All Songs Considered

We update our running list of the year’s best songs with reflections on shedding the past, moving on and the joy of simple pleasures.  This includes the emo-coded pop of oso oso, Lake Street Dive’s list of hopeful what-aboutisms, the twitchy, genre-hopping sound of brakence, pipe organ drones from Kali Malone and more.

NPR Music editor and writer Sheldon Pearce joins host Robin Hilton.

Tell us what you think with a review on Apple or Spotify wherever you listen to podcasts.

Questions, comments, suggestions or feedback of any kind always welcome: allsongs@npr.org

Featured artists and songs:

(00:00) Intro
(01:56) Thao: “Fossils”
(09:40) Helena Deland: “Tip Of My Tongue”
(16:58) Oso Oso: “someone like that”
(24:38) brakence: “death rolL”
(32:33) Lake Street Dive: “What About Flamingos?”
(42:46) Kali Malone: “Map The Path”

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As we enter the homestretch of 2026, we pause to catch up on some of the great tracks we missed from earlier in the year. This includes a stunning, ever-shifting earworm from a bedroom pop artist out of Northern Iowa known as Kinji, maximalist polyrhythms from the composer and electronic artist Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, the singular voice of Mexican singer Silvana Estrada and more.

AltLatino host Anamaria Sayre joins All Songs Considered’s Robin Hilton.

Featured artists and songs:

(00:00) Intro
(01:49) Kinji: “Windburn”
(08:42) Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith: “Ruin”
(17:37) Rita Payés & Lucía Fumero: “Rueda eterna”
(25:32) Lizzie Weber: “Truth Teller”
(33:20) Pedro Mizutani: “Queria Ter Nove”
(39:58) Lockimara: “Tastes Like”
(47:04) Silvana Estrada: “Pensarte”
(53:54) Lennon Stella: “Unforgivable Things”

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Questions, comments, suggestions or feedback of any kind always welcome: allsongs@npr.org

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It’s been an unprecedented year for arguing about “fake” music, and it’s not just AI. From bot-powered ticket sales and social media campaigns to manufactured artist identities and an endless wave of complaints against nepo babies, 2026 feels like a turning point in the timeless debate about authenticity in music.

This week on All Songs Considered, NPR Music’s Ann Powers and Isabella Gomez Sarmiento join host Robin Hilton to break down how we’ve reached this point, what it means, and where we go from here.

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Questions, comments, suggestions or feedback of any kind always welcome: allsongs@npr.org
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With the arrival of the first new Olivia Tremor Control album in nearly 30 years, we attempt to make sense of the sprawling, enigmatic collective behind it known as Elephant 6.

NPR Music’s Lars Gotrich joins host Robin Hilton.

Special thanks to Greenwich Entertainment, C.B. Stockfleth and Rob Hatch-Miller for use of audio featured in the 2022 documentary, The Elephant 6 Recording Co. 

Featured artists and songs:

(00:00) Intro with “A New Day” by The Olivia Tremor Control
(03:00) The Elephant 6 story in 60 seconds with “Black Foliage (Animation 2)” by The Olivia Tremor Control
(04:28) The Apples In Stereo: “Tidal Wave”
(07:34) Robert Schneider on the creative process, from the documentary ‘The Elephant 6 Recording Co.’
(12:39) The Olivia Tremor Control: “Love Athena”
(16:17) The Apples In Stereo: “Glowworm”
(18:14) Neutral Milk Hotel: “Ghost”
(22:13) Elf Power: “Embrace The Crimson Tide”
(26:08) of Montreal: “Gallery Piece”
(29:25) The Gerbils: “Glue”
(33:54) The Instruments: “Song for Thomas”
(37:01) Beulah: “Score From Augusta”
(39:35) Great Lakes: “A Little Touched”
(41:21) Dressy Bessy: “I’m Still Here”
(51:12) The Olivia Tremor Control: “Meeting Ourselves”
(53:39) The Olivia Tremor Control: “Path of the Parallels VI - Last Occupants”
(55:15) The Olivia Tremor Control: “Leaf”
(57:41) The Olivia Tremor Control: “Begin Now!”

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Questions, comments, suggestions or feedback of any kind always welcome: allsongs@npr.org

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Who’s the Mariah Carey of Halloween? Labels and artists are trying to capitalize on spooky season, but these are the songs that belong in the creepy canon, from the truly terrifying to simply seasonal and nostalgic.

Note: An earlier version of this episode appeared on All Songs Considered in 2025.

Tell us what you think with a review on Apple or Spotify wherever you listen to podcasts.

Questions, comments, suggestions or feedback of any kind always welcome: allsongs@npr.org

Featured artists and songs:

Phoebe Bridgers: “Killer” from ‘Stranger in the Alps’
Fever Ray: “If I Had A Heart,” from ‘Fever Ray’
Sufjan Stevens: “John Wayne Gacy, Jr” from ‘Illinois’
Jack Lenz: “Goosebumps” (theme from the TV show)
Disneyland Records: “Chilling, Thrilling Sounds of the Haunted House”
Alice Cooper: “Welcome to My Nightmare,” from ‘Welcome to My Nightmare’
Oksana Linde: “Horizontes lejanos,” from ‘Travesias’
Florence + the Machine: “Everybody Scream,” from ‘Everybody Scream’
Ethel Cain: “Housofpsychoticwomn,” from ‘Perverts’
girl in red: “We Fell In Love In October” (single)
Mimicking Birds: “Bloodlines,” from ‘EONS’
Van Morrison: “Moondance,” from ‘Moondance’
The Cramps: “I Was A Teenage Werewolf,” from ‘Songs the Lord Taught Us’
Dead Man’s Bones: “My Bodies a Zombie for You,” from ‘Dead Man’s Bones’
Vince Guaraldi: “The Great Pumpkin Waltz,” from ‘The Great Pumpkin’

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