It's that time of year when all the pop music magazines -- plus your mailman, the plumber and the grocery store check-out lady -- compile their lists of the year's best music.
National Public Radio -- the entity that brings you in-depth reports on how the North African dung beetle is affecting the split-pea soup industry in the U.S. -- is no exception.
But the music side of NPR, known as "All Songs Considered," is as hip, surprising and ahead of the curve as the hipper-than-thou critics at Spin or the Village Voice.
Click on "The Year in Music, 2009" at NPR.org to read and hear "All Songs Considered" critics on such under-the-radar music makers as power popsters Visqueen, hip-hop artist K'naan and moody modern rockers Noah and the Whale. And yes, you can hear complete song samples of those artists and many others.
The NPR.org site also includes a top 50 list voted on by listeners. That list (also replete with song samples) includes such artists as Grizzly Bear, Animal Collective, Neko Case, Wilco and M. Ward.
National Public Radio -- the entity that brings you in-depth reports on how the North African dung beetle is affecting the split-pea soup industry in the U.S. -- is no exception.
But the music side of NPR, known as "All Songs Considered," is as hip, surprising and ahead of the curve as the hipper-than-thou critics at Spin or the Village Voice.
Click on "The Year in Music, 2009" at NPR.org to read and hear "All Songs Considered" critics on such under-the-radar music makers as power popsters Visqueen, hip-hop artist K'naan and moody modern rockers Noah and the Whale. And yes, you can hear complete song samples of those artists and many others.
The NPR.org site also includes a top 50 list voted on by listeners. That list (also replete with song samples) includes such artists as Grizzly Bear, Animal Collective, Neko Case, Wilco and M. Ward.
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