Lightspeed Champion

It was a spectacularly beautiful day in Austin, TX when Lightspeed Champion's Dev Hynes and violinist Mike Siddell met with All Songs Considered's Bob Boilen for this exclusive outdoor performance. Hynes and Siddell offered up an intimate little set as they ran through four songs, opening with "Tell Me What It's Worth," followed by "Everyone I Know is Listening to Crunk," "Galaxy of the Lost" and an inspired cover of Olivia Newton John's "Xanadu."

British singer-songwriter Devonte Hynes led the abrasive band Test Icicles a few years back, but it didn't take him long to adopt a new sound and persona in an inventive indie-folk outfit called Lightspeed Champion. Hear the group perform a concert from WXPN and World Cafe Live in Philadelphia.

It was a spectacularly beautiful day in Austin, TX when Lightspeed Champion's Dev Hynes and violinist Mike Siddell met with All Songs Considered's Bob Boilen for this exclusive outdoor performance. Hynes and Siddell offered up an intimate little set as they ran through four songs, opening with "Tell Me What It's Worth," followed by "Everyone I Know is Listening to Crunk," "Galaxy of the Lost" and an inspired cover of Olivia Newton John's "Xanadu."

Under the moniker Lightspeed Champion, Devonte Hynes assumes the role of troubadour. It's a fitting change from the thrashy dance-punk of his past, effectively marrying lush Britpop with countrified rock. Lightspeed Champion's promising debut full-length, Falling Off the Lavender Bridge, just came out.

It was a spectacularly beautiful day in Austin, TX when Lightspeed Champion's Dev Hynes and violinist Mike Siddell met with All Songs Considered's Bob Boilen for this exclusive outdoor performance. Hynes and Siddell offered up an intimate little set as they ran through four songs, opening with "Tell Me What It's Worth," followed by "Everyone I Know is Listening to Crunk," "Galaxy of the Lost" and an inspired cover of Olivia Newton John's "Xanadu."

In "Midnight Surprise," Lightspeed Champion guides listeners through a three-part composition, flush with a galaxy of delicate string arrangements and lyrical vulnerability — no easy feat for a bandleader whose last project was notorious for its hip-hop and thrash (in)sensibilities.

All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen, NPR's Song of the Day curator Stephen Thompson and Carrie Brownstein, Monitor Mix blogger and former guitarist for Sleater-Kinney, review their week at the South by Southwest music festival in Austin, TX. They discovered and saw a lot of great bands including My Morning Jacket and a dozen other acts webcast Live by NPR Music. On this edition of All Songs Considered they share their most memorable moments.

This week features music from the late Central American artist Andy Palacio, a preview of new music from Patty Larkin, folk-driven rock from Lightspeed Champion, a return from the Kinks' Ray Davies and the British electronic pop group Hot Chip. With host Bob Boilen.

In "Midnight Surprise," Lightspeed Champion guides listeners through a three-part composition, flush with a galaxy of delicate string arrangements and lyrical vulnerability — no easy feat for a bandleader whose last project was notorious for its hip-hop and thrash (in)sensibilities.