The best albums out Feb. 20 : All Songs Considered : NPR

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 Ohio’s Evan Miller host of WYSO’s Midday Music and The Outside.

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

🎵 Pekka Kuusisto, Willows (PLATOON)

• Recommended If You Like: Sam Amidon, Caroline Shaw

🎵 Manu Delago & Max ZT, Deuce (Session Work)

• RIYL: Björk, Olafur Arnalds

🎵 The Messthetics & James Brandon Lewis, Deface The Currency (Impulse!)

• RIYL: Mary Halvorson, Fugazi

🎵 Hen Ogledd, DISCOMBOBULATED (Domino)

• RIYL: Stereolab, Robert Wyatt

🎵 Altin, Gun Garip (ATO)

• RIYL: Anatolian dance music

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

Five more albums we wish we could have discussed on the podcast:

⚡ Megan Moroney, Cloud 9 (Columbia)

⚡ Chris Forsyth, WHAT IS NOW (DIY)

⚡ Choker, Heaven Ain’t Sold (Jet Fuzz)

⚡ MX LONELY, All Monsters (Julia’s War)

⚡ Mumford & Sons, Prizefighter (Glassnote)

Listen to each album’s best songs on our New Music Friday playlists on Spotify and Apple, or wherever you stream music.

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.

💿 MGNA CRRRTA, Beautiful Disaster (Future Classic)

💿 Ben Vince, Street Druid (AD93)

💿 skaiwater, Wonderful (GoodTalk)

💿 smush, standards EP (DIY)

The Long List

For those who want to dig even deeper, here are the week’s new albums sorted by genre:

Rap/Hip-Hop

• Baby Keem, CA$INO (pgLang)
• Babyfxce E, Da Realest (Atlantic)
• Lil Tjay, They Just Ain’t You (Columbia)
• Mozzy and EST Gee, Not A Chance In Hell (EMPIRE)

Classical

• Olivia Belli, Daimon (Sony Classical)
• Sean Noonan, The Drummer of Tedworth (DIY)
• Darryl Way, Violin Fantasia (DIY)

Country

• Sydney Quiseng, That’s My Baby! EP (BMG)
• The Band of Heathens, Country Sides (Blue Rose)

Electronic/Out There

• Andy Martin / Christian Coiffure, SPLIT EP (Bait)
• Apparat, A Hum of Maybe (Mute)
• Arthur Clees, All of the Days That Go By (SOWASVON)
• Ben Vince, Street Druid (AD93)
• Carré, Hibiscus EP (Tempa)
• Chantal Michelle, All Things Might Spill (Shelter Press)
• Chloé Robinson & Paleman, cookie cutter / tiger (Pretty Weird)
• Isabel Pine, Fables (Kranky)
• Jerrau, It all starts with this EP (Who’s Susan)
• Marielle V Jakobsons, The Patterns Lost to Air (Thrill Jockey)
• Midori Hirano, OTONOMA (Thrill Jockey)
• Moby, Future Quiet (BMG)
• Nathan Fake, Evaporator (InFine)
• Peaches, No Lube So Rude (Kill Rock Stars)
• Phew and Danielle de Picciotto, Paper Masks (Mute)
• Regal86, Doble Filo (DIY)
• Sun Angels, OPUS’ (Cascine)
• Susumu Yokota, The Boy and the Tree (Skintone Edition) (Lo Recordings)
• Universal Light, Universal Light (VHF)
• Trois-Quarts Taxi System, Scarecrow (Maloca)
• The MerKaBa Brotherhood, The MerKaBa Brotherhood (Mississippi Records)
• Harlan Silverman, Music for Stillness (Mississippi Records)
• UFO95, Hadone, Raär, Clara D and Initial Code, Analog Fragments (Triple Vision)

Global

• Lamisi, Let Us Clap (Real World)
• V/A, Aman Aman – Greek Anatolian Laments (Mississippi Records)

Jazz

• Dave Holland, Vital Spark (Music of Kenny Wheeler) (Edition)
• David Seabrook, Hellbent Daydream (Pyroclastic)
• Nicole McCabe, Color Theory (DIY)

Pop

• Absolutely, Paracosm (Epic)
• Hillary Duff, luck…or something (Atlantic)
• Leigh-Anne, My Ego Told Me To (Virgin)
• William Hut, Eternal Pieces (HQindie / Apollon)

R&B/Soul

• Dominique Fils-Aimé, My World Is The Sun (Ensoul)
• Moonchild, Waves (TruThoughts)
• Gabriela Richardson, ISOLA (Virgin Music Spain)

Rock/Alt/Indie

• All Feels, Evasive Sentimental EP (DIY)
• Beggar Weeds, Tragedy in U.S. History (Strolling Bones)
• Bella Litsa, Drasticism (Records Man, Records)
• Borokov Borokov, World War Two (Magnetron Music)
• Charm School, Skadenfreude Ploy EP (DIY)
• Drew Gardner, Wave Field (VHF)
• Hemi Hemingway, Wings of Desire (PNKSLM)
• Institute, Institute EP (Anti Fade)
• Jeffrey Martin, Alive July 25, 2025 (Fluff & Gravy)
• Kerrin Connolly, Simpleton (DIY)
• Laughing Hyenas, THAT GIRL: LIVE RECORDINGS 1986 – 1994 (Third Man)
• Liz Cooper, New Day (DIY)
• Lucid Express, Instant Comfort (Kanine)
• Meg Mac, It’s My Party (ONErpm)
• Mirah, Dedication (Double Double Whammy)
• New Found Glory, Listen Up! (Pure Noise)
• Spill Tab, ANGIE (Deluxe Edition) (Because)
• Sports, Sports (DIY)
• Steven Brown (Tuxedomoon), In This Very World (Crammed Disc)
• The Goldberg Sisters, When the Ships of My Dreams Return (DIY)
• trauma ray, Carnival (Dais)
• T*** Union, Don’t Blame the Peach EP (Alcopop)
• Worries and Other Plants, Sweet Heart Sugar Love (Nice Guys)
• BERTHA, Slayin’ in the Band Vol. 1 (DIY)

_{Credits
Host: Stephen Thompson • Guest: Evan Miller, WYSO • Audio: Noah Caldwell • Producer: Elle Mannion • Production Assistant: Dora Levite • Editor: Otis Hart • Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed • Executive Director: Sonali Mehta}