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New Music Friday: Our Top 5 Albums Out March 15

Danger Mouse (left) and Yeah Yeah Yeahs singer Karen O collaborated on <em>Lux Prima</em>, one of the albums on our short list for the best new releases out March 15.
Eliot Lee Hazel
/
Courtesy of the artist
Danger Mouse (left) and Yeah Yeah Yeahs singer Karen O collaborated on Lux Prima, one of the albums on our short list for the best new releases out March 15.

This week's somewhat abbreviated edition of New Music Friday includes an ambitious collaboration between Yeah Yeah Yeahs singer Karen O and producer Danger Mouse; the British electronic duo The Cinematic Orchestra returns with its first new album in more than a decade, featuring singer Moses Sumney, rapper Roots Manuva and other guests; and Pavement's Stephen Malkmus injects his woozy rock with a strange jolt of electronica. Host Robin Hilton is joined by NPR Music's Stephen Thompson as they share their picks for the best new albums out on March 15.

Featured Albums:

  • Karen O & Danger Mouse, Lux Prima
    Featured Songs: "Woman" and "Lux Prima"
  • The Cinematic Orchestra, To Believe
    Featured Songs: "A Caged Bird/Imitations of Life," "To Believe" and "The Workers of Art"
  • Stephen Malkmus, Groove Denied
    Featured Songs: "Rushing the Acid Frat" and "Belziger Faceplant"
  • Finn Andrews, One Piece at a Time
    Featured Song: "One Piece at a Time"
  • CHAI, Punk
    Featured Song: "CHOOSE GO!"
  • Other Notable Releases for March 15: Koffee, Rapture EP; Matmos, Plastic Anniversary; The Comet Is Coming, Trust in the Lifeforce of the Deep Mystery; Todd Snider, Cash Cabin Season Vol. 3.

    Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

    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.)
    Robin Hilton is a producer and co-host of the popular NPR Music show All Songs Considered.