New Music Friday: The best releases out on April 28
Labrinth's new album, Ends & Begins, is on our shortlist of the best releases out on April 28. Courtesy of the artist hide caption
The singer and rapper Labrinth, beloved for his score to the HBO teen drama Euphoria, has a new solo full-length out called Ends & Begins. Much like the series that made him a household name among some fans, it's an album built on drama, head-spinning arrangements and gauzy reflections on the ways that life's smallest moments can feel cosmic. We open this week's show with several samples from across Ends & Begins and talk about the ways Labrinth finds romance in the darkness.
Hear The Songs
We've also got disco jams from Jessie Ware, a sweetly beautiful album from Smokey Robinson (who turned 83 earlier this year), singer Joy Oladokun and more. WBEZ and Vocalo Radio's Ayana Contreras, contributor Christina Lee and NPR Music editor Hazel Cills join host Robin Hilton to share their picks for the best new releases out on April 28.
Featured Albums:
- Labrinth — Ends & Begins
Featured Songs: "Kill For Your Love," "Everything," "Power Couple" - Jessie Ware — That! Feels Good!
Featured Songs: "Freak Me Now," "Beautiful People" - Joy Oladokun — Proof of Life
Featured Songs: "Spotlight (available only on CD and vinyl)," "Changes," "Taking Things For Granted," "We're All Gonna Die" - Baby Rose — Through And Through
Featured Songs: "Fight Club (feat. Georgia Anne Muldrow)," "Stop the Bleeding," "I Won't Tell (feat. Smino)" - Smokey Robinson — Gasms
Featured Songs: "How You Make Me Feel," "Beside You," "Gasms"
Lightning Round:
- Dreamer Isioma — Princess Forever
- Indigo De Souza — All of This Will End
- The National — First Two Pages of Frankenstein
- Tony Shhnow — Love Streak
Other notable releases for April 28:
- Arturo O'Farrill — Legacies
- Avalon Emerson — & the Charm
- Bebe Rexha — Bebe
- Diplo — Thomas Wesley: Chapter 2, Swamp Savant
- Great Lake Swimmers — Uncertain Country
- JFDR — Museum
- Jim Legxacy — homeless n**** pop music
- Josh Ritter — Spectral Lines
- Joseph — The Sun
- Neil Gaiman & Fourplay String Quartet — Signs of Life
- New Breed Brass Band — Made in New Orleans
- Peach PRC — Manic Dream Pixie
- Rickie Lee Jones — Pieces Of Treasure
- Skinny Pelembe — Hardly the Same Snake
- Taj Mahal — Savoy
- Y La Bamba — Lucha
- YUNGMORPHEUS — From Whence It Came