New Music Friday: The best albums out March 14

Early this morning, the “blood worm moon” lunar eclipse was visible in some parts of North America. But that’s not all that graced the Earth’s sky this Friday, March 14.

Matt Reilly of Austin public radio station KUTX joins NPR Music’s Stephen Thompson to discuss the new releases that made their debut on streaming services while you were watching that eclipse. (Our hearts go out to those who stayed up all night waiting for Playboi Carti’s I Am Music.)

The Starting Five

Stephen and Matt give you the backstory and best songs on the following albums:

• Charley Crockett, Lonesome Drifter (Stream)
• Twin Shadow, Georgie (Stream)
• Courting, Lust for Life, Or: ‘How To Thread The Needle And Come Out The Other Side To Tell The Story (Stream)
• Étienne de Crécy, WARM UP (Stream)
• Throwing Muses, Moonlight Concessions (Stream)

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 had time to discuss on the podcast:

• clipping., Dead Channel Sky
• Womb, One is Always Heading Somewhere
• Circuit des Yeux, Halo on the Inside
• The Mexican Standoff, Hola, Texas!
• Spiral Deluxe (Jeff Mills, Yumiko Ohno, Kenji ‘Jino’ Hino and Gerald Mitchell), The Love Pretender

Listen to each album’s best songs on our New Music Friday playlists on Spotify and Apple.

The Long List

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

Classical

• Jan Lisiecki, Preludes
• Kronos Quartet / Mary Kouyoumdjian, WITNESS
• Owls, Rare Birds
• Steve Reich, Collected Works 27-Disc Box Set

Country/Folk/Americana

• Carly Pearce, Hummingbird: No Rain, No Flowers
• Rose Cousins, Conditions of Love
• Ruston Kelly, Dirt Emo Vol. II
• Warren Zeiders, Relapse, Lies & Betrayal
• ZZ Ward Liberation

Electronic/Out There

• anamē, Hopes & Fears
• Cinema Royal, Cinema Royal
• COUSIN KULA, AFTER SUN
• Cujo, Adventures in Foam
• Golem Mecanique, Siamo tutti in pericolo
• Intensive Care + The Body, Was I Good Enough?
• Joni Void, Every Life is a Light
• Jorg Kuning, Elvers Pass
• Loraine James (as Whatever the Weather), Whatever The Weather II
• Ploy, It’s Later Than You Think
• Zoe McPherson, Upside Down

Global

• Anoushka Shankar, Chapter III: We Return to Light
• Dano, Nuevos Trapos
• Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek, Yarın Yoksa
• Valvin, Incoming

Jazz

• Art Pepper, Geneva 1980
• Gregory Uhlmann, Josh Johnson, Sam Wilkes, Uhlmann Johnson Wilkes
• Hayes Greenfield, Gravity Unplugged
• Nels Cline, Consentrik Quartet
• Nicolas Masson, Renaissance
• Patrick Demenga, Knaifel: Chapter Eight
• Ray Suhy / Lewis Porter Quartet, What Happens Next
• Silke Eberhard, Trio Being-A-Ning
• Sylvie Courvoisier & Mary Halvorson, Bone Bells

Pop

• LE SSERAFIM, HOT
• Maybe Happy Ending, Original Broadway Cast Recording
• No Guidnce, Confessions of a Loverboy EP
• St. Lucia, Fata Morgana: Dawn
• Westislonely, Even a Worm Will Turn EP
• Yael Daila, EP

Rap/Hip-Hop

• Curren$y & Harry Fraud, Never Catch Us
• Jasiah, NO HOLDS BARRED
• PARTYOF2, we owe you an explanation EP

Rock/Alt/Indie

• Bambara, Birthmarks
• Blasé, BLABLABLA
• cleopatrick, FAKE MOON
• Coheed and Cambria, Vaxis – Act III: The Father of Make Believe
• Dana Gavanski, Again Again EP
• Das Beat, Frau Fatal
• Dead Rabbitts, Redefined
• Dorothy, The Way
• Edwyn Collins, Nation Shall Speak Unto Nation
• Flora from Kansas, Homesick EP
• Hekla, Turnar
• Huremic (Parannoul), Seeking Darkness
• KEG, Fun’s Over
• Mia June, Brain Like Computer
• Neal Francis, Return to Zero
• Neal Morgan, PAW
• Nico, Chelsea Town Hall (Live)
• of Montreal, The Sunlandic Twins (20th Anniversary Edition)
• Scratch Acid, Scratch Acid Box Set
• Steven Wilson, The Overview
• The Faint, Blank Wave Arcade (Reissue)
• The Faint, Wet From Birth (Reissue)
• The Loft, Everything Changes Everything Stays the Same
• The WAEVE, Eternal EP
• Weaving, Webs

Credits

• Host: Stephen Thompson
• Guest: Matt Reilly, KUTX
• Producer: Simon Rentner
• Editor: Otis Hart
• Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
• Vice President, Music and Visuals: Keith Jenkins