NPR Music

You Can't Always Get What You Want: On Music And Expectation

Credit Nabil Elderkin / Courtesy of the artist

The singer and songwriter Frank Ocean, whose first full-length studio album, Channel Orange, was released on iTunes this week.

Credit Jason Frank Rothenberg / Courtesy of Motormouth Media

The Dirty Projectors, whose album Swing Lo Magellan was released on Tuesday.

By editor

Originally published on Tue September 18, 2012 6:31 pm

Birthdays come but once a year, but for music lovers, what I like to call "that birthday feeling" is a semi-regular thing. I'm talking about the rush, tinged by anxiety, greeting the first download click on an album you've been longing to hear for months. It's a complicated wash of emotions, boosted by conflicting hopes and assumptions. You're about to get exactly what you've wanted; but what if it's not exactly what you want? And boy, that bike Mom promised to buy had better be cherry red.

1:06 pm

Fri July 13, 2012

Dave Samuels On Piano Jazz

Credit Courtesy of the artist

Dave Samuels.

By editor

For Dave Samuels, the love of his first two instruments — the drums and then the piano — naturally led him to the vibraphone. Samuels' gift for evocative melody and his rhythmic versatility make him one of the leading mallet players of his generation, empowering him to swing from the classic-cool sounds of Stan Getz and Gerry Mulligan to the contemporary rhythms of The Yellowjackets, Spyro Gyra and his Caribbean Jazz Project.

12:15 pm

Fri July 13, 2012

Tanglewood Celebrates 75th With Free Web Stream

Credit courtesy of Tanglewood

The scene at Tanglewood.

By Lloyd Schwartz

Originally published on Sun July 15, 2012 9:53 am

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On July 20, 1958, at Tanglewood — the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra — pianist Leon Fleisher played an electrifying Brahms First Piano Concerto with the orchestra under its former music director, Pierre Monteux. This remarkable teaming has not been heard since then.

11:40 am

Fri July 13, 2012

L.A. Soul, Chilean Hip-Hop, Colombian Cumbia And More

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Credit courtesy of the artist

We start off this week's show with Miguel's "Party Life."

Credit courtesy of the artist

malas amistades

Credit courtesy of the artist

Estrella Hood from World Hood.

By Felix Contreras

Originally published on Mon July 16, 2012 2:46 pm

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11:33 am

Fri July 13, 2012

Song Premiere: Malka Spigel, 'See It Sideways'

Credit Courtesy of the artist

By Bob Boilen

Originally published on Fri July 13, 2012 11:56 am

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1:32 pm

Fri July 13, 2012