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The saxophonist and composer grew up in the Windy City hating the avant-garde jazz that her father played. Now based in New York, her new album embraces her Chicago roots, as well as her "daddy's crazy music."

Deceptively complex, Cosí fan tutte is a comic farce that often leaves romantically inclined listeners more than a little bit queasy. The libretto springs plenty of jokes, but Mozart's music tells you to hold on to your heart — you never know which way the romantic winds might blow.

On The Kills' third full-length album, Midnight Boom, the band fleshes out its garage-punk sound, in the process revealing a seemingly newfound interest in having fun. With its provocative delivery and emphasis on hooks, the duo crafts an album that feels rough, raw, and undeniably hip.

Sweden is home to some of the most exciting pop music around. In a special session with host David Dye, World Cafe features three emerging artists: Lykke Li, El Perro del Mar, and Anna Ternheim.

On the group's third album, Made in the Dark, Hot Chip adds distortion to the mix. Exploding with background synths, soul influences, and Alexis Taylor's airy vocals, the band moves into ballad territory more than before. Hear an interview and performance from WXPN.

Though still only 20, English singer-songwriter Kate Nash has already topped numerous European pop charts and attracted massive buzz in the U.S. Her debut album, Made of Bricks, is full of sweetly infectious pop music, propelled by Nash's thick accent and effervescent personality.

Cuadrado is a member of the Brooklyn Jazz Underground, a musicians' collective determined to make the pieces of a fragmented industry fit together. In an interview and performance from WBGO, Cuadrado and his Puzzles Quartet play music from a new independent release.

Just as Thao and her band The Get Down Stay Down were about to go on the air and play their new songs, all four of them began swearing like longshoremen. Turns out they needed get it out of their system before hitting the radio and playing new songs.

It's been a strange ride for singer Rachel Taylor Brown: a nervous breakdown, eight years of solitude as a hermit, an endless struggle with both loving and hating humanity. It's the kind of fear and anguish that can drive someone deep into their own mind. But Brown looked outward at a troubling world and discovered some the haunting, humorous and ultimately beautiful songs that appear on her latest CD, Half Hours With the Lower Creatures.

Fresh Air rock critic Ken Tucker reviews two albums from two one-named singers: Madonna's Hard Candy and the self-titled release from Swedish pop singer Robyn.