Nothing captures the agony of love, loss, hope and redemption like the song form known across all of Latin America: the bolero.

Last December, UNESCO declared the bolero "an intangible cultural heritage of humanity" and "an indispensable part of the Latin American sentimental song." And given that Valentine's Day is coming up, Felix Contreras and Anamaria Sayre did something special this week, in honor of this news: they asked some of their favorite artists and show listeners to share their most-loved boleros, and break down exactly what makes them so special. Join Felix and Ana as they laugh, cry and sing a little to the love songs of the ages.

And be sure to check out the playlists we made for this episode, feature Ana and Felix's picks, as well as the selections from featured artists and listeners, on Spotify and Apple Music.

Audio for this episode of Alt.Latino was edited and mixed by Joaquin Cotler. Hazel Cills is the podcast editor and digital editor for Alt.Latino and our project manager is Grace Chung. NPR Music's executive producer is Suraya Mohamed. Our VP of Music and Visuals is Keith Jenkins.

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Host Robin Hilton hangs with NPR's Hazel Cills and Sheldon Pearce to geek out about the new Billy Joel, Kim Gordon, Shygirl, Nia Archives and more.

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Our friends at NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour break down the major winners and highlights from the 2024 Grammy Awards.

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Ann Powers, Sidney Madden and Stephen Thompson make predictions ahead of Sunday night's 66th annual Grammy Awards.

Notable albums out Feb. 2:
• The Last Dinner Party, Prelude to Ecstasy
• J Mascis, What Do We Do Now
• Kirin J Callinan, If I Could Sing
• Lee Scratch Perry, King Perry
• Paul McCartney & Wings, Band on the Run (Underdubbed Mixes)
• The Paranoid Style, The Interrogator
• Liquid Mike, Paul Bunyan's Slingshot
• Vijay Iyer, Linda May Han Oh, Tyshawn Sorey, Compassion
• Jenny Sturgeon & Boo Hewerdine, Outliers


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With Green Day's stellar new album, Saviors, the 20th anniversary of American Idiot and 30th anniversary of Dookie, NPR's Daoud Tyler-Ameen, Stephen Thompson and Robin Hilton look at the band's legacy.

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There's plenty about Wall of Eyes, the new album by the British rock trio The Smile, to remind you of Radiohead, the band with which The Smile shares Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood. But there's something about The Smile that resists feeling like Radiohead redux, and on this week's episode Ann Powers, Tom Huizenga and Sheldon Pearce get to the bottom of what makes Wall of Eyes so satisfying on its own terms.

Plus: Discussion of a week's worth of great albums leads to a conversation about the state of music criticism, which took a blow last week when the long-standing, much-beloved, occasionally-hated website Pitchfork was folded into the men's magazine GQ and much of its staff laid off.

Featured Albums for January 26, 2024:
1. Patricia Kopatchinksaja, Reto Bieri, Polina Leschenko — Take 3
2. Benny the Butcher — Everybody Can't Go
3. Katy Kirby — Blue Raspberry
4. The Smile — Wall of Eyes

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In this week's Alt.Latino episode, Chilean rapper and singer Ana Tijoux talks to hosts Felix Contreras and Anamaria Sayre about her new album, Vida, and why it took so long to return to the studio.

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With the announcement of the 96th annual Oscar nominees, we're revisiting our conversation with Volker Bertelmann, who won the Academy Award for Best Original Score last year for All Quiet On The Western Front.

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NPR Music's Sheldon Pearce, Rodney Carmichael and Sidney Madden dig into hip-hop superstar 21 Savage's new album, his notorious ICE arrest and what it means to capture the American dream.

Noteworthy albums out January 19:
- Sleater-Kinney, Little Rope
- Green Day, Saviors
- Eladio Carrión, Sol María
- Ana Tijoux, Vida
- Brittney Spencer, My Stupid Life
- Mary Halvorson, Cloudward
- Ethan Iverson, Technically Acceptable
- glass beach, plastic death
- ericdoa, DOA
- Neck Deep, Neck Deep
- Fredo Bang, Yes, I'm Sad
- Keyon Harrold, Foreverland
- Jozef Van Wissem, The Night Dwells In The Day
- Oren Ambarchi, Jim O'Rourke & Keiji Haino, With pats on the head, just one too few evil one too many is good that's all it is
- Mali Obomsawin and Magdalena Abrego, Greatest Hits


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Host Robin Hilton hangs with NPR Music's Anamaria Sayre and Tom Huizenga to share their current musical obsessions, from the solo piano of Philip Glass to the garage punk of Sprints, Spain's super chill Club del Rio and more.

Featured Artists And Songs:
1. Lavinia Meijer: "The Departure" from Winter
2. Xavi: "La Diabla (Single)
3. Faye Webster and Lil Yachty: "Lego Ring" from Underdressed at the Symphony
4. Philip Glass: "Opening," from Philip Glass Solo
5. Club del Rio: "Una Vida" (Single)
6. Sprints: "Literary Mind" from Letter to Self

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