NPR Music - New Music Friday: The best albums out Oct. 24

Episode Date: October 24, 2025

Brandi Carlile. Miguel. Tortoise. Host Stephen Thompson chats with Ayana Contreras from KUVO in Denver about their favorite albums out Friday, Oct. 24.The Starting 5:- Brandi Carlile, 'Returning To Myself'- Miguel, 'Caos'- Tortoise, 'Touch'- Daniel Caesar, 'Son Of Spergy'- Yazmin Lacey, 'Teal DreamsThe Lightning Round:- iLe, 'Como Las Canto Yo'- Natural Information Society, 'Perseverance Flow'- Hannah Jadagu, 'Describe'- Hether, 'Holy Water'- Joyer, 'On the Other End of the Line'See the long list of albums out Oct. 24 and sample dozens of them via our New Music Friday playlist on NPR.org.Credits:Host: Stephen ThompsonGuest: Ayana Contreras, KUVOAudio 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'm Stephen Thompson here with Ayanna Contreras of KUVO in Denver. Welcome back to the show, Ayanna. Oh, thanks so much. Glad to be here. It is a pleasure. So the music you are hearing at the top of this show is from Nebraska 82, an extended edition of Bruce Springsteen's classic 1982 album, Nebraska, released kind of to coincide with the new Bruce Springsteen biopic. Springsteen deliver me from nowhere.

Ayanna, are you a biopic person? You know what? I do. I like them. When they're good, they're great and when they're bad, they're horrible. But they're almost always entertaining. Yeah, and if nothing else, you certainly get a celebration of some classic music. I happen to have actually seen Springsteen Delivered Me from Nowhere, which is out today.

And I have to say, as someone who has watched a lot of lousy music biopics, this one is actually quite good, led by a very, very strong performance from Jeremy Allen White, from The Bear, who's kind of embodying the spirit of Springsteen here. I think what this movie really gets right is the importance of having a good. good team around you. It's very much a love letter to the people in Springsteen's life who were kind of propping him up during a period when he was really struggling with his mental health, especially John Landau, his manager, who's played by Jeremy Strong. And I think that plus the kind of limited time frame represented in this movie really elevates it above most music

biopics. Well, let's kick off our show with a new album from Brandy Carly. Brandy Carlisle's new album is called Returning to Myself. Is there some freewheeling watcher? Shooting marbles in the sky. Holding your ears between their fingers. Watching it burn till the fire dies. Why is it heroic to one tether? How is alone some holy grail?

And if we really come and go unawed, couldn't I find myself in jail? It is such a lonely thing to do. So Brandy Carlisle, this is her first solo album in four years. It's the follow-up to her 2021 album in These Silent Days. But in those intermittent four years, Brandy Carlisle has been unbelievably busy. Earlier this year, she released an album with Elton John. She's collaborated with Joni Mitchell, Brandy Clark, Tanya Tucker, Lucius. You know, she's produced other people's records.

She's worked, you know, done tons of collaboration. And this record kind of follows this exhalation after this very, very busy period in her life. And the title track and the title to this record kind of refers to this process of taking a step back, suddenly you're by yourself and you're asking yourself, who am I? And this record, I think, is kind of the product of that self-examination. Right. Yeah, I think so much of her work has been a product of collaboration. And one of the things that I saw that was really interesting, on her Instagram, she said, quote,

learning to stand alone is something that people are supposed to do when they're young, like skiing in chicken pox. You know, that sense of humor, obviously, is there. Oh, my God, she's so funny. But that, I mean, that's a theme on and on in a lot of these songs. Even the song Joni, which is an homage to Joni Mitchell, who is another one of those people, she did the Joni jams with Joni. Yeah. Is also sort of like recognizing how Joni was a singular contribution to that, but how she herself is perceiving. And I don't know, I think it's a really interesting recording, very, very introspective to use that word again.

Tell them that store time, Joan, I won't let me a plate. When I tell you, okay, I know you, and that's love. And you know, in talking about those, you know, musical interactions and the way other people's sensibilities are woven into this record, you know, Justin Vernon from Bonne Verre pops up on this record. There's a song called A War with Time. And it's opening with this slippery guitar line. And, you know, the first time I heard this record, I didn't realize she was working with Justin Vernon. And I scribbled down in my notes like, wow, has she been listening to a lot of Bonne Verre? You know, you hear the way she's able to incorporate the ideas of different collaborators in ways that sound like her.

400 people on a broken wheel on the plane touchdown in a concrete mine field. I guess we all made it out okay. Right, yeah, kind of chameleonic, I guess is the word. I think the whole album really is very, very consistent. but is still capturing essences of all these different influences and relationships. Yeah, and sonically, it's varied. You know, there are moments on this record that are extremely intimate and quiet, you know, a song like Anniversary.

But there's also, you know, there are songs like Church and State, you know, which is just this big kind of wamping rocker. You know, it's really anthemic and cool. It kind of reminded me a little bit of Florence in the Machine at times. You know, where she's able to channel a certain amount of rock and roll energy, it's not just the singer-songwriter-lee roots music that people associate with Brandy Carlisle. That's Brandy Carlisle. Her new album is called Returning to Myself.

Next up, a new album by Miguel. Miguel's first album in eight years is called Chaos. So what I love about this album is that it opens up with the title track, which is sort of 808 Big Bottom Bolero. and I love a good Bolero. You know, and just in general, so much of the flavors that he's pulling from relate to his biracial background,

his father's Mexican. There's a lot of really, really deep, thematic tones that deal with issues of immigration, but not just immigration, issues with being lost, needing to belong, needing to find where you belong, which is something that I think he's also been going through just personally,

Like he's recently in a new relationship with a baby and just all of this newness, but then coming through all of some seeming darkness, I think, was what was inspiring this recording. Yeah, this album really feels like a hiatus breaker. You know, it's been eight years since Miguel's last album. And in that time, as you said, not only as he, you know, entered into this new relationship, he's had a, you know, he and his partner have had a baby. He's seen the pandemic and elections. he's lost loved ones.

There's been all this, to feed into the title, chaos that he's experienced in his life. He also, in 2019, released a Spanish language EP called Telodhide. And that is kind of swirling into this work as well. I mean, I was really struck by how little caution feels like it's gone into this record. It is dark and loud and experimental. It's multilingual. I was really reminded across several tracks of like childish Gambino,

you know, just this kind of psych rock polymath, you know, who is conversant in R&B and rock and Latin music and manages to bring them all together in this kind of thunderous way. I wrote down dark for sure. I also thought smoky, you know, like spacey sounding, but not light. like that's kind of what it was feeling like to me. I was, I also wrote down Lost Highway music. Like if you're on a Lost Highway, this is like the music that's in the background.

I don't know. Not Chris Isaac's music, but there is a little bit of that kind of like lost in the abyss sort of feel to it. But I mean, a lot of the themes of the music also is that over and over again, he's saying, I lost myself, I chose myself, just oscillating between ideas. just back and forth. A lot of that is in the music. Yeah, I mean, it's funny, you use the word oscillating. There's a track on this album called oscillate that I think really meets in the middle between the kind of vibey, sexy R&B from his earlier career with this kind of more thunderous and chaotic, multi-genre sound

that he's exploring here. And to me, this song lands right at that sweet spot in ways that I think really, really work for it. I think it's interesting because I thought it was futuristic but futuristic from the lens of the 1990s. Retro futuristic is a thing. It definitely has that 90s syncopated drum programming that you might

see in like an Aaliyah video or something. But I mean, it's gorgeous. I mean, the whole album I thought was creating a place that I wanted to be. That's Chaos, C-A-O-S, the new album from Miguel, one of the many great albums

out today, October 24th. We've got some more terrific music that we want to talk about that's out today. But first, let's take a quick break. From NPR Music, it's New Music Friday. I'm Stephen Thompson here with Ayanna Contreras from KUVO in Denver. Ayanna, tell us what's going on at KUVO. Well, we've just hit our 40th anniversary year, which is really exciting. And so as we go into our 40 years, we're trying to do our best to acknowledge our past, our present, and think about where we fit into the future. We're primarily a jazz station, but we're also very deeply rooted in the Latin and soul and blues spaces as well. So it's super exciting to kind of have that one of those moments. Can people listen to KUVO at

KUVO.org? That's just a guess. I think that is it. Yeah. No, absolutely. Yes. Nice. Well, everybody should check it out. That's KUVO.org in Denver. And of course, you can listen to KUVO on the NPR app. Next up, we've got the new album from Tortoise. First album in nine years. It is called Touch. So Tortus has been around since 1990. That is 35 years.

Long-running band, originally from Chicago, now kind of scattered to the four wins. Two members are in Chicago, two are in L.A., one in Portland. Tortus kind of stands at the kind of cluttered intersection of post-rock, jazz, indie rock, art rock, crout rock, dub, you name it, almost entirely instrumental. But within that realm,

an individual tortoise song can just travel in so many different directions at once. There's a song on this record called vexations that has this kind of motoric throb that tortoise is known for, but at times the song recalls everything from video games to spaghetti westerns. You know, their music manages to be hypnotic and strange

and kind of blips and bloopsie, but also just oddly steady, even as the song kind of gets heavier and heavier. Yeah, you know, it's like you read my notes. I wrote all of that down. Almost the exact same thing. But that's because I've been listening to Tortoise for a really, really, really long time,

and all those guys were people that I saw around in the Chicago scene in the 90s as being really willing to insert themselves into any sort of configuration imaginable, right? Like, I mean, people talk about all the different like tortoise, like, breakoffs, but they themselves played in a lot of different things, which is probably why it's really difficult to put a thumb on who they are, what they are in the tortoise configuration. But one of the things listening to this album, I think about a lot, is one of my favorite

of their side projects. It was called Bumps 2007. They put it out on Stone's Throw. Oh, wow. It was a beat tape. It was a beat tape, yeah. And I think, I think it was very surprising for people who were expecting one thing out of them. And this album is weird because it is giving you some of the tracks, especially something like Promenade, I do. It feels like everything lovers love about tortoise. You know, very, very vibey. But at the same time, it is pushing sort of the paradigm of what tortoise is further.

And I love hearing an album of instrumental music by some of the most consistent musicians on earth. and still finding many different sounds to talk about and draw from, right? Like, there's a track on this record called Elka, which is, is like hard charging enough that you could imagine it on like the Tron-era soundtrack, you know, that's like nine-inch nails. So, you know, within this like wonderfully consistent band by some of the most proficient musicians you will ever hear, you're still hearing tons and tons of range. That is Tortus, their new eighth official.

studio album. First since 2016 is called Touch. Next up, we've got the new album from Daniel Caesar. It is called Son of Spurgy. Mr. Mr. God speaks to mental signs. Well, I think

I just seen mine is when I kissed her. I pictured her bringing forth life like Madonna and a child. No need. Just love. So, you know, this is another one.

I don't know if you all intentionally chose people who haven't put out records in a while. But there's been, it was 2023 the last time he put out something. But I think he really kind of came of age with work with her. Best part was a huge hit. I believe that was what, 2021, a number of other recordings. But this is his first full album in a couple of years. And I do feel like the world has changed. a little bit in that very short period of time,

and maybe thus this album feels like he is slightly different. But he's pulling from his background growing up, singing in the Fifth Adventist Church. His father was a gospel singer as well. There's just a lot in here to sort of dig through. There was also a short stint where he was kind of low-key canceled for... Basically what happened was he was advocating for a war. white female artist who's being accused of sort of appropriating black culture.

And he was like, well, you know, he just didn't agree with that premise. And then he kind of went deeper into it and talking about how he shouldn't be persecuted for saying what, you know, what's on his mind, essentially, even though it was low-key problematic. But just low-key problematic. It wasn't like high-key problematic. Yeah, this record feels in many ways like, the culmination of a lot of experiences and a lot of sounds. And, you know, you mentioned his father, Norwell Simmons, who's a gospel singer,

and he guests on the song Baby Blue. You know, he's bringing in a number of collaborators here, including his father, as well as, as we talked about with Brandy Carlisle, Justin Vernon from Boni Vair pops up. Boni Vair was definitely another recurring theme of, you know, new records that are out today. And Justin Vernon pops up in the song, Moon. and then later on in the song Sins of the Father, he's really conversant in a lot of different sounds here. The album is just full of, you know, I mean, back to the gospel,

opening up with this unapologetic gospel on Rangdown, which features, you know. Sampha. Yeah, yeah, and this lovely overdubbing, right? This overdubbing is something that he does a lot. It's also a constant companion here on this album. There's a lot of notes here, but I think the top note that I wrote down when I was listening to it is that there's like an attempt to get to a real spiritual place. That spiritual place comes up again and again. Gospel music comes up again and again, but he's also trafficking in this kind of new school, chopped up R&B, you know, that you hear from kind of bedroom R&B artists like Omar Apollo and

Rex Orange County and Dijon, you know, that feels like a very modern take on R&B, even as he's incorporating so many classic sounds at the same time. That's Daniel Caesar. His new album is called Son of Spurgy. 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, October 24th. But first, let's take a quick break. From NPR Music, it's New Music Friday.

I'm Stephen Thompson here with Ayanna Contreras from K-U-V-O in Denver. Before we get to our lightning round, we want to talk about one more record. It's by the artist Yasmin Lacey. Her new album is called Teal Dreams. When I was born about a fly, flew into the room. That's how I know I was born to do our dream is do. I'm a lover, I'm a chooser, and I choose to fight. They won't monetize my dreams inside my head tonight.

Somewhere between dreams and reality. So Yasminary at one black girl's dream I've been moving restless when I try to sleep Push us off what the ancestors try to say to me So Yasmin Lacey is a Londoner She began her singing career at the age of 27 Which to me, I think, gives her music A little bit more of a lived-in quality

That I think serves her really well This is her second album She's also put out several EPs It's the follow-up to her debut album voice notes And you really hear, you know, I've used this kind of this phrasing kind of again and again on this episode, very genre diverse, very rangy. You hear R&B, pop, ska, many different strains of Caribbean music. And I think all of that comes together really beautifully. You know, you hear a song like Love is Like the ghetto, you know, which has this duby feel that kind of brings the summertime to your autumn. I mean, to me it just sounds like London, which is that kind of mash of things. I think that polyrhythmic sort of British soul thing does often include all that stuff. Wallpaper is like lovers rock, like literally she's sitting on somebody's lap.

And I'm like, okay, I'm with you, Yasmin. Take me there. Take me there. But that's the thing about her lyricism, right? Like, it is. She's such a quintessential storyteller. Another song, Ain't I Good for You, is another one that I like a lot. It's got a touch of classic like 70s juju in it, which is like a very specific reference.

The precursor to Afro beats was like that sort of sound. But in general, it just feels very much like London to me, like my interpretation of what that space of that mashing of sounds and cultures and influence. I'm that sweet, that sauce, that taste that made your life better. I thought you my plan. You just get a lot of wonderful variation here. You have a song like No Promises, which to me I was just like, in my notes was like The Single? Question mark.

You know, just big, buoyant, hooky, layered song just feels very complete. And then you get a sparer song like Worlds Apart, you know, where you get these rich vocal harmonies kind of wooing in the background and this really pler. pleasing way. I think you put it really well, Ayanna. It sounds like London. You know, it sounds like a city that is itself a mash-up. We make plans, but we don't commit, week to re-favor it. I'm losing faith in it all. In the dune's for generation, we're starved of sensation. You reach out, I put up a wall. In this room, somehow where waltz apart. I don't know where. You know, another person, I would be remiss if I didn't. shout him out.

One of the, you know, collaborators on this album, Jack Paniate is actually one of... He's a person that you haven't heard from too much in America, but he's doing that thing in the UK for many years. Went to school with Jesse Ware,

did a whole lot of really cool projects, and everything is new, was an album he put out in 2009, and I will tell you, I never, ever, ever stopped listening to that record because it is 100% spectacular all the way through. That is Yasmin Lacey.

Her new album is called Teal Dreams. Now, Ayanna, you know as well as anyone. We could not possibly get to every great album out today, October 24th. So we wanted to do a lightning round of some of our other favorites. I'm going to kick us off with the singer Ile. She's a Puerto Rican singer who first became famous thanks to her work in the groundbreaking band Kaye Tresi. Ile went solo a few years ago, has gone on to huge success. Now she's releasing her fourth solo album, and it's something of a left turn. It's a collection of traditional

Latin American boleros, and as the concept itself suggests, the music is just wonderfully timeless. I's new album is called Como Las Canto Yo. So Natural Information Society is a band I've been familiar with for a long time, seeing them in unconventional spaces like galleries and junk shops, lands of misfit toys, so to speak. And this particular album, I feel like, harkens to that in that it's 35 minutes of expansive droning, experimentation, evolving into kind of like exciting jam. It's just really cool music.

Natural Information Society's album is called Perseverance Flow. The singer-songwriter Hannah Jadagoo put out a hugely promising debut album in 2023. It was called Aperture, and it marked her as a talented, incisive singer and lyricist. Now she's back with a terrific new record that finds her digging deeper and, I think, leveling up. The new album reflects on the strains, distance can place on a relationship, and she's working with a sonic power. that's gotten more varied and evocative, Hanna Jadagoo's new album is titled Describe. Another record that it was really notable to me is someone who was totally not on my radar. Heather, H-E-T-H-E-R, a debut album called Holy Water, which to me felt very much like

Laurel Canyon meets Lowriter meets Soul, and that is like all of my favorite things together. It's a beautiful connection of things. Heather's new album is called Holy Water. Finally, Hannah Jadagu isn't the only up-and-coming artist with a terrific new album about the strain of distance and separation. The indie rock duo Joyer's new record reflects on similar themes, while also like Hannah Jadagoo, expanding the boundaries and ingredients of their sound. Joyer is made up of two brothers who live in different cities,

and a sense of searching and alienation kind of pervades their slinky, catchy songs. Joyer's new record is called On the Other End of the Line. All right, well, Ianna, we do this thing at the end of every episode of this show, where, you know, we've all listened to a ton of music to get to this point out today, October 24th, where we pick our favorite song. What is the song from all of us listening that we are going to keep with us, kind of tuck into our pockets,

and carry with us for the rest of the year? What's your favorite song you heard this week? I'm going to say, I'm going to surprise myself and say Chaos by McGill. I love a good ballero. You know, a modern ballero that still has this darkness and, I don't know, it feels like a sip of mescal.

It's just really, really nice. I'm gonna go to me go. The song that at least is kind of radiating in my minding right now is the opening track on that Brandy Carlisle record that we talked about at the top of this show returning to myself. And just this idea that this artist who was just such a kind of prototypical collaborator, such a collaborator by nature. And the idea of somebody like that taking a moment where she's suddenly alone in a room and realizing that in that moment she doesn't know who she is, I think is a really powerful moment. It kicks off a record that I think works really beautifully.

Why is it heroic to one tether? How is a lonesome holy grail? And if we really come and go on, no, couldn't I find myself in jail? That is our show for this week and this release date, October 24th, 2025. Thank you so much, Ayanna Contreras, for taking time out of your week at KUVO in Denver. Thank you for rolling my R. I do my best. I do work for NPR. If you enjoyed this week's show, we always appreciate a positive review.

you 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. The executive producer of NPR Music is Soraya Mohamed. We'll be back next week to discuss new music with DJ Julie B from Marfa Public Radio in Texas. One more thing, we've got a new treat for all songs considered podcast listeners. It's hosted by my colleagues and Forever Friends, Ann Powers and Daoud Tyler Amin. You've heard. Both of them on All Songs Before, Anne is an NPR music critic and correspondent who writes for the NPR website and the NPR Music newsletter.

Daoud is an editor for NPR Music and also a wonderful musician in his own right. They'll be hosting this fun new series on Thursday every two weeks focusing on old songs, songs that have really stuck with us and why they've stood the test of time. We're giving you this first episode for free just a taste, so you get a feel for what they'll be like. After that, these episodes will just be for our NPR Music Plus supporters. NPR Music Plus is a great way to support all of our work here at NPR and across public radio. And you get to hear all of our episodes sponsor free. So sign up now at plus.npr.org slash NPR music to make sure you get access.

That's plus.npr.org slash NPR music. Thank you so much for your support. Until then, take a moment to be well, take some time off work if you can. I just did it and highly recommend it. And treat yourself to lots of great music. Until a soul returns to hold another's end and then. And only then it learns that life is like a stone. only skipping for a time

oh never really holds its own it'll never see the other side