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On the Australian band's charming second album, a sweetly blithe sound can't quite mask the doubt and hesitation at the heart of the songs.

The roots-rock band's fifth album doesn't deviate wildly from Heartless Bastards' wheelhouse, but it does give Erika Wennerstrom and company more room to roam.

The former singer of New Buffalo, Seltmann does what all good musicians do: namely, take familiar parts and transform them into something new. What's most novel about "Harmony to My Heartbeat," as least compared to the sources that seemed to inspire it, is its shift to a grownup perspective.

Future Islands' sound is as texturally interesting as it is rhythmically accessible -- music designed for both heads and feet. The X factor on songs like "Walking Through That Door" comes courtesy of husky-voiced singer Sam Herring, whose pipes are as elusive in description as the rest of the band.

While the title of the Brooklyn trio's album Suspended Animation implies emotional stasis, it's actually the result of transition and change.

Rooted in early-20th-century blues and jazz, "lipstickandchrome" is freshened up with modern sass.

A lovely new recording by violinist Julia Fischer contains an unexpected emotional resonance, due to her conductor's premature death.

The American Idol winner is now a superstar, tied with Reba McEntire for the most No. 1 singles by a female country artist. Her fourth album, Blown Away, is a little stormier than her previous work.

Katie Crutchfield has polished Waxahatchee's sound to maximize its glimmering-but-spiky forcefulness, but her words remain as bracing and unsparing as ever.

The Paris-based singer channels Billie Holiday and Judy Garland on an album that defies categorization.

The Tuku music of Oliver Mtukudzi; Classical guitarist John Williams; A Spanish classic from David Russell; The stunning and brash Arto Lindsay; One of two new CDs from Tom Wait and more.

A new poll from Gallup shows that support for unions is the highest it's been since 1965. This comes as workers at companies like Starbucks, Amazon and Chipotle have lately launched union drives.

With its floating harmonies, Django-like guitar structures and swinging snare drums, the archival gem "While We're Young" is a fully formed song that could easily have wound up on an official Department of Eagles or Grizzly Bear studio record.

The roots-rock singer-guitarist's latest album, Slipstream, is her first in seven years. It's Raitt's debut release on Redwing Records, the label she founded and runs with the help of a small staff.

A South African artist lays utter waste to preconceptions about period performances.

"Any Other Day," from Woods' new Sun and Shade, is a brief but appealingly off-kilter two-minute concoction.

As a dark look at youth, City Center's "Teardrop Children" hits too close to home to feel like an exercise in gloom.

The British singer and producer's dark and immersive new album, Playin' Me, traces the pain inherent in love.

This week on All Songs Considered, Bob and Robin are joined by NPR Music's Stephen Thompson and Ann Powers to discuss their favorite surprises, artists, albums and songs from the first half of 2012.

The veteran punk rocker John Doe embraced his inner mountain man on Country Club, an album of classic country covers he recorded with The Sadies. The Canadian rockers and the former X frontman joined Terry Gross in the Fresh Air studio for an interview and an intimate performance. (Rebroadcast from April 2009.)