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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
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Stephen Thompson

Sunday

First Listen: Erin McKeown, 'Manifestra'

Erin McKeown's Manifestra comes out Jan. 15, 2013. Merri Cyr/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Merri Cyr/Courtesy of the artist

First Listen

First Listen: Erin McKeown, 'Manifestra'

Manifestra often mutes the singer-songwriter's genre-shredding side in favor of pointed folk songs about foreign policy, the death penalty and income inequality. Still, there's a certain springiness to the arrangements, thanks to a crack band whose horns, keyboards and strings exude elasticity.

Erin McKeown, 'Manifestra'

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Monday

Another Year, Another 'Christmas With The Chipmunks'

The Chipmunks, left to right: Simon, Theodore, Alvin. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Courtesy of the artist

Holiday Music

Another Year, Another 'Christmas With The Chipmunks'

Like egg nog and advent calendars, Christmas songs pop up everywhere for a month and then disappear, only to be repackaged and resold 11 months later. Some of the biggest-selling and most frequently reissued holiday music of all time comes from three animated rodents.

Another Year, Another 'Christmas With The Chipmunks'

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Thursday

Wednesday

Monday

Lyle Lovett: Tiny Desk Concert

Lyle Lovett performs a Tiny Desk Concert on Nov. 13, 2012. Ryan Smith/NPR hide caption

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Tiny Desk

Lyle Lovett: Tiny Desk Concert

Lovett gives a loose, engaging performance that feels like both an introduction and a victory lap. With a fresh-faced accompanist in fiddler and backup singer Luke Bulla, Lovett digs way back into his early archives here: All three of these songs are from his beginnings in the late '80s.

Lyle Lovett: Tiny Desk Concert

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Thursday

Anais Mitchell performs a Tiny Desk Concert on Oct. 23, 2012.

Anais Mitchell performs a Tiny Desk Concert on Oct. 23, 2012. Lauren Rock/NPR hide caption

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Lauren Rock/NPR

Tiny Desk

Anaïs Mitchell: Tiny Desk Concert

Singing and playing alongside guitarist and longtime collaborator Michael Chorney, the Vermont singer-songwriter performs three of Young Man in America's most bracingly beautiful songs with clear-eyed directness that requires no adornment.

Anaïs Mitchell: Tiny Desk Concert

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Monday

Martha Wainwright: Tiny Desk Concert

Martha Wainwright performs a Tiny Desk Concert on Oct. 15, 2012. Ryan Smith/Ryan Smith/NPR hide caption

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Tiny Desk

Martha Wainwright: Tiny Desk Concert

Wainwright does the opposite of sugarcoating: She roughs up life's smooth spots, then digs her fingertips into the cracks that form.

Martha Wainwright: Tiny Desk Concert

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Sunday

First Listen: Tracey Thorn, 'Tinsel And Lights'

Tracey Thorn's album Tinsel and Lights was released Oct. 30. Edward Bishop/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Edward Bishop/Courtesy of the artist

First Listen

First Listen: Tracey Thorn, 'Tinsel And Lights'

Not since Aimee Mann's One More Drifter in the Snow has a collection of seasonal music been so finely engineered to locate the holidays' melancholy side. But Tinsel and Lights is as warmly rendered as it is achingly bittersweet.

Tracey Thorn, 'Tinsel And Lights'

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Wednesday

Monday

Ben Gibbard: Tiny Desk Concert

Benjamin Gibbard performs a Tiny Desk Concert at the NPR Music offices on Nov. 8, 2012. Lauren Rock/NPR hide caption

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Tiny Desk

Ben Gibbard: Tiny Desk Concert

For this, the 250th Tiny Desk Concert, the Death Cab for Cutie and Postal Service singer performs solo and unadorned, with just an acoustic guitar to back him up. Hear Gibbard perform a new song, a little-heard track from 2011, and "St. Peter's Cathedral" from Death Cab's Codes and Keys.

Ben Gibbard: Tiny Desk Concert

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Wednesday

Monday

Song Premiere: Ra Ra Riot, 'Beta Love'

Ra Ra Riot. Shervin Lainez/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Shervin Lainez/Courtesy of the artist

All Songs Considered

Song Premiere: Ra Ra Riot, 'Beta Love'

Download the fizzily catchy title track from Ra Ra Riot's new album, which comes out Jan. 22, 2013. "Beta Love" is the sound of a band that's left a lot of its grandiosity behind, but the band's intellectual curiosity remains intact.

Song Premiere: Ra Ra Riot, 'Beta Love'

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Thursday

Wednesday