First Listen archive

February 17, 2013 – Optica plays like a great '80s mixtape, albeit with modern production and a good deal of subtlety.

February 17, 2013 – The soul singer explores the contours of intense emotions with patience and psychedelic insight.

February 17, 2013 – D.C. musicians Brendan Canty and Rich Morel make great pop full of unexpected turns on their debut.

February 10, 2013 – Tom Waits, Patti Smith, Nick Cave, Beth Orton, Dr. John and more form a bleak-music Murderer's Row.

February 10, 2013 – House of Woo is rooted in unabashed enthusiasm for sound, from techno and house to New Age and R&B.

February 10, 2013 – The band writes gorgeous, swelling songs about love and faith, and performs them with real charm.

February 8, 2013 – Cave's songs seethe and surprise, marked by gorgeous strings and grabby, pervy innuendo.

February 4, 2013 – Ferry re-imagines his songs, both solo and with Roxy Music, as the product of a 1920s jazz band.

February 3, 2013 – The Malian kora player again works with French cellist Vincent Segal in sweet and soulful ways.

January 27, 2013 – On his first full-length solo album, My Morning Jacket's singer seeks something bigger than himself.

January 27, 2013 – Playful but forceful, Thao infuses everything around her with electricity and mischievous boldness.

January 27, 2013 – The live album features six new tunes from one of jazz's greatest living composers and legends.

January 27, 2013 – Thompson plugs in and indulges his rock 'n' roll side, complete with solos that qualify as workouts.

January 20, 2013 – For the duo, strange instrumentation is merely a means to a raucous, hypnotic, alluring end.

January 20, 2013 – The band's sound shape-shifts through indie-pop, psychedelia, soul and something more alien.