Animal Collective, Cat Power, Menomena And More

Menomena (clockwise from upper left), Cat Power, Matthew E. White, Buke & Gase

Courtesy of the artists

All Songs Considered hosts Bob Boilen and Robin Hilton are back from their 2012 World Tour, which is to say they visited Seattle and Portland, Ore. last week, and have returned with a batch of new songs and stories to share. On the west coast Bob and Robin hosted a couple of listening parties, where they played music for an audience, the audience got to rate the songs, then everyone talked about them, just like hardcore music fans. They were joined by Telekinesis frontman Michael Benjamin Lerner, KEXP DJ Kevin Cole, and Portlandia's Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen. On this week's show we hear some of the songs they played, including a heartrending new cut from rapper Macklemore called "Same Love," and the stunning title cut from Cat Power's new record, Sun.

Also on the show: A peek at Animal Collective's latest sonic adventures on the group's new album Centipede Hz; The Brooklyn-based duo Buke and Gase are back with an equally adventurous EP called Function Falls; We've got a gritty new song from Menomena, and composer and arranger Matthew E. White pays homage to early Randy Newman Americana on White's debut solo record, Big Inner.