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Stephen Colbert (right) performs with Ben Folds on the set of his TV show, The Colbert Report.

Listen Stephen Colbert On Music: The Fresh Air Interview

October 24, 2012 – From "King Herod's Song" to Ben Folds Five, Colbert talks about some of his favorite music.

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The iconic cover of The Beatles' Abbey Road.

Listen From Elgar To Beatles: Abbey Road Blazed A Trail

October 21, 2012 – The pioneering Abbey Road Studios "continues to push boundaries," even in an era of self-recording.

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Ben Gibbard's first album as a solo artist is called Former Lives.

Listen Ben Gibbard: Living With Ghosts

October 20, 2012 – The Death Cab for Cutie frontman says his first solo album is eight years in the making.

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Tori Amos in concert in New York City on October 5th.

Read Tori Amos On Her Muses, Her Song Girls And Her Father

October 17, 2012 – In an interview with Ann Powers the singer reflects on her twenty-year career and her new album.

Kaki King's latest album is called Glow.

Watch Kaki King: A Guitar Wizard Conjures New Colors

October 12, 2012 – King says her new album blossomed in the studio from solo guitar pieces into dense arrangements.

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Muse's Matthew Bellamy includes the heartbeat of his son in utero on the song, "Follow Me."

Watch Muse: Arena-Sized Entropy On 'The 2nd Law'

October 9, 2012 – Muse's Matthew Bellamy includes the in utero heartbeat of his son in the song "Follow Me."

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Detail of the cover art from Ultraísta, the debut album from Nigel Godrich's new trio.

Listen Ultraísta: Radiohead's Knob-Twister Takes Off

October 6, 2012 – The super-producer behind Radiohead's albums has a new band to show off: his own.

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Neil Young.

Listen In Memoir, Neil Young Wages 'Heavy Peace'

October 1, 2012 – Waging Heavy Peace sheds new light on the musician's career, family and medical battles.

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A publicity photo of Janis Martin in the late 1950s or early '60s.

Listen Janis Martin, 'The Female Elvis,' Returns

September 30, 2012 – The co-producer of the singer's posthumous album talks about getting her idol back in the studio.

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Ben Folds Five (from left): Robert Sledge, Darren Jessee and Ben Folds.

Listen Ben Folds Five Is Back

September 29, 2012 – After fame, disillusionment and a nearly decade-long hiatus, the trio has made a new album.

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Grizzly Bear

Listen Grizzly Bear On Candor, Democracy And Too Much Music

September 24, 2012 – The Brooklyn band talks about its division of labor and how to break through the indie ceiling.

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Rickie Lee Jones' new album, The Devil You Know, is a collection of covers. "I think [I recorded the album] partially to remind people that a singer is the one who interprets the song," she says. "And once you do that, it's yours."

Listen Rickie Lee Jones: 'One Devil With One Guitar'

September 22, 2012 – On her newest project, The Devil You Know, the singer-songwriter covers a set of cult classics.

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Bonnie Raitt accepts her Lifetime Achievement Award at the Americana Music Awards in Nashville on Sept. 12, 2012.

Listen A Long Conversation With Bonnie Raitt FolkAlley

September 18, 2012 – The blues guitarist talks with Ann Powers about her influences at the Americana Music Conference. FolkAlley

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For Aimee Mann, the moment a song begins is often just before a performance.

Listen Aimee Mann: 'Charmer Is Just Another Word For Narcissist'

September 17, 2012 – Mann's new album, Charmer, is a series of character sketches exploring loyalty and exploitation.

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John Convertino and Joey Burns have been performing as Calexico since 1996. Their latest album is called Algiers.

Listen Calexico: Road Songs For Wandering Souls

September 15, 2012 – The Tucson band's new album, Algiers, is named for the New Orleans neighborhood where it was made.

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First Listen

The Mars Volta's Omar Rodriguez Lopez and Le Butcherettes' Teri Gender Bender pair up brilliantly.

First Listen: Bosnian Rainbows, 'Bosnian Rainbows'

The Mars Volta's Omar Rodriguez Lopez and Le Butcherettes' Teri Gender Bender pair up brilliantly.

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The rapper's new album, <em>Born Sinner</em>, is a reckoning with the hip-hop lineage from which he descends.

Don't Kill Your Idols: J. Cole Looks For His Place In Hip-Hop

The rapper's new album, Born Sinner, is a reckoning with the hip-hop lineage from which he descends.

Author Colin Fleming says early BBC sessions provide a blueprint for who the band would become.

The Beatles' Defining Moment (Hint: It's Not 'Sgt. Pepper')

Author Colin Fleming says early BBC sessions provide a blueprint for who the band would become.

Pandora's move, an effort to get more favorable royalty rates, also has some songwriters up in arms.

Pandora Buys A Radio Station, Songwriters' Group Calls It A 'Stunt'

Pandora's move, an effort to get more favorable royalty rates, also has some songwriters up in arms.

Isolation led the avant-indie rock veteran to new songs and an album made outside the label system.

Heartbreak Takes John Vanderslice To 'Dagger Beach'

Isolation led the avant-indie rock veteran to new songs and an album made outside the label system.

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