Live In Concert From Npr's All Songs Considered

The NPR Music crew gather on a street corner in Austin Texas for their first SXSW 2011 nightly wrap up. Bob Boilen, Robin Hilton Stephen Thompson and Ann Powers talk about the music they loved on this first day of the festival.

For all its irresistibly soulful energy, what really jumps out about Raphael Saadiq's music is the smooth precision with which it falls into place. A perfectly tailored showman, with perhaps the whitest teeth in show business, the producer and former member of Tony! Toni! Ton?! plays the part of the in-control frontman to perfection. But don't mistake his impeccably presented persona with sterility: This set from Stubb's in Austin, Texas -- recorded live as part of the South by Southwest music festival — is a full-blown soul revue, complete with choreographed backup singers and buckets of sweat. When a guy this cool exerts this much effort, it's a joy to behold. Hear Saadiq perform live at SXSW from Stubb's in Austin, Texas, on March 16, 2011.

Smith Westerns' members are no strangers to NPR Music's coverage of the South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas: Just last year, they were a bunch of skinny, no-name teenagers winning over the crowd at NPR Music's annual daytime party. That enjoyable and ingratiating set — all propulsive rock energy, timeless pop hooks and some of the shiniest hair in music — laid the groundwork nicely for last fall's well-received Dye It Blonde, an engaging blast of candy-coated swagger. Hear the band perform live at SXSW from Stubb's in Austin, Texas, on March 16, 2011.

Yuck doesn't worry much about first impressions: Short of calling a band "We're Terrible," it's hard to imagine a name riper for dismissal. On stage, though, this is a remarkably assured young riser. Yuck captures the frayed noise and hooky, guitar-driven melodies of '90s rock, even though its members, at 20, are too young to have experienced it firsthand. Hear the band perform live at SXSW from Stubb's in Austin, Texas, on March 16, 2011.

From the Sixth and I Synagogue in Washington DC, NPR Music presents The Low Anthem. This is their first show for their new album Smart Flesh. It is also the biggest crowd they've ever headlined. Here's the setlist, enjoy. Ghost Woman Blues Ocean of Noise Apothecary Love Hey, All You Hippies American Songwriter Home I'll Never Be (Jack Kerouac cover) I'll Take Out Your Ashes To The Ghosts Who Write History Books Hand Me Down My Walking Cane (Traditional cover) Love and Altar A new, unnamed song Boeing 737 This Goddamn House Dreams Can Chase You Down To Ohio (encore) Smart Flesh

Wavves opened for Best Coast at the 9:30 Club in Washington DC on a cold winter night. Part of their "Summer is Forever" tour. Here's the set list. 1. Idiot 2. Friends Were Gone 3. To the Dregs 4. In the Sand 5. WAVVES 6. Take on the World 7. Beach Demon 8. Linus Spacehead 9. No Hope Kids 10. Bug 11. Super Soaker 12. So Bored 13. Nervous Breakdown (Black Flag cover) 14. Green Eyes 15. Post Acid

Listen to Best Coast live from Washington DC's 9:30 Club. Their tour along with the band Wavves was billed as the Summer is Forever tour. That was a hopeful thought on a night when an ice storm was about to hit the city. Here's the set list 1. Bratty B 2. Summer Mood 3. Goodbye 4. The End 5. Crazy For You 6. Make You Mine 7. Sunny Adventure 8. Far Away 9. Fist City (Loretta Lynn cover) 10. Wish He Was You 11. I Want To 12. When I'm With You 13. That's the Way Boys Are (Lesley Gore cover) 14. When the Sun Don't Shine 15. Our Deal 16. When You Wake Up 17. Sun Was High (So Was I) 18. Something in the Way

Composer and guitarist Aurelio Martinez is one of the leading singers of Garifuna music from Central America. Martinez was added to globalFEST at the last minute after a Cuban group had visa trouble; he also played without his own band and had to put together a pickup group quickly. Despite all this, Martinez was a delight. He has been studying under the the legendary African singer and bandleader Youssou N'Dour — an important connection in his life since the Garifuna community descends from escaped African slaves. The culturally endangered Garifuna song forms such as paranda ballads find new life as the Honduran musician complements them with his melancholy yet hopeful singing.

This was one show everyone wanted to catch. Magic happens when Ballak? Sissoko and Vincent Segal perform. This night at globalFEST was no exception. When the kora and a cello sit side by side, there's a clear cultural juxtaposition of African and European musical tradition. But despite the striking contrast, when the Malian kora player Sissoko and French cellist Segal sit down together, nothing sounds more natural. Sissoko plucks sweet harp-like sounds from the 21-stringed kora, while Segal draws unexpected sounds from his cello, sometimes evoking woodwinds. The acoustic pairing and cultural combination has become an exciting new sound in chamber music.

This was my globalFEST surprise. Imagine a New Orleans street band playing Indian Bollywood tunes with a go-go beat — you can't? Then just listen, because your day is about to get better. Red Baraat is the only bhangra brass band in North America. Hailing from New York City and formed in 2008, the group uses their improvisational sound to blend the dhol, a double-sided, barrel-shaped North Indian drum, with brass funk. It's a crazy blast of fun.

Like 'The Shepherd's Dog,' 'Kiss Each Other Clean' showcases Iron and Wine's subtly exploratory, even meandering side. Hear the increasingly exploratory band perform its new album at New York City's Greene Space. Tickets for the surprise show were scarce, but fans got to watch the intimate performance on Jan. 4, 2011 from WNYC and NPR Music.

Hear the Sigur Ros singer in a stunning solo concert, recorded live from the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. Nov. 9, 2010.

Swedish singer and guitarist Kristian Matsson is a soft-spoken guy who stands somewhere around five and a half feet tall. But on stage, he's known as The Tallest Man on Earth, a name he's earned by giving unforgettable live performances with one of the boldest, most captivating voices around. Hear him perform live in this full concert, recorded in Washington, D.C. Oct. 3, 2010.

Sean Carey, who performs as S. Carey, was best known as the beautifully understated drummer for Bon Iver before releasing his own solo album this year called All We Grow. Hear him in this full concert, recorded live from the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. Oct. 3, 2010.

Everything about Of Montreal is a spectacle, and the band's live performances are no exception. Led by frenetic frontman Kevin Barnes, Of Montreal stages fantastically theatrical concerts with elaborate sets, multiple costume changes and synchronized dancing, all driven by breathlessly unpredictable songs. Of Montreal is on tour for its latest album, False Priest, and this concert is at 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C.

Hear the band recorded live in concert from Washington, D.C.'s 9:30 Club.

It sure did take Glen Hansard a while to capture the world's attention. Long a star in his native Ireland, thanks to a long string of albums with The Frames, Hansard couldn't catch a break in America, where he bounced from label to label without finding much success. But then Hansard and young Czech singer Marketa Irglova sang and starred together in a little 2007 indie movie called 'Once,' and everything changed: The two won an Oscar for "Falling Slowly," the movie's soundtrack sold millions, and The Frames gave way to The Swell Season, in which Hansard and his old band perform with Irglova. The two singers' romantic relationship ended as they were recording 2009's 'Strict Joy,' but they continue to work and perform together. Here, The Swell Season performs live at the Newport Folk Festival in Newport, R.I.

It's no surprise that two Kentucky singer-songwriters would come together to bond over their love of mountain life. But the first album-length collaboration by cellist Ben Sollee and guitarist/banjo player Daniel Martin Moore, 'Dear Companion,' is about little else. Recorded to raise money and awareness for Appalachian preservation -- most pointedly in opposition to mountaintop-removal coal mining -- the album was produced by another likeminded Kentuckian, Jim James of My Morning Jacket. Here, Sollee and Moore perform live at the Newport Folk Festival in Newport, R.I.

You can't turn on a TV these days without hearing a song by Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros: "Janglin'" and especially "Home" have popped up in countless ads and musical montages, everywhere from 'American Idol' to 'Community.' Still, the absolute best place to take in the 10-piece band's gloriously uplifting ruckus is on the concert stage, where the music takes on the celebratory and intense air of a revival show. When singers Edward Sharpe (a.k.a. Alex Ebert) and Jade Castrinos lock eyes and sing to each other, it conjures images of Johnny and June, if Johnny Cash were a towering figure with dreadlocks and no undershirt. Here, the L.A. band performs live at the Newport Folk Festival in Newport, R.I.

You wouldn't expect someone called Pokey LaFarge to grow up in fancy boarding schools, so it's not a huge surprise to learn that he came of age as an all-around rural wanderer who found his voice in roving packs of fellow buskers. Naturally, he keeps one eye on tradition, but -- true to form for an adventure- seeking free spirit -- he's always looking forward, too. LaFarge's newest album, recorded with his South City Three, is titled 'Riverboat Soul.' Here, LaFarge and his band perform live at the Newport Folk Festival in Newport, R.I.