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

Episode Date: November 14, 2025

FKA twigs. The Avett Brothers. Madi Diaz covering blink-182. Stephen Thompson from NPR Music is joined by Liz Warner from WDET in Detroit to chat about their favorite albums out Friday, Nov. 14. The Starting 5:- FKA twigs, 'EUSEXUA Afterglow' (Stream)- The Avett Brothers & Mike Patton, 'AVTT/PTTN' (Stream)- Gabriel Jacoby, 'gutta child' EP (Stream)- K-LONE, 'sorry i thought you were someone else' (Stream)- Sword II, 'Electric Hour' (Stream)The Lightning Round:- Summer Walker, 'Finally Over It'- V/A, 'DJ-Kicks: Eris Drew'- Austra, 'Chin Up Buttercup'- Everything But the Girl, 'The Best of Everything But the Girl'- Tony Molina, 'On This Day'See the long list of albums out Nov. 14 and sample dozens of them via our New Music Friday playlist on NPR.org.Credits:Host: Stephen ThompsonGuest: Liz Warner, WDETAudio Producer: Noah CaldwellDigital Producer: Elle MannionEditor: Otis HartExecutive Producer: Suraya MohamedSee 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

Truth brings. Happy Friday, everyone from NPR Music. It's New Music Friday. I'm Stephen Thompson here with Liz Warner from WDET in Detroit. Welcome back to the show, Liz. Hi, Steven. So glad to be here. It is a pleasure to have you back.

For those wondering about the music that we are hearing behind us, one of my favorite singer-songwriters is a woman named Maddie Diaz. And just like a month ago, she put out this amazing record called Fatal Optimist. and a month later, she kind of sort of has a new record. You can find it on Bandcamp. It is an album-length cover of Blink 182's Enema of the State, those big, ferocious pop-punk songs. Maddie Diaz kind of puts her own Maddie Diaz twist on them.

It is a benefit album for charity, and you can find it on Maddie Diaz's band camp page. I like to start any given day with Maddie Diaz singing anything, and Blink 182 fits that bill. All right, first up, we have a new album from FCA Twigs. FKA Twigs' new album is called Usexua Afterglow. So Usexual Afterglow is FKA Twigs' second album this year. If you're at all familiar with FKA Twigs, she makes really dense and mysterious and creative kind of dance, pop, R&B.

She's extremely creative and no two records are the same. And, you know, she put out this record in January called U.S. Which we talked about on this show, you know, this, this like, you know, very sexy, danceable, but kind of weird and mysterious pop music. And this record, she kind of originally intended to be part of a deluxe edition of Usexual. You know, so many pop records now get these deluxe editions to put them kind of back on the charts or get people talking about them around award season. She was kind of putting this project together and realized it was kind of its own record. not a remix album. It's not an extension of U-Sexua so much as like a companion, you know, a woozy, dance-pop-centric companion that leans into her kind of smoky, mysterious euphoric side.

Stephen, it's kind of like this extension of the record, but an extension of a night. It talks a lot about sort of like this rave, after rave, post-rave feeling, inspired in fact by rave. and it gets into this kind of weird zone starting out maybe closer to Usexua, the original, and then we start to delve into these dips and these ebbs and flows that get really, really tripped out. You can especially tell when you head to the song, Cheap Hotel. Oh, yeah. It's basically just like a party session from who knows what, and it gets very strange,

but then it gets kind of upbeat, and you don't quite know where you, you are. But it's done in the most brilliant way. She really has a way of finding her own place. She has a way of saying, hey, this is me and I am really unlike any other. And it's just a really beautiful, beautiful thing. It's useful to think of this record almost as if it's 3.30 in the morning. She's wandering through a house where a party is being thrown. And each song is like her entering a different room. And whatever room she has walked to in cheap hotel, you know, it's just very warped and frenetic and choppy and distorted. And like, it's a very strange room, but it's still of a piece with the rest of this record. You know, you've also got a song like Hard, which, you know,

in spite of its title, has this kind of soft, springy lightness to it. There's a lilt in her, in her voice. And so you really get a sense, you know, with all these different songs on this record, it's maneuvering through a lot of different vibes. It's not staying in one place for very long. Another song that really stood out to me, Stephen, is Stereo Boy. It really shows her depth and the regions that she can go. I mean, she always has this way of going in between different spots on her records. but this one finds her in that kind of cranes 4A.D.

A little bit of my bloody Valentine feel. Which I didn't. I had to really think about that for a minute. I was listening. I was like, wow, is she really doing this? And that's another reason why I just love listening to what she has to present because you really don't know what she's going to do next. That is, Usexua Afterglow, the new album from FCA Twigs.

Next up, Liz, something very different. the Avet brothers and Mike Patton have a new collaborative album. It's called Aivet slash Patton. Every day and every dark night, so hard I speak without lying. Every birth is the ending. And every life is dying. Here in the spaces, here in the shadows, So, behind the faces, beneath the souls.

Everyone has it. Everyone knows the dread of eternal love. So this is one of the unlikelier collaborations we've heard in, in 2025. The Avet Brothers, you know, a terrific kind of, you know, folk pop, bluegrass, punky, rootsy, full of like kind of thoughtful ruminations about trying to be a good person in the world. You know, a pretty earnest band.

One that I've really loved for many years. Mike Patton was the lead singer of Faith No More and Mr. Bungle. Very, very kind of aggressive and aggressively strange punk-prog metal.

Absolutely. Very, very, very unpredictable. And I, would never have thought to put these two together, other than the fact that they have both had fruitful second lives kind of running their own record labels. I don't really know how I would even have ever thought to put them on a record together. Yeah, it's an interesting idea that seemed to have come out of a almost mutual admiration. They, even they don't actually know the exact roots of how they got together, which actually makes a lot of sense when you think about

Mike Patton anyway. They just woke up in one of those rooms in FTA Twigs' house. Yeah, just spin the wheel. So they finally then put their heads together, and the result is super cool. The mix-up is the craziest blender that I've heard. It's another one of those records in a way where you're like, wait, what's going to happen next? It's that unpredictability that is actually quite thrilling. Well, once before, please let me in. I'm tired and it's cold as hell. I've been moving non-stop all night long and following the arrows that something is wrong or maybe right.

It's getting hard to tell. Well, and you really get a sense. There are songs that feel like, okay, this feels like, okay, this feels like an Avet Brothers song with maybe a little more grit. Yeah. This maybe feels like a little bit more of a Mike Patton excursion. You know, the first couple songs on this record feel pretty Avit-coded, right? Like Dark Night of My Soul and to be known, you know, those are the tracks that open the record.

And they feel they're in that reflective space, maybe with a little bit more of a bluesy undercurrent than you get on an Avet Brothers record. then you get thrown into the song Heaven's Breath, which is much grimier, kind of gutter blues. And that's where you're bringing out Mike Patton, whose voice just has a lot more sand in its pants. I really like how brave of a record it is. I think collaboration to me is one of the, it's. put you in one of the most vulnerable spaces, and it really leads to some serious musical discoveries. And I think that these musicians, all of them, by putting themselves in that space together, have really kind of approached new ground, new territory, new discoveries of what

it is that each of them can do. And so it's just really, really cool to hear the whole record. That is AVitt slash Patton. That is stylized AVTT-T-N, all caps, the AVit Brothers and Mike Patton. We've got a bunch more great records out today, November 14th. We're going to get to them in just a moment, but first, let's take a quick break. From NPR Music, it's New Music Friday. I'm Stephen Thompson here with Liz Warner of WDET in Detroit. Liz, tell us what's going on at the station.

We're doing well. You know, we have so many great supporters. and we're so grateful. And it's been a great week for Detroit. As you probably saw at the Rock Hall, Jack White was on stage accepting the induction for the White Stripes and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His record label, Third Man Records,

has been a big supporter of WDET, and he gave such a beautiful acceptance speech. And then wouldn't you know, Don Was was on stage, co-founder of Detroit's Was Not Was, who's played, of course, with the Wolf Brothers. He's done so many things. And he is a host right here at WDET as well. He's one of the best storytellers that you can find on radio anywhere.

So it was a real nice surprise to see him on stage and in my mind representing WDET and then Detroit all around. Yeah, it's a big night for Detroit. I love it. I'm so glad that when you were saying things are going so well for Detroit that you did not talk about the Lions. As a currently disgruntled Packer fan, I'm having none of it. So sorry.

All right. Next up, we have a new EP from Gabriel Jacoby. It's called Gutta Child. Jacoby was born in Tampa, Florida. He's young. 26 years old, a multi-instrumentalist self-taught. He first learned piano, then he learned bass, drums, guitar, production. I hear a lot of DeAngelo. I hear Jemiroquai. I hear Sly Stone. I hear Amph Fiddler, for those who pay attention to Detroit sounds. I hear Stevie Wonder. A lot of sounds

integrated throughout. One of the standout cuts is Baby. It is just this really soulful. cut, but somehow reserved, which is kind of where I draw my sly stone reference, because so few musicians can really capture that zone so well and as well as Gabriel Jacoby. Yeah, he sounds like a star to me. Like, you really get kind of right out of the gate, you know, these songs that are like maybe two minutes long, but just have everything to them. Like he has a real gift for brevity. This is eight songs. in 20 minutes. The title track, Got a Child, sleek, timeless,

horns everywhere, record scratches. It is cluttered in a classic way. The song is one minute and 48 seconds long. What you get here is 20 minutes of proof of concept that this is an incredibly talented dude. And he's, you know, at times, you know, he's like coming in and just like rocking the falsetto, right?

Absolutely. Same sign. is just this funky falsetto-driven soul. And you just get a sense of like, you can just picture this guy rocking an arena stage. You can picture this guy rocking a club stage. I feel like for the next couple years, I don't know if this is his trajectory, I don't know his life,

but I feel like the next couple years I'm going to see a lot of the words, in parentheses, featuring Gabriel Jacoby. And like, where this guy's going to get brought in as a hired gun to liven up people's songs, I can't wait to hear more. That is Gabriel Jacoby.

His debut EP is Gutta Child. Next up, the artist K. Lone has a new record. It's called Sorry I Thought You Were Someone Else. All right, Kloon is the music of Josiah Gladwell. He kind of got his start in the London clubs. He has his own label, Wisdom Teeth. He has a smooth, hypnotic group. sound, sort of with space to drift within.

That's a quote, actually. I stole that one, Stephen, from his band camp page. It works really, really well. The record was made this particular record after the passing of his father. So you have a lot of introspection, a lot of depth, a lot of places to go. It does have a mix of a sort of a cavernous side room club feel with those kinds of excursions. And it also has these heady, kind of. contemplations, I guess, as you would imagine, with such a serious situation that you're remembering.

Yeah, and lyrically speaking, like, this is a mostly instrumental project, you know, mellow, vibe, kind of throbbing, hypnotic, you know, house music. And when there are voices, they tend to be distant in the background. They're almost functioning more as instruments. But the heavy themes that you're talking about are still evident. You can still feel them, even in these songs that are kind of, moving incrementally, kind of shifting incrementally and allowing your mind to wander. Yeah, there's this song, SLK, picking up from some classic warp sounds, but with today's really updated production skills, it gets kind of crunchy at times. It has sound likeness to something Andrew Weatherall would put out there, but it just has this really nice drift to it.

And it's something that is kind of like an endless listen. You could listen to this three-turny. It's probably something that would end up on my, I have a person, I don't know about you, Stephen, but I have a study jams list of songs. Yeah, even if it's not exactly studying that I'm doing, but for those moments that I really want to focus on something and have the right mood in the background,

that is what I put on. And this song would definitely hit that zone. You know how we mentioned when we were talking about FCA Twigs? This house full of rooms in each room is a different sound. Yeah. The basement of that house is where that SLK song lives. Uh-huh. It absolutely transports you to this, like, sweaty late-night basement.

It's full of smoke and foreboding lighting. And that is the song that's playing. I kind of like our playlist this week. It's a lot of fun. The haze, that's a good one to start talking about right now, right? It's upbeat, you know, with enough flow to activate those electrical impulse. in the brain, and it just becomes one of those instant essentials. There's also, you know, in some of these songs, there's almost like a liquid quality,

where the song is kind of bubbling or percolating, and you can almost imagine, in a song like slide by side, you can imagine, like, it accompanying like an elaborate indoor water feature at a luxury hotel, you know, where it's got this, like, slightly pinging quality, but there's some effect in the song that feels like there's a waterfall quality. That is Kloan. Kloan's new album is called Sorry I Thought You Were Someone Else. We've got one more record we're going to talk about in-depth, as well as a lightning round of some of our other favorite songs out today, November 14th.

But first, let's take a quick break. From NPR Music, it's New Music Friday. I'm Stephen Thompson here with Liz Warner of WDET in Detroit. Before we get to our lightning round, there's one more record we wanted to discuss in depth, and that is by the group Sword 2. The album is called Electric Hour. Sword 2. This is their second release.

They're a trio from Atlanta. They're very much, Stephen, an all hands on deck type of band. Everyone's doing everything. You hear vocals at all times. You hear whatever instrument needs to be played. but what you really hear is this updated version of shoe gaze in a way. It's this indie pop, shoegaze, psychedelic rock, emo, you name it, and it really is just thrown out all into the mix.

It's really cool. I mean, one thing that becomes clear if you listen to this show every week, which I highly recommend listening to this show every week, one thing you'll hear is I will compare any number of things to records that would have absolutely crushed on college, radio in the early 90s. Because Liz, I lived in the college radio space in the early 90s at the University of Wisconsin. And this band, I get little kicks of like swerve driver, you know, like those great 90s guitar

bands, but also with like a little bit of a gnarled and jagged quality, this mix of voices. You know, Mary Gonzalez comes in and gives this kind of sweeter but still salty lilt, you know, to some of these songs, the kind of rotation of voices, I think, work really well against these big, billowy guitars. Just the mix of salty and sweet and blustery, I get transported A to the 90s, which means to my youth. But B, I'm like dying to hear what they do next. You know, this record really left me, like, left me wanting more in a good way, like, not wanting more, like, I wish this were better. I just want more of it. I really like this record. It is so energetic. I really like the cut even if it's just a dream.

Very shoegazy, very pop, and a bit abstract as well. The whole video is basically based around a surgery of trying to change somebody so that maybe they can have a child when they weren't naturally going to have a child, that type of thing. and it's becomes this very almost uncertain territory. Yeah, there's such a big mix of sounds here. You get sweet, almost poppy songs like Sugarcane, you know, which has this kind of chugging, churning quality, but still a certain amount of light kind of being thrown into the room. And then you have bigger, blusterier songs, like there's a track called Who's Giving You Love?

That's building up to a real frenzy, and you have multiple compelling voices. You know, the song Who's Giving You Love? The vocals really reminded me of this band I love, you know, that just put out a record a couple weeks ago, St. Seneca. You know, a band that is not like super duper well known, but every time I hear them, I'm thrilled. You know, to like conjure images of bands I loved in the 90s

and bands I love now all swirled together, kind of coexisting in the same song, moving through these different phases, different styles, different sounds, in ways that are compelling all the way through. I love this record. That is Sword 2. Their new album is Electric Hour, highly recommended. Liz, even as we get into November and the release schedule slows down quite a bit,

we still cannot get to every terrific record that is out today, November 14. So we are going to do a lightning round of some of the other records we couldn't get to. I'm going to kick us off with a record we have not heard in its entirety, which is, you know, why we didn't put it higher in this episode. But it promises to be one of the biggest albums out today. The R&B singer Summer Walker is back with the completion of a trilogy. She's had huge hits with her albums over it and still over it. Now she's backed with the star-packed caper that she's been teasing for more than a year.

The new album is packed with features too numerous to list here, but they include Lotto, 21 Savage, Anderson Pack, sexy red, and so many other. after Over It and still Over It, Summer Walker's new album is called Finally Over It. Question is why I do the things I do. Answer I may never find, but I'll always choose you. Want to give up on you, but damn I know I can't. I put the blame on me for giving you a chance of the chance. I love for truth.

You can't stand to me. And I try to be strong. But your words on your life. Stephen, Aris Drew has a DJ kicks series, which is always an amazing series. Eris was born in Australia and hails from Chicago, which is renowned for its house music heritage. Aris gives an update to the sound of Chicago that takes a cosmic edge. After all, she describes herself as the high priestess of the. the mother beat. One of the great things about the DJ Kicks series is that the DJ, who's making

the mix, always drops an original cut. In this case, there are two on here. And she has something called Momentary Phase Transition, which is really nice. It's an upbeat, punchy, dance floor, groove, and a really great example of what she brings to the scene. That's Eris Drew with DJ Kicks. The arty Canadian electro-pop band Austra has been around for more than 15 years, revolving around the work of its only consistent member, Katie Stelmanis. Her music is hugely dramatic and arty, dark, and hypnotic. And on Austra's fifth album, her songs are big, throbbing, emotionally dense things with sadness and elation orbiting around each other like a binary star.

Austria's new album is called Chin Up Buttercup. Stephen, Everything But the Girl has a new collection out, the best of everything but the girl. This collection is, it's a really great expansion for even the casual fan. It digs into many aspects of their catalog, including their take on some classic standards like Corcovado, night and day. Those are some really cool surprises to be included on this collection. It also includes a fantastic cut from their surprise 2020. release views the song called Run of Red Light. That's everything but the girl, the best of everything but the girl. Tony Molina has been releasing impeccable pop, folk, rock, and hardcore

records for more than 20 years now. His greatest trick is his ability to write brief fragments of music that somehow sound complete and timeless. His new record packs 21 of those fragments, It's 21 songs, really, into just 23 minutes that evoke the likes of guided by voices and the kinks. If you're a fan of guided by voices or the kinks, I think you should check out this record. It's gorgeous. Tony Molina's new album is titled On This Day. Now, Liz, you and I listen to a ton of music to prep for this conversation. This is where I put you on the spot and ask you to name the one song, your favorite song,

of everything that we talked about today. I think I'm going to go with Sword 2, even if it's just a dream. It's so catchy. It's so poppy. It's kind of like Dream Pop at its finest. And it's brand new, and it's so fresh. I love that cut,

even if it's just a dream by Sword 2. That is a great Paul. I mean, I really, really loved that record. Tempted to go with something from the FCA Twigs, which is pretty terrific. But I really want to call people's attention one more time to Gabriel Jacobi. who I think is a really exciting young talent.

I'm coming in here. I came in, I had never heard of this guy. This record was sort of dropped into my lap by Otis Hart, our producer, and I just was immediately taken with his voice and with his kind of ability to seamlessly blend so many eras, so confidently.

I'm just going to go with the song, Gutt a Child, which is just a pocket jam. And that is a... our show for this week. Thank you so much, Liz Warner, for taking time out of your week at WDET in Detroit. Stephen, it's been a pleasure as always. Thank you. Such 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 Noah Caldwell and edited by Otis Hart with a big assist from our pal El Manion. The executive producer of NPR music is Saraya Mohamed. We'll be back

next week to discuss new music with Justice Sanchez of K-NKX in Seattle, Tacoma. Until then, take a moment to be well, resist the urge to break out the holiday music just a little bit longer, and treat yourself to lots of great music. I could give a damn, this is what I am. Come on.