NPR Music - New Music Friday: The best albums out May 23

Episode Date: May 23, 2025

Stereolab. Ganavya. Marc Ribot. NPR Music's Stephen Thompson welcomes Robert Moore, host of 'Sonic Spectrum' on 90.9 The Bridge in Kansas City, to the show to discuss their favorite albums out May 23.Featured albums:• Stereolab, 'Instant Holograms On Metal Film' (Stream)• Ganavya, 'Nilam' (Stream)• Robert Forster, 'Strawberries' (Stream)• Marc Ribot, 'Map of a Blue City' (Stream)• Thalia Zedek Band, 'The Boat Outside Your Window' (Stream)Read the long list of albums out May 23 and sample more than 50 full-lengths out today via our New Music Friday playlists on npr.org.CreditsHost: Stephen ThompsonGuest: Robert Moore, 90.9 The BridgeProducer: 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

From NPR Music, it's New Music Friday. I'm Stephen Thompson here with Robert Moore from Sonic Spectrum on Kansas City's 90.9, The Bridge. Hey, Robert, welcome back. Hey, Stephen. It's honor to be here again. Sometimes when we're having these conversations and playing these records, I'll realize as we're talking, you know, three, four, five albums in, I'll kind of start to identify some themes about what we're discussing. This week, for me, those themes were just immediately apparent.

This is a week where we're going to talk about a lot of veteran artists, a lot of musicians who in some cases are well into their 60s. And that, to me, I don't know, felt really refreshing. Oh, I agree. And I think they're all observers of life. And it really comes across in their lyrics and they're very emotional in their songwriting. We've got new records from Robert Forster of The Go-Betweens, a new record from Mark Rebo, Thalia Zetek. from bands like Come. Some of these artists have been making music for 40 plus years.

First listen, I dare say, might be some of their best recordings. And I think a lot of it has to do with where the world is at right now. I think a lot of these seasoned artists feed off of that and are inspired by it and, you know, for better or worse. Speaking of which, first album in 15 years from Stereo Lab is out today. It's called Instant Holograms on Metal Film. They picked up, honestly, right where they left off. It's still just that great standard stereo lab sound.

But in my opinion, it's the best production of any of Stereo Lab album yet. It just sounds more polished. Yeah, I agree with you. Stereo Lab, they've been around since 1990. They took like a 10-year hiatus from 2009 to 2019, but they haven't put on an album of new material since 2010, this album called Not Music. And as you mentioned, like the production on this album is really,

smart and thoughtful, and those sounds and vibes that Stereo Lab has woven together so effectively over the course of what is now a 35-year career, you get that mix of these kind of motoric beats, but this playful quality and these warmly cool vocals from Letitia Sardier. It all comes together in this very classic, very familiar sound that still has lots of variation from song to song. And I know Sadie said that, you know, they'd never really planned to record new music, but they had gotten back together for the reissues and playing live kind of inspired that. And she said that the political climate definitely played a part in the band deciding to record again.

And the theme of the album, according to her, was how to live your life in such a volatile political climate. These songs are certainly reflecting on the world and everything. But, you know, Stereo Lab has always been a band that was really willing to accept. experiment, really willing to kind of go the extra mile in its recordings and, you know, and try things, incorporate sounds it's never worked with before. Even the kind of rollout of this album, to me, kind of signified maximum effort. They announced this record by mailing seven-inch singles to a bunch of fans on their mailing list and including in it a word search puzzle that was giving people clues as to the fact that this album was coming out. These are people who've

thought so deeply about music. There's a song on this record called Vermona F Transistor that is dropping this mantra, I'm the creator of my own reality. They could have just thrown a bunch of words together for how cool it sounds, but they've clearly thought about every component of it. Saudi A has always cared about the message. I mean, they could very easily just be another Sergio Mendez, nice, beautiful background music. But it's always been a message with her music. It's important to her. And I don't think she's ever really given up on that. Stereo Labs' origins are extremely political. This band's music, as stylish as it sounds, the messaging has always been extremely direct and left us to the point of Marxist, certainly kind of manifesto-driven.

And that is still permeating a lot of these songs. I think of listeners that think of Sterellab, probably Pigeonhole them as a 90s band. But they also just think, oh, yeah, they're fun and cool. But I don't think, I would say the vast majority of people that listen to StereoLab never get to the lyrics. And I think her main message has always been that free will always outweighs the idea of destiny. And it's more obvious, I think, in this album than any of her prior writing, in my opinion. As you move through this record, you have all these songs that are hitting these signposts of kind of classic Sterellular. Stereolab sound. And sometimes when you listen to it, it's easy to float on the surface.

It's easy to think of Stereolab as kind of this icy, cool band. Everything is so sleek and thought out that you don't necessarily always tap into the emotion of it. There's a song on this record called If You Remember I Forgot to Dream Part One. And it's got horns. It's got almost a power pop vibe to it. There's a radiance and a brightness to it. For me, the track is Immortal Hands. That's someone that stood out for me, and especially the lyric that grabbed me,

was swapping ego skyscraper erect and collapsible, nihilistic and vulgar for love and nature. I mean, that just, to me, sums up what she's trying to get at with this recording. And that track I've just had on repeat all week long. That's Instant Holograms on Metal Film, first album in 15 years from Stereo Lab out today, 23rd. Next up, oh, another really, really good one. It's by an artist called Ganavia. It's called Nila. raised in Tamil Nadu in South India.

She mixes poetry, jazz, soul, R&B, classical music, traditional South Asian devotional music. All of these ingredients swirl together in this haunting, beautiful, seductive, just gorgeous, contemplative sound. I'm not here to prescribe anything. I'm not here to tell y'all what to do, but to me, this is your Sunday morning listen. Giving it to you as an assignment right now, just like while you're in your kitchen, making your cup of coffee, making breakfast, kind of settling in on what is hopefully a peaceful and calm and relaxing day of not working, listen to this record because it is just gorgeous. It is just hypnotizing. It would be a great album for your daily meditation, for yoga. Her lyrics, well, I read it were based on a system called Harikatha, which is a traditional singing poetry in India,

so she doesn't consider herself a lyricist, but more so of a poet. But what really impressed me is that she's an educator first and a musician second, according to her several degrees, including psychology, ethnomusicology, critical inquiry from Harvard. She just is impressive on every level, and it's not the music first.

She said it's all about how the artist communicates the music to the audience, and how the audience communicates back to the artist, what she's interested in. We put out two albums last year. One was called Daughter of a Temple. One was called Like the Sky, I've Been Too Quiet. She also has a lot of musical credentials.

She's extremely well-connected. Working with artists from Quincy Jones to Esperanza Spalding, to Shabaka Hutchings, to Salt. She's worked with a lot of these grand idea havers. And that collaborative spirit comes through here. Compared to her previous recordings, this one really feels like just a pure distillation of her own sound in a way that really, really works. My thought was it might be the best current example of the possibility of crossover success

combining Eastern and Western folk music because she really does it effortlessly. I'm hesitant to compare her to a Rujafth Tab, who is Pakistani. Obviously Pakistani and Indian, very different. But in terms of what they're bringing together, how they're looking at music as a way of making the world smaller. And my connection to them emotionally was very similar, where I immediately was like, I want to get lost in this music. This music that has a way of kind of unfurling like smoke. There's a track here called nine-jeweled prayer that's almost 10 minutes long, and I could have taken 20. Yeah, and that was the one that really struck me last night.

I was listening to it over and over, actually, as I fell asleep to it. She's so It's a realean, nilahua, ma'raean- peasant, ma'er, ma'er

ma'a'a herrkian herr't she's a rutsunay ever-u-wai Mata-Jay O'nalli-Li-Lie-Tambe

Ma'a-Jya She's so rooted in the devotional She's so rooted in the devotional side of Tamil music, and I wonder how it's taken, how it's accepted in South Asia when she mixes contemporary Western music. Is that a slight to the devotional side? But I just think that her purpose is to just spread the message and spread the music. And she just has so much emotion in her singing.

There's a few tracks that remind me a bit of Lisa Gerard's vocal work with Deadkind Dan. Her range is just amazing. I love the idea of listening to this as I fall asleep. I didn't even really think to do that. I was thinking of this as music to wake up to, music to kind of expand your mind and feel a rare moment of being at peace with the world. And that, to me, is just the greatest gift here. Oh, music can do that for you.

It doesn't get much better. The track that really stood out for me was a song for Saturday. Sad Times. It's just a quiet beauty, almost as if it's just floating in the air of the song. And that's the track that has the most Western side to it, in my opinion. It honestly made me think of Joni Mitchell, but being raised in southern India. Yeah, I think Song for Sad Times may be the best entry point into this record, you know, for those who are curious about trying it out. And maybe that's because it's evoking the most Western music.

but that song is an absolute stunner and one that I'm going to be revisiting all year long. That's Nalaam, a wonderful new record by Ganavia out today, May 23rd. We've got some more great records we're going to be talking about on this installment of New Music Friday, but first, let's take a quick break. From NPR Music, it's New Music Friday. I'm Stephen Thompson with Robert Moore from Sonic Spectrum on Kansas City's 90.9, The Bridge. Robert, what are you playing on the show these days? Definitely the Robert Forster record, which we're going to talk about soon.

But also the brand new single from Pulp, which is their first album coming up in 24 years. Fontaine's DC, the new wet leg, and an English band on Domino called Sorry. Nice. So, Robert, what is the best way for people who are not in Kansas City to listen to Sonic Spectrum? Bridge 909.org. It airs Central Time Saturdays from 6 to 8 p.m., but it's also our first. archived on the website. Robert, you mentioned Robert Forster, and one of the reasons we asked you back so soon is that

after we were done taping, our producer Otis Hart and I were talking to you about your favorite music, your all-time favorite bands, and you and Otis started gushing and bonding over your shared love of the go-betweens. And once we saw that Robert Forster from the go-betweens had a new record out, we realized that we absolutely had to have you back. glad to be able to gush on air about my favorite songwriter The Go-Betweens in my songwriters So too much and then it's

The go-betweens in my opinion Were one of, if not the most underrated band of the 1980s Forster and his songwriting partner The late Grant McLennon Were my Lennon and McCartney, to be honest and unfortunately his McCartney passed in 2006, but I can vividly remember in 1986 at home watching 120 minutes when MTV actually was a strong influence musically.

And they played the go-between Spring Rain, which was a Forrester Pentoon. In the very next day, I drove straight to Moby Disc Records in Sherman Oaks, California, went straight to their import section, which was always where the good stuff was back then. And I found the CD and paid $25 for it then. I still have that CD, and it remains one of my favorite albums to this day. Well, Robert Forster's new album is called Strawberries. Let's hear a little bit of the song, Tell It Back to Me. And this track, more than any on the album, harkens back to classic Go-Betweens, in my opinion.

What do you see in the distance? What do you see through the wall? Fresh love is good love is new love. Ah, we see it all. He still has his tongue-in-cheek stories of love affairs gone by, like the great line, Fresh Love, is Good Love, is New Love. This album comes off as a celebration of life, which it is,

because the last album, The Candle and the Flame, themes were mortality and survival after his wife's recent cancer diagnosis and the loss of his mother. So this new album was written after his wife, thankfully went into remission, and it celebrates the little things in life, according to Forrester. Someone ate all the strawberries. Someone could have been me.

They tasted out of the ordinary. The title track from this record, Strawberries, is this light and blissful, kind of almost silly duet with his wife Karen Bromler about the fact that he had eaten an entire bowl of strawberries without sharing it with her. Right, and his reply when confronted by her, when she came back in from the beach, was they were out of the ordinary. Hence the lyric in the chorus, what is ordinary anyway. Just great point in lines from Forrester.

And I also love the line, because I think it definitely refers to his wife, is the miracle days of happiness, the miracle days of togetherness of return. Miracle days of togetherness Sear with your tender kiss In something like this Mountain We saw it and we can't resist It took time to recover

This record was produced by Peter Moran of Peter Bjorn and John He's also playing guitar in the band He's got this set of players with him who are so clearly admirers of his, people who grew up loving the go-betweens and are now, no doubt, totally thrilled to be performing with him. Right. This is more of a collaborative album, I believe,

with these musicians than he has had with his band in the past. So I think it kind of took some of the pressure off of him because it's just much more lighthearted. He sounds like he's having absolute fun with these songs. They had breakfast on the train. These night, they can't explain. There was drizzle, a thread of rain, but it held off to the end of the game.

That's when he saw her on a bar stool. These are not necessarily all diaristic songs. There are also a lot of stories about other people. The centerpiece of this album is this eight-minute song called Breakfast on the Train. It's telling this story of, you know, a couple meeting, and there's a fearless quality to the storytelling, coupled with such sincerity, and that song includes this line, No Two Stories Are the Same. And that feels like kind of a mission statement for this record. No two stories are the same. and love can be a winning game.

And that is inspired by an actual experience his son Lewis had in Scotland, apparently, at a rugby match. He met somebody else who was absolutely not into rugby as well. And he kindled this love affair, a not-so-casual love affair, according to him. Through the night, the tightening screws, they felt so right. That's another point too also that his son and daughter play on this album and contributed to the songwriting as well, which I think gives Robert great joy to have his family around him, obviously with his wife on the duet in the beginning as well. I don't know if I can make it.

The tour went on too long. Feel washed out and faded. Can't come back too strong. My girlfriend gave up waiting. My gardener gave up two Seasons are dry I now know why Romance is not in bloom

Robert Forster Still making vital music His new album is called Strawberries It's out today, May 23rd Next up Another veteran artist Mark Rebo Mark Rebo has a new album called Map of a Blue City

When the world's on fire So Mark Rebo has been one of New York's great collaborators and guitarists for decades and decades now. But this record is a fascinating entry in his catalog, you know, known much more for, you know, extremely kind of exploratory, experimental guitar sounds. On this record, he is singing on all but one of the song. and really centering his voice in a way that he's never done before. Looking at the history of this record, he's described it as 30 years in the making. Many of these songs he wrote in the 90s. He did a bunch of recording sessions with Hal Wilner,

the legendary producer who sadly died in 2020. So this album has been kind of percolating in his life for 30 years, and now it's finally out. Voice come a bush that's burning Calling out when the world's on fire The flood water's swirling Build a rock of ages Cleft for you now

This is the album where he becomes A singer-songwriter quote unquote For the first time really There's never been any doubt that he's a revered guitarist But for me This really ups his game It's the first album To me as a front person that I absolutely adore by him

I've always respected him as a sideman, especially like Tom Waits and Elvis Costello. But this record really caught me off guard. You know, that song, when the world's on fire, is from 1930. You know, as you mentioned, it's a Carter family song. That track, for me, is one of several in this record that really reminded me of Lou Reed. And that ability to mix artistic exploration with kind of plain-spoken profundity in ways that very few artists, have been able to pull off. Take back your black viathan.

Tiger, tiger burning, burning bright. Let this gentle creature breathe through earthly lungs. I definitely got a Lou Reed vibe off of this entire record as well. And sometimes a little bit of Mark Knopfler just in his delivery. Yeah, that's a good poll. It's just a beautiful record. And, I mean, his guitar playing in the background is just mesmerizing. Yeah.

And this record opens with a song called Elizabeth, which is mourning the death of a loved one. And immediately it pulled me back to Lou Reed's song, What's Good, from 1992, which is one of my favorite songs Lou Reed wrote, of all the brilliant songs he wrote. They're both very directly and explicitly mourning a painful loss in ways that really resonated with me. and that song's going to stick with me for a long time. So we laid our father down with swiftly flows the gentle garden state of lost souls. The track that really stood out for me was Daddy's trip to Brazil. It's kind of a dark Basanova,

which he revisits a bad memory with the lyric. I have nothing to say to the local engaged intellectuals. I don't want to be reminded of what I did here in 1998, which I really want to know what he did. I know, exactly. He does not elaborate. I love a lyric that implies a larger story. And if you let yourself kind of sit with it for a second,

you're suddenly writing a whole story in your head. And this record has a bunch of moments like that. It's a bunch of songs that he wrote, in some cases a long time ago, while also kind of revisiting other works. We mentioned when the world's on fire kind of at the top of the segment. There's also a track that is like kind of resetting and recalibrating an Alan Ginsberg poem from 1949 called Sometime Jailhouse Blues. So you get this mix of poetry and observation and songs that have kind of unfolded slowly over the course of 30 years. Some of these songs are rooted in these home demos he made.

Some of these are rooted in sessions he made with Hal Wilner. But they all sound so, so cohesive once they're kind of completed and put together. Sometimes all it was worldly wise or fair. Because of death will blind. It feels like, you know, he's been working on these songs forever because they feel a part of him. Another track, Death of a Narcissist reminded me of one of my other favorite current singer-song. There's Bonnie Prince Billy. Oh, yeah.

Just the storytelling and the style. And that line lead a life of quiet desperation just seems right out of a Bonnie Prince Billy song. Life, quiet desperation. That's the way it is as long as time. Map of a Blue City by Mark Rebo. We've got one more record we want to talk about in depth as well as a lightning round. of some of our other favorites, but first, let's take a quick break. From NPR Music, it's new music Friday.

Next up, Thalia Zetik Band has a new record called The Boat Outside Your Window. Beautiful new record. I think it's her most stripped down and accessible in many years. And it's a songwriting masterpiece, balancing her cutting lyrics and beautiful melodies while still containing her signature guitar dissonant sound. Just such an amazing and underrated guitarist, in my opinion. We alluded at the very, very top of this episode to how many veteran artists are putting out vital records this year. The band for which she's probably best known started in 1990.

And I remember falling in love with her music, what this record Come put out in 1992. We're talking about 30 plus years ago. You're listening to this record now, and she's grown into that kind of ragged, raspy, weary, quality of her voice where like now she's really coming by it honestly and making records full of these kind of searing observations turning her insights inward in ways that really struck me. Some people say that this house of cards will find surround her song. She sounds like Marianne Faithful. The faithful, like, spent her formative years in the punk rock and no wave scenes, which Zetik did with live skull in the no wave scene.

Her lyrics are always very pointed, very heartfelt, but again, oftentimes I'm reminded of Lou Reed in his songwriting as well. There's a track on this record called Dissolve. You're reminded in song after song that she is such a phenomenal guitarist, you know, and she's performing these, you know, these rich, ragged kind of blues rock pocket epics. where the intensity is just only growing as the song progresses. It's just this triumphant fire-in-the-belly rock song. She, like, kind of addresses how long she's been doing this. She sings, I forgot my age, even though it's in my face. I believe her guitar playing should be mentioned alongside people like Mary Timney,

Carrie Brownstein, and Lee Rinaldo as the finest of her generation of any rock players. And like several of those artists, you mentioned Mary Timney, I mean, really underappreciated in the mainstream. Certainly have built strong, strong followings over the course of decades playing music, but really don't get enough mainstream credit for being just phenomenal instrumental talents. I also think the drumming of Gavin McCarthy,

who from karate, is absolutely top shelf piece, just added a whole new sound to her band. The track that really is really, got me what was circus. Everyone is gathering their papers. Bitline, everyone is gathering their papers just in case. And her motion is always on display in her singing. And again, coming back, recurring themes.

Also people with pretty intense, in some cases, radical politics who are making bold statements with their music, who are not running out of source material for songs that have a lot to say. And that's when the most important artists step up are in times like that. That's Thalia Zetek band. Their new album is called The Boat Outside Your Window. Robert, we could not possibly get to every record that is out today, May 23rd. So we wanted to do a quick lightning round of some of the other great albums out today. I'm going to kick us off.

The Spanish singer and multi-instrumentalist Roussowski smashes together just about as many genre. as you can name, techno, hip hop, reggaeton, so much more, and does it with the aid of other groundbreaking collaborators, including Ralphie Chu and Raven Lanay. On his new album, Rissowski rarely stays in one place for long, but he always lands, somewhere worth visiting. Rissowski's new album is called Daisy. My first pick is a band called Moontide. A Chicago Quartet that's about to release their sophomore full-length.

It's that classic infectious 90s style. indie pop that I love so much. The band Moon Type, from their album, I let the wind push down on me. The track is Long Country. Matthew Orango, aka Cola Boy, was a musician and disability activist who died last year. The day he passed, he turned in a new album, which is out today. It's a joyful and eclectic set of playful, funky, funky, danceable pop music. Coloboy described himself as, quote, a disabled disco innovator.

and his music really was innovative. It's catchy and spacey, but also at times deeply political. His new album is called Quit to Play Chess. Well, this may be a little bit out of left field for public radio, but one of my favorite metal bands of the last 20 years is a Swedish band called Witchcraft. A band that came on the scene in 2004, heavily influenced by Black Sabbath and Doom and Stoner Metal.

They did record some electric folk albums in between but have now returned to their metal roots. The new album is IDHG. G is an I-Dag or just letters. The track is in Swedish. Dormar A Viz. Leader Magnus Pellander said this album will reap souls and destroy wicked minds. That's the dream.

If you're a fan of Black Sabbath, you have to love Witchcraft. Finally, I'm going to close us out with an esoteric project worth celebrating the Swedish band Death and Vanilla specializes in reimagining obscure soundtracks and scores. and I have to say, listening to their new album, I want to hear them make new movie scores because their work is really evocative and compelling. Their new one is a haunting, ambient, folkloric accompaniment to a 1968 TV show called Whistle and I'll Come to You,

and it totally works, even for the 99.9% of people who've never seen or heard the source material. Again, that's Death and Vanilla with Whistle and I'll Come to You, parentheses. Reimagine. score. We talked about a ton of great stuff. I'm going to ask you to do the impossible and pick one song that you would say is your favorite song from this week of new music. It was tough, but I would have to say Tali Azetic bands Circus. That's a great one. I'm going to go with Song for Sad Times by Ganavia. That is going to be part of my go-to Sunday morning.

peaceful, contemplative playlist. Please check out that record if you haven't heard it already. If you're listening to us on Spotify, leave a comment on this episode with the best song that you've heard this week. We love for people to share their own favorites. That is our show for this week. Thank you, Robert Moore, for taking time out of your week,

hosting Sonic Spectrum on 90.9, the bridge in Kansas City. Thank you. It's been quite an honor. 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 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 solo album from the nationals Matt Bermaninger and more with Jackson Wisdorf of Public Radio Station KXT in North Texas. Until then, take a moment to be well. stay mindful of your work-life balance and treat yourself to lots of great music.