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April 8, 2012 Spiritualized's seventh album reaches reverently for something bigger than itself — something divine, of course, but also shot through with the gut-level, ground-level hope inherent in humankind.

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April 8, 2012 On the band's fourth album, the tension between gorgeousness and grief gets a single line to sum it all up: "Beauty and loss, they are one and the same."

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April 5, 2012 Edwards isn't a flashy singer-songwriter, but her music sticks: Easygoing and accessible, it burrows in deep and then stays put. In the NPR Music offices, she sings four sweet, warm, relatable songs that soothe as they nourish.

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April 4, 2012 Prom is eternal, and music helps tell the story, whether you dressed up or spent the night at home.

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April 1, 2012 The band's blues-rock errs on the side of saving its breath and making big songs on a small scale. On Boys and Girls, out April 10, Alabama Shakes' members find a way to fuse the impeccable professionalism of soul veterans to the youthful, raging fire they set on stage.

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March 25, 2012 M. Ward writes for beat-up transistor radios, as if he were sending his songs hurtling backward through time and space. His seventh solo album, out April 10, mostly marks the singer's welcome return to the dusty shadows.

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March 25, 2012 Bear in Heaven's songs are sweet, simple and charmingly buzzy, with each whirring synth wrapped around a core of pure pop.

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March 17, 2012 Notes on a trend at this year's festival, and a proposal for making next year even more special.

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March 16, 2012 A marvel of economy and concision, "Dead Oaks" sums up a relationship without wasting a breath.

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March 15, 2012 Newcomers from Minneapolis, Polica arrived in Austin aloft on a boatload of buzz. Their live show mixed two live drummers and the heavily manipulated vocals of singer Channy Leaneagh.

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March 15, 2012 The Baltimore band, led by Jana Hunter, favors mood over showmanship, but its live show builds intensity out of difficult emotions mixed with washes of guitar noise and wails of feedback.

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March 15, 2012 The versatile, playful rapper mixed well-known samples with a live-band bounce that quickly won over the crowd.

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March 15, 2012 Wearing paint-splattered shirts, the Venezuelan dance-rock band kicked off NPR Music's day party at The Parish in Austin, Texas with chant-along songs and stage-shaking energy.

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March 15, 2012 Bird made his lone show at the festival count, holding the stage for one sweet, soaring hour.

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March 15, 2012 Armed with a bright new batch of songs, lead singer Brittany Howard fed off a crowd 2,000 strong.

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