First Listen : NPR

David Belisle

Exclusive First Listen: Laura Veirs

December 21, 2009 • Veirs' latest release, July Flame, is a stripped-down album, using atmosphere and tension as the connective tissue for the songs. Veirs says she was in a writing slump going into this record, so she challenged herself with odd tunings on her nylon-string guitar. She dug deep inside for inspiration, did away with her full band for most of the album and wrote many of these tracks in her barn in Portland, Ore.

Exclusive First Listen: Laura Veirs

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Johan Renck/Courtesy of the artist

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Review: Fever Ray, 'Live At Lulea'

November 17, 2009 • Taking time out from the icy synth-pop duo The Knife to perform as Fever Ray, Karin Dreijer-Andersson makes electronic pop music imbued with haunted fragility.

Exclusive First Listen: Norah Jones

WXPN

November 9, 2009 • Jones' new album, The Fall, maintains her jazzy, sultry sound while pushing into more contemporary pop territory. It's a different direction for the singer, but suitable for old fans and newcomers alike.

Exclusive First Listen: Norah Jones

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First Listen: Cecilia Bartoli, 'Sacrificium'

October 31, 2009 • Inspired by the emotionally charged and virtuosic music of the Baroque era, the adventurous mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli's new CD is devoted to the dazzling music associated with the age of the castrati.

Listen To Scott Simon's Interview With Cecilia Bartoli

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First Listen: R.E.M. Live At The Olympia

October 21, 2009 • Rather than create a live album spanning its greatest hits, the legendary Athens, Ga., band picked out an unlikely assortment of 39 songs known mostly to R.E.M. diehards. Hear Live at the Olympia in its entirety for the week leading up to the collection's Oct. 27 release.

First Listen: R.E.M. Live At The Olympia

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Gibbard And Farrar Set Kerouac's 'Big Sur' To Music

October 13, 2009 • The lead singers of Death Cab for Cutie and Son Volt had never met until they discovered their mutual admiration for writer Jack Kerouac. Now, they've released an album based on Kerouac's 1962 novel Big Sur. Hear One Fast Move or I'm Gone in its entirety before its Oct. 20 release.

Gibbard And Farrar Set Kerouac's 'Big Sur' To Music

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Exclusive First Listen: Miguel Zenon, 'Esta Plena'

WBGO

October 13, 2009 • Last year, the prodigious saxophonist took home the prestigious Guggenheim and MacArthur fellowships. He's used the opportunities to investigate his Puerto Rican musical roots; his new album is a methodical but natural-feeling synthesis of folkloric plena and mainland modern jazz. Hear Esta Plena in its entirety for the week preceding its Oct. 20 physical release.

Exclusive First Listen: Miguel Zenon, 'Esta Plena'

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courtesy of the artist

Exclusive First Listen: The Swell Season

October 13, 2009 • 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

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Caroline Knopf

Exclusive First Listen: Nellie McKay

October 6, 2009 • Her new record is free of cynicism, full of heart and more elegant than a mere nostalgia trip. Normal as Blueberry Pie revisits the past while offering a fresh take on American classics by George and Ira Gershwin, Johnny Mercer, Burt Bacharach and Les Brown. She also sings an original.

Exclusive First Listen: Nellie McKay

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First Listen: The Flaming Lips, 'Embryonic'

With confetti guns, giant inflatable balls and furry animal costumes, The Flaming Lips' members craft an infectiously fun, truly surreal concert experience. Taylor Hill/Getty Images hide caption

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