Support for NPR comes from NPR member stations and Eric and Wendy Schmidt through the Schmidt Family Foundation. Working toward a healthy, resilient, secure world for all. On the web at theschmidt.org. I have a friend who coined the word. As far as I know, he coined the word, Antisapointment. One of my all-time favorite words, Antisapointment. That should be a word. That's a good word. Yeah. You're listening to all songs considered from NPR Music. We got a lot going on for you this week. Just had a couple of great Tiny Desks that went up. A really beautiful one from the R&B singer Jill Scott. That one just went up. And just before Jill Scott went up, we had one from Sarah McLaughlin. A really, really special Sarah McLaughlin Tiny Desk. I have loved her music for decades. Never in a million years would have thought I'd get to be in the room with her when she was performing some of the songs she did. It was just really, really special. Sarah McLaughlin, that Tiny Desk also up for you. NPR Music is also where you will find Alt Latino. That show, that podcast, goes out into this feed every Wednesday. And then of course at the end of the week, new music Friday, the best new albums dropping on February 20th. And also NPR Music, your home to one of my favorite people in the whole world. Hi, Dora Levitt. Hi, Robin. Glad to know I'm your favorite. And it's on the record. If it were up to me, you would be on every single episode we do, but it's actually been a minute. You were out for a while and you've also been busy with the Tiny Desk contest that just closed. The entries. We're not getting entries. The entry window closed. Yeah, the entry window closed. We got 6,000 entries. 6,000? And we watched every single one. In the next episode, we're going to be talking best new songs of the week, the new tracks that we've got on repeat and can't stop listening to. And I want to start with something that I already know that you love. And you want to know how I know that you love it? How? Dora's Corner. Dora's Corner, if you have a better name suggestion, let me know. It's a great name. Dora's Corner. Yes, so I also work on New Music Friday and I get to listen to so many great new albums. I only get to talk about a few on the podcast, so I get to pick my own and pick the ones that are my favorite. I pick probably three each week and you can find them at the bottom of the New Music Friday page. So I always just go to that page. The first thing I do is scroll down to the bottom to Dora's Corner because you always turn me on to something that I love. And this is one of the things that you turn me on to. And you didn't even realize that you'd done it, but it's the band drag. It's spelled D-R-A-A-G. It looks like it'd be pronounced DROG. DROG. But it's pronounced DRAG. This is a band from L.A. I'm tempted to call them a shoegaze band because so much of their stuff leans in that direction, but not everything and not always. But they have a new EP out called Miracle Drug that you mentioned in one of your Dora's Corner's posts. That is kind of a mouthful, isn't it? It is a mouthful, yeah. Dora's Corner. It sounds like a little bit, and I really like the name, but it sounds a little bit like the calming corner in a first grade class. Oh, well, that's a great way to think of it though. Well, although this isn't, I don't know how calming some of your picks are. Definitely not. Well, this new EP, again, is called Miracle Drug from DRAG and the song that I want to play from it is pretty shoegazy. It's called Finding Fear. I'm not sure if you can hear it, but it's a little bit of a different sound. I'm not sure if you can hear it, but it's a little bit different. I'm not sure if you can hear it, but it's a little bit different. I'm not sure if you can hear it, but it's a little bit different. I'm not sure if you can hear it, but it's a little bit different. I'm not sure if you can hear it, but it's a little bit different. I'm not sure if you can hear it, but it's a little bit different. I'm not sure if you can hear it, but it's a little bit different. I'm not sure if you can hear it, but it's a little bit different. I'm not sure if you can hear it, but it's a little bit different. I'm not sure if you can hear it, but it's a little bit different. I'm not sure if you can hear it, but it's a little bit different. I'm not sure if you can hear it, but it's a little bit different. I'm not sure if you can hear it, but it's a little bit different. I'm not sure if you can hear it, but it's a little bit different. I'm not sure if you can hear it, but it's a little bit different. I'm not sure if you can hear it, but it's a little bit different. I'm not sure if you can hear it, but it's a little bit different. I'm not sure if you can hear it, but it's a little bit different. I'm not sure if you can hear it, but it's a little bit different. I'm not sure if you can hear it, but it's a little bit different. I'm not sure if you can hear it, but it's a little bit different. I'm not sure if you can hear it, but it's a little bit different. I'm not sure if you can hear it, but it's a little bit different. I'm not sure if you can hear it, but it's a little bit different. I'm not sure if you can hear it, but it's a little bit different. I'm not sure if you can hear it, but it's a little bit different. I'm not sure if you can hear it, but it's a little bit different. I'm not sure if you can hear it, but it's a little bit different. I'm not sure if you can hear it, but it's a little bit different. I'm not sure if you can hear it, but it's a little bit different. I'm not sure if you can hear it, but it's a little bit different. I'm not sure if you can hear it, but it's a little bit different. I'm not sure if you can hear it, but it's a little bit different. I'm not sure if you can hear it, but it's a little bit different. I'm not sure if you can hear it, but it's a little bit different. I'm not sure if you can hear it, but it's a little bit different. I'm not sure if you can hear it, but it's a little bit different. I'm not sure if you can hear it, but it's a little bit different. I'm not sure if you can hear it, but it's a little bit different. I'm not sure if you can hear it, but it's a little bit different. I'm not sure if you can hear it, but it's a little bit different. I'm not sure if you can hear it, but it's a little bit different. I'm not sure if you can hear it, but it's a little bit different. I'm not sure if you can hear it, but it's a little bit different. I'm not sure if you can hear it, but it's a little bit different. I'm not sure if you can hear it, but it's a little bit different. I'm not sure if you can hear it, but it's a little bit different. I'm not sure if you can hear it, but it's a little bit different. I'm not sure if you can hear it, but it's a little bit different. I'm not sure if you can hear it, but it's a little bit different. I'm not sure if you can hear it, but it's a little bit different. I'm not sure if you can hear it, but it's a little bit different. I know that they're not just shoegaze, but they have got that sound down, at least on this track, finding fear from the EP Miracle Drug. I just love shoegaze in general, and maybe pretty obvious to other people who love it, but just the way that they take sadness and grief and anxiety and loneliness and all these complicated feelings and run them through this filter, these roaring guitars that are so crunchy and so loud and thunderous, but at the same time feel like they're just kind of drifting in the ether in a really, really beautiful way. I love how they're able to just bring out this one idea and just stretch it and take it to the furthest points it can possibly go. I really like how much I'm hearing stuff like this in new music these days anyways. It reminds me of the They're Gotting a Body of Water album that came out, this really shoegaze-inspired, but a little bit more electronic. Two, it's a more modern version of this shoegaze that I loved for so long. Almost elements of metal and some of it. I think nothing, the band, nothing. They've got a new record coming up. They do this really well. I know Yule doesn't really like the shoegaze label, but they're definitely elements of shoegaze in their music. You mentioned they're getting a body of water, great reference point. Also, I think Just Mustard and Wisp, for sure. Totally Wisp. I mean, back when shoegaze first started coming up, it's been over 30 years ago now, but it was very much a little niche, right? I mean, and for people who happen to find the My Bloody Valentine record or whatever, right? It's not like it was blowing up the charts, but we're really having a moment with shoegaze and I'm there for it. Completely. I love, and even other places on this album, there's more screaming and just catharsis. I love that. I love how much screaming we're seeing also. It reminds me of just the screaming in Wednesday. It's just so great and I love the direction. It's great. So I mentioned there from LA, the band again is Drag, D-R-A-A-G, from their EP, Miracle Drug, that just came out at the end of January. Where do you want to go? Let's go to Mandy Indiana, their new album that came out. The band, Mandy Indiana. Is Mandy Indiana a real place? Have you looked it up? I think I remember looking it up and it was no? No, Mandy is totally made up. Yeah. I mean, they're French, German bands, so they could have just been like, this sounds like something in Indiana. All right. So Mandy Indiana, what's the album? The album is called, and the song that is my favorite is called Try Saying. Honey, is that you? I had just wanted something simple. I had something beautiful. I had no choice I had no choice I had no choice I had no choice I had no choice I had no choice I had no choice I had no choice I had no choice I had no choice I had no choice I had no choice I had no choice I had no choice I had no choice We were all looking for something And I just wanted to look at it I would have tried to feel the sound I would have tried I would not have been so greedy I would have tried to feel something beautiful I just wanted to be like the others I'm not sure if I can do this. I'm not sure if I can do this. I'm not sure if I can do this. I'm not sure if I can do this. I'm not sure if I can do this. I'm not sure if I can do this. I'm not sure if I can do this. I'm not sure if I can do this. I'm not sure if I can do this. I'm not sure if I can do this. I'm not sure if I can do this. I'm not sure if I can do this. I'm not sure if I can do this. I'm not sure if I can do this. I had just wanted you to look at me. I had a different idea. I had different ideas. I had different ideas. I had different ideas. I had different ideas. I had different ideas. I had different ideas. I had different ideas. I had different ideas. Is that you? Man, maybe we should have led with that. That was so good. Every time I hear it, I'm like, ugh, I love that song. Is that you? Is that you? Is that you? Is that you? Oh my God, I would listen to this album just by the name alone, ugh, or ur, it's spelled U-R-G-H, I mean, I read it as ug, not urg. Either way, I mean, the sentiment is clear, but wow. It's so good. I hear so much DJ Shadow in there, is that you sample? This whole album, I feel like this is a one-off from the album because it feels a little bit more toned down than the heavy industrial, we hear a little bit of that. Honestly, it sounds like a machine gun sound at the end. It's like a CD skipping. That sort of, yeah. Yeah, that repetitive, I feel like that's all over the album, but this song, the reason I love it so much is because it really gets at this feeling of grappling with power and authority that the album as a whole talks a lot about how it feels to be a young person in this time, the dystopian time that we're living in, and that voice that honey is that you really feels to me like a parental authority figure. And the lyrics, I don't speak French at all, but I looked them up and it's this trying to be this type of person and reflecting on why you want to be that way, why you felt like you needed to be that way. And that in opposition to this honey is that you really just really spoke to me, I really loved that. There's this other song on the album where they pull from the crafts, light as a feather, stiff as a board. And as a sample, and I really liked that usage too, it kind of goes back into who you are and how you're able to think about who you are in relationship to the things that we grew up with, because that is such a childhood nursery rhyme type of game where you're thinking about magic as a child. And also kind of creepy too, unsettling. So Mandy Indiana is the band and the album, ergh, or ug, ug, that came out at the top of February. This message comes from Subaru. The all new 2026 Subaru Outback features bold new styling and standard symmetrical all wheel drive plus safety features like standard eyesight, driver assist technology. Discover the all new Outback at Subaru.com slash Outback. Do you watch the pit? So I had a feeling you would ask me this. Okay, because you've told me you watch a tremendous amount of television, so. I do watch a tremendous amount of television. And the pit is one that I haven't gotten into for a reason that is surprising to me of that it's so graphic. It's pretty graphic. And I grew up loving Grey's Anatomy, so I was very surprised to find myself watching the first episode and being like, oh my God, I can't watch any of this. It's not Grey's Anatomy or St. Elsewhere or ER or any of the other TV shows that came before. It is so good. From everything I've read, they'll have doctors and ER doctors and nurses watch it. And they all say it's incredibly accurate. Like that's exactly what it's like. Yeah, that's what I've heard. You can watch it through your fingers. That's what my wife does. Because she doesn't like the graphic stuff either, but she loves the stories. Well, on the episode that just aired on February 12th, they had a great needle drop and it is a brand new song by Andrew Bird. It's a song that he was asked to write specifically for the episode and it works so well. It is so beautiful. It is a very short, sweet, poignant little song called Need Someone. I see his lips equivivering Like he's forgotten how to pray Can you see the way he's paralyzed? She's absorbing all the blows And who will now take care of us In the hills and valleys, the highs and lows All I know is you need someone In the buy and buy Need someone who is gonna cry for you Yeah, you'll need someone In the buy and buy Need someone who's gonna cry for you You need someone You need someone In the buy and buy Need someone who's gonna cry for you Just a short, beautiful little piece. It's just so moving to me. I think, you know, it's, well, obviously, it's just about what we're left with in our final moments, you know, and we all hope that we're remembered fondly and that there's somebody who will remember you. I always think of my kids and somebody said, well, I probably saw it on a TV show, where somebody said one time, you know, that basically if you have kids, like you're, at this point, you're just here to be memories for them. And so we're, I'm always thinking, I hope I'm making good memories. And yeah, he captures it really well, I think. Completely the line in the buy and buy, you need somebody who's gonna cry for you is so beautiful, so heart-wrenching, and with the way that he, like, kind of whistles when he sings is just so touching. And honestly, like, if I was on my deathbed, I would love, like, this would be the song that I would love the doctors to be fighting for my life for me. You would like to have Andrew Bird standing over you whistling. While you're redlining. That's the last face I wanna see is Andrew Bird. I mean, I guess it'd be easy to say that some of this is sort of really on the nose, because he's writing to a very specific scene in the show and moment, but I also kind of like it when artists are tasked with this challenge of writing something very specific. It's a story that's being told by somebody else, right? That they're trying to be true to. And I've done some composing for different TV shows and films and I actually really love it because it tells me what to do. Like, all right, I'm up to this point in the song, but now I don't know what to do. Oh, this story is telling me what to do. So I just, you know, and it ends up creating these really unexpected twists or turns or posts in the song that I wouldn't have come up with on my own otherwise. I've never thought about it that way of being tasked to write for a scene instead of just going to an artist and being like, I want to use this. Yeah, here's the song you have that we think fits. Yeah, that makes me really listen to it in a new way as this accompaniment. I really like that. Well, a really beautiful one. From a great TV show that you need to find a way to watch, Dora. Yes. From the pit, Andrew Bird, the song. Watch the clean version. It's great storytelling, great characters. Andrew Bird needs someone, a one-off single that he wrote for the February 12th episode of The Pit. Do you feel like you pay a lot of attention to song order in an album? 100%. I mean, the sequencing is important. Completely. Yeah, I have thought that we could do an entire show just on like best opening tracks, best closing tracks. I totally agree. And I feel like if you end up doing that episode about the best opening track to an album, open up by Rat Boys from their new album, Singing to an Empty Chair, should be the first one you talk about. So, Open Up is the first track on this new record? Yeah. What day is it? What day day day day day day day day day day day day day day What's it gonna take to open up this time? Bland in my back to break the ice Everything's good as advertised Watch as the years pass by So what's it gonna take to open up this time? Stretch out as big as you can I won't say I told you so I won't say what's right So what's it gonna take to open up tonight? Bland in my back to break the ice Let's pick all the rocks inside our heads It takes a while in your defense But I got lots of time So what's it gonna take to open up tonight? Step on the right side of the road The only world you'll ever know Well it's on your case, alright What's it gonna take to open up? What's it gonna take to open up? What's it gonna take to open up tonight? What's it gonna take to open up tonight? What's it gonna take to open up tonight? If you wanna tell me everything I want you to go and listen to me But I wish yours and mine So what's it gonna take to open up this time? I will bet you it's made the way I won't say a big goodbye I don't wanna fight So what's it gonna take to open up? What's it gonna take to open up? What's it gonna take to open up tonight? It's made the way It's so smart and it's so satisfying It's kind of got this honky tonk country sort of thing going on And then like metal guitars I mean it's really really cool juxtaposition It's really awesome So she keeps talking about opening up And there's this thing that she wants to do I'm wondering what opening up means to you In the context of this song I was reading a little bit about her intentions behind The storytelling here And she was talking about her framing this As something she learned in therapy Like framing the way that she's talking about Opening up the way that she's talking about Being like emotionally present As rehearsing conversations before they happen And that really resonated with me Of like having to open up But having to prepare first And like the what's it gonna take to open up It takes time and it takes effort And I really thought this sets the scene For such an emotionally aware and vulnerable album It really just kind of brings you into the reasoning why I really loved it Yeah I ask because there's this really interesting thing That's happening where if you listen to the song Whatever opening up means to you It sounds at least like three quarters of the way through It sounds like she's gotten there Totally There's this sense of euphoria like we have arrived Yes I've opened up But at the end of the song she's still asking the same question What's it gonna take to open up So she didn't and really that euphoria Is not her achieving and reaching whatever it is That she's trying to reach It's really more of just that anxious sort of rise That you get in yourself when you're struggling To reach something and can't quite get there And then there's a release and you're like Yeah well I guess what's it gonna take For me to open up We're almost at that feeling but still thinking about it I like the way that you framed it up Like it feels like that anxious like rise And your heart starts beating Faster yeah Yeah that break is so great I can't stop listening to the song So this is an album that just came out at the top of February Called Singing to an Empty Chair from Rap Boys I've got one that I think is actually a good companion piece To the Rap Boys song that you played It's from Gia Margaret A singer from Chicago also a composer, a pianist Well actually isn't, aren't Rap Boys from Chicago too? Yeah Chicago What a place Pretty good music scene they've got going on there That's what I hear Gia Margaret, she has a new album coming out In April called Singing Which is also interesting because the Rap Boys is called Singing to an Empty Chair And Gia Margaret's album is just called Singing Again it's out in April but the song I want to play from It is called Everyone Around Me, Dancing And it has some of the same sort of similar themes As the Rap Boys song And just listen for what she's doing with her voice on this song You'll hear it immediately when it first comes in But I am in the background static Closer to the ground, the planet Equilibrium Everyone around me is glowing When I am dirt and bloated I cover the seat to grow in Equilibrium Everyone around this scene But I am underneath the ceiling Everything unsaid, it sinks in Before it looked too long Everyone is so weak static But I am in a bath and that's it Lucy's next to me, half smiling My little equilibrium Everyone around me is dancing Everyone around me is dancing Everyone around me is dancing But I am in the background standing Everyone around me is dancing Everyone around me is dancing So many amazing things happening on this song Of course her voice which you hear how I love how it was layered It was so beautiful, so beautiful That repetition was so poetic And I love how her vocals faded out And that was it a saxophone or a trumpet? It's like a horn, some sort of trumpet or horn Or flugel horn or something like that Something that kind of was pushed to the forefront And it sounded like the focus was there And her vocals were just folded into the percussion that I loved Yeah, little itty bitty bits of percussion I mean it's honestly pretty spare It's sort of this wash of sounds and then little touches of percussion here and there Kind of flitting around But it just really captures this sort of Almost a kind of dissociation that you have When you are on the outside of something that you want to be a part of Does that make sense? Do you know what I'm saying? Like it's that sort of brain foggy kind of feeling That I feel is similar to the Rap Boy song In that they're both about being on the outside looking in And wishing you had whatever it is that you need to To either feel brave enough or to allow yourself to be vulnerable enough Or whatever it is you need to navigate the world that you wish you could step into There's so much disconnect in both And it's about trying to fill that gap Like you said, like being on the outside And this song she, Gia Margaret often describes herself as An ambient artist And she couldn't sing for a while, right? She lost her voice like in 2019 or somewhere around then And yeah, wasn't sure that she would get it back And was going to just try to do more instrumental stuff But then she healed and did get her voice back It's very similar to the Patrick Watson story If you remember, he also lost his voice And also like Gia Margaret has a really gorgeous voice And then he did get his voice back and was able to put out that album Uh-oh, last year, which was one of my favorite from last year You can really see that she's back exploring with what vocals even mean And how to explore vocals in a way when you've only been making this instrumental ambient music And I think that's why the vocals are so interesting And the layering of the vocals are so baked into the overall sound Rather than being the focus Yeah, she does it with instruments too, like that flugel horn, trumpety sound, whatever it is It sounds like an organic instrument with a sound produced by someone blowing through it But it also feels a little synthetic and ambient Like it's this wash of sound created with it So again, the album from Gia Margaret is called Singing And that's out April 24th And that song was Everyone Around Me Dancing But Dora, I know you got one more that you want to play I do, and I know that this one you weren't convinced by Well, yeah, I'm not a big fan But I'm not like just rejecting it Which is why we were talking the other day about it And I was like, tell me what it is that you love about it Because maybe that'll help me find an entry point into it Well, I like this cut that you're going to play And we're going to go out on it so we can maybe just get our conversation out of the way real quick Going into it, but why don't you start and... Yeah, so my first ever favorite band that I found myself And I was like, this is my favorite band, was Injury Reserve Right, yeah That was the band that made me learn to love music for myself And so I definitely have a lot of nostalgic ties to Injury Reserve They were a hip hop trio and tragically one of their members, Steppa J. Groggs, died And the two members, Richie and Corey Parker, decided to transform their music project And step away from Injury Reserve, that was the three of them And moved towards a new project called By Storm And this is their first album, came out at the end of January Called My Ghost, Go Ghost And the opening track, Can I Have You For Myself, is just so gorgeous And really sets the scene for this album that talks about loss And talks about growing your family and how that plays into the loss that we've experienced And it's just so improvisational and beautiful So I totally agree with all of that, and it is really beautiful I do like another great opening cut, this is my... I've listened to the album, this is definitely my favorite one on it I think the issue that I have with this, and we'll hear it a little bit on this song Not as much as on some of the others, but a little bit, is that there's this trend I've noticed Toward intentionally blown up recordings I'm stopping short of saying intentionally bad, because I don't think they're... The music is bad, but like they make the actual recording of it sound intentionally broken Like you're listening to it through broken speakers Like when they record, we call it overmodulated Where it's cranked all the way up, so the recording is in the red the entire time So it just sounds all blown out, right? A little bit of it on this song, I've heard it on a lot of other bands work lately too Nourished by time sometimes does that Another thing that they'll do is intentionally have vocals that are completely lost in the mix Or intentionally bend out of tune and sing out of tune for stretches I know there's something going on there, and I just haven't figured out what it is And found my entry point to it yet I was reading a review for the Mandi & Deanna record actually, and I don't remember what review it was But it was talking about a similar thing of like why people will make their music sound overblown Or sound incapable of being like self-contained and purposely sound bad And I really liked that idea of creating something that can't be captured and reproduced in that way And I think that's why I love that overblown or just overprocessed and kind of disjointed sound And being able to kind of parse through the moments that are clear and like find the melodies and beautiful moments within And knowing that like this is a sound and this is an idea that is hard to be captured It's bigger than the container Well, we're going to hear a little bit of it on this one and we're going to go out on it Again, the song from By Storm is called Can I Have You For Myself? The Opening Cut to My Ghosts Go Ghost That came out at the end of January Alright, people always ask how can I support the show? The best way to do it honestly is with a glowing review If you enjoy the show, leave us a review on Apple Music or Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts Dora Levitt Robin Hilton Thanks so much Thanks for having me, so much fun Alright, it's All Songs Considered from NPR Music Can I Have You For Myself? On the same page, going at the same speed See, I'm ready to grow, just feeling regretty You giving all of you, I want you all for me Can I Have You For Myself? Can I Have You For Myself? Can I Have You For Myself? Just a little more It's a little more, I think Just a little piece You giving all of you, I want you all for me Can I Have You For Myself? Can I Have You For Myself? Can I Have You For Myself? Can I Have You For Myself? Can I Have You For Myself? Can I Have You For Myself? Just save me some of you Just a little more Can I Have You For Myself? Can I Have You For Myself? Can I Have You For Myself? Can I Have You For Myself? Just a little more Can I Have You For Myself? Just a little more Just a little more Can I Have You For Myself? Can I Have You For Myself? Can I Have You For Myself? Can I Have You For Myself? Can I Have You For Myself? Can I Have You For Myself? Can I Have You For Myself? Can I Have You For Myself? Can I Have You For Myself? Can I Have You For Myself? Can I Have You For Myself? Can I Have You For Myself?
