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First Listen Enjoy select, upcoming albums, in their entirety.
First Listen

First Listen

Hear upcoming albums in their entirety

Sunday

First Listen: Kurt Vile, 'Wakin On A Pretty Daze'

Kurt Vile's new album, Wakin on a Pretty Daze, comes out April 9. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Courtesy of the artist

First Listen: Kurt Vile, 'Wakin On A Pretty Daze'

The laid-back Philadelphia guitarist has become something of a patron saint for the Great Recession's legions of accidental bohemians, who work hard while hardly working. Vile's transfixing new album is arguably his best yet.

Kurt Vile, 'Wakin On A Pretty Daze'

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First Listen: Villagers, '{Awayland}'

Villagers' new album, {Awayland}, comes out April 9. Rich Gilligan/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Rich Gilligan/Courtesy of the artist

First Listen: Villagers, '{Awayland}'

Villagers' Conor O'Brien has a great gift for songs that almost always turn something on its head. On {Awayland}, he mixes thoughtful approachability with an assortment of trips down more surprising side roads.

Villagers, '{Awayland}'

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Sunday

First Listen: 'The Music Is You: A Tribute To John Denver'

The Music Is You: A Tribute to John Denver comes out April 2. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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First Listen: 'The Music Is You: A Tribute To John Denver'

The Music Is You showcases some of the late singer's most beloved songs, as performed by a cross-genre, cross-generational and entirely impressive mix of musicians. Lucinda Williams, Dave Matthews, My Morning Jacket, Emmylou Harris, Josh Ritter and others all turn up to pay tribute.

'The Music Is You: A Tribute To John Denver'

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First Listen: Caveman, 'Caveman'

Caveman's new, self-titled album comes out April 2. Philip Di Fiore/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Philip Di Fiore/Courtesy of the artist

First Listen: Caveman, 'Caveman'

What Caveman's second album lacks in overt grabbiness, it gains in inviting, atmospheric warmth; this is a band that, only two albums into its career, already understands the art of the slow burn and the subtle build.

Caveman, 'Caveman'

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First Listen: Bombino, 'Nomad'

Bombino's new album, Nomad, comes out April 2. Ron Wyman/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Ron Wyman/Courtesy of the artist

First Listen: Bombino, 'Nomad'

The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach pairs up with monster Tuareg guitarist Bombino for a dream-team album. The result balances tightly coiled melodies with wide-open, Saharan spaciousness.

Bombino, 'Nomad'

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First Listen: Telekinesis, 'Dormarion'

Telekinesis' new album, Dormarion, comes out April 2. Kyle Johnson/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Kyle Johnson/Courtesy of the artist

First Listen: Telekinesis, 'Dormarion'

On his third album as Telekinesis, Michael Benjamin Lerner infuses his compact, concise pop-rock nuggets with warmth and messy emotions that make them feel human.

Telekinesis, 'Dormarion'

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Sunday

First Listen: Wavves, 'Afraid Of Heights'

Wavves' new album Afraid of Heights comes out March 26. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Courtesy of the artist

First Listen: Wavves, 'Afraid Of Heights'

The new album from these sons of grunge has the mix of pop and pessimism pioneered by Nirvana and others. Without the earlier bands' studio slickness — and despite various onstage and offstage upheavals — Wavves battles personal demons with powerhouse choruses.

Wavves, 'Afraid of Heights'

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First Listen: Julian Lynch, 'Lines'

Julian Lynch's album, Lines, comes out March 26. Jacqueline Kursel/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Jacqueline Kursel/Courtesy of the artist

First Listen: Julian Lynch, 'Lines'

The Ridgewood, N.J., native grew up playing with members of indie-rock favorites Real Estate and Titus Andronicus. On Lynch's new album, Lines, he employs clarinets, saxophones and iPhones for an unusual take on American folk music.

Julian Lynch, 'Lines'

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Sunday

First Listen: Brandt Brauer Frick, 'Miami'

Brandt Brauer Frick's new album, Miami, comes out March 19. Nico Stinghe & Park Bennett/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Nico Stinghe & Park Bennett/Courtesy of the artist

First Listen: Brandt Brauer Frick, 'Miami'

The band's take on techno isn't cold, detached or inert; in fact, nearly every sample comes from a real, live instrument. Master synthesists, Daniel Brandt, Jan Brauer and Paul Frick make strings, winds, brass and percussion sound like anything but.

Brandt Brauer Frick, 'Miami'

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First Listen: Suede, 'Bloodsports'

Suede. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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First Listen: Suede, 'Bloodsports'

The Britpop band's first album in 11 years is one of the finest comeback albums in recent memory. Brett Anderson sounds as melodramatic and persuasive as ever on Bloodsports, and he can still belt out choruses with the best of them.

Suede, 'Bloodsports'

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First Listen: Low, 'The Invisible Way'

Low's new album, The Invisible Way, comes out March 19. Zoran Orlic/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Zoran Orlic/Courtesy of the artist

First Listen: Low, 'The Invisible Way'

Low's 10th full-length studio album was produced by Wilco's Jeff Tweedy, who avoids any temptation to radically stretch the Minnesota band's boundaries. But he wisely dials up the interplay between its two singers, while letting bits of piano and spare percussive rumbles provide a jolt of portent.

Low, 'The Invisible Way'

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First Listen: Simone Dinnerstein & Tift Merritt, 'Night'

Simone Dinnerstein (left) and Tift Merritt's new album, Night, comes out March 19. Lisa-Marie Mazzucco/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Lisa-Marie Mazzucco/Courtesy of the artist

First Listen: Simone Dinnerstein & Tift Merritt, 'Night'

Opposites attract in Night, a genre-blurring album that pairs alt-country singer-songwriter Tift Merritt with classical pianist Simone Dinnerstein. There's a solemn intimacy to these songs, and how they're delivered, that speaks one-on-one.

Simone Dinnerstein & Tift Merritt, 'Night'

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First Listen: Kacey Musgraves, 'Same Trailer Different Park'

Kacey Musgraves' album, Same Trailer Different Park, comes out on March 19. Kelly Christine Musgraves/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Kelly Christine Musgraves/Courtesy of the artist

First Listen: Kacey Musgraves, 'Same Trailer Different Park'

Musgraves writes about and for people who've learned to fit their dreams into recession-sized moving boxes; who gain comfort from their family traditions but sometimes feel them cutting off breath like the top button on a stiff collar.

Kacey Musgraves, 'Same Trailer Different Park'

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Monday

First Listen: The Delfonics, 'Adrian Younge Presents The Delfonics'

Adrian Younge (left) and William Hart. Adrian Younge Presents The Delfonics comes out March 12. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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First Listen: The Delfonics, 'Adrian Younge Presents The Delfonics'

The cross-generational team of Younge and William Hart has resulted in songs that capture the relationship between The Delfonics' music and hip-hop — songs that get under your skin and stay there.

The Delfonics, 'Adrian Younge Presents The Delfonics'

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