NPR Music New Music Friday: The best albums out Jan. 16
20 snips
Jan 16, 2026 Join Alex Newman, a Portland radio host known for breaking jazz boundaries, as he dives into the latest music scene. He and host Stephen Thompson discuss A$AP Rocky's new singles and their cultural impact. They explore the enchanting collaboration of Julianna Barwick and Mary Lattimore, highlighting its ambient layers. The duo celebrates the doo-wop revival with The Sha La Das, and the genre-fluid sounds of Ya Tseen are examined for their storytelling depth. Don't miss their rapid-fire recommendations from other exciting new releases!
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Family Band Revives Classic Doo-Wop Charm
- The Sha La Das deliver warm, family-rooted doo-wop and soul with vintage-sounding players.
- Their music evokes sepia-toned memories and feels like a lovingly preserved time capsule.
Seek Jazz Without Boundaries
- KMHD programs "jazz without boundaries" to show jazz's connective tissue to other genres.
- Alex Newman recommends exploring diverse record-store finds and newness-at-noon segments to discover contemporary music.
Kid Asks The Perfect Genre Question
- Yat-Sen is a collaborative collective mixing visual artists and many musical guests into shape-shifting songs.
- Alex Newman mentions his eight-year-old daughter asking, "What kind of music is this?" as a testament to its genre-defying nature.