NPR Music Downloads

One of Bob Boilen's favorite discoveries of the year, Watson makes imaginative pop with a cinematic bent. So NPR Music jumped at the opportunity to record his concert at The Mercury Lounge in New York City Thursday, performed as part of the CMJ Music Festival.

Moby's latest album, Wait for Me, is his best new release in a decade, full of beauty, sadness and celebration. The singer and electronic artist is currently on tour in support of the record, giving sold-out performances to packed arenas and smaller clubs throughout Europe and the U.S. For this stellar concert, recorded live in Berlin on June 26, Moby treated fans to nearly two hours of new songs and old favorites from a career spanning nearly 20 years.

The Gossip has built its reputation around its live performances. The post-punk trio, based in Olympia, Wash., mixes incendiary guitar noise with funk bass lines and adrenaline-infused rhythms, while frontwoman Beth Ditto thrashes onstage, sometimes stripping down to her underwear. Fans can experience this sonic jolt firsthand in this full concert by The Gossip, recorded live from the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C.

Launching with "Friday," the reunited Sunny Day Real Estate played a Diary and LP2-heavy set from Washington, D.C.'s 9:30 Club. The influential emo-rock band sounded renewed as Jeremy Enigk tackled the old songs with the grit and passion for which he's known. A new song, "10," also showed up on the set list. Hear the concert recorded live by NPR Music.

The alternately dreamy and experimental pop group from Hoboken, N.J., celebrates its 25th anniversary with a brand-new album and a full concert, originally webcast live on NPR Music Sept. 17. The performance, featuring music from the new Popular Songs and old favorites, was recorded live from the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C.

Out of the hallways at KEXP, passersby could hear an explosive, enthusiastic burst of guitars and drums. The sound was huge, but it came from only two scrawny young men, each playing furiously. Japandroids may be a duo, but it sure doesn't sound like one.

Running on fumes and spicy palak paneer, Lars Gotrich took in the last night of free-form expression at the High Zero Festival in Baltimore, Md. Download two sets, including a solo performance by analog electronics wiz Twig Harper.

High Zero is the premier showcase for spontaneous sound, pitting Baltimore improvisers with international veterans. Download reviewer Lars Gotrich's favorite set of the weekend featuring Margarida Garcia, Hans Grusel, Paul Neidhardt, Morten Olsen and Raed Yassin.

Hey Marseilles' dynamic and complex sound belies its humble beginnings as a duo. The Seattle-based orchestral rock ensemble's ranks have swelled to seven in recent months, with far more instruments than members. In a session from KEXP, Hey Marseilles performs with a wayfaring spirit.

Singer Billy McCarthy and his band Pela put aside their high-voltage stage antics to introduce four new songs in a session from KEXP. But instead of what will inevitably end up as album versions, the group treated KEXP to acoustic arrangements.

"Afropean" singer Marie Daulne is Zap Mama. She formed the group as an a cappella quintet in the late '80s, influenced by Central Asian pygmy music. But over the years, Daulne took on more members and transformed Zap Mama into a pan-global dance group. In a session from KEXP, the group performs new songs.

Hear singer, songwriter and guitarist M. Ward in a full concert, recorded live at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. Ward is currently on tour in support of his latest album, Hold Time. One of the year's strongest releases, the disc features a mix of country-flavored pop songs, with finger-picked guitars, upright bass and shuffling rhythms, all tied together by Ward's achy voice.

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.

The Indian-American alto saxophonist has developed several fruitful syntheses between South Asian music and modern progressive jazz. He leads a multicultural trio featuring Pakistani-American jazz guitarist Rez Abbasi and dedicated tabla student Dan Weiss.

One of the drawbacks to being one of the world's best drummers is that you can stay too busy to work on your own material. Luckily for audiences, the sunlight of the Newport Jazz Festival's harbor stage will shine on the restlessly creative Blade and his beloved ensemble.

The days of roving, regional territory bands are long gone. But their partygoing spirit lives on in the New York big band devised by downtown trumpet magnate Steven Bernstein. The group stakes its claim to supra-regional supremacy in journeying up to Newport.

He was 16 when he debuted with the National Symphony Orchestra in his native Dominican Republic. Nearly four decades later, he's become a vibrant, virtuosic Latin jazz pianist. He presents his trio, a group swimming in modern tropical stylings, in concert.

It's been 50 years since his Time Out, and its crossover hits "Take Five" and "Blue Rondo a la Turk," first appeared in record shops. And at age 88, he says he still loves playing that material, as he showed in his return to Newport.

He's a fiery, obvious talent whose musical imagination spans all of jazz history at once. And for his set at Newport, he's called upon the down-home feel of resonant organ chords. He brings a Hammond B-3 player and drummer to Newport's Harbor stage.

The saxophone giant's newest band, an unconventional lineup stacked with two drummers and colorful young talent, sets up his wilder instincts. He'll lead that group in a set of open-ended original compositions live from the main stage.

She grew up in Chile enamored with jazz, but not knowing what it was called. Now that she's a jazz singer in New York, she's embraced her native traditions more than ever. Her modern, pan-Latin jazz vocals highlight Newport's Marsalis Music showcase.

He's a powerhouse self-taught pianist and a polymath composer as likely to be inspired by theatrical works and South Asian music as mathematics and progressive jazz. His versatile trio will play spiky originals and creatively redrawn covers live.

It's hard not to notice Hiromi Uehara's energy: her dazzling, explosive keyboard abilities are front and center in her music. With her quartet SonicBloom, the pianist and keyboardist will showcase her original fusion of jazz, classical and progressive rock.

They had always engaged popular music masterworks as vessels for jazz improvisation. But the addition of an alt-rock vocalist recasts the trio as an singular sort of cover band. The band's scattershot take on music history is on display Sunday at Newport.