First Listen: Alpine, ‘Yuck’
On the Australian band’s charming second album, a sweetly blithe sound can’t quite mask the doubt and hesitation at the heart of the songs.
Tag: NPR
First Listen: Richard Thompson, ‘Still’
When the great guitarist takes a solo, it’s a swerving, cathartic, edge-of-the-seat experience. When he doesn’t, the bliss persists, but in highly concentrated doses.
First Listen: Walk Off The Earth, ‘Sing It All Away’
The Canadian pop band’s second album is an impeccable distillation of pop music in 2015: big and bright and cheerful, and expanded rather than confined by everything that came before it.
First Listen: High On Fire, ‘Luminiferous’
Now 17 years and seven albums into its existence, Luminiferous reaffirms High On Fire’s consistent mastery of heavy metal.
First Listen: Heartless Bastards, ‘Restless Ones’
The roots-rock band’s fifth album doesn’t deviate wildly from Heartless Bastards’ wheelhouse, but it does give Erika Wennerstrom and company more room to roam.
Digital Underground
There is a wealth of music, along with music-related artifacts and conversation, on the Internet, but the companies that control these vast resources don’t always prioritize permanence.
Microphone Check Live: Organized Noize
We went to Atlanta to talk to the three-man production team behind some of the greatest songs ever: Ray Murray, Rico Wade and Sleepy Brown.
William Tyler, ‘The Sleeping Prophet’
In a video set to a country-tinged melody with flourishes of lap steel and ambient underbrush, Tyler scrambles eggs, gets his nails done and hits up his favorite dive in Nashville.
Genevieve: Tiny Desk Concert
See a singer with a powerful voice and extremely encouraging message — words to be not just sung but shouted from the rooftops.
Streaming Utopia: Imagining Digital Music’s Perfect World
We asked everyone we could think of, from fans to musicians to label owners what the ideal streaming service should look like. Turns out the new world, even in our fantasies, is a work in progress.
How Streaming Is Changing Music
Over the next week, in a series called Streaming At The Tipping Point, we’ll look at how streaming music services are reshaping the way we find, hear and experience music.
First Listen: The Deslondes, ‘The Deslondes’
Singer-songwriters Sam Doores and Riley Downing teamed up for a country album inspired by both Woody Guthrie and the Big Easy’s live music scene.
First Listen: FFS, ‘FFS’
U.K. dance-rockers Franz Ferdinand team up with power-pop brainiacs Sparks for an album more than 10 years in the making.
When Nora Jane Struthers’ Identity Was Stolen, She Created A New One
The former English teacher may never have become a singer-songwriter if her identity hadn’t been taken. “I was just ready for a brand new start,” she says. And soon she was on the road to Nashville.
All Songs At 15: When The Tallest Man On Earth Played The Tiny Desk
For this week’s Throw Back Thursday we go back to the summer of 2009 and a stirring set of songs by The Tallest Man on Earth.
Faith No More’s Mike Patton: ‘You Create Your Own Freedom’
The lead singer of the mercurial rock (and funk and rap and whatever else will fit) band talks about the long path to Sol Invictus, the first Faith No More album in 18 years.
First Listen: Willie Nelson & Merle Haggard, ‘Django And Jimmie’
More than three decades after Pancho & Lefty, the country titans pair up again, this time for an album that puts eclecticism front and center.
First Listen: Algiers, ‘Algiers’
The gospel-punk band’s self-titled debut couches its invective in feedback, guitar noise, bruising drum machines and Franklin James Fisher’s guttural howls.
First Listen: Dawes, ‘All Your Favorite Bands’
On its fourth album, Dawes calls from deep inside the feedback loop of love’s aftermath. Throughout All Your Favorite Bands, singer Taylor Goldsmith takes full advantage of the dramatic possibilities.
First Listen: SOAK, ‘Before We Forgot How To Dream’
The Irish singer recorded her debut at 18, so it makes sense that it would chronicle youthful uncertainty. Throughout the album, her songs command attention by burrowing deep under the skin.