First Listen

Tuesday September 29, 2009

First Listen: Brahms In Berlin, The Symphonies

American Public Media

September 29, 2009 • The four symphonies by Brahms are like four distinct personalities, ranging from the dark and dramatic to the sunny and lyrical. The great Berlin Philharmonic has this music in its blood. Hear the entire new three-disc set, with conductor Simon Rattle, for the week leading up to its Oct. 6 release.

courtesy of the artist

First Listen: Noah And The Whale

September 29, 2009 • Noah and the Whale's The First Days of Spring is the breakup album of the year, maybe even the album of the year, and it comes out Oct. 6. Which means that, as of this writing, you have exactly seven days to torpedo a personal relationship in such a way that these songs can nurse your psychic wounds.

Monday September 28, 2009

courtesy of the artist

Exclusive First Listen: Rosanne Cash Sings Her Father's 'List'

September 28, 2009 • Back in 1973, Cash told her father that she wanted to play country music for a living. Johnny Cash was, to put it mildly, an authority on the subject, so he made her a list of 100 essential songs she needed to hear as she embarked on her career. The List, heard here in its entirety for the week leading up to its Oct. 6 release, finds the younger Cash performing 12 of those songs.

Tuesday September 22, 2009

Eric Fermin Perez

Exclusive First Listen: Lou Barlow

September 22, 2009 • Hear the new solo album from former Dinosaur Jr. bassist and Sebadoh frontman Lou Barlow in its entirety. Goodnight Unknown covers a lot of emotional territory, examining fractured lives with a restrained but potent mix of alternately crunchy and plaintive guitars and simple rhythms.

Monday September 21, 2009

courtesy of the artist

Exclusive First Listen: The Avett Brothers

September 21, 2009 • With their roots in punk and bluegrass, Seth and Scott Avett know how and when to careen wildly, almost recklessly. But in their albums as The Avett Brothers, they're just as likely to ruminate softly on devotion, desire and regret, in austere, sweet-natured songs that exude a sort of hard-won decency. Hear the band's much-anticipated major-label debut, I and Love and You, in its entirety here for the week leading up to its release on Sept. 29.

Tuesday September 15, 2009

Cameron Wittig

Exclusive First Listen: Volcano Choir

September 15, 2009 • In Volcano Choir, Bon Iver's Vernon sets his layered, often chopped-up vocals atop the experimental instrumental musings of the Milwaukee-based band Collections of Colonies of Bees. Hear the indie supergroup's debut album, Unmap, in its entirety for the week leading up to its release on Sept. 22.

Exclusive First Listen: Volcano Choir

35:16

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Exclusive First Listen: Poncho Sanchez

September 15, 2009 • Latin jazz percussionist and bandleader Poncho Sanchez has had a prolific career: He's released 24 albums in the last three decades, and his latest, Psychedelic Blues, continues to explore new realms of jazz. On the album, he revisits the standards and offers up two new originals. Hear Psychedelic Blues in its entirety, a week before its Sept. 29 release date.

Exclusive First Listen: Poncho Sanchez

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Monday September 7, 2009

Mike O'Brien

Exclusive First Listen: Big Star

WXPN

September 7, 2009 • With 98 songs, the Memphis group's new box set (Keep an Eye on the Sky) is a definitive collection of Big Star's early-'70s recordings. It sets the record straight about a massively influential group that inspired some of rock's biggest stars. From now until its release on Sept. 15, you can stream the box set's remarkable first disc (26 songs) in its entirety.

Exclusive First Listen: Big Star

Tuesday September 1, 2009

courtesy of the artist

Exclusive First Listen: Yo La Tengo

WXPN

September 1, 2009 • One of America's most influential and captivating rock bands, Hoboken, N.J.'s Yo La Tengo celebrates its 25th anniversary with the release of Popular Songs, which continues the trio's tradition of balancing soft acoustic pop with dark, enthralling rock. Hear the album in its entirety here, for the week prior to its release on Sept. 8.

Exclusive First Listen: Yo La Tengo

Swedish singer Victoria Bergsman, who records as Taken by Trees, reworks the melodies and rhythms of Pakistan on East of Eden. Victoria Bergsman hide caption

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Victoria Bergsman

Exclusive First Listen: Taken By Trees

September 1, 2009 • Swedish singer Victoria Bergsman, who records as Taken by Trees, went to Pakistan to make her second album, East of Eden. The result does not sound like another ersatz "world-music" collaboration. Instead, she and producer/guitarist/engineer Andreas Soderstrom take melodies and rhythms recorded there and build on them to create their own songs. Hear the album in its entirety, a week before its Sept. 8 release.

Exclusive First Listen: Taken By Trees

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Monday August 31, 2009

First Listen: Danielle De Niese's 'Mozart Album'

August 31, 2009 • Rising young soprano Danielle de Niese is about to release a new album dedicated to lesser-known Mozart arias. Hear the entire CD before it's released, and download an NPR exclusive bonus track: "Pupille Amate," from an opera Mozart wrote when he was 16.

Hear Danielle de Niese on 'All Things Considered'

Listen · 8:19 8:19

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Tuesday August 25, 2009

Kelly Ruberto

Review

Exclusive First Listen: Circulatory System

August 25, 2009 • It took nearly eight years to make, but Circulatory System's breathtaking new album, Signal Morning, justifies the wait. The 17 new tracks, culled from hours of recorded material and meticulously pieced together in more than half a dozen different studios, are sonic wonders. Signal Morning assembles a mysterious and mesmerizing world of orchestrated chaos that offers new discoveries with each listen.

Exclusive First Listen: Circulatory System

46:20

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Tuesday August 18, 2009

courtesy of Tompkins Square Records

Exclusive First Listen: Tim Buckley

August 18, 2009 • Buckley was just 20 years old in 1967, when Izzy Young asked him to play above his store on Sixth Avenue in New York City. In front of a small crowd of 35, Young set up a field recording kit amidst stacks of books and records and flipped the reels every now and again, as Buckley played completely unadorned.

Exclusive First Listen: Tim Buckley

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Monday August 17, 2009

Robert Frank

Exclusive First Listen: New Lost City Ramblers

August 17, 2009 • What differentiated the Ramblers from the commercial folk groups was their interest in the music's origins. They were tireless chroniclers and ambassadors of vernacular music, the blues, bluegrass and Cajun music of rural America. Hear the entire first disc of the band's new 50th anniversary, three-CD compilation.

Exclusive First Listen: New Lost City Ramblers

Listen · 6:03 6:03

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Tuesday August 11, 2009

Lauren Dukoff

Exclusive First Listen: Joe Henry, 'Blood From Stars'

August 11, 2009 • On his 11th studio album, Henry sounds raw and stark, both as a singer and as a guitarist. The songs are often blues-based, and Blood From Stars sounds genuinely inspired, which makes it a record with a long shelf life.

Exclusive First Listen: Joe Henry, 'Blood From Stars'

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