New Music Friday: The best albums out Sept. 11

Sylvan Esso. This Is Lorelei. Ezra Collective. Host Stephen Thompson breaks down the best albums out Friday, Sept. 11 with DJs from around the NPR Music network: Brian Burns from WUNC in Chapel Hill, Celia Gregory from WNXP in Nashville, and John Morrison from WXPN in Philadelphia. Plus, a handful of NPR Music writers and critics offer their personal picks in the lightning round. The Starting 5 (00:35) Album No. 1 - Sylvan Esso, 'Ow 8' (06:57) Album No. 2 - Ezra Collective, 'Here Because of Hope' (13:36) Album No. 3 - This Is Lorelei, 'The Singer in My Band' (20:05) Album No. 4 - The Tubs, 'Hard Life' (27:15) Album No. 5 - Haruomi Hosono, 'Yours Sincerely' (33:00) The Lightning Round - Funkadelic, 'Maggot Brain (2026 Remastered)' - Locust, 'Spectral+' - Standing On The Corner, 'SOTC II' - Bri`ghde Chaimbeul & Colin Stetson, 'All the light in the world' - Angela Autumn, 'Believer' Sample the albums via our New Music Friday playlist and see our Long List of notable releases on NPR.org Credits: Host: Stephen Thompson Guests: Brian Burns, Celia Gregory, John Morrison Audio Producer: Noah Caldwell Digital Producer: Dora Levite Editors: Elle Mannion, Otis Hart Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed Special thanks to Sheldon Pearce, Lars Gotrich and Ann Powers Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy