First Listen : NPR

Review: Zao, 'The Well-Intentioned Virus'

Zao's new album, The Well-Intentioned Virus, comes out Dec. 9. Allix Johnson/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Allix Johnson/Courtesy of the artist

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Review: Zao, 'The Well-Intentioned Virus'

December 1, 2016 • For two decades, the band has maintained a mix of thoughtfulness and savagery unparalleled in metal. This is peak Zao, back with its most feral and fully realized offering in years.

Review: Maria Taylor, 'In The Next Life'

Maria Taylor's new album, In The Next Life, comes out Dec. 9. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Review: Maria Taylor, 'In The Next Life'

December 1, 2016 • The Azure Ray singer fills her warm, reflective new album with gorgeous, touching songs about family, legacy and the pursuit of contentment.

Nina Kraviz's new album, fabric 91, comes out Dec. 9. Camille Blake/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Camille Blake/Courtesy of the artist

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Review: Nina Kraviz, 'Fabric 91'

December 1, 2016 • The Russian DJ/producer's complex mix for the London nightclub takes a journey through techno's small-town past toward an unreleased future.

Jay Daniel's new album, Broken Knowz, comes out Nov. 25. Devin Williams/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Devin Williams/Courtesy of the artist

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Review: Jay Daniel, 'Broken Knowz'

November 17, 2016 • One of Detroit dance music's freshest talents carries on the city's legacy of electronic funk, while finding new ways to reinvigorate it.

Review: Gillian Welch, 'Boots No. 1 The Official Revival Bootleg'

Gillian Welch, pictured here with partner Dave Rawlings, will release a new album, Boots No. 1 The Official Revival Bootleg, on Nov. 25. Henry Diltz/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Henry Diltz/Courtesy of the artist

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Review: Gillian Welch, 'Boots No. 1 The Official Revival Bootleg'

November 17, 2016 • Welch and partner David Rawlings sift through their musical archives and select 21 tracks that document their early- to mid-'90s rise, before they emerged as leaders of an ascendant Americana scene.

Review: Highly Suspect, 'The Boy Who Died Wolf'

Highly Suspect's new album, The Boy Who Died Wolf, comes out Nov. 18. Megan Donohue/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Megan Donohue/Courtesy of the artist

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Review: Highly Suspect, 'The Boy Who Died Wolf'

November 15, 2016 • An unexpected Grammy nominee earlier this year, the Cape Cod band fine-tunes its retro-grunge attack into something far more dynamic, soulful and alluring.

Pink Martini's new album, Je Dis Oui!, comes out Nov. 18. Chris Hornbecker/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Chris Hornbecker/Courtesy of the artist

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Review: Pink Martini, 'Je Dis Oui!'

November 10, 2016 • To take in the band's ninth album is to experience a globetrotting victory lap across eight different languages, all tackled with cosmopolitan sophistication and the playfulness of pop.

D∆WN's new album, Redemption, comes out Nov. 18. Rob Daly/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Rob Daly/Courtesy of the artist

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Review: D∆WN, 'Redemption'

November 10, 2016 • As electronic dance music continues to experiment, D∆WN stands apart by making challenging pop music with soul. Redemption radiates defiance in its celebration of the self.

Review: Thee Oh Sees, 'An Odd Entrances'

Thee Oh Sees' new album, An Odd Entrances, comes out Nov. 18. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Review: Thee Oh Sees, 'An Odd Entrances'

November 10, 2016 • The prolific psych-rock band's newest album — its second in only three months — traffics in alternately jittery and hypnotic jams.

Sleigh Bells' new album, Jessica Rabbit, comes out Nov. 11. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Review: Sleigh Bells, 'Jessica Rabbit'

November 3, 2016 • The duo's fourth album is a testament to the power of a celebration gone weird, with chopped-up and resequenced hooks working as the raw material for a scathing, fragmentary kind of pop.

Review: Bob Dylan, 'The 1966 Live Recordings'

Bob Dylan's compilation album of live recordings, The 1966 Live Recordings, comes out Nov. 11. D.A. Pennabaker/Courtesy of the artist. hide caption

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Review: Bob Dylan, 'The 1966 Live Recordings'

November 3, 2016 • During the months he spent on the road in 1966, Dylan refined a way of inhabiting and transforming his own songs that was different from anything he'd done before.

Review: Hart Valley Drifters, 'Folk Time'

Hart Valley Drifters included a very young Jerry Garcia (left) and future Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter (right). The new album, Folk Time, comes out Nov. 11. Jerald Melrose/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Jerald Melrose/Courtesy of the artist