Tagged: nprmusic

The members of Screaming Females have just released the leadoff single to the band's upcoming album, Ugly (due April 3rd on Don Giovanni Records). You can listen to the track below (via Rolling Stone ). Last month, the New Brunswick-based punk trio stopped by the NPR Music office to record a Tiny Desk Concert , which you can also check out below. Screaming Females performs at Long In The Tooth Records on Wednesday, February 15th. It All Means Nothing by WeGetPress

The Hold Steady's Craig Finn—who, as we mentioned earlier today, will headline a double-header of XPN Welcomes shows at Milkboy Philly on Friday, March 9th—recently recorded a Tiny Desk Concert, which has just been posted to the NPR Music site. From NPR Music: [O]n his new solo album, Clear Heart Full Eyes , Finn kicks himself free from the crutches of rock. It's a sad sort of breakup record, barren and broken and informed by the wisdom of age, but his instantly recognizable speak-singing ramble remains. Finn's starker side is, of course, nicely [...]

It's become an annual part of the annual music bacchanalia that is the SXSW Music Festival : NPR Music 's opening night showcase from the outdoor stage at Stubb's BBQ in Austin. This year's version happens March 14th and features a trio of acts worthy of just such a spotlight in Andrew Bird , Sharon Van Etten and The Alabama Shakes , all three of whom will be celebrating new full-length releases. Bird and Van Etten are the more known quantities, having gained big numbers of fans over the course of [...]

Dusdin Condren/Courtesy of the artist From NPR Music : Even when she's conveying disappointment, hurt or longing, Van Etten sounds more assertive and complex these days, aided by the ever-knottier contributions of guest players from The National , Wye Oak , Beirut and The Walkmen . The feathery coos of "Much More Than That" have given way to a tensely argumentative and conflicted sneer in "Serpents," the remarkable first single from Tramp , out Feb. 7. When she sings, "I had a thought that you would take me seriously," her words [...]

Photo by Joe del Tufo From NPR Music : Philadelphia's Dr. Dog has drawn glowing comparisons to legendary groups — The Beatles , Pavement , Guided by Voices — across the spectrum of rock. Formed in 1999 as a side project of another band, the group soon became a local favorite, eventually breaking out after touring with My Morning Jacket 's Jim James in 2004. Dr. Dog's subsequent albums achieved critical success; on Fate , the group recalled elements of psychedelic pop, while on Shame, Shame it embraces the [...]

Photo by Joe Del Tufo From NPR Music : Yet another band that's catapulted into the public eye via a catchy iPod jingle, Chairlift quickly built a substantial reputation on the pop scene of the late 2000s. The electronic pop group originated as a duo at the University of Colorado and then relocated to Brooklyn. Hear Chairlift perform live in concert from WXPN and World Cafe Live. Though frequently compared to other heavily electronic groups such as MGMT and Yeasayer , Chairlift has a sound that's far [...]

Photo by Joe Del Tufo From NPR Music : Real Estate doesn't take long to set a tone of wistful, rose-colored nostalgia on Days , its second album of reverb-y beach-pop. Given that The Beach Boys made a virtually eternal career out of a similar formula — cheery romanticism that masks an undercurrent of alienated melancholy — it's easy to get behind the band's winsome charms, which are surprisingly well suited to the arrival of cool weather. The band's music may cry out to be heard through a beachside [...]

Beloved garage-punk trio Le Butcherettes are currently at work on a followup to last year's breakout debut, Sin Sin Sin . However, that hasn't kept Teri Gender Bender out of the public eye. The group's charismatic singer/guitarist/keyboardist recently recorded a captivating live acoustic set for NPR's Tiny Desk Concert series . Watch the video: Le Butcherettes have also announced they will perform at the 2012 Coachella festival on both Sundays, April 15th and 22nd in Indio, CA. Omar Rodriguez [...]

Buxter Hoot'n , the Bay Area Indie Americana rock outfit hailed as "one of the great American bands today" ( Relix ) and "guardians of what Gram Parsons famously termed 'Cosmic American Music'" ( Dirty Impound ), extends its 5th anniversary tour in January with a West Coast swing behind its acclaimed self-titled third album. A national radio audience will get a live tour preview on NPR when the band performs January 7, 2012 on Sedge Thomson's West Coast Live from the David Brower Center in Berkeley, CA, prior to their tour warm-up that night at [...]

NPR Music's 'All Songs Considered' Listeners Pick Bon Iver 'Best Album of 2011' Bon Iver 's self-titled sophomore album has earned top billing from NPR Music fans, in this year's annual "Listener Picks for Best Album of 2011." Tens of thousands of All Songs Considered listeners voted to determine the results of the year-end list, which is dominated by perennial indie rock favorites: Fleet Foxes take the number two spot, with Adele, the Decemberists , [...]

Photo by Kristin Wilson From NPR Music : At 21, Laura Marling is already one of the great young folk singer-songwriters. With a sound characterized by graceful, refined lyricism and remarkable melodies, she's attracted widespread praise for her third album, A Creature I Don't Know . Growing up surrounded by music, Marling made her way to London at 16 to join the "new-folk" movement; she soon became a part of Noah and the Whale and collaborated with acts such as Mystery Jets and The Moldy Peaches . She then [...]

Coming out via Ghostly on December 6th, here's a stream of the new Jacaszek album, Glimmer . This album is simply gorgeous instrumental music that's perfect for the winter season. I'm planning on reviewing it, and I'm happy NPR Music is letting me get the jump on listening to it. Follow the link below for sonic pleasure. Stream: Jacaszek- Glimmer

From NPR Music : The record's most affecting element, however, is its lyricism, led with gimmick-less seriousness by Black Thought, a rapper whose storytelling is unencumbered by sophomoric jocularity or false cartoonishness. His desolation is unvarnished and striking in "I Remember," in which he darkly rhymes, "I drew a two of hearts from a deck of cards / A stock trick from my empty repertoire / Another hopeless story, never read at all / I'm better off looking for the end where the credits are." He's given fleeting respite from the stress of the drug [...]

CAKE has returned to eTown in order to celebrate the Elwha Dam Removal Project . Taped in Port Angeles, WA as part of a special "on the road" triple-bill, the performance was held September 17 in conjunction with Celebrate Elwha! - a multi-day event centered around the start of the nation's largest dam removal project. CAKE was also joined on stage by musical virtuoso Danny Barnes and singer/songwriter Eliza Gilkyson . The concert will broadcast nationally on NPR affiliates, with Part [...]

Photo by Jon Bergman From NPR Music: The U.K. band Los Campesinos! makes an ornery and quotable ruckus of the kind that could only come from seven talented brats clamoring to be heard over the din they create collectively. A single Los Campesinos! song can produce enough memorable lines to fill a dozen email signatures, provided it's possible to parse the words over singer Gareth's Welsh-accented mushmouth and the mad clatter that constantly threatens to drown him out. "By Your Hand," which kicks off Hello Sadness — the band's fourth [...]

Via NPR Music : A folk-punk singer-songwriter from Winchester, England, Frank Turner combines rock with poetry, juxtaposing gorgeous melodies and an aggressive stage presence. He spent his early years fronting short-lived bands like Kneejerk and Million Dead, but since striking out on his own in 2005, he's played ever-larger stages, even supporting Green Day on its European tour. Turner's latest album, England Keep My Bones , offers a compelling assortment of acoustic ballads, hard-rock ragers and an a cappella account of the Norman Conquest. Hear his songs from a performance at World Cafe [...]

Over at the NPR Music blog The Record , Ann Powers has posted a list of eight shiver-inducingly terrible music videos —a list inspired by the recently released book, I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution . From The Record: It's also maybe the first book best read at the computer, with your browser open to YouTube. Any given page triggers memories of a classically great or awful video. Rob Tannenbaum and Craig Marks, the book's co-authors, have been busy creating playlists to promote their [...]

Via NPR Music : Matthew Sweet has been crafting catchy power-pop since the early '80s. He was the toast of the alternative rock scene in Athens, Ga., for much of that decade, collaborating with R.E.M. 's Michael Stipe in a band called Community Trolls, as well as the groups Oh-OK and the Buzz of Delight. But it wasn't until the release of his third album, Girlfriend, in 1991 that his power-pop sound broke through and paved the way to a more successful career. Sweet has been releasing well-received albums ever since, both solo [...]

Zola Jesus at Le Poisson Rouge (10/19/11) Photo : Jon Klemm Hot on the heels of her just released album Conatus , Nika Danilova , aka Zola Jesus took CMJ by storm with three shows in just 24 hours. Jon and I caught up with her on CMJ Wednesday ( Oct 19 ) at Le Poisson Rouge , here's what WSJ rock critic Jim Fusilli had to say about that night: [...]

From NPR Music : A veteran of 1970s bluegrass bands such as Buffalo Gals, Nancy Josephson later let music fall by the wayside in favor of a successful career as a visual artist. But in 2006, her husband David Bromberg convinced her to jam with him and some friends — and Josephson was, once again, hooked by the music. She began the folk group Angel Band, which released its first album With Roots & Wings in 2007. Along with Kathleen Weber and Aly Paige, Josephson has wooed fans with her careful attention to three-part harmonies, [...]