Mike Thompson

Welcome to New Music Friday, NPR Music's podcast dedicated to sharing the best albums out each week. We listen to dozens of new releases in advance, identify the ones we think you need to hear, and highlight our favorite five in a brisk mix of clips, context and commentary.

The podcast is hosted by NPR Music's Stephen Thompson, and each episode features a member of the NPR Music Network of public radio stations. This week, our guest is 88Nine's Music Director Erin Wolf from Milwaukee.

Scroll down to see which albums we discussed this week and links to our New Music Friday playlists, where you can hear singles from each album. Then scroll down to see the long list and Dora's Corner, where NPR Music production assistant Dora Levite shares her favorite albums that didn't make the podcast.

The Starting 5

🎵 Arlo Parks, Ambiguous Desire (Transgressive)

RIYL: Nilüfer Yanya, SAULT

🎵 Dermot Kennedy, The Weight of the Woods (Interscope)

RIYL: Noah Kahan, Birdy

🎵 Thundercat, Distracted (Brainfeeder)

RIYL: Anderson .Paak, Childish Gambino

🎵 Joe Pernice, Sunny, I Was Wrong (New West)

RIYL: The New Pornographers, Crooked Fingers

🎵 Earl Sweatshirt, MIKE & Surf Gang, POMPEII // UTILITY (The Harp)

RIYL: Niontay, billy woods

New Music Friday is a feature of NPR's All Songs Considered podcast. Hear the discussion on the NPR App, Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

The Lightning Round

Six more albums we wish we could have discussed on the podcast, recommended by NPR Music's staff:

⚡ Maria Taylor, Story's End (Million Stars) — Stephen Thompson

⚡ Wendy Eisenberg, Wendy Eisenberg (Joyful Noise) — Erin Wolf

⚡ SUNN O))), sunn O))) (Sub Pop) — Lars Gotrich

⚡ Gabriel Kahane & Roomful of Teeth, Elevator Songs (Octoverse Media) — Tom Huizenga

⚡ Sofía Rei, Antónima (GroundUP) — Felix Contreras

Dora's Corner

Dora Levite is New Music Friday's production assistant, an occasional All Songs Considered guest and 17 years old according to her Spotify Wrapped. Below are her picks for the best albums not featured on the show.

💿 deary, Birding (Bella Union)

💿 Robber Robber, Two Wheels Move the Soul (Fire Talk)

💿 Los Thuthanaka, Waq'a (DIY)

The Long List

Classical

Dr. Charles Joseph Smith, Collected Works and War of the Martian Ghosts (Sooper)

Kronos Quartet, Glorious Mahalia (Smithsonian Folkways)

Metropolis Ensemble, Erik Hall, Sandbox Percussion, Canto Ostinato (Western Vinyl)

Country/Folk/Americana

Luke Grimes, Red Bird (Mercury Nashville)

Charley Crockett, Age of the Ram (Island)

Paul Cauthen, Book of Paul (Thirty Tigers)

Sophia Yau-Weeks, Misty Mountain (Lavasocks)

Electronic/Out There

Yui Onodera & Arovane, Stillform (Affin)

Throwing Snow, Canines EP (Mesh)

Nightmares on Wax & Adrian Sherwood, In a Space Outta Dub (Warp)

A Place to Bury Strangers, Rare And Deadly (Dedstrange)

Ancient Methods, Society of the Spectacle EP (Persephonic Sirens)

Seven Davis Jr., SAMUEL (Secret Angels)

Radwan Ghazi Moumneh & Frédéric D. Oberland, Eternal Life No End - ليلة ظلماء ملعونة، كحياة طالبيها (Constellation)

The Black Dog, Loud Ambient 2 (Dust Science)

Yan Wagner, Æther (Yotanka)

Katie Alice Greer Perfect Woman Sound Machine, Vol. 1 (GAK)

Baalti and Lapgan, Threads (FADER)

Global

V/A, Ayam El Disco: Egyptian Disco, Boogie & Jeel Cassettes 1978-1992 (WEWANTSOUNDS)

Staffan Lindberg, Réveillon EP (Studio Barnhus)

Jazz

Gregory Hutchinson, Kind of Now - The Pulse of Miles Davis (Warner)

Antonio Carlos & Jocafi, Adrian Younge, and Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Antonio Carlos & Jocafi JID026 (Jazz Is Dead)

Gary Versace, Three Track Mind (Sunnyside)

Pop

PEACH PRC, PORCELAIN (Island)

Elizabeth & The Catapult, Responsible Friend (Compass)

Wallis, everything is not yet lost EP (ARA)

Iris Copperman, Middle School Dropout EP (Interscope)

R&B/Soul

Tory Lanez, LOL: Slutty Bass (PRSL)

Rap/Hip-Hop

Swae Lee, Same Difference (Interscope)

Rock/Alt/Indie

Billy Fuller, Fragments (Invada)

ps goner, there's an atm inside (SHHOAMKEE)

Grade 2, Talk About It (Epitaph)

Lavalove, Tan Lines (Pure Noise)

LYR, Dark Sky Reservation (Real World)

The Shits, Diet Of Worms (Rocket)

Beatrice Deer, Inuit Legend (Uummati Records)

Commitment, Fear Of (DIY)

Crippling Alcoholism, Camgirl (Reissue) (The Flenser)

Hiding Places, The Secret to Good Living (Keeled Scales)

Knumears, Directions (Run For Cover)

Makthaverskan, Glass and Bones (Welfare)

Poison Ruin, Hymns from the Hills

Population II, Gimmicks EP (Bonsound)

Spaceport, Cut The Lake I (DIY)

V/A, Lucky Three EP (Cherub Dream)

Angine de Poitrine, Vol. II

Bruce Hornsby, Indigo Park (Zappo Productions/Thirty Tigers)

The Bevis Frond, Horrorful Heights (Fire)