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National

New Music Friday: Our Top 6 Albums Out On May 31

By Robin Hilton,  Stephen Thompson,  Sidney Madden,  Tom Huizenga
Published May 31, 2019 at 2:00 AM PDT
This story was published more than 5 years ago.
R&B singer Raveena. Her new album, <em>Lucid, </em>is on our shortlist of the best new albums out on May 31.
Courtesy of the artist
R&B singer Raveena. Her new album, Lucid, is on our shortlist of the best new albums out on May 31.

Our list of the best new albums out this week includes Kishi Bashi's moving remembrance of Japanese internment camps during World War II, a sometimes surreal but lucid dream from R&B singer Raveena, stark solo piano pieces from the electronic artist Eluvium, veteran of the U.K. grime scene Skepta and more. Host Robin Hilton is joined by NPR Music's Tom Huizenga, Sidney Madden and Stephen Thompson as they share their picks for the best new albums out on May 31.

Featured Albums

  • Kishi Bashi: Omoiyari
    Featured Songs: "Penny Rabbit & Summer Bear" and "A Meal For Leaves"

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  • Raveena: Lucid
    Featured Songs: "Stronger," "Nani's Interlude" and "Petal"

  • Eluvium: Pianoworks
    Featured Song: "Masquerade"

  • Daniel Wohl: État
    Featured Song: "Melt"

  • Skepta: Ignorance Is Bliss
    Featured Song: "No Sleep"

  • Christelle Bofale: Swim Team
    Featured Song: "Moving On, Getting On"

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    Other notable releases for May 31: Apex Manor: Heartbreak City; Denzel Curry: Zuu; Fujiya & Miyagi: Flashback; The Gotobeds: Debt Begins at 30; Lee Scratch Perry: Rainford; Pip Blom: Boat; Sinkane: Dépaysé; Soundwalk Collective with Patti Smith: The Peyote Dance; Thomas Rhett: Center Point Road.

    Stream The Music:

    Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

    National
    Robin Hilton
    Robin Hilton is a producer and co-host of the popular NPR Music show All Songs Considered.
    Stephen Thompson
    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.)
    Sidney Madden
    Sidney Madden is a reporter and editor for NPR Music. As someone who always gravitated towards the artforms of music, prose and dance to communicate, Madden entered the world of music journalism as a means to authentically marry her passions and platform marginalized voices who do the same.
    Tom Huizenga
    Tom Huizenga is a producer for NPR Music. He contributes a wide range of stories about classical music to NPR's news programs and is the classical music reviewer for All Things Considered. He appears regularly on NPR Music podcasts and founded NPR's classical music blog Deceptive Cadence in 2010.
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