NPR Music - New Music Friday: The best albums out Sept. 6

Episode Date: September 6, 2024

NPR Music's Daoud Tyler-Ameen and Ann Powers take you on a tour of the most exciting albums out Friday, Sept. 6Featured albums:• LL Cool J, 'The FORCE'• MJ Lenderman, 'Manning Fireworks'• Nala Sinephro, 'Endlessness'• The Dare, 'What's Wrong with New York?'• Toro Y Moi, 'Hole Erth'For the complete list of new albums out this week and to stream our New Music Friday playlist, visit https://npr.org/music.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

A quick heads up, this podcast contains explicit language. And it's September. I can't believe it. Back to school. Yeah. I felt the first little chill in the air today on the way to the office. When fall hits in Nashville, is there a visual tell? Like, can you look out your window and know that pumpkin spice season is starting?

Well, you know, the fields of bridesmaids thin out on Broadway. We have false fall. I don't know. Do you have that? Yes and no. I mean, I'm most interested, I think, in how different climates affect this question, because what really interests me, and I can tell you in the Northeast, this was definitely true, like my time in New York, less apparent in D.C., because a lot of people's jobs have a stricter dress code. But the thing that waves the flag for me is men's fashion in particular. Right, right. Like the George go away. Do you all call them George? I think so. I think that's acceptable nomenclature. I just, the same way that in the spring you see like all the brightly colored dresses coming out, maybe a little bit more revealing at the hem and the neckline. Yes, exactly.

That first day in September, when you see a lot of young men in striped scarves and coats with high collars, like you know what time it is. There's all these professional boys who've been waiting for months to be like, I finally get to be cute. I'm trying to think of like what the fashion tell would be down here. I mean, honestly, it's been such a ridiculously climate crisis driven hot oven of the summer that, that I guess what fall means is what summer should have meant, which is we can go sit on a patio and have a margarita or have a great dinner on a patio, which was honestly impossible for almost the entire summer. So that's what I did over the weekend. I haunted the patios of Nashville. It was very fun. One thing I can say for the music heads, now is when the earbuds maybe get tucked away and those big over-ear cans come out. That's the fall subway look.

I'm always about the cans. I'm 365, 24-7 cans. We salute. Well, why don't we talk about some of the music that might be playing in those headphones today? Hey, everyone. It's New Music Friday from NPR Music, here to talk about the best and most discussion-worthy albums out today, September 6th. I'm Daoud Tyler Mean here with critic and correspondent Anne Powers. A good day to you. Hello, Daoud. On today's show, we've got at least one artist whose name has been touted far and wide lately as the next big thing in certain music circles.

So a little later, we'll spend a little time thinking about how those moments happen, what the factors are, apart from just the quality of their music, of course, that coalesce around an artist to give them that spark of potential that people love to watch and discuss. us and make their own predictions about. But first, drum roll please. We are starting off today with a guy who was certainly the next big thing in his time and has come back to show us that he's still got the juice. Incredibly, we've got a new record by LL Cool J, produced top to bottom by Q-tip of a tribe called Quest. It is called The Force, and let's kick it off with Saturday Night Special.

So many different hustlers you meet in the game. Shit is coal on what you trust in them. Let me explain. The greedy killer, he want to fuck holes and get the money, but he quit the field disrespected. One slip of the tongue, wrong words selected. Bullets drilling in your melon when you least expected. Number one priority, self-preservation.

That applies the majority, different situations. The dead devil type. So, a couple of things bear saying right away. First, the force is apparently short for frequencies of real creative energy, which is just one of those very proudly unwieldy hip-hop acronyms. Like KRS-1 being knowledge reigns supreme over nearly everyone, which I remember hearing for the first time being like, nearly everyone, not everyone?

Because KRS-O-E wasn't really work. Number two, produced by Q-Tip also implies co-signed by Q-Tip. and these are guys who are, I mean, they're about the same age. We've talked about this on the show before. And it's not surprising to me at all that they're friendly with each other, that they have a lot of respect for each other. But they exist in pretty different realms in people's minds now. I think Q-Tip has sort of aged into a sage of sorts.

He has kept busy as a producer and sort of a production consultant. L.L. Cool, J., as much as he, you know, his recording career didn't end. in the 80s, has aged into a sort of broad, family-friendly, jack-of-all-trades, entertainment industry ambassador. Does that sound right? Yeah, well, totally. And there was a great detail in Melena Rizek's profile of El-O. Cool J that appeared in the New York Times recently. She was talking about the contrast between them during a joint interview. Q-Tip was sitting and eating very delicately eating a bowl of olives, while El O'Cool-Jay dipped into a saucy seafood dish.

So there you go. A complete Mediterranean meal on this album. So look, right away, there are some surprising elements here to me. I heard a lot about this record. People have been talking about it for months. The singles really lit people up and said, wow, this actually seems really interesting. The most interesting thing to me, just hitting play on this record, is that L.O. Cool J's persona, when he broke out in the 80s,

was as this brash, boastful kid, right? Yeah, battle rapper. Yeah. Battle rapper. Battle rapper. I don't care you tell. And charisma was his weapon. At first blush, here, it sounded to me like he was moving a little bit more like a street

rapper. Like there's gunplay lines. There's talk about violence and threats in vivid language. The whole record to me feels more like a reestablishing. of his bona fides. Yeah. Because he is one of the most important figures in the culture's history. It's easy to forget that due to the role that he's occupied for the last 25, 30 years.

I love the way you keep saying the role that he's occupied. Okay, he wasn't NCIS for like ever. He's an executive producer. We think of him as a television detective, you know, now. And no shame in that. Ice-T did the same thing. thing. But I will point out, though, just as far as the bona fides go, alongside his longstanding career in network television, he also has received some very impressive honors, including the Kennedy

Center honors a few years ago. Cahindi Wiley's painting of him is in the Smithsonian. And in fact, for all the street references, there's also a reference to that on this record. They're both here. So that's the thing that I think is coming into focus for me is I think I hear him saying, yes, I'm a founding father, but don't put me in a museum because I've never stopped listening and I've never stopped working. So this is a showcase to show you that like I can do street raps and I can do sex raps and I can do like Afrocentric like conscious rap. And I can go bar for bar with Eminem, who is also featured on this record doing the super fast polysyllabic thing. It's like I know I'm old school. I know I'm like the Grammys guy, but I'm an MC first and foremost. And please don't

forget that. Yeah. And Nas is on this record too. So, like, he's going for the most esteemed partners. Snoop Dog is also on this record. Snoop Dog is here. Bust is here. Um, sweetie's here. That song's a lot of fun. Yeah. It is a lot of fun, though. I thought, I have to say, like, at first, I raised my eyebrow. Is he actually doing a sex rap with a woman who is maybe younger than his own daughter? Fair enough. Just saying, you know, but, but, hey, all's fair in love. and hip-hop, right? It's all good, it's all good. It's a performance and it's, and it is a lot of fun. But I want to talk, too, about the production because it is really fascinating what Q-Tip has done with this voice we're so familiar with.

Look at mama, she's in the kitchen, she's swinging her hips and dipping the chicken and flour. She got the music is bumping. I smell the food in the oven while I two-step in the shower. We know what Ella Cool J. sounds like. Yeah. But setting his rhymes to these different musical beds. It's really interesting. There's like Black Code Suite, for example, which has LL rapping about his mom's cooking and then opening up into a chorus

about not forgetting, you know, where you came from. Then there's just this beautiful coda from the Gambian singer and chora player Sona Jibarte, which, you know, was completely unexpected to me. Yeah. Or like the electrofunk of Basquiat energy, which, you know, it's, hey, Basquiat, that's, that's, that's, that's,

LL cool J-Zero, right? It makes sense, you know? Yeah. But maybe a little before, actually. He's looking back to a slight elder. But that track is very forward-thinking, I think. I mean, Q-Tip is also at the top of his game here. He is.

I mean, Q-Tip is so well known for the jazz-inflicted stuff that he did for a tribe called Quest, but his later discography is, like, pretty eclectic. Like, he did two tracks on Watch the Throne. He's worked with Danny Brown. He's worked with Push-a-T. He's worked with Solange. And what I hear between the two of them, it actually reminds me a lot of Black Thoughts solo releases, the ones that he's made over the past couple of years with Ninth Wonder and Salam Remy and Danger Mouse, where they feel sort of like sparring sessions.

It's two participants who are sort of in peak condition who know each other's tastes and instincts and are testing one another to sort of see what the best is that they can get out of them. I think, you know, it's unlikely that, don't take this a wrong way, Ella Col J. But it's unlikely he's going to, any of these singles are going to go way up the charts, probably. I mean, it just doesn't really happen for artists at this point in their career. But it's interesting to me that he's got a tour that's been happening, right? That also is called The Force. And this seems like the perfect vehicle to sort of support that return to the hip-hop stage as well.

For sure. I'm sure those shows are so much fun. I'd love to see one of those shows. And I think this is maybe the kind of record that gets him back into the barbershop conversation, which is maybe the most important place to be in hip-hop. Absolutely, absolutely. That is The Force by a resurgent L.L. Cool J. Anne, what's next?

Well, as you said, there's a bright new star, a bright young star, and the indie rock firmament. And his name is Jake Lenderman. He goes by M.J. Lenderman. So this isn't his first record. This is actually his fifth record under his own name, and he's also released five albums with the band Wednesday, but this new album, Manning Fireworks, is truly a breakthrough for Lenderman. So who is Jake Lenderman? He's a 25-year-old guitarist, singer and songwriter from Asheville, North Carolina,

definitely a Southern rocker, and just as much an indie rocker, those things are not contradictory. any more than it's contradictory to be Southern and a punk or Southern and a Progressive or any of those things. But on this album Manning Fireworks, Lenderman really perfects his songwriting and his band is on fire. The album is loose and fierce at the same time. So much energy on this record. I just absolutely love this record.

I mean, he truly is being anointed. There's been major media coverage features in the New York Times. The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, etc. And indie fans on social media have been declaring this the album of the year since the day the promo became available for anyone to listen to. So I think Manning Fireworks is going to do very well in year-end lists, and it's just marking a new phase for Jake Lunderman in his career.

Which is interesting because the character of this record, it struck me over and over that what I was hearing was sort of a catalog of solitude. It's a lot about different kinds of sadness and the sort of mundane details that accompany them. That's sort of a crew meaning because of that emotional state. Did that ring out for you? Well, it's interesting, though, because I hear what you're hearing, and a lot of people have been hearing this. I mean, Amanda Petrusich and The New Yorker talked about the songs as being a... about people at bottom, you know, hitting rock bottom.

Will Hermes brought up the idea of toxic masculinity as a theme running through the record. But I think it's a little more complicated than that because one of the things that makes Lenderman a special songwriter, I think. And why I do think, although, you know, he's very young still and it's, this is such a cliche to even say this, but why I do think he's worth mentioning in the same breath as John Prine, which everybody, many people are saying right now, is that his songs are very tricky. On the one hand, they are full of pathos.

Like the song we just heard, it's called On My Knees. There are lines throughout the record about, you know, in the title track, you know, he's singing about just a guy who's hanging around in his friend group or whatever. And he says, you once was a baby and now a jerk, standing close to the pyre manning fireworks. Now, I love that because we've all known. own that guy, right? Like the guy who's going to start something. You just know he's going to start

something pretty soon. So these characters are there, but then there's also so much wordplay and so much kind of like surrealism in these songs that there's a distance as well. And I don't think it's confessional particularly, although it is true that you can read some of these songs as confessional because Lenderman and his former girlfriend, Carly Hartzman, who's also in Wednesday recently broke up. And there's definitely some songs about breakups. on this record. But she's also on this record. She sings on several of the songs, including a song called She's Leaving. I know. Which is very heartbreaking. But even in that song, again, you never know exactly what the

perspective is. And I think that's one of the most interesting things about him as a writer. No, I agree. I mean, She's Leaving You is the one that's stuck with me the most because it starts with a very clean, strummed guitar. that to me felt almost clumsy and kind of awkward and naked. Right. And then comes the opening line, you can put your clothes back on. She's leaving you. Right, exactly.

Now, is he singing to himself, about himself? Is he observing that? I was interested to hear from him that the song Wristwatch, which is another song very much about loneliness, you know. It's a guy singing about all his possessions. I have a compass and a cell phone at a wristwatch that tells me, I'm alone, although it actually says, tells me you're alone. This song is about Andrew Tate. Oh, really? Yeah. The, I think it's fair to say, a misogynistic edge lord of the internet,

Andrew Tate. So again, like, is there an element of confessionalism here? Is it tender young Jake Linderman singing this song, or does he have a totally different character in his mind? I think that's what's so interesting about this record. Yeah. Observational. is maybe a better word. And also musically, as you were just pointing out, the sound and the arrangements are very shambolic to use an often coined term describing indie rock. The guitar lines weave in and out.

The drums are tight but loose at the same time somehow. The fiddle that's not quite in tune. Right. And all weird instruments that are modified. There's all these weird instruments mentioned in the credits. And Lenderman's singing. I had a little moment of revelation. the other day. I was listening, I'm like,

he sings like a guitarist, you know. I think this is what Neil Young also does and why Lenderman's earning comparisons also to Neil Young. His melody lines are like guitar lines, and they kind of weave in and out all the other elements in a very prismatic

way. Well, we're going to have the chance to return to this record a little later on in the show. So why don't we leave it there for now? That is Manning Fireworks by MJ Lenderman. We need to take a quick break. We'll be back with more new music, in just a minute. Hey, we're back. Our next record is by Nala Senefro, and it is called Endlessness. Nalusinephro is a harp player, and she's from a few places geographically and artistically.

She was born and raised in Belgium. Her father is from Martinique in the Caribbean. She studied briefly at Berkeley College of Music in Boston. She left after like a year, I think, move to London, tried her hand at music school again, but where she finally found her people and where I think her career kind of begins in earnest is in the UK jazz scene, particularly an artist collective called Steam Down, which includes Shabaka Hutchings and, notably here, the saxophonist Nabaya Garcia, who is all over this record and is sort of a secret star here the way that M.J. Lenderman was for Waxahatchie on her album earlier this year. I know we didn't mention it. Oh, my gosh. I totally forgot to mention that. Well, we'll talk more about that later.

Yeah. So, why don't we hear a little bit of a track that features Garcia? This is Continuum 1. By the way, every song on this album is called Continuum. It's Continuum and the track number, which says a little something to me about, I suppose, the endlessness that is advertised by the title. Here's a thought. Nalus and Efro's main instruments are harp and modular synth, which I've never thought of as analogs before, but it says something to me that as this album starts, I struggle a little to tell which instrument I'm hearing at any one time. Is it a synth patch that's dialed in to sound kind of harp-like,

or is it a harp that is filtered and distorted to be kind of synth-like? The other thing is that some of the instruments here are sort of bent to the logic of others in the ensemble. Like, I think a lot of modular music, it gets its texture from sequences of notes that are rhythmically simple, but they're playing in multiple time signatures at once or they're changing time signatures over time. And you get this polyrhythmic effect that can be very hypnotic because you're hearing familiar phrases return over. and over again, but you can't really tell where they begin and end because they're all sort of staggered in intervals that are hard for the brain to count along to. So I hear the synths doing that on this album, but also the harp and also the drums and also the saxophone. And it's weirdly

satisfying, I think, to hear these sort of organic, earthy sounds be drawn into a logic that's a little bit mathematical. Well, how do you think it serves her theme, which is rather grand, I have to say. It is an endlessness, the notes for this album say, is a deep dive into the cycle of existence, which is that could encompass anything. I can really only speak to the images that this thing conjures in my mind. So continuum eight, it's this series of beeps that anchors. that anchors it.

They have a noise layer, I guess you can say, that thing that synthesizers can do that sounds a little bit like a snare drum. And all I kept thinking was there is a sentient feeling to this. It feels like the beeps are like a little jellyfish in a nature documentary. Interesting, interesting.

Kind of a Holly Hernden vibe, maybe. We've got the machines coming to life on this album. I mean, I will note, though, that the saxophones really jumped out for me rounding this album in jazz in a way that I didn't expect. When I saw the title and kind of read the mission statement for the album, I actually thought it was going to be closer to kind of new age or ambient music. And it's not like that at all.

I mean, there is definitely a lot of ensemble playing and strong jazz elements. Yeah, totally. But I think you're right there that it's, I mean, ambient jazz is what you would slot it under if somebody twisted your arm to choose one or the other. But I think that like we were

saying before, you have a collection of instruments that you wouldn't necessarily think of as natural allies to make this kind of music. But because each of them are sort of fluent in the other's rules and logic, they can be summoned to cooperate

in a way that does feel kind of natural. that does feel kind of organic, that feels like it has a little bit of natural geometry to it, let's say. Yeah, well, in that way, it does fit in with what's going on in that scene. Yeah. You know, also, I think Shabaka Hutchings' move toward flute music, also takes him toward the realm, even more so of spiritual jazz, ambient jazz. One of my favorite people connected to that scene, Zara McFarlane, you know, in the past,

she's a vocalist, and she does straight jazz. I mean, she does Saravan-style jazz, but she's also worked with loops and experiments, you know, electronic experimental music. So that scene seems to really welcome hybrid forms. And that's what we have here in a really beautiful way. That is Endlessness by Nalusinephro, a really beautiful record. Let's go somewhere very different. Anne, what's next? Oh, yeah.

And maybe you want to tell me, what's wrong with New York? Well, I guess you'll have to ask one. Harrison Patrick Smith, who makes music under the name The Dare, and who also, like Jake Lenderman, is kind of wearing the newly minted crown of the next big thing, although in a very different scene. Smith is 28. He's from the Pacific Northwest, and he started his musical career making kind of Twee synth pop of the Owl City variety under the name Turtle Nicked

and if like for example if you listen to the song Kiss Cam which is all about getting up the guts to kiss your girlfriend I think at a sporting event while the camera is on you that is about as different from this album what's wrong with New York

as you can get. This album is about being trashed, being on the prowl knocking over garbage cans when you're walking around in the West Village, you know, being in a sweaty club where nobody keeps their clothes on, putting something on your tongue that might cause an altered state. Yeah. You know, this is a great New York tradition, of course.

And the dare sounds very much like New York artists of the past, of the recent past, right? Like, who am I talking about? Well, it's an interesting thing because I don't know how much I want to indulge the idea of indie slees. I'm putting that in big quotes. I thought you were going to say indulge the idea of the dare being an LCD sound system cover band or tribute band. Because they sound an awful light like it. Obviously I hear James Murphy in this vocal affect.

Which sort of made me think, hmm, what was James Murphy riffing on? What's the common denominator for that style? But it's, I mean, we were talking last week about, we were talking last week about art rock. Right. And we were saying that there's a little bit of a know it when you see it vibe to it. Yeah. And, you know, in the same way, I don't know if it's just because I have firsthand memories of it. But the atmosphere that you're describing where it's neon colors and flash photography and, you know, it's, if you can think of like a dirtier version of the video for Lady Gaga's,

just dance. It's like, that's the, the mood and the era that's being evoked. Or the cover of Lizzie Goodman's book, Meet Me in the Bathroom. Yeah. Or just the phrase, Meet Me in the Bathroom. Exactly. It's basically what this record is all about. Now, I did live through this era as a young person in New York. A lot of it just made me feel bad about myself. But there was some good and fun music that came out of it, too. And thinking a little bit more broadly because it's not just New York. You know, you've got, I mean, listen, it's what else is in the Teaches of Peaches? Right. No, for sure. I mean, actually, I have to say, Harrison Patrick Smith himself has said, you know, I hate the term Indy Slee's, even though maybe I coined it or I'm associated with it.

I prefer Electro-Clash revival or dance punk revival, which does broaden it include people like Peaches or can't say this are sexy, you know, other artists from around the world. Yeah. Which brings to mind, it's what is this sound? Forget the associations of the time. Like, what is it that we actually hear here? To me, it is synthesizers that sound the way that zine art looks. It's this corroded Angular. Copy of a copy kind of sound. Yeah, for sure. And there is a rawness to it. It is like drum machines that are playing beats that are rhythmically simple, even if they're loud and pummeling. They're not complicated and synth sounds that are really raw and sort of unrefined. And the trick that I think the best electro-clash pulled, your peaches and whatnot, is that it made

that unrefined sound feel intentional. It did not feel like an amateur's mistake. It felt sort of like a deliberate provocation, right? Yeah, and it's sort of a comment on itself as well. And I think that's a huge part of what the dare is doing or what he's doing. as the Dare. And I should say, you know, the Dare has some major fans, right? I mean, Charlie X-C-X had Smith produce one of her tracks on Brat, and now there's a remix of that track with Billy Eilish. Smith has been, you know, he has a club night called Frequencies that all the beautiful people attend. He's part of Fashion Week, et cetera, et cetera. So he has definitely been embraced by a certain kind of glitterati.

Yeah. For me, when I first heard this record, I thought, oh, my God, this is so obnoxious. But then when I returned to it and I saw it as comic, not comical, I'm not saying I wasn't laughing at it, but I was laughing with it as I saw the humor in it. And I really focused on the humor and the distance that he kind of builds into the mix, even as he's sheds. doubting in your face, you know. It's loud and confrontational, but it's also, it's also very studied. This is extremely studied. And his lyrics are offensive.

Some people have found them to be misogynist, but they're also, like, kind of hilarious, honestly. What I can say is if you're puzzled by it at first, like the song Girls, which is, that's kind of his big, you know, breakthrough song. That's his hit. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It feels like there's this specific kind of, you know, horny personality that he's, that he's aiming to channel. and you might connect with that or you might not. You might find it repellent. But if you stick with it,

I think this record actually gets a lot better in the second half because it starts to feel less like a performance of an idea and more like an artist's compositions sort of in the idiom of a style they admire. There's a song called All Night that is in some places almost like a black eyed peas song where he's just shouting the names of different cities. But I realized over time I was like, I kind of dig this song and I can't, I'm not sure what it is. And I think what it is is that it's like it has dynamics. It has a real arrangement. It has pacing. It has some breaks from the onslaught. And it shows that he's, you know, he's maybe a little more than just that one note. Yeah. And I will even defend girls. You know, I'm just going to do it because maybe they'll take away my, you know, my feminism membership card or whatever. But what I kind of like, about that song is basically the caveman message of that song is like, I like all kinds of

girls, every kind of girl. And some of the ways he describes women in that song are offensive. Sure. But some of them are just silly and contradictory. And I don't have a problem with it because in a weird way, it's like so inclusive. That seems a wrong word to use. But I think I know what you mean. there is a weird honesty to it, even in its abrasiveness. I don't know for honesty or inclusiveness or like, this is a record that I could imagine some kid, you know, in, I don't know, San Diego hearing and suddenly being like, oh, my God, I could put on a skinny tie and I could be lush, and then they go on to discover all

those other people that Smith is referencing. And he does musically, and even lyrically, he's building. in all these interesting references. I mean, Charlie X-C-X, her comment on him is that he's going to be a really big producer. And I think in that, he's very much like Jack Antonoff. Interesting. You know, I mean, Bleachers is a concept. You know, bleachers is a band, but it's also a concept. And the dare is a concept. It's a persona. It's a piece of performance art, one that we've seen before, but he's put his all into it. And the complexity of what he's doing, with this seemingly simplistic sound in stance,

I think there's potential for when he's working with others, for him to do some really inventive, creative work. And I just have to say one other thing. I love this song perfume. It's such a goofy song. I have some people in my life who are obsessed with perfume. I have some friends who are very into perfum. And perfume is like this total social media phenomenon now.

You know, to me, it's all about like how 11-year-olds are going into Sephora's across the nation and trashing them, trying every single kind of makeup, trying every single kind of cologne or perfume they can find because social media is telling them to do that. And this goofy song about perfume captures the chaos of tweens running rampant in every mall in America going through every sample of Gucci. Laura that's out there. It's a horror movie waiting to happen, but it's a funny one. Wow. Terrifying. That is what's wrong with New York by the Dare. One more before we got on to our lightning

round. A new record by Toroie Mois called Whole Earth. It's not spelled like it sounds. That is H-O-L-E-R-T-H. And why don't we start off with the surprise of this record for me, Hollywood, one, Ben Gibbard. Help me out. I'm in Hollywood. So Toroimwa is the performing name of Chaz Bear, who, for a lot of people, is synonymous with a particular moment in the, say, late 2000s, early 2010s.

The name that we in the media gave it was Chill Wave. Sorry for that. I think the artists associated with it, you thought emo bands hated being called emo. I think these artists much hated that name. I mean, it's kind of like hearing, like if your Beach Boys tape melted. There's this... That's a good description. I like that.

There's this air of summer fun, but it's kind of slowed down and warped in this way that made it feel very melancholy. The song, Feel It All Around by Washed Out, better known as the Portlandia theme music, is probably the most enduring text from this moment. So this record, Whole Earth, does not really sound like. It has some of those elements. It's a very mood-heavy record. It's very steeped in effects that kind of warble and warp the textures. The thing that it evokes most to me, and I, this is weird to say, but I promise I mean it as a compliment, is emo rep.

The thing that we called emo rap in the late 2010s. I don't know. Does that resonate at all? Completely resonates. That's exactly what I thought too. And it hasn't Chasbair done a lot with a lot of people in that world? He's done a ton of production, yeah. Right, right.

Just to be clear, we're talking about this, another weird microgenre, more of a 2010's thing, where distorted guitars were brought into the hazy, vibe, hip-hop that was proliferating on SoundCloud at the time. And as in that world, you've got a wild mix of features here. You've got some of hip-hop's favorite weirdos in Kevin Abstract and Don Tulliver. You've got Glave from the,

the hyperpop camp. And probably most notably, you've got Ben Gibbard from Death Cab for Cutie, whose influence, I think I hear, tucked into corners throughout this album. It's a lot of the guitars and rhythms that that band made their signature sound, but just kind of stretched and blown out beyond recognition.

Yeah, I think Chris Walla would like this record, too. The guitarist and, of course, one of the main architects of the Death Cab for Cutie sound. Yeah. I wondered if on this song Hollywood, it seemed for a minute like Ben Gibbard was just going to be limited to singing backup on the hook, which would be kind of hilarious. It would have been pretty funny. But then his voice comes in in that pure, beautiful, Bill-like Ben Gibbard way, you know. It reminded me, actually, there's an old Death Cap song called Why You'd Want to Live Here, which is about feeling hopelessly anxious and out of place in Los Angeles.

and it feels like he's returning to that same anxiety here. That's very true. This record does some interesting things with nostalgia. You're kind of framing it in a way that makes me want to talk about nostalgia, you know, harkening back to these earlier styles. And there's a song, CDR where he talks about all the technology that we've left behind. You know, I remember burning CDRs and going to Kinko's, you know, to hold my CDRs. And there's a line, Blackberry Days, I would talk.

to anyone and just put that big old clunky Blackberry in my hand when I heard that song. It's also a striver story, right? Yes, it is. I took that as a song about being just broke and luckless on tour. Yeah, completely. And like a lot of the songs on this record, I was reminded a little bit of some of the genre travels that 100 Gecks have made in the past year. Speaking of the dare, I should have mentioned that those guys are buds, by the way. Yeah.

100 gecks and the dare. I mean, it's, it doesn't surprise me in the slightest. Of course, of course. But where it's, they are, they are dipping into these, these styles that are maybe not home base, but there is a real genuine love to them. The, the way that, like, Edgar Wright couldn't have made, you know, hot fuzz if he hadn't seen a million, you know, Michael Bay movies and watched, you know, point break on a porch somewhere, you know. It's like, you know, when people are dealing in pastiche, it winds up being so much more interesting if it comes out of genuine appreciation for the things that they're borrowing from. That's such a great observation, making me think about that initial reaction I had to the dare where I was like, oh, this is too much, I can't take it. Whereas this record, I just floated in, you know, I mean, I just lay back and let it take over.

And it's not just that it is a more gentle sound. there is something about the tenderness that these songs somehow convey. And yeah, just a kind of almost like a little bit of philosophical bent to the way he builds his sound. Yeah, totally. He seems to know where he came from, for sure. Yeah, exactly. That is Whole Earth by Toroimo, but that is not it for new releases this week. Here is a real quick spin through some of the other records coming out today. And do you want to start?

Yeah, I'm very excited to say that the uncategorizable English band The The Vehicle for Songwriter Matt Johnson has released its first album in 25 years. It's called Insolment and it is a tour to force of expansive, emotional, theatrical, political, post-punk cabaret rock. This is a super immersive experience. Highly recommend it. Those who are looking for up-and-comers in the pop scene might want to check out Jesse Murph. Jesse Murph is a 19-year-old from Athens, Alabama. She got her start on TikTok, but has risen to prominence with her own songs through a mixtape she released called Drowning, and in duets and features that she's done with people ranging from jelly roll to diplo. She's kind of the female post-Malone in a way.

She's post-genre working in Amy Winehouse vibe in cowboy boots, and she's releasing her album called That Ain't No Man, That's the Devil. And from a post-genre Nashvilleian to a full-on straight-up country legend, George Strait has a new record out, the Texas Country Giant, retired from traditional touring more than a decade ago. But he continues to occasionally release albums and Cowboys and Dreamers' name of his new album. This is his 31st studio album and features, I know, insane, and features a Chris Stapleton duet and a Whalen Jennings cover alongside plenty of

Straits classic country stylings. Also out today, free energy by the band Dummy. Luck and Strange by David Gilmore of Pink Floyd. Born Horses by Mercury Rev. Infinite icon by Paris Hilton, the heiress with the most. I've been waiting. I've been waiting. Thank you, Paris, for coming back.

As well as Fred again, the English super producer with two periods in his name, certainly one of the biggest stories in electronic music of the past year. He's back with a new album today. His fourth LP is called 10 Days. And speaking of musicians with momentum, stick around for a discussion of what turns a new or rising artist into a next big thing. How do those anointings happen?

And what do they mean? That's coming up after this. Welcome back to New Music Friday for September 6th, 2024. And in the first part of the show, we spoke about the new album from M.J. Lenderman, which I know has been pinging on your radar for a bit. Not just because you're a fan of his projects, but because there was this sort of sense of gathering excitement around him. Can I ask what tip to you that he might be headed for a little bit of a star moment with this one? Well, Jake Lenderman's been headed for the star moment for a long time.

time in the circles where I travel. First of all, Wednesday has become a beloved band among fans of not only indie rock, but also Americana music. They're known for their great live shows. And Jake Lenderman's guitar playing is a huge part of that alongside Carly Hartzman's fantastic skills as a frontwoman and a songwriter. So already he was beloved from being part of that band. then in 2022 he released an album called Boat Songs that made a lot of critics lists and including lists of some of our colleagues and former colleagues. Like I know Marissa LaRousseau was the one who's like, you got to check out this record. On top of that, then he released this live record that did really well and people loved his live show. All of those things were adding up. So it's never just one

release, I think. There's always a trail you can follow to get to this point. And then right at the beginning of 2024, Katie Crutchfield, i.e. Waxahatchee, released this single called Right back

to it, which is a duet with Jake Lenderman. Yeah. And it is just a killer song. It's beautiful. Their interplay

on the song is gorgeous. And it was the Harbinger of what was to come on her great album, Tiger's Blood, which is a peak for her career.

Yeah. And Jake is all over that record, too. So now he's collaborating with Waxah Hatchie. He already had a relationship with Patterson Hood and the drive-by truckers who are a huge inspiration to Wednesday and to him. So he has the approval of his elders or his elder brothers and sisters, you know. So he has that. He had all these great releases and both with Wednesday and

on his own. And all of that kind of, you know, we're throwing ingredients in the pot, right? and it's simmering, it's starting to smell delicious, it's starting to smell great, and I think just everyone was ready for this breakthrough from him. Also, I think there was a space for him to occupy, a particular space, which is this songful but raucous style of rock and roll that is beloved by now multiple generations. So MJ Linderman has fans his own age. He has many fans who are quite a bit older than him. as well. As people who are longing for the return of pavement who are

wax nostalgic about Dinosaur Jr., they're also excited about Jake Lenderman and Truckers fans. I mean, you know, this is a band that's touring right now for the 30th anniversary of its record, Southern Rock Opera, and they have a massive fan base, and

they all love Jake Lenderman too. So it's this appeal he has to multiple generations makes a big difference, too. So if I can derive from that, some of the elements that make a next big thing, you've got a sort of scene-stealing role in a lot of other people's projects, you know, kind of killing it in the background. You've got important cosigns, whether from collaborators or just, you know, respected elders, and you've got the feeling of filling a vacant role, a moment where there is a perceived absence of the thing

that this person does. Yeah, I kind of want to throw in here, although I also want to take it back the minute I say it, but I want to say it, which is also he's a dude. He appeals to dudes. Sure. There's been a ton of memes about how, you know, dudes who like indie rock are so, so happy to have a male-fronted band at the fore again. Now, look, I also want to say, I think, I think this record has, it speaks to me whatever, you know, as a woman, as a person beyond gender. I do not think he is the spokesperson for dudes, even though maybe he sometimes calls himself the spokesperson for dudes. But I do think for, you know, that's another gap he's filled. Yeah.

Well, maybe by way of comparison, we should look at some non-dudes. Because, let's do it. I mean, in the span of this year, we've gone from, you know, maybe feeling like we didn't have a ton of new stars on the horizon to now feeling like we've just got a ton of them. This week, Sabrina Carpenter's short and sweet is the number one record in the country and three singles from it are in the top five, top four, actually. Yeah. Beyond that, when we were getting ready to talk about this, a name that kept ringing out was Chapel Rhone. Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. have to talk about Chaparone in this context of next big things. So how do you think that those

elements play into her story? Because that is somebody who has been simmering for a while too. The the songs of hers that are doing gangbusters this year mostly came out last year. But it seems like she, her team, her label, whoever, have been able to recognize an opening for her. Does that seem fair? Yeah, well, when you first were saying, what do you think about her? I didn't know if you meant Sabrina Carpenter or Chapel Rohn. And in fact, the first thing I want to say applies to both of them, which is like Jake and Linderman, they've been making music and releasing music for a while. I think it's very important to say all of these artists we're discussing have had time to figure out who they are. You know, they feel brand new, but they've taken the time to

hone their stees, you know, to hone their, hone their superpower, whether it is, you know, beautifully shambolic indie rock or shiny, delightful, sex positive pop, or amazing, anthemic queer pop. That's Chapel Rhone, that last one. They've taken the time to get there. And this is always the secret behind the next big thing. It's never truly a new thing. Very, very rarely is it a new thing, especially. in 2024.

Mm-hmm. You told me something about how part of Chapel Roan's deal was, sorry, not her deal like in the Seinfeld way, but her record deal was an assurance that they would work her songs as singles, even though a lot of the, you know, the catchyer ones, the ones that we know the best now, were out already. Am I getting that right? Yes. there's a great piece that ran in hits the trade magazine by Craig Marks that is an oral history

of the rise of Chapel Rhone. He interviewed everyone involved in her career, her ANR people, her producers, Dan Nygro, who is her main songwriting collaborator, and talking about how they, you know, they went from a not very good position at all, which was that she had been dropped by her record label to this moment we're experiencing now. One thing that really stood out to me was something that Dan Nygros said about why they signed to Island Records. He said that his pitch to the A&R guy was that this is not a linear album. We have put out a lot of singles already. They had already released a ton of the songs that we're thinking of as 20-24 hits. Like Pink Pony Club, for example, had been out in 2020, that song came out. Yeah, I remember. But what Niagara is saying is that

we made sure that the record label would work those older songs, you know, and nurture their success as much as any new song. But then releasing Good Luck Babe, which is a 2024 song, was also key. They needed to have this kind of singular moment that was marking the threshold, you know, marking the new phase, and then have the willingness of the label to work all the other stuff and promote it to radio and get it out there. And it's just, again, I'm going back to my redoubt. ridiculously simple and stupid stew metaphor. It's like all the ingredients had to, you know, have equal

flavor in the stew to make it palatable to everyone. Yeah. I mean, they really seem to be attuned to the moments when interest in her was swelling and timing seems so important to this. I feel like this conversation wouldn't be complete if we didn't talk about an example of where that maybe didn't go so well. I feel so bad beating up on poor ice spice, but she's, She is the Rolling Stone cover star in September, and it just feels like a bad place to be after the summer that she's had. Our colleague Sheldon Pierce wrote very ably about this a couple of weeks ago, basically identifying all of the things that felt so thrilling and fun and sort of loaded with potential

energy about Ice Spice in the first year of her run. The Munch Single, the Like EP, and just a certain... attitude and a certain voice that felt like it was filling a void, that felt like it was filling a role that just like nobody was doing quite the way that she was. And then it seemed as though she grew in stature and visibility as a celebrity faster than her music catalog could really catch up with. So in the summer of 2024, we get this record Y2K that feels a little bit slight that feels kind of mixtapey. It's

quite short, which, you know, is okay. But after all of that buildup and after all of those, you know, shots of her sitting next to Taylor Swift in a box at a football stadium, you sort of hope for something that's really going to land.

And it feels like she didn't. Well, on the one hand, I want to attribute this to timing. It's always timing. Yeah. You know, it's not necessarily the product or the artwork. It's about how does the artwork interface with the culture or, you know, with all of us, with the public. And with Ice Spice, I think maybe they just took a little too long to get that record out. Yeah.

You know? If that record had come out last fall. Right. I think we would have felt very differently about it. Yeah. And it's funny how I think even critics don't necessarily respond to things in a pure way. I mean, I definitely think critics don't respond to things in a pure way. We are part of the hype cycle, too, you know, whether we live.

like it or not, and we're sucked in. And with each of the records we're talking about, aside from Ice Space, with the Sabrina Carpenter record, with MJ Lenderman's record, and with Chapel Rones, I mean, they're great records. I think every single one of them is going to stand up. And not just at the end of this year. I think they're going to stand up over time. But it's also exactly when they came out, you know, exactly when they hit. And I guess in Chapel Rone's case, it's not exactly when the album came out, but it's exactly when her live shows hit fever pitch. It's about, I mean, she was the story of the summer because she was filling massive fields with fans that people didn't expect, you know, people in the industry didn't expect that. So I don't know,

timing is this kind of ineffable thing. You can't really predict it. You don't know where the culture is going, you know. Maybe Ice Spice was partly, in a sense, undermined by people getting sick of Taylor. Could be, yeah. No, there's an over-exposure is a killer here. Yeah, but also it's a strange moment for hip-hop, I think. Like, what's the hip-hop story of the summer? What's the rap story of the summer? And it wasn't necessarily the best time to be a rapper in September, August, July,

20-24. You know what I mean? That's an interesting question, yeah. I mean, it's funny. We talked about the Dochi record. last week. I was about to call it an album, but it's not. It's ostensibly a mix tape. Where I just like, you and I were sitting there being like, this is insane. This is some of the, so great. So great. It's like, you know, it's really like technically accomplished. It's so much fun.

She's so funny. Right. Right. And why aren't, why isn't that one of the records of the most, you know, I mean, I have seen some people saying, hey, you've got to listen to this record, like some, some writers, some people on social media, but it's not, it's not hyped up like these other records we're talking about, these other artists were talking about. seems precisely like the kind of person who could be teed up for a next big thing kind of moment. And it just hasn't quite happened for her yet. And it's extra interesting because I feel like this sort of launch pad story, it's big in hip hop. I mean, think about Tupac. Tupac had his verse on same song by Digital Underground. That was the first time a lot of people heard of him.

And everyone was like, who is this kid? The Chronic, you know, Snoop Dog is kind of the star of the chronic more than Dr. Drey is. And even Chance the rapper being on Ultralight Be. at the beginning of 2016. A couple of months before coloring book came out, but man, oh man, people were so excited. So you're saying that Dochi needs a launch pad, like she needs to do an amazing feature. Or something.

Maybe that's not the way it's done anymore. I don't know how you can listen to that record and not think of her as a star. Well, I'm glad you brought that up because as much as I absolutely adore Manning Fireworks, I really do. It made me think of one of my favorite shambolic singer-songwriter who's the guy's name is John Craigy, and he's from the West Coast. He's been around Portland,

Oregon area for a long time. He's now 44 years old, and he, like Jake Lenderman, writes these very poetic, very evocative songs. He's a pillar of his community, of the West Coast folk scene. He's beloved by his audiences. He's known for his hilarious shows, his hilarious performances, and yet he cannot catch a break on the national level. I mean, nobody's ever even heard of this guy, I feel like, sometimes. And I've tried to champion him. But why is that? And I thought about it. It's like geography also matters, right? I mean, it can also matter. Sure. Like Wednesday and being from Asheville, North Carolina, there's a lot of amazing music coming out of North Carolina lately, being close to Nashville, you know, having that connection to,

although, you know, they don't spend a lot of time here, but just there's a connection there, I feel like. There's a lot of energy kind of in that part of the South and the Mid-South right now. Some of it also has to do with the desire for the artists have to say the willingness of the artist to participate. John Craigie seems to have no interest in participating in becoming famous. I don't even know if he's ever had a publicist. saying, you know, but whereas as shy and sweet and lovely as he seems, and I've never met him in person, but Jake Lenderman has been doing a ton of interviews. So yeah, he's in the New Yorker. He's in the New York Times, etc. You also have to be willing to grease the wheels a little bit. And that's an interesting thing

about Chapel Rhone because she tried to pull back a little bit. You know, she made that statement, I don't like the way the fans are treating me. I, myself, the person, am not the character. you see on stage. But that was so fascinating to me because really can she pull back at this time? Is it possible for her to pull back? It's going to be interesting to see how things unfold for her if she's starting to feel like she wants to resist getting sucked into the machine that is, you know, mainstream pop success. Yeah. I mean, I think the immediate future is the thing to watch for all of the people that we're talking about. Because that's the thing about a next big thing. It's the nextness of it.

Part of the reason that we love these stories is because these are people who have tons of potential, but they're just a little bit unproven. They are teetering on the edge of something much bigger. And they have a lot of decisions to make in a very short stretch, and a lot is going to depend on those. And that's why I feel confident about Jake Lenderman. And it's also why I feel confident about Sabrina Carpenter, because as different, as they are, they both in their own way are experiencing success that is a culmination, not a beginning. It's actually the culmination of many years of work and exploration and great music. And I think if you are in that position when you become the next big thing,

you're in the perfect position. With Chaparone, I am really hopeful, but it's a little more scary because even though she, you know, we relentlessly hear, well, she's been in the end of for 10 years. She hasn't been at this level or even anywhere near this level. I mean, she, you know, she had rocket engines on her glitter boots and she just shot, shot up. And that messes with your equilibrium in a way that I think the other artists were talking about, they're more ready. Even, we haven't even talked about Shibusi, but he's another one. Like, he'd been making music for quite a while before he had his breakthrough. So I feel more confident about those artists who've had some time to become who they are before they become the next big thing.

Why don't we go out with Shibuzzi? A lot of the world heard him for the first time on Cowboy Carter earlier this year. Now he is the one person keeping Sabrina Carpenter from number one on the Hot 100. Let's listen to a bar song. My baby, Bono Berkey, she's been telling me all night long. Gasoline and gross. That is the list goes on and on It's 9 to 5 ain't work

Why the hell do I work so hard I can't worry about my problems I can't take them when I'm gone One here comes to two to the three to the four Tell them bring another round we need plenty more Two stepping on the table she don't need a dance floor Oh my That is it for this week's new music Friday.

Come back next week for new albums by foxing, floating points, and my brightest diamond, shout out Cheranova. In the meantime, you can send your feedback on today's episode to all songs at npr.org. Leave us a review wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe to our newsletter at npr.org slash music newsletter. And remember, you can get this show sponsor free and support our work by joining NPR Music. Go to plus.npr.npr.org slash NPR Music or search for NPR Music and Apple Podcast to sign up.

Today's episode was produced by Noah Caldwell. Our editor is Jacob Gans. I'm Daewa Tyler Amin. And I'm Am Powers. Come back next week for more new music Friday. Until then, happy listening. When it's last call in on the table, she don't need a dance for. Oh, my, good Lord.

Someone pull me up a double shot away. They know me and Jay Dale. He comes the two to the three to the four. When it's last call and it kick us out the door. It's getting kind of late, but the lady. want some more oh my