All Things NPR Music

The gateway to my NPR obsession.

One fateful May afternoon in 2018, alone and bored at my first desk job, I took to Google searching for new music. In this quest for novel sound, I came across NPR Music’s New Music Friday, a roundup of album releases with Robin Hilton and a rotation of music critics with wide-ranging taste and genre expertise.

The first artist featured on the May 25, 2018, edition of New Music Friday was a band whose name nestled deeply and unwaveringly into my cochleae: Thunderpussy. Hilton dove right in, kicking off the show with a sample of “Speed Queen,” the opening track off of the band’s self-titled, full-length debut. Comprised of four women and hailing from Seattle, then-World Cafe host Talia Schlanger described Thunderpussy on the show as “Led Zeppelin meets Hearts meets ACD and Rage Against the Machine.” While there are arguably nostalgic elements to Thunderpussy, they have carved out a space for themselves in rock n’ roll, with music and lyrics as relevant today as they could have been in the ‘70s or ‘90s (the band cited influences spanning these decades in a 2016 interview with Seattle Times).

Jake Clifford / Stardog Records

That May 25 episode not only made me an instant Thunderpussy fan but led me down the fantastical rabbit hole that is NPR Music. While I was already privy to some NPR Music programming (see World Cafe via WXPN on a commute to high school one morning and, of course, Tiny Desk), this accidental discovery set me on the path to become what I am today: (self-annointed) NPR Fan Girl.

My NPR fandom extends beyond music to other cultural and news programming, so much so that I can say with relative certainty that I spent more time this year listening to podcasts than music. No shame, although I notice myself feeling happier and uplifted on the days that I bury myself in music, only coming up for air when it’s necessary. Now that the end of the year is nigh, though, there is a slew of year-end lists (fraught as some may be) to get back into my music-loving groove.

I excitedly started with Bob Boilen’s best of 2021 list. Bob is in the host chair of All Songs Considered on Tuesdays, sharing his new mixes of singles released that week. If he recommended listening to nails on a chalkboard, I would. He favored Lucy Dacus’s Home Video this year, which I saw her tour on when she stopped in Denver in October. Still, I had some digging in to do outside of her, Sufjan Stevens, and Olivia Rodrigo. I found myself listening to Bob’s favorite song of the year, “Chaise Longue” by Wet Leg, more than twice.

Bob’s picks are part of NPR’s annual year-end series, “Best of Staff Picks.” Surveying folks on the air and behind the scenes, a quick scroll will showcase the breadth and diversity of sound that NPR shares with its listeners, leaving us all the better off for it.

More NPR Music Goodness for Your Listening Pleasure

• The best songs and albums we missed in 2021 (All Songs Considered | 82 minutes) — The NPR Music team considers their favorites of the year that did quite make the “best of” year-end lists.

• Poll results: NPR listeners pick the top albums of 2021 (All Songs Considered | 66 minutes) — Let the people choose! Outside of critics’ choices, it’s refreshing to hear what regular old folks have to say about the music of the year.

• The Conspiracy Against Hip Hop (Louder Than a Riot | 52 minutes) — If you missed this series in 2020, it’s not too late to listen. Louder Than a Riot follows the interconnected rise of hip-hop and mass incarceration through reporting by Sidney Madden and Rodney Carmichael.

• There’s a special energy when My Morning Jacket gather in a room (World Cafe | 45 minutes) — Half live performance half interview, I couldn’t resist the urge to give a plug to one of my favorite bands and my hometown radio program.

• Let It Be? No, Let’s Remix The Beatles (All Songs Considered | 40 minutes) — Bob Boilen in conversation with Giles Martin, who produced the “super deluxe” version of The Beatles’ final musical effort, Let It Be. This episode and release were timely ahead of Peter Jackson’s The Beatles: Get Back.

• Issa Rae’s favorite Tiny Desk Concerts — A playlist of Tiny Desks by artists featured on Insecure.

Music Writing on Substack

I’m a big fan of The Epistemic, a Substack publication by Kevin Alexander. Written thrice weekly, Alexander explores one song and the artist behind it per posting, making bite-size, digestible recommendations that won’t overwhelm your already stimulated content senses. Subscribe to The Epistemic to uncover great music and rediscover your old favorites.