Saidah Blount

When hosts Bob Boilen and Robin Hilton are away, NPR Music's Saidah Blount and Daoud Tyler-Ameen hack past the All Songs firewall and take over the show.

The London post-punk band is by turns tender and ferocious as it showcases tracks from Adore Life to a sold-out crowd at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C.

Adele's 25 is finally here. The singer's long-awaited third album arrived today, but all week, anticipation has surged. We learned that 25 won't be available to stream on services like Spotify. It's projected (this is probably not a coincidence) to sell somewhere around 2.5 ...

Braggadocio is one of the undeniable cornerstones of hip-hop. Since the genre's birth, MCs have taken pride in the different ways they wordsmith their greatness. From the early battle rappers of the 1970s and '80s, to the poetic and politicized lyricism of modern legends like Rakim, Nas and Kanye, it's ...

It's ironic that Los Angeles, a city associated with Hollywood starlets and sunny beach-babe culture, has always carried on a serious love affair with the darker side of new wave. Since the late 1970s/early '80s, when some punks began turning down their guitars and switching on synths, British bands like ...

This fall is stacked with highly anticipated new albums from some of the brightest names in music. We're going to celebrate September's bounty with a pair of back-to-back First Listen Live concerts in NYC with the bands The Arcs and Beirut.

On Wednesday, Sept. 9, NPR Music will welcome The ...

It wouldn't be an overstatement to suggest that New Orleans singer-songwriter Benjamin Booker had a pretty good summer. Even before releasing his debut album last month, Booker's gravelly voice and bluesy swagger had guitar fans buzzing with anticipation. It didn't hurt that he'd nabbed a gig touring as the opening ...

Throughout her career, punk icon Brody Dalle has embraced her aggressive side. Best known as the lead singer of The Distillers and Spinnerette, Dalle has a sandpaper- and velvet-tinged voice that speaks to rebellious young punks who are curious about the world yet vulnerable to its sharp edges. "I've never ...

Mystery seems to swirl around D.D Dumbo. We'd heard all sorts of crazy rumors about this solo musician; namely, that Dumbo is a modern-day nomad whose only worldly possessions are his guitar and some crazy customized pedals. But once he arrived for one of our SXSW Backyard Sessions, here's what ...

2013 felt like the year in which the music video completed its shift from a four-minute commercial into a fully-immersive art experience. Videos have been more than just marketing tools for record labels to boost their album sales for a long time, but artists this year joyously pushed the idea ...

It's been a pretty big year for Brit producers (and brothers) Guy and Howard Lawrence. The electronic duo, better known as Disclosure, released their debut album, Settle, to great fanfare, and have been selling out venues across America.

Here, Disclosure performs a number of their hits live in Asheville, NC ...

London-based electronic producer Tourist. (aka Will Philips) has steadily earned the reputation of being one of the next big names in dance music. Known for creating emotive, slightly swampy remixes for Haim and Sharon Van Etten, Tourist. was recently signed to Disclosure's new label.

Here, Tourist. performs live at the ...

Singer and composer Gary Numan is firmly considered a pioneer of synth-based electronic music. His dark, brooding songs have often featured a heavy rock influence, with Numan sometimes feeding his synths through guitar pedals in order to create futuristic, industrial sounds. For this special Mountain Oasis set, Numan performed a ...

Multi-hyphenate entertainer Jherek Bischoff is known for pushing the limits of orchestral music. For this very special set for the Mountain Oasis Electronic Music Summit, Bischoff worked with four local Asheville, N.C. musicians willing to learn his complex, blissful compositions in less than 24 hours, and also asked his friends ...

At first, the inconspicuous facade of the El Segundo-based South Bay Customs motorcycle shop doesn't seem like the most compelling setting for one of our Field Recordings. But once we walked past the front doors, we quickly realized that this wasn't your everyday L.A. bike shop. South Bay's walls are ...

When most people think of Palm Springs, visions of softly baked desert landscapes come to mind. However, upon arriving at the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway, we were warned that the temperature differential between the desert and the top cliff of the Chino Canyon was about 30 degrees — cold enough ...

Ducktails started out as a solo side project for Real Estate's Matt Mondanile, but four albums in, it's turned into a serious collaborative lovefest. Mondanile worked with members of Cults, Oneohtrix Point Never and Big Troubles, in order to create Ducktails' emotional psych-pop sounds on his newest album, The Flower ...

It can be easy to dismiss emerging artists when there's major music-blog hype surrounding them. However, when the Glaswegian band Chvrches took to the stage with a chopped-and-screwed remix of Prince's "Let's Go Crazy," the crowd had a good idea that something special was about to take place.

At Austin's ...

Neon Indian, who performed at Brooklyn Bowl in Williamsburg on Thursday night, might be the biggest part of 2009's defining musical trend. What style or movement defined your year?

When the Fiery Furnaces hit the stage, it's all about their lead singer.