Bob Boilen

You'll want to listen to this week's essential new music on a good pair of headphones, preferably in the dark and, if you take drummer Ian Chang's advice, while getting a massage.

Van William's song preaches personal, not political, revolution — but these days, the lines can get blurry fast.

In this video from Alexander F — the side-project of Rubblebucket's Alex Toth — a punk singer transforms into a ballerina in a Kafka-referencing piece of individualistic affirmation.

The British teenager has been a rising star since he took home the Emerging Artist prize at Glastonbury two years ago. His debut album lives up to that early promise.

A sense of gathering storms, of laughing at the darkness, informed Ritter's most recent record, Gathering. In an Essay for All Songs Considered, he explains the process.

Fragile Rock is a band that relies on the boogie of The B-52s, the melancholy of The Smiths and the humor of Kermit the Frog. Oh, and they're all puppets.

Japanese Breakfast's Michelle Zauner pulls inspiration from Korean breath-hold divers, robotic love, Jimmy Fallon, tubular bells and the sad and thrilling moments in life.

There's comfort and mystery in "Bodyriders," the newest song from Kalbells, the solo project of Rubblebucket singer and saxophonist Kalmia Traver.

We open this week's essential mix with the sweetly melodic sounds of Michael Andrews and his score for the film The Big Sick. Also: the sensual sounds of Rhye, Protomartyr's existential rock and more.

Dave Depper, now a full member of Death Cab For Cutie, brought a quirky disco sensibility to this duet with Laura Gibson.

Melina Duterte may have played all the instruments on Jay Som's newest record, Everybody Works, but her touring band brought a rougher edge to those silky recordings.

A chance encounter in Berlin three years ago led Tom Adams toward a honest-to-goodness music career — today, we debut the newest video from his beautiful album Silence.

Anna Lann, a Tel Aviv-based multidisciplinary artist who works in music, dance and visual art, has crafted a breakup letter to humanity — from the Earth itself.

This week's essential mix includes new music from the Scottish rock group Mogwai, a piano ballad from St. Vincent, an epic and emotional cut from British singer Benjamin Clementine and more.

The D.C. band's new video, for the dreamy pop song "Builder," is about the ties that bind and also the ties that confine.

The Atlanta-based trio of the von Grey sisters — Kathryn, Annika and Fiona — bring a left-of-center approach to traditional pop.

My Bubba, a Swedish and Icelandic duo, swung through Jack White's Third Man Records in Nashville to record two songs for the label's Blue Series, including this spare beauty, "Gone."

Siv Jakobsen often remains lyrically tense and musically placid — though it could be hard to tell from the song we're premiering today, which rolls and rumbles uncharacteristically.

Women, guitar rock and New York dominate our listeners' musical landscape in this year's poll for 2017's best new artists (so far).

Algiers, now spread across three cities, have made a dense piece of work with The Underside of Power. Considering the record's sprawling scope, we asked them to help us understand it.