Accessibility links
Stephen Thompson Stephen Thompson is a host, writer and reviewer for NPR Music and Pop Culture Happy Hour. He appears frequently on All Songs Considered and NPR newsmagazines.
Washington, DC - May 03, 2016: Stephen Thompson CREDIT: Matt Roth
Stories By

Stephen Thompson

Thursday

Noah And The Whale: The Aftermath Begins
courtesy of the artist

Review

Song Of The Day

Noah And The Whale: The Aftermath Begins

"The First Days of Spring" opens with a drum beat that's part heartbeat, part funeral dirge — which makes sense, given that it kicks off a song cycle about the aftermath of a breakup. What follows, both in the song and on the album that bears its name, is masterful, beautiful, epic, string-swept and ultimately comforting. Even when it exudes misery, it deserves company.

'The First Days of Spring' by Noah and the Whale

  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/114280845/114278030" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Monday

Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeros: Tiny Desk Concert
Coburn Dukehart/NPR

Tiny Desk

Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeros: Tiny Desk Concert

At 10 members, this is the biggest band ever to play a Tiny Desk Concert in the NPR Music offices. But singers Alex Ebert and Jade Castrinos still find a way to command attention.

Audio Only: Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeros' Tiny Desk Concert

Listen
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/113758518/128366470" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Tuesday

David Bazan: Breaking Up With God
courtesy of the artist

Song Of The Day

David Bazan: Breaking Up With God

Many albums document the process of finding God, but not so many reflect on losing God, especially coming from someone whose work has been so outspokenly spiritual in nature. That said, David Bazan's "Hard to Be," with its chorus of "It's hard to be a decent human being," pulls off a remarkable feat: It makes breaking up with God seem even less fun than it might sound.

'Hard to Be' by David Bazan

  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/113748209/113747401" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Exclusive First Listen: The Swell Season
courtesy of the artist

First Listen

Exclusive First Listen: The Swell Season

Recording as The Swell Season, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova recorded a lush, lovely, heartfelt gem in the new Strict Joy, on which they examine a tumultuous relationship over a mostly calm bed of acoustic guitars, pianos and strings. You can hear Strict Joy in its entirety here for the two weeks leading up to its Oct. 27 release.

Exclusive First Listen: The Swell Season

  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/113630469/113616810" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Tuesday

Monday

The Swell Season: Dwarfed By The Sky
courtesy of the artist

Review

Song Of The Day

The Swell Season: Dwarfed By The Sky

If there's one constant in Glen Hansard's career, it's his ability to express the way intense emotions can make us feel both bigger and smaller than we are. He understands insecurity and regret, jealousy and disappointment, hope and pride. And he knows exactly how to wrap those feelings in songs that swoon, soar and seethe. Case in point: The Swell Season's "Feeling the Pull."

'Feeling the Pull' by The Swell Season

  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/113258325/113143081" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Exclusive First Listen: Rosanne Cash Sings Her Father's 'List'
courtesy of the artist

First Listen

Exclusive First Listen: Rosanne Cash Sings Her Father's 'List'

Back in 1973, Cash told her father that she wanted to play country music for a living. Johnny Cash was, to put it mildly, an authority on the subject, so he made her a list of 100 essential songs she needed to hear as she embarked on her career. The List, heard here in its entirety for the week leading up to its Oct. 6 release, finds the younger Cash performing 12 of those songs.

Monday

Exclusive First Listen: The Avett Brothers
courtesy of the artist

First Listen

Exclusive First Listen: The Avett Brothers

With their roots in punk and bluegrass, Seth and Scott Avett know how and when to careen wildly, almost recklessly. But in their albums as The Avett Brothers, they're just as likely to ruminate softly on devotion, desire and regret, in austere, sweet-natured songs that exude a sort of hard-won decency. Hear the band's much-anticipated major-label debut, I and Love and You, in its entirety here for the week leading up to its release on Sept. 29.

Tuesday

Exclusive First Listen: Volcano Choir
Cameron Wittig

First Listen

Exclusive First Listen: Volcano Choir

In Volcano Choir, Bon Iver's Vernon sets his layered, often chopped-up vocals atop the experimental instrumental musings of the Milwaukee-based band Collections of Colonies of Bees. Hear the indie supergroup's debut album, Unmap, in its entirety for the week leading up to its release on Sept. 22.

Exclusive First Listen: Volcano Choir

  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/112674848/112674843" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
The Avett Brothers: Stomping And Hollering
courtesy of the artist

Review

Song Of The Day

The Avett Brothers: Stomping And Hollering

It's a tribute to The Avett Brothers' considerable charms that "Slight Figure of Speech" never loses track of the group's warmth or generosity of spirit: Speedy, sunny and all too brief at just a shade over two minutes, it finds the band maintaining a perfect balance of studio slickness and garage-band glory.

'Slight Figure of Speech' by The Avett Brothers

  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/112847681/112828259" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Friday

Brendan Benson: A Futile Plea For Silence
courtesy of the artist

Review

Song Of The Day

Brendan Benson: A Futile Plea For Silence

Benson remains best known for his work in The Raconteurs, but he's still saving his best songs for solo albums like the zippy and fantastic My Old, Familiar Friend, which seems to emerge from about four eras of pop-rock at once. Crisp and relentlessly catchy, the album practically oozes hooks, mixing cockeyed love songs with sublime kiss-off anthems like the irresistible "Don't Wanna Talk."

'Don't Wanna Talk' by Brendan Benson

  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/112728034/112721432" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Wednesday

Yim Yames: Gorgeous George Harrison
courtesy of the artist

Review

Song Of The Day

Yim Yames: Gorgeous George Harrison

In his extraordinary cover of Harrison's "Long Long Long," the My Morning Jacket frontman's gorgeous, ringing voice seems to stretch out for days. Accompanying himself with an acoustic guitar and some choice vocal harmonies, he sounds reverent in every sense of the word.

'Long Long Long' by Yim Yames

  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/112671548/112670547" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Thursday

Wednesday

A.A. Bondy: Darkness With A Sugary Sparkle
Jean Alcide

Review

Song Of The Day

A.A. Bondy: Darkness With A Sugary Sparkle

Bondy's album When the Devil's Loose is ragged all over, most notably in its intimate garage-band production, but there's a sugary sparkle to songs like "Mightiest of Guns." For all its fatalistic, even apocalyptic imagery, Bondy can't help but infuse the song with acoustic-guitar-fueled gentility.

'Mightiest of Guns' by A.A. Bondy

  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/112467321/121756605" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">