New Music Friday: The best albums out Jan. 10
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All right, Travis, let's make some magic.

It's New Music Friday from NPR Music. I'm here with Travis Holcomb from KCRW in Los Angeles. Hey, Travis. Hey, Stephen. Thanks for having me. It's a pleasure to have you. I know these are trying times in Los Angeles, so I appreciate you being here. But since we're here to talk music, you host a show on KCRW called Freaks Only. Tell me about it. Oh, yeah.

It's a show every Monday through Friday, 8 to 10 p.m. Pacific time. Try to highlight what I consider the best of music every night. And yeah, I feel very fortunate to have a platform to be able to do that. Wonderful. That is the dream. Get to geek out and everyone listens.

Which is what we're doing. We've got a ton of great music on this week's show, including new music from Ethel Kane, Franz Ferdinand, Zahara, and more. But first, there is one record that we're actually not talking about this week. Bad Bunny has a new album called Debí Tirar Más Fotos, and it dropped this past Sunday. The reason we're not talking about it is that Alt Latino has us covered, so you can head on over to the NPR Music feed to hear more.

Sometime after the pandemic, Bad Bunny supplanted hip hop as the most requested thing that you'll get as a DJ to the point where it's almost become a cliche where you just have to be ready with the 2022 record Un Verano Sin Ti just in case somebody comes at you with a request for Bad Bunny. Yeah, that record is all bangers. Yeah.

It absolutely is. You can really just hit any track from that record. And it totally elevated him to headliner status across America. So that's on Alt Latino. First up on our show, we alluded to this last week, but back on December 20th, SZA put out a deluxe edition of her album S.O.S. It's called S.O.S. Deluxe, colon, S.O.S.

Lana, and it extends SOS from an already generous 23 songs to 38 songs. I know it's midnight driving nowhere.

So Travis, have you been digging this extremely long form version of this record?

I have. And you know what? One of the things I'm very curious, what are your thoughts on why do you think SZA released it this way as a sort of an add-on to 2022's SOS record rather than as a standalone album?

I think it's a matter of stakes, right? I think there's, I think these are really strong songs. They feel of a piece with SOS and they're still kind of expanding her sonic palette in interesting ways, which we'll kind of get to in a second. But I think she is somebody who puts a lot of pressure on herself. And, and so having this kind of like, here is my followup to this extraordinarily successful and beloved record is,

I think it lowered the temperature a little bit. And at the same time, you know, so many big pop stars and R&B stars and hip hop stars have kind of developed increasingly sophisticated ways of gaming the Billboard charts. And this is a way of gaming the Billboard charts. As much as these are very, very strong songs, there is this quality of like, if we do it this way, SOS, which has never left the top 20 in the like 2000s,

like two plus years since it came out. It has been in the Billboard Top 20 ever since. This is a way of kind of re-upping that record, boosting this record back to number one, you know, where it's been for the last couple weeks. Spoiler alert, it is about to get displaced by the new Bad Bunny record. But, you know, I think it's a way of kind of keeping the heat around SOS alive

lowering the stakes, lowering the pressure on these songs and kind of just putting her back into the conversation right as she's got like a movie coming out, as she's been working with Kendrick, she's about to tour with Kendrick Lamar. She's on the Kendrick Lamar record. It's kind of a way for her to kind of, instead of trying to re like reintroduce herself in a way, it's a way of like leaning on this project that people love and

and letting people get into her new songs that way. Felt like as good as S.O.S. was, it did feel like more of a collection of singles than maybe like a cohesive album. Whereas I feel like this S.O.S. Deluxe Lana record does feel more like a cohesive statement as a record. And at the same time, there is an expansion to her sound here, right? I wanted to talk a little bit actually about a track called Kitchen. ♪

It has this really dreamy, classic, throwback pop sound that doesn't feel as much immediately like the SZA sound. It's almost, I don't know if it's like a dusty Springfield vibe to it. There's something very...

kind of warm and gentle to it. That's different from a lot of the rest of the record and different from a lot of the rest of what SZA's been doing. And one of the things that I loved about S.O.S. was that it was dabbling in pop punk. It was dabbling in kind of these different sounds. And this extension of the record is still doing that. So hard to do the right So hard to do real history

I also really like the song BMF on this record. When I first heard it, I was like, is that girl from Ipanema? And then when I checked the writing credits afterwards, I saw that they were credited on there. But that is definitely a standout from this brand new version. Yeah, it's one that really jumped out for me too.

Ecstasy is just a fill away. Wipe it off or you can screw today. I'm just trying to hear you say my name. Let a player rule and be a team. The other one that immediately jumps off, of course, because of the feature, is 30 for 30, which features Kendrick Lamar. I get this type of feel. You ain't a costume too. I swear I'd be in peace if it was me. But if you fuck me, then fuck you. And that's the way I like it.

Everything been okay. They salute me so damn much. Every time I show up, nigga, hug my face. Everything no cut. I fuck y'all up. I don't really go trip out, babe. Blow the hitty seven guts while you wait no nuts. Tell them I was on PCH. You fucking with niggas that's thinking they cuter than you?

You know, Kendrick Lamar just dropped this record in November called GNX, and it has a couple of very prominent SZA features on it. To me, she is like, I wanted every song to have SZA on it. I mean, I always want SZA to be on every song, but she really brings something to that Kendrick record, and so it was really nice to see him immediately repay the favor.

What do you make of the visual motif that she's rolled out for this record, where she's kind of dressed like an insect on the cover of Lana?

I mean, I think it's a way of establishing that she is this ever-metamorphizing artist. And this project is kind of this metamorphizing project. And something to kind of scuffing up her photos, kind of scuffing up her public image and kind of being willing to experiment. I think that's at least the vibe, I guess.

Well, I wonder if we're going to get a SOS super deluxe edition in a couple years down the line. You know, she's been teasing more songs, so I would not put anything past her. That's the way I like it. That's the way I like it.

I'm 30 for 30, I'm 30 for 30, I'm 30 for 30, I'm 30 for 30. That's SOS Deluxe Lana by SZA. Next up, the band Franz Ferdinand has a new album called The Human Fear. Let's hear some of the song Build It Up. I'm so critical to speak less critically. I see no truth as physical.

So Franz Ferdinand has been in our lives for over 20 years now. Their debut album came out back in 2004.

That's the record that had Take Me Out, Come On Home, This Fire, so many bangers that still kind of live on today. This is their sixth album. It's called The Human Fear. And Alex Capranos, the lead singer, sort of says that it touches upon specific fear, including the fear of isolation, the fear of leaving an institution, and the fear of staying in a relationship. Fear just seems to be like the...

The go-to word for 2025, maybe. But yeah, I feel like this new Franz Ferdinand record, not as muscular rhythmically as we've heard from their first three records in their golden age. It's a little more pop rock than it is dance rock or post-punk, but still really well done. ♪

did you ever get the feeling that there's something come undone and unreading in the seeming the stitching gun so you rip a little harder till that

I think they're still keeping their sound fresh. One thing that I liked about this record, you know, you touched on the thematic qualities, songs about fear that is certainly deeply relatable to all of us who are governed by fear in our lives. They still have something to say. And while the sound has, you know, kind of

over the years, as you said, kind of maybe into a little more straight-ahead pop rock, there are still echoes of the music that people fell in love with with this band. To save us, so just carry on

There's a song on this record called The Birds that to me had these echoes of Take Me Out where I'd been listening to the record for a while without necessarily having old Franz Ferdinand songs getting stuck in my head. But when I hit this song, all of a sudden I was like, whoa, there it is. This is a composite sketch of every Franz Ferdinand song. Back into the floor, the mangy pigeon Crumbs from the buns of George Square

I will say this song, Night or Day, if I were to make a Franz Ferdinand greatest hits, that song would be on it. There have been a few personnel shifts. There's a new drummer here. You know, they're kind of feeling out a new lineup. But for me, this really still feels like Franz Ferdinand.

If I can be irascible, oh, then we can be predictable. And that song, Hooked, when I first heard it, it's got like a weird Justin Timberlake sexy back kind of quality to it. The DJ brain in me wants to put those next to each other just to see how they'd line up. But definitely an unexpected twist from Franz Ferdinand to mine the sounds of Justin Timberlake and Timbaland. It works. It does work. The human feels.

So that is The Human Fear from Franz Ferdinand, their sixth album in more than 20 years. What happened? All right, well, we have some more great records to get to on New Music Friday, but first, let's take a quick break.

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It's New Music Friday from All Songs Considered. I'm here with Travis Holcomb from KCRW. Next up, a very strange, fascinating, sometimes punishing record from the wonderful Ethel Kane. It's called Perverts. Mirror my God to thee. Mirror to thee.

I hit play on this record having not read anything about this new record and thinking that I had like a vague idea of what Ethel Kane sounded like and Perverts totally upended any of those preconceptions I may have had about Ethel Kane.

As someone who might be more familiar with Ethel Kane's music, how does this fit into her discography exactly? It's very, very different. So she put out this brilliant record in 2022 called Preacher's Daughter, which is this concept record about growing up as a homeschooled Southern Baptist in Florida, raised on Christian music,

coming out as a trans woman. You know, it has this big, grand, kind of tragic sprawl to it. It's really beautiful and hypnotic, little traces of like Lana Del Rey coming through, but also a lot of kind of artier, more ambient, gothic sounds at the same time. And it's a very grand and ambitious and beautiful record. When you listen to Perverts, it's 90 minutes long.

It's experimental. A lot of it is built around guitar drones. The songs sprawl anywhere from six minutes to 15 minutes.

And it leads off with a 12-minute track. It does. Yeah, right out the gate, it tells you this is not Preacher's Daughter Part 2, but it's not necessarily meant to stand as this is the new Ethel Kane studio album. This is an experimental project. But at the same time, if you spend time with it, you will get lost in these deep drones. ...

You will find beauty and grace in some of her kind of lyrical asides. I wanted to call out a little stretch of the song Amber Waves. Is it, is nothing to me? Is it, look at it, don't I? Nothing to me.

That's a really beautiful moment on a record that is not in any way, shape or form a traditional, here's a pretty set of pop songs. I feel like there's some ambient music that can kind of float in the background. And this is the kind of ambient music that really sucks you in and in a way slaps you around a little bit and fills you with a sense of quiet dread throughout. That's what I'm looking for. Aren't we all looking for quiet dread?

But at the same time, I'm just interested in anything that she brings. I loved Preacher's Daughter so much. I love that she's taken this opportunity where she has a bigger megaphone, has a bigger stage, has people who are really hanging on her every word and interested in what she does next. And that's...

There will be an official follow-up to Preacher's Daughter that presumably continues more in that vein. But she is an artist, and she is an experimentalist, and she wants you to be challenged. And I really appreciate that this is a record that does that while still finding moments of beauty. May it rest.

10 10

So that's Perverts by the artist Ethel Kane. I love it. It's weird. Set aside 90 whole minutes. Next up, we've got a new record by the artist Zahara. Z-Z-Z-A-H-A-R-A. Their new album is called Spiral Your Way Out. Spiral Your Way Out

So Zahara is a LA-based artist who was previously in a group called The Simps, released their own music independently since I believe 2021. But the new record, Spiral Your Way Out, they wrote it over the course of three months in the aftermath of a toxic relationship. And you kind of hear that in this first track. Reflecting on yourself, go in motion, your feet up.

Well, I was so mad I couldn't think All I did was live in

It didn't mean nothing. It almost sounds like an attempt to insult their ex by saying the relationship was meaningless and it's almost like Zahara is also trying to convince themselves about that. But I feel like Zahara has a very raw vocal delivery and sometimes it's not as effective but in this case I feel like it conveyed a lot of emotion that they were going through in the midst of the breakup and it really translated well on this brand new record.

I think spiral your way out is just a great way to describe a certain kind of relationship. The only way out is through and sometimes that's a really messy and awful process. At the same time, there's fire in this record's belly, but Zahara also has this kind of sly, laid-back vibe that I think is so agreeable at the same time. Your sins

There's catharsis and there's grit and hardship in these songs. But at the same time, there's a certain kind of conversational... You can spend half an hour with this record, and as much as it's a breakup record and it is about having been jerked around and feeling really constrained in a relationship, there's a certain kind of freedom to it. So I really like the way this record kind of balances a lot of different...

and sounds around a breakup in a way that still feels really approachable. And Zahara worked with Sarah Tudson of Illuminati Hotties, which is an inspired collaboration. The mark of quality. Yeah. You could tell they were listening to a lot of emo music. A lot of that influence really bleeds through throughout the record. That is Spiral Your Way Out by Zahara. Last in the alphabet, first in our hearts.

We do have one more record to get to, but first let's take a quick break. This message comes from Bombas. Their socks are super plush, designed to support your arches and support people in need. One purchase equals one donated to those experiencing homelessness. Go to bombas.com slash NPR and use code NPR for 20% off your first order.

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Before we get to our lightning round, we wanted to talk about one more record. It's by a South African artist named Moonchild Sinelli. The album is called Full Moon, and this song is called Scrambled Eggs. I've got God-given pushing and some God-given pushing. It's your God-given duty to appreciate my booty. I've got God-given pushing and some God-given pushing. It's your God-given duty to appreciate my booty.

I eat apple scramble eggs, I eat apple scramble eggs I love bagels, I love bread, I eat apple scramble eggs When I enter, turning heads, basics do not breathe my air All the haffers gotta know, I'm the flyer, stop and get Niggas know my kind is rare, bet that's why they stop and stare Try they luck, they do not care, fall in love, I do not care I'm it, I'm it, I'm it, I'm it, I'm it, I'm it

So Moonchild Sinelli has been around for a few years. She's from South Africa. This is her third album. And she's collaborated with some big stars. She's on Beyonce's My Power with Tierra Whack. She's worked with Gorillaz. She's worked with Major Lazer. And her own music, she describes her sound as, and I quote, future ghetto funk.

which gives you kind of a sense of the vibe, right? It's dance pop. It weaves in electro pop and hip hop in these songs that are kind of about body positivity and sex positivity and just joy in general. And she writes an earworm. Real booty, you know a real booty's only two-tooty. A real tooty, it's a nuts cake when I bounce that booty.

One of the things that first struck me when I hit play on this record is it reminded me a lot of early MIA and Santigold's collaborations with Switch back in the mid-aughts, which is a sound that I absolutely adore to this day. And I'm glad that Moonchild Sonnelli is here to pick up the torch for that.

Every time I would hit a track, I'm like, well, that's stuck in my head. And then I would hit another one. There's a track on this record called To Kill a Single Girl, parentheses, Tequila, that was like, I listened to that song and I was like, oh boy, I am going to wake up in the middle of the night and this song is going to be stuck in my head. But then, you know, by the time I got to Scrambled Eggs, I'm like, oh, never mind. This song is going to be stuck in my head. So, you know, it's very earworm forward and really joyful.

I need to make a mess.

There's a couple moments near the end of the record, too, where she gets a little more introspective. And I think just in the aftermath of being hit by this barrage of heavy beats, it was almost like a nice way to exhale at the end of the record. The track, Moontonami, which I guess translates to My Child, and she's talking about her father on that track. My daddy had ten wives, I was the tenth child From the fifth wife, wasn't the best one

There's also the track "I Was the Biggest Curse." It almost feels like an exhale at the end of the record.

One of the things that I noticed on the production credits is it's produced by Johan Hugo, who was one half of the group The Very Best, which kind of started putting out records in the wake of M.I.A. and Santigold back in the late aughts and early 2010. So it wasn't a huge surprise that she had some material connection to that world. ♪

I'm going to make a promise to you. I'm going to make a promise to you. I'm going to make a promise to you. I'm going to make a promise to you.

All right, so that's Moonchild's Cinelli. Her new album is called Full Moon. There are always so many records in any given week, even in relatively early January. We couldn't possibly get to them all. So we wanted to do a little bit of a lightning round of some of the stuff that is out today, January 10th.

Uh, let's start with Ringo Starr. Ringo Starr, his 21st studio album is called Look Up. It's his first album in six years produced by T-Bone Burnett. It's a country album that brings in, uh, you know, artists like Alison Krauss and Billy Strings and Molly Tuttle. Uh, that's out today. Uh, William Basinski and Richard Chartier, uh, have a record together called Aurora Terminalis. Uh,

William Basinski, if you don't know him, very prolific ambient composer. Richard Chartier is a sound artist. It's their first new album together in almost a decade. And, oh boy, a slab of just...

punk joy from a duo from England called Labrini Girls. The album is called Who Let the Dogs Out? As the title might suggest, this is an album just full of noise and humor and wall of sound guitars.

I think any fans of Amel and the Sniffers are going to absolutely love that record. Oh yeah, that's a good poll. I really, really like this one. I want to give a shout out to the Skyfall record that just came out, sort of embracing his Caribbean heritage. Skyfall, I should mention for those taking notes at home, spelled S-K-I-I-F-A-L-L. It's a brand new collaborative record with Kenny Beats. Oh.

It's a reggae record, essentially. Georgia Smith makes an appearance on kind of like a lover's rock throwback track called Her World. An excellent listen. Also one that people may have missed in the midst of the holiday extravaganza going on in December is a new record from the Japanese artist Yuma Abe. Rhythm に乗って楽しくやろう

It's a second solo record. It's called Hotel New Yuma. Kind of revolves around, uh, the theme is Yuma Abe is a hotel manager on a Southern Island in Japan. Although you wouldn't really know it unless you speak Japanese, but it's a fun record. Um, I feel like he came kind of came on the scene as a singer songwriter in the mold of Mac DeMarco. And this is a lot more fun city pop, a lot more funky, uh,

and a fun listen. A couple more records. There's a blues singer from Birmingham, Alabama named Early James. It kind of fuses a lot of vintage blues, rock, folk, country sounds, but with a fresh perspective. It's on Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys label. That's called Medium Raw. ♪

And I wanted to mention a couple of hip-hop records quickly. Busta Rhymes is back with a new album called Dragon Season. That's his 12th record.

And last week, January 3rd, saw the release of a new record from the rapper Lil Baby. It's called WHAM. And that's an acronym, W-H-A-M, all caps. Now that album...

has a deluxe extended edition with four new songs. Take that, SZA. Not waiting for two years to release that deluxe edition. So that is also out today. And finally, I wanted to mention the new record by the band Starflyer 59. This is

One of my colleague Lars Gottridge's favorite bands of all time, and I think he would never forgive me if I didn't mention this record. They've got a new record called De Jaime Dormir, which means Let Me Sleep.

And it's Jason Martin, who's the leader of Star Flyer 59, took a bunch of Star Flyer 59 songs and reimagined them as lullabies. And it's very, very pretty and very sweet. Let's hear a little bit of the song Major Awards, parentheses, Dormir version. And that is our show. Thank you so much, Travis Holcomb, for being here.

Thank you for having me, Stephen. It's very nice to get a look around the NPR mothership here. Well, it is a pleasure to have you. You are invited back anytime. This was a delight. This episode was produced by Simon Rentner and edited by Otis Hart. The executive producer of NPR Music is Saraya Mohamed, and her boss is Keith Jenkins, NPR's vice president of music and visuals, and a peach of a guy in his own right. We'll be back next week to talk about new albums from The Weather Station, Mac Miller, and others.

I'll be joined by Cara Manning from New York City member station WFUV. Until then, take a moment to be well, touch grass or snow, and treat yourself to lots of great music. ♪

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