NPR Music - New Music Friday: The best albums out Oct. 2

Episode Date: October 2, 2026

Victoria Monét. Meshell Ndegeocello. Sons of Sevilla. Host Stephen Thompson breaks down the best albums out Friday, Oct. 2, with DJs from around the NPR Music network: Ayana Contreras from KUVO in Denver, Evan Miller from WYSO in Ohio and DJ Llu from Vermont Public. Plus, a handful of NPR Music writers and critics offer their personal picks in the lightning round.The Starting 5(01:53) Album No. 1- Victoria Monét, 'Frequency Of Love'(08:40) Album No. 2- Meshell Ndegeocello, 'Synonym'(15:28) Album No.3 - Helen, 'Linda's Head'(22:09) Album No. 4- Wishy, 'Nature's Pill'(28:36) Album No. 5- Sons of Sevilla, 'It Could Be Today'(34:27 The Lightning Round- Greg Freeman, 'All Set the Bone'- Miranda Lambert, 'Crisco'- Allison de Groot & Rich Ruth, 'Allison de Groot & Rich Ruth'- Lalah Hathaway, 'Made in Chicago'- Beth Taylor, 'The Deeps Have Music'Sample the albums via our New Music Friday playlist.Credits:Host: Stephen ThompsonGuests: Ayana Contreras, Evan Miller, DJ LluAudio Producer: Noah CaldwellDigital Producer: Dora LeviteEditors: Elle Mannion, Otis HartExecutive Producer: Suraya MohamedSpecial thanks to Lars Gotrich, Ann Powers and Tom HuizengaSupport public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Happy Friday, everyone, from NPR Music. It's New Music Friday. Every week on the show, we talk about the best albums out that week with members of the NPR Music Network. For today, October 2nd, we are talking about new records from Victoria Monet, the band Wishy and more. To kick things off, I want to welcome to the show. Ayanna Contreras from station KUVO in Denver. Welcome back to the show, Ayanna. Hello. So right up front, you know, before we get into these new records, there's some old music. dropping this week that I am excited to hear. Stevie Wonder is back dropping new songs from the era of songs in the Key of Life? Right. So I think the story is the he wrote dozens and dozens, maybe like 100 songs for that album. And they selected ultimately 21 songs for that effort, which if you think about it, 21 songs back

then was ridiculous. That's two LPs plus a little EP, a little 45 joint. So these are the songs that some of the songs, four songs, did not make the cut, but they definitely feel of a piece. Boy, I mean, you know, as you said, these days, super, super long records can be, you know, are pretty common. We're going to lead off with a very, very long record. That's right.

But this record, as epic as it was to begin with, with how much time has passed, this doesn't feel like overkill, right? I don't think so. I think because that album was so important to so many people, really groundbreaking, I mean, And having just a little more taste of that moment, I think, is actually such a gift to people. Well, let's kick off the show with a supersized album, 22 songs long. It's Victoria Monet. Her new album is called Frequency of Love.

If you like you say that, if you need it, say that. If you love me, say that. No one about me, say that. Talk me through it, say that. If you're going to do it, say that. If you miss it, say that. I love it when you say that. All the words that you're saying, my dear, let me know that you're here.

Wanna feel that you want this thoughts with your lips. So let me know so I can take this Friday of ice. Let me know your ETA, so our time aligns. Let me. So I can take this body off ice Let me know your ETA So I'm it's okay Speak your mind, baby don't be rational

So Victoria Monet has been working in pop music and R&B For a really, really long time now She's written songs for Ariana Grande, Travis Scott, Coco Jones, Fifth Harmony She's been a background singer She's been like an industry lifer But a few years ago, she finally had her own kind of major commercial breakthrough with a song called On My Mama.

She won Best New Artist at the Grammys in 2024. And now she's back with kind of the follow-up to that breakthrough. And it really feels like just an almost overstuffed star turn, you know, filled with, you know, prominent guests like Bruno Mars and Siza and Leon Thomas and Lucky Day, Chloe of Chloe and Halley. and you really get a sense in here of who she is as an artist. Yeah, absolutely. You know, it is to your point, sort of a yearbook of today's R&B Cream of the Crop in a lot of ways, including Victoria.

But then you also have all these loving references to soul music and R&B music from Days of Yore. They're really important to people. Sometimes it almost sounds as though it's playing in the background. I mean, it's a really beautiful album, and there's some really strong highlight. throughout, including Sadat, which is probably going to be a single, the Bruno Mars take you, you mentioned he's on there,

that's why I love you, which is another one that's kind of in his current bag of Boleros. Yeah. It's just a lot of really beautiful music. The star of a movie sure know how get lost in your

beauty, left and right up and down in it. I think thinking of this record as a survey, is a really smart way to look at it because there are songs that are referencing, you know, we talked about Stevie Wonder at the top of the show, you know, there are songs that are referencing kind of mini Ripperton era 70s soul. There are songs that feel, you know, I wrote down in my notes a couple times Disney R&B, parentheses, laudatory. You know, where like the songs are evoking kind of Disney ballads of the 90s. There, you can really hear listening to this record,

how intertwined her sound and her kind of creative voice is with the career of Ariana Grande, who was tapped into a lot of theater kid R&B in her own music, and you can really hear this record kind of in conversation with Ariana Grande's early work. And you have these guests woven through. You have, as we said,

Bruno Marr is kind of doing his thing. I think the song, See You in My Dreams with Siza really feels like, one of the most kind of commercial moments on this record. If you were looking for a song that's kind of going to duplicate the success or exceed the success of On My Mama, which was such a great song. I slept on you so hard that I'll see you in my dreams. I mean, there's also I Want You, which is like a really lovely thing

that has sort of back to that radio reference of In My Bed by Drew Hill, it's kind of interwoven throughout it. But then there's an interlude that literally is referencing the singer's Unlimited, which was a vocal jazz group from like the 60s, so it's like a we contain multitudes approach to a soul record. It's really, really cool. You know, when I talk about Disney R&B parentheses laudatory, I also wanted to throw out reference to the song Care for Somebody,

which feels like full-on, you know, kind of theater kid Disney R&B strings, that kind of I wish emoting. But it's also like mixed with the vibe of like 40s Disney in a way where there's there's almost this like, you know, like pop songbook standard quality kind of bubbling underneath it. And it really gives you the sense with this record that this record is conversant with the last 80 years of popular music, and she's just, she's just so sure-footed in the way that she brings all those sounds together. So that is Victoria Monet.

Her new album is called Frequency of Love. Next up, Michelle Ndegeocello is back with a new record. It's called Sinaninan. So Moshana Degucelo has been out so long that she feels like she's ingrained in my mind. One of those artists that I can't remember when she wasn't making music that made me rethink the world, right? From plantation lullivies all the way to just a few years ago putting out Omnicord Real Book in 2023 and 2024's, No More We're. the gospel of James Baldwin, always intertwining her amazing bass with her singing and with the poetry and with her ability to bring the best out in other people.

You know, one of the albums that I actually really adore that did not necessarily do as well critically as I think it should have is ventriloquism, which was her 2018 album, which was actually revisiting other people's compositions and really reimagining them in incredible ways. And this new album is sort of a return to that, but she adds in guests that enhance these songs even further. And every single song is a revelation. Yeah, I love this record.

I love the way it really kind of requires footnotes because it's not just that each song features a different guest and really weaves in the presence of each guest. Like the guest is not coming in for one little quick verse and then dipping out. But also the song selection, I thought this was such a fascinating collection of covers. And some of those choices really kind of speak to these larger themes. There are definitely some very, very, very familiar pop hits that she's covering here, particularly from the 1980s.

But there's also 70s R&B. There's like 90s alt rock. She's been so relentlessly inventive for decades that, of course, when she does a covers record, it's going to be constantly thought-provoking instead of just kind of by the numbers regurgitating songs you already know. Absolutely. Like Donnie Hathaway shows up a couple of times with Be Real Black for me featuring Emily King and Liz Wright. And the closer I get to you, which was his duet with Roberta Flack, one of the last things he recorded before he passed, by the way. This one is brought in with Destin Conrad, who is a favorite, and Moses Sumney. I don't know. I mean, like, all I have, I wrote notes and all it says is so good.

And I want to call out the song, I Got You, Babe. obviously a Sonny and Cher cover, where Michelle and Deiogelo works with Anony. And, you know, Anony has that haunting, you know, kind of spectral otherworldly voice. And this is like one of the kind of jazier and more avant-garde takes here. But like because the song is so familiar, because that's an example of a song that really like everybody knows, you know, compared to some of the other tracks here. Right. They're able to kind of take that song into a song. a more experimental place and pull

the listener into those more experimental places because you're already kind of most people listening to this are going to have a familiarity with that song. And I thought their voices blended really beautifully. I got you ready. Say our love

won't pay the rent. Boy, tell. Our money's all been spent. I guess that's so. We don't have a pot. But at least I'm sure of all the things we've got. And the cat power as well with the Don't You Want Me? I don't even really like the original song like that.

It's just, I mean, it's kind of like embedded in the 80s. Like, you can't not know it. But the version with sort of that reggae underpinning is lovely. Michelle and Deke Ocello, her new record is synonym, highly highly recommended. Ayanna Contreras, thank you so much. much for joining me. Thanks, Stephen. We're going to take a quick break, and when we come back,

I'll be joined by WYSO's Evan Miller in Ohio to talk about new albums from Helen and Wishy. Welcome back to New Music Friday. Evan Miller, welcome to the show. Thanks for having me. Happy to be here. I'm thrilled to have you here. All right, next up, we have an album called Linda's Head

by the band, Helen. So Helen is a band from the Pacific Northwest's crown jewel of, I guess ambient folk is the best recent descriptor I've seen. Liz Harris, otherwise known as Grupper primarily, makes a lot of interesting, tape hiss heavy, very drenched in reverb, sort of mysterious music. She's made a wealth of solar records and also has a great collection of collaborative efforts, mostly in the same vein of her solo material or in similar worlds. This project, Helen, however, is notable for being a band,

like with drums and actual songs and a little bit more jaunty in comparison to her other material. Yeah, it's interesting. Evan, I think you and I are both pretty big fans of Gruper. You know, I often listen to Grupper when I need kind of ambient headfirst. filling music that isn't necessarily lyrically driven that's going to distract me if I need to be concentrating, particularly if I'm editing something or

doing something tedious that requires thought. I'll often listen to kind of head-filling ambient music and grouper has been one of my go-toes for years and years and years. And part of what I really love about this project is that it still feels like Grupper. It feels like it

is meeting at some kind of midpoint between Gruper and an indie rock band. Take the song Dead Shark 2. You know, it's got these beautiful vocals, and it feels like there's a garage band in the bottom of a well. And so, like, it's giving you some of that kind of otherworldly, ethereal quality, but it's still, you know, you're getting, you know, kind of band structure surrounding it as well. And what I like about that tune in particular also is immediately before it there's just

Dead Shark, which I guess would be Dead Shark. one. And it's a great revealer of what has always been true in groupers music to me, especially in some of her recent records where some of the fog is lifted up from her early days in that she is a great songwriter underneath all of the effects and kind of sonic world that she's known for. And Dead Shark in its original version, I guess, is just her and acoustic guitar. But all the parts of what you're about to hear the next song are all there. And you can just hear her voice as clear as it can possibly be on one of her records. You know, for those who are coming at this project through fandom of Grupper,

there's still a lot for you here. Even if you're just like, what are all these drums? This record closes with an eight and a half minute epic called Canyon. And it's a closer to kind of grouper or like an artist like Juliana Barwick, you know, who does these kind of floaty, gorgeous kind of coral pieces. You know, the vocals are layered really beautifully, but they're still using some of the components of this kind of core band to kind of flesh out the sound a little bit. You still get kind of a soft bass line underneath. You have a little more song structure, even as this song is just kind of sending you floating on a cloud for eight and a half minutes.

Yeah, and it kind of ends on this like early Velvet Underground kind of dirge situation, just like very minimal floor tom and like keyboards. There's this like lovely little field recording that ends it, which is also very indicative of groupers work. She loves a field recording. That just kind of stretches it out into the ether at the end. What I appreciate so much about her work is that no matter where she goes and who she works with, her sonic footprint is so distinct. And the quality level remains so high amongst everything she does in my eyes and ears.

And there's no mistaking when she's a part of something. Absolutely. I'll follow her wherever she goes. Can't wait for what's next. That is Helen. Helen's new album is called Linda's Head Next up, a band called WISH

Wishy is back Their new album is called Nature's Pill So it's up just have Remember I dream of Count of ways to say that Maybe tomorrow So I guess with this record

I'm sort of completing my role As the your Midwestern like hazy music correspondent Absolutely, we need one of those today. Wishi is a five-piece fan from Indianapolis, just neighbors over to me in the West. This is their sophomore album. They're sort of on the forefront of this like modern wave of Shugays and Shugay's inspired bands. That kind of music is very alive right now, which for someone

like me that's loved it for many years is very cool. We haven't had a lot of bands making that kind of stuff in our local scene here that are fantastic. But that word still carries a connotation and a weight and maybe a baggage for some people. But what I really want to express about Wishy that sets them apart from the greater scene is that they are so good at songs, like capital S songs. Like you can get buried in all the aesthetic. and effects of this kind of music so easily, but especially on this record, I think Wishy are just drilling earworms, like, nonstop.

They're really hitting a stride here. Yeah, I think when people dump on Chew Gays as a genre, I think sometimes they're thinking of this idea that, like, you have these big, billowy guitars, and those guitars are meant to drown out weaknesses in the songs or in the arrangements, right? Like you're just throwing up a big wall of guitars and you know and you're calling that a song. That is not what is happening here at all.

Yes, this is a very guitar forward band. This is a very guitar forward record. But also the arrangements are not all just like big, billowy, shoe-gazy guitars. That happens. But there are also, there's also jangle. There's also distortion. There's also, you know, kind of jagged songs and, you know, kind of clean. guitar lines. Like, there are very good guitarists at work on this record. And I'm glad you mentioned

just, like, how sharp some of the songwriting is here. The song, Love Sick, you know, which it was the first single, and it foregrounds Nina Pitchkites. She brings this kind of sugary charisma, and then you get these kind of wall of sound, kind of redlined guitars. But the actual song at the core here was so catchy. I kind of like half thought it was a cover, just because it felt, it felt so familiar in the best possible way? Like, where has this melody been all my life? They really just seem to have hit upon this knack for hooks and earwormy choruses. I think they've been building that talent, like brick by brick. You just mine this, like, songwriting oar over and over and you know how to refine it to the thing that just sticks in your head. So good.

Absolutely, but it also doesn't feel overworked. No, not at all. It feels like a band at play in the best way. And I wanted to call out the song Mona Lisa, you know, which the song kind of- Yes, I was going to do that too. Yeah, the song kind of bops along. It's kind of grinding and churning, and it's super catchy and kind of bright. And about three minutes in, the tune kind of morphs, and all of a sudden it's, I've got that joy, joy, joy way down in my heart.

Like, they don't sing that, but that's the tune. And I'm like, I think. Are these former Bible camp kids? It's such a clever little nod. I heard that. And immediately I was transported back to my youth at my grandparents' church. And I was like, wait, wait, that can't be. That is the band Wishy.

Their new album is called Nature's Pill. Highly recommended. Thanks so much for bringing it to the show, Evan. Thank you so much for having me. Appreciate it. We've got one more quick book. and then I'll be back with DJ Lou from Vermont Public to talk about more great albums out today, October 2nd. Welcome back to the show, DJ Lou. How's it going?

Hey, Stephen, how you doing? I am doing well. I'm so glad you're here. I'm excited to talk about the final album in today's starting five. It's called It Could Be Today, and it's by the band Sons of Sevilla. Well, Stephen, I'm so glad to be back here. Last time I was here, I was here on sad vibes with Noah Kahn. And now I feel like I'm here on good vibes with Sonsa Sevea. This is their third album. It Could Be Today, released aptly today.

And it's a pair of brothers from the UK. Now, here's where people are going to get confused. So follow the thread, folks. They are originally from the UK. They now live in Spain, but they were vacationing in Saviya, Spain as kids. for I think most of their childhood. And so they have some deep roots in that tropical, warm, soulful, vibey feeling.

And that's actually the way they went off to record their first album coming out of the pandemic. And when you read about this band, you learn that there's some real origin story about this need to have a sound of being from somewhere else other than where you are. And so a third album, you're going to hear their influencers like Buena Vesta Social Club, Neil Young even,

a little Terry Reed. Again, bands they grew up listening. Yeah, yeah. It's interesting. I think this is a band where the origin story really helps contextualize the experience of listening to the record. And understanding, you know, the brothers who are at the core of this band, Henry and Rubin von Smith, they are making songs that feel deeply nostalgic. And when you know, like, that the whole kind of root cause of this band is, like,

dreaming of being in another place, dreaming of a child. childhood spent in southern Spain, like who among us, you know, doesn't wish we could have grown up in southern Spain? I sure didn't. But the songs still feel natural, they feel lived in, and kind of lightly psychedelic, heavily 70s inspired, softly soulful. You take a song like Drive by Honey, which is opening the record, and it's just like, it's just this lovely bit of nostalgic kind of falsetto-driven scene set. And it's literally about driving, Stephen, I mean, driving down the coast, or up the coast of California, because this album got recorded in the States when they were here touring on the last album. And, you know, in Vermont, there's a fine, a small window of when you can drive with your windows down in Vermont.

And we're almost out of it here. And when I was listening to this album, I was like, oh, drive by, honey, I turned my windows down. it was maybe 50 degrees, which still counts in Vermont. But I got that feeling of like, this is great driving music on top of great dinnertime music. You know, and at the same time, sometimes these albums that are kind of like going for an overall vibe can feel samey. And I didn't feel like this record was samey. Each song kind of brings in some different component to differentiate it from the songs around it. You know, so I can depend on you.

You know, it's kind of bringing back that kind of falsetto-driven, kind of good-natured vibe. but then you hear like kind of a melodica coming in and and brightening the sound in a certain way. And then the song, You Left Me Cold, it's kind of a lower, bluesier rumble, you know, where it's like, it threatens to like almost be like a little bit menacing sounding, but then you got these wau choruses to kind of to leaven everything. But I like the way that as much as this, album works as a vibe is the kind of thing you could put on at a dinner party. It's not all just one thing. I'm glad you mentioned you left me cold because to nerd out, they intentionally were

using a clavinet, the electric keyboard that sounds like a guitar, and they really were going into these vintage sounds. And I think playing with instruments, going that vintage route, treating those with the reverence that is needed that came out of the 70s, which is what they're, influenced by, there's that authenticity that I'm also always listening for. Absolutely. That is Sons of Sevilla. Their new album is called It Could Be Today. So, Lou, I say this every episode we couldn't possibly get to every great record out today, October 2nd. So we wanted to do a lightning round of some of our other favorite albums out today. And we're going to bring in a few key members of the NPR music team to join us with their picks. But I'm going to ask you to kick

us off. What do you got? Yeah, well, I wouldn't be a good Vermonter coming on NPR if I didn't always give a hat tip to Vermonters. And he's kind of not a Vermonter anymore. but Greg Freeman just released All Set the Bone. And you guys, this is a rock and album. It's an angsty distortion, let those feelings out album. And after last year with the sophomore album that he released Burnover that hit all the lists, right? That's what kind of got him on the national scene. This one's, it sounds different.

He didn't want to overwork it. He wrote it fast. And I kind of love noisy rock and roll. And that's what you're going to get with this latest Greg Freeman album called All Set the Bone. Nice. Thank you, DJ Lou. I'm going to go next. If you're listening to this show and you're on social media, you are probably privy to the Chusin Texas discourse. That is the Ella Langley song that has racked up a record setting 24 weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. One thing that hasn't been discussed enough about Chosen Texas is that the song was co-written by a veteran country star who

deserves even more flowers than she's already gotten. Miranda Lambert has a 25-year career as a solo artist. She's also made a bunch of records with Pistol Annie's, and at this point, she is a decorated icon. Now she's building on the success of her very, very big year with Ella Langley and Chus in Texas, and she's releasing her own 10th solo album. It's full of fun, charming, accessible country music that is unpredictable enough to incorporate a little disco in the title track. Miranda Lambert's new record is called Crisco. Lars Got Rich. Welcome back to the show.

What do you got for us, buddy? Thanks, Stephen. I love music that makes us rethink everything we thought we knew about an instrument. And that's what you'll find in this self-titled record by Alison de Groot and Rich Ruth. Allison is from Winnipeg and plays the Clawhammer banjo. I first came across her extraordinary talent in the Bluegrass duo with Fiddler Tatiana Hargreaves. and Rich Ruth is from Nashville, and he makes ambient jazz and rock music. And together, they have discovered the spaces that slip between Americana, ambient minimalism, and something yet to be named.

Allison sends her banjo through an array of effects, loops them, and creates a rhythmic trance while Rich Ruth washes everything in sense and guitar. To me, this is the 21st century take on Frippin Eno's ambient experiments in the 1970s. That's high praise coming from me. And this is transcendent, thoughtful music that imagines another world. That's the self-touted album by Alison de Groot and Rich Ruth. Nice. Thank you. Lars Gottrich. Anne Powers. Welcome back to the show. What do you got for me? Hello, Stephen. Hello, friends. First, I have to say both you, Stephen, and you, Lars, picked records that I would have picked this week.

But, hey, it is just an amazing week with so many great releases. And what a year this has been for historically grounded soul music in general, with so many great albums from tons of artists touching on different eras, 60s, 70s, 90s, and now the great Layla Hathaway has entered the chat. This multiple Grammy Award-winning vocalist revisits her youth listening to Chicago Radio for a loving take on early 80s Quiet Storm. As always, Lela connects to the legacy of her legendary father, Donnie Hathaway. But I'm also feeling links to the stylistics, Phyllis Hyman, Al Jiroe.

There is definitely a jazz twist to Hathaway's approach throughout this record. There's a ton of sax on this album, great band throughout this record. With players like this, this memory film of an album is shot with a sharp 21st century lens. Made in Chicago reminds us why great soul songs matter. In Hathaway's hands, the emotions are up front and everything just feels so alive. That's made in Chicago by Layla Hathaway. Nice. Second mention of Donnie Hathaway on this week's show.

Love it, love it. Let's bring in Tom Hisinga. Tom Hisinga. Give us your pick. Hey, Stephen Hey, everybody. I've got one of the most fabulous voices on the scene today. It's a new discovery for me, actually. Her name is Beth Taylor.

She's a mezzo-soprano from Scotland with this voluptuous, burgundy-colored low register that is really, I think, uncommonly gorgeous. She's flying a little under their radar right now, but not for long, I think. She just made her Royal Opera House debut last month in London. She got gluing reviews for that. And now this debut recital album, it's called The Deeps Have Music. Let's hear her sing a little snippet of Elgar's Sea Pictures and listen to how immaculately she shapes the musical line here without being fussy at all.

It's Beth Taylor with pianist Hamish Brown. The song is called Where the Corals Lie from the album, The Deeps Have Music. Nice. Thank you, Tom Heisinga. That is our show for this week. Thank you to everyone who appeared on this week's show, Ayanna Contreras, Evan Miller, DJ, Lou, Tom Hisinga, Ann Powers, and Lars Gottrich. Really appreciate all of you coming in. 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 El Manion and edited by Otis Hart. Our production assistant is Dora Levitt. The executive producer of NPR music is Soraya Mohamed. We'll be back next week to talk about more new music, including a live album from Cameron Winter of Geese with members of the NPR Network. Until then, take a moment to be well. If you snore, get a sleep study, and treat yourself to lots of great music. Oh.