Bob Boilen
In 1988, a determined Bob Boilen started showing up on NPR's doorstep every day, looking for a way to contribute his skills in music and broadcasting to the network. His persistence paid off, and within a few weeks he was hired, on a temporary basis, to work for All Things Considered. Less than a year later, Boilen was directing the show and continued to do so for the next 18 years.
Significant listener interest in the music being played on All Things Considered, along with his and NPR's vast music collections, gave Boilen the idea to start All Songs Considered. "It was obvious to me that listeners of NPR were also lovers of music, but what also became obvious by 1999 was that the web was going to be the place to discover new music and that we wanted to be the premiere site for music discovery." The show launched in 2000, with Boilen as its host.
Before coming to NPR, Boilen found many ways to share his passion for music. From 1982 to 1986 he worked for Baltimore's Impossible Theater, where he held many posts, including composer, technician, and recording engineer. Boilen became part of music history in 1983 with the Impossible Theater production Whiz Bang, a History of Sound. In it, Boilen became one of the first composers to use audio sampling — in this case, sounds from nature and the industrial revolution. He was interviewed about Whiz Bang by Susan Stamberg on All Things Considered.
In 1985, the Washington City Paper voted Boilen 'Performance Artist of the Year.' An electronic musician, he received a grant from the Washington D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities to work on electronic music and performance.
After Impossible Theater, Boilen worked as a producer for a television station in Washington, D.C. He produced several projects, including a music video show. In 1997, he started producing an online show called Science Live for the Discovery Channel. He also put out two albums with his psychedelic band, Tiny Desk Unit, during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Boilen still composes and performs music and posts it for free on his website BobBoilen.info. He performs contradance music and has a podcast of contradance music that he produces with his son Julian.
Boilen's first book, Your Song Changed My Life, was published in April 2016 by HarperCollins.
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This week's batch of essential new songs includes a curiously gorgeous piano piece from Iceland's Ólafur Arnalds, the punk band Abuse Of Power, summery psych-pop from Whyte Horses and more.
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This week's new mix features a profound Tiny Desk Contest entry, "dorky" electropop from Australian group Confidence Man, an intimate paean to different loves from Forth Wanderers and more.
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This is likely to be one of the most beautiful albums you'll hear in 2018.
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For one day only, members of Wye Oak, The Mountain Goats, Hiss Golden Messenger, Mountain Man and Megafaun joined Sylvan Esso to reimagine and record the electronic duo's music as a full band.
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Penguin Cafe folds in sounds from around the world and throughout music history — Africa, Kraftwerk, Brazil and Franz Schubert.
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Special guests from the NPR Music team join All Songs Considered this week to share some of their favorite releases from April.
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More than 6,000 entries later, we have our champion. Watch the joyous video that won over all 10 judges unanimously.
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A bonkers new song from Shugo Tokumaru helps wash away an unwelcome earworm, Lana Del Rey lauds (her?) youth, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy weirds out over love and Bob revisits an old favorite.
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On this episode of All Songs, we premiere new music from The Jayhawks, Margaret Glaspy and more, plus new Weezer and saxophonist Colin Stetson's reimagining of Górecki's Third Symphony.
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Out of more than 6,000 entries, the musician selected as the winner of the Tiny Desk Contest created something "captivating," "serpentine," "beautiful," "unusual" and "tremendous."