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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: Frightened Rabbit

Frightened Rabbit. courtesy of the artist hide caption

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First Listen

First Listen: Frightened Rabbit

The Scottish band Frightened Rabbit knows what it's like to want to be left alone: Its terrific new album, The Winter of Mixed Drinks, spends a lot of time examining the pursuit of solitude in a world fraught with distraction, obligation, unrequited desire and romantic dysfunction. Hear the album in its entirety until its release on March 9.

Sharon Van Etten: Big Love In Small Moments
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Review

Song Of The Day

Sharon Van Etten: Big Love In Small Moments

Sure to be staple of crush-fueled mixtapes for as long as such a thing exists, "Much More Than That" feels contradictory in its very nature: It's a brilliantly expressed look at the way big love can't always be expressed brilliantly.

'Much More Than That' by Sharon Van Etten

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Frightened Rabbit: When Solitude Is Suicide

As the title of "Swim Until You Can't See Land" suggests, Frightened Rabbit's pursuit of escape bears a whiff of self-destruction. Jannica Honey hide caption

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Jannica Honey

Review

Song Of The Day

Frightened Rabbit: When Solitude Is Suicide

As the title of "Swim Until You Can't See Land" suggests, Frightened Rabbit's pursuit of escape bears a whiff of self-destruction. For every allusion to the demons at his back ("Let's call me a Baptist / Call this the drowning of the past"), a grand chorus is there to hint at a less cleansing fate.

Swim Until You Can’t See Land

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Los Campesinos!: Inventive Invective

Surly and overstuffed, Los Campesinos!'s "Romance Is Boring" takes an unsurprisingly dim view of domestic bliss. Kim Coulour hide caption

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Kim Coulour

Review

Song Of The Day

Los Campesinos!: Inventive Invective

It's fitting that, when the title track to the Welsh group's new album Romance Is Boring gives way to a guitar solo, it's a fractured, discontented mess — all shards and shrapnel, frayed nerves and raw power. Surly and overstuffed, "Romance Is Boring" takes an unsurprisingly dim view of domestic bliss.

Romance Is Boring

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The Heligoats: Brainy In The Best Way

In "Fish Sticks," The Heligoats' Chris Otepka can barely keep up with the speed of his own ideas. courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Review

Song Of The Day

The Heligoats: Brainy In The Best Way

"Fish Sticks" requires multiple listens to pin down its meaning; the song churns so urgently — it's so overstuffed — that it can be hard to parse. At its core, though, it's about a guy who starts a biosphere in a swamp, only to discover that doing so alienates him from both the world he's escaping and the one he's made for himself.

Fish Sticks

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All Songs Considered

Exclusive Free Download: The Worst Song Ever Written

By Stephen Thompson Last week, I appeared on Morning Edition to ruminate on one of the most significant events of the past decade in music — namely, the debut of American Idol in the summer of 2002. Included in the piece was the chorus of a "son...

Exclusive Free Download: The Worst Song Ever Written

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'American Idol' And The Making Of A Star
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The Decade In Music: '00s

'American Idol' And The Making Of A Star

Launched in 2002, American Idol wasn't the first TV show to make a pop star, and it hasn't been the last. But the show has changed the way the public interacts with the machinery of the music industry. NPR Music's Stephen Thompson looks at the show and describes his own brush with Idol glory.

'American Idol' And The Making Of A Star

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Andrew W.K.: Tiny Desk Concert
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Tiny Desk

Andrew W.K.: Tiny Desk Concert

Sometimes, an idea is so perverse and bizarre that it needs to be carried out and followed to its logical end. So once we hatched the idea to bring long-haired, wild-eyed, keyboard-pounding, sublimely over-the-top party-rocker Andrew W.K. to perform an intimate concert at Bob Boilen's desk, there was no abandoning it. It simply had to happen.

Audio Only: Andrew W.K.'s Tiny Desk Concert

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Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeros: Kindness And Clamor
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Review

Song Of The Day

Edward Sharpe And The Magnetic Zeros: Kindness And Clamor

As "Home" grows more clamorous and kind, it gets catchier, building to a freewheeling celebration rooted in unmistakable affection. It sounds terrific here, but when it's blown out in 360-degree live performance, "Home" is enough to make even the tiniest heart grow three sizes.

'Home' by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros

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