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Stephen Thompson Stephen Thompson is an editor and reviewer for NPR Music, where he writes the advice column The Good Listener and fusses over comma placement. He is also a frequent panelist on All Songs Considered, and appears every week on Pop Culture Happy Hour.
Washington, DC - May 03, 2016: Stephen Thompson CREDIT: Matt Roth
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Stephen Thompson

First Listen: Shearwater, 'Fellow Travelers'

Shearwater's new album, Fellow Travelers, comes out Nov. 26. James Hamilton/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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James Hamilton/Courtesy of the artist

First Listen

First Listen: Shearwater, 'Fellow Travelers'

Each of the 10 songs on Fellow Travelers pays tribute to an artist with whom Shearwater has toured. It's fascinating to hear the band function as a skeleton key that opens up the works of Xiu Xiu and Coldplay and St. Vincent alike.

Fellow Travelers

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John Legend: Tiny Desk Concert

John Legend performs at the Tiny Desk Concert on Wednesday, October 23, 2013. Abbey Oldham/Abbey Oldham/NPR hide caption

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Abbey Oldham/Abbey Oldham/NPR

Tiny Desk

John Legend: Tiny Desk Concert

The soul singer retains the easygoing grace of a performer fit for any stage — even a tiny one. Here, Legend performs two songs from his album Love in the Future, as well as "Move," one of his contributions to the 12 Years a Slave soundtrack.

John Legend: Tiny Desk Concert

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First Listen: Soundtrack, 'Inside Llewyn Davis'

Oscar Isaac (left) and Justin Timberlake in a scene from Inside Llewyn Davis. Both are featured on the movie's soundtrack. Alison Rosa/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Alison Rosa/Courtesy of the artist

First Listen

First Listen: Soundtrack, 'Inside Llewyn Davis'

Joel and Ethan Coen's new film looks at the early-'60s Greenwich Village folk scene, as populated by a brooding moocher played by singer-actor Oscar Isaac. Its soundtrack, like the movie itself, reflects the way many different strains of folk music collided in the early '60s.

Inside Llewyn Davis Soundtrack

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First Listen: Songs: Ohia, 'Magnolia Electric Co. (10th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)'

Magnolia Electric Co. (10th Anniversary Deluxe Edition), by the late Jason Molina, comes out Nov. 12. Steve Gullick/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Steve Gullick/Courtesy of the artist

First Listen

First Listen: Songs: Ohia, 'Magnolia Electric Co. (10th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)'

Ten years after its release — and seven months after the death of singer Jason Molina — The Magnolia Electric Co is still an ambitious and unsteady beast, strangely graceful and crying out to be explored. Throughout the album, Molina sings of his own smallness and struggle, but also the stubbornness inherent in standing up as the gravitational forces of grief try to pull him down.

Magnolia Electric Co. (10th Anniversary Deluxe Edition)

Audio for First Listens is no longer available after the album is released.
Ashley Monroe: Tiny Desk Concert

Ashley Monroe performs at a Tiny Desk Concert in September 2013. Chloe Coleman/Chloe Coleman/NPR hide caption

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Chloe Coleman/Chloe Coleman/NPR

Tiny Desk

Ashley Monroe: Tiny Desk Concert

This three-song set in the NPR Music offices captures a nice cross-section of Monroe's appeal.

Ashley Monroe: Tiny Desk Concert

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Daughter: Tiny Desk Concert

Daughter performs a Tiny Desk Concert in August 2013. Chloe Coleman/NPR hide caption

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Chloe Coleman/NPR

Tiny Desk

Daughter: Tiny Desk Concert

In all three of these sad, searing songs, singer Elena Tonra showcases a remarkable gift for coolly but approachably dishing out weary words that resonate and devastate. Achingly pretty and melancholy, the London band's music conjures a pitch-perfect mix of gloom, desire and hostility.

Daughter: Tiny Desk Concert

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First Listen: Death Cab For Cutie, 'Transatlanticism (10th Anniversary Edition)'

Death Cab for Cutie's Transatlanticism (10th Anniversary Edition) comes out Oct. 29. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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First Listen

First Listen: Death Cab For Cutie, 'Transatlanticism (10th Anniversary Edition)'

For all its ubiquity and imitators, 2003's Transatlanticism holds up as an exquisitely produced, largely flawless record in which every song is bound to be someone's favorite. In this reissue, the album is packaged alongside an identically sequenced yet revelatory set of demo versions.

Transatlanticism Demos

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First Listen: The Avett Brothers, 'Magpie And The Dandelion'

The Avett Brothers' new album, Magpie and the Dandelion, comes out Oct. 15. Danny Clinch/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Danny Clinch/Courtesy of the artist

First Listen

First Listen: The Avett Brothers, 'Magpie And The Dandelion'

The band's body of work forms the outlines of a makeshift guide to life, and to being fundamentally decent in the pursuit of something even better. On Magpie and the Dandelion, Seth and Scott Avett examine the push and pull between day-to-day pressures and a need for connection, contentedness and openness to wonder.

Magpie and the Dandelion

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First Listen: The Dismemberment Plan, 'Uncanney Valley'

The Dismemberment Plan's new album, Uncanney Valley, comes out Oct. 15. Shervin Lainez/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Shervin Lainez/Courtesy of the artist

First Listen

First Listen: The Dismemberment Plan, 'Uncanney Valley'

On Uncanney Valley, its first album since 2001, The Dismemberment Plan sounds loose and liberated — like a band with its legacy secured, happy just to be there. It's a fitting way for the hard-to-define, intermittently funky D.C. rock group to make a comeback.

Uncanney Valley

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