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Morrissey has been a fixture on the pop-music landscape for more than two decades. Music critic John Brady says listening to his eighth solo album is like having a conversation with a neighbor — a mopey, gothic, somewhat strange but always exciting neighbor.

The North Mississippi Allstars formed to play "hill country blues," but the tunes on their new album, "Electric Blue Watermelon," recall the feel-good Southern rock of the Allman Brothers from the 1970s, or the anthems of Lynyrd Skynyrd.

In the latest edition of the series "What Are You Listening To?" political science professor Waleed Hazbun of Baltimore dips into a collection of music that his wife calls "Soulful World Mix" — sounds that cross genres and borders. NPR's Jennifer Ludden listens along.

For at least 40 years, shortwave listeners have been stumbling across the eerie sound of unidentified stations transmitting only voices chanting numbers. Speculation on their purpose has ranged from UFO landing coordinates to international espionage. We explore the mystery of the shortwave numbers stations through the recordings compiled by hardcore numbers monitors.

In 1973, a reggae group on the verge of breaking up released an album — its second that year — filled with militant anthems inspired by life in the Jamaican slums. Burnin' turned out to be Bob Marley's big break.

On The Reminder, Feist appears to be on her way to becoming a full-fledged star. 2005's Let It Die helped solidify her as a darling of the indie-rock scene, but her major label debut is an album that both the critics and the broader public seem to love.

Famed Memphis soul label Stax Records, which relaunched this year, releases No Place Like Soul, the sixth album by soul/funk group Soulive. The group is the first newly signed artist to release an album on Stax, best known for hits by Isaac Hayes, Otis Redding and others.

Despite decades of repression, and even isolation, the pop music scene in Myanmar is thriving.

Wilson's new project, the musical equivalent of a landscape painting, took four years to finish.

The Secret Servant is the 10th novel from thriller writer Daniel Silva. Reviewer Alan Cheuse says Silva is perhaps the best home-grown spy novelist among a new generation of writers.