Review Song Of The Day A Powerful Look at an Imaginary Tragedy October 26, 2006 • Okkervil River takes on a daunting challenge in a new song making the rounds as an MP3 download: It looks at the impact of a horrific event — in this case a presidential assassination — that hasn't actually taken place. 'The President's Dead' by Okkervil River Toggle more options Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/6381913/6381938" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
'The President's Dead' by Okkervil River Toggle more options Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/6381913/6381938" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Review Song Of The Day Teitur's Soundtrack to Pleasant Dreams October 19, 2006 • "Don't Want You To Wake Up" is almost stridently good-natured, with Teitur extolling the virtues of watching a lover sleep amid strummed acoustic guitars and subtly breezy strings. The track never accelerates beyond an agreeable amble, but it isn't about momentum anyway. 'Don't Want You To Wake Up' by Teitur Toggle more options Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/6301416/6301440" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
'Don't Want You To Wake Up' by Teitur Toggle more options Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/6301416/6301440" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Review Song Of The Day Channeling Patsy Cline, by Way of Neko Case September 26, 2006 • Sera Cahoone has played drums for Band of Horses and Carissa's Wierd (sic), two groups whose music can be majestically beautiful, wrenchingly powerful or both. None of their output, however, provides reason to expect Cahoone's solo work to drift into territory as soothing as her gorgeous, breezily hypnotic "Couch Song." 'Couch Song' by Sera Cahoone Toggle more options Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/6142022/6142031" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
'Couch Song' by Sera Cahoone Toggle more options Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/6142022/6142031" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Review Song Of The Day A Would-Be Icon's Words of Hard-Won Hope September 6, 2006 • During a hiatus from The Frames, Glen Hansard recorded The Swell Season with Czech singer Marketa Irglova, and the result aches and swoons behind lovely arrangements. A longtime master of sublimely melodramatic sad-bastard music, Hansard finds words of hard-won hope and comfort on "Falling Slowly." 'Falling Slowly' by Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova Toggle more options Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5770421/5770430" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
'Falling Slowly' by Glen Hansard & Marketa Irglova Toggle more options Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5770421/5770430" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Review Song Of The Day Homey Intimacy, Soaked in Strings August 31, 2006 • Often recalling the rustic delicacy of Iron and Wine — if it were soaked in strings and robbed of some of its stark clarity — Horse Feathers' music radiates homey intimacy, as Peter Broderick fleshes out Justin Ringle's voice and guitar with all manner of warmly unamplified instrumentation. 'Hardwood Pews' by Horse Feathers Toggle more options Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5737243/5737306" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
'Hardwood Pews' by Horse Feathers Toggle more options Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5737243/5737306" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Review Song Of The Day Music for the Morning After, and Beyond August 24, 2006 • Musicians often chronicle the anguish, adjustments and small triumphs associated with a relationship's end. But few capture the emotional rawness and suffocating isolation quite as powerfully as Lisa Germano's "Too Much Space." 'Too Much Space' by Lisa Germano Toggle more options Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5698627/5698725" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
'Too Much Space' by Lisa Germano Toggle more options Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5698627/5698725" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Review Song Of The Day Love and Affection on a Celestial Scale August 17, 2006 • Adem's "Spirals" opens on a tiny scale before looking ever farther outward, drawing parallels between intertwined galaxies and people in love. In the process, the sweet ballad magnifies the way a small gesture of affection can reverberate with a force that's impossible to quantify. 'Spirals' by Adem Toggle more options Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5658575/5658675" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
'Spirals' by Adem Toggle more options Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5658575/5658675" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Review Song Of The Day Bleeding Pure Hopelessness, in All the Right Ways August 9, 2006 • "I lived low enough so the moon wouldn't waste its light on me," Jason Molina sings on "Get Out Get Out Get Out," ornamented by a plodding drum-machine beat and a few minimalist strums on an acoustic guitar. It's the singer at his bleakly hypnotic best. 'Get Out Get Out Get Out' by Jason Molina Toggle more options Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5627577/5627668" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
'Get Out Get Out Get Out' by Jason Molina Toggle more options Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5627577/5627668" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Review Song Of The Day Touring the World, but Always Lost August 3, 2006 • Shedding the prickly remoteness that has made him an acquired taste, Eric Bachmann crafts a collection that pairs his gruff, world-weary lyrics with a newfound approachability. That's not to suggest, however, that Bachmann has lost his gift for grimness. 'Man O' War by Eric Bachmann Toggle more options Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5602076/5602339" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
'Man O' War by Eric Bachmann Toggle more options Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5602076/5602339" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
MTV, Kennedy and Me: Let's Begin to Heal July 31, 2006 • For NPR.org's Stephen Thompson, the 25th birthday of MTV brings up memories of his own appearance on the network, co-hosting an episode of Alternative Nation with Kennedy in 1993. The details of what transpired during those moments can only be known by Thompson and a few close friends, who are still laughing.
Review New Music Chilling the Blood, Then Drinking It July 13, 2006 • A vivid and unnerving ode to vampirism, Chad VanGaalen's "Red Hot Drops" does an exceptional job capturing its subject's sinister allure — the surrender and ease of "draining with no pain" — before rupturing into a rare moment of oddly funky release. 'Red Hot Drops' by Chad VanGaalen Toggle more options Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5553031/5553040" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
'Red Hot Drops' by Chad VanGaalen Toggle more options Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5553031/5553040" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Review Song Of The Day Saying 'Thank You' in a Love Song July 5, 2006 • By the time he turned 20, Micah P. Hinson had stared down drug problems, jail time, homelessness and financial ruin. His background goes a long way toward explaining the depth of the appreciation he conveys on his warm and wonderful "The Day the Volume Won." 'The Day the Volume Won' by Micah P. Hinson Toggle more options Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5531098/5531134" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
'The Day the Volume Won' by Micah P. Hinson Toggle more options Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5531098/5531134" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Review Song Of The Day Downsizing Drama with Delicacy and Grace June 27, 2006 • Grant-Lee Phillips' nineteeneighties would seem to be an odd creative detour — the set finds him covering '80s alt-rock classics by the likes of R.E.M., the Cure and the Pixies — but it's surprising how smoothly its tributes fit into his homespun, heartfelt catalog. 'Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me' by Grant-Lee Phillips Toggle more options Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5516234/5516241" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
'Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me' by Grant-Lee Phillips Toggle more options Embed Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/5516234/5516241" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
When One Song a Day Just Isn't Enough... June 20, 2006 • When NPR.org launched its Song of the Day feature in March, we opted to keep the column as current as possible, sticking primarily to material with some sort of news peg.
Free 'Weird Al' Yankovic! June 13, 2006 • In a career spanning more than 25 years, pop-music parodist "Weird Al" Yankovic hasn't exactly ranked among the music business' fiercest iconoclasts: He doesn't release his song parodies without the consent of the artists being parodied, and he's rarely used the Internet as more than a tool to promote his projects and connect with his fans. But a music label's efforts to block a (relatively tame) parody of James Blunt's ubiquitous hit "You're Beautiful" has Yankovic fighting back publicly, and using his Web site as a tool to do so...
