Lido Pimienta’s Miss Colombia is among the finest albums launched in April.
Daniella Murillo/Courtesy of the artist
conceal caption
toggle caption
Daniella Murillo/Courtesy of the artist
Lido Pimienta’s Miss Colombia is among the finest albums launched in April.
Daniella Murillo/Courtesy of the artist
Because the NPR Music workers continues to cowl the pandemic and its results on the music trade, we’re nonetheless listening to new music. The truth is, we began Press Pause and Hit Play, a brand new playlist up to date every day, in an effort to catalog our favorites launched throughout this time.
However albums are nonetheless occasions for us, even and particularly as we shelter in place. Fiona Apple launched Fetch the Bolt Cutters, her first album in eight years, early, and left our whole staff (and listeners) completely bewildered.
So we did one thing totally different for April. As a substitute of lengthy discussions over e mail and video chat to find out which albums would make our month-to-month listing, every workers member was assured their No. 1 decide. We do not at all times share our list-making course of, however the outcomes seen under reveal the music held closest to the chest, what will get repeat listens throughout quarantine.
Under you will discover an alphabetized listing of NPR Music’s prime 14 albums of April 2020. Be sure you try our prime 14 songs from the month and, above, pay attention the Better of April podcast from All Songs Thought of.
-
Buddy & Kent Jamz, ‘Janktape Vol. 1’
♬: APPLE / SPOTIFY / YOUTUBE / AMAZON
Whereas many people search solace by music throughout this pandemic, California’s Buddy and Kent Jamz rework into the trendy day Child ‘n Play (or Beavis and Butt-head, for the album cowl’s sake). Janktape Vol. 1 is the home occasion we did not know we wished, however definitely wanted. — Bobby Carter
-
EOB, ‘Earth’
♬: APPLE / SPOTIFY / YOUTUBE / AMAZON
Impressed by two differing landscapes (Brazil and Wales), Radiohead’s Ed O’Brien forges daring and fairly intimate sounds. Produced by Flood and joined by musicians from Wilco, Portishead and lots of others, this was my indoor sonic journey for April. — Bob Boilen
-
Fiona Apple, ‘Fetch the Bolt Cutters’
♬: APPLE / SPOTIFY / YOUTUBE / AMAZON
Like a 21st century fairy story, Fiona Apple locked herself away for eight years, cataloging her thoughts and utilizing a survivalist’s intuition to craft percussion-driven songs for an epic reckoning. Fetch the Bolt Cutters is boundless, primordial, heaving. Its fervent missive to freedom-seekers? You do not escape a cage by looking: You look inward. — Cyrena Touros
-
Kenny Mason, ‘Angelic Hoodrat’
♬: APPLE / SPOTIFY / YOUTUBE / AMAZON
With an album title that balances the dichotomy of the Black expertise, West Atlanta noisemaker Kenny Mason invitations followers alongside for a trip by his model of rap’s mecca — one siphons rock and pop progressions, the opposite buries traumas deep under double entendres. Like smudges within the rearview mirror, Kenny reminds that his previous is not excellent. — Sidney Madden
-
Lara Downes, ‘A few of These Days’
♬: APPLE / SPOTIFY / YOUTUBE / AMAZON
This lyrical, evocative set un-starches the musical artifacts of African-American uplift. The pianist approaches spirituals, hymns and legacy items with a ardour grounded within the information that historical past is private: every interpretation deeply reckons with what made her. Her collaborators — together with Toshi Reagon, the Chapin Sisters and PUBLIQuartet — infuse Lara Downes’ shut encounters with communal spirit. — Ann Powers
-
Lido Pimienta, ‘Miss Colombia’
♬: APPLE / SPOTIFY / YOUTUBE / AMAZON / BANDCAMP
Magnificence pageants separate what’s judged stunning from what’s judged not. Miss Colombia separates love and not-love, a query prolonged to Lido Pimienta’s sense of belonging after leaving her nation. The album examines violence and heartbreak, venerating Indigenous and Afro-Colombian land and artwork, each overshadowed by nationwide identification. — Stefanie Fernández
-
Michael Rische & Berliner Barock Solisten, ‘C.P.E. Bach: Keyboard Concertos’
♬: APPLE / SPOTIFY / YOUTUBE / AMAZON
The quirky, unpredictable music of J.S. Bach’s second eldest musical son sparkles in these mid-18th century concertos, supposed for the harpsichord, however performed with panache and magnificence on a contemporary piano. The performances highlight, however do not over emphasize, the composer’s zig-zag cadences, shock dissonances and languid, improvisatory gradual actions. — Tom Huizenga
-
Mike Dean, ‘4:20’
♬: APPLE / SPOTIFY / YOUTUBE / AMAZON
Over the previous three many years, the producer has been as necessary to the evolution of hip-hop’s sound as anybody, even the boundary-pushing Kanye West, who continuously borrows Mike Dean’s mind within the studio. However 4:20 shouldn’t be a set of beats in quest of rappers, however a psyched galactic quest spun from complete fabric — no bops, only one large fwoosh. — Andrew Flanagan
-
Nduduzo Makhathini, ‘Modes of Communication: Letters from the Underworlds’
♬: APPLE / SPOTIFY / YOUTUBE / AMAZON
Rapturous uplift and radiant communion are the hallmarks of Nduduzo Makhathini’s sound, which conveys the broad sweep of South African jazz. As a pianist, Makhathini evokes the ringing modalities of McCoy Tyner; as a composer he balances turbulence with calm. Alto saxophonist Logan Richardson is amongst his visitors on this momentous Blue Word debut. — Nate Chinen, WBGO
-
NNAMDÏ, ‘BRAT’
♬: APPLE / SPOTIFY / YOUTUBE / AMAZON / BANDCAMP
Nnamdi Ogbonnaya stuffs a lot inventive power and concepts into his fourth full-length album it is busting on the seams. The multi-instrumentalist, composer and rapper based mostly out of Chicago obliterates style, hammering collectively sounds from West Africa with artwork rock, hip-hop, gospel and extra. However he finds the humanity in these songs, with existential reflections on the character of destiny and freewill. — Robin Hilton
-
Revolutionary Military of the Toddler Jesus, ‘Songs of Craving’
♬: BANDCAMP
The once-anonymous collective finds consolation within the unknown with a sacred music that’s regal, in search of and Gothic. Sung in a number of languages (and in a single they do not even perceive), Revolutionary Military of the Toddler Jesus celebrates its personal mysterium fidei with ambient and neoclassical textures in addition to people traditions from all over the world. — Lars Gotrich
-
Sam Hunt, ‘Southside’
♬: APPLE / SPOTIFY / YOUTUBE / AMAZON
Sam Hunt does quite a lot of apologizing on Southside: he is sorry for 2016 and he is sorry that he named his final album Montevallo for his ex-turned-wife. However it’s not all somber. Singular and self-aware, it is a redemptive arc of a document with intelligent, crowd-pleasing detours that showcase his subtlety. — Lyndsey McKenna
-
Thundercat, ‘It Is What It Is’
♬: APPLE / SPOTIFY / YOUTUBE / AMAZON / BANDCAMP
Stephen Bruner continues his audacious re-imagining of ’70s jazz fusion. His bass taking part in is charming, even when it veers off into high-end noodling. It is a unfastened, heat document with killer visitor spots, together with Kamasi Washington, Infantile Gambino and Ohio funk royalty Steve Arrington. — Lauren Onkey
-
Westside Gunn, ‘Pray for Paris’
♬: APPLE / SPOTIFY / YOUTUBE / AMAZON
That is artwork haus entice, a Monet framed in crushed crack vials. Westside Gunn transcends the onerous knocks of Buffalo on Pray for Paris, an album that mixes a road hustler’s ambition with Griselda Information’ transition from underground to uncommon air. The American Dream by no means sounded so onerous to earn. — Rodney Carmichael