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New Music Friday: The best albums you missed from December

British soul collective SAULT officially released its latest album, Acts of Faith, on Christmas.
SAULT
British soul collective SAULT officially released its latest album, Acts of Faith, on Christmas.

There's been some great music released since the last New Music Friday episode in late November. So this Friday, NPR Music's Stephen Thompson and Nate Chinen from NPR member station WRTI in Philadelphia catch you up on the best albums we heard in December.

Featured Albums:
ROSÉ, rosie
Lauren Mayberry, Vicious Creature
Brad Mehldau, Mark Turner & Peter Bernstein, Solid Jackson
The Innocence Mission, Midwinter Swimmers
SAULT, Acts of Faith

Notable Albums released Nov. 29, 2024 - Jan. 3, 2025

Global pop:
• Carin Leon, Palabra De To's
• TWICE, STRATEGY EP
• Stray Kids, HOP
• Myke Towers, LYKE MIIKE
• Russ Millions, OOAK Vol. 1
• Elmiene, For The Deported EP

Hip-Hop:
• Bossman Dlow, Dlow Curry
• Smino, Maybe in Nirvana
• Roc Marciano & The Alchemist, The Skeleton Key
• Nettspend, Bad Ass F****** Kid
• Mozzy & Kalan.FrFr, LUCKY HER

Indie:
• Cameron Winter, Heavy Metal
• Kassie Krut, s/t EP
• Julie Beth Napolin, Only the Void Stands Between Us
• Babymorocco, Amour
• Dungen, Otis
• Amen Dunes, Death Jokes II

Ambient detours:
• Saint Etienne, The Night
• Röyksopp, Nebulous Nights (An Ambient Excursion into Profound Mysteries and True Electric)

Out there:
• Fennesz, Mosaic
• Aphex Twin, Music from the Merch Desk
• Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross, Queer OST
• Shinichi Atobe, Discipline

Live albums:
• The Gits, Live at the X-Ray
• Dua Lipa, Live from Royal Albert Hall
• Natalia Lafourcade, Live at Carnegie Hall
• The National, Rome
• Tori Amos, Diving Deep Live
• Interpol, Live at Third Man Records
• Laufey, A Night at the Symphony

Cover projects:
• Lucinda Williams, Sings the Beatles From Abbey Road
• Angel Olsen, Cosmic Waves Vol. 1
• Timothée Chalamet, A Complete Unknown OST

CREDITS:

  • Host: Stephen Thompson, NPR Music
  • Guest: Nate Chinen, WRTI
  • Producer: Simon Rentner
  • Editor: Otis Hart
  • Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
  • Vice President, Music and Visuals: Keith Jenkins

Copyright 2025 NPR

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.)
[Copyright 2024 WRTI Your Classical and Jazz Source]