Live In Concert From Npr's All Songs Considered

Few artists have survived the constantly mutating world of dance music from era to era quite like Moby. From his roots in New York's early-'90s rave scene to the commercial gold of Play and 18's ambient electronica, Moby has maintained his place on the shortlist of the genre's crossover stars. His recent performances have highlighted his work as a DJ, departing from his mid-period forays into rock musicianship, but at Moogfest, he was in full-on rock star mode, stalking the stage and playing guitar, drums and keyboards while leading a band clad all in black through songs from throughout his nearly 20-year career. Hear Moby perform a full concert, recorded live on October 28, 2011 at Moogfest in Asheville, N.C.

Austra, a.k.a. Toronto-based Katie Stelmanis, released her debut album Feel It Break all of one month before it was shortlisted for the Polaris Prize. It's easy to see why: The disc pairs clear, powerful vocals with dark, distorted analog synthesizers to beautiful effect. She didn't win, but — as she rides a rising tide of dark new-wave artists along with Zola Jesus and a rejuvenated Trent Reznor — it's safe to say things are looking up for her. Hear Stelmanis and her band in a full concert, recorded live on October 28, 2011 at Moogfest in Asheville, N.C.

Wild Flag has only been together for about a year, and just released its debut album last month. But the group has already earned a reputation for stunning, frenetic live performances. Wild Flag's members play with near-total abandon, thrashing on stage to bursts of guitar noise and fierce rhythms.  This performance was recorded live at the Black Cat in Washington, D.C. on Oct. 20, 2011.

As a kid growing up in rural Wisconsin, Nika Roza Danilova wanted to sing opera, but youthful insecurities and performance anxiety kept the diminutive singer from finding her voice. By her late teens, Danilova found it instead in the dark and brooding worlds of goth and experimental synth-rock. In 2006, she began writing and performing as Zola Jesus, and in the past two years unleashed a torrent of intense, mesmerizing songs on three EPs and three full-length albums, including this fall's Conatus.

Thinking Fellers Union Local 282 is the sound of spongy pop music hitting a brick wall. Playfully weird and fuzzy, this group of pop deviants has annoyed and delighted since 1986. Even though the band hasn't released any new music in ten years, Thinking Fellers fit right in at Asbury Lanes (yes, a bowling alley) on opening day of the All Tomorrow's Parties festival, inciting the weekend's rowdiest crowd. Recorded on Friday, September 30, 2011.

Hear the legendary English roots -and country-rock singer live from Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia, MD, recorded on Sept. 25, 2011. Lowe performs material from his new album, The Old Magic, as well as classic songs. He also tips his hat to Elvis Costello with a version of "Alison," a song Lowe originally produced for Costello's breakthrough record, My Aim Is True.

Hear the band recorded live in concert from (Le) Poisson Rouge in New York City, from Sept. 21, 2011. Set List: Opening A Peculiar Noise Called Train Director I'm Not Feeling Human Memories Of Jacqueline 1906 Define A Transparent Dream Courtyard A Place We Have Been To The Game You Play Is In Your Head Parts 1, 2, 3 Jumping Fences Grass Canons California Demise 3 Green Typewriters (suite) NYC-25 Black Foliage Paranormal Echoes I Have Been Floated No Growing A Sleepy Company Mystery Hideaway The Sylvan Screen Encore: Holiday Surprise 1, 2, 3 The Opera House

The love for Justin Vernon and Bon Iver at Washington, D.C.'s 9:30 Club was so overwhelming for this performance, it seemed fans might storm the stage and eat the humble frontman alive. The stage was set with just the essentials, bathed in thin columns of warmly colored lights. It was just enough to reveal the faces of a thousand or so glassy-eyed fans who mouthed the words to every song and swayed in a state of pure bliss. 8/4/11 Perth Minnesota, WI Towers Holocene Creature Fear Flume Hinnom, TX Wash. Brackett, WI Blood Bank Re: Stacks Calgary Wolves (Act I and II) ENCORE: Skinny Love Beth/Rest For Emma

Portland, Ore., has bred or attracted so many tremendous indie-folk musicians that they're getting stuffed into bigger and bigger bands to make room for everyone. A collective that swells from seven to as many as 17 members, Typhoon is built for soul-stirring beauty on a grand scale. Conceived by singer Kyle Morton as a vehicle for grandiose uplift, Typhoon hammers his points home with ambitious swells of brass and strings. At the 2011 Newport Folk Festival in Newport, R.I., the group finally commanded a stage big enough for what it throws down on its marvelous new EP, A New Kind of House.

In the span of just a few years, The Decemberists' Colin Meloy has taken an unlikely path from brainy folk-pop obscurity to commanding frontman — the sort of confident singer who can fill open-air venues with his lone voice when he's not crafting ludicrously ambitious "folk operas" like 2009's The Hazards of Love. The Decemberists scaled back those ambitions on this year's lustrous-but-straightforward The King Is Dead. But make no mistake: Songs this infectious aren't crafted without a healthy dollop of ambition — and an even greater application of craft and skill. Hear The Decemberists' members reach back into their rich catalog live at the 2011 Newport Folk Festival in Newport, R.I.

Emmylou Harris' Grammy-festooned career stretches back more than 40 years, to her legendary early collaborations with the late country-folk legend Gram Parsons. Hard Bargain, her new album, is suffused with mourning, both for Parsons (in "The Road") and for her late friend Kate McGarrigle, whom she memorably memorializes in "Darlin' Kate." But the Country Music Hall of Famer still knows where and how to locate sweetness and joy in her music, and she remains vital and contemporary. Here, Harris closes out the 2011 Newport Folk Festival in Newport, R.I. joined on stage by many special guests: Pete Seeger, The Civil Wars, David Wax Museum and more.

Joy Williams and John Paul White were strangers when they were paired up at a Nashville songwriting session in 2008, but you'd never know that now: Though not romantically involved, they perform their sweet, harmony-rich folk-pop songs with loving chemistry, often staring sweetly into each other's eyes. After attracting huge buzz at this year's SXSW music festival, the pair has gone on to be a large-scale cult item, thanks in part to the warmly winning songs on this year's Barton Hollow. The Civil Wars draw heavily from that album, and a few choice covers, when the band performs live at the 2011 Newport Folk Festival in Newport, R.I.

Last year, Boston's David Wax Museum couldn't play the Newport Folk Festival without first winning a contest. But talk about making the most of an opportunity: The band was everywhere at Newport last year, passing out CDs and signing bands up to its mailing list when it wasn't breaking spontaneously into song every chance it got. Since that breakthrough, the group has found a national audience for its recent album Everything Is Saved, which finds David Wax mixing the roots of American and Mexican folk music while Suz Slezak gives the band's music the percussive edge that can only come from a stick dragged rhythmically against a donkey's jawbone. Hear David Wax Museum perform live at the 2011 Newport Folk Festival in Newport, R.I.

Chris Thile enjoyed massive success at a very early age, selling millions with the prodigiously gifted bluegrass band Nickel Creek. But he's remained remarkably level-headed and creatively ambitious in the five years since the group's demise, exploring his more progressive leanings in Punch Brothers and teaming up with Michael Daves for a more traditional collection paying tribute to past bluegrass greats like Bill Monroe and fellow Newport artist Earl Scruggs. Sleep With One Eye Open, their album together, may look to the past, but make no mistake: This is blazingly intense music, and it shows live when they take the stage at the 2011 Newport Folk Festival in Newport, R.I.

Canadian twin sisters Tegan and Sara Quin usually traffic in fizzy, punky pop music, so it's a refreshing twist to see them pop up at the 2011 Newport Folk Festival in Newport, R.I. The smart and outspoken pair will throw an extra curveball when they show their faces Saturday: They're translating their spiky music into acoustic arrangements. The mission is to highlight the sturdy songcraft behind Tegan and Sara's cultishly adored music, without sacrificing any of the hard-earned potency.

Mountain Man is significantly less burly than its name suggests: Founded at Bennington College in Vermont, the mostly a cappella trio of Molly Sarle, Amelia Meath and Alexandra Sauser-Monnig weaves its voices into a stark, reverent and unadorned sound that can be hauntingly beautiful. Tours with Jonsi and The Decemberists helped put the group on the map last year — as did a spot at the Glastonbury Festival, which preceded the release of Mountain Man's debut album — and it's just followed that breakthrough with a live set called Live at the Wiltern. Mountain Man brings its gorgeous three-part harmonies to the 2011 Newport Folk Festival in Newport, R.I.

It almost goes without saying that Pokey LaFarge is a man out of time: With his slicked-back hair and vintage clothing, he looks like a grown-up street urchin from early in the previous century. His music matches his look: Recorded with his band The South City Three, the new Middle of Everywhere could have emerged from a decades-old field recording, even as it exudes modern whiz-bang energy. (It's no surprise that the man is putting out his own 78 RPM record.) LaFarge and his players put on a tremendously tight live show at the 2011 Newport Folk Festival in Newport, R.I., the result of years spent busking and wandering.

One of the most demented and infectious live bands in the world, Gogol Bordello assembles something approximating an Eastern European punk-rock circus, suitable for non-stop movement and hearty sing-alongs. Look for the band to showcase songs from 2010's Rick Rubin-produced Trans-Continental Hustle when it plays the 2011 Newport Folk Festival in Newport, R.I., but don't be surprised by the abundant surprises.

Hear the sludgy doom-metal duo play with a 24-member female choir at Le Poisson Rouge in New York City as part of the Blackened Music Series on June 25, 2011.

Multi-instrumentalist Jenny Conlee wasn't expected to join the band only weeks removed from a breast-cancer diagnosis. But she appeared nonetheless. The band interspersed old favorites with tunes from this year's The King Is Dead. Recorded live at The Gorge on Monday, May 30, The Decemberists performs here as part of the 2011 Sasquatch Music Festival outside Seattle, Wash. Language Advisory: This is a live concert recording, and may not contain language suitable for all audiences.