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All Songs Considered
10:07 am
Thu May 23, 2013

Viking's Choice: The Man, The Machine, The 'Melee'

Credit Marilia Maschion / Courtesy of the artist
Author & Punisher styles some serious headgear.

Remember the slow-moving, ridiculously armed ED-209 in the first RoboCop movie? The poor thing couldn't walk down a stairwell, but boy, could that machine leave a bloody mess. Author & Punisher does much the same, for both the ears and whatever's left of the body.

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Tiny Desk Concerts
7:35 am
Thu May 23, 2013

Imani Winds: Tiny Desk Concert

Credit Marie McGrory / NPR
Imani Winds performs a Tiny Desk Concert in February 2013.

Originally published on Thu May 23, 2013 10:52 am

When Igor Stravinsky began composing The Rite of Spring, his ballet for vast symphonic forces, he could hear the music in his head but couldn't quite figure out how to write it down. It was just too complicated.

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Live in Concert
7:20 am
Thu May 23, 2013

James Blake, Live In Concert

Credit NPR Music

Each time I see James Blake and his band perform, I feel the extreme rush of hearing something for the very first time. The sound is sharp and visceral; it oddly vibrates the hair on my arms and, at moments of extreme bass, gets me feeling claustrophobic before the inevitable release when Blake sings. It's hopeful, mournful, always thoughtful.

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World Cafe
4:25 pm
Wed May 22, 2013

Mount Moriah On World Cafe

Credit Andrew Synowiez / Courtesy of the artist
Mount Moriah.

Originally published on Thu May 23, 2013 10:05 am

Mount Moriah is a rock band formed around the duo of guitarist Jenks Miller and singer Heather McEntire. Its second full-length album, the recent Miracle Temple, combines the strum and twang of Southern rock with vocals that hit hard emotionally.

On this installment of World Cafe, host David Dye discusses with McEntire the complexity of Mount Moriah's sound, as well as her push to explore the nuances in her vocals.

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Music Reviews
3:48 pm
Wed May 22, 2013

Kobo Town: A Haunted 'Jukebox' Filled With Caribbean Sounds

Credit Paul Wright / Courtesy of the artist
The Toronto-based band Kobo Town plays a hybrid of old-school calypso, ska and other West Indian styles.

Originally published on Wed May 22, 2013 5:29 pm

Throughout the new album Jumbie in the Jukebox, Kobo Town frontman Drew Gonsalves declares his love for the past even as his feet are firmly planted in the present. The music of the Toronto-based band can drift between classic Caribbean pop styles and even verge on hip-hop, but the singer's perspective remains sharply focused, wry and witty. The song "Postcard Poverty," for example, ribs tourists for whom tropical slums become an exotic backdrop to their fun-in-the-sun adventures.

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Deceptive Cadence
2:50 pm
Wed May 22, 2013

Henri Dutilleux, Leading French Composer, Dies At 97

Credit Pierre Verdy / AFP/Getty Images
Henri Dutilleux, a leading French composer and unique voice in new music, has died at age 97.

Originally published on Thu May 23, 2013 4:09 pm

Parallels
12:17 pm
Wed May 22, 2013

China's Artist Provocateur Explores New Medium: Heavy Metal

Originally published on Wed May 22, 2013 7:18 pm

The man ArtReview magazine named the most powerful artist in the world is trying his hand at rock stardom. In 2011, the Chinese artist Ai Weiwei spent 81 days in detention. He was later let go and charged with tax evasion.

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Mountain Stage
10:40 am
Wed May 22, 2013

The Sea, The Sea On Mountain Stage

Originally published on Thu May 23, 2013 8:54 am

The Sea, The Sea makes its first appearance on Mountain Stage, recorded live in Charleston, W.Va. The duo of singer-songwriters Mira Stanley and Chuck E. Costa first began performing and recording together in the fall of 2011. No stranger to West Virginia's most famous stage, Stanley spent much of her youth backstage at shows alongside her father, Mountain Stage bandleader Ron Sowell. She even auditioned once, as a very young girl, for host Larry Groce — "Don't call us, we'll call you," he told her. Many years later, he kept his word.

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Music Reviews
10:14 am
Wed May 22, 2013

Daft Punk: Accessing Electronic Music's Humanity

Credit David Black / Courtesy of the artist
Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter are the two men behind Daft Punk.

Originally published on Wed May 22, 2013 12:08 pm

I freely admit that, until the new Random Access Memories, I wasn't much of a Daft Punk fan. I could appreciate the craft and imagination that went into creating the French duo's mixture of electronic genres — techno, house, disco — but the mechanical repetitions and heavily filtered vocals didn't turn me on in any other way.

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Wednesdays Become Eclectic
7:59 am
Wed May 22, 2013

KCRW Presents: Yo La Tengo

Credit Larry Hirshowitz / KCRW
Ira Kaplan of Yo La Tengo performs live on KCRW.

Yo La Tengo has been able to stick together and make music on its own terms for more than 20 years; in today's climate, that's as rare as it is impressive. In an interview for KCRW, singer Ira Kaplan said the band likes to keep its process in the air and of the moment.

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