Time to Move on

When I bought my first iPod in 2004, it supported the cool new thing called podcasts. I searched iTunes for music-related shows, and one of my first subscriptions was for All Songs Considered by NPR.

Last week, the show's creator and primary host for 23 years, Bob Boilen, announced that he is leaving NPR. The word "retirement" is notably missing from his own statement (as opposed to NPR's), so we will still see him around in the music scene.

I have some hope here. In its original concept, All Songs Considered reflected the musical tastes of its hosts and hence was fiercely opinionated. Indeed, any song was considered and had a chance to be played as long Bob or one of the other hosts liked it enough. As professional music journalists, they had a wide range of tastes. Still, the selection kept its character and did not simply go by current trends or popularity.

That sometimes led to certain obsessions, like with Bon Iver following their 2007 debut album. For a good while, Bandleader Justin Vernon was mentioned in pretty much every show. Other names that come to mind are Courtney Barnett, Big Thief, and Phoebe Bridgers. But even if I didn't necessarily agree about the greatness of some music they played on All Songs Considered, I still could concur with the passion that good music can instill in you.

All Songs Considered was also famous for its SXSW coverage. It was the main catalyst that I wanted to have this experience myself. We went to the music festival in 2014 for the first time and then every year after that until the pandemic broke the chain. There, we ran into Bob Boilen several times, including at our glamglare showcase in 2019.

I stopped listening to NPR a couple of years ago because of format changes. Bob still had his section, but his long-time co-host Robin Hilton launched a new show covering the week's album releases. The creative spark was still there, but it had dimmed somewhat with a focus on Top 40 hip-hop and pop releases.

"It's time to find new challenges in life, and I'm excited about some of the possibilities," Bob writes, and we hope this includes finding new artists for us in places we usually don't look.

All the best for your new endeavors, Bob!

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Song Pick of the Day

Listen to/watch all seven songs on YouTube. Follow our daily updated playlists on YouTube and Spotify for the 50 latest Song Picks of the Day. Thank you for following us and sharing the excitement.

Elena Garcia, aka Tonguetied is fed up with bragging people. Her new song “Selfish Girl” is an elegant, classic synth-pop track that speaks Elena’s mind to “musical abyss.” However, she prefers a “more put-together and perhaps constructive conversational approach in real life.

The next song fast-forwards several decades: FHUR, a singer, songwriter, and producer from London, shows with “Hotlines” how electronic pop sounds in 2023, even though the song deals with somewhat backward technology: “I love the theme of telephones as a way of connecting each other but also an obsession if the other person is not available,” she says.

Alannah Moar is a musician from Glasgow, Scotland, who describes her genre as “dramatic folk-pop.” “Reciprocate” is a revival of a track she wrote with 14. “The lyrics were crap, the melodies were quite nice,” was her assessment before she updated the song.

Social Order is an LA supergroup of sorts with members of Metro Station and Nuwave Fighters. With their new song “Crime,” they want to support “people coming out of abusive relationships.”

“I want to be somebody else,” sings London-based singer/songwriter Bekah Bossard at the end of her new song “Stranger to Myself.” There is much self-doubt and disorientation in this song, but also understanding: “We are all just trying to figure it out,” she explains.

Berlin is the German capital, but musicians from all over the world are gathering there. Three of them founded Meagre Martin, a trio around the American singer and guitarist Sarah Martin. Their new song “Mountain” is about the fleeting character of emotional attachment to “things that were once so familiar but whose significance has become unrecognisable.”

We are closing this week’s list with somebody dear to our hearts: Jummy Aremu, aka War Violet. The NYC-based singer/songwriter has been working relentlessly to release new music and has found two respected labels, Kill Rock Stars and Bella Union, who can help her find new audiences here and on the other side of the Atlantic. Her new song is an intriguing folk-pop track called “Different Formations.”

Also Happening

The Montréal trio Le Couleur releases their new album Come dans un penthouse, a concept album about the rise and fall of a woman called Barbara. After hearing the cinematic “À la rencontre de Barbara,” we can’t wait to listen to the entire story.

Nine Photos from Dream Wife @ Brooklyn Made

When we saw Dream Wife in Reykjavik for the very first time at Iceland Airwaves ‘16, we were instantly smitten AND similarly blown away! While not yet as self-secure and expressive in their performance, one could already back then sense that there were three (with their live drummer four) fierce artists on stage who create catchy songs with sociocritical lyrics. We love Rakel, Alice, and Bella so much that we caught all their four festival shows back then and did not leave any opportunity to see them ever since, like at Baby’s All Right, Knitting Factory, Elsewhere, SXSW 2017, and then some. The pandemic, of course, put a halt on things, so it’s been a while, but last Friday, Dream Wife took Brooklyn Made by storm, and it was as if they’d never left and hopefully come back soon. Enjoy some snaps from the highly entertaining show.