NPR Music - New Music Friday: The best albums out Nov. 7

Episode Date: November 7, 2025

Mavis Staples. Young Miko. A jaw-dropping project from Rosalía. NPR Music's Stephen Thompson is joined by Alt.Latino's Anamaria Sayre and Liz Felix from WYEP in Pittsburgh to discuss their favorite new albums out November 7.The Starting 5:- Rosalía, 'Lux'- Young Miko, 'Do Not Disturb'- Various Artists, 'All Things Go: 10 Years'- Portugal. The Man, 'Shish'- Mavis Staples, 'Sad and Beautiful World'The Lightning Round:- Juana Molina, 'DOGA'- Liam Kazar, 'Pilot Light'- The Mountain Goats, 'Through This Fire Across From Peter Balkan'- The Cranberries, 'MTV Unplugged'- Sarathy Korwar, 'There Is Beauty, There Already'See the long list of albums out Nov. 7 and sample dozens of them via our New Music Friday playlist on NPR.orgCredits:Host: Stephen ThompsonGuests: Anamaria Sayre and Liz Felix, WYEPAudio 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

A quick note before the show, this podcast contains explicit language. Happy Friday, everyone from NPR Music. It's New Music Friday. I am Stephen Thompson here with my colleague Anna Maria Sayre from Alt-Latino. Welcome, Anna. Hi, Stephen. I'm also here with Liz Felix from WYEP in Pittsburgh. Welcome to the show, Liz. Thanks for having me, Stephen. So we have a lot of music to get to this week. So we're going to structure this week's show a little bit differently. Anna Maria is here with me to talk about the new Rosaleo. record, which we will do in just one moment. Then Anna is going to bail, and Liz and I are going to

talk about a bunch more great stuff, including new albums from Mavis Staples, Young Miko. We've got a lot of music to get to. But we're also, if you notice you're hearing in the background, music from Wings, why not? Wings has a new compilation out today. It is self-titled. It is billed as the definitive self-titled collection. Part of Paul McCartney's incredible. incredibly expansive musical life. And Liz, you are seeing Paul McCartney in concert next week. Oh, my gosh. I am so excited.

I haven't seen Paul since Bonaroo many years ago, and he was absolutely amazing. I'm a huge Beatles fan. I think in the last couple of years, I have very much come to appreciate Paul, who is not always my favorite beetle, but the songs are just so amazing. So very excited.

If I ever get out of him, And Wings, you know, has its own gigantic, you know, catalog. They've been reissuing a lot of their stuff. Obviously, always seen as kind of secondary to the Beatles, but there's some killer music in there, too. Absolutely. I mean, obviously, band on the run is probably the first thing that people think about. But, you know, there's some kind of quirky songs in there as well.

Junior's Farm and, you know, all those great Wings tracks. I will say even, like, silly love songs, I've come around to. over time. All right, well, we're going to kick things off with the new Rosalia record. It is called Lux. So Rosalia, a Spanish singer, she had a huge breakthrough in 2022 with Motto-Mami, but she's had just a string of really inventive and, you know, creative and beautiful records. But this album manages to be somehow a bigger swing than all those big swings put together.

She's collaborating with the London Symphony Orchestra throughout. Bjork shows up at one point. Eve Toomer shows up. She's singing in 13 languages, Anna Maria. 13 languages. I barely speak one. Anna, I think this is maybe the album of the year. You know, Stephen, you know those runners in the Olympics where you watch them do the race?

And it's like, they're just competing with themselves. Like, everyone else is like 20 leagues behind. Or like Katie Ledecki in the pool being like three quarters of a pool length ahead of everyone? Yeah. And you're like, this is a joke. They're in their own. They deserve to be in their own league. And that is how it feels consistently with Rosalia.

I mean, since literally, she entered the music space, she has been creating some of the most dynamic, innovative, honestly, culture-shifting sounds. This album to me was like, she just beat herself again by like 20 paces. It's like every single thing that you could want, but didn't know you wanted it in a record. Yes, it has this beautiful, massive, classical bass, but it's so much more than that.

I mean, it includes sounds from Mexico and Japan and, you know, different parts of the Arabic-speaking world. And beyond all of that, she still holds on to her flamenco roots. That has always been the basis for everything she does. It's what she was classically trained in. And you can hear it even in vocal moments like Myo Cristo, which is her big operatic exciting moment. Yeah, I know. She told me it took her a year. She trained for an entire year to do that one song.

That song is, you just hang on her every inflection, whether you know what she's saying or not. As that song gets bigger and bigger and more and more operatic, I just, it's such a tearjerker. Like just from this like wall of beauty, right? Like it's a wall of sound, but all the sounds are gorgeous. And it becomes almost overwhelming to listen to. Absolutely. And I spoke with our colleague, Tom Hisinga, who specializes in this varietal of music and classical and opera and these things.

And he was like the inflection, certain stylistic moments. These are like real bonafide, classical, operatic, technically excellent moments. Because I think that one of the potential complaints could have been that it's like, oh, she's just trying to take a sound and make... Like she's being a tourist. Yeah, like she's doing classical, but she doesn't really know. And Tom was like, no, this is excellent. This is technically excellent. This is clearly, like, she worked with all the right people.

He was really obsessed with who her conductor was. He's a really popular Icelandic conductor who's very well-renowned. But I think that has always been something for her that she has been completely unintiminated by the idea of playing with sounds or even styles of music that people might be opposed to. I mean, there has been a history too with her being a Spanish artist to people saying like, well, her last record, you know,

it was to Caribbean and it played with sounds from Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic and all these places. And they're like, that's not where she's from. And therefore you get into this right, this tricky territory of like, what does that mean? Can she make this music? But something that she has consistently made clear, you know, when I talked to her before and when I talked to her about this record, is she's like, I come from this space of, like, she says in the record, I think the world fits into me and I fit into the world. And like, I come from this place of just this genuine love and care for all of the places that I've been able to experience and wanting to be able to find a way to fit all of that into.

She's like, if I could have fit the whole world into an album is what she told me. I would have. And this is what I could do. You know, it's so tempting in general to sort of sum these things up in a word or two or a descriptor, a genre. You know, this is, oh, this is Rosalia's classical album. But it also has earworms. It also has songs like Divinize and. The hooks in that song, it's such an earworm,

it was just burrowing under my skin the first time I was hearing it. And so it's not just this like this museum piece that you're viewing through five panes of glass and appreciating as a, you know, some piece of ancient craft. It is, it's alive. And it's just swimming across so many different genres. And it's so fluent in all of them. But it does, it's still in many ways, it's still, works as a pop record.

That is Rosalia. Her new album is called Lux. Anna Maria Sayer, thank you so much for joining me from Alt Latina. Stephen, it's always such a delight. It is always a pleasure. It's so great to talk to you, and it's so great to talk to you about this record.

All right, Liz Felix from WYEP, you and I have a bunch of records that we are going to talk about on this week's show, starting with Young Miko. Young Miko's new album is called Do Not Disturb. A message of madrugue and I'm saying two photos without baby-tie. If the other'd be here on this side of you, they'd also be able to be just thinking when

I get in sexo of motels, always pite more, even I know that she's that it's all right, no, it's just to entertain. Me splot in the cell, but baby, now that they're waiting. So young Miko, an up-and-coming artist out of Puerto Rico, just released an album. Last year, she's already back with her second release called Do Not Disturb. And she's been on some pretty big stages recently.

She's opening up for Billy Eilish. She was just at Lallipalooza over the summer. So I think she's really branching out outside of that market and finding a worldwide audience. And I think this release is going to take her to that next level. Yeah, I agree completely. This feels like a major star making. record, right? Like, the album she put out last year, you know, it, like, hit the billboard charts. It definitely got a lot of press attention and, you know, kind of general hype around it. But this

feels like she's blowing up. And one of the biggest ways that pop stars are made is by touring with other pop stars, right? You know, Chapel Rhone, you know, was opening up for Olivia Rodriguez, Gracie Abrams and Sabrina Carpenter and a bunch of other people have gotten huge, in part by opening for and touring with Taylor Swift, and young Miko has been touring with Billy Eilish. And it does feel listening to this record, like this is an artist who is blowing up in a big way. And, you know, young Miko, you know, kind of a young, queer, woman, you know, rapper whose music kind of mixes pop and trap and hip hop. And the sound feels very, very current. And listening to this record, I definitely thought, like, her timing is extremely on point. You know, bad bunny,

is about to play the Super Bowl halftime show. Who's a bigger star in the world right now than Bad Bunny? She guessed it on a Bad Bunny record. It just feels like a lot of like Puerto Rican pop and hip-hop and trap music is blowing up on the world stage. And young Miko feels to me like she's in a perfect position to capitalize on that. You know, it kind of feels like a little bit of a left-field choice for Billy Elish to have a Latin trap artist opening for her. But when you listen to the record, I think it actually sonically makes a lot of sense.

Yeah, I agree completely. And, you know, you look at the contributors to this record. You know, one of the singles from this album is called Likey Likey. And it's an earworm. It's quotable. It's clever. And looking at the credits, Amy Allen is a co-writer. And Amy Allen has worked with like Sabrina Carpenter, written or co-written some of the biggest pop hits of the last few years.

And you really get a sense here like she is being positioned for a major commercial breakthrough here. Well, you know, Lil John's on the record too, which I was like kind of surprised to hear him on here. but there's this song that really just sounds like a huge single from the record called What's Up? That he does a little guest appearance at the end. And I don't necessarily always want to talk about pop records through the prism of what sounds like it's going to be a giant hit. You know, I think artistically it's also, you know, very sonically expansive. She brings in a bunch of different guests. This record is always keeping you guessing.

But at the same time, you can clock songs where you're like, I feel like I'm going to hear this song many times. There's a track called What's Your Vibe pretty early on? You know, and you get, you know, tiny little bits of English woven into, you know, the Spanish language lyrics where it feels like this could absolutely cross over. Baby, what's your vibe? Which deal? I have to do you, you know, That is do not disturb, the new album from Young Miko, we have a bunch more records we're going to talk about some more really good ones. But first, we're going to take a quick break.

From NPR Music, it's New Music Friday. I'm Stephen Thompson here with Liz Felix from WYEP. in Pittsburgh. Liz, you haven't been on the show before. Tell us what's going on at WYEP. Well, fall is always a really exciting and busy time at WYEP. And we just had a really great Halloween party a couple weeks ago, our Hellbender Ball, where we invite local artists to dress up and perform as some of their favorite artists that sells out every year. And it was super fun this year. We also just aired our fall countdown. Every year, we ask listeners to contribute their votes to our countdown throughout the summer, and then we air all those songs back. It's

usually like over a thousand songs. This year, the theme was the best songs of the 21st century so far. So the first 25 years. And it was really fun because it was like pretty different from a lot of the stuff that we've done in the past with the countdown, limiting it to the last 25 years. And it was just a really great list. It ended with the killer's Mr. Brightside as the number one song. I was a little surprised, but that song has like nine lives. I don't know. Yeah, that song will never die. Did you dress up as your favorite musical artist at the Halloween party? And if so, who was it? You know, I didn't do a musical artist theme this year. In the past, I have dressed up as Stevie Nicks for the Hellbender. And so it's kind of all over the map. Like, you can dress up as a musician. You don't have to. You know, you've got to get creative after a couple of years doing the Hellbender ball.

Oh, I bet. This year for a couple of Halloween parties I went to, I dressed as a crying Huntrix fan from the movie K-pop Demon Hunters. You've lost me on that one. Oh, that movie's so good. All right. Well, next up, we've got a new compilation album. It is called All Things Go Ten Years. Welcome to the end where you can come and lose some friends. We need your words. We need your brain.

We can pay you. you for your pain. You'll throw up your heart for it. You'll say that you're going to quit, but bitch you won't. You're kosher. So for those who aren't familiar, all things go is this fantastic music festival they have every year. On the East Coast, it started in D.C. It's expanded to New York and to Toronto.

And I actually went to the festival this year. The headliners were people like Noah Khan and Kesha. Dochi played. And this compilation, celebrating 10 years of the festival, is showcasing a lot of artists who've performed at All Things Go. And Liz, I was shocked listening to this album. I assumed I was getting outtakes. Because that's often what you get with a compilation like this, right?

You're not necessarily going to serve up your best work. You're going to put your best work on your albums. And when somebody asks you to contribute to a compilation, you're going to throw them an outtake. You'll throw them a live cut, a B, side, you know, there are some covers here, but they're fantastic. You get something like Medium Build and Sydney Rose covering Charlie X, CX's, sympathy as a knife, and really like understanding what makes that song tick while still kind of making it their own.

Sympathy because I love her child, I'm opposite, I'm on the other side. I feel all this feelings I can't control. I'm just in night. I was also really shocked. Like the second I started listening to it, I was like, oh, this is all cohesive. It makes sense as its own standalone album. And the songs don't sound like throwaways at all. There are a number of songs on here that are lyrically kind of deeper than you think they're going to be at first.

I mean, there's that googly eyes, joy love. Laudeau-a-Coon, August Pontier song called Jesus and John Wayne, which, I mean, that's just a standout on this compilation, a song about modern Christianity and the hypocrisy that is at the root of a lot of those beliefs and just really laying it bare on that song. I mean, there was a part in that song where I was like, the hair was standing up on my arms. I liked the teachings of Jesus so much that I followed and ride out the door. That song is definitely one of the songs from this record that people are really talking about. And, you know, use this compilation as a music discovery vehicle.

I mean, Rachel Chinariri and Boyish have a song on this thing called Home. You know, it's so sweet and winsome and catchy. And I wasn't familiar. And now I have to go back and, like, reverse engineer a bunch of discovery from hearing this compilation. I felt like I was kind of getting a little bit of insight into Gen Z's listening habits as an elder millennial, but I was like actually understanding it, you know what I mean? Because there's just some really great songs on here. Jasmine 14, Jacob Allen, find your people. What a great track.

And then I had to go look up Jacob Allen and just beautiful, beautiful voice and songwriting. And I think there's a lot to discover here. which you wouldn't necessarily expect when you're getting like a festival compilation. And so there'll be days when it'll seem all right. There's so many ways to feel inside. There'll be those who would say otherwise they could see it now. That is all things go, ten years. Next up, new album from Portugal the Man.

Portugal the Man's new album is called Shish. Shish is the 10th album from this band. They are originally from Alaska. They've been living and making music in Portland, Oregon. But man, you can hear the influence of Alaska all over this record. And I think a lot of people are probably familiar with Portugal, the Man, because they had a big hit back in 2017. with a song called Feel It Still, which coincidentally, I've heard like three or four times just over the last couple of days out and about in various places.

It's just popped up. Maybe I just noticed it because I knew I was going to be talking about this new album. I feel like it's just been on the wind ever since, you know. It has been. But I think that if that's the only thing that you're familiar with with Portugal the Man, you may be a little surprised by this album. Yeah. And, you know, Portugal The Man, as you can tell from saying it's their 10th album. They've been around for a long time. They've been around for more than 20 years. And, you know, when they kind of blew up with Feel It Still, I remember being like, this doesn't feel like the band that my Alaskan friend has been telling me about for years and years and years. That, you know, the, Feel It Still is a little more streamlined. It's kind of psychedelic pop and it's got that kind of slinky, like, but that's really one small component of what this band is all about. And by the time you get to track two on Shish, you're going to you're going to.

getting thrash metal, right? You have this song of Pitsman Ralliers, and it is like a full-blown metal song. Some of the words that I wrote down when I was listening to this record, Frog, metal, hardcore punk, psychedelia, pop, Beatles, Bowie. I mean, this is like all these different elements that are in here. And I think I remembered the time before Feel It Still when I was listening to this album thinking, yeah, this band really is weird. And if you forget, because they had this one hit. You know, here's the reality about Portugal, the man. So many interesting sounds.

And it's like, how can you seamlessly put these things together? And yet they somehow do. Yeah, you know, when you think about bands that have like a gigantic hit that is very different from their actual sound. You said earlier, Liz, that you're an elder millennial. You probably remember the band Sugar Ray. Yes, I do. Remember when Sugar Ray blew up and their hit sounded like absolutely

nothing else on their album. It was like this kind of mellower vibe. And then all of a sudden Sugar Ray just like completely changed their sound to kind of reverse engineer being the band that made that hit. Portugal the Man did not do that. They're still as all over the places ever. And John Gurley, who's the who's kind of the lead singer-songwriter, has clearly decided he's going to keep making the music he wants to make. And this record to me feels very liberated from that hit. You know, this is kind of the first album that he's put out on his own label after being on a major label for a while. And it's a record that feels liberated. I think it feels liberated.

I think it feels authentic to them as well. You know, like I said, there's a lot of Alaska on this release. Tanninaw is the first single, and it's a town in Alaska. And it really feels like it's an authentic part of the band members' personalities in their lives. That is Portugal, the man, their new. album is called Shish. We've got one more album we want to talk about in-depth, as well as a lightning round of some of our other favorite albums out today, November 7th. But first, let's take a quick break. From NPR Music, it's New Music Friday. I'm Stephen Thompson here with Liz Felix from WYEP

in Pittsburgh. Before we get to our lightning round, we want to talk about one more album in-depth. Mavis Staples is back with a new album. It is called Sad and Beautiful World. So maybe things are better in here, but they won't grow. We won't have to say goodbye. If we all go to Chicago, maybe things will be better in Chicago. For a place we've never seen,

maybe things will be better. So Mavis Staples, absolute legend, member of the Staples, a veteran soul R&B gospel singer with a career dating back to like 1950. So we're talking about like a three quarters of a century long career. She is 86 years old. And this album is so comfortable. You just ease into this record while at the same time it still has fire in its belly.

You know, it kicks off with this song Chicago and it's just this big, bold, kind of chugging and soulful anthem, and it feels timely, right? Like with all the unrest that's happened in Chicago, you have an 86-year-old artist who has done a ton of protest music who still is completely relevant in the present day. It's amazing to hear from somebody who has lived through some pretty crazy times in the past, come through it, and has something to say about it.

And I think this record is one that we all really need right now. I mean, from that first track about the Great Migration, talking about, you know, although it is a Tom Waits song, singing about something that her family actually did and went through, the fact that she has the lived experience behind these songs, I think makes them that much more meaningful. Yeah, and, you know, each of these covers, you know, she manages to put kind of that Mavis staple spin on it,

that sandy, beautiful voice, even at 80s. her voice is still just gorgeous. And I think when she covers songs, she has the talent of making them sound like they belong to her. Like she really should be the person singing this song. There's the song that was written by Kevin Morby, Beautiful Strangers, about people who have lost their lives in an unjustified way,

way too early, and it just feels so right to hear those lyrics sung by Mavis Staples. Absolutely hear that crying In a distance Like some siren Maybe there's a singer

With no ring Around his little finger Oh love Absolutely You know we get a track like hard times You know just this mix of You know heaviness and breeziness Kind of all swirling together

And you just get a sense like This particular performance of this particular performance of this particular song feels like it has lived in the world for 50, 60 years. It's interesting to hear that she almost retired a couple of years ago.

I'm so glad that she didn't do that and that she's still here singing to us because I think in these particular times we need to hear from somebody who's been there and who's done it and who's lived through it. And I think that's probably one of the things that is appealing

about Mavis Staples for a lot of the younger artists who collaborate with her or write songs specifically for her. I mean, there's a track on this record that was written by Hosier and Allison Russell called Human Mind, who was specifically written for Mavis Staples to sing. And I think hearing her voice and the richness of it and the warmth of Mavis Staples' voice, it just feels really good right now. Know every tear that I've cried Through the worst in my life Was love in full supply

What a treasure, what a joy, what a delight. I'm so glad this record exists And if she wants to rest, I hope she feels free to do it. But I also am so glad that she's still putting out music. That is sad and beautiful world, the new album from Mavis Staples. Liz, obviously, we could not get to every great record out today, November 7th. So we wanted to do a lightning round of some of the other terrific new records that are out today. I'm going to kick us off, Wanamolina, as a singer-songwriter from Argentina,

she's been putting out inventive, genre-expansive, experimental electro-pop music for almost three decades. But her output has slowed down to the point where her new record is her first in eight and a half years. Thankfully, she's back with another wonderful, surprising set. It's so good to have her back. Wanamalina's new album is called Doga. Liam Kazar is putting out his second album. He is born and raised in Chicago, and he's done work with a lot of artists that you might be familiar with,

probably most prominently, Jeff Tweedy and Wilco. And you'll hear a lot of those vibes on this album. This record's instantly likable. Songs really well written. The production sounds great. And I think if you're into Jeff Tweedy and Wilco and even maybe some 70s Paul Simon, you'll really enjoy this new album from Liam Kazar, Pilot Light. Would it be such a bad idea if we take the whole day off?

I've been screaming in a shag rug and don't it sound like I've got a call. The Mountain Goats and singer John Darniel are now in their fourth prolific decade making music, with improbable thematic and sonic range. They're on their 23rd studio album in a discography that ranges from solo boombox recordings to lavish opuses with strings. The new one leans heavily into that lavish side. It's a musical about a shipwreck,

and while it still sounds like a late period Mountain Goats record, it really is a musical complete with four songs that feature vocal contributions from Lin-Manuel Miranda. The Mountain Goat's new record is Through This, fire across from Peter Balkan. 30 years where the first thing you learn is how strong you can be if you have to. And the next thing you learn is how cold it can get at night.

30 years after the Cranberries played MTV Unplugged, we have the recording of that session. It was originally broadcast in April of 1995 and they played MTV Unplugged between their second and third albums. The official release encompasses stripped down performances of some of their biggest songs from those albums. And this is the first time that the audio has been released since those television broadcasts. It's great to hear Dolores O'Reardon's ethereal vocals in this setting, and they've got strings with them as well, which just adds to the magic. Most of these songs will be very familiar, but there is one that was never released outside of this performance.

It's called Yesterday's Gone. The band apparently wrote it the day before the session, and it was only played during this performance. So interesting to get a look back 30 years into this part of the Cranberry's career with their MTV unplugged performance. Finally, often we like to close out the show with something a little tender, a little peaceful, something to send you into your weekend. And this is one of those weeks. Sarathi Korwar plays soft, sly, percussive, mostly. instrumental music. He's a drummer and composer whose work conjures Indian folk, jazz drumming, and contemporary classical music. It might be just what you need as you're trying to calm your

nerves this weekend. His new seventh album is titled, There is Beauty There Already. All right, so Liz, you and I have listened to a lot of music to prepare for this show. A lot of music out today, November 7th. At the end of each episode of this show, we'd like to kind of look back on what we talked about, single out one song. What is the one song that's going to stay with you the longest? Or what is your favorite song that we heard in the run up to this week? Wow, that's a tough question. There are so many good ones.

Googly eyes, August Pontier, and Joy Aladacoon on the All Things Go compilation with Jesus and John Wayne. Just a striking song gets right to the point lyrically. Great song stuck in my head. the message has been lingering with me. So that's my favorite this week. So I think I have to talk about something from the Rosalia record Lux. I'm going to go with Reliquia,

which was the first track on the record that made me cry. First of several. And just because it is so stunningly beautiful, I just could not believe what I was hearing. It's probably my favorite song from what is probably my favorite album of 2025. And I don't get to say that very often. That is our show for this week. Thank you so much Liz Felix from WYEP in Pittsburgh.

Woo-hoo. Thank you for having me. It is a pleasure. If you enjoyed this week's show, we always appreciate a positive review on Apple or Spotify or whatever app you are listening to right now. This episode was produced by Noah Caldwell and edited by Otis Hart and El Man.

The executive producer of NPR music is Soraya Mohamed. We'll be back next week to discuss new music with Liz Warner from WDET in Detroit. Until then, take a moment to be well. Buy an electric toothbrush if you don't already have one and treat yourself to lots of great music.