NPR: Exclusive First Listen

I recently made NPR's Exclusive First Listen a permanent bookmark (a serious sign of commitment since I like my bookmarks lean). I'm finding some good stuff and it's starting to influence my 'buy' list.

Thought I'd start a thread for discussing whatever the current offerings of the day/week are. For those that don't know, EFL offers streaming previews of full albums 2-weeks prior to release.

Currently up:
Lou Barlow (Dinosaur Jr, Sebadoh) : Goodnight Unknown
The Avett Brothers: I and Love and You
Noah and the Whale: The First Days of Spring
Rosanne Cash: The List

I'm listening to Lou Barlow now. I like. And another 37 minute album...hmmm. I like the closing few tracks much more than the first. The album started out more indie-rock sounding then transitioned to more melodic tunes. As a digression, I'm wondering if I'm falling out of favor with the current indie-rock sound, which I'll lamely categorize as densely layered fuzzy chords with a straight drum beat and vocals with a whiney characteristic often accompanied by floaty strings or synth sounds walking a chord.

Anyway, once I got past track 1 and a little of track 2. Lou Barlow became a contender for my ears.

I forgot about this thread, and looks like everyone else did too.

anyhoo...

Merle Haggard is up with a new album "I am what I am"

I don't think I ever listened to a Merle album, my exposures whatever came over the radio back when I lived in the rural north west. I'm about half way through. Its a charmer for those that like the more traditional country stylings (defining traditional as pre-1990 or so before NASCAR and Garth Brooks took over). Easy to listen to if a little schmaltzy on many songs, but Merle's still got it going on. I won't be getting this album, but I enjoyed the 35 minutes of nostalgia.

Some interesting first listens are currently up. Enough to keep me busy for the day. Listened to first 2 tracks on of New P while typing and hyperlinking. Pretty good.

The New Pornographers: Together

Josh Ritter: So Runs the World Away

The Fall: Your Future Our Clutter

LCD Soundsystem: This is Happening

I'm really digging The Fall: Your Future Our Clutter. It's rocking, jangly,noisy and driving. It sounds classic and fresh at the same time. The Fall is new to me but apparently they've been around for 28 albums. Despite being punk driven, I get a sense of layers and structures and meaning behind the sounds and difficult to comprehend lyrics that can keep me engaged for a while.

The track Mexico is damn danceable.party house punk...or whatever. I have no idea what he's saying but this cut is kicking.

I'd say that this is an album to consider and likely a contender for year end top 10.

2 track into the new one from The National, High Violet. So far, lovely.

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Originally Posted by noddin0ff

2 track into the new one from The National, High Violet. So far, lovely.

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It was just released today, actually, and the price on Amazon was less than $8! I also ordered the latest Richmond Fontaine (released months ago but I was so busy I never ordered it), and I'm trying to add a few more to my list since the shipping is free. I'll have to do some research and figure out what else I really need. :3:

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Originally Posted by Swish

It was just released today, actually, and the price on Amazon was less than $8! I also ordered the latest Richmond Fontaine (released months ago but I was so busy I never ordered it), and I'm trying to add a few more to my list since the shipping is free. I'll have to do some research and figure out what else I really need. :3:

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Tell me how you like the new National, Swish-daddy. What little I've heard sounds very much like the previous 2 releases... and I'm not sure if I need a third one. Then again, I'll be seeing them in August, and that usually "sells" me on a band's new stuff (I'm a sucker like that).

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Originally Posted by Mr MidFi

Tell me how you like the new National, Swish-daddy. What little I've heard sounds very much like the previous 2 releases... and I'm not sure if I need a third one. Then again, I'll be seeing them in August, and that usually "sells" me on a band's new stuff (I'm a sucker like that).

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...forward to this one after hearing a couple of the tracks. I, for one, don't expect bands to completely change direction for one cd to the next, and don't know many that do. Can I say each National cd sounds like the others? I suppose, but I still like hearing what they have to say, both lyrically and musically. I just haven't tired of them yet.

Just put in my Amazon order today

"High Violet" - The National
"Initiate" - The Nels Cline Singers
"So Runs the World Away" - Josh Ritter

"Historicity" - Vijay Iyer Trio
"All My Friends Are Funeral Singers" - Califone
"El Ultimo Trago" - Buika & Chucho Valdes

There's a bunch of albums up. I'm not quite keeping pace with them all.

Betty LaVette: Interpretations: The British Rock Songbook
This sizzles. Definitely worth a listen. It's all covers but they all are so excellently re-envisioned that they sound new. I mean, who has the authority to make an R&B/soul take on Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here? Answer: LaVette. Not sure how it will stand up to repeated long-term listening; could become gimmicky or might become a favorite, could go either way.

Harvey Milk: A Small Turn on Human Kindness
What a bunch of dirk metal wanking. Pass

Claudia Quinten: Royal Toast.
Couldn't take it. Pass

Still up for listening

Sleigh Bells: Treats
10 seconds in and I thought. "God, make it stop". A couple of minutes in and I'm thinking it might be fun. I'll have to listen to the whole thing first, but my initial impression is that if you took all the hyper candy pop from the 80s and amped it up and added heavy bass and compression you'd get this.
The Black Keys: Brothers
This ones also pretty good. Bluesy R&B. Fuzzy and both forward and backward looking. I like.
Tracey Thorn: Love and it's Opposite
I caught a bit of this on a radio interview (NPR) and figured I'd pass. Probably has merits for some, just not me. Still have to give the album a fair listen though

Thanks for the link. I had no ideas NPR had this. Nice score.. old, but nice and new for me.

The links were not so obvious but you can preview the previously unreleased tracks from the Stones' reissue of Exile on Main St here

A number of you are going to like this one. I'm just about completing my first listen and found it rather enjoyable.

Admiral Radley, 'I Heart California'

From the NPR Website (link above)
"Grandaddy and Earlimart are two beautifully mopey bands that secretly just want to have fun. After years of releasing (usually) melancholy, inwardly looking albums, members of both groups recently decided to get together and record a whole new batch of songs that are surprisingly playful and full of hope. Sure, there are still moments of wistful heartache. But the new tracks on I Heart California, coming out July 13 under the collective band name Admiral Radley, are relatively breezy with a healthy sense of humor.

Admiral Radley features Grandaddy frontman Jason Lytle and drummer Aaron Burtch along with Ariana Murray and Aaron Espinoza of Earlimart. Longtime friends, the four say they were a natural fit in the studio. "Recording started and sure enough, it was just as expected," says Lytle. "Loose and enjoyable, sometimes even hilarious and insane. Which is great!""

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Originally Posted by noddin0ff

A number of you are going to like this one. I'm just about completing my first listen and found it rather enjoyable.

Admiral Radley, 'I Heart California'

From the NPR Website (link above)
"Grandaddy and Earlimart are two beautifully mopey bands that secretly just want to have fun. After years of releasing (usually) melancholy, inwardly looking albums, members of both groups recently decided to get together and record a whole new batch of songs that are surprisingly playful and full of hope. Sure, there are still moments of wistful heartache. But the new tracks on I Heart California, coming out July 13 under the collective band name Admiral Radley, are relatively breezy with a healthy sense of humor.

Admiral Radley features Grandaddy frontman Jason Lytle and drummer Aaron Burtch along with Ariana Murray and Aaron Espinoza of Earlimart. Longtime friends, the four say they were a natural fit in the studio. "Recording started and sure enough, it was just as expected," says Lytle. "Loose and enjoyable, sometimes even hilarious and insane. Which is great!""

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Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!

Wow. This one is weirdly cool. And, another group I've never heard of. Probably not for everyone, but I really like it. An album of 'found' sounds turned into music. These guys apparently hit up thrift stores and buy up abandoned tapes and videos and scrounge.

The result is a wandering, strangely engaging, hippy-dippy, not quite techno, sound trip. Lots of spoken word sound bites. The write up at NPR (click here) is trying too hard, we're not talking about the second coming here. But, it's different, surprisingly well done, and a pretty good album start to finish.

Listen to the album at this link
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...oryId=98679384

I also found a video from one of the more driving tracks. Pretty good encapsulation of the weirdness of the album in general. There's a lot more variety to be found on the album, however. Some of the more mellow speaking parts of the album, to me, are reminiscent of the intro to PT's Signify (if that gets any of you interested, heh heh).

From Pitchforks comment with the video (linked for your pleasure)..
If you're like me and made your parents buy you a Talkboy the second you walked out of Home Alone 2, this video might give you some chills. A new Books track, which they performed in Boston last week, is culled from Talkboy tapes they found in thrift stores, and, boy, was I that nasty as a 10-year-old? Eh, probably so.

<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/TqlVCKfX3hk&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/TqlVCKfX3hk&amp;hl=en_US&amp;fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>

Three more up now.

Menomena: Mines (link)
Got about 3 songs in and got bored. YMMV.Moody looping lush-ish tracks.

Jessica Hoop: Hunting (link)
3 tracks in and liking this one. Interesting sound with some classic folk roots. Reminiscent of Kate Bush and Tori Amos (the write up adds Bjork and Fiona Apple to my picks. I don't hear Bjork, personally, but can see Fiona). Track 3 gets more experimental and distorted, maybe a slight lean to Breeders territory. But maybe I just make stuff up. Think this one could be a 'grows on you' winner. There's some substance to engage.

Measha Brueggergosman And The Cleveland Orchestra Perform Wagner's Works (link)
Haven't gotten to this one yet.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA300_.jpg

The new Arcade Fire is up for free streaming
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...ryId=128878239

Ray LaMontagne: God Willin' and the Creek Don't Rise is up for listening

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...ryId=128986999

Also up are a bunch of good recorded streams from the 2010 Newport Jazz and Folk Festivals. Pretty decent way to hear some new stuff.

Jazz
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...oryId=92839666

Folk
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...oryId=92834404

There's a new album up for streaming from Deerhunter, Halcyon Digest.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA300_.jpg

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...ryId=129866612

I'm only a few minutes into my first listen. However, my first thought is there must be some fans here in RR that might want to know...Halycon seems like an apt descriptor so far.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA300_.jpg

New Neil Young is up for streaming! Just Young and a guitar. That's it. At least that's what the text says.

"This is a unique album from Neil Young. As producer Daniel Lanois puts it, there is no band, no overdubs, just "a man on a stool and me doing a nice job on the recording." The result is a stunning sonic adventure."

Maybe one man and no overdubs, but it sounds a good distance from acoustic. There's a lot happening in the electro realm.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...ryId=129955938

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Originally Posted by noddin0ff

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA300_.jpg

New Neil Young is up for streaming! Just Young and a guitar. That's it. At least that's what the text says.

"This is a unique album from Neil Young. As producer Daniel Lanois puts it, there is no band, no overdubs, just "a man on a stool and me doing a nice job on the recording." The result is a stunning sonic adventure."

Maybe one man and no overdubs, but it sounds a good distance from acoustic. There's a lot happening in the electro realm.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...ryId=129955938

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I'm giving it a listen now. From what I understand - saying it is just a man and a guitar is a bit of an understatement. It is more like, a man, his guitar, and a lot of production effects by Daniel Lanois.

I'm digging it though, I'd love to hear it on the big system but the computer goes to headphones. I've got the K701 which have a large stage depth. And this, at least in streaming format, doesn't sound like it that has that large of a stage. Which is too bad. Because of all the effects it would seem natural to pair that space like sound with a huge stage.

Overall I'd say the new Neil Young album was good. I'm glad they mixed up the effects. Going from overly done to almost none - or just splitting up certain string on the guitar on left and right channel.

Listening to the "Guitars from Agadez Vol 3" now - this is good stuff - but - a little too much of the same thing after 3 or 4 songs.

just finished listening to Sufjan Steven's new stuff online -

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...oryId=98679384

I have to say I was scared - but now I think it is just fantastic!

Can't wait to buy it and hear it on the big system!

I haven't been keeping up with the streams, unfortunately. Just got a listen to this one
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...ryId=130674092

I gotta say, its fantastic. It gets better the further in you listen. At least after the first track...which isn't that bad, either.
There is a good writeup of the album from a non-NPR site here. I copy from it below

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Originally Posted by www.hearya.com

"Black Dub consists of Trixie Whitley (vocals), Brian Blade (drums), Daryl Johnson (Bass) and Daniel Lanois (guitars, vocals, keys). Trixie is the newcomer to the equation, bringing a smoky and soulful belt that you would expect from someone twice her size. I’ll admit that Trixie’s vocals were a bit of an obstacle for me at first. Being a Lanois fan, I wanted to hear him sing. But after a week of listening to this album, I’m really drawn in by what she brings to the table.

On bass guitar, Daryl Johnson is as smooth as butter. His tone covers a broad range from deep subby raggae/ dub to vintage Motown tube growl. Pair him up with Brian Blade, one of the greatest drummers alive, and you have one potent rhythm section. I’ve never wanted to hear a drummer’s hi-hat more than Brian’s. There’s something about the way he hits it and the way Lanois records it that has incredible character. It’s not just there to keep time – it’s part of the story."

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So...the band is a project by Daniel Lanois, who produced a ton of U2 albums and Gabriel's So and Us. He also produced that recent bit of electronic wanking, Neil Young Le Noise (mind you, I'm not faulting Young). I, personally, have grown real tired of that overproduced, multi-layered sound. And, truthfully, this album has it and IMO would be better, if not and instant classic, if it a less slick, more organic production. That said, there is a still lot to like on Black Dub. There's a great soul, spiritual, blues funky vibe that comes through. I found it a hopeful and uplifting bit of rocking out and jamming. It doesn't hurt that everyone on it sounds damn good.

An album who's soul shines bright despite an overproduced gloss.


Black Dub (self-titled)
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA300_.jpg

Lots of you are waiting for this one. Now up for full streaming for those that didn't receive the sneak peak from fellow ARer. I like much better than previous efforts.

The Decemberists - The King is Dead

http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2010...lde_2_wide.jpg

I'm liking what I'm hearing, so far. And I'm not even a big Decemberists guy!

I always forget what a great opportunity for exposure NPR provides...kinda a departure for the Decemberists but well worth the listen.

I'm currently enjoying this ...interesting backstory too.

Thanks noddy

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Originally Posted by bobsticks

I always forget what a great opportunity for exposure NPR provides...kinda a departure for the Decemberists but well worth the listen.

I'm currently enjoying this ...interesting backstory too.

Thanks noddy

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Ooooh! I'm a fan of Mingus Big Band. They do great work keeping the spirit alive. Thanks back at ya.

I've also been enjoying the coming release from Wire - [I]Red Barked Tree[/I]. I never really listened to them in the past, so can't comment on how this might compare. Sounds contemporary to me, while not adopting some of the current sounds I don't like (whining, overlayered chords, e.g.). Enjoying the whole flow of the album.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA300_.jpg

this is currently streaming on NPR...comes out tomorrow officially so I think they stop streaming then
Really gorgeous harmonies and subtle instruments...all haunting... Americana folksy on the surface but a bit more dirge-y and deep than some others. I likes.
The Low Anthem - Smart Flesh

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Originally Posted by jonnyhambone

this is currently streaming on NPR...comes out tomorrow officially so I think they stop streaming then
Really gorgeous harmonies and subtle instruments...all haunting... Americana folksy on the surface but a bit more dirge-y and deep than some others. I likes.
The Low Anthem - Smart Flesh

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Yes - good stuff. A bit too similar and then BAM! AWESOME SONG - then back to good stuff. it's like that one Cranberries album with Zombie on it. A bunch of folk and then BAM AWESOME and back to folk. I didn't like it when i was 15 and spent $16 ($4 would have got me high) one a bunch of folk. Double my age and now I like the album fine enough.

Haven't been hitting the NPR much lately and when I have I've been somewhat disappointed. Today, however, I'm giving this pending album by Tinariwen two thumbs up. Anyone familiar with their other album? Click pic for link to NPR.

Tinariwen - Tassili
http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2011...1313979973&s=4

From NPR page:
Let's get one thing straight: Tinariwen is just about the best guitar-based rock band of the 21st century. There's a chance you're one of the lucky explorers who has already discovered the magic of the group's music — but if not, stop reading, hit play, and soak in the first song before you read any further.

Jimi Hendrix would have loved Tinariwen, and I'm certain Tinariwen loves Hendrix, as well as Television — not the tube, but the New York art-punk band from the '70s. In my mind, there's a direct link: Tinariwen is trance music with attitude. You might not be able to understand what the band is singing about, but it feels familiar, doesn't it?

Tinariwen's members are Tuareg people, nomads from Saharan North Africa. Guitarist and founding member Ibrahim Ag Alhabib witnessed atrocities in his youth, including the execution of his father. He tells the story of watching an American Western as a child — the film featured a cowboy playing guitar — and then using a tin can, a stick, and some wire to fashion a guitar of his own. Is there a more rock 'n roll story than that?

For those afraid to dip their toes, here are a few incentives: Nels Cline, the brilliant guitarist from Wilco, plays on Tassili, as do Tunde Adebimpe and Kyp Malone from TV on the Radio. Some brilliant brass makes its way onto this record, too, courtesy of New Orleans' legendary Dirty Dozen Brass Band. I've seen Tinariwen play many times in many settings, from small theaters to big festivals, but the group shines brightest in a rock club. The rhythm will get you dancing, the singing will resonate in your chest, and the guitars will carry you away. Listen loud!

i have been listening a lot to kcrw eclectic24, all music, new music, few repeats in any listening period.

KCRW 89.9 FM | Eclectic24 Track List | Los Angeles, CA

very stimulating and now my favorite non-jazz station. its also available as an adroid phone app for free. soon i will have a car with an input to its radio so i can listen while driving. i suppose i could use my etymotics but i am not an ipod kind of user.

black dub and fink are some of what i hear there. theres always something new. and old too. miles davis, lou reed, the skyliners, etc. truly eclectic.

Really good couple albums up on First Listen currently! The St. Vincent I wrote off at first - thinking, if I want to hear Kate Bush-esque songs, I'll always be happy to put on Kate Bush...this is a pretty sweet album though after a few spins. I also am really loving the Meg Baird, her work with Espers is really under-rated I think and this is pretty straight-up folk-y but quite lovely stuff. The side-bar Laura Marling song is awesome too. Go Ladies! Need to try that Opeth that's up too but haven't gone there yet.
ps. on the theme of how streaming helps/hurts artists...I streamed the Tinariwan from First Listen and loved it - vinyl copy is on the way!

NPR's First Listen

http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2011...1316205059&s=4

From NPR
"September 19, 2011
Wilco's more than 15-year evolution as a band has featured a stunning series of sonic ebbs and flows. The group's revolving cast of members started off recording country-flavored pop songs with fairly standard chord progressions, rhythms and instrumentation. But each album that followed Wilco's 1995 debut, A.M., grew increasingly experimental, culminating in 2002's brilliant but polarizing Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. The record earned Wilco vast critical praise and attracted a massive new audience, but it also alienated many fans of the band's earlier, more traditional songwriting. Then, over the course of three more albums, Wilco retreated from its arty studio tricks and returned to safer, more conventional music-making — which led to more head-scratching. What kind of band is this? What does it want to be?

Listening to Wilco's latest album — The Whole Love, out Sept. 27 — it's clear that the group's members are just a bunch of talented, inspired and entirely genuine music lovers who stay married to few, if any, rules. They both embrace and dismantle the elements of songcraft as an endlessly malleable art form, and do it so gracefully that they've made Wilco perhaps America's best band, even if the results are sometimes mixed.

On one hand, The Whole Love is Wilco's most adventurous record in a decade. The band is back to playing with polyrhythms and structure, often abandoning typical verse-and-chorus lines for less linear and more surprising songs. But they also include cuts that would fit comfortably on some of the band's earliest records. The Whole Love's seven-minute opener, "Art of Almost," is an epic, sprawling, magnificently disjointed song full of strange textures and unexpected twists. But it's followed by "I Might," a candy-flavored pop song like something from 1999's Summerteeth. In "Dawned on Me," dark, thrashing guitars clash with delicate vocals and a lovely, hopeful melody. "Born Alone" is one of the catchiest songs Wilco has ever produced, while "Capitol City" has an almost goofy shuffle like something from an early Randy Newman record — not that there's anything wrong with that. The Whole Love closes with "One Sunday Morning," a moving 12-minute meditation on growing old and battling inner demons, the strained relationship between a father and son, and the weight of bitter regret.

Wilco's gifted frontman and primary songwriter, Jeff Tweedy has been making music for nearly 30 years, going all the way back to his earliest days in the early-'80s rockabilly band The Plebes, and he's never pretended to owe anyone anything. He takes his songs where his heart and imagination lead him, and regardless of which camp you fall in — pre- or post-Yankee Hotel Foxtrot — the results are always rewarding."

http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2011...1317784781&s=4

Whenever I say 'Bjork' I think of the Swedish Chef.

I've had this one on pre-order for a while. Now it's up for pre-listen here. I like it so far. Accessible as far as Bjork goes and a lot to ingest, as per usual. NPR has lots to say:

"October 4, 2011
Björk is not one for half measures: When she embarks on a new project, it's guaranteed to be a fully conceived artistic statement. For more than two decades, the Icelandic pop musician has created album after album of genre-bending, globe-spanning, forward-thinking songs with oversized intentions and flair that's distinctly her own. Björk has been similarly imaginative in other media, too; in her wild, colorful costuming and bizarre hairstyles, and in her mind-blowing music videos. There's no one else out there quite like her.

So it's fitting that Biophilia, Björk's latest and most ambitious project yet, began as a collection of songs written around themes of nature, science and humanity's relationships to both. For most artists, that'd be a lofty enough concept on its own. But Björk heavily researched astrophysics, string theory, neurology, biology and other areas where science and music meet. Her big ideas didn't stop there.

She also wanted people to explore inside the music and ultimately collaborate with it. For Biophilia, she'd originally envisioned a musical house — like a museum, she's said — wherein people could roam from room to room, with each interactive space designated to a different song. Later, she envisioned an IMAX film experience with visionary filmmaker Michel Gondry. When both of those ideas fell through, Björk commissioned an iPad app with which users can manipulate her music with various games, remix it and further understand the scientific and musical principles behind each song. It's a lot like her idea for the musical house, but in a digital environment. It's also just the kind of bonkers vision that Björk would be drawn to, and if it all works, it ought to be ingenious and tons of fun.

That said, for all the talk of the app, the biggest danger is that the songs themselves might end up being secondary to the grander statement. But, isolated from the iPad, Biophilia's songs are astounding. With a project like this, you might expect the music to be buried in layers of instruments — as on Björk's last album, the hyper-charged Volta. Instead, Biophilia benefits from being pared-down and minimalist. Each work focuses on a specific set of non-traditional instruments (no guitar, no piano) that serve as the backbone for each track. Amid rumbling synths, regal horn passages and crisply plucked string sequences, Björk uses specially made instruments like a "gravity harp," a Tesla coil, a group of pendulums and the clanging "gameleste," a hybrid of gamelan and celesta, played remotely with an iPad.

She also employed the iPad's touchscreen interface to create many of the glitchy digital sounds and skittering, chopped-up beats. Björk has explained that it helped her rethink her own natural tendencies. "All my songs end up being 83 BPM," she recently told Wired magazine, "which is the speed I walk. I felt stuck. I was writing most of my songs in 4/4: verse, chorus, verse, chorus." As on another previous album, Medulla — on which each instrument was crafted from a voice or vocal sample — Björk's self-imposed constraint has actually opened her up to a more spacious songwriting style. These songs have room to breathe, employing space and silence as much as melody and harmony. The sparse instrumentation and arrangements become gorgeously intricate meditations on which to build.

Yet at the heart of Biophilia is, of course, Björk's iconic, haunting voice. Vocal melodies unfurl more like transcendent devotionals than typical verses, and become even more stirring when accompanied by a chorus of voices that could fill a cathedral. Still, even as Björk chants and sings of nature, biology and the origins of the universe, songs like "Cosmogony" and "Moon" remain intimate and affecting by using scientific ideas as metaphors for universal sentiments. "Like a virus, patient hunter, I'm waiting for you, I'm starving for you," she sings in "Virus."

There's much to unpack with Biophilia; it takes many listens to grasp what's happening. For many, Björk's music can be strange and challenging, and it might not connect with everyone. But it's hard to deny her admirable and inspiring devotion to pushing the envelope musically. Björk is such an odd, elusive iconoclast that you truly never know what she'll try next. As always, that's part of the joy here."

Quote:

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Originally Posted by noddin0ff

I've had this one on pre-order for a while. ..NPR has lots to say: "...you truly never know what she'll try next. As always, that's part of the joy here."

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Yea, that and the new Joe Henry, also a recent NPR first listen, are gonna get some listens in the next few days, and hopefully for the next few weeks and months too. Just listened to part of Blood from Stars (2009) this morning in anticipation. Really a nice record.

http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2011...1317608134&s=4
Joe Henry's new album, Reverie, comes out Oct. 11.

October 2, 2011
Joe Henry has never been easy to pin down. In a career spanning more than two decades, he's had his hands in a bit of everything, from gospel, folk and country to experimental rock and pop, soul and funk. But throughout his years of sonic shapeshifting, Henry has maintained a singular voice defined by his love of strange, almost magical spaces. His songs, regardless of the form they take, always seem to drift through shadows and fog.

Joe Henry's latest album, Reverie, is no exception. On the surface, it's a straight-up roots record: a mix of acoustic songs steeped in the spirit of early-20th-century ragtime and blues. They stagger and strut woozily across dusty floors on sultry nights, and there's a creaky wooden circus echoing from the edge of town. But, as with most of Henry's work, things are rarely what they seem.

Much of the mystery in Joe Henry's music is suggested in the production more than any particular line or melody. Henry recorded Reverie in his basement studio and left the windows literally wide open. You can hear the street sounds — a barking dog, birds chirping, lazy traffic — throughout the album. He captured these songs as loosely as possible, in their rawest form, with no studio trickery. As a result, the music rattles and trembles, and feels as though it could break apart at any moment.

Henry also stokes the mystery with beautifully seductive narratives and themes. Much of Reverie is haunted by the elusive, transformative passing of time. Beauty fades, friends and lovers are lost, the world fills with despair and grows weary under its own weight. In one song, "Room at Arles," Henry recalls his friend Vic Chesnutt, a brilliant but troubled artist who took his own life after years of battling depression.

Joe Henry has spent a lifetime helping other musicians find their voices, producing some of the most memorable albums from Aimee Mann, Aaron Neville, Betty LaVette and many others. But his finest and most arresting work has always been his own. Reverie is Henry's 12th full-length album and possibly his best. If there's a restlessness in his music, it settles, if only for a moment, on this beguiling and beautifully disheveled collection.

Ah...Nothing quite satisfies the way a Tom Waits album does. Album is out today and streaming as well.

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Quoting NPR

Everything about Tom Waits is a contradiction of one sort or another: He cuts an unknowable and even otherworldly figure, yet his songwriting can be tear-jerkingly humane. He's untethered to eras or trends, yet his sound and the characters he inhabits are distinctly American. And, for all the ways his image classifies him as a lone wolf, he's one of music's great collaborators, having spent the last three decades working closely with wife and songwriting partner Kathleen Brennan.

Waits, of course, is an expert at feeding the mystery surrounding his deeply weird but strangely accessible music; to interview the man is to be led into a catacomb of misdirection and non sequiturs. But on his 17th album Bad As Me, out Oct. 24, Waits and Brennan continue to craft songs marked by uncommon empathy. Waits' first all-new studio record in seven years, it toggles constantly between heartsick vulnerability and hell-bound defiance: He may attempt to wake the devil in the stomping title track, commiserating with a lover who's "the same kind of bad as me," but a few songs later, he's grimly mourning his status as "the last leaf on the tree" — a survivor, but a lonely one.

For Waits, vulnerability and defiance are two sides of the same coin anyway; just listen to the blisteringly ramshackle "Satisfied," in which satisfaction and death are practically interchangeable. He may exude fatalism in "Pay Me" — a punch-in-the-gut ballad in which he memorably sings, "All roads lead to the end of the world" — but his delivery is a carefully controlled mix of ruefulness and realism. For Waits, ugliness and beauty both find ways to persist against all opposition. But in the end, amid these 13 songs' furious clatter and gutter-level grime, beauty improbably wins out.

I liked the Heartless Bastards last release and will be picking up their new one when it releases. After taking a preview listen, it doesn't have the ragged edges and overall rawness of the previous release. To my ears,however, there's still an abundance of heartfelt energy here. More tension between the melody and the emotion. Slightly more polished release, but still fresher and more immediate than most things I've listened to in a while.

I know I'm prone to misjudging what I'm going to like by the year end. That said. This will make my top 10, I'm sure.

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NPR says (Link and listen HERE):
Every single element of Heartless Bastards' sound and story — the moodily bluesy Southern rock, the reputation for tireless touring, the ever-changing lineup of backing players — is a satellite orbiting around Erika Wennerstrom, the diminutive dynamo who sings, plays guitar and writes the band's songs. Her booming, throaty, commanding presence dominates all four of Heartless Bastards' albums, the latest of which, Arrow, comes out Feb. 14.

Wennerstrom has led Heartless Bastards through many phases, as well as a move from Dayton, Ohio, to Austin. But she and her present-day compatriots, who now include an extra guitarist in Mark Nathan, straddle those sounds with ease and assurance on Arrow. While the rawness of the group's early garage rock has been smoothed out and refined on recent records, a current of white-knuckle tension still roils just beneath the surface. It may open as a lazy, knockabout shuffle, but the single "Parted Ways" builds and builds, hanging on Wennerstrom's every confidently delivered word until it blooms into a sprawling guitar solo, retreats to calmer terrain and finally accelerates with abandon.

Awash in the sort of rafter-climbing rock 'n' roll epics that always sound even bolder in a live setting, Arrow takes time to creep down quieter corridors in "The Arrow Killed the Beast" and "Low Low Low." The latter song frames Wennerstrom's voice in delicate steel guitars before giving her space to echo and boom in a beautiful chorus — just one more chance for Arrow to shine a spotlight on a rock star in the making.

And the album art

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