What Makes Music Important

by Robin Hilton

Monkey See blogger Linda Holmes has a great new post on our list of the decade's 50 most important records, some of the user comments we've gotten about the list and what, exactly, it means to call something "important."

An excerpt:

"Here's how the (list of the 50 most important recordings) explains importance: 'These are the game-changers: records that signaled some sort of shift in the way music is made or sounds, or ones that were especially influential or historically significant.' That's about the same way I would explain it.

"Note that this description is value-neutral. It has nothing -- nothing -- to do with quality. If I made a recording of myself whanging away on a couple of tin cans with a meat thermometer, and somehow it turned out that this was an untapped market, and I sold five million copies, and lots and lots of other people followed with their own kitchen-implement records, my recording would be important. Influential, historically significant, and -- let's face it -- a game-changer."

Read more at the Monkey See blog.

12:16 PM ET | 11-18-2009 | permalink

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Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo

by Bob Boilen

When I first saw Devo, I was dressed in a yellow radiation suit. It was October, 1978, and the band was on its first tour. It was the first and last time I was inspired to "dress up" for a concert, but these guys were special. (I wish I had a photo, maybe an old friend will come out of the woodwork and send me one).

Last night at the 9:30 Club, Devo returned to perform its entire first album Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo. It was just as good as that 1978 show I saw, minus the surprise of seeing a band like this for the first time.

This was always a quirky and fun group, and it still is. We had hoped to webcast the show. The band wanted to and we wanted to, but, in the end, we couldn't come to terms with Warner Brothers over rights issues. So just 24 hours before the show was to go live, we felt like we had no choice but to pass on it.

That said, something quite historic happened last night. After the band played its last song, the house lights came on and the Devo muzak started playing through the house monitors. But a very vocal majority of the audience stayed and screamed and chanted "D-E-V-O." More then 10 minutes passed. And just when we were about to lose any hope that the band would reappear, Devo returned to the stage. The house lights stayed on, but everyone went crazy.

Those in the audience who were lucky enough to stay took an oath. Booji Boy (Mark Mothersbaugh's alter ego) made us swear that... well, I can't tell you exactly what happened, because I took the oath. But I can tell you that the oath was "Swear not tell anyone you saw Devo perform in street clothes."

That's all I can tell you. But it's a "Beautiful World."

Tonight the band returns to perform Freedom of Choice.

Continue reading "Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo" »

8:54 AM ET | 11-16-2009 | permalink

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How Do They Do This?

by Bob Boilen

Sometimes, the Internet can seem to hold the brain cells of humanity. There's so much available on the Web, it's easy to take it all for granted. And then I see something like this little program I found on a Swedish Web site. It's a text-to-speech converter that takes your words, finds those words as sung in pop songs, and then plays them back for you. It's sort of like an instant, over-the-top Girl Talk.

Try it, type in a phrase and be amazed. And guessing the song sources can be really hard.

3:18 PM ET | 11- 5-2009 | permalink

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Help Define The Decade

On next Monday's All Songs Considered (Nov. 9), we'll talk about some of the developments, trends and memorable moments that helped define this decade. We'd love your help.

In the comments section below, tell us what moments, albums, artists, trends, or developments you think best defined the past decade. You can also tell us in a Tweet. I put a note up on Twitter with the hashtag #decade00 (a hash tag is the # sign followed by a term so it's easy to track what people are saying), so in a Tweet you could tell us what you think and put #decade00 at the end. You can see people's responses on Twitter below.

6:28 PM ET | 11- 4-2009 | permalink

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All Indie Rock Considered?

by Bob Boilen

That's the subject heading of an email I received recently from a listener. As I began to write a response, it occurred to me that this was a good opportunity to talk to a larger audience about the music we play on All Songs Considered, and how we pick what we pick.

Producer Robin Hilton and I approach the show as music fans. Much of what we play on All Songs Considered we play simply because we love it. We tend not to cover music we don't like. Our tastes in music are wide-ranging on one hand, but we admittedly don't love everything. To broaden the music we put on the show, we invite others to play DJ. This week's show featured Kyp Malone from TV on the Radio. He played music by a band from the Western Sahara, a New Zealand-based noise rock group and Kermit the Frog among others.

Two weeks ago, I invited WBGO's jazz host Josh Jackson to keep us all in touch with music he's been excited about. Last week, I was at CMJ and covered a number of bands that fall into the "Indie Rock" category (which I think covers a wide range of music, but more on that in a minute), and on the same show we covered a contemporary classical violinist and an exciting hip-hop artist named Kid Cudi.

I'd never say that we cover all songs on the show any more than All Things Considered covers all news items, or ABC World News covers the world. We do cover a lot of ground, but, of course, it's impossible to cover everything.

Robin and I receive hundreds of CDs a week. We toss all press releases in the recycle bin and we try to come to what we love honestly. I won't fake what I do when I host the show. I tend to play music that speaks to me, and so my lack of love for hip-hop, country, classical and metal, stand out as big holes in our coverage. With the exception of classical, those genres tend to sell the best and get covered by traditional media and radio the most, especially hip-hop and country music. And while I can find all of that music on my local radio dial, including jazz, gospel and Latin, nowhere can I hear The Low Anthem, Bill Frisell, Anoushka Shankar, Taken by Trees or even Bon Iver.

Though the Indie rock world thinks of someone like Andrew Bird as a big artist, the musical world he inhabits is tiny compared to any good-selling hip-hop or country artist.

I'm also thinking about the categorization of music in general. There is something to be said for naming a style of music, but too often it seems to just make it easier for people to dismiss it entirely. So Indie rock might be stereotyped in your mind as one kind of music, but to others, it's as diverse as M.I.A. and Iron and Wine. Those two artists alone have elements of so many different styles of music. So I may play something considered Indie, but really The Be Good Tanyas were probably more down home and country than the best-selling country act.

All that said, the most important mission for All Songs Considered, as we complete our 10th year, has been (and will always be) to turn people on to good, new music, give it some context, find some old gems and do it in a way that informs and entertains. It's a mission that informs all of NPR Music, and as a Web site, has a broader scope then just this one show.

We don't do it all, and we are nowhere near perfect. But as I look back at a decade of All Songs Considered shows, it's a pretty eclectic mix, From Bix Beiderbecke to LCD Soundsystem, from Amadou and Mariam to Art Brut.

But what do you think? What would you like from All Songs Considered in the in the coming years?

3:55 PM ET | 11- 3-2009 | permalink

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CMJ 2009

It's the week of CMJ in New York City, and I'll be there to capture some of the fun and put it on our blog. On Friday, I'll appear on a panel to talk about NPR Music, so maybe I'll meet some of you there.

I've been going through a schedule trying to figure out what to hear. Below, you'll find some of my early picks, but if you know of any great bands I should see while I'm there, let me know. I'm most excited about Fool's Gold, Fanfarlo, The xx and Choir of Young Believers, and I've never seen Atlas Sound or Cymbals Eat Guitars.

Drop a note and stay tuned. I expect some surprising things to be posted on the blog this week.

Tuesday
10:00 PM to 11:00 PM Atlas Sound Location: Le Poisson Rouge, 158 Bleecker St. (at Thompson), New York, NY Notes: Deerhunter frontman trades punk noise for psychedelic pop, bliss outs ensue.

Continue reading "CMJ 2009" »

1:52 PM ET | 10-19-2009 | permalink

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Amazing: Them Crooked Vultures Live

by Bob Boilen

It's been a while since I've been to a show that I'd call "balls to the wall," but Them Crooked Vultures aren't holding back. From their first song, "Elephant," to the song playing right now, called "Highway 1," nuance has left the building. Granted, I'm only four songs into the show, but good lord, this rocks.

Shot of the stage from my iPhone

Dave Grohl's (Foo Fighters, Nirvana) drumming has the intensity of John Bonham, but it's Grohl's fierce playing for sure. And John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin), at 63, is just amazing on bass and at the moment rocking on electric mandolin.

The riffs are reminiscent of Zeppelin, but the sound is their own. Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age) is fine in the lead role, both as guitarist and as the singer. Alain Johannes played some fine rhythm guitar and more.

In some ways, it's hard to be at a show where I know none of the songs; on the other hand, it's seriously fun hearing stuff for the first time and hearing it live. Every song on the set list is a new song, no covers.

We're recording the show. The band will mix it and, if they like what they did, we'll have it online soon. Stay tuned.

9:14 PM ET | 10-14-2009 | permalink

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Old Is The New New

by Robin Hilton

When a friend sent me a link for this video, I concluded that it was some super-cool new experimental rock song by a young, emerging band I'd never heard of. It reminded me a little of the kind of spacey jams Radiohead might do. It turns out the song is nearly 40 years old, by a band that formed in West Germany in 1968. The group, Can, is considered one of the first-ever "Krautrock" bands, with a love of free-form jams, psychedelic improvisation and experimental editing.

I'm sure some of you have already heard of Can and can't imagine how I didn't know this. I guessed Bob had probably heard of Can and loved the band. He did. But, Bob says, when he worked in a record store in the early '70s, he sold maybe five copies of the record this song is from. The track is "Oh Yeah" from the 1971 album Tago Mago.

I wonder how Can would have fared if it were a new band today. Would it have found a larger audience?

Another question: Can you you think of any bands that aren't selling any records today, but that we may discover 40 years from now?

5:06 PM ET | 10- 8-2009 | permalink

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The Gossip: Best Live Band In America?

by Bob Boilen

Ugh! Tonight at 12:30 in the morning, I'm going to host a live concert with a band whose CD I couldn't even get through. The Gossip is a group from Olympia, Wash., and I've been told that this is one of the best live acts around, a band not to be missed.

Now, I promised Carrie Brownstein in our Fall Music Preview that I'd give them another chance. So tonight, I invited Carrie to co-host our webcast of The Gossip from the 9:30 Club.

by Carrie Brownstein

3 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 7.

I'm currently on the train from New York City to Washington, D.C., wondering how long into The Gossip's set Bob will get before he turns to me and says, "Wow!"

Bob claims that Beth Ditto has plenty of swagger, but that she lacks vocal dynamics. I think her strength lies in the way she practically hurls the words and melodies from her mouth. It's forceful, yes, but I think she knows when to hold back and build suspense.

If Bob and I agree on a single thing tonight, it's going to be that The Gossip is one of the best live bands around.

4:13 PM ET | 10- 7-2009 | permalink

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Pitchfork's Decade Of Lists

by Jacob Ganz

Last week, Pitchfork counted down its Top 200 albums of the 2000s as voted on by the Web site's staff. Lists can be great fun and great frustration, but I'll admit that this is the one decade-ender I've been salivating over. Pitchfork's influence may be exaggerated, but as the site itself has noted, it grew up during this decade, alongside the rise of the MP3, file sharing, and multiple shifts in the dominant sound of whatever "indie rock" might have been at a given point in the last 10 years.

Continue reading "Pitchfork's Decade Of Lists" »

4:22 PM ET | 10- 5-2009 | permalink

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Quick! Name The Members Of Your Favorite Band

by Robin Hilton

Can you name all the members of your favorite band? Don't give it any thought. Just off the top of your head, who are they? How about all the members of your top five bands? And here's a bonus question: What did they do before they were in your favorite band?

Bob is better at this kind of game than I am. Song of the Day editor Stephen Thompson is scary-good, although his encyclopedic knowledge is largely limited to obscure, one-hit bands from the '80s. But it seems, in the digital age, that bands are becoming more anonymous.

Bob and I were talking about this the other day, and he said he noticed his basic knowledge of bands -- such as the members' names -- began to falter, in small ways, with the birth of compact discs. The CD liner notes, credits and lyrics were so small and unattractive, he says, that he stopped spending any time with them. When he still bought vinyl, he'd put on a record and sit with the cover, reading about who was in the band, who played what, who the producer was, and so on. Now, if you buy and download your favorite music online, you get even less information about the band, although Apple is starting to offer digital liner notes in the iTunes store.

If you've been around long enough to have bought a lot of vinyl, have you noticed that you know less about the bands, now that most music is available digitally? Do you even care who's in the bands you like?

10:55 AM ET | 10- 2-2009 | permalink

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Two New Eno Apps

by Bob Boilen

I was completely knocked out last year when artist-musician Brian Eno, along with programmer-musician Peter Chilvers, created a music making application called Bloom.

Now Brian Eno has two new applications for the iPhone and iPod Touch, based on his ambient music. One is called Air. The other is called Trope.

Air is basically an endless version of Eno's 1979 album Music for Airports.

Here's the official description:

"Air is a generative audio-visual work created by musician / software designer Peter Chilvers and Irish vocalist Sandra O'Neill. Based on concepts developed by Brian Eno, with whom Chilvers created Bloom, Air assembles vocal and piano samples into a beautiful, still and ever changing composition, which is always familiar, but never the same."

Screenshot of "Air" on the iPhone

"Air features four 'Conduct' modes, which let the user control the composition by tapping different areas on the display, and three 'Listen' modes, which provide a choice of arrangement. For those fortunate enough to have access to multiple iPhones and speakers, an option has been provided to spread the composition over several players."

Air is beautiful, but not as astonishingly beautiful as Trope. Like last year's Bloom program (which I still play with on a weekly basis), Trope let's you draw beautiful and colorful patterns while producing gorgeous drones and plaintiff piano motifs.

Screenshot of Trope

I'm awestruck by its simplicity and beauty. The fact that it costs $3.99 is beyond belief for someone who has spent thousands of dollars on hardware-based and software-based synthesizers.

Sure, these programs are one-trick ponies. But what a ride.

5:43 PM ET | 09-22-2009 | permalink

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Birds On The Wires

by Bob Boilen

Perhaps only a musician could see this photograph of birds on wires as notes on a musical staff. Surely, only a musician would think to play what the birds so clearly have "written."

Listen to this, courtesy of musician Jarbas Agnelli.

10:34 AM ET | 09-15-2009 | permalink

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Scary Stage Stories

by Bob Boilen

Thirty years ago on Saturday, I walked on stage for the very first time.

(pictured: Michael Barron, guitar; Susan Mumford, vocals; Chris Thompson, drums; Joe Menacker, bass; and Bob Boilen, synth)

Besides a few aborted attempts as a teen to play guitar, I'd never played music before; I just loved listening to it. When I was in my 20s, I quit my job running a record warehouse and bought a synthesizer. Three months later, I'm on stage with my Arp Odyssey and a new band called Tiny Desk Unit.

I had no idea how nervous I was until I got on stage. A few minutes into the first song, sweat began to pour off my face and onto my Arp. With all my nervous energy, I hit the keys on my keyboard with dramatic force. A few minutes later, I noticed that, no matter what key on the keyboard I'd strike, it would play the same note. I had broken my synthesizer. My nightmare was my reality.

I'm a pretty resourceful guy (I even had a hex wrench) and I knew what had broken. So I flipped over my synth, opened it up and unstuck the stuck key. In a few long minutes, I was up and running -- until, of course, my nervous energy had me hammering the keys again, and again I was only able to play one note.

I remember this frozen feeling: I couldn't look into the eyes of all the friends who had shown up at DC Space that night. I couldn't look at my bandmates. In fact, my whole body felt trapped in this wicked nightmare. Time was standing still, and I was locked in.

At some point, it hit me: I could change the pitch of that one note by messing with the pitch of the oscillator, and I could change the tone with all the filters and the many sliders this analog synthesizer had. (This was the pre-digital age.) I began to improvise, and it wasn't great, but it was better and it got fun. It was still the longest 35 minutes of my young life, but I made it.

From that point on, performing live was always easy. I understood something about myself and about making music that I'd never understood before. I had the ability to think on my feet; subconsciously, I could do things that consciously I never would have thought of.

That understanding helped me through 19 years of directing All Things Considered, as well as some years of live theater and hosting live concerts.

Maybe you have a nightmare performance tale to tell -- maybe as a musician, maybe as a public speaker. Let it out and tell your tale; it'll feel good.

10:03 AM ET | 09-12-2009 | permalink

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Mono Or Stereo: Help!

by Bob Boilen

If you're planning to buy some or all of the remastered Beatles recordings due out on 9.9.09, you may be wondering whether to get the mono versions or stereo. While most will probably go for the stereo sets, the truth is that The Beatles and producer George Martin put the most care into the mono recordings. The mono versions were the mixes they always intended people to hear. (more on this in an interview I did with Beatles historian Kevin Howlett)

Let me explain.

From 1963 to '67, most people listened to record players with one speaker. The same was true with radio. FM stereo just wasn't available.

The truth is, the mono mixes sound great remastered. It's been a thrill to hear these again. The bass is warm, the cymbals clear, the harmonies wonderful. Purists will go for the mono recordings, and I'm a purist. But I actually recommend getting the stereo sets.

Here are excerpts from the remastered mono and stereo versions of "Getting Better."

Mono Version:

Continue reading "Mono Or Stereo: Help!" »

10:16 AM ET | 09- 8-2009 | permalink

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Better, Worse, Or About The Same?

by Robin Hilton

In case you haven't noticed from earlier posts, Bob and I have been immersed in the remastered Beatles recordings this week, listening like giddy little schoolgirls. This morning, while listening to Magical Mystery Tour, I looked over the stack of other CDs on my desk waiting to be heard -- new albums from Taken by Trees, The Silent Years, Os Mutantes, The Asteroids Galaxy Tour -- and got to thinking about how rock and pop music has evolved since The Beatles. I sometimes think, while listening to new music, that whatever a band tries, The Beatles did it first, from sweet bubblegum pop to noise rock and experimental soundscapes (totally understanding, of course, that The Beatles themselves were borrowing from the artists who came before them). And they did it all in a period of about seven years. Hearing these remastered recordings, I think these songs stand up to anything being made now or anything that's been made since.

What do you think? If The Beatles' albums (such as Abbey Road or Sgt. Pepper's) came out today, how would they sound to you? Would they sound inspired? Would they sound better than other music coming out today, just average, or not as good?

3:24 PM ET | 09- 3-2009 | permalink

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'Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' Remastered

by Bob Boilen

I still remember the first time I heard it. It was June 1967. My friend Alan bought the LP at the local Times Square Store, a department store in Queens. He saw me on the street and invited me and my friend Jimmy over for a listen. Alan hadn't even taken off the shrink wrap.

Opening it up, staring at the cover, seeing the stickers and reading the lyrics while the record played was a new experience. Lyrics on records just didn't happen before this.

Some quick perspective: There were no 45s from Sgt. Pepper's, so it didn't get much play on AM radio. A little bit, but not a lot. FM was just getting started and radio was mono.

The Beatles were different from most bands in that regard those days. They did singles and they did albums. They were different art forms.

I remembered being thrilled and bewildered by the record. "Weird" was probably the best word we could all muster when it was over. But I got my own copy, and I listened to it every day for three years or so.

The hard copies of the newly remastered Beatles recordings aren't out until next week, but we were able to download uncompressed digital copies today. So All Songs Considered producer Robin Hilton and I met at one of NPR's best listening studios, sat down and listened to the new version of Sgt. Pepper's all the way through. It was like hearing it for the first time.

Continue reading "'Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' Remastered" »

2:12 PM ET | 09- 1-2009 | permalink

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Finding A Beatle In A Mail Stack

by Bob Boilen

Well, I'm back from a week of vacation. This is the pile of mail I found waiting for me:

I'm told that in this stack of new CDs I'll find a sampler of The Beatles' remastered albums.

I'll report back later.

1:04 PM ET | 08-31-2009 | permalink

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'Grooving' On Woodstock's 40th Anniversary

by Robin Hilton

I was only two months old when the now legendary Woodstock music festival was held on Max Yasgur's farm near Woodstock, N.Y. During the rainy, muddy weekend of August 15-17, 1969, 32 acts performed for a crowd of nearly 500 thousand people, making it one of the most memorable moments in popular music history.

I obviously don't have any of my own memories of the event, but I did get a glimpse of what it all seemed like to observers 40 years ago in two articles: the original Woodstodck press release issued today by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and an archived story by the New York Times.

Continue reading "'Grooving' On Woodstock's 40th Anniversary" »

11:35 AM ET | 08-14-2009 | permalink

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Minimalism With 216 Guitars

by Bob Boilen

This weekend, I got an effusive text message from my friend, Bill Harvey. He was on stage with literally hundreds of other guitarists, all performing a piece by composer Rhys Chatham. It calls for 200 guitarists, 16 bassists and percussion, all divided into four sections. All the guitars are specially strung and tuned. (At six strings per guitar, plus the basses, that's more than 1,200 strings.)

Here's something else that makes me smile: Every guitarist had his or her own amp. So that's 216 amps with the volumes meticulously set and equalized.

The piece is called "A Crimson Grail for 200 Electric Guitars." Rhys Chatham was a hero to many back in the '70s, putting large guitar orchestras together and playing with guitarist Glenn Branca. As the first musical director of The Kitchen, an important NYC venue for new works by multimedia artists and musicians such as Laurie Anderson, Philip Glass, Glenn Branca, James Chance and Brian Eno, Chatham has a direct connection to other key figures in experimental, minimalist and classical music. He was La Monte Young's piano tuner and Glenn Gould's harpsichord tuner, and he studied under electronic music pioneer Morton Subotnick.

Continue reading "Minimalism With 216 Guitars" »

8:11 PM ET | 08-11-2009 | permalink

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Dressed For Success

by Robin Hilton

Soul singer and multi-instrumentalist Raphael Saadiq and his gifted guitarist/backup singer, Rob Bacon, took the red-eye from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., and landed early this morning, when it was still dark out. When they stepped off the plane, they were decked out in fitted black suits with white shirts and thin black ties. They were the very definition of cool.

When they showed up at NPR later to give a Tiny Desk Concert (which we'll post later), a number of people in the office commented about how good they looked, in addition to how amazing they sounded. I spoke with Rob Bacon about it after the performance, and he said he and Saadiq take their jobs "very seriously" and always dress up before taking a flight anywhere or giving a performance. It's an idea they got from James Brown; Bacon said that James Brown required all of his band members to dress up. If they were staying at a hotel and someone needed to run down to the lobby to get a newspaper or something, they had to be in their best suit. If they weren't, Bacon said, they were fined.

Raphael Saadiq (front) and Rob Bacon perform at the desk of All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen. (photo by Katie Hayes)

I think this sort of professionalism makes a huge difference. Sure, Raphael Saadiq and Rob Bacon are a couple of astonishing musicians who would have had our full attention anyway. But those suits made them really pop.

What do you think? Does what a band wears affect the way you see it? Does your perception of an artist change in any way when he's in a suit as opposed to raggedy jeans and a T-shirt?

5:01 PM ET | 08- 7-2009 | permalink

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Bill Frisell Meets Buster Keaton

by Bob Boilen

Back in the early '90s, guitarist Bill Frisell scored and performed original music to six Buster Keaton films. The music is brilliant, and I'd seen the Buster Keaton movies, but until now, I'd never seen and heard the two together.

On Sept. 1, those six Buster Keaton films -- including Go West, One Week and High Sign -- will be released with accompaniment by Frisell, drummer Joey Baron and bassist Kermit Driscoll. Here are a few samples. My only regret is that Keaton never saw this; no doubt, he would have loved it.

continued...

Continue reading "Bill Frisell Meets Buster Keaton" »

12:11 PM ET | 08- 7-2009 | permalink

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You've Never Heard The Ramones' First Album?!

by Camden Andrews

This series -- "You've Never Heard..." -- started when Bob Boilen and Robin Hilton found out that I had never listened to Beck's Odelay. They were shocked until they realized that I was a toddler when Beck started making music. So, in an attempt to bridge my knowledge gap and make them feel less old, they started giving me classic albums I haven't heard to see what I thought. This week, they gave me the Ramones' debut album.

One of the reasons I'd never picked up an entire Ramones album is that I'd heard all the ubiquitous hit songs already. I pretty much figured that if you've heard one, you've heard them all: two or three power chords against pretty much the same drum beat, all playing too fast to really notice any differences that are there. Plus, the lyrics sound like they were written by a drunk on a deadline. I didn't feel like I was missing out on anything profound or life-changing. My first listen didn't really change that impression. There were two back-to-back songs somewhere in the middle that I liked, but then I looked down at my CD player and realized that those two songs were actually five songs.

This mattered less each time I listened to it, though. This album was not meant to be appreciated for its songwriting or its musicianship -- it's pure, mindless fun from a band that doesn't claim to be anything else. They revel in their own simplicity with lines like "second verse, same as the first" (in "Judy Is a Punk"). And there's no point in analyzing a song like "Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue," whose lyrics include the title followed by "now I want something to do," then switch the "I" with "all the kids."

For the longest time, I thought punk rock was all about making a conscious statement of rebellion, but this album is kind of an anti-statement. Joey Ramone wasn't trying to save the world with his music; he was just trying to give the kids something to do. I salute their silly, glue-sniffing, brat-beating, blitzkrieg-bopping greatness.

4:25 PM ET | 08- 6-2009 | 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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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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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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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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Finding An Old Friend Too Late

by Bob Boilen

I just learned about the death of an old friend. I began to loose touch with Don Bernstine when my music tastes went more toward Talking Heads and his went more toward Def Leppard.

I've spent the past few hours catching up on Don's life and he did pretty well for himself. Turns out he's the guy who bought so much of that great rock memorabilia for the Hard Rock Cafe.

This picture slays me on so many levels. Don and I worked in a record store together in 1973 when the first Queen record came out. We got one copy in the store, looked at the cover and both thought: "Who are these guys? This looks great!"
We blasted that record over and over. It was our common ground, I loved Queen for the band's unique, arty sound, and he loved them because they rocked. We even went to see Queen on the group's first U.S. tour.

Seeing Don sitting next to Queen's guitarist Brian May is like seeing an old friend who's just found his dream. It makes me happy and makes me cry at the same time.
Goodbye Don Bernstine, I'll miss you.

10:18 PM ET | 06-30-2009 | permalink

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Donny And Marie Do 'Star Wars'

by Robin Hilton

A friend of mine sent me this link today and dared me to watch all 10 minutes. For those too young to remember, Donny and Marie Osmond had a musical variety show in the '70s called, appropriately enough, The Donny And Marie Show (she was "a little bit country" and he was "a little bit rock 'n' roll"). I was in elementary school at the time and actually watched it pretty regularly. But I don't remember this incredible moment:

Donny and Marie lead an all-star cast in this number. Kris Kristofferson plays a too-cool-for-school Han Solo, while the comedian Redd Foxx plays Obi-Wan Kenobi and Paul Lynde is an Admiral with the Empire. There are also dancing Storm Troopers. Wow. I can't take my eyes off it.

2:47 PM ET | 06-22-2009 | permalink

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What Are Your Guilty Pleasures?

by Robin Hilton

My iTunes library is packed to the gills with guilty pleasures. Let's start with the soundtrack to E.T. That's the John Williams score to the 1982 movie. John Williams penned the soundtrack to my youth! I was 12 when that movie come out. Give me a break.

There's also Andy Griffith (he sings "old-timey" songs), Justin Timberlake, Peter Frampton, several former American Idol contestants (like Kelly Clarkson and Adam Lambert), New Age pianist George Winston and Gordon Lightfoot, to name a few. Then there are some borderline guilty pleasures like Stone Temple Pilots, Sheryl Crow, Indigo Girls and The Wallflowers. I'm not sure those count, though I'm sure plenty of people would think they do.

It occurred to me recently that I've never heard All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen play or admit to liking any music that could be considered a guilty pleasure.

Continue reading "What Are Your Guilty Pleasures?" »

5:09 PM ET | 06-19-2009 | permalink

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Is 'Frampton Comes Alive' The Greatest Live Album Ever?

by Robin Hilton

"I hate that record so much." --Bob Boilen (Jun. 18, 2009, 4:43 p.m. ET)

Yes, yes. Frampton Comes Alive is one seriously cheesy record. It's also the best-selling live rock album of all time. By many estimations, it set the standard for all live arena-rock records that followed. I admit, without apologies, that I own it and rather love it.

Earlier today, Bob and I were having one of our recurring discussions about lyrics (they're the first thing he notices in a song and the last thing I notice), and he threw out the line, "Baby, I love your way" as an example of a lyric so painfully bad he couldn't bear to listen. I don't especially love that particular song, but it made me want to pull out my copy of Frampton Comes Alive and hear some sweet "talk box" action on the song "Do You Feel Like We Do?"

What do you think is the best live rock album of all time? Do you love or hate Frampton Comes Alive?

5:00 PM ET | 06-18-2009 | permalink

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Can't Get 'Can't Get It Out Of My Head' Out Of My Head

by Robin Hilton

Earlier today, we had the band Telekinesis here to record a Tiny Desk Concert. While they were warming up, I heard the group's lead singer-songwriter, Michael Benjamin Lerner, picking out the Electric Light Orchestra song "Can't Get It out of My Head." He sounded great, and I love that song, so during the performance, I put him on the spot by asking him to do it again. He said he didn't really know the whole song, but he gave it a shot, saying that his father had gotten him into ELO when Michael was growing up. He was a good sport about it.

Another one of the producers here, Mike Katzif, is on a mission to find different versions of "Can't Get It out of My Head." My hat's off to him for digging up this live version ELO performed on The Mike Douglas Show. The band does some other songs, but "Can't Get It out of My Head" starts at the 4:42 mark.

Now the song is stuck in my head. Or, really, it's just the refrain, repeating over and over again. "I can't get it out of my head," skip, "I can't get it out of my head," skip "I can't..." You get the idea.

Bob Boilen talks about a couple of particularly addictive songs on the latest edition of All Songs Considered -- The ApSci song "Crazy Crazy Insane" and The Phenomenal Handclap Band doing "15 to 20."

What's a song you're helpless to stop once it starts playing in your head?

5:27 PM ET | 06-17-2009 | permalink

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Scary Poppins

by Bob Boilen

A recent blog post addressed soundtracks that are better than the films accompanying them. Here's a different twist that perfectly illustrates how music directs our emotions.

Remember that delightful family comedy, The Shining?

What about the frightening tale of Mary Poppins and her talent for scaring the life out of children?

Of course, television soundtracks can pull at your heartstrings. Gary Coleman's tragic thriller Diff'rent Strokes comes to mind.

Can you think of a movie soundtrack that completely missed the mark? How about the perfect soundtrack?

11:05 AM ET | 06-14-2009 | permalink

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Are Short Shows A Rip-Off?

by Bob Boilen

There was glee and some grumbling when Passion Pit left the stage of Washington, D.C.'s Black Cat the other night. The 40-minute set included a one-song encore, and left many wanting more.

Just how long should a headline act play? When The Beatles played Shea Stadium to a crowd of 56,000 screaming fans, the band played a dozen songs and left the stage in less than 30 minutes. In the late '70s, when bands like Ultravox or Devo would headline a show with one LP under their belt, a 50-minute set wasn't unusual. Truth be told, I always thought that was the perfect length.

These days, it isn't unusual to see sets that are double that. Of course, it depends on the band; a 45-minute set by Wilco would leave a lot of favorites out of the set list. Here's what I'm wondering: Do you ever stand at a show and wish it were over? Do you find yourself thinking, "Please play my favorite and say goodnight"?

What's the optimal concert length for you? Would you rather leave a show wanting more, or err on the side of too much of a good thing?

7:55 AM ET | 06-11-2009 | permalink

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Weekend Wake-Up Music

by Bob Boilen

I woke up this morning to what I think of as the perfect wake-up music. It's a band I'm just discovering called The Dry Spells.

This song is called "Black is the Color" from an August release called Too Soon For Flowers

I love a melodic piece of music on a weekend morning -- something a bit slow, a bit of energy is fine, and nothing too angular. If no one is around, I like to sing along. So what makes great weekend wake-up music for you? And is your Saturday-morning music any different from your Sunday-morning music?

12:50 PM ET | 06- 7-2009 | permalink

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On Losing (And Trying To Save) The Music Press

by Stephen Thompson

This morning brings bleak rumors surrounding the fate of JazzTimes magazine. Since its creation in 1970, JazzTimes has won armloads of awards and been a crucial voice in the jazz world, so seeing it fold would be a devastating blow. Expect more word to come out in the hours ahead.

As if that weren't bad enough, yesterday was an awful day to run a music magazine: Performing Songwriter and Radio & Records both announced that they're folding outright, while Paste remains in the midst of a desperate fundraising drive in an effort to stay afloat. These are troubled times for the economy in general -- and print media in particular -- but this has been an unusually grim and sad 24 hours.

Losing old favorites and saving another, after the jump.

Continue reading "On Losing (And Trying To Save) The Music Press" »

1:33 AM ET | 06- 4-2009 | permalink

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How Do You Discover New Music?

by Bob Boilen

I'm heading to Philadelphia for NonComm, the non-commercial radio convention, and it got me thinking: How relevant is music radio these days?

I've lived in a town that offers me little in the way of music on the radio. (That's why I started this show.) Many of you may be more fortunate; there is great music on the radio in many cities. So take the survey and let's see how it shakes out.

11:01 PM ET | 05-27-2009 | permalink

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Music You Should Love, But Don't

by Bob Boilen

Think about the music you love. Do you find yourself attracted to, say, a distorted guitar and female singers? Concept records or CDs with psychedelic covers? World-music collaborations or homemade recordings by Midwestern singer-songwriters? It happens often, where I'll see a record that's totally up my alley. A good bunch of the time, I'll love it. But then there are times when I don't.

It happened for me with the new Green Day record. The band hits a lot of my soft spots: For one, it's changed since its early days, and I like that in a band. It has a sound you can immediately identify; I like that, too. It has a good drummer, and that's key for me. The new record is a concept record in three parts -- an epic of sorts -- and that always gets me listening. But I don't like this band much. I think it's the singer that turns me off.

This has happened to me in the past, with bands like R.E.M. and U2. So what are some of the bands you should love, but don't? Can you think of an act that has all the talent in the world, but you can't get into it?

10:56 AM ET | 05-26-2009 | permalink

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Jazzed!

by Bob Boilen

If you listen to one jazz concert this year, tonight is your night. Allen Toussaint has put together an ensemble of great players for a show at the legendary Village Vanguard in New York City. WBGO and NPR Music will be there to webcast it live, and there'll even be video.

Toussaint has put together a band that includes my favorite clarinet player (Don Byron), my favorite drummer (Jay Bellerose) and the brilliant guitarist Marc Ribot. These guys play all styles of music, and bring something new to whichever form they explore.

This show isn't just for the jazz fanatic, and Toussaint isn't just known as a jazz musician: Elvis Costello is more likely to pop on stage -- as he did last night -- than a jazz legend. This show is about the popular side of jazz. There is rich history in the music, but it won't feel like a history lesson: It's jazz from the '20s to the '60s, played brilliantly by an R&B piano player steeped in pop music, with a great ear and a creative soul.

You can read more about Toussaint on NPR's brand-new jazz blog, "A Blog Supreme." There, you'll find video of tonight's concert and share the fun with others listening all around the world. Have a good time -- I know I'll be there.

10:50 AM ET | 05-20-2009 | permalink

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Dan Deacon: The Funnest Birthday Party Ever

by Bob Boilen

It was "Ring Around the Rosie," "London Bridge" and crowd surfing with a fierce, fun 14-piece band playing wildly pulsing, upbeat electronic music on the best sound system you'd ever want. Oh, and there was some alcohol. In short, Dan Deacon's show was the the best birthday party you'd ever want to attend, without the balloons or cake and without a birthday boy or girl, but with Dan Deacon as the party dad.

Here is my time-lapse of the entire concert.
You can also hear the entire concert here along with an interview.

Continue reading "Dan Deacon: The Funnest Birthday Party Ever" »

11:41 AM ET | 05-18-2009 | permalink

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A Music Geek's Prayers Answered

by Robin Hilton

Hear Dark Night of the Soul in its entirety.

None of us at NPR Music were sure what, exactly, Dark Night of the Soul (not to be confused with the recent benefit compilation Dark Was the Night) was when we first started hearing about it back in March. Was it a movie, or an album, or some combination of the two? And who was behind it? One thing we knew: The artists associated with the mysterious project were so closely aligned with my own tastes, some of the producers here joked that I was secretly the producer behind it all.

Cover art for 'Dark Night of the Soul.' Can you see the face?

Admittedly, it sounded like a dream project to me. Some of the musicians we knew were involved with Dark Night: Danger Mouse, Sparklehorse, Vic Chesnutt, Jason Lytle, The Flaming Lips, Scott Spillane of Neutral Milk Hotel, James Mercer of The Shins, Suzanne Vega. The list went on and on. And director David Lynch was somehow involved. Whatever Dark Night of the Soul was, it sounded too cool and too good to be true.

Continue reading "A Music Geek's Prayers Answered" »

3:47 PM ET | 05-14-2009 | permalink

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Download Iron And Wine

by Stephen Thompson

I visited Iron & Wine's Web site yesterday while doing a bit of research for an upcoming Song of the Day essay -- SPOILER: A song from Iron & Wine's new Around the Well collection is about to be featured on Song of the Day -- and stumbled across this sentence in the middle of the band's news feed: "Also, the 8 acoustic versions of songs from The Shepherd's Dog are available again for free download. Enjoy the music. Thanks for listening."

Now, the existence of these recordings may be old news to diehards, but I was thrilled -- so much so that I delayed listening to the new Wilco stream for an hour or two while I basked in eight gorgeous Iron & Wine songs, each stripped to their barest, warmest essentials. Balancing the intimacy of Sam Beam's early home recordings with the springy sweetness of his lush later material, they're a perfect companion to one of my favorite albums of 2007.

Continue reading "Download Iron And Wine" »

10:44 AM ET | 05-14-2009 | permalink

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You Call That Music?

by Robin Hilton

This morning, Bob admonished me for having never listened to Terry Riley's IN C. If you've never heard of Terry Riley or IN C, don't feel bad: It's only, as Bob noted, "the single most famous and influential piece of minimalist music in the 20th century."

All this came up because IN C is celebrating its 45th anniversary, and we ran a story about it on All Things Considered yesterday.

Continue reading "You Call That Music?" »

11:01 AM ET | 05-13-2009 | permalink

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Animal Collective Thoughts

by Bob Boilen

We had the pleasure of webcasting Animal Collective at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C., last night. You can hear the entire concert here -- and, of course, on the All Songs Considered Live Concert Podcast.

Here's a photo gallery from the performance, by photographer Shantel Mitchell:

I quite liked the show, but this wasn't the concert I thought I'd hear, given the hyperactive sound of Animal Collective's latest album, Merriweather Post Pavilion.

Continue reading "Animal Collective Thoughts" »

1:35 PM ET | 05-12-2009 | permalink

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BriTunes And Fein Tunes: Everybody's A Critic

by Bob Boilen

Two new adventures in music coverage come from U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) and NBC's Brian Williams. I'm not making this up. They're called "Fein Tunes" and "BriTunes," respectively. I'm not making this up.

Acknowledging that things are tough in the world, Feingold says he figures it's time for a bit of music to get us through. His first choice: Wisconsin native Bon Iver. Which shows good taste -- a bit late, but he picked a winner.

Now, to Brian Williams.

Continue reading "BriTunes And Fein Tunes: Everybody's A Critic" »

11:46 PM ET | 05-10-2009 | permalink

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Decorating The Stage For Mom

by Bob Boilen, with The Shackeltons' Mark Redding

I recently saw The Shackeltons at the South by Southwest music festival and conference in Austin, Texas. I probably saw a hundred bands that week, but none were as impassioned as this one.

I was particularly taken with the heartfelt emotions of singer Mark Redding, who performed on a stage decorated with fresh-cut flowers -- flowers that Redding would toss into the audience in bursts of ecstasy and rapture. It both delighted me and puzzled me.

Mark Redding decorates a Shackeltons stage in New York City. (Credit: Alexandra Marvar)

In honor of Mother's Day, Redding tells us why he decorates every Shackeltons show with flowers.

Continue reading "Decorating The Stage For Mom" »

1:32 PM ET | 05- 8-2009 | permalink

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When It Comes To Rock, 60 Is The New 20

by Robin Hilton

When John Lennon died in 1980, All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen says he remembers thinking, "Well, at least Lennon lived a long, full life."

John Lennon was 40. At the time of his death, Bob had already lost plenty of other favorite musicians, like Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison and Brian Jones, all of whom died when they were just 27. At the time, 40 must have seemed very old to Bob.

John Lennon at the ripe old age of 40. (Credit: AP)

Continue reading "When It Comes To Rock, 60 Is The New 20" »

10:15 AM ET | 05- 6-2009 | permalink

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Attention Guitar Players: You May Quit Now

by Robin Hilton

I mean, sure, maybe it's not Beethoven, but this kid is pretty amazing. Be sure to watch at least through his version of "Crossroads."

4:59 PM ET | 05- 4-2009 | permalink

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Bands That Kept Their Integrity

by Bob Boilen

I was listening to the new Sonic Youth record, The Eternal, and it got me thinking about bands that have held on to a vision or their integrity over the course of a long career. Sonic Youth has been creating uncompromising music for more than a quarter of a century.

Of course, it's unlikely that every record someone makes will be a gem. It is, however, possible to admire a band for what it does, even after decades of making music. I think that's what I mean by integrity, along with not jumping into the latest trend, but simply making the music you feel deep inside.

Continue reading "Bands That Kept Their Integrity" »

4:29 PM ET | 05- 4-2009 | permalink

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The Best Jazz Record Of 2009 (So Far)

by Bob Boilen

There was a time when new jazz records would take my breath away. Give me a new World Saxophone Quartet record or an Art Ensemble of Chicago record, and I knew I'd be in for a treat. That's happened less and less in recent years -- that is, until now.

The jazz record that's going to carry me through the year is by Mulatu Astatke and The Heliocentrics, and it's called Inspiration, Information.

Continue reading "The Best Jazz Record Of 2009 (So Far)" »

12:31 PM ET | 05- 3-2009 | permalink

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Anvil: A Real-Life Spinal Tap

by Robin Hilton

Why do some bands seem to find an audience overnight, while others fail to reach anyone even after years of hard work? This, of course, is the million-dollar question for music labels -- and one that mystifies me on a nearly daily basis.

Katie White and Jules De Martino of The Ting Tings had played together for barely a year before hitting it big. The first album Arctic Monkeys ever put out became the fastest-selling debut in British music history. Meanwhile, one of my all-time favorite bands, Five Eight, hasn't had a hit in more than 20 years of playing together, even though it's got a wealth of the talent and inspiration needed to make great music.

Which brings us to the band Anvil. A new film called Anvil! The Story of Anvil tells the story of this long-struggling Canadian heavy-metal group and its meteoric rise to the bottom.

Continue reading "Anvil: A Real-Life Spinal Tap" »

11:48 AM ET | 04-30-2009 | permalink

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Bob Watches 'American Idol,' While I Ask, 'Are You A Music Snob?'

by Robin Hilton

As NPR Music producer Stephen Thompson noted on Twitter (@idislikestephen) last night, watching All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen sit through an episode of American Idol is a bit like watching the Amish in Times Square. To Bob's credit, he didn't squirm as much as I thought he would, though on a few occasions he did scrunch his face, as though someone were holding a handful of manure under his nose.

Following last week's post about contestant Adam Lambert, Bob was especially curious to hear and see the program's most theatrical and memorable singer. Here's a partial transcript of the conversation we had after Lambert squealed his final note:

Continue reading "Bob Watches 'American Idol,' While I Ask, 'Are You A Music Snob?'" »

3:25 PM ET | 04-29-2009 | permalink

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Musings: What If We Auto-Tuned The News?

by Bob Boilen

World got you down? Not to worry: The news has just been Auto-Tuned.

3:01 PM ET | 04-23-2009 | permalink

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Does Music Define You?

Music can obviously serve many purposes. It can make us think, feel and act. It can be a deeply meaningful and profound experience that leaves us pondering life's greater mysteries. And sometimes it's just entertainment, in the way a sitcom is entertainment, or a video game, or anything else you enjoy doing purely for fun, like reading a spy novel.

I love the power of music to inspire people and to provoke. I love to see people get passionate about the music they love and dislike, and to hear why they feel the way they do. (See some of the comments in yesterday's post about American Idol). In the end, there really is no right or wrong perspective, just opinions, and there's no accounting for taste.

I suspect we get as worked up about music as we do because we believe it defines us -- that music says something about who we are and what we believe, perhaps in ways more illuminating and honest than we could ever conjure on our own, since words alone often diminish the grand ideas and feelings we have inside.

So that's my question: Do you think music defines who you are or who others are? If so, how?

10:34 AM ET | 04-23-2009 | permalink

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The Worst 1:45 Of Bob's Life

by Robin Hilton

This morning, NPR Music producer Stephen Thompson and I were having our regular weekly debrief about American Idol, rating and reviewing the previous evening's performances. Our most heated and frequent debate centers on contestant Adam Lambert, a singer whose voice, according to Stephen, is an "adenoidal screech" that bores into Stephen's skull. [Editor's Note: I believe the exact words were "an adenoidal screech that bores into my right temple like 9,000 dentist drills made of knives and fire." --ST] I, and everyone else with a finely tuned ear for seasoned perfection, thinks Lambert is the best singer on the program -- and, quite possibly, the most talented singer who's ever appeared in American Idol's eight-season run.

At some point during this morning's debate, Bob chimed in to ask for a video link of Adam Lambert's performance from last night:

Adam Lambert, one of this year's contestants on American Idol. (Credit: AP)

Bob has a gift for staying blissfully clueless about this sort of thing. About two seconds into the video clip, he took off his headphones and tried to beg out of watching, but I made him sit through the whole thing -- an exercise Bob later described as "the worst minute and 45 seconds" of his life. It also sparked this exchange:

Bob: So, did Adam Lambert write that?
Robin: No. He credits someone else at the end with that arrangement.
Bob: No, I mean did he write that song?
Robin: [Face in hands.] That's The Bee Gees, Bob. [Singing.] "If I can't have you, I don't want nobody, baby! If I can't have you! Ahhh-ahh!"
Bob: Never heard of it.
Robin: It's from the '70s. It's disco. Your generation gave us this music.
Bob: And I offer my deepest apologies.

Oh, Bob. So, what do you think? Do you watch American Idol? Is it mindless pop dreck, innocent entertainment, or a showcase for remarkable talent or some combination thereof? And if you do watch, what do you think of Adam Lambert?

10:55 AM ET | 04-22-2009 | permalink

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Fewer Songs Considered

by Robin Hilton

All Songs Considered has gotten a lot of ribbing over the years for its name. I can't tell you how many times I've met someone and said I work for All Songs Considered, only to hear them say, "I love Robert Siegel! I listen to you every day!" Deflated, I have to tell them they're thinking of All Things Considered.

Other listeners have told us it's a misleading name for the show, since we don't really consider all songs. Where's the speed metal and American Indian New Age? What of acid jazz and Christian contemporary?

The latest jab comes from our favorite people on the planet: our interns. NPR Music is lucky enough to have the best interns a company could ever dream of having. This is the last week for our latest group, and as a parting gift, they've put together their own music-review program called Fewer Songs Considered. It's about an hour's worth of music and talk, mostly featuring artists we never got to on All Songs Considered, like Thee Oh Sees (okay, I've never even heard of that one) and Phoenix.

So give Fewer Songs Considered a listen and let them know what you think. We're really going to miss them when they're gone.

Our Fearless Crew:

10:09 AM ET | 04-21-2009 | permalink

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Attention Pink Floyd Fans

by Robin Hilton

I'm not sure where they came from, but I stumbled upon a blog where you can download some incredible outtakes from Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon recording sessions. It's also got this video with some hilariously dated interviews.

For that matter, this site has an alternate version of the entire Dark Side of the Moon album available for download.

And there are more demos and outtakes available here for download.

I won't lie: I love the Internet.

11:01 AM ET | 04-17-2009 | permalink

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Hilarious Or Just Obnoxious?

by Robin Hilton

Bob thought this was dumb and stopped it about halfway through, but I found it giggle-worthy. What do you think?

Bonus Video:

Here's John Belushi's spot-on imitation, from Saturday Night Live:

10:57 AM ET | 04-17-2009 | permalink

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One Month: Hundreds Of Albums

by Robin Hilton

If you follow the show at all, you've probably heard us mention the RPM Challenge before. This is the annual invitation from The Wire magazine to write and record an entire album in the month of February. Hundreds of musicians worldwide take part in the challenge, scrambling frantically to conceive and produce at least 10 songs or 35 minutes of original music in four short weeks. (Bob did it. So did I, as did another producer at NPR, Michael Katzif).

This week on Second Stage, we're featuring a very small sampling of some of the musicians who participated in this year's challenge. Just like last year, there were some fantastic band names in the mix:

Cyclops Cow
Anal Hymn Triathlon
Liver Pants
Nair
Oliver Elf Army
Rainbow of Ball Sweat
Scrotum Hammer
Schizophrenic Bi-Polar Bear
Feline Drummers

...And even more hilarious song names:

"Dear God, Make Me Some Collar Bones"
"Zombie Disco"
"Seventh Spatula"
"My Cereal"
"Vampire Space Monkeys"
"Reduced to Salad"
"I'm Finally Admitting I've Been Overcommitting to All This Knitting"
"Stand Back, I'm Going To Try Science!"
"Don't Feed Him Butter"

I love the creativity that a challenge like this brings out in people. It gives musicians the perfect excuse to write an anthem to something like cereal or eating butter.

So check out Second Stage for some of the songs and let us know what you think. I think you'll be impressed -- I was.

5:27 PM ET | 04- 7-2009 | permalink

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Extreme Music Makeover

by Robin Hilton

How important is a producer? Think of the albums you really, really love. There's a good chance the same producer appears on more than one of them. Daniel Lanois comes to mind: He was at the mixing board for some of my all-time favorite albums, like U2's The Joshua Tree, Peter Gabriel's So, Bob Dylan's Time Out of Mind, and Wrecking Ball by Emmylou Harris.

Lanois brings a distinctively warm sound to the records he produces. That has a lot to do with his love of analog equipment and ribbon microphones, as well as the way he uses space. He talked about this with NPR's All Things Considered a few years ago.

But how much of it is Lanois and how much is it the bands? Would The Joshua Tree have been such a big hit if someone else had produced, or if U2 had gone it alone?

We were talking about this recently at NPR Music, and wondered whether a great producer could take a mediocre band and make it successful. Bob Boilen and I recently finished our albums for the RPM Challenge, and they're about as good as you'd expect from two people who barely know what they're doing. But I got to thinking: What if Daniel Lanois (or somebody like him) produced Bob's album, or mine? Could he turn what we wrote into works of art?

So here's the new show we want to do: "Extreme Music Makeover." We take a mediocre, marginally talented musician, give him or her a few days in the studio with a brilliant producer, and see what they come up with. Attention Brian Eno, George Martin, Daniel Lanois, Tucker Martine, Jon Brion, Jim O'Rourke, John Vanderslice and all you other beautifully gifted artists: This is your big chance! Drop us a line at allsongs@npr.org, and we'll get you booked into NPR's Studio 4A with whatever middling musician we can come up with.

While we wait to hear from them, tell us what you think. Do producers matter that much? Who are some of your favorite producers, and what do you think they bring to the albums you love most?

2:47 PM ET | 03- 6-2009 | permalink

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Antony In A Synagogue With Pitchfork

by Bob Boilen

I'm not a big reader of music blogs, magazines or interviews. I like to listen. So I really had no idea what it would be like to talk with Antony Hegarty of Antony and the Johnsons. I only know him from spending a lot of time with his previous album, I Am a Bird Now, and he didn't seem like a happy camper.

When I first walked into the Sixth and I Synagogue for the recent Antony and the Johnsons concert there, I wasn't sure if the images in Antony's music would feel out of place, or if they would take on new meaning. I did know it was something I'd never forget.

What surprised me most is this: He's actually a very chipper fellow. Smart, I figured; upbeat, I hadn't. I felt the same way when I saw Leonard Cohen literally skip off the stage like a child racing to an ice-cream truck. Go figure. In my interview with Antony, he reveals to me his three childhood heroes -- Anne Frank, Divine and Jesus -- as well as his desire to do cartwheels thanks to a music video by Kate Bush.

We have the entire show online for you to hear. You can also download a copy of the show by subscribing to our concerts podcast. My conversation with Antony can be heard here, or at the end of the concert podcast.

Antony and the Johnsons Interview:

Also, we're proud to announce a new partnership: NPR Music is teaming up with Pitchfork TV to find interesting music projects. So go watch video of Antony and the Johnsons' performance at the Sixth and I Synagogue in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 3.

Here's a sample video:

11:02 AM ET | 03- 4-2009 | permalink

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Why Do We Love The Music We Love?

by Bob Boilen

Last week, singer Tom Jones came to sing at my desk. It was truly surreal and sublime, but to tell the truth, I've never been much of a fan of his. Despite the fact that his voice and his songs sounded big on my little transistor radio back in 1966, I'd much rather hear Bob Dylan or The Byrds or The Beatles or The Bobby Fuller Four.

When U2 began making records in the early '80s, I was in a band making music, writing music for a performance-art group, and still reeling from so much great music that had just taken place from 1976 to 1980. I just didn't need or want the creative input from contemporary musicians. My tastes wandered to music from all over the world and to jazz. To this day, despite my admiration for the songwriting, the production and the message, I've never been a U2 fan.

So I've been wondering: Why do we love the music we love? It isn't clearly all about talent and craftsmanship, or even style. Is it the time and place we hear music for the first time? Is it where we are in our personal lives?

What do you think? Are there bands you know you should love, but don't? And just why is it that you think you don't?

9:46 AM ET | 03- 2-2009 | permalink

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2009 Already Better Than 2008

by Robin Hilton

For me, the first two months of 2009 have already produced more memorable albums than all of 2008. With a few notable exceptions -- like Bon Iver's For Emma, Forever Ago, Son Lux's At War with Walls and Mazes, Deerhunter's Microcastle/Weird Era Cont. -- 2008 felt like a largely forgettable year. I couldn't even put together a Top 10 list for the year's best. But, from what I can tell, it looks as if 2009 will easily lap 2008.

If 2009 ended right now (okay, some of these don't come out for another month or so), I'd feel very good about putting these albums on a Top 10 list:

1. The Antlers: Hospice -- Frontman Peter Silberman is only 23, but has produced one of the most beautiful and moving works I've heard in a long, long time. Just astonishing.

2. The Decemberists: The Hazards of Love -- At the rate it's going, we won't recognize this band in another five years. With the 2007 album The Crane Wife, The Decemberists began to drift into more progressive and experimental rock, and away from the quirky sea shanties of earlier work. On The Hazards of Love, the band moves even further into stranger and darker territory, and it's all the better for it.

3. Animal Collective: Merriweather Post Pavilion -- It's just a bunch of senseless noise to some people. But I really believe that this group is inventing an all-new kind of music, and it's simply brilliant. It's a sound that asks us to reconsider how we define everything that music is, from chord structure and patterns to rhythms, lyrics and the way it makes us feel.

4. Laura Gibson: Beasts of Seasons -- I thought her 2006 album, If You Come to Greet Me, was lovely, but I never would have guessed she'd follow it with something as inspired and affecting as Beasts of Seasons. It's a quiet masterpiece.

5. M. Ward: Hold Time Call it new folk or neo-folk or art-folk, nobody does it better than Matt Ward. Hold Time is a gorgeously produced mix of finger-picked guitars, upright bass and shuffling rhythms, all tied together by his achy voice.

6. Jason Lytle: Yours Truly, The Commuter -- Unfortunately, this won't be out until May, and I can't wait to share it with everyone. Hopefully, we'll be able to get it to you early as part of our Exclusive First Listen series. Lytle was the frontman for one of my all-time favorite bands, Grandaddy. I was so bummed when they split up. But he's back with his first solo album, and it feels like nothing's been lost.

7. Andrew Bird: Noble Beast -- His music is an elegant mix of jazz, folk and quirky art-pop, with whistled melodies and lots of wordplay. After seeing him live and reading his blog on the art of songwriting and the creative process, I think he may be a genius.

8. Dan Deacon: Bromst -- I'll be honest: When I first saw Dan Deacon a few years back, I thought he was a joke. He seemed spectacularly disorganized, with a jumble of wires and junky old drum machines and electronics, and his goofy interaction with the audience left me laughing more than anything. I was impressed with the cohesion of his official label debut, Spiderman of the Rings, in 2007. But now, he's putting out an incredibly tight and beautifully realized follow-up, called Bromst. This guy is for real.

9. U2: No Line on the Horizon -- I haven't really cared much for anything U2 has done in the last 10 years or so. It was starting to feel like the band was lurching into that dead zone where so many older groups go, where they just phone it in. But No Line on the Horizon stopped me dead in my tracks. The band sounds inspired again. We hope to have a cut for you soon on All Songs Considered.

10. Mirah: Aspera -- After getting her hooks in me with her artfully crafted folk-pop on You Think It's Like This, But It's Really Like This, Advisory Committee and C'mon Miracle, Mirah disappeared to work on remixes and other projects. I've missed her. Mirah's new studio album, her first in five years, is transporting. Few artists can balance experimental ambition with quiet intimacy as well as she does.

What do you think? How does this year compare to last year? What are the standouts so far this year for you?

1:35 PM ET | 02-26-2009 | permalink

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Leonard Cohen Live In NYC

by Bob Boilen

Let me cut right to the chase: Leonard Cohen's performance at the Beacon Theatre in New York City Thursday night was remarkable. His performance was gracious, his voice deep and direct, his body of work extraordinary. We'll have a dozen songs from this concert online for you to hear, beginning Thursday, Feb. 26.

Cohen is 74, and cuts a striking figure. He looked as if he fell off a 1940s film noir set with his dark tailored suit and his one and only prop, his Frank Sinatra hat. That hat served him well as he bowed to his talented band of musicians and offered bows of appreciation to his fans.

His show was a greatest-hits set of sorts, with nothing new. That's usually a disappointment for me, but not on this night: All the old songs sounded fresh and new.

Continue reading "Leonard Cohen Live In NYC" »

4:18 PM ET | 02-20-2009 | permalink

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Lily Allen, Me, Myself And I

by Bob Boilen

Okay, so I got a little obsessed, but I swear it could have happened to anyone. I was listening to the new Lily Allen CD, which I like -- at moments, it gave me a few good belly laughs, along with some insightful lyrics.

But I was completely struck with the number of times she says the word "I." It got to the point where I tried counting, got to over 60 and stopped. There's also a boatload of her singing about "you" on the record, too.

Allen certainly isn't the only self-absorbed artist in rock -- heaven knows the Morrissey record on the current All Songs Considered mines a lot of personal ground. But in terms of sheer numbers, Lily Allen hands-down sings and writes about herself more than anyone I know. (Unless you can think of someone else.)

Anyway, I went to Wordle and pasted in the lyrics to the entire Lily Allen CD, It's Not Me, It's You. (It's even in the title!) Wordle then constructed a word cloud with the most-often-said words big and bold. It's a funny way to look at a record. I'll try this with others in my free time, or you can try it and put a link in your blog post.

7:45 PM ET | 02-12-2009 | permalink

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the ...ro'Ck Stärz: Why Do You Vex Us?

by Robin Hilton

Give it up for the Swedish twinkle-pop band Loney Dear. After years of torturing copy editors everywhere, the group has officially dropped the inexplicable comma in its name. So, "Loney, Dear" is now just "Loney Dear." Now, if we can just get them to do something with "Loney."

We've lost a lot of time at NPR Music over the years debating how to spell or pronounce a host of baffling band names. Once, Bob pronounced Ani DiFranco's first name with a short vowel (like "bat"), and our intern at the time, a huge DiFranco fan, screamed "It's Ani!" with a long vowel (like "awning"). True story.

News of the dropped comma from the Loney Dear camp got us thinking about all the other band names in need of an upgrade:

MGMT (It's spelled out -- M-G-M-T -- not pronounced "management")

The Go! Team

Psaap (It's just "sap")

Panic! At the Disco

moe. (Seriously? Moe? All lower case with a period?)

The The (Least searchable band name of all time)

Godspeed You! Black Emperor (Formerly Godspeed You Black Emperor!)

...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Our Dead (Don't forget the ellipses)

!!! (They say it's pronounced "chk chk chk" ...but how is "chk chk chk" pronounced?)

ttttttttttttttttttttt (This is some Canadian band. I have no idea how to pronounce it)

PARACOCCIDIOIDOMICOSISPROCTITISSARCOMUCOSIS (I copied and pasted that from the band's myspace page)

What are some others?

11:11 AM ET | 02- 4-2009 | permalink

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If It's February, It Must Be Time To Make An Album

by Bob Boilen

If you do something three times, I think it's fair to call it a ritual. Every February for the past two years, I've written and recorded an entire album from scratch with my musical soulmate, Michael Barron.

It's all part of something called the RPM Challenge, the motto of which reads, "Record an album in 28 days, just because you can." The group's other mantra: "Anyone can find an excuse, so don't."

As a musician, I have to say it's liberating and exhausting, daunting and exhilarating. It may also be the most fun I have all year. There are no prizes; the reward is your art.

So do it. Here are the details.

Here I am, speaking from my house via Skype to an audience of RPM faithful at its home in Portsmouth, N.H., after finishing my 2007 challenge.

Once again, we'll select some favorites from the challenge an put them on Second Stage, our daily Web site for new and mostly unsigned artists.

9:47 AM ET | 01-30-2009 | permalink

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SongSmith: Brilliant And Awful

by Robin Hilton

Earlier this month, Microsoft released a piece of software that's pretty unbelievable, both for its sheer genius and for its stomach-curdling execution. The program is called SongSmith, and it does what the musically challenged can't do: It writes songs.

If you can at least sing a melody of some kind, SongSmith can record your voice, at which point it will -- get this -- compose and perform a band's worth of music to accompany it, complete with drums, bass, guitars, pianos and so on. You can specify the tone (joyful, sad, et al) and style (jazz, pop and so on) you want.

The concept of the program, and the fact that it works at all, leaves me slack-jawed. But it will need endless development before it reaches a level that isn't painfully comical. Here's a commercial for SongSmith:

Microsoft offers a free, downloadable demo of SongSmith, which has led to a rash of inevitable spoofs. Users have begun adding famous vocal parts to the program to see what it spits out:

I mean, seriously. That's hilarious. But it is amazing that SongSmith can determine what key a person is singing in, as well as the tempo, chord progressions, and so on.

Give it a shot. Download SongSmith and send us your songs. You can post them somewhere, like Youtube, and send us a link, or email them to us.

5:07 PM ET | 01-26-2009 | permalink

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Songs For These Times: Our Song Challenge

by Bob Boilen

A few weeks ago, we asked songwriters to write and send us a song to reflect this remarkable day in the country's history. We received submissions from first-time and veteran songwriters alike, and I've chosen a small handful that I thought captured the spirit of America after our historic election. For those whose songs were not chosen, thank you for participating. I hope and trust that you got something memorable out of the experience.

Here are the ones I did choose. I'll put them on the All Songs Considered podcast this week.

Kat Edmonson, "Be the Change"
http://www.myspace.com/katedmonson

Here's a video of her memorable and contagious tune:

The Occidental Brothers International Dance Band, "Obama Ubarikiwe"
This is a Chicago-based band in love with Ghanaian highlife music. "Obama Ubarikiwe" is a celebration of Barack Obama from this past fall, but I felt it captured the spirit and merited inclusion.
http://occidentalbrothers.com/

Peter Ford, "What Our Future Holds"
Ford: " 'What Our Future Holds' was a breakthrough for me. I have never written anything quite like it or held myself to a deadline like that. The lyric 'Our dreams are our children...' came from a dream of an inscrutable conversation with a wise friend in a dark cave. At the end of the conversation, I realized the walls were lined with geodes. I broke one free and cradled it in my hand. My friend was counseling about nurturing my future children or something not quite clear, but upon waking, I had the insight that these were not literal human offspring, but all of the seeds of potential and gifts I had within me, and I had to nurture them."

Christian Kiefer, "Obama"
Before Obama was elected, I received a lavishly packed CD of original songs about our first 43 presidents. Called Of Great and Mortal Men, the three-CD set ended with George W. Bush. Now, just in time for the inauguration, Christian Kiefer and his musical friends have added this song for our 44th president.

Jon Black, "If We Hang On (Uncle Sam's Song of Hope)"
http://www.whoisjonblack.com
Black: "I was feeding my musical appetite with Pete Seeger when I wrote this song. It's amazing to hear recordings of Seeger's concerts, and how it quickly turns from a guy with a guitar to an auditorium singing songs of hope and freedom. We are drawn to hope, and people want to sing harmony in a song of hope."

Rachel Griffin, "Struggle Leads to Grace"
"The verses are inspired by the peaceful feeling I've had about things since Obama was elected, even though times are so hard. Yes, I can't pay my bills, but I have a president who inspires me. He inspires me to tirelessly to use the gifts and talents I
possess for the greater good. He also reminds me that it is not material success or possessions that are what make an individual or country great. Taking care of others and respecting and valuing each other as human beings is where greatness lies."
http://www.rachelgriffin.com

12:05 PM ET | 01-19-2009 | permalink

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The Bee Gees: Who Knew?

by Robin Hilton

The other day, I was walking by Bob Boilen's desk and noticed a bin of newly arrived CDs. On the top of the pile of discs was a small box covered in red velvet with the words "Bee Gees" emblazoned in gold letters. I immediately reached for it, but just then, Bob came out of nowhere and snatched it up, saying with a smile, "This one's mine."

I thought it was a joke. How could Bob Boilen, a man who loathes disco more than anyone, possibly be a fan of the Bee Gees? I was merely curious to see what was in the red box. It turns out the CD was a deluxe reissue of the band's 1969 album Odessa -- and, to my surprise, it's just incredible.

As Bob went on to explain, long before they reinvented themselves as poster boys for dewy '70s soft pop and disco, the Bee Gees made wonderfully inventive psychedelic and experimental rock with remarkable harmonies. Many people believed that the band would become the next Beatles. In fact, when the Bee Gees released their first single in the U.S. in 1967, a lot of people believed that they actually were the Beatles, recording under a pseudonym. Some thought the "B" and "G" stood for "Beatles Group." And, if you listen to the early Bee Gees recordings, it's uncanny how much they sound like Lennon and McCartney.

The Bee Gees, pre-disco.

I never thought I'd allow the Bee Gees to suck up space in my iTunes library, but I added Odessa and just love it. Now I want to go back and listen to some of the band's other early albums.

Here's one of the songs from Odessa, called "City on the Black Sea."

Are there any bands or artists you once hated but came to like once you learned more about them?

12:18 PM ET | 01- 6-2009 | permalink

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2008: A Year For Songs, Not Albums

by Robin Hilton

Each December, Bob and I begin our annual debate over which is better: a Top 10 list of the year's best songs, or a Top 10 list of the year's best albums.

I've always argued that we should focus more on albums. A list of songs just doesn't seem as substantive; besides, the standard for most year-end lists has long been albums. Just look at all the other music sites and magazines out there. But for the past eight years, Bob has argued that the growing popularity of digital music, which allows people to buy specific songs instead of whole albums, makes individual songs more relevant. (For the record, I've always won this debate.)

This year, for the first time in our eight-year-long debate, I agree with him. For the past month and a half, I've been trying to finalize my personal list of the year's Top 10 albums, and I just can't do it. I just can't come up with 10 albums I felt that strongly about in 2008. "Iamundernodisguise" by School of Seven Bells is an amazing cut, but I wouldn't say the album it's from, Alpinisms, belongs among the year's most revered CDs. The Canadian trio Plants & Animals put out one of the year's most astonishing songs, "Bye Bye Bye," but the rest of the band's album, Parc Avenue, was largely forgettable.

Bon Iver aside, none of the following albums, as a whole, would end up on a Top 10 list for me. But I spent more time listening to, loving, crying and laughing over these songs than any others:

1. "Time to Pretend" by MGMT, from Oracular Spectacular: This is, by far, my favorite song of the year. The lyrics are such a wrenching mix of hope and grief. "Time to Pretend" may sound like a simple techno-electro dance track to some people, but it really touched me, deeply.

2. "The Wolves (Act I and II)" by Bon Iver, from For Emma, Forever Ago: We've exhausted even ourselves talking about how beautiful and perfect the Bon Iver record is. If I did come up with a list of the Top 10 albums of 2008, it'd be No. 1. It's hard to pick the best cut from it, but "The Wolves" always stood out for me.

3. "Business Time" by Flight of the Conchords, from Flight of the Conchords: This was a viral hit on YouTube long before it was released on CD, so it might feel a little tired to some people. But I've never laughed so hard as when I first heard it, and it can still make me smile. If I'm judging songs based on their ability to make me feel something, anything, then this track needs to be near the top of the list.

4. "Black Fur" by Fredrik, from Na Na Ni: This is essentially a hymn, and a truly gorgeous and infectious one. The band is from Sweden. I featured it on Second Stage earlier this year and found myself returning to this specific song over and over.

5. "Bye Bye Bye" by Plants and Animals, from Parc Avenue: This is simply an incredible, powerful and evocative song. Plants and Animals is a very talented group of musicians, and I believe it'll do great things in the future.

6. "White Winter Hymnal" by Fleet Foxes, from Fleet Foxes: A lot of people loved this whole album. But apart from this song, it never really got its claws in me.

7. "My" by Okay, from Huggable Dust: If I did do a Top 10 list of albums, I'd probably squeeze this one on there somewhere. But I don't have to give a second thought to picking this song as one of the year's best.

8. "Furr" by Blitzen Trapper, from Furr: I was pretty impressed with this whole album. Blitzen Trapper has really evolved and grown in a very short time, so I expect more great things. But this song is the only one from the CD that I'm sure I'll still be spinning 10 years from now.

9. "Grounds for Divorce" by Elbow, from The Seldom Seen Kid: Whenever this Manchester band puts out a new record, there's a song or two on it that just blows me away, even if I don't spend much time with the rest of the album. This time, it was "Grounds for Divorce" -- a great example of how huge this band can sound.

10. "Nothing Would Matter At All" by Jeff Hanson, from Madam Owl: Man, do I ever love this song. The opening line just slays me: "I wonder what I can do for a living, something that makes you all proud, but won't keep me up at night." It's just a gorgeous, thoughtful and inspiring song.

If we were allowed to count reissues among the year's best releases (I think we should; what do you think?), then "Soul and Fire" by Sebadoh, from the band's 15th-anniversary edition of Bubble and Scrape, would be, by far, my No. 1 song of the year.

What do you think? Did songs stand out more for you than albums? If so, why do you think that is? And what were some of your favorite songs of 2008?

2:01 PM ET | 12-24-2008 | permalink

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My Top 10 Is No Better Than Your Top 10

by Bob Boilen

Yesterday, I posted my 10 favorite musical treats of 2008 online. It's one of so many great lists sprouting daily on the NPR Music site -- one every weekday for the past few weeks. You should take a peek. I thought I'd put a link to my top ten here, as well, since it quickly got buried by John Schaefer's brilliant list.

I was attracted to the quiet and the subtle in 2008: The harmonies of Fleet Foxes, the fiery gentleness of Bon Iver and the African kora of Toumani Diabate held me together and kept me company. We all need and want different things from music at different times, and gentility won out for me this year.

So take a look here, and either on the blog or as a comment on the page where my list is, leave your Top 10. And, if there's music you think I might love based on my list, drop me a note, as well. Thanks, and enjoy!

5:58 PM ET | 12-18-2008 | permalink

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Your Vinyl Collections

by Robin Hilton

Yesterday, Bob Boilen and I, along with Song of the Day editor Stephen Thompson and Monitor Mix blogger Carrie Brownstein, got together to talk about the year in music. We shared our picks for the best new artists of 2008, the best songs, the biggest surprises and much more. We recorded that discussion, and will post it on All Songs Considered for you to hear on Monday, Dec. 8.

Though we talked for more than two hours -- I know, we're dorks -- we didn't have enough time to cover everything. We had planned to talk about the trends we saw emerging this year, but never got to it. I know that Stephen saw 2008 as a year of getting back to basics. He saw less innovation and more tradition: music crafted with classic building blocks, like solid harmonies, simple guitar and drum lines, and so on. Bob saw it as a year in which the lines between artist and audience became more blurred than ever. He points to Brian Eno's "Bloom" application for the iPhone and iPod that allows you to collaborate virtually with Eno to create dreamy ambient music.

For me, 2008 was the year of vinyl. I recently asked you to send in photos of your own vinyl collections, and we got some great pics. We've created a group on Flickr where you can view those photos and add your own.

All Songs Considered listener Robert Clark poses with part of his impressive vinyl collection.

I've mentioned before that reports show sales of vinyl rising dramatically, but anecdotally I can say that record labels sent us more promo copies of new albums on vinyl this year than any year before (in recent history). I'm certain that we're bound to see more and more vinyl arriving in the mail.

Feel free to post your own photos to the All Songs Flickr page (you can also email them to us if you prefer), and check back on Monday the 8th to hear our (highly pared down) discussion of the year in music. Also, don't forget to vote for your Top 10 albums in our annual listener poll. Results of that poll will go up Dec. 15.

2:20 PM ET | 12- 5-2008 | permalink

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Be Like Lil' Wayne

by Lil' Bob

I'm not one to dress up. I wear the same clothes to work as I did to the Emmy awards.
My clothes are mostly dark, no patterns. My only accessories are hats and my glasses. I don't like Halloween and never go to costume parties.

But thanks to a new app for my iPod touch, I'm decked out like Lil' Wayne:

The program is called, appropriately enough, Be Like Lil' Wayne. It just makes me laugh out loud.

Here's how you can be like Lil' Wayne too: If you have an iPhone or iPod Touch, just go the App Store and download the program. Take a picture of yourself, or use one you already have, then drag all the Lil' Wayne accessories onto the photo. There's all the necessary bling, along with tattoos and dreadlocks. (I went with the tear tattoos). You can also resize all the accessories and adjust them to fit the photo.

Now I've got serious street cred.

Be like Lil' Wayne and send us your photos. We've just created a new photo blog at Flickr where you can upload the pics for everyone to see:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/allsongsphotoblog

9:22 AM ET | 12- 5-2008 | permalink

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Making A List, Checking It Thrice

by Bob Boilen

I never thought of my Top 10 list as an obsession, but I need to rethink that.

For the last bunch of weeks, I've been taking the music I liked this year and blindly listening and rating each song as they randomly play. Then I've been going into a playlist I created in iTunes and pruning, little by little, albums with songs rated with two stars. I figure that any record that has a two-star song can't be a "best of the year." Albums are falling fast, with contenders like Beck, Of Montreal and TV on the Radio falling off my Top 10, while surprises by MGMT, Max Richter and Blitzen Trapper are holding strong.

How do you make your Top 10?

My deskmate and NPR Music producer Lars Gotrich printed his Top 30 and then cut each album title, artist name and record label into strips of paper and laid them on his desk. Every so often, he rearranges their order.

Robin Hilton, who produces All Songs Considered, is a bit more methodical. He's listening to every album on our list of 100 nominees and slowly working his way through each CD, start to finish. If he finds himself wanting to go back to an album, he sets it aside as a finalist.

Do you post your list anywhere? If so, put the link in a comment and share it with the rest of us. And DON'T FORGET TO VOTE for your favorite music of 2008.

We'll post the results here and on the All Songs Considered site. We've extended the voting until the 14th. on Dec. 15 around noon east coast time we will announce the results here on the blog.

Wolf Parade is playing; I gotta go rate it.

I am now officially obsessed.

8:13 AM ET | 11-26-2008 | permalink

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Vinyl: The New CD?

by Robin Hilton

I recently did something I haven't done in more than 20 years: I put on a record -- an actual vinyl LP -- and just listened to it. The album was Bon Iver's For Emma, Forever Ago. I had mail-ordered the record, and when I found it waiting for me on my front porch one evening after work, I decided to make it the night's entertainment.

With no television and no other distractions, I just sat there and listened. But while I listened, I held the dust jacket and used the time to really consider and appreciate the artwork. I studied the lyrics and read all the liner notes. What a novelty.

A while back on the blog, I mentioned that I had gotten rid of all my CDs because I thought the compact disc was a dying format. It's so much easier to access everything from a hard drive. When I asked listeners what they thought would be the music format to replace CDs, a handful of people said "vinyl." I thought it was funny, but I've come to realize that they may be right.

I've read a number of reports that sales of vinyl LPs and turntables are way up. Retailers speculate the obvious: Vinyl turns music into a tangible work of art, allowing a deeper connection between listener and artist. And many vinyl LPs now come with a code to download a free MP3 version of the album, giving listeners both the convenience of digital audio and the beauty of art you can hold in your hand.

Vinyl could save not only music as high art, but also the music industry itself. Labels and music retailers, reeling from years of plummeting sales, have been trying to lure buyers into purchasing physical CDs instead of downloads. Some have included videos or bonus tracks with the discs. But vinyl is a perfect excuse for returning to an actual, physical record store, where you can lay down some money and walk out with something real. I'd love to see local record stores come back.

Some bands see the potential, too. This fall, Of Montreal released multiple versions of its latest album on vinyl (with the free download code). The different versions include extra treats like wall art, buttons, a T-shirt and a paper lantern. The artwork on both the cover and album folds is simply stunning. It would seem almost criminal to shrink it down to the size of a CD booklet or to turn it into a tiny icon for a computer.

Of Montreal's irresistible vinyl release finally convinced me to start collecting physical LPs. I dusted off my turntable and started hunting down some of my favorite recordings on vinyl. So far, I've acquired a total of... eight records.

I asked around the office. All of the NPR Music producers copped to owning hundreds of LPs, but only one of them (Lars Gotrich) still actively buys vinyl.

What does your vinyl collection look like? E-mail us a photo of it; we'll post some of them here on the site.

12:32 PM ET | 11-21-2008 | permalink

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Fan = Fanatic

by Bob Boilen

The other night, I went to hear Brian Wilson perform his new work, That Lucky Old Sun, at the Warner Theatre in Washington, D.C. We hope to webcast a recording of part of that show soon.

I was in my seat for no more than five minutes when a Brian Wilson fan spotted my "all access" stage pass. A man named John held in his hands a book on surfing -- one he obviously treasured, wrapped in protective plastic. He showed it to me the way a proud parent would show baby pictures; the book was filled with autographs from famous surf-rock stars, including guitar king Dick Dale.

On a page filled with autographs, I saw a blank white area, and that's when John said something like, "I need to have Brian sign his autograph right here. I have a pen, and if you could just please go backstage and have him write 'To John' and then sign his name, it would mean so much to me."

I hesitated. I have a lot of respect for performers and their need for personal space, but I also remembered so many years ago, standing in the lobby of a Holiday Inn to get Ray Davies to sign my album.

After much gentle but passionate and persistent cajoling, I said sure. I took his book, walked backstage, saw Brian Wilson and asked him to sign it, "To John, from Brian Wilson."

Less than two minutes later, I walked back to John, gave him a big thumbs-up and handed him his book. It was such a sweet moment, because it clearly meant so much to him.

As I stood around during intermission, I heard snippets of random conversations that went something like, "They love Brian so much, they named their son after him." Earlier in the evening, I saw someone with a surfboard trying to get a picture with Wilson.

Brian Wilson is a man with a hard past: an abusive father, bouts of deep depression and voices in his head. He's the sole survivor of a family of brothers (Carl and Dennis) who made up the core of The Beach Boys.

But what Brian Wilson can hold on to are his songs: They are, in a way, his children. And those children are very much alive and well because of an incredible bunch of dedicated fans and a marvelous band of musicians. They all derive so much strength and joy from Wilson's songs -- music as simple and innocent as "Surfer Girl" and as complicated and emotionally wrought as "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times."

It's easy to laugh off fandom of any kind. But having seen it up close, it's a powerful glue that bonds people together. It's powerful enough to make a dream or two come true.

7:48 AM ET | 11-19-2008 | permalink

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The Future Of Album Art

by Bob Boilen

When was the last time you sat down and listened to your favorite record, held the artwork in your hands and did nothing else? For me, it's been ages. I find it so easy to have my attention pulled away by the Web, by email or even a magazine. The music may hold my interest, but the artwork rarely does.

I've come to the conclusion that it's the fault of the art and not my short attention span. I've never liked the CD format when it comes to artwork and liner notes. Sure, there are box sets that are knockouts, but the average CD booklet is hard to read and just plain too tiny.

Now comes the future of album covers: digital art.

For years, we've seen CDs with bonus videos and even electronic books. But nothing has knocked me out until recently, when I saw Snow Patrol's new interactive Booklet (a clunky but descriptive name) for its latest release, A Hundred Million Suns.

I downloaded the art for free as an application from the iPhone app store. I haven't even heard the music yet, though I could imagine listening on my iPod Touch, while opening a series of digital origami, complete with lyrics and liner notes.

The first screen shows a universe of origami shapes, like stars. Touch one of the shapes and it comes forward.

Pinch the origami to open or close it.

When some of the paper shapes open, you'll find lyrics or other notes.

There are also videos and Web links, but the key to my loving this has less to do with the execution and more to do with the form. I love the idea of sitting with my iPod and playing with the artwork while listening to music. Any artist or designer, frustrated by the CD format, will just delight in making art that moves, morphs and informs.

If you think of artwork the way a designer thinks of a video game, all of a sudden the paradigm shifts from bands getting their music on Guitar Hero to fans taking unforgettable journeys into a band's artistic vision, which includes its music, its words and its musings.

You think MTV was a marriage of music and art? Just wait.

1:39 PM ET | 11-17-2008 | permalink

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Nominate The Best CDs For 2008

We're no longer accepting new nominations for the year's best CDs. Check back Tuesday the 18th to vote in the final poll.

It's hard to believe, but we're entering the final stretch of 2008, and it's time to pick your favorite CDs of the year.

In mid-November, we'll post a ballot, here on the blog, asking you to vote for the best albums of 2008. But for now, we'd like some nominations. There are some obvious ones: TV on the Radio's Dear Science, Bon Iver's For Emma, Forever Ago and Vampire Weekend's self-titled disc are a few of them. But what are some that aren't as obvious?

Tell us your nominations for the year's best CDs. We'll use your picks to compile a master list, which we'll then post here for voting. (Note: You'll need to register with npr.org to comment here on the blog and to vote in the poll we'll post in mid-November.)

Can't remember what albums came out this year? Browse the All Songs Considered archives to see what we've reviewed this year.

12:33 PM ET | 10-29-2008 | permalink

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I've Fallen In Love With An Application

by Bob Boilen

The name of my new love is Bloom, and it's the best iPhone/iPod application ever. Bloom is the creation of Brian Eno (my musical hero) and musician Peter Chilvers; it makes ambient music that's lovely, relaxing and not tacky with the touch of your fingertips.

The best way to experience Bloom is to find someone with an iPod or iPod Touch, give them $4 and download it from the iTunes Store. Then have fun together.

But, for the curious, I made a video. I've been making music with machines for nearly 30 years and this is the most elegant way I've ever seen. Do you know any other programs out there that do anything like this?

5:25 PM ET | 10-21-2008 | permalink

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Five Recordings To Hear Before You Die

by Robin Hilton

Let's say you've got 24 hours to live. Forget all your unfulfilled dreams, the countries you haven't visited, the people you haven't seen. We're going to use these precious few hours left to listen to some music. So close the bedroom door, put on your headphones and grab the five CDs you simply must hear. What will you choose?

Music reviewer and author Tom Moon took on this challenge (though he gave himself a lot more wiggle room) for his new book, 1,000 Recordings To Hear Before You Die: A Listener's Life List. After four years of writing and researching and digging through countless albums, Tom produced an impressive tome -- nearly 900 pages of artists, LPs and songs, as well as a detailed explanation of how each of them wound up on the list.

The book showcases a lot of the albums you'd expect to see: Bob Dylan's Blonde on Blonde or Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run, for example. But unless you're a music scholar, you probably haven't listened to -- or even heard of -- the vast majority of them.

On our latest episode of All Songs Considered, we talk with Tom about his book and listen to some of the amazing music he selected. You can also tell us your must-hear albums. You're more than welcome to give us a thousand, but I thought we'd keep it simple and ask for five. Be sure to tell us a little bit about why you picked them and include a recommended track.

A few things to keep in mind while making your picks: These aren't necessarily your all-time favorite albums. And they don't have to represent a broad range of genres or eras. These are just five albums you love and think people need to hear.

Here's one take on it (alphabetically):

Vic Chesnutt: West of Rome
Yeah, yeah, I mention Vic all the time. But, really, this is a rare album, and if you don't have it, you should get it. West of Rome is everything music should be: surprising, artful, beautiful, ugly, joyful, sad and entirely original. Listen to the title track.

Five Eight: The Good Nurse
This band struggled for many years to have a hit record. When its members finally gave up trying and decided to just do what they wanted, they came up with this little masterpiece. The Good Nurse is a concept album. Its songs take on many unpredictable forms; they're inspired and, at times, heartwrenching. If you're not teary-eyed by the end of the last song, singer Mike Mantione's elegy to a dying grandmother, check to make sure you have a pulse. "Off Season" or "Florence" are both good starting points.

Tim Hecker: Haunt Me, Haunt Me, Do It Again
I can imagine spending my last hour on earth listening to this one. Tim Hecker makes instrumental music that's incredibly three-dimensional, with the strangest, richest textures you can imagine. Put on your headphones and get lost in the opening track, "Music For Tundra Pt. 1."

Billie Holiday: The Complete Decca Recordings
I've told friends that I think this compilation represents the pinnacle of Western civilization. It's an exaggeration, of course. But then again... Holiday recorded for Decca from the mid-'40s until about 1950, which was when she was at the height of both her popularity and her gifts as a singer; this collection contains her finest recordings. Holiday often recorded her songs in a single take, and this collection includes a few incredible and rare moments in which she stops the performance, chats with the band about what went wrong, and starts again. My favorite track is "Sweet Hunk of Trash," with Louis Armstrong.

Jay-Z and DJ Danger Mouse: The Grey Album
I was going through my iTunes library, and it seemed criminal not to include a Beatles record, and there were a number of amazing hip-hop albums that popped up as candidates. So I decided to kill two birds with one stone. Besides, this really is a mind-blowing, brilliant mashup of two incredible albums. I still can't believe how well they work together. Listen to "99 Problems" mixed with "Helter Skelter." (You'll have to search for a copy online somewhere, since it was never released because of obvious legal conflicts.)

Yours?

4:36 PM ET | 10- 8-2008 | permalink

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Old Music Tuesdays: Dylan's 'Great White Wonder'

by Bob Boilen

Streaming from our site today, a week before its release, is Bob Dylan's new The Tell Tale Signs: The Bootleg Series Vol. 8. It strikes me as nothing short of remarkable that previously unreleased recordings (and sometimes incomplete recordings released by a major label) are streaming live on the Web, but maybe that's because I remember the scandal of the first Dylan bootleg.

There was a time when you had to whisper to the guy behind the counter at a record store, "Do you carry bootlegs?" By definition, bootlegs were illegal, and Bob Dylan bootlegs were the first hot property.

In 1968, word got out that there was new music by Dylan, recorded with The Band in a basement in upstate New York. What came out in the spring of 1969, however, was Nashville Skyline -- a good record, but not the one we'd heard about. Then, in the summer of 1969, FM radio began playing pirated Dylan recordings.

The Great White Wonder was the first bootleg I'd ever heard from anyone. On the cheaply packaged double LP, you could hear Dylan singing with The Band on songs such as "I Shall Be Released," "Open the Door Richard," "Too Much of Nothing" and "Tears of Rage." There were also recordings on the LP rumored to be made in a Minneapolis hotel room in 1961. It was all so underground, and it was all so exciting. I still have my copy of The Great White Wonder. Want to hear a cut?

Columbia Records and the record industry as a whole were in a tizzy when the bootlegs surfaced. It was the first cracks we could see in an industry that was consolidating and controlling. Don't get me wrong; I bought all of Dylan's records on Columbia. They did a great job, but as a fan, I wanted more.

Here are two quotes from the day that are enlightening. First, from Columbia, regarding the two guys who were distributing The Great White Wonder:

"They are at one time defaming the artist and defrauding his admirers. For these reasons, Columbia Records, in cooperation with Bob Dylan's attorneys, intends to take all legal steps to stop the distribution and sale of this album."

Then there is this, from one of the two men who were distributing the records around Los Angeles:

"Bob Dylan is a heavy talent," he said, "and he's got all those songs nobody's ever heard. We thought we'd take it upon ourselves to make this music available.

"Do you know what will happen if you get away with it?" he added. "Why, if John Mayall or anybody opens at the Whisky tonight, there'll be a live recording of it on the stands by the middle of next week."

That last quote was prophetic. It wasn't long before someone stole tapes of The Beatles from the Let It Be sessions. Live recordings of bands began to fill the bins, not just in mom-and-pop record shops, but in chain stores. A cottage industry built around music-hungry fans grew. Columbia couldn't stop it; no one could.

These days, there are legal bootlegs, illegal bit torrents and podcasts filled with professionally recorded music. What fans want is access to the musicians they love. They've been saying it for so long and so loud. Sometimes, someone listens. Thanks to Bob Dylan and Columbia, for releasing Tell Tale Signs, and for making it available here first.

11:39 AM ET | 09-30-2008 | permalink

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