New Music Friday: The best albums out Feb. 6
NPR Music
NPR
4.3 • 3.3K Ratings
🗓️ 6 February 2026
⏱️ 38 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The Starting 5
(00:00) Introduction & J. Cole, 'The Fall Off'
(02:11) Ratboys, 'Singin' To An Empty Chair'
(08:27) Beverly Glenn-Copeland, 'Laughter In Summer'
(16:27) Daphni, 'Butterfly'
(21:22) Charlotte Day Wilson, 'Patchwork'
(26:39) John Craigie, 'I Swam Here'
(31:26) The Lightning Round
- Melissa Carper & Theo Lawrence, 'Havin' a Talk'
- Alice Costelloe, 'Move On With The Year'
- vegas water taxi, 'long time caller, first time listener'
- Ulrika Spacek, 'EXPO'
- Music City, 'Welcome to Music City'
Sample the albums via our New Music Friday playlist on NPR.org/allsongs.
Credits:
Host: Stephen Thompson
Guest: Erin Wolf, Radio Milwaukee
Audio Producer: Noah Caldwell
Digital Producer: Dora Levite
Editors: Otis Hart, Elle Mannion
Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Happy Friday, everyone from NPR Music. |
| 0:10.0 | It's New Music Friday. |
| 0:12.0 | I'm Stephen Thompson here with Aaron Wolfe from Radio Milwaukee's 889. |
| 0:16.0 | Welcome back to the show, Aaron. |
| 0:17.0 | Thanks, Steven. |
| 0:18.0 | It's so good to be back with you. |
| 0:19.0 | It is a pleasure to have you. I always love getting back in touch with my beloved home state, |
| 0:24.7 | where I'm sure the weather is just balmy and approachable, and everybody's just out frolicking shirtless. |
| 0:32.9 | Yeah, shorts, flip-flops, you name it. We are basking in the balminess. |
| 0:37.4 | Well, the music you're hearing is from the biggest album out this week. |
| 0:42.2 | It is the new and purportedly final album from the rapper Jay Cole. |
| 0:46.8 | It's called The Fall Off. It is many years in the making, and he released dribs and drabs leading up to it, |
| 0:53.4 | but we did not get |
| 0:54.5 | the full record to be able to talk about it in depth. But what do you think so far? |
| 0:58.5 | Well, I did see the promo video, and I am so intrigued based on the visuals alone, heightened |
| 1:06.5 | excitement right now for this release. Thick fans are wondering if this is actually, as he is saying, the falloff, where he is |
| 1:14.9 | closing the door and he's falling off. |
| 1:17.3 | I don't know if I completely believe that this is it, but it is a very cinematic lead-up |
| 1:25.4 | to what is purportedly this final record. I really love the poetry of the first |
| 1:30.5 | song that was shared. The way he starts everything out, my life, I see it in reverse. I first |
| 1:36.2 | appeared in a hearse and the image of his grandkids carrying his coffin. I'm just like, dang, |
| 1:43.0 | that is some deep stuff. I don't know if you've ever |
... |
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