The best albums out August 9 : All Songs Considered : NPR

This week, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard release Flight b741, the prolific and peripatetic Australian band’s 26th album.

Maclay Heriot/Courtesy of the artist

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Maclay Heriot/Courtesy of the artist

This week, King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard release Flight b741, the prolific and peripatetic Australian band’s 26th album.

Maclay Heriot/Courtesy of the artist

NPR Music’s Daoud Tyler-Ameen and Ann Powers survey the new albums out August 9, ranging from Ravyn Lenae’s focused R&B to King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard’s scuzzed-up glam-rock and an elegant solo piano album recorded by Japanese pop star and composer Ryuichi Sakamoto just months before his death in 2023.

Plus: A stirring album made by 39-year-old American bassist esperanza spalding and 81-year-old Brazilian singer Milton Nascimento leads to a discussion of collaborations across generations. Daoud and Ann listen back on Rick Rubin’s work shepherding Johnny Cash’s late-career American Recordings albums and consider Olivia Rodrigo sharing a stage with Billy Joel, whose music she references in her own, and inviting ’90s alt-rock icons The Breeders to open shows on her Guts tour. What are the rules for these kinds of collaborations? What makes them work, and who benefits more — the elder or younger artist?

Featured Albums:
• Ravyn Lenae, Bird’s Eye
• Beabadoobee, This Is How Tomorrow Moves
• King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard, Flight b741
• Latto, Sugar Honey Iced Tea
• Ryuichi Sakamoto, Opus
• Oso Oso, Life Till Bones
• Thee Marloes, Perak
• Milton Nascimento & esperanza spalding, Milton + esperanza

Other notable albums out August 9:
• Logic, Ultra 85
• Big Sean, Better Me Than You
• Amos Lee, Transmissions
• J Balvin, Rayo
• Quivers, Oyster Cuts
• Polo G, Hood Poet
• Spice, Mirror 25
• Asake, Lungu Boy
• F***** Up, Another Day
• Google Earth, Street View
• Mavi, shadowbox
• Peter Cat Recording Co., Beta

Links:
• Sidney Madden’s interview with Latto from season 2 of Louder Than A Riot
• Ann Powers reviews Zach Bryan’s Springsteen-mythologizing album The Great American Bar Scene
• Watch a Tiny Desk (Home) concert by Milton Nascimento and esperanza spalding recorded in Nascimento’s living room in Rio de Janeiro