Bob Boilen archive

October 15, 2009 Moby's latest album, Wait for Me, is his best new release in a decade, full of beauty, sadness and celebration. The singer and electronic artist is currently on tour in support of the record, giving sold-out performances to packed arenas and smaller clubs throughout Europe and the U.S. For this stellar concert, recorded live in Berlin on June 26, Moby treated fans to nearly two hours of new songs and old favorites from a career spanning nearly 20 years.

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October 13, 2009 The lead singers of Death Cab for Cutie and Son Volt had never met until they discovered their mutual admiration for writer Jack Kerouac. Now, they've released an album based on Kerouac's 1962 novel Big Sur. Hear One Fast Move or I'm Gone in its entirety before its Oct. 20 release.

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October 12, 2009 Project Song participants only have two days to write and record a song, but Death Cab for Cutie's Chris Walla and Jawbox's J. Robbins had it even tougher: They had never met before entering NPR's performance studio. Watch as the two create "Mercury," a soaring song inspired by a cataclysmic scenario.

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October 10, 2009 A Mexican duo living in Dublin, Rodrigo y Gabriela just released an album called 11:11, which pays tribute to the pair's heroes — Jimi Hendrix, Carlos Santana, Astor Piazzolla and Pantera's Dimebag Darrell among them. It's quite a stretch to travel from the bruising heavy metal of Pantera to the tango of Piazzolla, but it all works. See how in this amazing performance they gave at the desk of All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen.

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October 6, 2009 Her new record is free of cynicism, full of heart and more elegant than a mere nostalgia trip. Normal as Blueberry Pie revisits the past while offering a fresh take on American classics by George and Ira Gershwin, Johnny Mercer, Burt Bacharach and Les Brown. She also sings an original.

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September 28, 2009 Looking sharp in his tailored suit, the Grammy-nominated R&B artist performed three acoustic interpretations of his soul-inspired tunes. He was joined by guitarist Rob Bacon in this intimate performance at Bob Boilen's desk.

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September 14, 2009 The young Swedish folksinger Kristian Matsson, a.k.a. The Tallest Man on Earth, is passionate, gruff, a great guitar picker and a damn good poet. The melodies are strong, but Matsson's imagery and stories are what make his music stand out. Here, he performs three of his best songs at the desk of All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen.

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September 10, 2009 Hear singer, songwriter and guitarist M. Ward in a full concert, recorded live at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. Ward is currently on tour in support of his latest album, Hold Time. One of the year's strongest releases, the disc features a mix of country-flavored pop songs, with finger-picked guitars, upright bass and shuffling rhythms, all tied together by Ward's achy voice.

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September 8, 2009 On Sept. 9, Apple and EMI will release all of The Beatles' albums, newly remastered and sounding better than ever. There will be two box sets; a limited-edition mono box set will contain everything from 1963's Please Please Me through The White Album (The Beatles), the last Beatles record mixed in mono. It'll also include a CD full of mono mixes of the band's singles.

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August 11, 2009 On his 11th studio album, Henry sounds raw and stark, both as a singer and as a guitarist. The songs are often blues-based, and Blood From Stars sounds genuinely inspired, which makes it a record with a long shelf life.

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August 7, 2009 Choir of Young Believers is led by 26-year-old Danish singer Jannis Noya Makrigiannis, who works with a rotating cast of supporting players. His band fluctuates anywhere from a duo to an octet. Listen to the Beach Boys- and Radiohead-inspired This Is for the White in Your Eyes in its entirety.

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July 6, 2009 If you see Canadian singer-songwriter Julie Doiron perform live, you'll hear a good deal of distorted guitars and intense drumming. Well, at least when she's not performing at the NPR Music offices. It took her a few takes, but we wound up with a bare, stark and memorable set at the Tiny Desk.

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June 29, 2009 Fanfarlo's upbeat attitude infuses their contagiously melodic music and passionate, dreamy stories. Their new album, Reservoir, reveals itself with each listen: The melodies are full of emotion and the way the songs hang together is delicate and powerful. Hear the album in its entirety.

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June 24, 2009 On Wilco's latest album, the group shows its influences, drawing distinct sounds from other artists like Television, the Beatles, or the Velvet Underground. But in the end, the new self-titled record is all about a gifted, well-seasoned band playing original songs . The band's seventh effort, Wilco (The Album) was recorded at the New Zealand studio of Crowded House's Neil Finn. Hear the new album in its entirety.

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June 23, 2009 Bjork's music is complex, mysterious and full of unpredictable sonic textures. Recorded live to tape at Olympic Studios in London, Voltaic spans a wide spectrum of Bjork's discography, recorded with the touring band behind Volta. Hear a version of Voltaic in its entirety.

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