Summary: On this week's All Songs Considered we've got new music from Bon Iver, Luluc and White Fence, plus a look at a few of our favorite artists from the first half of the year. After ruminating on the challenges of potty-training with co-host Robin Hilton, Bob Boilen kicks off the show with a brand-new track from Bon Iver that appears on the soundtrack to Zach Braff's upcoming film, Wish I Was Here. Featuring a mantra-like vocal loop and pulsating drums, 'Heavenly Father' possesses the intimacy of For Emma, Forever Ago while also exploring new textures as well. Next, Robin premieres "Small Window," a gorgeously understated track from the folk duo Luluc. Later in the show Bob and Robin put in a call to NPR Music's Anastasia Tsioulcas and Frannie Kelley in New York City to play some of their favorite songs of the first half of the year; Anastasia chooses the Belgian chameleon Stromae (whose name is an inversion of the word "Maestro"), playing 'Ave Cesaria' from his recent release Racine Carrée. Frannie opts for 'Broken,' a cut from Piñata, the collaboration between the raw-voiced rapper Freddie Gibbs and the meticulous DJ and producer Madlib. Later, Bob and Robin also lure NPR Music's Lars Gotrich away from his desk and into the studio to shine some light on the state of metal in 2014: Lars plays 'I Will Run,' a melodic hard-rocker from Chicago's High Spirits. Robin wraps things up with White Fence's 'Like That,' the first tune we've heard from the California garage-rockers upcoming record For the Recently Found Innocent. With its catchy chorus and falsetto vocals, it takes Robin to a place of peace, and if only for a brief moment, he forgets whatever dirty diapers await him at home.
