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New Music Friday: Our Top 7 Albums Out Aug. 30

Lana Del Rey. Her latest release, <em>Norman F****** Rockwell, </em>is on our shortlist for the best new albums out on Aug. 30.
Courtesy of the artist
Lana Del Rey. Her latest release, Norman F****** Rockwell, is on our shortlist for the best new albums out on Aug. 30.

After trickling out singles for more than a year, singer Lana Del Rey has finally dropped her sixth full-length studio album with the oddly comical title, Norman F****** Rockwell. On this week's New Music Friday, we dig into this expansive mix of slow-burning ballads and sometimes strange but profound, odyssey-length adventures.

Also, on the show: The artist known as Boy Scouts releases an album of love and empathy for her Anti Records debut; Black Belt Eagle Scout celebrates the power of friendship on a full-length that comes less than a year after her previous album; and The Boston emo band Somos has a new album just weeks after the band's guitarist, Phil Haggerty, tragically passed away at the age of 28. All those, plus Sheryl Crow's features-heavy (and reportedly final) album, the Australian singer G Flip and more. NPR Music's Lars Gotrich, Marissa Lorusso and Stephen Thompson join host Robin Hilton to share their picks for the best new albums out Aug. 30.

Featured Albums:

  • G Flip - About Us
    Featured Song: "Drink Too Much"
  • Boy Scouts - Free Company
    Featured Song: "Expiration Date"
  • Black Belt Eagle Scout - At The Party With My Brown Friends
    Featured Song: "I Said I Wouldn't Write This Song"
  • Lana Del Rey - Norman F****** Rockwell
    Featured Songs: "Happiness Is A Butterfly" and "Cinnamon Girl"
  • Close Talker - How Do We Stay Here
    Featured Song: "Wait"
  • Somos - Prison On A Hill
    Featured Song: "Absent And Lost"
  • Sheryl Crow: Threads
    Featured Song: "Wouldn't Want To Be Like You"
  • Other Notable Releases For Aug. 30: Bon Iver - i.i (physical release); Common - Let Love; The Futureheads - Powers; Joan Shelley - Like The River Loves The Sea; Pharmakon - Devour; Tool - Fear Inoculum; Trisha Yearwood - Every Girl; Whitney - Forever Turned Around.

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

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