All Songs Considered

On this week's +1 podcast, NPR Music contributor Timmhotep Aku talks with singer and rapper Anderson .Paak and producer Knxwledge about their new collaboration under the name NxWorries.

In this week's All Songs Considered, we feature three solo projects by some of our favorite bandleaders, a solo artist's duets record, and new music from some familiar faces, or more accurately put, some familiar Lips. The Flaming Lips are back with a new album, Oczy Młody, inspired by a Polish book that Wayne Coyne owns and finds phonetically fascinating (even if he doesn't understand any of the words). We've also got Run the Jewels, a duo that's all about the words and whose new single speaks to urgent issues of race relations. Laura Burhenn (Mynabirds) and Kyle Morton (Typhoon) each have quiet solo records that tackle life's preciousness, how the small things sometimes matter most and the tangles we amass. Sadie Dupuis of Speedy Ortiz went the loud route; Bob found one of the lyrics a little offensive, but that didn't stop Robin from playing it. We also hear from John Prine. He turns 70 this month and has recorded his highest charting record yet. For Better, Or Worse features a high spirited, often funny collection of cover tunes sung by a brilliant songwriter whose battle with cancer only seems to make him stronger. Every time I hear his Ernest Tubb and Loretta Lynn cover I laugh, and that's where our show starts.

Sunday is the 10th anniversary of My Chemical Romance's The Black Parade, a defining album for both the band and a generation of pop-punk fans. A decade later, NPR's Daoud Tyler-Ameen is still processing what it means to love this record, and what its impact says about the culture around it.

On this week's +1 podcast: A conversation with Henry Hey, the orchestrator, arranger and musical director for Lazarus, the off-Broadway musical set to the songs of David Bowie. Lazarus only ran in New York for six weeks last winter, and the songs weren't available for anyone to hear outside of those live performances until this week, when Columbia Records released the cast recording of Lazarus, along with three new songs Bowie wrote and recorded for the musical. The tracks, written during his Blackstar sessions, were among the final recordings Bowie made before he died of liver cancer on Jan. 10. To understand Lazarus, you first have to know about the 1976 film The Man Who Fell To Earth. Bowie starred in the movie as Thomas Jerome Newton, an alien who travels to earth in search of water for his dying planet. He starts a tech company, gets rich and uses the money to build a spaceship to transport water back home. But before he can take off, the government catches on and arrests him. After years in captivity, he's eventually freed, but left a lonely, broken alcoholic. Bowie always wanted to revisit his role in the film and conceived of Lazarusas a sequel that picks back up with his alien 40 years later. Though time has passed, Newton, played in the musical by Michael C. Hall, hasn't aged. But he's still addicted to alcohol, binges on Twinkies, and television. Set to a mix of Bowie's back catalog, Lazarus follows Newton as he tries find his way back home. Henry Hey worked closely with Bowie on arranging and orchestrating the songs for the stage. In this conversation, he talks about how he and Bowie reshaped the music to tell the story and what it meant to work on the iconic singer's final project.

For as much as the election has dominated the news this year, the political cycle hasn't invaded the world of All Songs Considered. But this week we've got a remarkable cut by the band EL VY that's all about Donald Trump. "Are These My Jets?" is from 30 Days, 30 Songs, an online compilation album that features a new song by a new artist every day for the final thirty days leading up to the election. (For the record, NPR is not endorsing any candidate. We just like the song!) A couple of other things about this week's show: NPR Music's Lars Gotrich joins us to talk about the stellar return of the band American Football, a beloved '90s group that's putting out its first new album in 17 years; and another popular artist from the '90s, Kristin Hersh (who you may know from the band Throwing Muses), is back with an incredible double album full of sonic wonders. All that plus a new single from Bob's favorite band of 2013, The Blow, and the ruminations of singer Conor Oberst.

This week's show features new music from Amber Coffman, a tribute to a friend and a collaboration between Rivers Cuomo and Pusha T. Plus: Reports of the guitar solo's death were greatly exaggerated.

We've got a lot of sounds on this week's show, from Solange's powerful meditation on being black in America, to the gentle folk of Gillian Welch. But some sounds are a lot louder than the others. 1. Solange: Tina Taught Me, 2. Solange: Don't Touch My Hair, 3. Cuddle Magic: Trojan Horse, 4. Major Stars: Unlearn, 5. Purling Hiss: 3000 AD, 6. Gillian Welch: Acony Bell (Demo), 7. Black Honey: Hello Today

This past week I was at the 17th annual Americana Music Festival & Conference in Nashville, listening to and having conversations with musicians. One songwriter and singer I've admired from the world of Americana during this decade is John Paul White, whom you may know as a former member of the duo The Civil Wars. White's new solo album, Beulah, came out in August, and it's a quiet, poignant work. Over the past few years I've been talking with musicians about a song that changed them, a song that perhaps inspired them to pick up a guitar or write a song of their own. I put out a book called Your Song Changed My Life, which examines those pivotal moments for 35 musicians, and while at AmericanaFest I had a chance to talk to White about his song, his moment of discovery in music. We had that conversation in front of a few hundred people in the Country Music Hall of Fame's Ford Theater. The conversation was one of the most thoughtful ones I've had on the subject. Frankly, it ended in tears for me — and many in the audience — when White performed John Prine's seminal anti-war song "Sam Stone." On this week's All Songs Considered +1 podcast, hear a conversation and performance from John Paul White.

Bob kicks things off with a big surprise: Brian Eno is singing! The ambient pioneer and producer hasn't released a vocal record in years. But he was lured back into the studio to record a new track by the Portuguese rock band The Gift. It's called "Love Without Violins" and Eno says it's one of the only times you'll ever hear him utter the word "love" in a song. Robin follows with a cut all about those late-night hours when you're alone with your thoughts and fear the worst about yourself. Appropriately enough it's called "Savages" and it's from Savoir Adore, the Brooklyn-based musical project of Paul Hammer. Also on the show: Bob is so overwhelmed by the insanely warped sounds of a new Dirty Projectors song that he scarcely notices its profoundly bleak lyrics; Australian singer Julia Jacklin has a searing, slow-building rock anthem to an old flame; Leonard Cohen turns 82 and celebrates with some of the darkest music of his incredible, 50-year career; And the folk-pop duo Johnnyswim covers what they call one of the sexiest songs of all time: Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game."

On this week's +1 podcast, Timmhotep Aku premieres "Rolling Stone," a new song from Danny Brown, and talks with the Detroit rapper about his upcoming album, Atrocity Exhibition.

NPR Music is headed to Nashville for this week's AmericanaFest where we'll be checking out some of the newest and most promising voices in roots music, along with a few veterans. All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen talks with NPR Music contributors Ann Powers and Jewly Hight about some of the artists they're most excited to see this year.

The gang's finally back together! And by gang we mean hosts Bob Boilen and Robin Hilton, who find themselves in the studio together for the first time in a month. With the summer break finally over, the two return with this week's essential mix, from both veteran artists and new discoveries. Robin opens the show with an epic, trance-inducing piece from Scottish singer-songwriter King Creosote, who calls it a "plaintive, hymn-like lament of frustration and debasement." Bob follows with a profoundly dark new song from Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds called "Jesus Alone." Also on the show: Peter Gabriel writes an ode to what he sees as the heroics of whistle blower Edward Snowden; Nick Murphy (formerly known as Chet Faker) a fantastically textured new song called "Fear Less;" London-based singer-songwriter L.A. Salami (his full name is Lookman Adekunle Salami) has a remarkable debut with lyrics that recall the densely layered poetry of Bob Dyla and a strange and wacky new cut from Cloud Becomes Your Hand, a New York-based band with a sense of humor and adventure that reminds Bob of Devo. 1. King Creosote "You Just Want," 2. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds "Jesus Alone," 3. Peter Gabriel "The Veil," 4. Nick Murphy "Fear Less," 5. L.A. Salami "Going Mad As The Street Bins," 6. Cloud Becomes Your Hands "Hermit"

There's a new film featuring Nick Cave and the first chance to hear his thoughts since his 15-year-old son fell from a cliff. We talk to director Andrew Dominik.

Ten years after Grandaddy's last album, the Modesto, Calif. band has released two new songs. Singer Jason Lytle reveals the emotional turmoil behind his return to the band's signature distorted pop.

When we settled into the studio for this week's All Songs Considered, a clear theme quickly emerged: We had a whole lot of music by artists we already adore! This includes a rare acoustic demo by R.E.M., a glorious new electro-pop cut from Sylvan Esso, a heartbreaking tribute song from Sharon Van Etten and more.This year marks the 25th anniversary of R.E.M.'s 1991 classic album Out Of Time. To mark the occasion, the band is releasing a deluxe version of the album that includes early acoustic demos of every song, including the one Robin Hilton kicks this week's show off with, "Radio Song." Stephen Thompson follows in the same spirit with Sylvan Esso's brand new "Radio," a somewhat retro synth thumper that mixes the band's signature dance pop with singer Amelia Meath's searching, often melancholy vocals.Also on the show: Sharon Van Etten's stirring tribute to the victims of the Pulse nightclub shootings in Orlando, Fla.; English poet, playwright and rapper Kate Tempest and a fabulous kiss-off from the Phoenix, Ariz. band AJJ. Plus, John K. Samson, lead singer for The Weakerthans, returns with a sentimental new song that has Stephen thinking of happier days.