Stephen Thompson

We Get Mail: What To Do When You've Burned Out On Your Favorite Music

Stephen Thompson — Thu, 02 May 2013 19:49:00 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MMXjunSx80

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZBw777jRqbM

Jittery Jams: 10 Songs For Coffee Lovers

Stephen Thompson — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 01:52:00 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sb5qqoQgPlk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVGXcjM9SOQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUx5z9O2ZGk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WfQN_M1pQc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZk2LYsBIi8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRxS7Q64xUQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFURd_EOIuU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nzMS_YrgFk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qk_wVO7NBMQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oqXVx3sBOk

Jason Molina, A Folksinger Who Embodied The Best Of The Blues, Has Died

Stephen Thompson — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 20:07:00 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gBaolYCbyE

Baby Bands, Pop Stars And Room-Filling Joy: What To Expect At SXSW 2013

Stephen Thompson — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 20:50:00 +0000

Listen to Stephen Thompson's conversation with Audie Cornish on All Things Considered by clicking the audio link.

The South by Southwest music festival kicked off Tuesday with the first of five straight nights of music overload: The clubs, makeshift music venues and front porches of Austin, Texas, were overrun with little-known discoveries-in-waiting and big names alike, as well as tens of thousands of fans who have flocked to the city in search of epiphanies.

Finding a prevailing trend at SXSW isn't easy; the festival is like 50 events in one, so it's possible t

First Listen: Shout Out Louds, 'Optica'

Stephen Thompson — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 17:28:47 +0000

Audio for this feature is no longer available.

Say what you will about some of the biggest songs of the 1980s — go ahead and badmouth electric pianos, and by all means bemoan the prevailing production quality — but the decade continues to cast a long shadow over popular music.

The xx: Tiny Desk Concert

Stephen Thompson — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 19:03:00 +0000

It's easy to think of The xx as a fashionable band: Its members have a sleek all-in-black look, its typography and cover art is coolly and distinctively styled, and the group itself has been showered with validation, including Britain's 2010 Mercury Prize.

Sunday, 8 p.m. ET: Spend Grammy Night Staring At Screens With Us!

Stephen Thompson — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 20:49:00 +0000

With the conclusion of Sunday night's ceremony, Linda Holmes and I have now live-blogged fully one-eleventh of the Grammy Awards' 55 annual incarnations. Below is our original post and an archived live blog of the telecast:

For the fifth straight year, whether we're marveling at Taylor Swift's capacity for surprise or trying to figure out what to type during the combined 37 minutes of Bruno Mars performances, we're here to serve your reading-along needs.

Of Montreal: Tiny Desk Concert

Stephen Thompson — Mon, 28 Jan 2013 19:03:00 +0000

About halfway into Of Montreal's Tiny Desk Concert in the NPR Music offices, I showed a friend a Post-It note on which I'd just scribbled, "Was I wrong to expect more of a decadent, pan-sexual carnival?" I'd thought we were going to need to throw plastic sheeting over our desks, like at a GWAR concert, and there we were, watching a miniaturized Of Montreal — just Kevin Barnes solo, albeit with the assistance of singer Rebecca Cash and guitarist Bryan Poole for "Feminine Effects" — as it strummed its way through three stripped-down s

Hail To The Chipmunks: A Holiday Classic Re-Revisited

Stephen Thompson — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 20:37:00 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3rnPHlOHb7g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQ_9bL7i-Zs