Bob Boilen

On this week's All Songs Considered we share NPR Music listeners' picks for the top new artists from the first half of the year.

The British madmen brought fury, cathartic rage and deep thoughts to the Tiny Desk for one of the loudest, most raucous performances in memory.

A weekly playlist of songs heard on the popular NPR music discovery podcast.

What the creator of NPR Music's All Songs Considered and Tiny Desk Concerts is listening to right now.

This week's essential mix from All Songs Considered includes the honey-sludge pop of Haybaby, cathartic rock from the Shreveport band Seratones, dancer-turned singer-songwriter Jordan Moser and more.

Big Bird, Bert and Ernie, Elmo, Grover, Rosita, Count von Count, Abby Cadabby, Cookie Monster and other surprise guests gather at NPR's headquarters to celebrate 50 years of love, learning and joy.

Tomberlin is the daughter of a Baptist pastor, grew up singing in the church and, since her teens, has questioned her own beliefs in God and faith. Her songs are delicate and vulnerable.

This week's All Songs Considered features Bon Iver's "Hey, Ma," released just this week, French Vanilla's sax-driven throwback "Suddenly," and more. It'll leave you asking, "What's a porn crumpet?"

Quinn and his musical partner, guitarist and singer Nick Carpenter, arrived from the cool of Anchorage to the swelter of D.C. and performed with remarkable confidence and grace.

This week's All Songs Considered features a gorgeous, solo piano instrumental from Rhye, Tiny Desk contest winner Quinn Christopherson's unique look at male privilege, psych-pop via Ari Roar and more.

The film by Erik Nelson honors World War II fighter pilots and is called The Cold Blue. It's being released this Friday, along with Thompson's score, in time for the Memorial Day Weekend.

There is no one making music like this 27-year-old, classically trained opera tenor and pianist. Watch and see why.

Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood talks about his classical music featured on NPR Music's Tiny Desk, his love for the recorder and his composer heroes such as Steve Reich and Krzysztof Penderecki.

After receiving over 6,000 entries this year, we've picked a winner of the 2019 Tiny Desk Contest. Meet the gifted songwriter who captivated our panel of judges.

Joe Talbot, frontman for the British punk group IDLES, talks about Joy as an Act of Resistance, how Van Morrison's Astral Weeks changed his life and his tips for driving across Kansas while on tour.

These classically trained artists fill the NPR Music offices with shrieking, rhythmic noise that redefines what an electric guitar can do.

The musician won our hearts with his deeply moving 2018 Tiny Desk contest entry as Bernie and The Believers. He'd been fighting bulbar-onset ALS, an aggressive form of Lou Gehrig's disease.

This week's All Songs Considered explores the more drastic ends of the song spectrum, from cotton-candy pop to raging punk sung in Farsi.

Laraaji is best known to some for his ambient work with Brian Eno in the late '70s. He brings his meditative calm to the Tiny Desk in this hypnotic performance.

This week we've got a love song from Kate Tempest, music made in a hotel from Japanese Breakfast, a near-perfect pop-punk heartbreaker by Mannequin Pussy and more.