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Le Loup is making some of the year's most original and mesmerizing music. The Washington, D.C. band uses plucked banjo, programmed beats, and triumphant harmonies to produce complex and enthralling experimental pop. While the seven-piece group has a full, multifaceted sound, it's all built around a brilliantly crafted melodic core.

For all its impeccably timed swoony grandeur, Band of Horses' Cease to Begin peaks during its subtlest moment: a sweetly lazy ballad with the inexplicable title "Detlef Schrempf." The song is a study in rich, friendly atmosphere.

Grammy-nominated Angie Stone is a woman with a hand in it all: singing, songwriting, producing and even acting. She's out with a new CD, The Art of Love and War. The multi-talented singer talks about her new CD and how she overcame serious health problems.

"I Only Want to Be with You" was Dusty Springfield's first solo hit, back in 1964. Now, rebellious alt-country singer Shelby Lynne, who's had an up-and-down career, has remade the song as part of a Springfield tribute album. It's a radically different version.

Live from the Monterey Jazz Festival, Otis Taylor plays what he calls "trance blues" — a blues sound drenched in Appalachian country music and moody, psychedelic rock. He discovered blues and folk music after hearing the work of Mississippi John Hurt. Hear a full concert.

The Boy with No Name is a sparkling surprise, as the Scottish pop band Travis returns with a sharp batch of winning pop songs. Best of all is "Selfish Jean," on which singer Fran Healy disparages an ex-lover over a chiming, instantly memorable guitar hook.

Built around her crisp acoustic guitar and clear-eyed, observant delivery, "Ludlow Street" — one of the standout tracks on Suzanne Vega's new, New York-themed Beauty & Crime — brings to mind the graceful flow of her early work.

Raheem DeVaughn's new album, Love Behind the Melody, could be his big break. The single, "Woman," has been nominated for a Grammy, and next week he'll begin touring the country with Jill Scott. DeVaughn talks about his independent streak and his relationship with his fans.

In her new novel, the Booker Prize-winning author Pat Barker explores the impact of World War I through the lives of three aimless art students, two of whom go to the frontlines.

Douglas' three very different quintet albums sound very good together, says critic Kevin Whitehead.

Each of the 10 songs on Fellow Travelers pays tribute to an artist with whom Shearwater has toured. It's fascinating to hear the band function as a skeleton key that opens up the works of Xiu Xiu and Coldplay and St. Vincent alike.

On the Norwegian singer-songwriter's seventh studio album, the ache and anger of divorce gets re-purposed into a loose, feisty, energetic record that finds Lerche sounding fully recharged.

Nervy and sonically inventive in spots, tender and graceful in others, this is a breakup record that eschews childish outbursts and pointless wallowing.

In "Too Beautiful to Work," The Luyas' members balance the need to feel novel and the need to seem familiar.

"Talk About" is both wry and wicked, a sly mix of both the comical and profound. But really, all Les Sins really wants you to do is dance.

Sleepwalking with Santo and Johnny; the child prodigy Debashish Battacharya; Fernando, a great unknown artist and more.

On its seventh album, the Canadian band returns to the spiky, effusive pleasures of guitar-driven rock and roll.

All Songs Considered hosts Bob Boilen and Robin Hilton go down a rabbit hole, connecting a chain of songs that sound like other songs. Listen to the end of the chain and tell us what you think it sounds like.

The suburban slack-rockers nail the sudden realization that you're wasting your time with someone who probably doesn't care about you.

The second single from My Spirit Sister is dark, stark Americana, featuring James' knockout voice as he meditates on what happens when love's lightness becomes heavy.