NPR Music

Beth Orton. Chanel Beads. Cécile McLorin Salvant. Host Stephen Thompson chats with Ayana Contreras from KUVO in Denver about their favorite new albums out Friday, June 26. Plus, a handful of NPR Music writers and critics offer their personal picks in the lightning round.


The Starting 5

(00:00) Introduction
- Roberta Flack, 'The Montreux Years'

(02:01) Album No. 1
- Cécile McLorin Salvant, 'With Every Breath I Take'

(09:11) Album No. 2
- Ibeyi, 'Offering'

(15:57) Album No. 3
- Chanel Beads, 'Your Day Will Come'

(21:52) Album No. 4
- Beth Orton, 'The Ground Above'

(28:34) Album No.5
- ALIA, 'Where the Echoes Bloom'


(33:59) The Lightning Round

- Andrew Sa, 'American Rough'
- Tasha, 'You Are Spring!'
- Madeon, 'Victory'
- Rodney Crowell, 'Then Again'
- Downtown Boys, 'Public Luxury'

Sample the albums via our New Music Friday playlist and see our Long List of notable releases on NPR.org

Credits:
Host: Stephen Thompson
Guest: Ayana Contreras, KUVO
Audio Producer: Noah Caldwell
Digital Producer: Dora Levite
Editors: Otis Hart, Elle Mannion
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Special thanks to Lars Gotrich and Ann Powers

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This week's episode is a musical time machine. In the late 1960s, the band Zapata sprang out of a street gang in northwest Washington, D.C., with a sound that combined a variety of contemporary styles: Afro-Caribbean rhythms, soul jazz and the golden era of American R&B. The mixture worked. For a few years, Zapata opened for an astonishing number of A-list acts passing through the city, like Miles Davis, Sly and the Family Stone, Herbie Hancock and The Isley Brothers. But the band would break up in 1974, and for years their recorded material was believed to be lost. Now, surviving member Pepe Gonzalez has restored a cassette tape of Zapata's music from 1971, and is releasing it for the first time. In this episode, Felix chats with Gonzalez about the origins of the band, and how they tried to unify the Black and Hispanic musical scenes in the city at the time.

The podcast episode was produced by Noah Caldwell and edited by Otis Hart. Suraya Mohamed is the executive producer of NPR Music.

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We share our picks for the best new tracks of the week, including Mitski’s surprising cover of One Direction’s “Fireproof.” But first, we remember Beck’s still mind-blowing Odelay, which just celebrated its 30th anniversary. 

NPR Music’s Lars Gotrich joins host Robin Hilton.

Featured artists and songs:

(00:00) Beck’s Odelay at 30
(03:39) Perennial: “What’s New On The Beat Scene”
(08:55) Mitski: “Fireproof”
(13:50) Sarah Davachi: “Songs of the Smile’s Fig: III. Follies”
(21:56) Shearwater: “Daydream Unbeliever”
(32:33) Sleep: “Have Spacesuit Will Travel”
(41:39) L’Rain: “soulless cycle”

Reviews help!  Leave us one on Apple or Spotify wherever you listen to podcasts. 

Questions, comments, suggestions or feedback of any kind always welcome: allsongs@npr.org


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Tierra Whack. The War and Treaty. A plethora of new jazz releases. Host Stephen Thompson chats with Nate Chinen from WRTI in Philadelphia about their favorite new albums out Friday, June 19. Plus, a handful of NPR Music writers and critics offer their personal picks in the lightning round.

The Starting 5

(01:17) Album No. 1
- Tierra Whack, 'Whack's Museum'

(06:43) Album No. 2
- The War and Treaty, 'The Story of Michael and Tanya'

(15:39) Album No. 3
- Micah Thomas, 'Lucid'

(20:40) Album No. 4
- Your Brother's Keeper & Gary Bartz, 'Where Rivers Meet'

(26:21) Album No. 5
- Sam Barsh, Keyon Harrold & Mark Guiliana, 'Straight08'


(32:30) The Lightning Round

- Tucker Zimmerman, 'Dream Me A Dream'
- The Phoenix Trio, 'Tomorrow is Today'
- Janus Rasmussen, 'Inert'
- Daniel Lanois, 'Belladonna Nocturne'
- Wild Up, 'Gay Guerilla Vol. 5'

Sample the albums via our New Music Friday playlist and see our Long List of notable releases on NPR.org

Credits:
Host: Stephen Thompson
Guest: Nate Chinen, WRTI
Audio Producer: Noah Caldwell
Digital Producer: Dora Levite
Editors: Otis Hart, Elle Mannion
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
Special thanks to Robin Hilton and Tom Huizenga

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We're living in a moment when the geopolitical intersects with the personal in a profound way. The relationship between the United States and Cuba is once again in the news, and it happens at a time when there are a handful of new releases from Cuban artists on the island and around the world. The sounds of the albums are vastly different, but they all draw from the same deep well of inspiration that has always fueled Cuban music: a deep love for the intersection of cultures. The music we share this week is a reminder of the very real lives of the people caught in the middle of a situation with an uncertain outcome. It is joyous, contemplative, rhythmically sophisticated and lyrically profound. Just like all Cuban music.

Artists & songs featured in this episode:

(00:52) OKAN, "Ajé (Owo Nla Nla)"
(03:30) Ibeyo, "Aset"
(06:45) Orquesta Akokán, "No Me Voy" 
(11:50) Cimafunk, "Cocinarte"
(15:47) X Alfonso, "Unicornio"

This podcast episode was produced by Noah Caldwell. Suraya Mohamed is the executive producer of NPR Music.

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