Bob Boilen

Ólafur Arnalds, Live In Concert

Bob Boilen — Tue, 07 May 2013 14:57:00 +0000

How can music be happy and sad at the same time? Listen to Olafur Arnalds and you'll hear it. Depending on your mood, the tone changes, and a song that may have been uplifting one day sounds like an elegy the next. It's spacious, undeniably beautiful work. Much of the music performed in this concert, recorded on April 18 at (Le) Poisson Rouge in New York City, is drawn from the Icelandic musician's recent album For Now I Am Winter.

Why I've Never Liked Fleetwood Mac's 'Rumours'

Bob Boilen — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 22:29:12 +0000
It has happened over and over again in the past few years. Someone in their 20s tells me how much they love Fleetwood Mac, and in particular its monster-selling album Rumours. My reaction is always the same. Their reaction is invariably deep surprise. I could never stand that record.
In 1977, when Fleetwood Mac's 11th studio album came out, I was working in a record store in Rockville, Md. Needless to say, I heard Rumours a lot. I know the songs all too well.

Lucius: Tiny Desk Concert

Bob Boilen — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 20:53:31 +0000
We brought Lucius to the Tiny Desk because I fell in love with one joyous, catchy song: "Don't Just Sit There." That's all I had to go on — I'd never seen the group live — and though I expected fun, we also got fabulous. Not only are Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig a winning singing duo, but their charisma and charm helps turn good pop songwriting into an endearing performance.
Both Berklee School of Music alumni, the two women moved to a Victorian home they'd found on Craigslist.

Pedro Soler And Gaspar Claus: Tiny Desk Concert

Bob Boilen — Mon, 14 May 2012 16:52:00 +0000
Music can be a beautiful conversation — rarely is that more evident than in this Tiny Desk Concert performance with the father-son duo of Pedro Soler and Gaspar Claus. Soler plays a delicate, intimate version of flamenco guitar, while his son turns the cello into an exquisitely expressive voice. Though 45 years separate them, pay attention to how they communicate.