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Iceland continues to produce some of the most inventive and memorable artists of any out there. The latest discovery is 26 year-old Sindri Mar Sigfusson, a singer who gained modest acclaim with the Reykjavik-based pop-folk group Seabear. Sigfusson has begun a new, more eclectic solo project called Sin Fang Bous, which reportedly derives its name from a shortened version of the singer's name, his teeth, and his conception of how his music sounds.

After a career built on romantics like Rachmaninoff and Chopin, pianist Helene Grimaud turns to the music of J.S. Bach with a combination of reverence and playfulness. Hear the new CD in its entirety, one week before its release.

Antony Hegarty, lead singer for Antony and the Johnsons, has a striking sound — "between male and female ... at once ethereal and earthy," one critic writes. The group's new CD is The Crying Light.

Norman Cook, aka Fatboy Slim, presents a "long lost album that never quite got finished"...until now. I Think We're Gonna Need a Bigger Boat, released under the moniker The Brighton Port Authority, features collaborations with the likes of David Byrne, Martha Wainwright and Iggy Pop. The result is a collection of energetic and animated songs that recall a 1970s dance party.

Combining the best elements from bands like Blitzen Trapper, Annuals, and Modest Mouse, Faces on Film showcase both the epic and the intimate. On The Troubles, its first official LP, guitars drone and pianos alternate between plucking out fun and eerie melodies, all while frontman Mike Fiore makes veiled references to unspoken crimes, abandoned plans, and dysfunctional families, with his rich and enigmatic lyrics.

On Jan. 25, the American Symphony Orchestra will give the U.S. premieres of composers from the former East Germany. It's music most Americans have never heard. Conductor Leon Botstein says that the music of Eisler, Fessay and Matthus often experiments within the tradition of Bach and Mozart.

Saxophonist Hank Crawford died Jan. 29 at the age of 74. The Memphis-born musician backed B.B. King and Ray Charles before going solo. He later became the musical director for Charles' band. Fresh Air remembers Crawford with a 1998 interview.

In honor of Miles Davis' 50th-anniversary Kind of Blue reissue, music writer Ashley Kahn looks at a few of the stories behind the scenes of the legendary recording sessions.

Certain albums seem to lend themselves to a particular season. Some bands make music that beautifully accompanies those long, lazy summer days spent in the shade. Other artists, like today's group, Suturee, perfectly compliment the bleakness of winter, even though the band is originally from San Juan, Puerto Rico. Suturee's self-titled debut album is mellow and melodic without being dull or depressing, or aggravating your Seasonal Affective Disorder.

Alumni of Gillespie's many different bands still get together to ensure that his dazzling songwriting gets heard with the power and verve it demands. The Dizzy Gillespie All-Stars (the big-band edition) played a special celebration with the vocal quartet New York Voices, live from the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., to ring in 2009.