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New Music Friday for March twenty

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ninth. I'm and your music editor

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show peers and this is a

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special episode because there's a new

0:27

be on sale. Know right now

0:29

as I speak, Cowboy Carter The

0:31

second act of the Artist Propose

0:33

trilogy has just been delivered to

0:36

the world and we are all

0:38

experiencing it for the first time

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together. Do.

1:04

It's. Just after one thirty am

1:06

Friday morning March twenty ninth and

1:08

I am sitting at my desk

1:10

after hitting play at midnight. I

1:13

just finished. We normally convene to

1:15

talk about the best new albums

1:17

before they release on Friday. The

1:19

Be on Say loves an event

1:21

and so here I am now

1:23

diving back in to give The

1:25

Queen my full attention. In

1:38

yeah. I've

1:42

been thinking a lot about this record.

1:44

In the lead up to attorneys I

1:46

have a call him up on our

1:48

website about beyond say and jeezy in

1:50

their collective reclamation efforts that you can

1:52

read. But. With the album

1:55

in here now, I'm mostly in our

1:57

of the scale and which she operates

1:59

the clarity. her vision and

2:01

her uncanny ability to execute.

2:04

Promo for the album made a point

2:06

of noting that this was a Beyonce

2:08

album and not a country album. It's

2:11

a little bit of both, but it's

2:13

clear what was being hinted at upon

2:15

listening, that the idea

2:17

of genre can be restrictive in more

2:19

ways than one. Even

2:22

still, the music is guided

2:24

by a steady undercurrent of

2:26

voices, past, present, and future

2:28

that help tell the story of what

2:31

country often has been and what

2:33

it also can be. The

2:36

album itself is guided by

2:38

some country greats of yesteryear.

2:41

Linda Martel, Dolly Parton, Willie

2:44

Nelson. It's

2:49

full of little interstitial moments

2:51

that stand as signposts for

2:53

us listeners as an odyssey

2:55

unfolds. There is also

2:57

plenty anchoring us to the current moment.

3:00

Country Scion and newly minted Record

3:02

of the Year winner Miley Cyrus.

3:05

Honky Tonk, pop rap boozer, Post

3:07

Malone, the rap outlaw

3:10

Shaboozy, and would-be stars like

3:12

Dan Riddell and Britney Spencer.

3:15

Blackbird

3:17

fly,

3:20

blackbird

3:22

fly, into the

3:25

light of a dark black night. Hellboy

3:29

Carter strikes me as an

3:31

attempt to manage two different

3:33

impulses to honor country

3:36

history but also challenge

3:38

the genre's contemporary standing and its

3:40

relationship to pop music. There

3:43

is a lot of sort of

3:46

super produced takes on soft-spun acoustic

3:48

guitar and a little bit of

3:50

Bible Belt imagery dialed Up

3:53

to surf the spectacle of a

3:55

Beyonce production. One

4:03

election like that will bring

4:05

these. Movements

4:14

in my head says seen.

4:16

Much too. Because

4:18

I'm I'm on the same

4:20

starter that seems to take

4:22

the music from grand Old

4:24

Opry to Metropolitan Opera House.

4:26

with murder, bow at Aesthetics

4:28

and with melodramatic ran let's

4:30

hear some. On

4:55

first listen and you know I'm

4:57

I'm really impressed by the album.

4:59

As a compositional, it's It wears

5:01

many hats. You. Know not all

5:03

of them cowboy. The. Stuff

5:05

that perk me up. Toyed with the notion

5:07

of Zhang ring. Let's. Listen To

5:10

tyrant. Have like hard. To

5:14

imagine Lotta as. You

5:24

can really sort of hear her trying

5:27

to reckon with the country means in

5:29

some of these songs and why that

5:31

identity isn't necessarily at odds with into

5:33

the with the. But,

6:07

you know, the music that I

6:09

found most touching on the album

6:11

was much more

6:13

preoccupied with the idea of

6:15

preserving family, playing bodyguard and

6:18

protector, even turning

6:20

Jowloon into a warning. Don't

6:23

leave, don't leave,

6:26

don't leave, I'm

6:28

warning you, don't come for my man.

6:35

Don't leave, don't leave, don't leave,

6:37

don't leave, don't leave, don't leave,

6:39

don't leave, oh, take the tears

6:41

I've got to think you can.

6:45

These moments seem to build

6:48

on themes from daddy's lessons

6:50

from 2016's Lemonade, which in

6:53

its own way spark this mood into

6:55

this space. They pay off the arc

6:57

of a tough girl who learned that

6:59

true strength is taking care of your

7:01

kin and representing the family name to

7:03

the fullest. Oh,

7:17

yeah, yeah, we've created

7:19

other plans to be tiny, tiny,

7:21

tiny, nothing but a few of

7:25

our others who live on me.

7:29

Beyonce's Cowboy Carter is out now.

7:32

And there will be plenty more to chew

7:34

on as we unfurl its layers here at

7:36

MPR Music. Stay tuned

7:38

to mpr.org/music all week for

7:40

our continuing coverage of the

7:43

album. But as much

7:45

as it might seem like, you know, Beyonce

7:47

is the only person putting

7:49

out music today, there's

7:51

other stuff that's out. She's

7:53

just the only artist we couldn't hear

7:56

in advance. So now I'm going to

7:58

hop into the podcast. time machine

8:00

and head back to the

8:02

moment earlier this week when I talked

8:04

with my colleague the great amp hours

8:06

and talked about some of those other

8:09

up Sheldon

8:13

Pierce and welcome back

8:16

to the past it's the

8:18

before times BCC before

8:21

cowboy Carter it's

8:23

so peaceful on this side of the

8:28

I'm anticipating chaos of

8:30

the discourse already I

8:32

guess I should share a little joke with the world so

8:34

you and I are speaking on Wednesday

8:37

before the release of Beyonce's

8:40

new record which is happening

8:42

Friday at midnight and all

8:45

of y'all listeners in listener land

8:48

will already have heard Sheldon's instant

8:50

review instant reaction to that album

8:53

but there are other albums many

8:56

other albums that have come

8:58

out this week contrary to what ideology

9:01

will tell you what capitalism will tell

9:04

you what Jay-Z would tell you there

9:06

are other artists besides Beyonce and we're

9:08

gathered together to talk about a few

9:10

of those yes yes and

9:12

they are as we're talking about

9:15

it's good to find some space

9:17

around the Beyonce

9:20

orbit to appreciate other don't

9:22

go after him hive I love Beyonce

9:24

to just say there's other

9:26

stuff out here we're both completely wearing

9:28

Western wear in the studio by the

9:30

way just you know actually everyone NPR

9:32

is wearing Western wear this week every

9:34

day just to prepare I've got a

9:36

cowboy hat I've got a bolo tie

9:40

I am actually side saddle on horseback

9:42

right now I'm

9:45

in powers I don't ride horses

9:48

but listen to music and I'm

9:50

here with Sheldon Pierce it's new

9:52

music Friday and we are talking

9:55

about some of the most fascinating

9:57

releases of the week that do

9:59

not that involves Texas

10:01

Hold'em. What are we gonna start with? So

10:06

our next album is

10:08

by the duo, Rina Tropical, called

10:11

Malek Ria. This

10:13

is their full length

10:16

debut. They've worked since 2016

10:18

as a duo of

10:21

the singer and guitarist, Bobby

10:23

Rina, and the producer, Nectali

10:26

Sumo-Hertías. The title

10:28

sort of combines two Spanish words

10:30

to mean something like bittersweet. And

10:33

it's almost fitting because this record

10:35

was made amid a very important

10:37

transition. Diaz died in 2022, and

10:41

in the move from collaborative effort to

10:43

solo work, the album seems

10:45

to consider what we owe our world

10:47

and what we owe each other. It

11:10

probes and mixes musical traditions

11:13

from Congo, Peru, Colombia,

11:15

Mexico, and Puerto Rico as

11:17

it thinks about our silt

11:19

of place and connection. You

11:22

know, Sheldon, this record is put together in such

11:24

an interesting way. When I first

11:26

put it on, I didn't actually know the backstory,

11:29

and I really thought it was

11:32

the two collaborators talking

11:34

to each other almost in real time.

11:36

You know, the story of their

11:39

relationship, their history together, as

11:41

well as those larger themes you're

11:43

talking about. And I didn't

11:45

really realize that it was, in

11:47

a sense, a memorial. It is not a somber

11:50

record at all. Not

11:52

at all, yeah. It's sort of interesting because

11:54

there are some conversational

11:57

snippets, goosebumps, and... singing

12:00

that are these really intimate exchanges

12:02

between the two collaborators that seem

12:04

to have an even deeper resonance

12:06

now that you know that Diaz

12:09

is gone. I mean completing a

12:11

record after losing a musical partner is

12:13

always difficult but it feels

12:15

that perhaps to your point about the record

12:17

not being somber the

12:19

best way to honor Diaz

12:22

was to produce a record like this which is

12:24

so far-reaching but

12:26

also really traditional honoring all

12:28

of the music that they

12:30

love. It's

12:34

such a vibrant rhythmic record

12:37

on conocerla and suavecito. They get

12:40

into the tropical aspect of the

12:42

sound that they've built not just

12:44

carrying like this gentle sway but

12:47

it's also like warm and colorful.

13:14

The album is also full of nature

13:17

sounds like sort of hinting at its

13:19

like broader mandate and I

13:21

find it really interesting that a record

13:23

that puts so much emphasis on connection

13:25

is forced to record with like the

13:27

collaboration at the heart of it ending

13:29

so abruptly. What's your favorite

13:31

of the little interstitial spoken

13:34

parts because there's so many interesting things

13:37

that they say throughout the record making

13:39

it come alive in the way we're

13:41

talking about. There's this moment on

13:44

goosebumps where they find

13:46

this connection in playing

13:48

together where they're like this is the

13:50

thing that we both love this is

13:52

what resonates about this performance for us

13:54

when we're doing this. When

14:00

we started I got this one. When

14:02

we started? When the

14:04

bass test and I started playing after

14:07

that intro. This

14:10

is one of the very few things

14:12

that make me happy. I agree. I

14:15

know. I mean, it's one of the other times we

14:17

look at a train and we're like, we're

14:19

just like, what the... That

14:24

gives this sense to this record of

14:26

like the way that they

14:28

come together to create these songs and

14:31

how much of this record is

14:34

used to sort of pay tribute to

14:36

that connection. Yeah. It's

14:39

so powerful to be

14:41

able to continue in the wake of

14:44

tragedy, but also find a

14:46

way to live up to everything that

14:48

your partner expected of you. Fabi

14:51

Raina faced another challenge besides the

14:54

ultimate challenge, the death of her creative partner,

14:56

in that she was just mostly your

14:58

guitar player, right? Before this record, she

15:01

takes over the vocals

15:03

here and I love her playing.

15:05

I want to say too, Fabi

15:07

is a really important person

15:09

beyond her musical output as

15:11

the founder of She Shred's

15:13

magazine, a magazine I absolutely

15:15

love that is all about

15:17

women playing guitar. When the

15:20

musicians now, I think it's

15:22

called She Shred's Media or something, she's

15:24

a player first, but I

15:26

love her vocals here. They're

15:29

very playful, very graceful. I

15:31

really enjoy her singing and I was kind of

15:33

surprised to learn that she hadn't sung that much

15:35

before. Yeah. There is obviously

15:37

an activist streak through everything that

15:40

she does. That's in this record

15:42

too. But it's in

15:44

the sort of interlude singing, you

15:46

can tell she talks about how

15:48

weird it is for her to

15:50

embrace this aspect of it. But

15:53

you're right. I love the way

15:55

that her voice sounds in these

15:57

songs amid all this sort of

15:59

rhythmic shit. It just

16:01

like hangs at this middle distance

16:04

on a song like Cartagena. The drums

16:06

are so punchy, but she is never

16:08

like overwhelmed by all the activity around

16:10

her. There's such a

16:12

calm there. And it's like,

16:14

it's almost like a gentle breeze. Like it

16:17

is this force that never is

16:19

quite on you, you know, but its

16:21

presence is always felt around you. There's

16:23

such a nice bomb. It

16:25

soothes as you listen to it. It's

16:28

just such a love That's

16:57

a beautiful description. It's a beautiful description

16:59

of the record itself and

17:01

makes me think about how so often we

17:04

kind of use music as background,

17:06

you know, while we're working, cooking

17:09

or walking or doing whatever. But

17:11

this is a record that kind of can

17:13

come in and out of the background. Every

17:15

time you pause to

17:18

actually listen, it rewards you in a

17:20

wonderful way. And then it

17:22

also is that sort of atmospheric comforting. Comforting

17:24

is a weird word. I don't know if

17:26

that's the right word. It

17:29

does to me, it does feel like

17:31

there is this sense of catharsis that

17:33

she achieved just even being able to

17:35

complete. I mean, yeah, when you when

17:38

you release your full length debut eight

17:40

years into operating as a group, that

17:42

tells me that you've been working on

17:44

this for a long time. That's a

17:46

long time to be in this with

17:48

somebody else. And to lose them

17:51

in the midst of that is obviously very,

17:53

very difficult. So to finally be able to

17:55

share it with the world, I mean,

17:57

it's it's got to be not only

18:00

powerful for her but I mean it's such

18:02

a gift for us.

18:04

We've been talking about Raina Tropicall's

18:06

debut album Malagria and Sheldon when

18:08

we come back from our break

18:10

we're going to talk about another

18:12

album that deals with themes of

18:14

grief and loss and sort of

18:16

the randomness of mortality

18:18

as well as in

18:21

a strange way the potential to live forever but we'll

18:23

get to that after the break. This

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19:43

presenting Ripley. From Academy Award winner

19:45

Steven Zalien, the co-creator of The

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in the New Limited series. Watch Ripley

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April 4th only on Netflix. And

20:09

we're back! I'm here with Sheldon Pierce. I

20:11

am Ann Powers, and we are

20:14

acknowledging the world beyond Beyoncé.

20:16

Even though we did have Sheldon's

20:19

fabulous first take on

20:21

Cowboy Carter at the beginning of the

20:23

show, we're talking about some of the other important

20:25

new albums that are out today, Friday, March 29th.

20:29

Sheldon, I'm really happy that you

20:31

brought this next record in for

20:33

consideration. I've been totally overtaken by

20:36

it, and I'd love for you to introduce it. We've

20:41

got the really stunning new

20:43

record from the prepared pianist

20:45

Kelly Moran moves in

20:47

the field. This is

20:49

a departure from the playing that

20:52

she's done on past work,

20:55

and it's got a really, really

20:57

sad but beautiful story behind it.

21:00

Kelly Moran at the funeral

21:02

for A First Love, who

21:04

died of an accidental drug

21:06

overdose, struck up

21:08

a relationship with his widow and

21:10

their young son, who was only

21:12

a few months old. And

21:15

they found each other through this tragedy

21:17

and have started their own little family

21:20

together. They now live together, and

21:22

this record is in part inspired

21:24

by all of that. I

21:26

found it really moving before I even knew

21:29

all the story behind it. Yeah, me too.

21:31

I don't know what I was expecting from

21:33

the first Kelly Moran album in six years.

21:36

As a lover of 2018's Ultraviolet,

21:40

I certainly imagined something otherworldly

21:42

because the prepared piano can

21:44

be so distorted in that

21:46

way. But

21:48

instead, you couldn't have a record that

21:51

sounds more human to me. Beautifully said.

21:54

That is obviously by design considering

21:56

the reality the music was born

21:59

to. But I think

22:01

it can be as elegiac as

22:03

it is like really heartening. It

22:05

has such this beautiful duality to

22:07

it. Here's the title track on the

22:09

new album, Moves in the Field. I

22:53

think we should explain a few things maybe to

22:55

people who don't know Moran's work or don't

22:58

know this world of experimental

23:00

music, piano composition. When

23:02

you say prepared piano, you're

23:05

referring to the Harry Part John

23:07

Cage tradition of a piano

23:10

that has literally been physically

23:12

altered, right? Maybe

23:16

you put a screwdriver inside of it. You're

23:21

doing something to this piano to

23:23

change the way it sounds, to

23:25

change the way it's tuned, to

23:27

sort of warp the dimensions of

23:29

the way that it functions. It

23:31

creates this entirely different kind

23:34

of texture that doesn't always sound

23:36

like a piano. That

23:38

is the music that has come

23:40

to define her career. She is

23:43

known as sort of a more

23:45

experimental artist. This record moves back

23:47

into a more acoustic space, which

23:50

was an adjustment for her. I'm

23:53

challenging you though because in fact,

23:55

acoustic defined 21st century

23:58

style because she is... is

24:00

using an instrument called the disclavier. You're

24:02

right. I couldn't pronounce it. I'm glad

24:04

you said it. And

24:08

it is to quote Grayson Haver

24:11

Kern's description of it in the

24:13

New York Times recently, a cyborg

24:15

piano that is wired to play

24:18

itself from memory or from a

24:20

laptop's input that a pianist can

24:22

simultaneously play. So she's really entering

24:25

Holly Herndon territory here, if you

24:27

all know that great experimental composer

24:30

and musician who has cloned her own

24:32

voice. Here, Kelly Moran has

24:35

not created a cyborg companion, but has

24:37

found a cyborg companion.

24:39

And I think that's super

24:41

important to the underlying

24:44

emotionality of this music. Yeah.

24:50

I guess it would be more accurate to

24:52

say that she has found a different way

24:54

to prepare her piano. That's

24:56

well said. Well said, yeah. You

24:59

talked in that Times interview about

25:01

the balance of trying

25:03

to find it, find this

25:06

new relationship with this new instrument,

25:08

and seeing it as a mirror

25:11

and projecting her feelings into

25:13

it. She had an interesting

25:15

note on artistry that being an

25:18

artist is narcissistic in a way

25:20

because you're involved in your instincts.

25:22

But she explained that now that

25:24

she's in this family, she has

25:26

community, and that her music gets

25:28

its potency from sharing. This

25:31

record does feel linked to something

25:33

and in conversation with something in

25:35

a way that ultraviolet doesn't, which

25:38

isn't a value judgment, just a note on

25:40

the way that sort of mindset can change

25:42

the dimension of a song. I

25:44

agree. I agree. I mean, it's definitely

25:46

in conversation with the history of experimental

25:48

music. I mean, it comes

25:51

closer to my ears to kind

25:53

of the traditions of minimalism,

25:55

of Steve Reich, of Philip

25:57

Glass, stuff like that. But there is no. like

26:00

a strange warmth at the same time

26:02

that there is this plasticity like

26:04

let's listen for a second to the song

26:07

So Dallas hope I'm pronouncing that right

26:30

you So

26:43

there's a video for the song in

26:46

which you see Moran performing and

26:48

then you see the very eerie image

26:51

of the piano playing itself and

26:54

then you see her playing with

26:56

the piano playing itself

26:59

then kind of admiring the piano

27:01

almost caressing it it's

27:04

like so sci-fi I love it

27:06

there's sort of a fascinating interplay

27:08

between her and her instrument at

27:10

all times it

27:13

seems like this has provided

27:16

a new way for her

27:18

to not only interpret

27:20

the music but also to like

27:23

commune directly with what she's playing

27:25

and it's like this music is

27:28

so full of life in

27:30

a weird way that you don't normally

27:33

expect of music that is generated through

27:35

computers I think

27:37

of like the cascading notes of

27:39

solar flare and

27:45

there's like mesmeric waves of

27:47

sound on hip notes that

27:50

are like really stunning and they

27:52

continuously drew me into their orbit

28:04

But I particularly kept returning to don't

28:07

trust mirrors. She

28:25

has inspired the emotional push and pull of learning to

28:27

express herself with this new

28:35

instrument. And it just sounds like

28:37

someone releasing all the tension in

28:39

their body. Which is

28:41

really powerful considering all of

28:44

the backstory that is hanging

28:46

over this record. Absolutely.

28:49

A song like Butterfly Phase, again

28:52

I know I keep mentioning the videos but for the

28:55

video for that song is an

28:57

ice skater doing this incredible dance.

28:59

Barely clothed on ice. It

29:02

captures the way the music

29:04

itself has this sort of

29:06

like incredible motion, dexterity, but

29:09

also how there's a warmth and

29:11

a chilliness at the same time.

29:14

It's not like a temperature swing. It's

29:17

like there are two temperatures existing at

29:19

once in this music.

29:43

There is a sort of like funerary

29:47

sadness that hangs at the back

29:49

of it but I mean it

29:51

seems so sort of expectant and

29:54

hopeful on the front end. I

29:57

think that is a truth that she is

29:59

wrestling with. we all often wrestle

30:01

with and the co-mingling

30:03

of those two things, her working

30:05

through it, it just creates this

30:07

really, really interesting. That

30:14

is Kelly Moran, moves in the field,

30:17

big endorsement from both me and Sheldon

30:19

on that one. We

30:26

have one more record to talk about this week

30:29

and it is very different

30:31

from the Kelly Moran record. I

30:34

wouldn't say it continues with our underlying

30:36

theme of grief exactly, but this is a

30:39

band that always has a little bit of

30:42

depression with the laughter. What

30:44

am I talking about? Well you're

30:46

talking about Shafted E-Belt and they've

30:48

got a new record out that's

30:50

called Live, Laugh, Love, fittingly. Of

30:57

course, you know, that's the old adage.

31:00

There is some sort

31:02

of cynicism built into that phrase

31:04

at this point, which seems in

31:06

part the point of using it

31:08

as this title. This is a

31:10

group that named an

31:13

album No Regerts. They

31:15

know how to lean into a bit of irony. To

31:22

your point about this being a different kind

31:24

of record but still sort of understanding

31:27

depression, I am struck

31:29

by the ho-hum nature of

31:31

these songs. It's the

31:33

vocals too though, right? It's

31:36

that classic indie rock that

31:38

kind of flat, slightly sarcastic,

31:40

but then they're saying kind

31:42

of deep things at the same time.

31:44

I was going to say, you know,

31:47

on the surface you get this sense

31:49

that everything is low stakes but then

31:51

they are so tuned into these really

31:53

essential truths. I mean, you go down

31:56

the list, I want to trust myself

31:58

again, real life doesn't feel

32:00

real anymore. I'm the one who's holding

32:02

me back. There's a therapy-level breakthrough tucked

32:04

away in every corner of this record.

32:07

Like on the song, Chemtrails, something happens

32:09

right in the beginning of that song

32:11

and we never really know exactly,

32:14

but the lyric really jumped out at me when

32:16

I was listening to this record. The

32:47

singer Julia Shapiro sings these

32:49

lyrics, I'm always saying yes, but when it

32:51

comes around I don't want to leave my house.

32:54

At the time everything felt new and

32:57

one night could really change you.

32:59

And man, what happened on that

33:01

night? I mean this is a feminist

33:03

band. I just have a feeling

33:06

it was something really bad.

33:09

You know? But then the thing that

33:11

happens on these songs is even as these

33:13

sort of kind of heavy lyrics,

33:16

are there the guitar challenges

33:18

that heaviness, don't you think? Yeah,

33:23

there's definitely a push

33:25

and pull in these songs between just

33:28

nearing the verge of going over the

33:30

deep end and then also like this

33:32

levity that pulls you away from the

33:34

edge. It's sort of funny, I mean

33:36

there is literally a song. But

34:18

it's like it's more about the

34:20

thing being strange than humorous. Right.

34:23

And that feels like a microcosm of

34:25

the whole approach here. Throughout

34:28

the record it feels like laughter is

34:30

evoked as a sort of tension breaker,

34:32

like following moments of anger

34:34

or shame. It's like, you know, sometimes you

34:37

got to laugh to keep from crying and

34:39

that is a push and pull that is

34:41

happening across these songs. Props to Lydia Lund

34:43

for some of those risks on the guitar,

34:45

by the way. But you know, Sheldon, I've

34:48

known the women in Chastity Belt for a

34:50

while. They're from Seattle and they've

34:52

been making records since the mid 2010s. And

34:56

they're such a quintessential Seattle band for me

34:58

too. All these things we're talking

35:00

about, the mix of

35:02

irony and catharsis of not

35:04

loud and soft literally in

35:06

the Nirvana way, but in

35:08

a sense, loud and soft

35:11

emotionally. The playfulness

35:13

that also just switches to

35:15

heaviness so quickly. This

35:17

is very Pacific Northwest to me. Yeah,

35:20

definitely. I mean, there is this tone to

35:23

it where it's like an

35:25

understanding of how droll the mundane

35:27

interactions that make up life can

35:29

be and the little marks that

35:31

those things can leave on us.

35:33

It's funny in blue when Julia Shapiro

35:35

sings, faking it big time so I

35:37

can hit my stride. Man, it feels

35:39

good to be alive. And in a

35:41

moment it could all end. I got

35:44

to get off the internet. I

35:53

can hit my stride.

36:04

We should have

36:12

given him some of

36:18

that, too. I

36:37

felt that so deeply. I mean,

36:39

there's nothing quite like a good

36:41

doom scroll to ruin your day,

36:43

and it feels like the record

36:45

is full of funny little terms

36:47

like that, managing the

36:50

beauty of it all with the

36:53

impending doom that lingers on the

36:55

outside it. We've

37:11

been talking about Chastity Belt, Liv's

37:13

Last Love, and that wraps

37:15

up our extended discussion segment

37:18

of our podcast, but there is so much

37:20

other music to listen to this week, and

37:23

when we return from a short break, we're

37:25

going to have our lightning. This

37:43

message comes from NPR sponsor Progressive Insurance,

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savings will vary. Okay,

38:09

and we're back. I'm Ann Powers. I'm here

38:11

with Sheldon Pearson. Before we let you all

38:14

go to spend hours and hours listening to

38:16

Cowboy Carter, we're going to mention a few more

38:18

albums that are out this week. You can take

38:20

a break from Beyonce and listen to these

38:22

great albums as well. I

38:24

want to start out by mentioning Revelations

38:26

by Sarah Shook and The Disarmers. Shook

38:45

has been making music for quite a while in

38:48

the Americana slash country space. This actually

38:50

has gone through many changes in the

38:52

past few years, has come into themselves

38:55

as non-binary and is now going by

38:57

the name River. For this

38:59

album has kept the name Sarah Shook

39:01

and The Disarmers because that's

39:03

how many fans think of them. This

39:05

is an excellent record. I think they've

39:08

beefed up their sound. They've rocked out

39:10

their sound a bit and I just

39:12

really love the stories that are told

39:14

on this record and the absolutely

39:16

fun and rough and

39:18

tumble way that they're told. My

39:34

first pick is Exotic

39:36

Birds of Prey, the

39:39

latest from the experimental rap

39:41

project Shabazz Palaces. Seattle represent.

39:44

This group is as

39:47

inquisitive as ever. This

39:49

time with music they are referring to

39:51

as Final Days Funk. Founder

39:54

Ishmael Butler, formerly of the jazz

39:56

rap group Diggable Planets, has

39:58

always been trying to commune with the

40:00

future, but some of these songs like they

40:03

are also in dialogue with music from his

40:05

past which can be just as proper.

40:28

I also want to hype up the

40:30

Liberated Woman songbook by the Nashville-based artist

40:32

Don Landis. This

40:52

is a really interesting project in which

40:54

Landis features songs from

40:56

a songbook published in 1971

40:59

called the Liberated Woman's Songbook.

41:02

It's Women's History Month for like

41:04

another minute, so take some

41:06

time and enjoy the history of the

41:08

feminist movement as preserved and reanimated by

41:10

Don Landis. And

41:21

I also wanted to signal

41:23

boost the new collaborative EP

41:25

from the rapper

41:27

Rico Nasty and Boys Noise

41:30

called Hardcore Dream. In

41:45

the Marilyn rapper's latest turn, she

41:47

pushes deep into chintzy dance music

41:50

with an assist from the German

41:52

producer and it is among

41:55

the most funny little

41:57

diversions of her career. picks

42:00

there are so many other great records Cheryl

42:02

Crow has a new one she did not

42:04

stay retired we're very happy about that the

42:07

new one is called Evolution there's a

42:09

new album by Alejandro Escaveto one

42:12

of the great legendary stalwarts of

42:14

Americana or insurgent country or whatever

42:16

you call it it's called Echo

42:19

Dancing and one of my

42:21

favorite fun bands to see live Chicano

42:23

Batman has a new one Notebook fantasy

42:28

and this is only the tip of the iceberg as

42:30

always so prime your ears go

42:32

out there find some new music always so

42:35

fun to talk to you Sheldon yes thanks

42:37

so much and it's always a great pleasure

42:46

I'm Ann Powers from NPR music thank you

42:49

so much for listening if you would like

42:51

to give us some feedback write

42:53

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43:20

podcast was produced by Joaquin Kotler and

43:23

Saraya Muhammad we had editorial support

43:25

from Jacob Gans I'm

43:27

Ann Powers I'm Sheldon Pierce thanks

43:29

for listening we'll talk to you next week

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