Your Source for NPR News & Music
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

New Music Friday: Our Top 8 Albums Out March 22

Lafawndah's <em>Ancestor Boy </em>is on our short list for the best new albums out on March 22.
Courtesy of the artist
Lafawndah's Ancestor Boy is on our short list for the best new albums out on March 22.

It's a packed release week with a whole bunch of notable albums to highlight, including the rock guitar heroics on Ex Hex's It's Real, the wistful wisdom of Jenny Lewis, Andrew Bird's "finest work yet," mind-blowing sonics from the genre-bending composers Emily Wells and Lafawndah, the German electronic artist Apparat and much more. Hosts Robin Hilton and Stephen Thompson share their top picks for the best albums out on March 22 on this episode of New Music Friday.

Featured Albums:

  • Ex Hex: It's Real
    Featured Song: "Diamond Drive"
  • Jenny Lewis: On The Line
    Featured Song: "Wasted Youth"
  • American Football: American Football
    Featured Song: "Uncomfortably Numb"
  • Lafawndah: Ancestor Boy
    Featured Songs: "Daddy" and "Ancestor Boy"
  • Andrew Bird: My Finest Work Yet
    Featured Song: "Olympians"
  • Emily Wells: This World Is Too ______ For You
    Featured Songs: "Stay Up" and "Remind Me To Remember"
  • Apparat: LP5
    Featured Songs: "Brandenburg" and "Caronte"
  • Lambchop: This (Is What I Wanted To Tell You)
    Featured Song: "Everything For You"
  • Other Notable Albums Out On March 22: Bill McKay: Fountain Fire; Dean Lewis: A Place We Knew; Ibibio Sound Machine: Doko Mien; Lucy Rose: No Words Left; Nilufer Yanya: Miss Universe; Rich The Kid: The World Is Yours 2; Strand Of Oaks: Eraserland; Wallows: Nothings Happens

    Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

    Stephen Thompson is a writer, editor and reviewer for NPR Music, where he speaks into any microphone that will have him and appears as a frequent panelist on All Songs Considered. Since 2010, Thompson has been a fixture on the NPR roundtable podcast Pop Culture Happy Hour, which he created and developed with NPR correspondent Linda Holmes. In 2008, he and Bob Boilen created the NPR Music video series Tiny Desk Concerts, in which musicians perform at Boilen's desk. (To be more specific, Thompson had the idea, which took seconds, while Boilen created the series, which took years. Thompson will insist upon equal billing until the day he dies.)
    Robin Hilton is a producer and co-host of the popular NPR Music show All Songs Considered.
    Related Stories