Ante Meridiem

On this week's show hosts Bob Boilen and Robin Hilton share some of their favorite new discoveries, including the Kate Bush-inspired Swedish duo Niki And The Dove, German experimental pianist Nils Frahm, and a surprising new album from singer Amanda Palmer.

Also on the show: the best new music in a decade from the Chicago-based band Sea And Cake; the inimitable storytelling of Swedish pop singer Jens Lekman; and an epic new album from post-punk veterans Swans.

Boston's Debo Band takes inspiration from a golden era of popular music in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in the late '60s and early '70s. During a brief period of cultural freedom in Ethiopia, funk and soul music fused spectacularly with local traditions. Debo Band's debut album both honors and updates the sound of "swinging Addis."

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Alejandro Escovedo has played virtually every kind of rock 'n' roll there is to play, from punk to orchestral to country, during a career dating back to the 1970s.

It's gotten to that point in the dog days of August where the air is stale and nothing seems to be moving. But sometimes all it takes to snap me out of a late-summer heat coma is the sound of a new and electrifying voice — like that of Lianne La Havas.

Singer-songwriter Langhorne Slim (real name: Sean Scolnick) took his stage name from his hometown of Langhorne in Bucks County, Pa. After studying at the Conservatory of Music at Purchase College, Slim moved to Brooklyn and built a national following by touring with The Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players. Eventually, he made his way to Portland, Ore., where he's lived since the 2009 release of Be Set Free.

WCBE is excited to offer our VIP members a chance to attend the following sponsored concerts:

• Aug. 14 - Mumford & Sons/Dawes @ LC Pavilion Festival Setting Outdoors
• Sept. 17 - Gotye @ LC Outdoors 
• Oct. 20  - Old 97's @ Newport 
• Oct. 24 - Morrisey @ LC  
• Oct. 26 -  Xavier Rudd @ Newport 
  

As a radio producer, I've been trained to never let a piece begin with the sound of a person's breath; it's sloppy. So when I first heard the remix of Hot Chip's "Look At Where We Are" by Four Tet, the tape-cutter in me dove for the delete button. Right before the music starts, you can clearly hear a sharp intake of air from singer Alexis Taylor.

Sigur Rós could be forgiven for sounding better on record than in concert. The Icelandic band's songs either billow out deliberately or stomp majestically, and in every case entail the building of layers upon intricate sonic layers. Plus, singer Jónsi — he of the otherworldly voice, singing mostly in a ghostly language of his own devising — is no Mick Jagger when it comes to calling attention to himself.

The high-tech pop intro to The Very Best's song "Kondaine" suggests a carefree summer party. There's Afropop uplift to the sound and Top 40 melodiousness to the vocal.

Allen Stone's smooth voice plays well against the sometimes curiously synthetic beats that characterize his songs. The soul and R&B singer hails from outside Spokane, Wash., where he began his singing career as part of his church choir. After stints in community college and Bible school, Stone brought his talents to bear with his debut album Last to Speak in 2010. The self-proclaimed hippie crafts his songs with socially conscious lyrics, and his commentary on topics ranging from the economic crisis to technological dependence is wittily pertinent.

Indie folk rockers, River City Extension, the eight piece band out of New Jersey, will play a few songs live from Studio A in the 2pm hour on The Global Village!

Join WCBE as we climb on board for a vibrant, raucous, musical railway adventure on Monday, August 13, 2012 for WCBE + Big Easy Express.

Doors open at 5pm, with a screening of our opening film, Festival Express, at 6pm. Join us for these two films and your chance to win tickets for the Mumford & Sons sold-out show.

SMOD will perform on The Global Village in the 2PM hour with your host Maggie Brennan.

 Amy Cook, the Austin based singer-songwriter will perform a few songs live from Studio A with Maggie Brennan on The Global Village in the 2PM hour on Thurs. July 26th! 

Reggae band Rebelution will perform Live From Studio A on Tues. July 24th in the 2PM hour on The  Global Village with Maggie Brennan!

The word "uneven" gets tossed around in critical parlance to signify artists whose fingers stray from the quality-control button — to suggest that they don't know their own genius when they hear it.

The Werks will bring their psychedelic dance rock sounds to Studio A on Thursday July 19th!

They'll play a few songs live in the 2PM hour on The Global Village to get you ready for the All Good Music Festival!

All summer long, All Things Considered has been talking to politicians, musicians and others about one song they remember their parents listening to, and how it influenced them.

Attention fans of Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, Mumford & Sons and Old Crow Medicine Show: You are bound for glory! Big Easy Express is a new film featuring all three bands and their whistle-stop journey from Oakland to New Orleans aboard a vintage train.

Together nearly 30 years, the reggae band Third World is one Jamaica's most popular and decorated musical acts, with listeners around the world and 10 Grammy nominations to its name. Partly responsible for mainstreaming reggae music, the group formed in 1973 and built a solid following playing the Kingston reggae scene, making its debut at Jamaica's Independence Day celebration.

There's never just one theme running through the music of a given year, but through the first half of 2012, it's been hard to ignore the varieties of ecstasy referenced, performed and endorsed by the musicians behind many of our favorite songs.

Music now has some what alienated listeners due to what has seemed to me like random popularity spikes in genres of music. In my age group, I tend to hear a lot of Indie Rock, Hip-Hop, and Electronic music.

Note: This is a recurring series in which we ask our unimaginably young interns to review classic albums they've never heard before. Until very recently, Jenna Strucko was an intern for NPR Music.