NPR Music - New Music Friday: The best albums out May 16

Episode Date: May 16, 2025

Tune-Yards. Aminé. Lido Pimienta. NPR Music's Stephen Thompson and KCRW's Ro "Wyldeflower" Contreras give you a quick roundup of the most exciting albums out May 16.Featured albums:• Aminé, '13 Months of Sunshine' (Stream)• Guitarricadelafuente, 'Spanish Leather' (Stream)• Tune-Yards, 'Better Dreaming' (Stream)• Rico Nasty, 'LETHAL' (Stream)• Lido Pimienta, 'La Belleza' (Stream)See our long list of albums out May 16 and sample more than 80 albums via our New Music Friday playlists on npr.org.CreditsHost: Stephen ThompsonGuest: Ro "Wyldeflower" Contreras, KCRWProducer: Simon RentnerEditors: Otis Hart and Elle MannionExecutive Producer: Suraya MohamedVice President, Music and 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

A quick note before the show, this podcast contains explicit language. Happy Friday, everyone from NPR Music. It's New Music Friday. I'm Stephen Thompson here with Roe Wildflower of KCRW in Los Angeles. Hey, Ro. Hey, how's going? It is going well. I am excited to talk to you about many, many great new albums this week, including new records from Amine, Tunyards, RICO Nasty, many, many more. First, I did want to acknowledge up front that probably commercially speaking, the biggest album of the year is out today.

We are not going to talk about it because we didn't get an advanced copy in time, but the country star Morgan Wallen has a new record called I'm the Problem. It has so many songs on it. Oh, my goodness. How many songs are on that thing? Don't quote me. It's like 37 or 38. He's put out eight songs from this album already. Yeah.

And I mean, look, you're not going to be lonely on your road trip, but let me tell you. It's a whole experience. This is going to be one of the best selling, best, most played, most streamed albums of the year. He is a gigantic star. I write a column about the Billboard charts every week. For me, the question is, will he have the song of the summer? Don't you back down, don't you run. Stand your ground stick to your guns.

He's had the song of the summer for the last. two years. He had a song called Last Night two years ago, and he had that post-Malone duet. Because he's put out so many songs, he's kind of cannibalizing his own success a little bit. Let's see what the summer has given us, because Amine

is making it pretty hot and heavy, you know? Yeah, there certainly are a lot of contenders, and you kind of gave us an ideal segue into the first album we're going to talk about. Amine has a new album. It's called 13 Months of Sunshine.

It's like he knows. Like he's trying to manifest this summer vibe. You know? So Amini, he's a rapper it took to get the shit started. Man a new flower had to get sprawling. All my friends is having college fun. Me, I didn't have the college funds. In my head's where I be at. Couldn't let the pedals die just for a fiat. So Amine, he's a rapper. He's been around for a while. His very first single, Caroline, in 2016. was a top 20 hit. His last solo album was Limbo from 2020,

but he's put out kind of collaborative records since then. He's already had this success, but there is this kind of star-making quality to this record. The lead track on this record is called New Flower, and that brings in Leon Thomas, who's kind of this big rising star. Bear me before I'm a burden, DIY to my conscience, certain,

but the garden can't grow if it ain't got purpose. Caring for the C since 2014, I've been watering this motherfucker every day. Because you have where I be at, growth came slow, but it bloom never see that. Believe that. Because you have those collabs, you know, the Ketranata collab, it sounds familiar, feels familiar.

And it immediately made me hot. Like my body temperature went up from the first track. I was like, oh, is the sun out? No, it's still six in the morning over here. But it does that. And I think that's a really special quality. And I feel like his other projects have had similar qualities, but not as like sharp. To me, there are two vibes that consistently come through on this record.

They're juxtaposed in really clever ways. There's a one-two on this record where you get a song called History, which is a collaboration with Waxahatchie. It's bringing in the kind of melancholy guitar lines, kind of picking up on this vibe that that recalls like Frank Ocean. And then it goes right into this springier, more insistent kind of dance rap banger called Vakey, which is just pure summertime joy. I love those because those I feel like bring you in. I love boutique hotels.

I book that because the brain Cornell. Pool side didn't be no tell. The sunset looks so pastel. The honey packs for a little stem. I love those. Because those I feel like bring you in. You're curious, maybe a little skeptical. Like, what am I going to experience?

And then you're blown away. There's a track called Arc de Triumph that samples the streets. Question. What the fuck you be on? Burning these bridges, y'all niggas is nothing like my boy. He's choosing his producers really wisely. I was listening to this record, and there are a few tracks that give this kind of Bonny Verre vibe. There's a song called Doing the Best I Can.

And I love it. I'm a big Bonnie Ver fan. I'm doing the best I can. I'm doing the best I can. I'm doing the best I can. I'm doing the best I can. I'm doing the best I can. I'm slipping on something strong. I'm slipping on something strong.

Got me fucked up. Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah. We see Toto Emuwa on this. The legendary singer-songwriter, in my opinion, which is really, really exciting. That's on images. It's just elegantly done. It's a surprising record.

So you're like in the summertime vibe. And then you're like, oh, okay. It switches on me, but I'm still in it. Melancholy songs always make me happy, so I feel like it goes hand in hand. I love that that's weaved throughout. The recurring theme of like forgiving yourself, of like assessing your life and giving yourself grace.

There's a track called Be Easier on yourself. And I think that is a great mindset for us all to carry into this summer. Because we're going to be outside. We're going to be around people. You want to remind yourself that it's going to be all right and that you're out there connecting and moving. Don't overthink it, you know? Just be present. Be present, be outside, and give yourself grace as we head into summer.

That's the very appropriately named 13 months of sunshine from the terrific rapper Amine. Next up, a new album from Gittaraka de la Fuente. It's called Spanish Leather. So guitarica de la Fuente has an singer-songwriter, really, really popular now and kind of reinventing himself, like being rooted in the old, but going straight into the future.

that like folky traditional Spanish style that is reflected and translated into something more modern and a little bit more relatable, but he's continuously going back and forth. This is somebody who is straddling multiple worlds, right? He got his start, like releasing songs on Instagram, kind of in that bedroom pop vein, along with other singer-songwriters like Kouko or Omar Apollo,

who are also straddling multiple eras and plays. places and vibes. And at the same time, this is a leveling up record. This is somebody who's making a star turn and really showing you a lot of different sides of his sound at the same time. I don't get to hear it often, like the heavy, heavy guitar and the folky sound. You know, you hear it from bands like Romanos Gutierrez, but to hear Guitaryka de la Fuente by himself, you know, in this way.

It sounds like it's so raw, and he's really exposing himself. I almost visualize just a light above him kind of in this dark room. Just a tiny dusty spotlight. Yeah, a tiny dusty spotlight. And some albums really pulls you into the room and then pulls you back into the past, into a pass that I have never really discovered. And so to me, is like a new, familiar sound.

There's a track on this record called Puerta del Sol, which is bringing in heavy, melancholy, and that's juxtaposed really beautifully against a track like Pipe Dream, which has this hook that burrows under the skin. Pipedream is about navigating the tension between authenticity and illusion. He's kind of navigating them code switching among these different worlds. Even though I'm not a particularly adept Spanish speaker,

I really sensed that idea of occupying multiple spaces simultaneously. One thing that stood out about Pipe Dream was the collision between the seduction of the old world and modern detachment. And I was like, oh, yeah. You're feeling it because of the authenticity of it, of how raw guitarica de la Fuente is and how, like, honest. So the emotions are just going straight to you, whether you speak the language or not. I do strongly feel like music, it is a connecting thread to ancestors. I mentioned that it wasn't something that I was completely familiar with, right? you know, as a Mexican-American,

the music that I grew up with in my household was Mariachi because my father was a mariachi singer. So, like, that's what you hear in the mornings. And so that is what pulled me in to this project and to his music. It's that through line, that ancestral through line. So he's bringing us into lands

that we may have never been to. I've never been to Spain. I'd like to more now, you know? And so it's like, it's a self-discovery for him, but also a discovery for us who may have never been there or considered going or like understood the music. He's bringing it to us and serving it to us in a really beautiful platter. The name of the record is called Spanish Leather and that's something that I do own, you know, that high quality, that deep resonant smell that you get and you're getting it

with this high quality album. That's Spanish leather from Guitarka de la Fuente. We've got more terrific records to talk about this week. But first, we're going to take a quick break. From NPR Music, it's New Music Friday. I'm Stephen Thompson here with Roe Wildflower from KCRW in L.A. Rowe. Tell me what you're working on at KCRW.

Oh, man, KCRW. It is a beautiful home. I am on KCRW every single Wednesday. from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. And if that is past your bedtime, I have like 250 episodes archived on our very beautiful app. So that's what I do on KCRW. I have an all vinyl show on DubLab. And that's a show called Nueve. And I invite people to bring nine of their favorite records. So that's once a month, every fourth Tuesday of the month. But on KCRW, you can find me every every single. single Wednesday. So it's fun to share my love for Brazilian music, my love for new music from all over the world. It's one of my most fulfilling life experiences. Nice. Well, I just want to thank you as somebody who lives on East Coast time. I'm very grateful that you archive those shows because those shows are starting at, that's 1 a.m. to 4 a.m. My time. I'm glad that you archive it through

the KCRW app, which everyone should have. Next up on New Music Friday, new album from Toon Yards. It's called Better Dreaming. Tune Yards is Merrill Garbus and Nate Brenner. They've been floating around for 15 years now. This is their sixth album. And, you know, I got a chance to see them play like a noon concert at WXPN last week. And I was really struck by how vital this band still sounds, how vibrant and why.

and kinetic. It's like funky groove galore. And I mean, I love tune yards, and I love how Merrill Garbis and Nate Brenner weave their three-year-old's voice all throughout the album. It really pulls you in like you're in their living room, like your family. When you have a three-year-old at home, you are living in an age of interruption, even if you are not distracted by your phone, even if you are not distracted by the state of the world. And there's such a sense of joy and one-

that comes through on this record. I mean, like, what better distraction than to get lost in these songs? These songs are so catchy. So good. There is a track on this album called Limelight, and I was, you know, I had not listened to this record before seeing her perform a bunch of these songs live. And as she was playing the song at WXPN, it was somehow, like, stuck in my head before it was even done playing.

Yeah. I may have played it on my show like six times already. And I'm only on once a week. So how did that happen? We don't know. It's good. It's so good. It's a vibe.

I love that they mentioned that distraction, depression, and heartbreak reigns supreme in 2025. Yeah, boy. I'm like, this album's The Medicine. I listened over and over and over again and liked it more and more and more every time. There's also a real sense of lyrical purpose to this record. There's a track called How Big Is the Rainbow? We're just a couple weeks away from Pride Month.

You know, it's a song about making room for all people. And that sense of purpose really pervades a lot of these songs. They definitely function as earworm dispensers where you don't have to listen that attentively or that closely to get a feel for the joy that permeates this record. But at the same time, if you do listen closely, you get a little bit of a little bit of a little bit of a sense that these are people who care very deeply about the world and about humanity and empathy and using music as a tool to connect people. Part of my process of trying to listen more attentively is not giving up on artists who are on their sixth album just because I feel like, oh, I already

know them. I already know what that sounds like. I don't need to hear their new album because I kind of know their deal. And it's such a reminder listening to this. They are so on point. They're continuing to kind of level up in their sound. They're still trying new ideas. They're still, their songs are still shape-shifting. And, like, she is not out of ideas by any stretch of the imagination. And it's just such a reminder, like, oh, tune yards. What is it, 2011?

No, it's 2025. And they're still making great records. It's definitely one of those albums that is preparing our hearts and our spirits to just be more open. and to dive into that freedom that maybe is only expressed by a child, you know? And that's, the music is sophisticated, but you also get the peaks of their three-year-old in there. And it makes it so human and special. That's Better Dreaming, new album from Tune Yards. Next up, RICO Nasty.

RICO Nasty has a new album called Lethal. So Rico Nasty, she's been around for a few years. She describes her sound as sugar trap, which suggests kind of what it sounds like, which is trap music, hip-hop that is infused with a certain amount of rock and guitars. And, you know, she's very, very genre fluid. And this particular record, lethal, she's described it kind of as, and built it as her rap rock record. and even gone so far as to put this album out on Fueled by Raman Records, which is a label that has really specialized in a lot of rock and pop punk sounds.

And, you know, she's talked about her influences as including not only Rihanna, but also Avril Levine and Joan Jett. And you can really hear that fusion of sounds on this album. I was surprised because sometimes you hear rap rock, you're like, okay, what am I going to get here? and I was like, we are in a garage right now. Like, is Trent Reznor over there watching us? Like, what's going on right now?

And I loved it. Like, I thought it was cool. It did make me run a little faster. Teethucker is a good example of a song that brings in kind of that rap rock vibe. There's a track called Son of a Gun that is clearly like fully agro rap rock. It's clearly influenced by new metal in its sound. But at the same time, this is a son of a gun that is a song that is a song that is a song. is not quote unquote just a rap rock record.

She still weaves in kind of TikTok friendly pop sounds. There's a song called On the Low, where you can just imagine it being excerpted on TikTok and kind of having almost these pink pantherous vibes to it. It's raw and it's unapologetic and it's sexy. It makes you feel some kind of way. And who doesn't want to feel some kind of way? some kind of way.

Exactly, especially coming into the summer, you know? It's lethal. I ran up the money I left. Don't talk on the phone. It's open. I fill up the gap. The trick that I pull up in black. Face car lethal is smack.

He love when I'm stroking the shaft. I got water. He drinking my bath. I think it's really telling that this album closes with a song called Smile that is so bright and sunny. It's a nice reminder at the end of this, you know, pretty brief. this pretty brief kind of 34-minute journey through many different sounds and genres and styles, that she's kind of coming out the other end of it refreshed and renewed.

And I think that's kind of the experience of listening to this record. Yeah, it's like a flower blooming. I love the femininity in it, and it's very clear that she's doing something different here. That's lethal. It's a new album from Rico Nasty. We've got one more record we're going to talk about in-depth, but first, let's take a quick break. From NPR Music, it's New Music Friday. I'm Stephen Thompson here with Roe Wildflower from KCRW in Los Angeles.

We've got a lightning round coming up of some of our other favorite albums out today, May 16th, but we got one more that we wanted to talk about a little more in-depth by the wonderful singer Lido Pimienta. It's called La Beleza. Lido Pimienta was born in Colombia, and she's now based in Toronto. Toronto, put out a first album like 15 years ago, has won the Polaris Music Prize for Best Canadian Artist. Her last album in 2020 was called Miss Columbia, an absolute staple of year-end best lists, including ours. You know, just this wonderful set of electro pop music. But as you can tell, listening to the little sample of this record that we just played, this is her collaboration with an orchestra.

She worked with the Medelléin Philharmonic Orchestra to kind of set her gorgeous, expansive voice against these orchestral arrangements. It was extremely cinematic, crumb the jump. You know, gentle but strong, powerful, and super free just to be able to dive into something that you've never done before and knock it all the way out the park.

Like, how do you go from electronic to classical? It's super bold and inspiring. for a listener and a musician. This album closes with a track called Busca La Luz, where I immediately just thought, wow, she's the Colombian Bjork, the way Bjork plays with a lot of orchestral sounds, but has this voice that swoops kind of magically over it.

And then there's a track called overturn with the parenthetical overtura de la Luz Eterna, which has this more ethereal, almost operatic quality to her voice. My big takeaway from this record is just, first of all, there's nothing this woman cannot do. But also, like, she is still expanding the boundaries of what she can do with her voice. What Lido said about labeling her music

blew me away because she said that no matter what style or genre of music I make, the result will always be, regulated to the world music aisle in stores and the algorithm, then why not create something that no one would ever expect from a Caribbean woman? And I was like, mind-blown, like, do what you want, be free, and make an album that completely defies all of those categories. So she made an entirely orchestral record.

It's like fearless. That's La Belizea translation, The Beauty, very appropriately named, from the wonderful Lido Pimienta. Bro, we could not possibly get to every terrific record out today, May 16th, so we did want to do a lightning round of some of our other favorites. I'm going to kick us off with Matt Maltese. He's a UK singer-songwriter who traffics in this kind of witty, classic pop. And by classic, I'm trying to conjure images of like early Rufus Wainwright,

where there's like a swoony timelessness to it. But he's also got these slick, polished, shimmery arrangements that are just enormously pleasing. Matt Maltese's new sixth album is called Hers. So another album that to me sounds like summertime, but inside of a video game, It is a fun, upbeat. It's super, super electric and a little extra in all the best ways. I love it. It's like lush, textured.

And again, it feels like you're in a video game. And there are moments where the beats are like grimy and dark. And then other moments where you hear the soft chirping of birds. I was like, is this outside or is this on the record? And I had to pull my headphones off. I'm like, oh, my goodness. How did it go from there to this? Yes, sign me up.

Ken Pomeroy is a Cherokee folk singer from Oklahoma who's about to spend the summer touring with Iron and Wine and I'm With Her, which should give you a sense of her overall sound, which is stripped down and intimate while evoking the sound of folk music and country and even occasional notes of Phoebe Bridgers. It's highly recommended. Ken Pomeroy's new album is called Cruel Joke. The third album from Melbourne multi-instrumentalist Don Glory is titled, paper can't wrap fire. This producer and composer brings us into the jazz room, fusing in some funk and some soul, some R&B, and some samba, which really touches my heart. His music can be hard to describe, but it is even harder to forget. Let's go.

That is Don Glory with a paper can't wrap fire. Mail that is spelled M-parentheses, H-parentheses, AOL is a one. wild Irish post-punk band whose tense but stylish, anxious, clattering songs touch on intersectional feminism, global politics, the state of human empathy, you name it. The group's new album is the not very appropriately titled Something Soft. So, Roe, you and I listen to a lot of music in the run-up to this conversation, a bunch of great new albums. We wanted to go out by kind of asking the question, like, what was your favorite song of everything that you heard in preparing for this show?

I'm going to give it to Afro Futuristic Collective Morning a Black Star. They have a track titled Stop Lion 2. And that track, it literally made me stop on the street and start dancing. I was like, my neighbors are probably thinking I'm a wild woman right now. The song is about perseverance. It's about acknowledging the journey and timing. spent and not worrying about the outside noise. And I was not worried about the outside noise.

I was worried about what I was listening to within. I immediately had to play the record again. So Flowers for the Living will be their eighth album. I was blown away. Morning a Black Star, one of the reasons I'm proud to say I was born near Cleveland. Terrific, terrific band. I'm glad you shouted them out. I'm glad you shouted out that record.

They're an easy band to kind of get lost in the din because they're so prolific. I have to do something for this family I created it, you know? So I try my best. I tried my best possible effort. There is nothing I can change. I really struggled to pick just one song from everything that we're talking about between that Toon Yards record. Matt Maltese has a really, really nice song. I'm going to go with doing the best I can from that Amine record.

And how much that song exudes a sense of grace directed inward in a way that I really, really appreciated. It kind of opens with this beautiful sample of Amine's father talking to him. And that's a song that I'm going to carry with me for a while. That's a song that's going to wind up on my year end, you know, best compilation that I'll put together. It's one that I'm going to keep going back to, even though there are much summarier songs on that record and ones that I'm more likely to jam out of my car windows in the summer of 2025. That's a song I'm still going to be listening to in the winter of 2025. Got me fucked up, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, I'm trying to keep my head up strong. Being never folks, never been wrong to me, but it's wrong for me to please and please they wonder who's going to be there for.

And that is our show for this week. Thank you so much. Roe Wildflower from KCRW. Thank you so much for taking time out of your week. Yay. Thank you so, so much for having me. And I can't wait to dive in deeper to all these amazing records that are out today. 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 Rettner 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 the new Stereo Lab album and More with Robert Moore from 90.9, The Bridge in Kansas City. Until then, take a moment to be well, throw your windows open, and treat yourself to lots of great music.