Sep 11, 2026 · 41 min
Five albums stretch the boundaries of pop, jazz and rock
New Music Friday: The best albums out Sept. 11
The episode maps a week in new music through artists who turn genre boundaries into sources of feeling, texture and connection.
- 1Sylvan Esso expand electropop with punk energy, atmospheric production and a more adventurous sense of scale.
- 2Ezra Collective join jazz to hip-hop, Afrobeat, reggae, calypso and soul while holding pain and hope together.
- 3This Is Lorelei, The Tubs and Haruomi Hosono find intimacy through stripped-back songwriting, expansive rock and warm miniature pop.
Don't miss
The discussion of Ezra Collective shows how jazz can hold diaspora, pain, hope and joyful celebration in the same musical space.
The brief
Stephen Thompson leads a five-album survey with Brian Burns, Celia Gregory and John Morrison, moving from adventurous electropop to warm Japanese pop.
Sylvan Esso’s Ow! Infinity and Ezra Collective’s Here Because of Hope both resist neat categories: one pushes electropop outward, while the other turns genre-spanning jazz toward diaspora, pain and hope.
Celia Gregory makes the case for This Is Lorelei’s intimate songwriting and The Tubs’ bright, vulnerable rock, where expansive arrangements still feel close enough for a club.
John Morrison brings Haruomi Hosono’s Yours Sincerely into focus as a collection of concise, compassionate miniatures built around human connection and sincere warmth.
The lightning round extends the episode’s restless spirit, pairing Funkadelic’s psychedelic intensity with experimental sound design, futuristic folk, and Angela Autumn’s unguarded songwriting.
Books & mentions
Culture Cipher Radio
John Morrison’s program provides a related lens on music, culture and experimental releases.
Maggot Brain reissue
The lightning round highlights its collision of funk, soul, psychedelic rock and apocalyptic guitar intensity.