Exclusive First Listen: Conor Oberst And The Mystic Valley Band's 'Outer South' April 27, 2009 • When Oberst hit the road last year with longtime friends he dubbed The Mystic Valley Band, the group found that it was eager to capture the energy of its live performances. By the end of the year, it entered a studio in Tornillo, Texas, to lay down 16 new tracks. The resulting album, Outer South, won't be released until May 5, but you can hear the entire record on NPR Music as an Exclusive First Listen.
Exclusive First Listen: St. Vincent's 'Actor' April 20, 2009 • When Annie Clark emerged in 2007 with her debut album under the name St. Vincent, it was clear she was an exceptionally talented artist. Marry Me won over fans and music critics with its off-kilter rhythms, unconventional mix of strings and electronics, and Clark's cryptic lyrics. But the band's new follow-up, Actor, is even more remarkable. Hear the album in its entirety, exclusively on NPR Music.
Exclusive First Listen: Camera Obscura April 8, 2009 • Camera Obscura has been crafting its own brand of shimmering chamber-pop since first forming in Glasgow in 1996. Now, more than a decade later, the group is about to release its richest and most ambitious album to date. My Maudlin Career, available on NPR Music as an exclusive first listen a week before its release on April 21, is a beautifully produced mix of luminescent pop gems.
Exclusive First Listen: Leonard Cohen March 23, 2009 • Leonard Cohen, a singer and songwriter of tremendous depth and wisdom, has always been a seeker. In a career spanning more than 40 years, he's examined the mysteries of human sexuality, religion and power with a tremendous range of complex emotions and poetry. In July 2008, Cohen took the stage at London's 02 Arena and gave a stunning performance, as part of his first tour in 15 years. Hear the concert as an exclusive preview on a new two-disc set, Live in London, here on NPR Music.
Exclusive First Listen: Dan Deacon March 2, 2009 • Baltimore artist Dan Deacon has built his reputation on live shows: a comically unpredictable mess of frenetic dancing, audience participation and theatrics, all powered by Deacon's wildly addictive electro freak-pop. Deacon shuns the stage, instead planting himself on the dance floor with a tangle of cables, analog drum machines and vintage electronics. Deacon's infectious energy is captured on his latest album, Bromst, which can be heard in its entirety here on NPR Music, as an exclusive first listen.
Exclusive First Listen: Neko Case February 18, 2009 • When Case toured in support of 2006's Fox Confessor Brings the Flood, she claimed that she didn't like love songs, and that she was incapable of writing one. But on her sixth studio album, due out March 3, Case offers up what she calls "a bunch of love songs," which are heartbreakingly beautiful and, at times, comical.
First Listen: Laura Gibson's 'Beasts Of Seasons' February 16, 2009 • Hear a full-album preview of Laura Gibson's quiet masterpiece, Beasts of Seasons, streaming on NPR Music as an exclusive first listen.
Exclusive First Listen: Helene Grimaud American Public Media February 2, 2009 • After a career built on romantics like Rachmaninoff and Chopin, pianist Helene Grimaud turns to the music of J.S. Bach with a combination of reverence and playfulness. Hear the new CD in its entirety, one week before its release. Listen to Helene Grimaud discuss Bach with Fred Child 5:23
Review Exclusive First Listen: Bruce Springsteen January 19, 2009 • Springsteen's return to pop production, and the E Street Band, on his 2007 album Magic left the singer wanting more. Immediately after the disc's completion, he decided to keep writing and recording. In the first week after Magic, he wrote several songs that form the beginning of Working on a Dream, streaming now in its entirety on NPR Music.
Review First Listen: Animal Collective January 12, 2009 • On Animal Collective's latest album, Merriweather Post Pavilion, the group delivers a sonic super nova of tribal rhythms, pulsing synths, and shimmering vocals, mashed together in a stew of strangely infectious noise. Hear the entire album, streaming on NPR Music.
Review Exclusive First Listen: M. Ward's 'Hold Time' January 12, 2009 • Although M. Ward's latest album, Hold Time, won't be released until Feb. 17, listeners can hear the entire album here on NPR Music as an exclusive preview. Hold Time is a gorgeously produced mix of finger-picked guitars, upright bass and shuffling rhythms, all tied together by Ward's achy voice.
Exclusive First Listen: Andrew Bird's 'Noble Beast' December 23, 2008 • Bird is a classically trained violinist and former swing-jazz musician whose sonic palette includes a quirky mix of Gypsy ballads, jazz, folk and whistled melodies. It's a sound that leaves critics swooning and fans giddy with the kind of devotion normally reserved for pop idols. On Jan. 20, 2009, the singer will release his fifth full-length studio album. Hear Noble Beast in its entirety here, exclusively on NPR Music.
First Listen: Neil Young's 'Sugar Mountain: Live At Canterbury House 1968' November 24, 2008 • Neil Young was just a few days shy of his 23rd birthday when he took the stage at the Canterbury House in Ann Arbor, Mich., for what would become a legendary performance. It was 1968, and Young was about to release his self-titled debut solo album. His old band, Buffalo Springfield, had split up six months earlier, and few people even knew who Young was. But to his own surprise, Young drew a sold-out audience. Now, 40 years later, the recording of that performance is finally being made available. Hear it here in its entirety.
Review First Listen: 'Electric Arguments' From Paul McCartney And Youth As The Fireman November 18, 2008 • When The Fireman released its 1993 debut (the instrumental dance and electronica mix Strawberries Oceans Ships Forest), the band's identity was a mystery. U.K. music magazine Melody Maker eventually exposed it as a duo featuring the bassist and producer known as Youth and, to everyone's surprise, Paul McCartney. Now, a decade after releasing its last album, The Fireman is back with a new studio album. Hear Electric Arguments in an exclusive sneak preview of the entire album.
Review First Listen: Bob Dylan's 'Tell Tale Signs' September 30, 2008 • Hear an exclusive sneak preview of the entire two-disc album Tell Tale Signs, the latest volume in Bob Dylan's "bootleg" series. Widely regarded as America's greatest living songwriter, Dylan has written and recorded some of the most influential and acclaimed music of the past century.
