Exclusive First Listen

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.

Choices is the newest recording from the New Orleans trumpeter. Upon first listen, it's another document of the evolution of the musician and his current band of futurists. Hear the new album in its entirety.

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.

A lot of people had never heard of Brendan Benson before he formed The Raconteurs in 2005 with guitarist Jack White of The White Stripes. But Benson already had a solid solo career, and anyone familiar with his music will confirm that he's responsible for much of that band's hyper-infectious power-pop sound. You can hear as much on Benson's latest solo album, My Old, Familiar Friend, available here in its entirety two weeks before its official release.

Mount Eerie's Phil Elverum is drawn to forces larger than himself. Past efforts featured grand themes involving mortality, but on Wind's Poem, he's found a way for the sound to swallow the world whole. Drawing influence from Twin Peaks and black metal, Elverum has come to call this style "black wooden." Hear the new album in its entirety.

Rising young soprano Danielle de Niese is about to release a new album dedicated to lesser-known Mozart arias. Hear the entire CD before it's released, and download an NPR exclusive bonus track: "Pupille Amate," from an opera Mozart wrote when he was 16.

In the two years since releasing its spare and mostly gloomy self-titled debut, Lightning Dust has somehow found happiness, or at least what passes for it in the strange netherworld it inhabits. The new Infinite Light, which you can hear here in its entirety two weeks before its release, illuminates the dark corridors of the duo's earlier work.

Mike Disfarmer was a small-town Arkansas eccentric who disowned his family and its lifestyle. He was also an incredible portrait photographer. Now, jazz guitarist Bill Frisell has assembled a 21st-century string band to record an album inspired by Disfarmer's work.

A supergroup with Jack White of The White Stripes and Kills singer Alison Mosshart, The Dead Weather also features members of The Raconteurs. The new band's ferocious debut, Horehound, is shaping up to be one of the year's best rock albums. Listen to the record in its entirety here; on Tuesday, you can hear The Dead Weather perform its songs in a full concert, webcast live on NPR Music.

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.

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.

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.

Spektor tells stories that are provocative, that hang in your thoughts like a good melody. Her new album, Far, feels simple on its surface, but the secrets and the fun lie just underneath. Even with four different producers, it's a cohesive statement. Hear the album in its entirety.

Moby has access to high-end studios around the world, yet his latest album, Wait for Me, was made in his home studio. Inspired by a speech from director David Lynch, it feels like something to witness — like the listener is a voyeur peering into Moby's emotions. Hear the album in its entirety, Mon., 11:59 p.m. ET.

Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse, two of the most inspired and original artists making music today, collaborated with director David Lynch on one of the year's most anticipated and mysterious new albums. Dark Night of the Soul has been closely guarded and may not have an official release. But you can hear the entire album on NPR Music as an Exclusive First Listen.