Updated May 12, 2025 at 11:17 AM EDT
It's Monday, which means it's time to catch up on the handful of great albums that hit streaming over the weekend.
If you're a hip-hop fan, we've got some good news for you. The best rap album of the year (so far) is now available for everyone to hear: billy woods' GOLLIWOG. NPR Music's Stephen Thompson welcomed to New Music Friday to go deep on the dark, dramatic album, as well as new albums by Radiohead's Thom Yorke, Gen Z pop star PinkPantheress and much more.
Listen to the show below and scroll down to see our long list of albums out May 9.
The Starting Five
Our hosts share the backstories and best songs from the following albums:
馃捒 billy woods, GOLLIWOG ()
- Recommended If You Like: Saul Williams, Cannibal Ox
馃捒 Mark Pritchard & Thom Yorke, Tall Tales ()
- RIYL: Radiohead, Boards of Canada
馃捒 PinkPantheress, Fancy That ()
- RIYL: K-Pop, TikTok
馃捒 MIKE & Tony Seltzer, Pinball II ()
- RIYL: Lex Luger, Earl Sweatshirt
馃捒 Mclusky, the world is still here and so are we ()
- RIYL: Pere Ubu, Melvins
New Music Friday is a feature of NPR's All Songs Considered podcast. Hear the discussion on the , , or .
The Lightning Round
Five more albums we wish we had time to discuss on the podcast:
馃捒 The Head and the Heart, Aperture
馃捒 Jazzanova, In Between Revisited: Jazzanova Live
馃捒 Cuco, Ridin'
馃捒 Andre 3000, 7 piano sketches
馃捒 Cole Pulice, Land's End Eternal
Listen to each album's best songs on our New Music Friday playlists on and , or .
The Long List
For those who want to dig even deeper, here are the week's new albums sorted by genre:
Electronic/Out There
- The Vernon Spring, Under a Familiar Sun
- Kara-Lis Coverdale, From Where You Came
- Duval Timothy, wishful thinking
- Joe Goddard, Kinetic EP
- Wilson Tanner, Legends
- Chaos in the CBD, A Deeper Life
- Nils Frahm, Night
- M83, A Necessary Escape OST
- V/A, Planet Mu 30
- Dinamarca and 脕ngel Ballesteros, pachamami
- QUINQUIS, eor
- Nicolas Bouga茂eff, Prime Funktion EP
- Ransum, Road Fever EP
Country/Folk/Americana
- I'm With Her, Wild and Clear and Blue
- Blake Shelton, For Recreational Use Only
- Kristina Murray, Little Blue
- Jack Van Cleaf, JVC
Classical
- Barbara Hannigan, Electric Fields
- Bomsori Kim, Bruch & Korngold
- Sheku Kanneh-Mason, Shostakovich & Britten
Pop
- Erika de Casier, Lifetime
- Kali Uchis, Sincerely,
- Maren Morris, D R E A M S I C L E
- Kaleo, Mixed Emotions
- Kevin Olusola (Pentatonix), Dawn of a Misfit
- Bebe Stockwell, Driving Backwards EP
- Amelia Moore, he's still just not that into you! EP
Jazz
- Brandon Woody, For The Love Of It All
R&B/Soul
- Brandon, Before You Go
- SAILORR, FROM FLORIDA'S FINEST
Rock/Alt/Indie
- Little Feat, Strike Up The Band
- Ringdown (Caroline Shaw & Danni Lee Parpan), Lady on the Bike
- Arcade Fire, Pink Elephant
- Deradoorian, Ready for Heaven
- Provoker, Mausoleum
- Sleep Token, Even in Arcadia
- Moon Rituals, Aura
- Preoccupations, Ill At Ease
- Moin, Belly Up
- Sunday (1994), Devotion EP
- Maia Friedman, Goodbye Long Winter Shadow
- The Wonder Years, Burst & Decay (Volume III)
- Adult Mom, Natural Causes
- Npcede, s/t EP
- Spacey Jane, If That Makes Sense
- Unwed Sailor, Cruel Entertaiment
- Xmal Deutschland, Gift: The 4AD Years
- Peter Murphy (Bauhaus), Silver Shade
- L.Mayland (of The Last Dinner Party), The Slow Fire of Sleep EP
Credits
- Host: Stephen Thompson
- Guest: John Morrison, WXPN
- Producer: Simon Rentner
- Editors: Otis Hart and Elle Mannion
- Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
- Vice President, Music and Visuals: Keith Jenkins
Copyright 2025 NPR
