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NPR Music's Ann Powers and Hazel Cills are your guides to the best music out this Friday, Sept. 13, including the 10th studio album by Miranda Lambert. Postcards From Texas is a new chapter for the onetime Nashville Star contestant who has become one of that industry town's most reliable songwriters and stars — and also a return to her home state.There's more, including a album by Robyn Hitchcock made up mostly of covers of songs from 1967, a year he describes as "a portal between childhood and the adult world." Plus: three ambitious albums by indie faves stretching their sounds, and a consideration of the way the classic "outlaw" label applies to the careers of women who break the rules.Featured albums:• Miranda Lambert, Postcards from Texas• Nilüfer Yanya, My Method Actor• Foxing, Foxing• Robyn Hitchcock, 1967: Vacations in the Past• My Brightest Diamond, Fight the Real TerrorFor the complete list of albums out Sept. 13 and to stream our New Music Friday playlist, visit https://npr.org/music.

We update our running list of the year's best songs with the shapeshifting rock of Caleb Landry Jones, Angélica Garcia's dystopian grooves, a searing look at infidelity from Damien Jurado and more.Featured songs and artists:1. Caleb Landry Jones: "Hey Dawn," from Hey Gary, Hey Dawn2. Angélica Garcia: "El Que," from Gemelo3. Damien Jurado & The Fremont Abbeye: "Sheets ('24)," from Sheets ('24)4. Laura Marling: "Patterns," from Patterns In Repeat5. Carlos Ares: "Cigarra," from Peregrino6. Melt-Banana: "Stopgap," from 3+5Feedback, questions, comments or suggestions always welcome: allsongs@npr.org

NPR Music's Daoud Tyler-Ameen and Ann Powers take you on a tour of the most exciting albums out Friday, Sept. 6Featured albums:• LL Cool J, 'The FORCE'• MJ Lenderman, 'Manning Fireworks'• Nala Sinephro, 'Endlessness'• The Dare, 'What's Wrong with New York?'• Toro Y Moi, 'Hole Erth'For the complete list of new albums out this week and to stream our New Music Friday playlist, visit https://npr.org/music.

Dictionary wants to bring her pages to life but then a hungry alligator chasing a donut crashes into a queen who slips on some soap and chaos ensues. Can Dictionary put herself back together again?

The best albums out this week include Wild God from Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Doechii's Alligator Bites Never Heal, Jon Hopkins' Ritual and more.Featured Albums:• Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Wild God• Doechii, Alligator Bites Never Heal• Enumclaw, Home In Another Life• Ellen Reid, Big Majestic• Laurie Anderson, Amelia• Jon Hopkins, RitualOther notable releases for Aug. 30:• Muni Long, Revenge• Emily D'Angelo, Freezing• AWOLNATION, The Phantom Five• Big Sean, Better Me Than You• Shemekia Copeland, Blame It on Eve• Tycho, Infinite Health• Zedd, Telos• Chelsea Wolfe, Undone EP• Tank & the Bangas, The Heart, The Mind, The Soul• The Cactus Blossoms, Every Time I Think About You• Caleb Caudle, Sweet Critters• Amy Rigby, Hang in There With Me• Noah Kahan, Stick Season (Live From Fenway Park)

The latest update to our running list of the year's best songs includes tips for staying engaged, being happy and letting go from Arooj Aftab, Great Grandpa, Japandroids and more.Featured artists and songs:1. Arooj Aftab: "Raat Ki Rani," from Night Reign2. The Smile: "Don't Get Me Started" (Single)3. Japandroids: "D&T," from Fate & Alcohol4. Peter Cat Recording Co.: "I Deny Me," from Beta5. Great Grandpa: "Kid" (Single)6. Yasmin Williams: "Virga (feat. Darlingside)," from AcadiaLike the show? Tell a friend and leave us a review in Apple podcasts or wherever you listen. Questions, comments or any other feedback always welcome: allsongs@npr.org

NPR Music's Stephen Thompson and Sheldon Pearce are your guides to seven anticipated albums out Aug. 23. During the second half of the episode, the two dig into the mercurial nature of the album format in 2024.Featured albums:- Sabrina Carpenter, 'Short n' Sweet'- Lainey Wilson, 'Whirlwind'- Illuminati hotties, 'POWER'- Fontaines D.C., 'Romance'- Heems, 'Veena'- Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, 'Woodland'- Magdalena Bay, 'Imaginal Disk'See the longer list of albums out August 23 and stream our New Music Friday playlist at https://npr.org/music.

On August 30, the Australian-born rock titan Nick Cave will release Wild God, a new album with his band The Bad Seeds. It's a high point in Cave's career, and NPR Music's Ann Powers spoke with him about the struggles — personal, musical and religious — he faced on the road to making the album. Wild God is filled with songs about encounters with the divine, which does not always take a benevolent form. And it follows a decade in which Cave, having publicly faced tragedy in his own life, has evolved from post-punk's louchest fallen angel into a revered figure among his audience in a new way: a dignified seeker whose courage and wisdom resounds beyond musical boundaries thanks to advice he has shared in interviews, writing projects and public appearances. Perhaps it's not surprising that so many of the songs reckon with the moment of revelation or transformation, or the demand for conversion from what Cave describes as "a suffering god ... a god that is embedded in the world."As for the state of his own religious conviction, Cave says that the struggle is the point: "I would say I'm in the process of conversion," he tells Powers. Wherever he is on that road, he's found something ecstatic to share.Click here to read a transcript of this interview and hear songs from the album Wild God.

NPR Music's Daoud Tyler-Ameen and Hazel Cills give you a quick rundown of the most notable albums out Friday, Aug. 16, including Post Malone's country project, F-1 Trillion, Tinashe's seventh LP Quantum Baby, and Charly Bliss's first new record in five years.Featured Albums:- Tinashe, Quantum Baby- Post Malone, F-1 Trillion- Charly Bliss, Forever- Morgan Wade, Obsessed- Starflyer 59, Lust For Gold- Palehound, Live at First Congregational ChurchVisit https://npr.org/music to see the longer list of Aug. 16 releases and stream our New Music Friday playlist.

The shoegaze scene never made another record like Starflyer 59’s surfy bummer Gold… until now. A new album inspires this playlist of artists returning to old bands, former sounds and beloved songs.