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Based in San Diego, Delta Spirit has made its musical home somewhere between indie-rock and alt-country, with a foundation built on battle-cry vocals and unconventional instrumentation, even including trash-can lids. The band performs from its debut CD in a session on WXPN.

Calling Stephin Merritt a reluctant performer is putting it lightly. Nevertheless, the Magnetic Fields leader bellied up to a microphone by himself in a KEXP session. Here, he surveys his expansive catalog and answers questions in the deadpan style that makes his songs so great.

Having honed their sound in the Americana musical mecca outside Woodstock, N.Y., the roots-rock revivalists in The Felice Brothers bring their raucous act to WXPN in Philadelphia. Hear an interview and songs recorded live in concert.

Predictable music is usually the most forgettable. Fortunately for electro-funk artist Benji Hughes, his debut double CD, A Love Extreme, struts with enough ear candy and lyrical surprises to make it one of the year's most memorable releases.

The Australian musician, known for using the didgeridoo, was recently asked to score a new comedy film called Surfer Dude. Rudd, an avid surfer, speaks about the difference between the spirit of surfing and the business of surf culture.

By 15, Scottish singer-songwriter Amy MacDonald was performing in pubs and open mics in Ireland. Now 21, her album This Is the Life just came out in the U.S. after topping the U.K. charts on the strength of its rich and sometimes dark lyrics.

Pared down to an efficient duo, Earlimart completed its new record, Hymn and Her, in just over four weeks, as opposed to the three-year production of its last project. The band plays its straightforward and intimate California pop tunes in a session from WXPN.

Blogger Drew Kerr talks about his critique of the many title songs accompanying James Bond movies. He's ranked all 20 of them from best to worst and talks about his selections and criteria here.

As a child, musician Elizabeth Willis was formally trained in piano and violin, and often imagined she'd grow up to be a classical musician. But at some point along the way she decided to walk away from classical music and start writing grand and beautiful pop. The 11 songs on her self-titled debut bridge the gap between her two passions by pairing her distinctive vocals and pop stylings with cinematic string and piano arrangements. The result is refreshing and often gorgeous.

Appleton, Wis., provides a lot of material for Cory Chisel: It's the childhood home of Harry Houdini, and it's surrounded by small towns, bigger lakes, paper mills and vast stretches of rural landscape. The singer-songwriter plays music inspired by the seemingly normal town, and talks about a music scene that takes a lot of pride in itself.