Dylan In Pictures: Newport 1963

by Rowland Scherman

Photographer Rowland Scherman went to the Newport Folk Festival only once, in the summer of 1963. He went up for the weekend, in between days working for the Peace Corps, with a couple Leica cameras and no press pass. And he happened upon a 22 year-old Bob Dylan in a transformative moment. Scherman thinks the changes to folk music which the '63 festival wrought won't happen again soon, both because that was an exceptional time in history, and because the chances of someone as genius as Dylan getting up on stage anywhere this year are slim. He spoke to me about the stories and shots he brought back from the trip he made to, basically, chase Mary Travers. --Frannie Kelley, NPR Music

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Folk music was at its zenith in those days. The Kingston Trio and Peter Paul and Mary were selling more records than anybody else. And then Dylan came along. And then when the Beatles came along in '64 it sort of changed the direction. So folk music I don't think ever got any bigger or more important to the American music public than it did in 1963. Folk music was the music. That was the time. Everyone started getting guitars and it sort of set the stage for rock 'n' roll. Because everyone had a guitar already.

Bob Dylan at the Newport Folk Festival in 1963. (Rowland Scherman)

That seminal moment at the 1963 Newport Folk Festival, Dylan went from zero to hero in the course of a weekend. I was crazy about Mary, of Peter Paul and Mary, so I took the weekend off from my Washington job and came up to Newport to the Folk Festival and hung out, waiting to see her. The very best music I heard all that weekend was Paul doing the sound check. Peter was at the sound board, and Paul has the voice of a male angel. God, it was so good.

Anyway, it was all at the Newport tennis club in those days, and there were a bunch of cats standing around, four or five guys, and I went over to them. One of them had a bullwhip around his shoulder, and it was the young Bob Dylan. I was shooting with a wide lens, and I got this portrait of him -- of this kid with a bullwhip around his shoulder. And it was Dylan.

Bob Dylan, Newport R.I. 1963. (Rowland Scherman)

Continue reading "Dylan In Pictures: Newport 1963" »

8:15 PM ET | 07-31-2009 | permalink

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National Symphony Orchestra To Tweet Beethoven

by Robin Hilton

When the National Symphony Orchestra performs tonight, it'll supplement Beethoven's "Pastoral" Symphony with 140-character notes from the conductor, sent to members of the audience via Twitter. Anyone with a Web-ready mobile device can follow the conductor's notes by subscribing to the NSOatWolfTrap Twitter feed.

To be clear, the conductor won't be standing in front of everyone, typing out quick notes on his cell phone. They'll be prepared ahead of time and sent by an engineer via the Twitter site, with each tweet coinciding with key moments in the score. According to the NSO Twitter feed, organizers plan to send about 50 tweets during the show, between 8 and 10 p.m. That's a new tweet nearly every other minute.

The Washington Post offers an example of one of the prepared tweets: "In my score Beethoven has printed Nightingale=flute Quail=oboe Cuckoo=clarinet -- a mini concerto for woodwind/birds."

The idea is to try new ways to reach a broader and younger audience, and to help listeners better connect with the music. I get the idea, but this seems so obnoxious to me. Who wants to be sitting next to someone who's constantly fumbling around with a glowing iPhone or BlackBerry during a classical music concert? I'm really not a Luddite, but the whole cell-phone-at-a-concert trend has been an ongoing source of irritation for me. Even at a rock show, it's annoying to be surrounded by people texting through the whole thing, staring down wall-eyed at their wagging thumbs. It's like a form of digital visual pollution.

What do you think?

3:54 PM ET | 07-30-2009 | permalink

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Arctic Monkeys: Live Webcast And Album Leak

by Robin Hilton

Arctic Monkeys will perform songs from the upcoming album Humbug live online today, beginning at 4 p.m. ET. The show will stream from the group's Web site. Note that the site lists a time of 9 p.m. GMT.

Members of Arctic Monkeys tell ClashMusic.com that the new album is more ethereal and psychedelic than their previous two releases. Guitarist Alex Turner says the group listened to a lot of Jimi Hendrix and Cream while working on Humbug.

Meanwhile, the album has officially leaked on the Internet, though label reps say they expected as much. "Once the album is manufactured at the plant, the likelihood of a leak on a release of interest is very high -- arguably certain," says Morgan Lebus of Domino Records, the band's label.

The leak started on fan blogs yesterday before moving quickly to file-sharing sites.

Humbug is scheduled for an official release in the U.S. on Aug. 25.

Cover art for Humbug, the new album from Arctic Monkeys.

10:20 AM ET | 07-30-2009 | permalink

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Old Flames: Wilco

by Robin Hilton

If the law of diminishing returns applies to music, then the more you listen to a band or an album, the less you get out of it. This happens to me all the time. I'll fall in love with an artist or group, like Bon Iver or Death Cab for Cutie, then totally overdose on its music. When I decide it's time we start seeing other people and break it off, months or even years can go by without my hearing another note.

Over time, something inevitably happens: Maybe I hear one of their songs played overhead at a coffee shop or in a movie, and I suddenly find myself falling in love all over again. It's like running into an ex on the street and finding out there's still a spark between you.

Wilco and I have been seeing each other almost exclusively for the past few weeks now, following a lengthy break from one another. I first fell in love with the band when Yankee Hotel Foxtrot came out in 2002. Things got even steamier when A Ghost Is Born was released two years later. But, as expected, things started to cool off. By the time Sky Blue Sky came out in 2007, I knew it was over.

I started thinking a lot about Wilco again not long after Jay Bennett died. It was a tragic loss, of course, and it made me reflect on what he'd contributed to Wilco's sound, and speculate about all the new music we'd never get to hear from him.

Feeling the need to reconnect with the band, I recently re-watched the 2003 documentary about Wilco -- and the making of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot -- called I Am Trying to Break Your Heart.

Before the opening credits ended, accompanied by Jeff Tweedy's solo acoustic version of the title song, I was swooning.

Continue reading "Old Flames: Wilco" »

3:18 PM ET | 07-29-2009 | permalink

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Rock 'n' Roll Summer School: Dance Craze!

Every Wednesday this summer, we're offering a quick course in early rock 'n' roll. Your professor will be Tom Moon, NPR contributor and author of the book 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die. These overviews, mostly of music from the 1950s, are not intended to be comprehensive, but to help curious listeners dive in and explore some of the genre's often-overlooked building blocks. Whether you're a novice or a rock snob, join the conversation below.

THIS WEEK: DANCE CRAZE!

by Tom Moon

You could chart the early history of rock 'n' roll based just on dance crazes -- those electric but silly-looking fads that popped up seemingly weekly, and often disappeared just as quickly.

Some crazes endure because the performance of a song is so strong. That's the case with Chubby Checker's version of Hank Ballard's "The Twist," a massive hit in 1960. Even if you never saw the dance on YouTube (or its 1950s corollary, American Bandstand), you know how to do it after you hear the song once.

Continue reading "Rock 'n' Roll Summer School: Dance Craze!" »

11:54 AM ET | 07-29-2009 | permalink

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Second Stage: The Lonelyhearts

by Robin Hilton

Download "Harlequin Bands" by The Lonelyhearts (Right-click or control-click to save to your computer)

Guitarist John Lindenbaum lives in Oakland, Calif., while keyboardist Andrew Perry lives in Iowa City, Iowa. But that hasn't stopped the two from making music together. Calling themselves The Lonelyhearts, the interstate collaborators worked together via the Internet to write and record a new collection of trippy folk-rock songs called Disaster Footage at Night. Lindenbaum and Perry cite Tom Petty as one of their biggest influences, and you can definitely hear Petty's sound in some of the ringing guitar work. Perry is studying for his MFA in non-fiction at the University of Iowa, so it's not surprising that the songs are also very literary. Lindenbaum, meanwhile, studies cultural geography at UC-Berkeley.

This is the opening cut to Disaster Footage At Night. It's called "Harlequin Bands."

Subscribe to the Second Stage podcast to automatically download each song to your computer.

Submit your music for possible inclusion in Second Stage or All Songs Considered.

3:36 PM ET | 07-28-2009 | permalink

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Pixies Announce U.S. 'Doolittle' Tour

by Robin Hilton

Pixies' members have added a number of U.S. dates for their 20th-anniversary tour celebrating the 1989 album Doolittle. The group will perform every song from the classic record, along with B-sides, live in concert.

"We wanted to do something special," singer Black Francis said recently. "We thought this was a good opportunity to play all the songs from that album, something we don't normally do at a regular gig."

Black Francis, Kim Deal, David Lovering and Joey Santiago will all take part in the tour, which begins Sept. 30 in Dublin. The band will hit Ireland, Scotland, England, Germany, Holland, Belgium and France before heading to the U.S. in the fall.

Tickets go on sale sometime in August. Are you amped up and eager to go? Even if you're not a Pixies fan, do you like it when bands perform entire albums live?

Nov. 4: The Palladium in Los Angeles
Nov. 8-9: The Fox Theater in Oakland
Nov. 12-13: Paramount Theater in Seattle
Nov. 14: Hult Center in Eugene, Ore.
Nov. 16: The Fillmore in Denver
Nov. 20-21: Aragon Ballroom in Chicago
Nov. 23-25: Hammerstein Ballroom in New York
Nov. 27: Wang Center in Boston
Nov. 30: Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C.

10:23 AM ET | 07-28-2009 | permalink

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Poll Results: The Best Music Of 2009 (So Far)

by Bob Boilen

NPR listeners cast thousands of votes for the year's best music (so far) and kept the race tight. In the end, Animal Collective edged out every other artist for both Best Album and Best Song. Artists like Grizzly Bear, The Decemberists and Neko Case weren't far behind. One thing was clear: that 2009 has been one of the strongest years for new music in recent memory.

First, the Best Songs of 2009 (so far)

1. "My Girls" Animal Collective

2. "Two Weeks" Grizzly Bear

3. "Blood Bank" Bon Iver

4. "The Rake's Song" The Decemberists

5. "Lisztomania" Phoenix

6. "Zero" Yeah Yeah Yeahs

7. "This Tornado Loves You" Neko Case

8. "Sleepyhead" Passion Pit

9. "Laughing With" Regina Spektor

10. "The Wanting Comes In Waves/Repaid" The Decemberists

11. "Train Song" Feist and Ben Gibbard

12. "Knotty Pine" David Byrne & Dirty Projectors

13. "Daniel" Bat For Lashes

14. "Summertime Clothes" Animal Collective

15. "One Wing" Wilco

16. "The Fear" Lily Allen

17. "Heads Will Roll" Yeah Yeah Yeahs

18. "Wilco (The Song)" Wilco

19. "Stillness Is The Move" Dirty Projectors

20. "Help, I'm Alive" Metric

21. "Anonanimal" Andrew Bird

22. "On No" Andrew Bird

23. "No You Girls" Franz Ferdinand

24. "I And Love And You" The Avett Brothers

25. "French Navy" Camera Obscura

26. "Magpie To The Morning" Neko Case

27. "Woods" Bon Iver

28. "Black Hearted Love" PJ Harvey and John Parish

29. "While You Wait For The Others" Grizzly Bear

30. "Panic Switch" Silversun Pickups

Best Albums of 2009 (so far)

Continue reading "Poll Results: The Best Music Of 2009 (So Far)" »

11:13 AM ET | 07-27-2009 | permalink

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Digital Liner Notes Coming Soon

by Robin Hilton

The Financial Times reports that Apple is working on a deal with the four largest record labels to include elaborate digital liner notes with downloaded albums. Under the plan, Apple would include a new interactive booklet, sleeve notes, lyrics, photos and other interactive features with each download.

According to the Financial Times report, Apple is working with EMI, Sony Music, Warner Music and Universal Music Group on the project Apple has codenamed "Cocktail." Apple hopes to launch the new feature in September.

What do you think? Will this make you any more or less likely to buy digital downloads over physical CDs?

10:51 AM ET | 07-27-2009 | permalink

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What's On Your Desk?

by Bob Boilen

I came to work this morning to find new CDs by The Swell Season and The Avett Brothers. Nice start to a Monday.

What's on your desk?

8:46 AM ET | 07-27-2009 | permalink

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Faces Of Joy: The Gaslight Anthem

by Stephen Thompson

Friday afternoon, Monkey See blogger Linda Holmes wrote a post titled "Five Minutes of Unadulterated Joy," with a link to a YouTube clip in which a wedding processional turns into a fabulous dance party. I can't quite put my finger on why the video is as wonderful as it is -- it's more moving than it is funny, for some reason, even though it's going for laughs -- and Linda's headline reminded me of another joy-inducing five-minute video I'd seen recently, this one featuring the New Jersey band The Gaslight Anthem.

I've spent a good chunk of this summer kicking myself for discovering The Gaslight Anthem nearly a full year after its tremendous album The '59 Sound came out. The group channels the best attributes of its most obvious influence, Bruce Springsteen -- the yearning, the majesty, the promise and pitfalls of youth -- in a way that's massively catchy and genuinely inspirational.

Well, others were way ahead of me, fandom-wise, so The Gaslight Anthem was booked to perform at the Glastonbury Festival earlier this summer. Which, in turn, gave the band a chance to perform its signature song, "The '59 Sound," with Springsteen himself popping up on stage to sing backup and play rhythm guitar. Click here to watch.

As soul-stirring as the performance is, Heather Browne -- author of one of my favorite music blogs, I Am Fuel You Are Friends, which first pointed me to the Glastonbury footage -- nails what makes it transcendent in a perfect headline: "If You've Ever Wondered What Pure, Unfettered Joy Looks Like..." The song is marvelous, and Springsteen radiates goodwill out of every pore, but just watch singer Brian Fallon's face in this clip. His joy is palpable, bone-deep and infectious.

6:30 PM ET | 07-26-2009 | permalink

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Second Stage: Spirits Of The Red City

by Robin Hilton

Download "Fire" by Spirits of the Red City (Right-click or control-click to save to your computer).

Spirits of the Red City is a sprawling, nine-member collective that plays creaky but beautiful acoustic music, steeped in Americana. Despite the group's size, the band -- which is scattered across Minnesota, New York and Alaska -- plays with the airy intimacy and elegance of a minimalist duo, with wistful themes and relatively spare orchestrations: a simple cello line, a gently strummed guitar or a lonely fiddle. Spirits of the Red City singer Will Garrison has a whiskey-soaked voice that's a little weary but full of honesty and passion. I just love it.

This is one of the standout tracks from the band's new album, Hunter Moon. It's called "Fire."

Read more about Spirits of the Red City at the band's Web site.

Subscribe to the Second Stage podcast to automatically download each song to your computer.

Submit your music for possible inclusion in Second Stage or All Songs Considered.

12:37 PM ET | 07-24-2009 | permalink

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Flight Of The Conchords Announces New Album

by Robin Hilton

The live performance by Flight of the Conchords in Washington, D.C., last year remains one of the most joyful, memorable and flat-out hilarious shows I've had the good fortune of seeing. The duo's self-titled debut full-length from 2008 has been a good companion ever since, but I'm thrilled to learn that the band is planning to drop a follow-up on Oct. 20.

During this past second season of the HBO program Flight of the Conchords, the New Zealand-based duo released a new song each week on iTunes, immediately following each new episode. The new album features those songs, plus two tracks that haven't been available before, including the YouTube hit "Too Many Dicks (On the Dance Floor)."

Here's a full track listing for the new LP:

1. Hurt Feelings
2. Sugalumps
3. We're Both in Love With a Sexy Lady
4. I Told You I Was Freaky
5. Demon Woman
6. Rambling Through the Avenues of Time
7. Fashion Is Danger
8. Petrov, Yelyena and Me
9. Too Many Dicks (On the Dance Floor)
10. You Don't Have to Be a Prostitute
11. Friends
12. Carol Brown
13. Angels

I've heard a number of people say they didn't think the second season of the show, or the songs, were as good as the first season. What do you think?

10:28 AM ET | 07-24-2009 | permalink

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You've Never Heard Beck's 'Odelay'?!

by Camden Andrews

Editor's Note: This is the first in a recurring series we're featuring on the blog, wherein unimaginably young NPR Music intern Camden Andrews -- okay, he is a grown adult -- reviews albums we can't believe he's never heard. To be fair, when U2 released The Joshua Tree, Camden hadn't even been born yet.

Until last week, I'd never heard Beck's Odelay. Bob Boilen and Robin Hilton's jaws dropped when I told them this. I was 7 when it came out. Back then, my favorite song was "On Top of Spaghetti" off a Little Richard kids' CD my mom used to play in the car.

Robin gave me a copy and I gave it a listen. My brains didn't exactly "blow out the back of my head" the way Mike Katzif (NPR staffer and former All Songs Considered intern) predicted. Maybe I'm jaded, but I think I'm pretty lucky these days to hear artists like Girl Talk mash up the most absurd combinations of songs and make them sound great. Animal Collective can make me second-guess the brownie I just ate after getting lost in one of their psychedelic freak jams. Experimental pop is really good these days. Beck's head-scratching blend of hip-hop, swampy Delta blues, psychedelia, funk and rock may have been groundbreaking 13 years ago, but it just wasn't that shocking for me. Still, even a musically jaded 20-year-old can't help but be impressed by Beck's ability to mix seemingly unrelated musical ideas and create a sound that's just the right amount of weird.

"Where It's At" from Odelay:

After a few listens, though, I realized that there's something special about this CD beyond the music that made me like it more each time, and that's Beck's persona. It takes a certain ethos to pull off songs like "Where It's At" and "High Five" without coming off as ridiculous or trying too hard, and he fully owns it. There's a balance of clever irony that isn't too hokey, and his too-cool slacker-king attitude is infectious; I noticed a little swagger in my step walking with "Hotwax" in my headphones. Technology will probably keep opening up new ways for people to experiment with the sound and structure of pop music, but I doubt there will be many, if any, that can pull it off the way Beck did with Odelay. This earned my stamp of approval.

4:00 PM ET | 07-23-2009 | permalink

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New Mozart Works Discovered

by Robin Hilton

The Associated Press is reporting that two previously unknown works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart have been discovered. The International Mozarteum Foundation, based in Salzburg, released a brief statement today, noting that the two newly found works are piano pieces. They were discovered on a single sheet of paper and are reported to be in Mozart's handwriting. Uri Leisinger, head of the Mozarteum Foundation, says the handwriting is clearly identifiable, and that there is "no doubt" it came from Mozart.

The music was discovered at a museum in Nantes in western France, as staff were going through its archives. Leisinger tells the AP, "It's a melody sketch, so what's missing is the harmony and the instrumentation, but you can make sense out of it. The tune is complete. It's only one part and not the whole score with eight or twelve parts."

There have been about 10 such Mozart finds in the past 50 years. Leisinger says more details will be given at a public presentation in Salzburg on Aug. 2.

10:27 AM ET | 07-23-2009 | permalink

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Rock 'n' Roll Summer School: Sun Records

Every Wednesday this summer, we're offering a quick course in early rock 'n' roll. Your professor will be Tom Moon, NPR contributor and author of the book 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die. These overviews, mostly from the 1950s, are not intended to be comprehensive, but to help curious listeners dive in and explore some of the genre's often-overlooked building blocks. Whether you're a novice or a rock snob, join the conversation below...

THIS WEEK: Sun Records

That Elvis Presley guy? Okay, sure, he's plenty important to the history of rock 'n' roll. Even if his first great contribution -- bringing the blues, hillbilly music and boogie together -- happened by accident, while he was goofing around on Arthur Crudup's "That's Alright Mama" during an otherwise-unsuccessful 1954 recording session. But he's not the only reason we give thanks for Sun Studios and Sun Records, and founder Sam Phillips.

Not long after Presley's incendiary blast hit local airwaves in Memphis, Sun became the center of the rockabilly universe, the source for that hard-charging and addictively irreverent sound. Among the young talents drawn to the studio were Carl Perkins, whose single "Blue Suede Shoes" (released Jan. 1, 1956) was already a hit when Presley covered it.

LINK

Continue reading "Rock 'n' Roll Summer School: Sun Records" »

1:30 PM ET | 07-22-2009 | permalink

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Second Stage: Dewey Decibel

by Robin Hilton

Download "Ice Farmer" by Dewey Decibel (Right-click or control-click to save to your computer)

Sometimes it's the smallest details in a piece of music that grab hold of me. The Dusting, a fantastic debut CD from the Nashville-based band Dewey Decibel, is an immediately catchy album, with jangly guitars, upbeat melodies and rhythms that skip around playfully. But I didn't fall in love with the sound until a minute into the second track, when everyone in this four-piece group shouts "Hey!" in unison, followed by some perfectly timed handclaps. It's a joyful release and, like the rest of the album, utterly infectious.

Here's that cut from The Dusting. It's called "Ice Farmer."

Read and hear more from Dewey Decibel at the band's Web site.

Subscribe to the Second Stage podcast to automatically download each song to your computer.

Submit your music for possible inclusion in Second Stage or All Songs Considered.

Bonus Video from Dewey Decibel: "I Am Walking"

11:32 AM ET | 07-22-2009 | permalink

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Mercury Prize Nominees Announced

by Robin Hilton

Nominees for this year's Mercury Prize have been announced. If you're not familiar with the Mercury Prize, it's an award handed out in Britain for the best British album of the past year. Unlike the more commercial Brit Awards, the Mercury Prize is decided by a panel of music critics and industry figures, and awards the winner with a prize of about $32,000. What's most interesting, though, is that the list of nominees and winners is so wildly unpredictable. Last year, for example, Elbow's Seldom Seen Kid (a great album) beat out Radiohead's In Rainbows (a far superior album) to win the prize. Regardless, you can count on the Mercury Prize to draw attention to a lot of bands the mainstream press has largely missed.

Here are the nominees for this year:

Bat For Lashes: Two Suns

Continue reading "Mercury Prize Nominees Announced" »

3:51 PM ET | 07-21-2009 | permalink

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Pitchfork Day 3: From Backstage

By Jacob Ganz

Fans wait for The Walkmen's set to begin on Sunday afternoon (photo by Rachel Goldbrenner)

Something about Sunday felt livelier than the day before, even for the bookish crowd that gathers at Pitchfork. Maybe the backstage technical prep for The Flaming Lips' set fueled anticipation, or maybe it was simply that enough artists stuck around after they played on Saturday that it felt kind of like a convention for moderately famous indie-rock stars. Owen Pallett of Final Fantasy told me after his set on Saturday that he wanted to spend the rest of the festival hanging out with the guys in Grizzly Bear and catching as many of Sunday's acts as he could.

Peter Bauer (left) and Hamilton Leithauser of The Walkmen (photo by Rachel Goldbrenner)

Pallett was among the large number of musicians and fans who turned out around the Connector stage for sets by The Walkmen and Grizzly Bear, each of which gave the other a shout-out from the stage. I saw members of The National, Beirut, The Thermals and Cymbals Eat Guitars checking out the music or chatting as the sun started to go down while Grizzly Bear played.

Continue reading "Pitchfork Day 3: From Backstage" »

9:29 AM ET | 07-21-2009 | permalink

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Music Trumps Moon Landing

by Bob Boilen

I've told this story before. But on this 40th anniversary of the very first walk on the moon, like an old grandpa, I'll tell it again.

I'd bought tickets to see Blind Faith and was psyched, until I realized that it was the night of the very first manned moon landing -- and the very first walk on the moon. I was so torn: The moon landing was such an incredibly exciting and uncertain event, but I was also a music fanatic (surprise), and the idea of seeing Eric Clapton (he was so good back then), Stevie Winwood (he was so good back then) and Ginger Baker (he is still pretty good) was a one-shot chance. I was still kicking myself for missing the Goodbye Cream Tour the year before.

The moon landing was scheduled around late afternoon or early evening -- I can't recall -- but the astronauts were scheduled to take a rest before they did their walk. So I figured I could go to the concert and drive back from Baltimore in time to see the walk. It didn't happen that way. The moon walk happened earlier than planned, or at least earlier than the television news had led me to believe. In fact, Ginger Baker wouldn't come out (or so we were told) until the moon walk happened.

There were no big screens at the Baltimore Civic Center, and no simulcasts. In fact, when my friend Pete and I got home, it was just a few steps away from their re-entry into the lunar lander. There were no instant replays, either.

I've never looked back with regret. To me, the decision to go hear Clapton, Winwood and Baker reflects who I was as a 16-year-old. In many ways, it reflects who I still am.

3:40 PM ET | 07-20-2009 | permalink

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Pitchfork Day 3: DJ /Rupture Interview

By Jacob Ganz

DJ /rupture at the Pitchfork Music Festival (photo by Jacob Ganz)

Last year, Pitchfork called Jace Clayton's newest mix under the name DJ /rupture one of the 10 best records of 2008. Uproot is a dark and throbbing mix of alien sounds; hardly the kind of thing you'd expect to hear at an outdoor dance party in front of thousands.

The Brooklyn-based DJ/blogger/journalist knows how to make unfamiliar sounds alluring, but Clayton told me he felt like the odd man out at the festival. We talked behind one of the festival's main stages after The Walkmen played and as M83 was warming up, and he told me he wasn't familiar with either group. After our interview, he bolted the festival grounds to track down some of Chicago's cumbia record shops.

You told me earlier that you've played a bunch of festivals abroad, but that this was your first in the U.S. Did you change anything from your usual festival set?

JC: I'm the only DJ at this festival. Three days of music, I'm the only solo DJ on a stage mixing records. That's never happened to me before. So that's the main difference. The lean here is toward "indie" guitar music and away from electronic or club music, which are the circles I usually play in. I have two types of sets. One is a more dancefloor-oriented, kinetic, "let's get bodies moving," "from the ear to the waist" type of thing. And then I also do experimental sets with a guitarist, Andy Moor from The Ex. That's improvised turntables and guitar.

When you're putting together a set for the radio show, you know you've got a dedicated audience on the radio or web. Do you have to do anything different here to hold the audience's attention?

Continue reading "Pitchfork Day 3: DJ /Rupture Interview" »

1:43 PM ET | 07-20-2009 | permalink

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Pink Floyd Scores The Moon Landing

by Robin Hilton

Forty years ago today, when humans first set foot on the moon, Pink Floyd was helping the BBC with its live coverage of the event. While a team of scientists in one studio offered commentary, the band was in another, playing a live score to accompany the grainy black-and-white images flickering on the screen.

Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour tells The Guardian, "They were broadcasting the moon landing, and they thought that to provide a bit of a break, they would show us jamming. It was only about five minutes long. The song was called 'Moonhead.' It's a nice, atmospheric, spacey, 12-bar blues."

Here's the unreleased track:

This isn't the original video, with music as everyone saw and heard it. It was apparently produced by a fan, using a bootlegged copy of the song.

10:53 AM ET | 07-20-2009 | permalink

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Pitchfork Day 3: Mike Reed Interview

By Jacob Ganz

Before I left New York for Chicago, Patrick Jarenwattananon -- who writes for A Blog Supreme, NPR's jazz blog -- sent me an email telling me I should track down local drummer Mike Reed while I was here. Not because he was playing a set during the festival, but because he was overseeing the entire thing. Reed is a jazz musician and the director of the Pitchfork Music Festival, in charge of everything from booking the acts to arranging contracts with vendors to meeting with the city to get streets closed off.

When I talked with Reed at 10 a.m. Sunday, he'd already been at the festival grounds for six hours, and said he probably wouldn't leave until the whole thing had been broken down some time on Monday morning. He told me about running up $1,200 phone bills, ordering more toilets at the last minute, and seeing the one group he's made sure to catch in the four years he's been running the show.

After all the planning you do, do things like the weather make you upset?

You can't let the rain freak you out. You just have to deal with it. Because if I get freaked out about it, there's a thousand things that aren't going to happen. And in order for us to deal with the rain, all those thousand things have to happen. None of the people on staff can be freaked out about it.

Continue reading "Pitchfork Day 3: Mike Reed Interview" »

7:52 PM ET | 07-19-2009 | permalink

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Pitchfork Day 2: Two Kinds Of Charisma

By Jacob Ganz

DOOM at the Pitchfork Music Festival (photo by Rachel Goldbrenner)

Day two in Union Park may have started off a little slow, but by the end of the night, it had started to feel like a real event, with a few bands that seemed at home playing to large crowds. I learned a couple of things: Wavves' Nathan Williams can play his guitar even with a cast on his left arm, and Doom can somehow drink water without taking that mask off.

Two sets will stick in my memory. And they came from two bands with very different styles.

Continue reading "Pitchfork Day 2: Two Kinds Of Charisma" »

9:06 AM ET | 07-19-2009 | permalink

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Pitchfork Day 2: Ponytail Interview

By Jacob Ganz

Ponytail is not jaded. (photo by Rachel Goldbrenner)

Ponytail put out one of my favorite records of 2008, the irrepressibly spazzy Ice Cream Spiritual, and has had a reputation for being one of Baltimore's best live bands for the past couple of years. The group's set Saturday afternoon combined loping swirls of guitar with the ultra-caffeinated nonsense vocals and pogo-stick stage presence of lead singer Molly Siegel. You may not be able to understand anything that Siegel sings, but it's clear that she's having a ball, and the energy is infectious.

I talked with Siegel, guitarists Ken Seeno and Dustin Wong, and drummer Jeremy Hyman after they came down from their set. They were as enthusiastic sitting on a dirt infield behind the stage where Beirut serenaded the crowd as they had been while they played, but I managed to keep them in their seats long enough to answer a few questions.

You played on a stage today that's bigger than what you're used to. Tell me what that was like.

Dustin: We're really used to playing at clubs, because that's where we've been touring, but at festivals, it's just a whole other scale. It's just a sea of people. It gave me goosebumps playing in front of all these people. It was a blast.

Ken: We've played almost 300 shows now, and we're really comfortable playing clubs. When there's excitement in the room, you can't deny it. But when there's excitement at a festival, that starts to get us really excited. I'm not saying we're jaded, but after you've been doing it so much, you start to feel the butterflies again. Maybe you haven't felt it in a while and it wakes you up a little bit.

Molly: It's weird, because this is maybe our third show outside with a huge stage and barriers. I was really psyched on the feeling of the crowd. The barrier thing is something I'm still getting used to, because I'm used to being able to touch them and get involved, but it's good to learn this. People are having a good time and in their own space. I thought it was really good. People seemed to be genuinely excited. It wasn't just a party. It wasn't too cool.

Continue reading "Pitchfork Day 2: Ponytail Interview" »

10:09 PM ET | 07-18-2009 | permalink

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Pitchfork Festival Day 2: On The Lawn

By Jacob Ganz

Final Fantasy's Owen Pallett (photo by Rachel Goldbrenner)

Yesterday's shows started at 5 p.m., and the bands were all bigger names, so by the time people got here, they were ready to pay attention to the music. The bands on stage in the earlier part of the day might be lovely groups, like Cymbals Eat Guitars and Disappears, but they're not acts that are going to draw huge crowds into the pit.

Which means a large portion of the audience spent this afternoon camped out on the lawn, drinking beer, sampling the vendors' food and turning their heads from one stage toward the other as the bands switched off.

For your blogger, this means that there are plenty of opportunities to talk to people who won't be mad that you're distracting them or blocking their view with your microphone. I wandered around the lawn while Plants and Animals, ****** ** (French Dip? Fudge Cup?), The Antlers, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Bowerbirds and Final Fantasy played short, mostly sunny sets out over crowds that were, for stretches of the afternoon, bolting toward the trees to get out of the rain.

Continue reading "Pitchfork Festival Day 2: On The Lawn" »

6:56 PM ET | 07-18-2009 | permalink

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Pitchfork Day 1: Old But Good

Jacob Ganz

"We have a new record, but we're not going to play anything off it, because you guys only voted for the old [stuff]."

That quote, from Tortoise's John McEntire near the end of his band's set, about sums up the good and bad in a fan-selected setlist. Tortoise, Yo La Tengo, The Jesus Lizard and Built to Spill all played Pitchfork's first night, a.k.a. the so-called "Write the Night" portion of the festival. If you're a fan, this sort of a thing means you know that you'll hear hits, but the chance of getting any curiosities is pretty slim. If you're new to one of the bands, you can always check out the vendors or lounge on the lawn and take in the view from the Jumbotron.

All four bands at the festival's first night could reasonably be called '90s acts, though all but The Jesus Lizard have kept putting out records through this decade. Yo La Tengo's set was drawn pretty equally from the band's career, and they sneaked a new song into a nicely varied set. Tortoise, well, I'm not familiar with most of Tortoise's repertoire, but most of its very long, very lovely songs sounded like a perfect soundtrack for a montage of an indie-rock convention, which it basically was.

Continue reading "Pitchfork Day 1: Old But Good" »

10:59 PM ET | 07-17-2009 | permalink

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Blogging Chicago (a.k.a. Pitchfork Music Festival Preview)

By Jacob Ganz

The last time I attended the Pitchfork Music Festival, it was 2006, and on the plane from D.C. to Chicago, I sat three rows behind a certain junior senator from Illinois named Barack Obama. Three years later, if the festival hasn't seen the stunningly rapid rise in prominence that Obama has enjoyed, it's maybe for the best. Pitchfork -- the site and the festival -- thrives on an appreciation of the little guy, and on providing an avenue by which that guy can become maybe not so little. A large part of the festival's charm is seeing bands that aren't quite ready for massive outdoor stages try to stretch their sound to fill the space.

Not that the festival is stocked completely with up-and-comers. The National headlines Saturday night, and The Flaming Lips will close out the festival on Sunday. Tonight's lineup features sets -- voted on by fans -- from four bands well beyond their first album: Tortoise, Yo La Tengo, The Jesus Lizard and Built to Spill.

Over the weekend here in Chicago, I'll talk with musicians playing the festival, bloggers, vendors, festival planners, Pitchfork writers and people who actually paid to get through the gates. I'll post bits of these conversations here, and try to figure out how to tweet festival goings-on at the allsongs Twitter page from my ancient cell phone.

But it won't all be work.

Continue reading "Blogging Chicago (a.k.a. Pitchfork Music Festival Preview)" »

4:37 PM ET | 07-17-2009 | permalink

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Atlas Sound Offers Peek At New Album

by Robin Hilton

Atlas Sound, a.k.a. the shoegazing electro-rock artist Bradford Cox, released one of my favorite albums last year, Let the Blind Lead Those Who Cannot See but Can Feel. So I was thrilled to learn recently that he'll release a quick follow-up this fall, called Logos.

Cox, who also fronts the band Deerhunter and toured briefly with Animal Collective, collaborated with a number of other artists for the new album, including Laetitia Sadier and Andy Ramsay of Stereolab, Sasha Vine from Sian Alice Group, and Noah Lennox of Animal Collective and Panda Bear.

In a recent press release, Cox says, "On the (tour) bus (with Animal Collective), we often played improvised iPod games. We would take turns formulating a theme or unifying concept and then play three songs. The goal would be for everyone to try and figure out the theme. During one of these games, someone played 'What Am I Going to Do' by the Dovers. I was amazed at the hook -- a weird organ thing with drums and electric bass. I mentioned to Noah that someone should really sample that riff. He agreed and he taught me a little about sampling and matching up beats. This ended up as the collaborative effort 'Walkabout.' "

Here's a preview of the song "Walkabout," from the upcoming album Logos, courtesy of The Fader:

2:19 PM ET | 07-17-2009 | permalink

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Second Stage: No Eye Contact

by Robin Hilton

Download "Sing Children Sing" and "Magnificat"

You and Me and Other Fables, the full-length debut from the Brooklyn-based band No Eye Contact, opens with a stunning and utterly surprising bit of Appalachian shape note singing. It's a stirring kick-off for an album filled with gothic folk and gospel-flavored rock songs.

A record like this could be easily predictable -- add some strummed acoustics with a squeeze box and gentle melodies. But No Eye Contact keeps the mix from sounding too familiar with wonderfully off-kilter percussion, propulsive guitars, found sounds and rousing singalongs.

No Eye Contact started off as a solo project for frontman Raky Sastri in 2004. It's since grown to a quintet. This is actually the first two cuts off the album, since they run together so beautifully: "Sing Children Sing," followed by "Magnificat."

Lear more about No Eye Contact at the band's Web site.

Subscribe to the Second Stage podcast to automatically download each song to your computer.

Submit your music for possible inclusion in Second Stage or All Songs Considered.

4:02 PM ET | 07-16-2009 | permalink

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Paul McCartney Gives Surprise Rooftop Concert

by Robin Hilton

Why am I never where I need to be when I need to be there? Paul McCartney gave a short, surprise concert yesterday on the rooftop of the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York, performing with his band before thousands of slack-jawed fans. (You have to sit through a short commercial to see it):

McCartney was at the theater to tape a spot for The Late Show with David Letterman. His impromptu performance was reminiscent of the live set The Beatles played on the rooftop of the Apple Building in 1969.

McCartney still has it, and shows no sign of ever losing it. Songs he performed include "Coming Up," "Band on the Run," "Let Me Roll It," "Helter Skelter" and "Back in the USSR."

11:22 AM ET | 07-16-2009 | permalink

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Big Shows Versus Small

by Camden Andrews

I like big concerts as much as anyone else, but there's something special about seeing a band play in a cramped, sweaty room. It has less to do with the sound quality, comfort or musicianship, and more to do with the atmosphere and overall experience of being a part of something so intimate. You can really feel the energy radiate between the crowd and the band when you're all packed together.

There were two concerts I looked forward to seeing last week. The big one was the Sonic Youth show, which we webcast live from the 9:30 Club -- one of the largest and finest venues in all of Washington. The small one was a performance by Japandroids, an explosive rock duo we featured recently on All Songs Considered. They played at DC 9, a venue that can hold maybe 100 people.

Sonic Youth performs at the 9:30 Club. (Photo by Shantel Mitchell)

The Sonic Youth show was probably the one concert I was looking forward to the most this summer. I've been a fan, for a while, of the band's innovative guitar work; the group has tons of great material to play, and its quarter-century of experience really shows onstage. As expected, it was an excellent performance. But the Japandroids show was more memorable.

Continue reading "Big Shows Versus Small" »

10:28 AM ET | 07-16-2009 | permalink

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Hear Entire New Dodos Album

by Robin Hilton

Some yahoo leaked the new Dodos album last week, so the band's decided to go ahead and just put the whole thing up on its Web site for you to hear. It's called Time To Die.

We've been following the Dodos for a few years now and have been consistently impressed with the group's intricate, fingerpicked guitar work, polyrhythms and frenetic energy. From the beginning it's been just two guys, Meric Long and Logan Kroeber, but they throw a lot at you, with an incredibly expansive sound. And for this latest release they've added another member, Keaton Snyder.

Time To Die is the Dodos' third album in as many years and, I think, their best. It was supposed to come out in September, but they've bumped the release date up to July 28.

5:26 PM ET | 07-15-2009 | permalink

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Screaming Females: True To The Name

by Camden Andrews

In case you missed it, last night we webcast a full concert by The Dead Weather at the 9:30 Club here in D.C. We didn't showcase the opening act, but Robin Hilton and I got there early enough to check it out. It was a three-piece band that goes by the name Screaming Females, led by a young woman who looked about 13, in a strange gray pilgrim dress. We weren't sure what to think when the group took the stage, but then it started playing, and we were just blown away. Marissa Paternoster, who fronts the group, can seriously play the guitar. I mean, she could shred unlike anything I've ever seen live. And while she's the only female in the group, she did scream most of her vocals.

We were pretty bummed that we didn't get to webcast the Screaming Females set along with The Dead Weather, but here's a video to check out:

Check the face-melting solos at 1:35 and 5:49.

2:36 PM ET | 07-15-2009 | permalink

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Rock 'n' Roll Summer School: The Piano Pounders Of New Orleans

by Tom Moon

Every Wednesday this summer, we're offering a quick course in early rock 'n' roll. Your professor will be Tom Moon, NPR contributor and author of the book 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die. These overviews of music, mostly from the 1950s, are not intended to be comprehensive, but to help curious listeners dive in and explore some of the genre's often-overlooked building blocks. Whether you're a novice or a rock snob, join the conversation below.

This Week: The Piano Pounders of New Orleans

A small but fervent group of devotees argues that rock 'n' roll truly begins in the late 1940s, with the emergence of the pioneering wildman of New Orleans piano, Henry Roeland Byrd, a.k.a. Professor Longhair.

The slippery-fingered pianist and singer once described his approach as a mixture of "rumba, mambo and calypso," and that's just scratching the surface: There's also plenty of New Orleans backbeat grease, some boogie-woogie and more than a touch of the blues in it. As is true of every early rock breakthrough, the styles Byrd appropriates are ultimately less important than the feeling. His irreverent spirit makes the music intense and infectious.

Professor Longhair's first release, New Orleans Piano, contains tracks recorded in 1949 and 1953. Alas, there's little archival video from that era. But here's Fess a few decades later, performing "Tipitina," an enduring original from that initial release, with The Meters.

Read more, after the jump...

Continue reading "Rock 'n' Roll Summer School: The Piano Pounders Of New Orleans" »

11:07 AM ET | 07-15-2009 | permalink

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Second Stage: Josh Mease

by Robin Hilton

Download "You Found Me" by Josh Mease (Right-click or control-click to save to your computer.)

A Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter, Josh Mease has put together one of the strongest debuts I've heard this year. It's called Wilderness. Mease recorded much of it by himself in a closet in his apartment, but had help from a handful of friends, during additional recording sessions in Denton, Tex., and New Haven, Conn.

Mease is an unabashed daydreamer, and the songs on Wilderness offer a glimpse into the magical, imaginary world he inhabits. It's a world he says he found by roaming the quieter streets of Brooklyn, looking for solace in "cemeteries, empty swimming pools and abandoned waterfronts."

Wilderness is beautifully crafted with some lovely melodies and harmonies. Mease has a warm and distinctive voice, and a real ear for arrangements that sound lush without becoming too cluttered. It's the kind of album I can fall in love with from the opening notes of the first track.

This, in fact, is the opening cut to Wilderness, called "You Found Me."

Bonus Track: Here's a video for another track on Wilderness, called "White Diamonds."

You can pre-order Wilderness through Josh Mease's Web site.

Subscribe to the Second Stage podcast to automatically download each song to your computer.

Submit your music for possible inclusion in Second Stage or All Songs Considered.

1:29 PM ET | 07-14-2009 | permalink

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Vote: The Year's Best Music (So Far)

Today's poll has two questions: What are the best albums of the year so far, and what are the best songs? You can pick up to five for each -- five albums and five songs. Each comes with two long lists, so you'll have to scroll down to see all of the nominees.

The poll closes July 26. We'll post results here in the blog, and on All Songs Considered, on Monday, July 27.

The artists, albums and songs listed in the poll were pulled from the most popular nominees listeners submitted through this blog. If you don't see one of your favorites in the list, tell us your choices in the comments section below.

10:54 AM ET | 07-13-2009 | permalink

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Video Of The Week: Malajube

by Robin Hilton

I probably should have already known about this group, but I'd never heard of the Canadian band Malajube before stumbling upon this new video for "Luna," from the group's latest album, Labyrinthes. It's absolutely mesmerizing. Great Beatles-y harmonies and an infectious melody, with some strangely dark imagery.

It's interesting to consider what this song would sound like without the video. I don't speak French, so I don't know what they're singing about, but the song itself seems much more joyful and upbeat than the video implies, so the images offer a nice contrast in tone, and add a little mystery to the tune.

Can you think of any other songs that take on a whole new feel or meaning because of a video?

4:58 PM ET | 07- 9-2009 | permalink

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Beck Interviews Tom Waits

by Robin Hilton

Beck is becoming my BFF music buddy. That's what it feels like whenever I visit his recently retooled Web site. He's no longer just a singer and songwriter who makes music I love; he's become a music lover who just wants to share the things he most enjoys.

It started with the brilliantly conceived Record Club, wherein Beck and some of his friends get together and cover some of their favorite songs, like the Velvet Underground & Nico track "Femme Fatale."

Beck has since added a mix-tapes section called Planned Obsolescence, as well as a new interviews section called Irrelevant Topics, featuring completely unstructured conversations between Beck and other artists. His first guest is Tom Waits.

Basically, Beck is living the dream: hanging out with cool people, playing or listening to music all day, chatting with people like Tom Waits. If I can't do it myself, I'm happy he's at least sharing it with us.

3:17 PM ET | 07- 9-2009 | permalink

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Second Stage: Kat Edmonson

by Robin Hilton

Download "Summertime" by Kat Edmonson (Right-click or ctrl-click to download and save to your computer.)

I'm admittedly dubious when it comes to singers who cover well-worn jazz songs. How many versions of "Body and Soul" or "Stardust" do we really need? But when I heard Take to the Sky, a new collection of jazz standards and pop-song covers from Austin-based singer Kat Edmonson, I was immediately taken by its unusually novel arrangements. The songs are still rooted in traditional jazz instrumentation and patterns, so it's not like they're wildly experimental. But Edmonson and the gifted and inspired musicians in her backing band rework the songs enough to make them sound entirely fresh. Take to the Sky includes cuts like Cole Porter's "Night and Day" and the Johnny Mercer-Henry Mancini song "Charade," but also features a gorgeous, smoky version of John Lennon's "(Just Like) Starting Over" and Carole King's "One Fine Day."

Like most of the CDs I listen to, I popped Take to the Sky in my computer without checking the liner notes or track listings, to avoid any preconceived notions of what to expect. This opening song is so beautifully re-imagined, I didn't even recognize it, at first, as one of the most covered songs around: Gershwin's "Summertime."

Subscribe to the Second Stage podcast to automatically download each song to your computer.

Submit your music for possible inclusion in Second Stage or All Songs Considered.

12:43 PM ET | 07- 9-2009 | permalink

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Rock 'n' Roll Summer School: Doo-Wop

by Tom Moon

Every Wednesday through the summer, we're posting quick introductory-level surveys of elements of rock 'n' roll from the 1950s. These overviews are not intended to be comprehensive; instead, they're designed to help curious listeners dive in and explore some of the genre's often-overlooked building blocks. Whether you're a novice or a rock snob, join the conversation below.

THIS WEEK: Doo-Wop

As PBS viewers know, doo-wop is eternal. Perhaps because it's so effusive, or perhaps because it so poignantly immortalizes the joys and torments of being a teenager in love. The voices, four or five of them together, swoop like stunt pilots in formation. They rattle off crazy-sounding nonsense syllables -- "doo wop" being just one of many rhythmic vocal expressions. They specialize in effortlessly airborne messages of love, yet borrow some moves and exhortations from the classic gospel quartets.

LINK

That's one of the first big doo-wop hits from 1956, with songwriter Frankie Lymon, then 13, singing lead. (As with many songs of the era, there's an authorship dispute about who helped Lymon with the song.)

Read more after the jump...

Continue reading "Rock 'n' Roll Summer School: Doo-Wop" »

9:21 AM ET | 07- 8-2009 | permalink

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Deal Reached On Internet Radio Royalty Rates

by Robin Hilton

After two years of wrangling, the government-run Copyright Royalty Board and Internet radio stations have reached a deal that should help keep Pandora and other popular, Web-based music sites on the virtual air.

Under the agreement announced yesterday, online music sites will pay copyright holders up to 25 percent of any money they make. Pandora founder Tim Westergren tells the Associated Press, "It's hard to overstate how significant this is."

Two years ago, the Copyright Royalty Board ordered dramatic increases in the fees music sites pay to use songs. At the time, Pandora and other sites said it would eat up as much as 70 percent of their revenue and drive them out of business.

Though the new agreement will keep Pandora and other sites running, some will still have to change their business model. Pandora users will now only be able to listen to 40 hours of music per month. If they go over that, they'll be given the option of paying 99 cents for unlimited access for the rest of the month.

Does this seem like a reasonable deal to you? How much do you rely on Internet-only radio stations for hearing music?

9:22 PM ET | 07- 7-2009 | permalink

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Best Music Of The Year So Far, Part 2

by Bob Boilen

A few weeks ago, we asked you to nomiate your favorite three CDs of 2009 so far, along with your favorite three songs of the year. If you've not spent any time looking at the posts, it's totally worth doing.

It certainly got me thinking about some of my favorites. On All Things Considered today, I spoke with Melissa Block about some of the music I love that I feel is being overlooked: Patrick Watson, The Low Anthem and Fanfarlo.

Nominate your three favorite CDs and songs here. Later this week, we'll make a poll based on your nominations, and then it'll be voting time.

4:52 PM ET | 07- 7-2009 | permalink

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Second Stage: Chris Weisman & Greg Davis

by Robin Hilton

Download "Crystal Under Brattleboro" (right-click or ctrl-click and save to your computer)

NPR Music producer Lars Gotrich and I rarely share the same taste in music (check out one of his guest DJ stints on All Songs Considered). But I immediately fell in love with a new album he recently passed along to me called Northern Songs. It's a beautifully unpredictable collection of lo-fi, neo-psychedelic folk songs by Chris Weisman and Greg Davis, two songwriters from Vermont.

Northern Songs opens with a glitchy mix of shortwave radio static and something that could only be described as laser guns, before melting slowly to a gently strummed guitar and distant vocals. The rest of the album is very spare. Weisman and Davis mostly stick to a single guitar with two-part harmonies and maybe some simple bells or a synth line. It makes the mix feel a little rough around the edges, but warm and inviting.

This cut closes out the album. It's called "Crystal Under Brattleboro."

This album is available at the band's Web site.

Subscribe to the Second Stage podcast to automatically download each song to your computer.

Submit your music for possible inclusion in Second Stage or All Songs Considered.

3:51 PM ET | 07- 7-2009 | permalink

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Tiny Desk Concert: Bowerbirds

If you missed the live Bowerbirds show, we will post it to the Tiny Desk Concerts page.
Because of the backlog of concerts we will be posting, it could be late August before it goes online.

12:44 PM ET | 07- 7-2009 | permalink

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Poll: Do Record Labels Matter?

by Bob Boilen

I was trying to search my iTunes library for all the music I owned on the Merge Records label when it hit me: Record-label data isn't listed in iTunes, which means I was up the creek. There was no easy way I could look at a song or album and know who put it out. I found this depressing.

For any given song in my iTunes library, I could tell you the bit rate, the release date, the number of times I played it and the last time I skipped over it, but not the label that put it out. It's practically criminal.

In the past, record labels were often the second biggest factor in deciding whether I'd buy a record. Only the artwork mattered more when I knew nothing else about an album. So, now that we buy fewer tangible bits of music, I've got a survey for you:

Continue reading "Poll: Do Record Labels Matter?" »

1:20 PM ET | 07- 6-2009 | permalink

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Bridges Worth Crossing

by Camden Andrews

I had a conversation with a friend the other day who told me that the biggest thing he looks for in a great song is whether it has a strong bridge. I thought that was a pretty interesting observation, mostly because I don't really focus on the bridge when listening to a song. The intro, verses, and chorus are the obvious meat and potatoes, and are the most likely to get stuck in my head.

In music, a bridge is used to connect two parts of the song. Sometimes it's used to pause and reflect on what's already been said, sometimes it's meant to prepare for the climax, and some times it's just a nice variation from the typical verse-chorus tradeoff. Some songs have two or three bridges while others don't have any at all. Here's a well known example from The Who's "Baba O'Reily."

The conversation with my friend got me thinking, and I decided to take another look at some of my favorite songs. What I realized is that a lot of them have some powerful bridges that send shivers up my spine every time I listen. Take for example "Reckoner" off Radiohead's In Rainbows.

The whole song is beautiful, but probably the most gorgeous part of that entire album is when the drums cut out and Thom Yorke's stark falsetto is backed only by a clean guitar, softly swelling strings, and eerie vocal harmonies as he sings "because we separate like ripples on a blank shore." I get chills thinking about it.

Continue reading "Bridges Worth Crossing" »

3:17 PM ET | 07- 2-2009 | permalink

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MJ Digital Sales Go Through The Roof

by Jacob Ganz and Frannie Kelley

The AP ran a story yesterday about Michael Jackson's album sales "exploding" since his death. The numbers are impressive -- but they may be even more impressive than traditional reporting and charting outlets like SoundScan and Billboard can quantify.

Though Number Ones, Essential Michael Jackson and Thriller outsold The Black Eyed Peas' latest release last week, none of them will crack the Billboard top 200 album chart (older albums are relegated to a 'catalog' chart). And the record-breaking 2.3 million downloads of Michael Jackson's tracks (3.3 million if you count Jackson 5 tracks) dwarf the 415,000 albums SoundScan reports he sold last week, 58% of which were digital downloads. 174,300 physical copies is still a really big number for a marketplace unprepared for a run on a particular artist or album, so it's a safe bet that many people actually bought the CD version on backorder (as of this writing, Amazon lists Thriller, Off the Wall and Bad as available "within 1 to 3 weeks").

Is this the moment digital stores like iTunes and Amazon MP3 prove themselves a real alternative? It seems clear that people went to online stores first and en masse. Brick and mortar stores (and even online versions of brick and mortar stores) obviously didn't have enough of the records in stock, and people didn't want to wait a week to hear MJ's songs.

Did you buy Jackson's music last weekend? Did you download or opt for the CD?

2:16 PM ET | 07- 2-2009 | permalink

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The Week's Most Addictive Video

by Robin Hilton

I can't seem to stop watching this. It's for the song "Stillness Is The Move" from the Dirty Projectors album Bitte Orca. It's hard to beat llamas and synchronized dancing.

1:27 PM ET | 07- 2-2009 | permalink

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Rock 'n' Roll Summer School: Chess Records

by Tom Moon

Every Wednesday this summer, we're offering a quick course in early rock 'n' roll. Your professor will be Tom Moon, NPR contributor and author of the book 1000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die. These overviews, mostly from the 1950s, are not intended to be comprehensive, but to help curious listeners dive in and explore some of the genre's often-overlooked building blocks. Whether you're a novice or a rock snob, join the conversation below...

THIS WEEK: The Proto-Rock Blues Titans of Chess Records

Of the semi-sacred locations where rock and roll first erupted, two stand out: Producer Sam Phillips' Memphis Recording Service, where Elvis Presley's voice was first captured on tape; and the Chicago-based Chess Records, home of Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf and a superheated brand of urban blues that amounts to the rhythmic "source code" for rock and roll.

Continue reading "Rock 'n' Roll Summer School: Chess Records" »

10:39 AM ET | 07- 1-2009 | permalink

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