As a big fan of NPR's "All Songs Considered" I've learned to get past Bob Boilen's annoying diction and the underlying pretension of a show that claims to consider all songs in the world and purport 5 or so weekly as notable. Why, you ask? Because Bob usually does play good stuff and often it's stuff I've never heard of before. Plus, I just love Podcasts.
He's been hyping NPRmusic's association with SXSW, the SouthbySouthWest music festival, for a few weeks now and if you aren't going to make it to Austin this month (we aren't), NPR has done you the favor of providing a 10-Song, SXSW Sampler on iTunes - for FREE!
There's bound to be something you haven't heard before on there, unless you're Bob Boilen or something. SITKOT favorites the Avett Brothers are featured, as are David Byrne, the Decemberists and hip-pop darling K'Naan (pictured with hands up) who I can't stop enjoying no matter how much I want to. Anyhow, the real pleasures for me were the groups I hadn't known or known that I knew, like: Thao, Blitzen Trapper (bluish picture) and Blind Pilot.
The link for the iTunes download link is here.
And, if you haven't checked out the surprisingly robust offering that NPRmusic has become: give it a spin. They're doing live broadcasts from SXSW all week in addition to their bevy of other concert recordings, articles, Podcasts and information.
