NPR Music

NPR icon First Listen: Natalie Maines, 'Mother'

by Ann Powers
On an album of impeccably chosen covers, the Dixie Chicks singer shows how her fearlessness blends with compassion and stunning vocal chops. This is singing as a way of uncovering the truth, as difficult as it might be to bear.

NPR icon The Zombies Remember Their Odyssey

by Bob Boilen
On the occasion of the 45th anniversary of their classic album, Odessey and Oracle, members of The Zombies talk with NPR's Bob Boilen about their unusual harmonies, touring the U.S. as British teenagers in the 1960s and why they broke up before Odessey even came out.

NPR icon The Flaming Lips Present 'Yoshimi' Live In Concert

by Robin Hilton
The Flaming Lips first formed more than 30 years ago, and the group is still full of surprises. At an intimate club during the 2013 South by Southwest music festival, the band performed one of its most beloved albums, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, from start to finish. Watch a video of the full hour-long set here.

NPR icon The Flaming Lips Present 'Yoshimi' Live In Concert

by Robin Hilton
The Flaming Lips first formed more than 30 years ago, and the group is still full of surprises. At an intimate club during the 2013 South by Southwest music festival, the band performed one of its most beloved albums, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots, from start to finish. Watch a video of the full hour-long set here.

NPR icon Iggy & The Stooges, Live In Concert

by John Schaefer
NPR Music and WNYC's Soundcheck present a First Listen Live concert from proto-punk band Iggy & The Stooges, broadcast from New York City. Watch the group rip through songs from its new album, Ready to Die, as well as a handful of old favorites.

NPR icon First Listen: Os Mutantes, 'Fool Metal Jack'

by Jasmine Garsd
Nearly half a century into its history, the great Brazilian band returns with a lovely new album. These are the weirdos who've survived every Latin American apocalypse, and their new album shows it, oscillating perfectly between melancholy and crazed stoicism.

NPR icon First Listen: Deerhunter, 'Monomania'

by Stephen Thompson
Monomania has a dirtier, wirier, less fussed-over feel than the band has cultivated in recent years. The band's fifth album captures Bradford Cox's gift for self-laceration and unpredictability, but it moves in a less studio-bound direction, closer to the raw and unhinged spirit of his live shows.