All Songs Considered

We’ve got six must-hear songs to add to our running list of the year’s best tracks, including some shredding from The Beths, a gorgeous solo piano piece from Dustin O’Halloran, sublime jazz from Nicholas Payton and more.

Featured artists and songs:


1. The Beths: “No Joy,” from ‘Straight Line Was A Lie’

2. Nate Smith & Saje: “Big Fish,” from ‘Live Action’

3. Dustin O’Halloran: “Gold” (Single)

4. Dara Star Tucker: “Pure Imagination,” from ‘Time Wouldn’t Wait’

5. Grumpy: “Crush,” from ‘Piebald’

6. Nicholas Payton (with Esperanza Spalding and Karriem Riggins): “Let It Ride,” from ‘Triune’

Weekly reset: A late-summer day at the playground

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Questions, comments, suggestions or feedback of any kind always welcome: allsongs@npr.org

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We enter the stomp-clap era as we look back at our number one songs from 2009.

Note: This is a recurring feature in celebration of the show's 25th anniversary. A shorter version of this episode ran earlier in the year.

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Guerilla Toss. Die Spitz. The return of Spinal Tap. Raina Douris from WXPN's World Cafe joins Stephen Thompson to discuss their favorite albums out Friday, Sept. 12.


The Starting 5:

- Spinal Tap, 'The End Continues' (Stream)

- Guerilla Toss, 'You're Weird Now' (Stream)

- Die Spitz, 'Something to Consume' (Stream)

- Frost Children, 'Sister' (Stream)

- Mark William Lewis, 'Mark William Lewis' (Stream)


The Lightning Round:

- Sophie Ellis-Bextor, 'Perimenopop'

- Asher White, '8 tips for full catastrophe living'

- Jade, 'THAT'S SHOWBIZ BABY!'

- Fruit Bats, 'Baby Man'

- Kassa Overall, 'CREAM'


See the long list of albums out Sept 12 and sample dozens of them via our New Music Friday playlist on npr.org.


Credits

Host: Stephen Thompson

Guest: Raina Douris, WXPN

Audio Producer: Noah Caldwell

Digital Producer: Elle Mannion

Editor: Otis Hart

Production Assistant: Dora Levite

Executive Producer: Suraya Mohamed


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This week's episode of Alt.Latino is a tribute to host Felix Contreras, who just received the Hispanic Heritage Award for Journalism from the Hispanic Heritage Foundation. Co-host Anamaria Sayre and the Alt.Latino team surprised Felix with guest appearances from Juanes, Daymé Arocena, Chucho Valdés, Dolores Huerta and more.

This podcast was produced by Noah Caldwell. The executive producer of NPR Music is Suraya Mohamed.

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Hear the songs we just had to share this week. NPR Music’s Dora Levite joins host Robin Hilton to update our running list of the year’s best songs, with head-spinning, shape-shifting wonders from Asher White, transcendent ambient sounds from Early Fern, the first new solo album from Neko Case in eight years and more.

Featured artists and songs:

1. Asher White: “Beers with my name on them,” from ‘8 Tips for Catastrophe Living’

2. Neko Case: “Wreck,” from ‘Neon Grey Midnight Green'

3. caroline: “Total Euphoria,” from ‘caroline 2’

4. Sturle Dagsland: “Hugging Horses,” from ‘Dreams And Conjurations’

5. Model/Actriz: “Doves,” from ‘Piourette’

6. Early Fern: “Teasel,” from ‘Wetland Interiors’

Weekly reset: Horses are really having a moment

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Questions, comments, suggestions or feedback of any kind always welcome: allsongs@npr.org

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