NPR Music

Spanish punk, metal-sampling rap, Kenyan grindcore, Russian synth pop — this is how NPR Music's resident Viking coped, raged and soothed himself in 2020.

Songs featured on this episode:
• Accidente: "Lo que importa" from Canibal
• Backxwash: "Spells" from God Has Nothing To Do With This Leave Him Out Of It
• Aisha Orazbayeva: "Oliver Leith: Blurry Wake Song" from Music for Violin Alone
• Maral: "Bushehr" from Push
• Moor Mother: "Circuit Break" from Circuit City
• Стереополина: "Последнее свидание" from Институт культуры и отдыха
• Claire Rousay: "Two Things" from Both
• Meurtrieres: "Alienor" from Meurtrières

For more, follow the Viking's Choice playlist and subscribe to the newsletter.

In 2012, All Songs Considered hosts Bob Boilen and Robin Hilton rented a small cabin in the woods and invited some of their closest friends for what they were sure would be the party of the century.

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Every year, All Songs Considered hosts Bob Boilen and Robin Hilton go on a musical holiday adventure. This year, they take a rocket ride to outer space and are joined by a few special guests.

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Ann Powers joins All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen to discuss your favorite albums of the year.

On this edition of All Songs Considered, we celebrate the life of Beethoven and the lasting powers of his music in the 250 years since his birth.

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In just over a year, Sault has released three albums with little warning and scant member information. If the group's previous albums, 5 and 7 brought the funk-soul party, then UNTITLED (Black Is) "funnels rage and sorrow into contemplative streams of thought, over equally brooding music meant to slow your heart rate," Marcus J. Moore wrote in his review for NPR Music. He further called the album "a robust collection of funk, soul, meditative spoken-word and protest chants meant to score the full spectrum of Blackness."

This conversation about the Sault album originally ran live on NPR Music's YouTube channel shortly after the record was released in June.