NPR Music - New Music Friday: The best albums out June 21

Episode Date: June 21, 2024

The first half of 2024 has been stuffed with blockbuster albums, and as we reach the midpoint of the year, we've got one more to add to the list. On this week's episode of New Music Friday from All Songs Considered, Hazel Cills and Anamaria Sayre discuss the new album from the breakout star of the Mexican Regional movement. Peso Pluma's new Éxodo sees the singer branching out with new sounds and new collaborators.Also out this week: the always captivating Kehlani gets adventurous on Crash and the Icelandic singer Emiliana Torrini fashions an album of songs out of letters written to a friend's mother. Featured Albums:• Peso Pluma, 'Éxodo'• Kehlani, 'Crash'• Emiliana Torrini, 'Miss Flower'Other notable albums out June 21:• Wild Up, 'Julius Eastman Vol. 4: The Holy Presence'• Gracie Abrams, 'The Secret of Us'• Lake Street Dive, 'Good Together'• Linda Thompson, 'Proxy Music'• Various Artists, 'Miles Away: One'• Been Stellar, 'Scream from New York, NY'• Daryl Hall, 'D'• Jim Lauderdale, 'My Favorite Place'• Kate Nash, '9 Sad Symphonies'• Sumac, 'The Healer'• Various Artists, 'Petty Country: A Country Music Celebration of Tom Petty'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

A quick note before the show, this podcast contains explicit language. I did have something that I actually wanted to ask you about. Okay. Ooh. I don't want to blow up your spot, but were you recently salsa dancing in the office in front of the tiny desk? Did I see that on your Instagram? I'm actually quite frequently salsa dancing in the office in front of the tiny desk, which is this is the first time someone captured it.

Okay, that was my question. And I have this idea in my head that, like, you're salsa dancing everywhere. So kind of. So if you're listening at home and you don't know, I'm Hazel Sills, I work at NPR out of New York, and I'm talking to Anmaria Sare, who works out of D.C. So we're not often together in spaces where I can witness the beauty of her salsa dancing in person. The beauty. On the record, the beauty of my dancing.

Thanks, Hazel. Appreciate it. This is my critical opinion. But we're not here to talk about salsa dancing as much as I wish this was a podcast, just us talking about salsa dancing. Unfortunately. It is New Music Friday for June 21st, 2024. We are talking about some of the best albums out this week. Just to remind you, I'm Hazel Sills.

And I'm Anna Madias Sayer. And we're going to be talking about new albums from Kalani. Super exciting. A new album from the artist, Emiliana Torini. But first, who do we have, Anna? Okay, so luckily, I'm almost maybe more just as excited to talk about this album as I am to talk about salsa dancing. So this is Pesopuluma, regional Mexican star, maybe the biggest artist in the movement right now. And this is his second album, highly anticipated, called Exodo.

So hazel, So hazel, I'm trying to figure out how to consolidate the So, so level and amount of points and thoughts that I have listening to this record, I mean, to preface back up, I mean, to preface, backup, give people two seconds of context. This is one of the most highly anticipated albums, at least of my year, as someone who covers exclusively the Spanish language music world, pretty much. And that is because Bezo Pluma is the artist, essentially, that kind of took regional Mexican to a global level.

This is the type of music that has existed in Mexico for over 100 years. It's now been revamped by all these young artists. And this is his second shot at really doing. doing a body of work that encapsulates what is, you know, the most forward-thinking part of this music right now. And I'm honestly blown away. He did some things that I didn't love. He did some things that I really loved. So I'm kind of curious to hear first what you thought as the outside observer. Yeah. Well, I think, you know, Paiso Pluma, I've learned so much about him through you and sort of the ways in which he's kind of like taking these very

traditional genres. Like, I feel like you and Felix Contreras and all Latino are always talking about, you know, regional Mexican being like your grandparents' music and really sort of bringing his own perspective as like a young artist who's also really interested in pop music, really interested in rap and sort of infusing that into the music that he makes. And I feel like listen to this album, it's very long. There's many angles and sounds to this album. It really felt like he was expanding outward. Like there were some surprises on this record that I didn't totally expect from him. And it seems like he's thinking about his place in popular music more widely than just like, I'm a regional Mexican artist who is breaking through, you know, the charts in a mainstream way.

Yeah. And the way that I see this record is really almost like the main body of work. And then you have kind of this extension disc too, which we'll get to. So speaking first about the main record itself, I think it's important to take. a step back and realize that in my opinion, one of the reasons that this music is exploding in the way that it has is this desire and interest in supporting live instrumentation. It's super integral to this type of music. It's like these young guys who are doing, quote unquote, like a slightly urban sound.

But what they're really doing is they're taking tubas and trombones and accordions and they're working with these actual live instruments and giving them what we would call an urban twist. And he really does that in an impressive way, in my opinion on this record. If we look at the first track that I want to talk about, which is Bruce Wayne, he gives every single instrument

its moment to shine. You have beautiful piano moments, beautiful trumpet moments. And this is something that you see across the record. The musicianship to me is at some of the highest I've heard actually in this style of music, which this style of music is called Corridos Dumas. And so, characteristically, Corridos have always had these beautiful accordions and

big horns and all of these things that pool at the heartstrings beyond just the lyricism and the vocals. But what he's doing here is he's taking that, he's dialing up, he's adding moments like on this track where he has almost like a little bit of a rap sprint. And it really shows some of his versatility and also some of his darker side, would you say, maybe. Yeah, I, the darker side, I mean, even just like the nod to the Bruce Wayne, you know, imagery, Batman imagery. Like I had said to you, you know, before we tape this, I was reading interviews with him where he sort of talked about his last album, Genesis as being like the superhero side to him and that this album was going to be like a little bit darker, was going to be a little bit more about his feelings about celebrity. And I definitely like, I hear those darker tones on this album, you know, throughout. But it's really interesting when you talk about like him. is an artist who is really interested in live instrumentation, which is like, it shouldn't be that rare for a young art. Like, it shouldn't be that, you know, special to say, like, oh, this is a young artist who's, like, really interested in, like, pulling these instruments into their work. But it just

feels, like, among his, like, age cohort in terms of people who border different genres or maybe interested in, like, you know, rap and pop and things like that. The fact that he's doing that, not just in his genre, but like in general as an artist, is, is really compelling. And I think, I mean, if you take a step back, once again, like, this is something that we're seeing not just with regional Mexican music, like for the space that I cover, like across the board in Latin America, there are other scenes. I've talked to you about Guartetto coming out of Argentina, very similar reimagining of an old sound with live instrumentation. Even when you think about all of the biggest hits on the charts right now, like a Maluma track or a Grupo Frontera track, all of these aren't.

even if they have synthetic sounds, they're actually pairing it typically with a live instrument. And I think that that speaks to a larger desire from a generation of young people that's supporting and listening to this music that I don't know why the timing is interesting or maybe it's exactly perfect that, I don't know, coming out of COVID, I mean, this specific type of sound, it's like everything is accelerated and you hear that and how he talks thematically in this song. He's already talking about the struggles of fame and things that Bad Bunny talked about on his last record, but he's talking about it within like two years of starting. So it's a very interesting accelerated moment for a very old type of music. Yeah.

But the way that they do mix these sounds, I mean, they always pair something new with something old. And a song that really struck me was El Rello. Now this is really a famous that has been sung year in, year out over and over and over again, called El Relo. And basically, the conceit of that song,

it's incredible conceit. It's someone looking at the clock and basically saying, please stop, because this is the only. time that I have with her. You know, once morning comes, I lose her. And it's something that it's like lore that has been repeated in Mexican households, in Latino households for years and years and years. And I saw this song actually very much as a reaction to that can see. You basically hear him opening this song saying, yeah no kitchens del relo, my amor, me pass a

night entire, buskando in the phone. Leo those messages and me pongo to sonrear. Which is basically him saying, there are no more minutes left on the clock, my love. I spend the whole night looking at the phone, I read your messages, and I start smiling. So he's basically, like, part two extension of the story of the relo is Pesso Pluma sitting here and being like, the clock's over, it happened, our time is done, and I'm just sitting here in this very modern take on this conceit, right, staring at my phone thinking about how your text used to make me smile. It's like Pesopuma the Softie is coming out. Exactly. Well, and then of course, of course, he brought on the ultimate softy heartbreak lover boy,

Cornijo to be on this track with him. I heard the reverb on his vocals when this track started, and I was like, wow, this is really giving some Ivan Cornejo. And then, of course, there Ivan was, with his very fun, reverby, synthy, tragic sound. Yeah. What I know about Ivan, learning from you is that he's kind of, like, regional Mexicans, like, Justin Bieber. Like, he is real, like, heart, really, like, heart, maybe not late, Justin Bieber, early Justin Bieber. Like, he has real, like, youthful heartthrob energy. So to hear him on this track with Pesopuluma. And then, of course, it's this like, they're playing on this classic Bolero is like, okay, I didn't really expect this from you, Pesopuma, but this is you showing your sensitive side. I kid you not, Hazel, like, I hear

the voice of this 20-year-old man, boy, man, and I can't not cry. Like, I don't know what it is, but that is the energy of this sound of regional Mexican is you have a lot of. all these really young artists who just have these old souls. And something about him and the way he sings and the emotion he sings with. He says things like, The Moon only knows my feelings. Like he's so just expressive in his vocalizations of these ideas that he's able to take a conceit from 100 years ago

and make it feel current and relevant and meaningful to people today, which is just incredible to me. Yeah. I mean, we're talking about that's very, much a collaboration on this album that feels very much of his world and of the Latin music industry, but there are so many collabs and features on this album. Were there others that stuck out to you? Okay. Well, first of all, I mean, the Yvon choice was interesting because even though it's very much within his world in some ways, not quite the Corrie doumbado world, which is pretty expansive.

The regional Mexican world is very expansive. But beyond that, tons of collaborators from his growing label that has these tiny, tiny, tiny baby Corrido Tomados artists who are now like, this is their big explosion onto the scene as being on this record. But then, if we're talking collaborators, we have to go to disc too. Yeah. Because that's just like an entirely other way out the box completely different record that I think was just attached to this original one. He has talked for a long time about wanting to play with a rap, trap, rag, reggaeton space. And he clearly was not kidding because, I mean, Hazel, I don't know, what did you think of this section of the record? So there are several collaborations with American rappers on the, as you say, the disc two of the record.

There's a song with Cuevo. There's a song with Rich the Kid. And there is a great song called Put Him in the Fridge featuring Cardi B. And I was really, I don't know, I was kind of surprised by, the selection of rappers that he chose to feature on that disc too. Like there's no disrespect to Cardi B and Cuevo and Rich the Kid, but I, you know, I've read interviews with him, as you said, where he's talked a lot about like wanting to collaborate with like American rappers. And it just feels like he really kind of went for the most mainstream of the mainstream

in getting someone like Cardi B on this track. But what did you think of this song? You know, I think it's interesting as someone, who is so cutting edge in terms of the collaborators he chooses within his own space. It was really interesting to me that he did almost the reverse in his foray into the, quote-unquote, mainstream world. And I do think that there is still a leftover feeling within the Latin music space of like, oh, in order to cross over, crossover, quote-unquote, he already has.

But in order to be relevant and significant in a mainstream space, you have to go for the most, you know, excessively mainstream artist. I mean, I'm thinking about Beyonce on a J. Balvin record or Cardi B once again popping on a Latin track or even the Drake moment. I mean, there's been so many instances of really big names being on a Latin music song. So it was really interesting to see him. There's almost no trace in some moments of his, you know, Corrido Tumado essence. I think on this track specifically I do hear some horns that feel reminiscent of a Corrido Tumabado. track, but otherwise he really did something entirely different here, which I'm interested to

see if that's something he continues to do moving forward. Yeah, there is so much on this album, so much to explore. But now we have more albums to get to after a short break. We're going to be talking about a new project from Kealani and a new album from Emiliana Torini when we get back. And we're back. I'm Ana Medea Sayer here with Hazel Sills. We're talking about some of the best new albums out on Friday, June 21st. So the artist Kaylani has a new album out today titled Crash. And this is the song After Hours. So this is Kaylani's fourth studio album.

And I sort of think of Kaylani as being this artist who their strength is expressing their vulnerabilities in their music. I think of them as a very confessional artist. They go to very deep, dark places in their work. And, you know, their last album, Blue Water Road, was. you know, very personal about their experiences of, you know, just becoming a parent. And this album is very different. Like this album, I feel like, is this kind of bold, fun, big album that really prioritizes feeling. And it's not, you know, I listened to an interview

that Kaylani did about this album recently where they were sort of talking about their tendencies to get really intellectual with their music. And they didn't want to do that with this album. And I feel like that energy is so exemplified in this song After Hours, which is this big kind of banger that's inspired by, you know, their memories of going out to the clubs with their friends. And it has that incredible sample of the early aughts hit, Move Your Body by Nina Sky.

I mean, what did you think about this song? Oh, I 100% Hazel agree. This is like them at. ultimate peak fun. I think Kalani has historically, you know, gotten into things, talked about a lot of stuff, gotten moody, gotten, you know, spoken to all of our like kind of broken, twisted, dark lover girl hearts a little bit. And this is really them coming out of that. I mean, that house baseline on this track is so infectious. It's almost has that like Marimba feel to it of like a passion fruit or something. Like it's so classic.

It's so, I literally wrote down light, fresh, and funky. And I like that you mentioned the samples of the early aughts because I kept hearing that come back on this album, if not sonically, at the very least, just kind of an energy and vibe. They've mentioned, I think, in previous interviews that that was something they spent a lot of time listening to growing up and beyond that, listen to like, Hector Lavo, and kind of all these really fun, energetic artists. And so this almost feels like a return to that childhood to me of just like energetic fun. And this track was obviously extremely emblematic of all of that. Yeah. This is like a song that I want to hear in the club to dance too. Oh, absolutely.

Yeah. But I mean, we're talking about this album being really fun and energetic. But there are also some like twists and turns on this record. Like I'm thinking of the song Better Not. I love that track. I was going to find you, but I didn't know where you was. And broad day posted up outside the bar

I almost died And now when I call you when somebody spins I better not can't you do a night and shit again And you're not wrong Because you're not We both were like What's going on here? Because it's a country, it's a country song.

What were you thinking when you listen to this song? I wasn't capable of wrapping my head around it Like every single sound from the opening, I was like, huh, that's not, that's not a country sound. Their voice on this was the first moment to me of like, that is a country vocal, is what I heard. That was the really like, I think this might. And then you get that kind of like twangy acoustic guitar. And I was like, this is not what they're doing right now. Is it like, it took a couple listens for me to fully accept.

I was like, oh yeah, this is fully a country track. I feel like this happens with every Kaylani album where, like, I know they're an incredible artist, and then I listen to their new work, and I'm like, oh, they are, like, one of the best vocalists. Like, I feel like completely underrated in a lot of ways. And, I mean, this song is interesting because it's like, as you said, it's like a country song. But it's very like Kaylani does country. Like, if you're really listening to the lyrics, the vibe is like, the vibe is like, I better not catch you doing that again.

because that's not going to be cool with me. And that feels like a very, you know, Kali-Lani bringing their essence and their energy to a genre that we don't normally hear them working in. Yes. And I kept trying to kind of disentangle whatever it was was the nature of this relationship. And I was like, are they in love? Do they hate each other? Did someone cheat? Are they like 80 years old?

And this is them reflecting on a beautiful? Like, I literally couldn't tell you. And that feels very Kailani to me as well. Let's leave it kind of delightfully uncomfortably obscure. And like you said, Hazel, I think I forget just how versatile they are. Like even in my head, I have them boxed into maybe like the sounds of some of their bigger songs. But really, they were all over the map in a really, like, impressive way on this record, in my opinion. And this is this song, I mean, doing country is just one moment of that.

But it really wasn't just that. But they did it well. They did it very well. Everything felt a different style, but still distinct to Kalani. Like, everything had that signature. Totally. And I mean, you're talking about this album kind of being all over the map. Like something that I really picked up on listening to it is, you know,

Kaylani is an artist who really borders the pop world, R&B. And there are a few collabs on this album that I feel like speak to trends, bigger trends in pop right now. You know, there's kind of this African pop crossover with the Nigerian singer O'Ma. And then there is kind of a last. crossover with the rapper Young Miko, who appears on the track Susia, which also features the R&B singer Jill Scott doing this crazy interlude about being nasty. I'm nasty because I said her proper name and precisely what she does.

Then I'm nasty then. I'm baptized in your taste. You look me in the face. When you touch me we feel some amazing and extra particular. We cosplay our characters. Ecstasy, Savage, for you. I'm still coming.

Mrs. Cora song. I'll take you by the hand when you're alone. And we can go to town. What did you think of this song and Young Miko's feature on it? Oh, I... You know I'm a big Young Miko thing. We both like a band. We both like a Miko.

Yeah, we're big. This is a Young Miko household. And really, before I even heard, heard her hop on say a word on this track, I was completely hooked. I think that Jill Scott opening is phenomenal. So much about it is just hooks you in and the interplay of like the guitar and the double bass and all of these things happening. And it's funny too because I read that they also grew up listening to a ton of Jill Scott.

And I love a full circle moment like that of being able to include, I mean, I can't imagine how special of a moment to include an artist you've spent a lifetime being inspired by. on a track like this and I think you can feel the energy and the excitement of having her there. I mean, just the intensity of the vocals and the instrumentation on this. And then you're already there. You're already like, this is amazing. And then young Miko comes in with a verse and you're like, uh. Them together makes a lot of sense to me.

I think there are two I think there are two artists who kind of work in a similar vein. Like they both are artists who sing very frankly about their sexuality, like their music is very sexy and, you know, Miko is this, you know, rising rapper from Puerto Rico, and it's really exciting to see her be featured in a collaboration like this. Oh, absolutely. I think young Miko's whole, it's like a connection that I wouldn't have made until they put it in front of my face. But young Miko in many ways is Latin rap, trap, hip-hop's answer to Kailani at the moment, honestly. Like in a way,

young Miko's newer, definitely. But I think if you give her a few more. years. I actually, like, she has the versatility. She has the dynamism. Like, all of these things are true. And it's the unapologeticness. I mean, she is like, Kalani has not had to explain in a way that young Nico has really not explained besides just being like, this is who I am. And that's been really refreshing, I think, for a lot of people. So that was Kaylani's crash. And now we're going to go in a bit of a different direction with a new album titled Miss Flower by the artist Emilia Toreini. And this is the title track, Miss Flower. I have just completed mowing your lawn.

It remains a label of love, but there needs to be around you. And the grass keeps growing, and so needs cotton. So I'm there for the doing. And I go backwards, and I go forward, striping my way to the borders, looking at you through the window I want to taste you taste your lips for your hair I want to breathe you

taste your hips taste your skin I want to own you taste your mouth taste your fingers I want to love you taste your breath taste your sweat let me adore you this is a new album from the Icelandic singer-songwriter and electronic artist

She's been making music for the last 30 years I feel like she's most well known for her 1999 album Love in the Time of Science. You know, she did an album last year with the orchestra The Colorist, which reinterpreted her previous material. But this album, Miss Flower, is her first solo album of new material in over a decade. And it has such a interesting story. It's kind of this concept record inspired by a box of letters written to a woman named Geraldine Flower, who was the late mother of one of Emiliana's friends, Zoe. And so the two of them went through these letters,

and they found that Miss Flower lived a really fascinating life. There were stories of love and heartbreak and secrecy. And so each song on this album is inspired by an individual letter written to Miss Flower. And it really feels like I'm listening to a correspondence. And I feel like that's really embodied in this title track, which is kind of this love letter that's sort of, someone wrote to her expressing their feelings of admiration. But it sort of begins with this weird image of, you know,

them talking about how they had to cut her lawn. It's like a love letter that begins with this image of like cutting someone's lawn. So yeah, I mean, it's a, what did you think about this song in this album? So if I'm entirely honest, when I heard this track and I heard her come in with those super breathy vocal. was talking about mowing the lawn, I was like, I'm a little bit scared. Like, this is a little bit crazy. Like, too intense? Like, it was too intense for you? Yeah, I was just like, ooh, like, I'm, I kind of, it's intimate. It's really, it's super intimate.

And then I was like, but I'm not, I'm not above making, you know, certain tracks make me feel a little uncomfortable. I was like, okay, what's happening here? And the more I learned about, about the conceit of the whole record and really listened to the lyricism, I was like, oh, this is a really fascinating exploration of this woman's life. And I think specifically the fact that so much of it besides one track that I think we're going to get to later is told from the alternative perspective, whatever it is, like a lover, people writing letters to her. I really liked pairing that with this feeling that I had because in a way it kind of feels like, oh, someone kind of like insistently pursuing you or someone like in your space or

trying to talk in your life. And it's like, oh, that should feel a little bit uneasy or that should feel a little bit sticky. And so I thought that she did a really good job of representing that well while still maintaining, you know, some lighter track, some nicer moments. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you talk about the intimacy of the album. Obviously, there's like the intimacy of the subject matter, you know, these very private letters becoming public songs. But I also think that something she does really well on this album is like the production of the music and the way that the music sounds. She very specifically wanted to make a pop electronic album

with, as she says, the vocal intimacy of Leonard Cohen's 1988 album, I'm Your Man. She wanted, in her words, in your face, vocals without the music disappearing. And I hear that on a lot of these tracks, but it really stood out to me on the song Lady Kay, which has kind of a sinister, like there's a sense of mystery and intrigue. to that song and the way that her vocals are sort of like very up close to your ear. Slow to act, but when it catches fire, it's a more spiritual.

My obsession with the lightness of a promise, thought I was put here on this earth who sir my goddess. I decided it was very fun and slinky. That's how I felt. I was like, it feels very fun and slinky, kind of ethereal in a way. And that felt to me very representative of this character, of this Miss Flower character that I really liked the idea of getting to paint this image of her in so many different ways. But I think that's really interesting, the idea of the vocals staying up front and the music not being lost,

because that is true. They both really hold their own on kind of every single track. Like you don't forget that they're there, but you're also so focused on that voice and what she's saying and the ways that she's telling this story. It's really like a unique way to be able to do it. Yeah. It's like the sort of creative liberties that she's taking, you know, the subject matter, you know, there's a kind of wordiness to a lot of these songs. And because they're based on letters and I feel like it's how Emiliana, you know, writes music.

But I think like, you know, as you said before about it being really intimate and kind of scary, your word scary or like uncomfortable, like the vulnerability of this of this music. It's kind of weird reanimating, you know, a person in this way through music, through their private letters that have been written to them. But as you said, there is a song on this album that is in the voice, sort of, of Miss Flower, the title character. And that's exemplified in the song Love Poem. What did you think about this song? This is a really unique moment. on the record. Like you said, you finally get it from her perspective, and I think you find a bit of an alignment with her desire, because you're kind of in a way guessing at it the whole time. You're like

getting the story of her life and her escapades and her love and her romance and all these things from everyone else. And so you finally get to have the beauty of finding peace in love after what was kind of a tumultuous love life. And I thought the peppering sound that you have throughout, it's like a little uncomfortable, but it's really interesting in these lyrics, too. Like there's a line where she says, when we make love misplaced words, align, and turn into a poem. Like, there are just these really nice moments of like, oh, like, okay, this is what she's been feeling and this is where she's at. It's, I don't know. It felt the most intimate to me, actually. Yeah, intimate and also kind of transcends the project in a way because, like, the basis of the song is that, like, you know, she had all these letters.

But then she found this poem that Miss Flower had written. and Emiliana, like, added her own, you know, lyrics to it as well. So it's like, it's this really beautiful moment on the record where, you know, she kind of like helps her tell her own story, you know, in the container of this album that's filled with so many other people's voices and their own projections and ideas of who Miss Flower is. So in that way, I can see how it's more intimate because it's like you're actually inside the brain of the person that you've been hearing. about this entire record.

And what an amazing job, I mean, I mean, Yanna did really to be able to embody that story. I had to like do the math for a second. I was like, wait, it's her friends, mom. So it's really like, it's not necessarily someone that is that intimate with her, but she really like clearly lived in these letters. And there was a note at the end of the lyrics. She wrote, written beginning of Feb when COVID was just hitting

and when I went home on plain, eerie vibes at airport, masks not yet in use. And the second I read that, I was like, oh, this all makes so much sense. I was like, yes, this is the energy that is giving for sure. Yeah, it's a really compelling album that I feel like there's a lot to chew on. Like, I feel like even listening to it a few times, there's still so much mystery about who Miss Flower was in the life that she lived. So I'm really excited to keep spinning this album more. And that was Emilia Toreen. Miss Flower. We've got a bunch more albums to share in our lightning round.

That's coming up right after this short break. It's time for a quick roundup of some other albums out today, June 21st. An album out today that I want to shout out is from the group Wild Up. For the last few years, the Los Angeles Collective Wild Up has been recording works by the late composer Julius Eastman. They are releasing their fourth installment in that series today. It's titled The Holy Presence. Okay, so first record I'm bringing in is the new Lake Street Dive record. It's called Good Together, and the track is called Better Not Tell You, which I brought this track in in particular because they go almost a little bit funky on it, which I really like.

It feels a little different from them, from their typical standard Lake Street Dive sound. It's really fun and dancey. It's them at their best, their tightest, and I love those horns. Don't paint me a picture. The pop star, Gracie Abrams made a big splash last year with her debut album Good Riddance. It earned her a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist. And she has a new album out today, and it's titled The Secret of Us. This is a track off a new record called Miles Away, Volume 1.

Now, this is a compilation record that is actually being done. done by the label Miles Away, which is basically a reissue label that was founded in 2019, bringing back a ton of different soul tracks of all kinds of varying levels of notoriety. This song in particular, I really loved. It's by Eugene Smiley and the Essence of Love, and it's called Yes, It's You. The singer-songwriter Linda Thompson also has a new album out today titled Proxy Music. It's her first album in over a decade. And it has a really interesting concept.

It's a collection of songs that she wrote. but they're performed by her friends and family, including her son Teddy Thompson, her daughter Cammy Thompson, Rufus Wainwright, and Moore. She also recreates the cover of Roxy Music's self-titled debut album for this record with herself as the model, and it's incredible. Those damn roaches, what a wild pack. They go down to heaven, but they come straight back, Okay, and I wanted to give my ears and my heart cracks.

Who do I see about that? Okay, and I wanted to give a shout out to a single that comes out today that's coming off of an album later this summer on July 5th. This is a remix album by the band Melenas. Now, the original album is called Aura, so this will be the remix version. They brought all kinds of collaborators on to work on this record. This track in particular is remixed by Peanut Butter Wolf. The song is called Bang.

I'm not always super here for a remix record, but I really loved, if this is any indicator of what this album is going to sound like, I really loved what he did with this single. It's subtle, it's nice. He kind of almost simplified it and brought it to a brighter, lighter, more ethereal. I describe it as like metal spacey versus spiritual spacey. It's super subtle, but it's really sweet. Well, that's our show.

Thank you so much for talking about all this incredible new music with me, Anna. Hazel, thank you for sitting here with me. This is how I have to trap you to hang out with me. It's worth it. I will hang out with you any time, Anna. Just a reminder that you can send us feedback for the show at all songs at npr.org. And if you like the show, we hope you like the show. Tell your friends, please.

And also leave us a review wherever you listen. to your podcasts. You can also subscribe to our newsletter at npr.org slash music newsletter. And remember that if you want to listen to this show sponsor free, you can support our work by joining NPR Music Plus. Just go to plus.npr.org slash NPR Music or search for NPR Music in Apple Podcasts. This podcast was produced by Noah Caldwell. We had editorial support from Jacob Gans and Saria Mohamed. I'm Anna Maria Sayre. I'm Hazel Sills. Thanks for listening. And we'll be back next week.