NPR Music - New Music Friday: The best albums out Feb. 14

Episode Date: February 14, 2025

Bartees Strange. Denison Witmer. The Sun Ra Arkestra's Marshall Allen. NPR Music's Stephen Thompson welcomes Nate Chinen of Philadelphia's WRTI to discuss the best new releases out on Valentine's Day.Featured albums:• Bartees Strange, 'Horror'• Denison Witmer, 'Anything At All'• Marshall Allen, 'New Dawn'• Sullivan Fortner, 'Southern Nights'• John Patitucci, 'Spirit Fall'Check out our longer list of albums out Feb. 14 and stream our New Music Friday playlist at npr.org/music.Credits:• Host: Stephen Thompson• Guest: Nate Chinen (WRTI)• Producer: Simon Rentner• Editor: Otis Hart• Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed• Vice President, Music & Visuals: Keith JenkinsSee 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, everybody from NPR Music. It's New Music Friday. I'm Stephen Thompson here with Nate Chenen of WRTI in Philadelphia. Nate, Go birds. I can't believe I said Nate, and it took, what, like a second and a half for you to yell go birds. Like, what? You're off your game. It is a euphoric week here in Philadelphia.

Actually, the music you heard coming in was a version of Fly Eagles Fly recorded at WRTI. That is Lady Alma singing with Anthony Tid on bass. I know you as a Packers fan, but come on. Please tell me that you got caught up in the spirit. Oh, absolutely not. No, I refuse. You know, February 9th may have been Sequin Barkley and rookie cornerback Cooper de Jeanne's actual birthday, but I, watching from my living room, I kind of felt like it was my birthday with all those elements coming into place. I mean, wow.

The Eagles dominate in the Super Bowl and also, we all love jazz. There you go. That is exactly the spirit that we're going to take into this discussion of a bunch of great new music out today, February 14th. Starting with Bartice Strange. Bartice Strange has a new album called Horror. Bartice Strange has very quickly become a beloved DC institution. We talk a lot on this show about artists who kind of operate in a world untethered from genre. But Bartice Strange kind of kicks that up a notch.

His music smashes together rock and hip-hop and dance music and so many different styles kind of swirling together, sometimes even within individual songs. There's a lot of sonic density and a lot of sonic design on this album. And I think we came in with the opening track on the album too much. It applies to the musical influences that are extant on this album. But it's also like the themes and ideas and conflicts that grappling with as a singer-of-songwerect. writer, he's kind of like giving you a glimpse into, you know, the churn inside his psyche. The album is called horror, and that kind of alludes to the fact that when he was growing up,

he used horror movies to kind of make himself feel strong. Like, if I can endure this, I can handle the world, which is a really interesting thing to reflect on as an adult and, you know, kind of how and why you did that and how and why that might have shaped you. And when you listen to the sound of this record, he's got such a firm grip on ways to sound sly and funky, but there's this unsettling undercurrent to these songs that I think really fits the title, that fits that overall vibe. These songs are catchy.

They're sometimes extremely propulsive. Sometimes in the case of a song like Doomsday Buttercup, there's a strangely danceable quality to it. But at the same time, there's this undercurrent that feel. very uneasy. And I think that's part of what keeps me kind of hooked on his music. As I was listening and just kind of thinking about descriptors,

one that floated into my psyche that I quickly batted away, but it kept coming back, was like transgressive black Bonnie Bear. Oh. Like, because there's this hauntedness and this kind of like when Bonnie Verre made

the move, the shift from like solo acoustic echoey introspection to more of a band sound, but still sort of retained that haunted core. Yeah. A lot of his associations are within this kind of atmospheric indie rock, you know, nexus. He's toured with the national. You know, he travels in those circles. But there's another element, right? I mean, he was born in England and raised in muster.

Dang, Oklahoma, there's just a really powerful sense of displacement and adaptation, I think, in his songs. And there's one song in particular that captures that. It's called 17. Yes. Yes. When through the seat's done It's hot as hell

And I don't see When he's going I'm staring through the ceiling It's trying to think that I don't need friends Sometimes I don't know where I belong When he sings the lyric Sometimes I don't know where I belong And as he sings that

Down a major scale You know And so it's just like Just going down the stairs You know It's such a disarmingly open-hearted and simple confession. Later in the song, he talks about just being aware sometimes that he is too black for the room. First time that I felt impending doom was realizing I'm too black for the room.

I was pushing it down, pushing it down just for you, for you. You'd never see me like I see you. Like every dream I'd, I just can't come true. Now you're talking me down, talking me down. So used to hearing that from you. Think about his journey as an artist, you know, working in these indie rock spaces

and sometimes feeling like I'm maybe putting words in his mouth, but he is working within kind of white-coated spaces and bringing his blackness as part of his lived experience and perspective and musical influence into that equation. Well, it's interesting that you mentioned 17, because in addition to containing those insights, that song also rocks extremely hard. Yeah. And as much as we've talked about, what did you say, transgressive black bonnie verre, which I love, that might suggest a more insular sound than this album necessarily has from start to finish. I mean, we haven't yet mentioned that this record is co-produced by Jack Antonoff.

Right, right. There is also an eye toward the stadium. There is also an eye toward big rooms in this sound that you get when you work with arguably the biggest mainstream pop producer in the world. Yeah, yeah. I mean, every time I think that I've heard enough Jack Antonoff, he turns around and just like delivers another wallop. That's why he's scaring all these white boys. They remember what we fell from the star. See, they lie to themselves.

about where we all come from. That's horror. It's the new album by Bartice Strange. Next up, a new album from the singer-songwriter, Denison Whitmer. It's called Anything at All. I will feed bags of seas and change on the yard, just outside of every window. This is Denison Whitmer, a singer-songwriter

who's been kicking around for quite a while, originally from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the song that we just came out of is titled A House With. And Stephen, I'm really curious, because I don't have as deep a relationship with Denison's music, I hear a lot of Sufjan Stevens in the arrangement and in the sort of building, you know, mounting crescendo of this song. How much Sufyan is in this album and how much is purely Denison. Well, he comes by it honestly. I'll start there. And it's funny. I was listening to this record the other night and my partner walked by and said, oh, this is lovely. Perhaps has this singer-songwriter ever heard the music of Sufion Stevens? Can I interest him in the music of Sufian Stevens?

And that is certainly a fair point to acknowledge. He works with Sufion Stevens on this record. Sufian Stevens' fingerprints are everywhere here in the production. He's not just an influence. He is the collaborator. Carry a torch for me, Christina. My life's gone face down in the dirt. Denison Whitmer has been recording for the Asmatic Kitty label since 2012. That's Sufian Stevens' label. Denison Whitmer has worked with Rosie Tucker, who's part of the Sufian Stevens' cinematic universe.

He is definitely embedded in that world and has clearly been influenced by that world. But, you know, Denison Whitmer's been putting out records since 1998. He's been floating around for a really, really long time. He actually started out. The first comparison that I was going to throw out was to a band that we talked about on this show a couple months ago, The Innocence Mission, which is also from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. And I was listening to this record. I was like, you know what, I'm going to tie this back to the Innocence Mission and how we talked about.

Sometimes it's lovely to just sit back with a spare, beautiful, extremely warm and heartfelt record, especially kind of in the dead of winter. And I was going to make these comparisons to the Innocence Mission, in part because both artists are from Lancaster, Pennsylvania. And Don Paris, of the Innocence Mission, was Denison Whitmer's guitar teacher. Oh, wow. The Innocence Mission brings kind of this plain-spoken insight. Sufion Stevens brings these flourishes that all tie into human connection and warmth.

And I think he is certainly drawing on those influences, but he is also his own person. He's also a distinctive singer-songwriter. For me, like, this is your perfect kind of mid-February winter in the cabin reflection record. Sometimes it's extremely spare and simple. Sometimes it has these curlicues and these Sufiani swirls around them. but it's all coming from this extremely warm-hearted place and from a singer-songwriter who's been at this for decades.

He has continued to be an extremely reliable craftsman who puts out gorgeous heartfelt music. Nothing feels as random as the gift of life. I hope I'm not wasting them. Now my kids run circles. through the kitchen I'm a kid's run so

through the kitchen I pour a second glass of wine I hope I'm not wasting mine I hope I'm not wasting mine I also want to throw out there for those who are wondering just how Sufian this Sufian Stevens' adjacent record can get. There's a track on this song late called Slow Motion Snow

that really builds into this full-circle moment where you're like, this guy's been adjacent to Sufion Stevens for ages. Now he's just going all in. I think the slow-motion snow, when you talked about how this is like a perfect wintry album, it's like, well, it's right there. Snow motion snow. falls from the sky.

That's anything at all by Denison Whitmer. His new album is out today. Well, we've got a few more records that we're excited to talk about, as well as a lightning round of some of the other albums out today. But first, let's take a quick break. From NPR Music, it's New Music Friday. I'm Stephen Thompson here with Nate Chenen from WRTI. Nate, tell me, besides the Super Bowl, I would imagine there's a lot going on over at WRTI.

There really is. And actually, at this moment, there is some exciting transition because, Stephen, I think you remember my podcast co-host, Greg Bryant, who left WRTI to move to Los Angeles. Well, that has left us in the search for a new full-time jazz host. And I've been involved in some of the interviews. And I got to say, it's actually really exciting to see how much talent is out there. And we are very soon going to make an announcement for a new evening jazz host at WRTI. Well, speaking of Jazz and Philadelphia, I wanted to get to our next record. It is by Marshall Allen, a young whippersnapper with a new record called New Dawn. So Marshall Allen holds the distinction, Nate, of being the oldest person ever to. to perform a tiny desk concert.

Back in 2014, when he was but 91 years old, he led the Sun Ra Orchestra in a Halloween tiny desk concert, which, if you have not seen it, please get online and check it out. It is wonderful and colorful and strange and beautiful. And now he began the recording process two days after his 100th birthday, his first ever solo album. And it's just gorgeous. And also, so I don't think that this has been certified, but wouldn't this make Marshall Allen the Guinness World Record Holder for oldest artists to release an album?

Because it was previously held by Tony Bennett, who released an album at 95, and Marshall's 100. The title track of this album, New Dawn, it features Nenna Cherry. Some may know for her 90s sort of electropop hits, but Nena is also the Dundra. daughter of the wonderful trumpeter composer Don Cherry. We have to say Marshall Allen, at 100, this is his solo debut. Incredible. Not only is it, you know, he the oldest artist, but this is his first album under his own name by himself, you know.

And I think what that speaks to is, first of all, how synonymous he has been with the SunRah Orchestra. He's led the band since 1993. When SunRaw died in 193. in 1993, but he's been a member of the Sun Ra Orchestra since the 50s. Right. It's really impossible to imagine the orchestra without

Marshall Allen. It is still kind of an orchestra record. He collaborated on this album with Noel Scott, who is a fellow member. So it's not like a wild departure, but there are certain

things in it that feel a little bit like more small group. One song I'm thinking of in particular is titled African Sunset. You know, as much as Marshall Allen and as much as the Sunra Orchestra are avant-garde jazz.

When you hear the phrase avant-garde jazz, you think of something a little less accessible and a little less emotional than what's going on here. This is a very approachable record. Right. There are also these little bits and infusions of real energy to this record.

There's a high-fi Juan Garcia Esquivel cocktail jazz feel to it, which, you know, I've been a fan of Esquivel for decades and have dipped into his catalog constantly when I kind of need a palette cleanser. And I like that this record is drawing not only on kind of the spacier and more searching qualities of like the Sunra Orchestra, but they're also dipping into jazz from the last. 80 years.

That sort of lounge sensibility or like edging up into Exotica or you know what have you, that's all very true to form as well. You know, you heard on that track a little bit of like a

you know a sort of swoopy synthesizer sound. You know, we should say that, you know, that is Marshall. You know, he plays alto saxophone and he has this kind of signature scrunk. But he's also a virtuoso of the EWI, which is an electronic wind instrument. It looks a bit like a soprano saxophone, but it is a synthesizer. And his command of the timbre and the like, you know,

pitch modulation and all these elements that you only get from an instrument like that. About a year or so ago, before he turned 100, but not too long before, I went to see a show he did here in Philly at Solar Myth. And I was around for the sound check. And when he showed up to the venue and saw the bassist William Parker to greet him, he did a little soft shoe at age 99.

So, you know, that's who we're dealing with. And the music sounds like somebody who's still doing a soft shoe at 100. That's New Dawn from Marshall Allen. Next up, we're going to keep it jazz. I'm going to go with Sullivan Fortner and his new album, Southern Knights. So you may recognize that tune.

It is the title track, an Alan Toussaint song called Southern Nights. The lyricism, Sullivan really captures that. This is an album I was especially excited to talk about because Sullivan Fortner, you may know him as a celebrated accompanist to Cecile McLaurin Salvant. And he's won multiple Grammys with Cecile. He's also collaborated with Kurt Elling. But this is what I consider to be a long-awaited band effort by a trio that he put together

with a bassist named Peter Washington and the drummer Marcus Gilmore. They come from different corners of the modern jazz landscape. Peter Washington plays in the Bill Sharlap trio. He's generally known as kind of a swinging jazz traditionalist. And Marcus Gilmore works along. the super contemporary hybridist, like adventurous sector of modern jazz. But the thing is, they all are so fluent in this common language, and Sullivan just unites everything.

It was really struck by the style of Sullivan Fortner's piano playing. There's such a conversational quality to it. At times, it can feel almost on this record like you're listening to a chatty friend. you know, where he's just filling the air with notes. He can be very busy while still being very colorful. His playing can be almost frenetic, even discordant, but he never loses sight of kind of this warmth and musicality. Yeah, I think that warmth is just who he is.

One word that I always reach for when I'm thinking about Sullivan is personal. It's different than a way. word like distinctive or unmistakable, though those also apply, right? But the thing with him, you know, you use the metaphor of conversation. Like, I really do feel like Sullivan speaks through his instrument. You know, he feels like somebody that you, that you know. One example of that sort of chatty quality you describe is on an original tune that he titled Nine Bar Tune. So 9 bar tune, if you know anything about music, you know that's an unusual length for a form. So there's a little bit of an off-kilter quality.

But what you also hear on this track is just what an incredible player, Marcus Gilmore is. Hyper-articulate, maybe even over-articulate, but also impart a feeling of space and proportion and patience. This is Southern Knights from Sullivan Fortner. We've got one more jazz record that Nate's going to guide us through. It's also great, as well as a lightning round of some of the other albums that are out today. But first, let's take one quick break. It's New Music from NPR Music. I'm Stephen Thompson here with Nate Chenen from WRTI.

Before we get to our lightning round, we got one more record we want to get to. It is by the bassist John Patatucci, and it's called Spirit Fall. So my first impression listening to this record was, wow, this is a band that leans really hard and really effectively on its rhythm section. And that rhythm section, it's John, Patattucci on acoustic and electric bases, and Brian Blade on drums. Brian Blade, you know, a lot of people know him for his work with Nora Jones, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, like lots of people, right? But Patatucci and Blade together were members of the cell. celebrated Wayne Shorter Quartet. When you think of that hookup and you think about Wayne Shorter,

this is a person who is famously kind of mysterious and mercurial and like elusive. And the saxophonist on this album is Chris Potter, who while he has like fully mastered the language of Wayne Shorter, among others, you don't think about mystery and inarticulacy and like elusiveness with him. He's very direct and clear and, like, super articulate. And so that's a different energy. John Patatucci, he's also worked with Chick Korea and Herbie Hancock. I mean, these are some of the Mount Rushmore figures in jazz that this guy has worked with directly. So on his own record as a band leader, he's trying to invoke some of their sounds on an album that is conveying entirely instrumentally these ideas around, like, unity and spiritual growth.

He is a very spiritual person, Patatucci. Those artists that we've named, they all come from a cohort that was under the wing of Miles Davis during the electric years. Bitches brew and beyond. And one thing that unites them is a total curiosity about sound and style. He's also really drawn to the groove aspects of different kinds. of music. So he loves Brazilian music. And there's a track on this album that features a Brazilian groove, and it also has Chris Potter doing a little bit of multi-tracking. So it doesn't sound like a three-piece band. This is a tune called Lipim. There's a tradition of saxophone-based drums in jazz,

and its most famous reference point is the Sunny Rollins trio of the late 1950s. And there's a track on here that seems to very specifically evoke that precedent. It's called Sun Risa. It's a calypso. And you can just hear how much fun these guys have with that idea. Well, that is Spirit Fall. It's the new album by John Patatucci. It is fantastic. Thank you for bringing it to my attention. Nate, we did want to do a quick lightning round of some of the other records that are out today, February 14th. I'm going to kick us off with the Chicago indie rock band Horse Girl.

They've got a new record and a newly stripped down sound, thanks in part to the presence of the producer Kate Laban, who from her own music knows a little something about weaving kind of beautiful sounds from spare ingredients. This new record most directly to me invokes classics by The Velvet Underground and Nico, but it's got an energy of its own. It's called phonetics on and on. I'm going to work real hard to make my worst emotions. We've also got Satchel Vasandani's Best Life Now. Now, if you don't know Satchel, he is a jazz vocalist.

There's a really silky and knowing quality to his singing. And on this album, he works with the drummer and producer, Nate Smith, just an absolute groove maestro. So there's a lot happening here, but it's a very sort of cool and seductive outy. John Glacier is a UK rapper and poet who's worked with other inventive musicians like Sampha, Flume, MKG. Her music is full of contradictions in its sound. It's minimalistic and enveloping. It's calm and unsettling.

It's blurry and revealing. It is a land of contrasts. John Glacier's new album is called Like a Ribbon. The War and Treaty is a husband-in-lawful. wife duo that works within the Americana zone. And on their fourth full-length album, plus one, they're kind of doing more of what they do so well, which is to blend country and folk and blues and gospel influences in a really communicative package. They also welcome some input from people who are fans of their work. There's a song here that was co-written by Miranda Lambert.

So this is a very sort of Nashville Americana record. So if you love that Dap Tone sound, vintage horns, timeless soul, make sure you make room in your life for the Alton's. The group is putting out its first album on Daptone, and it's full of songs that channel classic 60s style pop and soul through a prism of Tejano music. It's classic and vibey and timeless. It is Alt Latino approved.

I know my colleagues are huge, huge fans. And dare I say, it is a perfectly stylish soundtrack for Valentine's Day for those who celebrate. It's called Heartache in Room 14. And that is our show for this week. Thank you, Nate Chenen for joining us during a very busy week in Philadelphia. Be careful around the lampposts. Goldberg! You got one more.

That was your last one. If you believe New Music Friday to be the Philadelphia Eagles of Podcasting or some other good thing. We implore you to share that very accurate take with the world via a positive review on Apple or Spotify or whatever app you were listening to right now. This episode was produced by Simon Retner and edited by Otis Hart.

The executive producer of NPR music is Soraya Mohamed and her boss is Keith Jenkins, NPR's vice president of music and visuals. We'll be back next week to talk about new albums with the host of the long running public radio show Mountain Stage Kathy Matea. Yes, the same

Kathy Matea, who recorded 8, Wheel and a dozen roses, one of my favorite songs of the 80s. We will be talking about new albums by Sam Fender, the Drive-B Truckers Patterson Hood, and more. Until then, take a moment to be well, eschew the trappings of Valentine's Day, and treat yourself to lots of great music.