Adventurous albums from Lil Yachty and Caroline Polachek

Plus, the best new songs from our #NowPlaying blog.

View this email online Feb. 18, 2023 by Marissa Lorusso This week, we’re sharing reviews of two eclectic and fascinating new records; plus, Yannick Nézet-Séguin makes a playlist for Fresh Air. Rich Fury/Getty Images; Nedda Afsari/Courtesy of the artist A couple of adventurous new records have generated a lot of conversation for many of us at NPR Music in the past few weeks; let’s start with Lil Yachty’s Let’s Start Here. Yachty is perhaps best known to casual fans for a few collaborations in 2016 — one with DRAM and the other with the rapper Kyle — and, more generally, for being a larger-than-life character and multimedia star (see: his TikTok fame; his Target commercial; his Chef Boyardee jingle with Donny Osmond). The music from the early years of his career “prophetically brought rap tropes and pop sounds into harmony,” as writer Matthew Ramirez put it in a review of Let’s Start Here, even if Yachty wasn’t always the strongest rapper from a technical perspective. Last year’s viral hit “Poland,” though, seemed to set him on a new path; it gave him, as Ramirez puts it, an “improbable second chance to grab the zeitgeist.” That brings us to Let’s Start Here, out at the end of January, which Ramirez calls a “reinvention, a born-again Artist's Statement with no rapping.” I’ve heard the album described over and over as a psych-rock record; more specifically, though, Ramirez says it has “sun-kissed warmth of an agreeable Tame Impala song, with bounce-house rhythms and woozy guitars in the mode of Magdalena Bay and Mac DeMarco (both of whom guest on the album).” While some listeners and critics have found the sound of the record surprising, Ramirez points out that Yachty is probably well aware that his fans absorb the hip-hop of his peers and the kaleidoscopic indie rock of a band like Tame Impala at the same time, without thinking of them as belonging to strictly separated genre lanes. “Credit to Yachty,” Ramirez writes, “for putting that knowledge to use.” The inventive singer, songwriter and producer Caroline Polachek also has an omnivorous appetite for pop sounds; writer Sophie Kemp says Polachek’s new album, Desire, I Want To Turn Into You feels like “pop music of ideas” that is “not self-serious, but rigorous, muscular.” (Another point of connection: The musician Patrick Wimberly helped produce Let’s Start Here; he also used to play in Polachek’s old band, Chairlift.) Sophie’s review of Desire is so fun to read, explaining Polachek’s decade-plus journey through indie-pop fame, co-writes for Beyoncé and emergence as a solo pop auteur — but, more importantly, the review captures the heady, ridiculous exuberance of her new record. And if you want to hear even more discussion of that album, check out this week’s episode of New Music Friday from All Songs Considered, where I joined host Robin Hilton, NPR Music critic Ann Powers and Radio Milwaukee’s Tarik Moody to talk about Desire and other great new albums out Feb. 17. Newsletter continues after sponsor message More to read, watch and hear The #NowPlaying blog is our list of essential new songs, selected by NPR Music staff. This week was especially full of great new tracks: an acoustic solo exploration from Bill Orcutt, a self-affirming bop from Lizzo and SZA, a shoegazey portrait of tragic desire from the LA duo crushed and more. What do great conductors listen to when they're not on the podium? Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the Grammy-winning conductor who leads the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Metropolitan Opera and the Orchestre Métropolitain in Montreal, made a playlist specifically for Fresh Air of music that inspires him, including a surprising mix of pop, hip-hop and classical. On Aug. 20, 1972, Stax Records hosted Wattstax at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum — a concert that featured performances by The Staple Singers, The Bar-Kays, Isaac Hayes, Rufus Thomas and many others. The documentary that captured the festival, Wattstax, turns 50 this month — and, in honor of the anniversary, the film will be returning to theaters alongside the release of a new box set of music. Writer Ashwanta Jackson says the anniversary is an opportunity to consider what the film captures (and doesn't) about music, race and justice in the 1970s and today. This week, our friends at WNRN shared a video of Angel Olsen performing “Dream Thing” in front of a live audience at In Your Ear Studios in Richmond, Va. Tiny Desk NPR While the Tiny Desk itself technically belongs to one person (it is, after all, Bob Boilen’s actual working desk at NPR HQ), Tiny Desk concerts are a team effort — and pretty much everyone on the NPR Music team is encouraged to pitch artists for the series. So it’s always especially exciting when a member of the team gets to produce their very first Tiny Desk concert — and this week, that honor went to our social media production assistant, Ashley Pointer. Ashley invited the eclectic singer-songwriter Fousheé, who performed an emotional set of songs that mix R&B, grunge and pop. Also this week: Trumpeter Theo Croker brought a chill attitude and an expansive understanding of jazz’s past, present and future to his performance at the Tiny Desk. Plus, Kenny Beats, one of the most sought-after producers in music, brought a trio of familiar voices to his Tiny Desk concert. One More Thing Love at first sound. Listen to your local NPR station. Visit NPR.org to hear live radio from WUFT 89.1 (edit station). Need a new playlist? Follow NPR Music on Spotify and Apple Music What do you think of today's email? We'd love to hear your thoughts, questions and feedback: nprmusic@npr.org Enjoying this newsletter? Forward to a friend! They can sign up here. Looking for more great content? Check out all of our newsletter offerings — including Books, Pop Culture, Health and more! You received this message because you're subscribed to NPR Music emails. This email was sent by National Public Radio, Inc., 1111 North Capitol Street NE, Washington, DC 20002 Unsubscribe  |  Privacy Policy