• BEIRUT, 'A Study of Losses'• Sarah Siskind, 'Simplify'Check out our long list of records out April 18 and sample more than 50 new albums in our New Music Friday playlist at npr.org/music.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Happy Friday, everyone, from NPR Music. It's New Music Friday. I'm Stephen Thompson here with Brian Burns from WUNC. Hey, Brian. What's up, Stephen? Thanks for having me. It is a pleasure to have you. I am a lineman for the county. Now, if you're listening to this, you may be wondering why you're hearing the song Wichita Lineman. Today, April 18th, is National Lineman Appreciation Day. And when I think about all of the hardworking linemen in this country, I immediately think, of this classic song.

It's one of my favorite songs of all time. I attended this at karaoke about 10 years ago, and I got to say if you're thinking about doing that, think again. It's a tough one. I kind of ate it. I was doing fine until you get to the high note. And at that point, I just was like,

oh yeah, I forgot there was this note here. It's still on the live. Karaoke is a great equalizer. It's amazing how many songs I think I can sing. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. It really lets you know where you stand. you stand. That one might have scarred me so much that I haven't done karaoke since then. I can't remember, but I respect people who can really own it and who are good at it. Yeah, the secret is

commitment, as it is with so many things. Yeah. Well, let's kick off New Music Friday. We've got a ton of fantastic albums. We've got new records from Rianan Giddens, Beirut, Tunday and Abimpe, tons of great stuff. But first, to kick us off, let's talk about a new record by Taurus and Julian Baker. It's called Send a Prayer My Way. My fear outside the discount, tobacco and beer. It's more clear, but it's all brown. Put in the sore, bottom for, shuffling off this old modal call just to get out. I'm hopping.

Try to pick you up around. My first thought listening to this record is just what a clever post-boy genius move this is for Julian Baker. You know, Julian Baker made this string of really fantastic, very intimate singer-songwriter records as a solo artist starting in 2015. But then she blew up as a member of the supergroup Boy Genius with Phoebe Bridgers and Lucy Dacus. And coming out of Boy Genius, suddenly the stakes for a new Julian Baker record have never felt higher, right? Like all of a sudden, you know, she's won Grammys. You know, there are pictures of her goofing around with Taylor Swift. But her music is so interior and reflective and quiet. I love the fact that.

that her first post-boy genius record is like lifting up another great singer-songwriter. Absolutely. And I love that it's the country record because I don't know that anybody saw that coming. It makes so much sense that because both Torres and Julian Baker are from the south. Torres is from Georgia and Julian Baker grew up in Memphis. So country music has always been a part of their culture. I read though that they said that they've never seen themselves in the country music they were brought up on. So this record kind of fixes that.

As much as it's got these country signifiers, part of it is tapping into what makes great country music great, which is a certain simplicity, a certain relatable struggle. There are songs on this record, you know, about regret, about substance abuse, about kind of coming to terms with who you are. And, you know, there's a song on this record called Dirt. It's got this line that really jumps out. It's just spend your whole life getting clean just to wind up in the dirt. That's a very relatable sentiment to anyone who's battled that or known people who've battled with that. But it's not pouring on like country tropes. It's not like trying to sound more country than it is.

It's just tapping into truths in their lives. I want to take a moment to sing the praises. of Taurus to people who maybe they're big boy genius fans, maybe they've loved what Julian Baker's done, but aren't as familiar with Taurus. Taurus put out six solo records. They're very different. You know, she's definitely a restless soul and somebody who's explored a lot of different avenues on her records. But, you know, she had a song back in 2015 called Strange Hello's, which is just one of the best songs of the decade. She is a phenomenal talent, and she's continued to do great work,

and I so appreciate an artist like Julian Baker having her first instinct after Breaking Big be, who can I help? How can I lift someone else up with me? I love that about this record. It ties into a lot of the good vibes that surrounded Boy Genius, which was a project that was very much a celebration

of the importance of friendship. If I'm at home, on the road when I know the road ain't any kind of home. The song Sylvia has a very sweet story. I was doing some reading on that one in McKinsey Scott, aka Torres, says this is a song that's basically about a foster fail. Sylvia is her dog, and this was meant to be a foster dog, but she ended up adopting her when she went to pick her up to be the foster dog. She got in the car and heard Dolly Parton's Cracker Jack on the radio,

and she took that as a sign that Sylvia and her were meant to be. So I love that story, so I think that might make it my favorite song on the record. There's a song on this record. There's a song on this record called The Only Marble I've Got Left. And Torres sings in that song, in my book, There's No Such Thing as Guilty. pleasure as long as your pleasure's not unkind. I agree with every word of that, right? To have that line coexist with songs like bottom of the bottle, you know, which is a regret song about drinking,

where the chorus is, don't let me die at the bottom of a bottle. It really is in the spirit of the best country music. Send a prayer every day And keep the wanting you at bay Send a prayer my way It is the new album by Julian Baker and Taurus Highly, highly recommended Next up, a new album from Riannon Giddens

And Justin Robinson. It's called What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crohn? This is Rianan Giddens, reuniting with her former Carolina Chocolate Drops Bandmate Justin Robinson for an album dedicated to fiddle and banjo music of North Carolina. Couldn't be up more up our alley. There's so much love for Rian and Giddins here in North Carolina.

She's won a MacArthur Genius Grant, two, and then Robinson won a Grammy, too, with the Carolina chocolate drops back in 2010. Yeah, the opening line of the press release for this record says, Welcome to Our Porch. And I think that really sums up what this album sounds like. The album was recorded live and outdoors between two sessions, one at Edda Baker's House in Morganton, North Carolina,

and one at Joe Thompson's house in Meben, North Carolina. between the songs you hear banter from Giddens and Robinson, you hear birds tripping and the sound of cicadas, and I think a rooster shows up at one point. Listening to this record, you really do just feel like you're sitting on the back porch of somebody's house when the sun is going down and it's getting a little bit cooler. She has become an icon in the bluegrass and roots music space. But this record, it captures this great musical virtuosity for which they're known,

but it lowers the stakes by placing it in these live settings. It makes these songs feel extremely timeless in ways that only enhance their power. It really does feel like you're sitting in on something special and they're just kind of playing for each other. It doesn't necessarily sound like they're playing for a particular audience. There's night matter at the door. Shoes and stockings in a hand, little foot's all on the floor.

This blackbird said it's a crow. It ain't going to rain no more. What did the blackbird said it to crow? Ain't going to rain no more. Rain in the little snow a little. High neck and old folks tell it ain't going to rain no more. And that's something I love about this style of music is that all the songs are passed down from generation to generation.

A lot of the music on this record, they learned from their mentor Joe Thompson. Joe Thompson was one of the last musicians carrying on the legacy of black string music in North Carolina. And he was a mentor to both Giddens, Robinson, and Dom Fleming's of the Carolina Chocolate Drops before they started that band. The song, Hook in Line on the record, is apparently the first song Joe Thompson ever learned, so they're celebrating him by carrying the tradition on of that one.

Can you imagine the emotion involved, if you've grown up with this deep and abiding respect for these artists and these keepers of this music, to be playing Edda Baker's Marching Jay Bird in Edda Baker's house with Edda Baker's family around you. Like, the weight of that, could really dampen the electricity of a performance like that, and yet it doesn't. Bannon Giddens said something about this record that really stuck with me as just a beautiful metaphor.

She said, with the assaults on reality going on in the world today, we wanted to offer another kind of record, like walking back onto a gravel or dirt road while a stampede goes the other way. And I just thought, man, you get it. You know exactly what you're doing. You know exactly what this record can be for people, and you're pulling it off brilliantly. Now, I wanted to ask you, because Rianne Giddens is about to throw her first music festival. Yeah. It's called Biscuits and Banjos, April 25th to 27th in Durham, North Carolina. That's right. Yeah, right across the street from where we are right now.

I will definitely be there covering the event for WUNC. We're really looking forward to it. The lineup, the music lineup is insane, but there's also, because it's biscuits and banjos, there's a cooking element to it. So there's going to be a bunch of James Beard award-winning chefs doing demonstrations. A lot of this stuff is free, too. They are ticketed events like the Carolina Chocolate Drops are playing their first show together for the first time in more than a decade.

That's a big draw. But then there's also things happening during the day that anybody can go to cooking demonstrations, other musical performances. It's going to be really special. And I'm hoping this will be a tradition now. I hope this is a brand new festival for North Carolina. That is What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow by Rianan and Gidde. and Justin Robinson.

We've got some more terrific records we're going to talk about this week. But first, let's take a quick break. From NPR Music, it's New Music Friday. I'm Stephen Thompson here with Brian Burns of WUNC. Brian, tell me about what you're working on at the station. Yes, I'm the music reporter here at WUNC, which is a really fun job. We have a very exciting and thriving music scene here in the Triangle in North Carolina. So I do a lot of reporting on music festivals.

I interview local artists. I have a blog I run that's all local music and getting unknown songs on people's radars that way. I have a weekly newsletter I put out. I do a lot of interviews with people that are within the music community here that don't always get a spotlight on them. I have a series that's called Getting to Know that I just launched recently, where I do kind of long-form interviews with people who I think are doing really amazing work but don't always get the attention that they deserve. It keeps me busy. You've got a great music scene there to draw from. I mean, who doesn't love Sylvan Esso and Flock of Dimes?

We really do have, you know, a very eclectic and exciting music scene here. And that's going back to our legacy, too. We have so many jazz legends, you know, John Coltrane, Nina Simone, Thelonius Monk, all from North Carolina. All right. Next up is Tunday Adebimpe from TV on the radio. He's got a great new solo record called The Black Boltz. The Black Boltz.

I was thinking about my time and space. I was thinking about the human race. in the age of tenderness and rages had me kicking through the end of day shining lightning it's to get your head right to look around now baby you know you got good because you're all time in space

TV on the radio is probably my favorite band of the early 2000s, New York scene he had the idea for this record back in 2019 when TV on the radio was on a break and it sounds like the pandemic inspired him to make this record a reality he started sketching out concepts and ideas for the record

a little bit after that, and now we have the final product, and it's great. You know, he said something really interesting, and he was saying that, like, working with TV on the radio, he doesn't always get a chance to finish his own ideas, and that that is this kind of weird, subtle, unexpected downside of working with a bunch of geniuses. Yeah. Because TV on the radio, the individual players in that band, Dave Saitek, Kit Malone, people like that, those are brilliant artists. Like, that is a band that.

is like wall-to-wall geniuses. And you totally understand how Tunday ad-Bimpe would be like, okay, here are some fragments of lyrics, here are some musical ideas. And then he turns his band loose on them, and they make these sprawling, fascinating idea-packed records. Listening to this record, you realize, like, he is every bit on their level. This is a terrific record. It has all of those kind of fiery and wiry signifiers of what makes a great TV on the radio song. The songs just have this nervy energy to them that makes them irresistible.

TV on the radio is a very democratic band, so he wasn't used to writing and finishing songs on his own. And he worked with multi-instrumentalist Wilder Zobie on the song called Eight the Moon. That's somebody who's worked with Run the Jules a lot. And I can kind of hear that in that song. I think that's a really cool one. To say you're there. The man who ain't the moon. The man who ain't.

He's such an interesting talent. And, you know, he pops up all over the place. He's an actor. He's an illustrator. He's an animator. He worked on celebrity death match for MTV. But he also, like, popped up, remember the movie Twisters? I was going to ask you if you saw Twisters.

Yeah. I did. I loved it. And I was watching along, and I'm like, Bapada, Boop. Is that Tunday at a Bim? Okay. Yeah, and he was great in it. You know, I'm glad you mentioned, you know,

Aeth the Moon. You know, that's definitely a highlight. There's another track on this record called I-L-Y. At first, pure and true came through the shadows like a beacon in the dark, ever so grateful for the spa.

At first, he sounds a little bit like Matt Berninger from the National. But then the song, as it goes, it's morphing into this different kind of contraption. It's building and evolving as it goes. But it never loses this directness and this intensity that's running through this record. Yeah, a lot of the songs on this record have these really interesting builds. They kind of end up somewhere completely different from where they started. Another favorite of mine is called The Most.

In the middle of that song, he kind of breaks out into like a dance hall reggae thing, which I did not see it all coming, but I... But I loved it. It's a really fun surprise in that song. The surprises persist all the way through this record. Really late on the record, there's a song called Somebody New. It's almost like a dance pop song almost. You could actually take to a dance floor and not look like a fool.

I know. I mean, I would still look like a fool. Totally. I love that one too. That one reminded me of new order right out of the bat, but it brings you back to that era. It's a terrific record. I'm so glad to see TV on the radio coming back out into the world. They just did a tiny desk concert recently.

Yeah, that's right. Which for me tells me, like, yes, they're celebrating. kind of their early records because they've reached some big anniversaries, but that those guys are still working together. But no matter what they're doing individually and collectively, they're still making tremendous vital music more than 25 years into their career, which is amazing to see. Yeah, it's so cool to see.

I think they're playing some shows this summer with Crumbin and LCD sound system. So, yeah, they're having quite a moment, which I'm all about. More TV on the radio, more tuned at Abimpe. Great new record. It's called The Black Bolts. Next up, another artist that's been around for a while with a really intriguing new project. Beirut has a new album called A Study of Losses. This is not your average Beirut record, I would say.

It's an 18-track record that was commissioned by a Swedish circus called Company Giraff. Company Giraff is a group of artists who creates circus performances with a foundation of poetic narrative and a passion for magic in everyday situations, according to their website. They commissioned this work based on a novel by the German author Judith Schillansky, but the title is Versaiknes Einiger Verlust. And please do not laugh at my pronunciation. I think Beirut's music has often been compared to circus and carnival music, and I know that

Zach Condon of Beirut hates that. So it's really ironic that, you know, he said yes to this project and this is the record we have right now. I've been sitting here, like, commenting on, well, look at where this record came from. This album is freaking gorgeous. Yeah, it's stunning. Zach Condon, who's kind of the mastermind of Beirut, been around a long time, he's working with, among other people, the great cellist and composer Clarice Jensen. And Clarice Jensen, who's worked with, like, the Max Richter Orchestra,

she has put out a ton of phenomenal solo projects. She's one of my kind of go-to music I listen to when I want to concentrate instrumental music that is haunting and enveloping. You can get lost in it in a number of different ways. Her presence is felt throughout this record. There's also that swoony, worldly, grand kind of exotic sound of Beirut where it seems like it's radiating from a bunch of different countries at once. I think one of the standouts on the record is a track called Tu'anaki Atoll.

Yes, it's my favorite track on the record. So, Condon says that Tuanaki Atoll is said to have been an Eden-like island somewhere in the South Pacific that mysteriously disappeared under the sea during an earthquake in the 1840s. The people of this island were so peaceful that they did not have words like murder or war in their language. in kind of his voice, that very familiar vocal that he has, and sets it to this kind of breezily loping, kind of tropical jam. It's really swoony and charming and beautiful at the same time. There's so many just kind of quirky notes about this record, and they all make sense when you listen to it. This is exactly what it sounds like, and it's a beautiful listen.

And if you're a fan of what Beirut, of the sound for which Beirut became famous, there are still tracks that are going to scratch that itch. There's a song called Villa Sachetti. It's got that sweep. You know, it's kind of set within and among these beautiful instrumental interludes on this record, but it still sounds very much like a classic Beirut song.

Yeah, absolutely. Another standout for me was Gorecki's Unicorn. Please don't judge me on my pronunciation of that one. But I look up that one, too, and that's a song that was inspired by a fake unicorn fossil. Apparently, somebody found this fossil. that was a bunch of different animal pieces put together, and people really believed it was a unicorn for a long time.

Drawing inspiration from all over the world, different sounds, different countries, different languages. He's just so open to new ideas. And this is one of my favorite things that he's done in a really long time. Yeah, I think he's going to win some new fans with this one, and I think people who are already fans are going to love it. It's just a beautiful record. It's called A Study of Losses, the new album by Rue.

Beirut. We've got one more record we want to talk about in depth as well as a lightning round of some of our other favorite albums out today, April 18th. But first, let's take a quick break. From NPR Music, it's New Music Friday, rounding up the best new albums out today, April 18th. We wanted to talk in depth about one more album. It's by the artist Sarah Siskind, and it's called Simplified. Don't fail me now. I need you more than I ever have before. I don't think I can do this anymore. Can you beat, beat, beat, keep me going.

Can you beat, beat me strong? Can you beat, beat, beat like a drum. Try to sing this song. Yeah, this is another artist with North Carolina Ties, which I was really happy to see on our list this week. Sarah Siskin grew up in North Carolina, and after spending some time there, she moved to Nashville where she seems to have made an aim for herself

as a great songwriter. She lives up in Brevard now, which is in the mountains outside of Asheville. She made a record with Bill Frizzell in 2002 called Covered, and it's really, really beautiful. I was and am a huge fan of Bonnie Verre, and as Bonne Verre was kind of breaking through in 2007 and 2008, one of the songs that Bonne Verre often played in concert was a cover of Sarah Siskins' song Lovens for Fools,

which is a basically perfect song. It is an absolutely tremendous, tremendous song. And Justin Vernon gave it, you know, did justice to it and like started taking her out on tour with them. And over time, you know, in the years since, you know, she's put out a string of records. She, her most recent record before this was Modern Appalachia in 2020. It's really beautiful. She had a great record called Say It Louder back in the late aughts.

She's been a songwriter for other artists. She's written for Alison Krauss and Maddie Diaz and, you know, a bunch of Randy Travis, you know, a bunch of great artists. She wrote for the TV show Nashville. And she's just somebody more people should hear. Her voice just shimmers. Sunshine,

give me some of your time. Oh, this winter sure was rough. Full street ever getting up. Oh, we race to get there to call our mother

if we just had a little more time. She is a relatively new artist to meet. I'm really enjoying learning about her from you. I found this record to be, again, really beautiful. It's very minimal. It's really just her voice and her guitar, and that really lets her writing shine and her voice shine. That title simplify is definitely a mission statement. There's a track late on this record called Heavenly Father, and the song is just absolutely centering her huge, swooping, expressive voice. And I just found myself kind of leaning into the speakers as she was singing it.

I am a fatherless girl making my way through this fatherless world. Yeah, her voice really knocked me out. There are a few notes she hits on this record that really just made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. It's really beautiful. I also feel like it just sounds timeless. Like, if you told me this record came out 40 years ago, I would believe you. Remains the same yesterday.

My heavenly father relieved my sorrow. Every week on this show, I find myself locating some sort of theme, some kind of connective thread that ties together a lot of the records that we're talking about. And this record for me really feels like a love letter to music. Yeah, it's such a beautiful. record. That's another reason I'm a big fan of this podcast because I do. I spend so much time listening to music. It's my job. It's my passion. But there's so much stuff I'm missing out there. So I'm really happy that this week I'm learning about Sarah Siskin. It's one of my favorites. She's

been one of my favorites for a really, really long time. Just a voice that I can always go back to. And some singers, you just trust. She put out her first record more than 20 years ago. She's not a household name, but she's somebody I've always been able to go back to and you just feel like you're getting her truth. Just beamed directly into your heart. How do you feel like her music has evolved since you've been a fan? She has worked through so many phases of her career. She's been a working songwriter.

She's, you know, worked with big names. She has definitely had records that were kind of swinging for, you know, some kind of mainstream acceptance. And I think what jumps out about this record, paired up with modern Appalachia, is this is an artist who knows who she is, has figured out what she's capable of, and has just found, I think, the most power and the most strength, letting her voice echo out and having her. that draw in the people that it's going to draw in. And so this record feels very much like it was made on her terms. That's so cool to hear. Yeah, I feel like this is a record she cannot have made at a different point in her life.

I love knowing her backstory now and that she spent this time in Nashville but is now chilling up in the mountains in Brevard. And this is a very, it sounds like she made this record for herself. You know, it sounds like she's been through Nashville and she's done with that. And now she's enjoying life in the mountains and is still making music because it's her great.

passion. Love me anyway, even though it would be easier to walk away, even if there are things you are afraid to say, love me anyway. That is Sarah Siskind. Her new record is called Simplify. Now, obviously, as you can tell from the fact that all five records we picked this week are great. We could not possibly get to all the fantastic music out today, April 18th. So we wanted to do a lightning round of some of the other records that are out today. I'm going to kick us off with Davido. He does pronounce it, Davido, but it's spelled DeVito, is one of the biggest stars in Afrobeat music. He's been streamed billions of times. He's been nominated for four Grammys, and he has one of the biggest social media followings of any African artist. Now he's back with

his fifth album. It's full of booming anthemic earworms. It's called Five that is spelled with the numeral five, I-V-E. Another pick from me this week is Adrian Young's Something About April 3. This is the third and final installment of Young's Something About April series. Young is a recording studio genius who uses all analog equipment. Unlike the first two volumes of this series, this one is inspired by the music of Brazil in the 60s and 70s, and has Young working with the choir of Brazilian singers. It's Young's attempt at creating a great lost Brazilian record, and he totally nailed it.

If you're into intense, dreamy, subtly imaginative, singer-songwriterly pop, people like squirrel flower or maybe the softer moments of big thief, don't miss the debut album by the Brooklyn singer Avery Friedman. Her songs are a cocktail of anxiety and uneasy beauty with chiming, ringing arrangements that really get under your skin. Avery Friedman's new album is called New Thing. This is a record by the artist Just Saw B. It's a reissue on the awesome tapes from Africa label called Jesus Christ Ne de Swa Pa.

This album originally came out in 1991. In 1985, Sabi made an album with Peter 1 called Our Garden Needs It Flowers that was a big success, especially on the Ivory Coast. I love that record, so I was really excited to hear new music from Jess Sabi. This one was actually recorded in South Carolina when Sabi was visiting the States as part of an exchange program but wasn't available outside of the Ivory Coast until now. Finally, Neil Young fans have been super served in recent years. The Rock Legend has released a long string of new records, live recordings, welcome reissues from across his 60-year career.

Now fans are getting an extremely intimate live document to accompany a documentary that came out yesterday, directed by Daryl Hannah. Other than one guest on one song, it's just Neil Young himself. performing songs from across his catalog on piano, guitar, and harmonica. It's called Coastal, the soundtrack. And that is our show for this week. Comes a light. Feelings lifting. Lift that baby right up off the ground.

And that is our show for this week. Brian Burns, thank you so much for taking time out of your week at WUNC music. Thanks so much for having me. It was a real honor to be here. It is a pleasure to have you. 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 Simon Rentner and edited by Otis Hart. The executive producer of NPR Music is Seraa Mohamed, and her boss is Keith Jenkins, NPR's vice president of Music and Visuals.

We'll be back next week to talk about more new records with Ayana Contreras of Denver Public Radio Station's KUVO and The Drop. Until then, take a moment to be well, drink a tall glass of ice water, and treat yourself to lots of great music.