First Listen: Paul Simon, 'Stranger To Stranger'
After 13 solo albums, Simon still views pop as a language of exuberant dances and polyrhythmic upheavals. Even now, his music pulses with the feeling of invention.
Music
Songhoy Blues On World Cafe
With Music In Exile, the forward-thinking desert-blues band raises awareness of war in its home country, Mali. Hear an interview and performance.
First Listen: Xenia Rubinos, 'Black Terry Cat'
Rubinos returns fully formed, with her musical vision still finding ways to meld the unexpected, the familiar and, in songs like "Mexican Chef," the fiercely political.
Songs We Love: Mara Hruby, 'In The Wee Small Hours'
The singer-songwriter faces her fears with a jazz standard about a love that once was. "[I] couldn't think of having a more proper goodbye to that home and chapter of my life than this video."
First Listen: Robert Ellis, 'Robert Ellis'
On his fourth solo album, the Americana singer-songwriter considers the tilted fulcrum of a dissolving marriage in order to confront the allure and the cost of restlessness.
Viking's Choice: Owen, 'Lost'
After starting a band with young proteges and touring a successful American Football reunion, Mike Kinsella has a new sense of purpose on a lush, lively new album, his ninth under the name Owen.
Author Barney Hoskyns On Bob Dylan And 'Small Town Talk'
To celebrate Dylan's 75th birthday, hear about his special relationship with Woodstock, N.Y., the subject of Hoskyns' book.
New Mix: The Monkees, Esmé Patterson, Adia Victoria, Matt The Electrician, More
On this week's episode we've got one of the sunniest bands of all time, mesmerizing music from the Sahara and an elegy to growing old.
Viking's Choice: Drag Sounds, 'Messy Life'
Summer is almost here and you need summer jams. Time to get shakin' to Drag Sounds, with its key phrase, "Let's have a beer, and be here!"
The Madness Behind Making The Lucius Video, 'Gone Insane'
The visually twisted video for the Lucius song "Gone Insane" took more than 20,000 photos and a week to shoot.