All Songs Considered: Olivia Rodrigo covers The Magnetic Fields, Noah Kahan channels his mom, and more

Summary

NPR Music: All Songs Considered – Olivia Rodrigo covers The Magnetic Fields, Noah Kahan channels his mom, and more

Date: March 17, 2026
Host: Robin Hilton
Guest/Co-host: Dora Levitt

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Episode Overview

This episode of All Songs Considered is a vibrant roundup of the week’s best new music. Hosts Robin Hilton and Dora Levitt explore standout singles and covers—from Noah Kahan’s introspective folk to Olivia Rodrigo’s transcendent Magnetic Fields reimagining, through indie pop, existential songwriting, and cutting-edge video game soundtracks. Together, they dive into themes of authenticity, self-reflection, and the emotional power of music, delivering memorable insights and heartfelt banter.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

Tiny Desk Contest Update

[00:35 – 01:25]

• Dora Levitt gives an update on the Tiny Desk Contest, sharing excitement about standout contest entries.
• Robin Hilton recalls Ruby Abaro’s winning video last year.
• Instagram's Desk of the Day series highlights daily contenders.

Noah Kahan’s “Porchlight” and Artistic Growth

[01:25 – 09:12]

• Noah Kahan’s “Porchlight” is played as a showcase of his evolution—Robin predicts a “huge year” for him.
• Dora reflects on her disconnect with Kahan’s earlier album Stick Season but feels he’s now found his “true voice.”
• Robin: “He’s opened up his life so much in his music in ways that he feels like maybe, like, I don’t know, like he feels a little guilty about revealing so much of his family life… This song, Porch Light is sung from the perspective of his mom.” [07:11]
• Lyrics address mental health and familial connection, with the chorus evoking the symbolic “porch light” as an image of home and welcome.
• Dora: “He really has such a strong sense of place and memory in the lyrics. And also just like sonically as a whole...” [08:12]
• The Great Divide album drops April 24.

Olivia Rodrigo Covers The Magnetic Fields: “The Book of Love”

[09:12 – 16:32]

• Olivia Rodrigo’s cover for the Help 2 compilation is praised for its transformation of a “quintessential indie love song.”
• Dora: “Nothing that I love more than a cover...it’s such a nice way to be in conversation with a song and artist you respect.” [13:43]
• The cover’s production inverts the original: Magnetic Fields’ plucky guitars vs. Olivia’s “washed out” backing and sharp vocals.
• Robin: “A really, really great cover makes you appreciate the artist who’s doing the cover in new ways, but also then makes you appreciate the artist that’s being covered in new ways.” [14:49]
• For Robin, Rodrigo’s interpretation brings out “a little bit of sadness… it’s sort of like the ending of The Graduate.”
• Dora: Praises Rodrigo’s courage to tackle a classic and her skill at homage (e.g., her nods to Paramore).

Ages and Ages: “Feel Amazing” & Longing for Authenticity

[17:38 – 24:54]

• The hosts discuss digital overload, AI, and yearning for “real” experiences.
• Ages and Ages’ “Feel Amazing” is introduced as a “playful take on existential fatigue.”
• Robin: “Why are we even here? Like, I don’t know what I want. I just know that I want it to feel real and I want it to feel amazing.” [22:25]
• Dora: “When they sing ‘Feel Amazing,’ that cuts through … almost like an affirmation struggling to be authentic.” [23:51]
• Tim Perry (lead singer) aims for “the waterfall without the gift shop” in seeking authentic experience [23:08].
• Recommendation: Past album Divisionary and their 2014 Tiny Desk.

Aldous Harding’s “One Stop”: Stream-of-Consciousness Self-Reflection

[24:54 – 32:03]

• Dora introduces Aldous Harding’s “One Stop” as an exemplar of “self reflective and honest music.”
• The song’s lyrical style channels free association, inner monologue, and late-night thoughts.
• Dora: “It feels like the thoughts that you have right as you’re falling asleep, when you’re at your most alone...” [30:12]
• Discussion of a standout lyric: “I met the real John Cale. He didn’t have any words, but I don’t mind.” [30:32]
• Robin highlights the unexpected, “bold” sound, and the unresolved fade at the end as emblematic of life’s ongoing journey.
• The music video features Harding dancing solo in an open space.
• Train on the Island album out May 8.

Video Game Music: Ryan Lott’s Marathon Soundtrack

[33:19 – 39:46]

• Banter about gaming habits (or lack thereof) segues into deep admiration for video game soundtracks.
• Ryan Lott (of Son Lux) composed Marathon: “relentless action” both in-game and musically.
• The track “Discontent” and the segue into “Planetary Relocation Psychosis” are praised for intricate layers and unexpected vocal effects.
• Robin: “He makes music that I just don’t understand… Most music I listen to is like, I can hear the seams of it...His is just madness to me.” [38:44]
• Dora: “The madness he uses isn’t overwhelming though…it feels like an incredibly layered painting.” [39:34]

Underscores: “Tell Me You Want It”—Dramatizing the Mundane

[40:06 – 45:14]

• Dora highlights U, the new album from Underscores (out March 20), as “music for malls, airports, hotels and supermarkets.”
• The single “Tell Me (You Want It)” is described as one of the most exciting pop tracks around.
• The hosts relate the energetic, “breathy” production and main-character energy to both daily life and video game soundtrack aesthetics.
• Robin admires the song’s glitchy pop sensibility and notes a “vibe shift near the end.”
• Dora: “She really gets at the need to dramaticize your life…makes you really feel like the main character...” [40:13]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Robin Hilton on home and Noah Kahan:
  “Porchlight says, I’m waiting for you. Porchlight says, we’re home. This is home. And all of the comforts and safety and familiarity that that implies... It’s such a little image. Porch light. But it says so much.” [08:24]

• Dora Levitt on Olivia Rodrigo’s cover:
  “She also—I mean, she’s so brave for covering just a quintessential song…” [16:11]

• Tim Perry of Ages and Ages (quoted by Robin):
  “When we search for meaning or satisfaction, what we’re really aching for is a real experience. The waterfall without the gift shop.” [23:08]

• Robin Hilton on Ryan Lott’s soundtrack:
  “He makes music that I just don’t understand…His is just madness to me.” [38:44]

• Dora Levitt on Aldous Harding:
  “It feels like the thoughts that you have right as you’re falling asleep, when you’re at your most alone, when you think back onto just awkward and strange moments that you’ve experienced…” [30:12]

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Important Timestamps

• 00:35 – Tiny Desk Contest entry chatter
• 01:25 – Noah Kahan's "Porchlight" and discussion
• 09:12 – Olivia Rodrigo covers “The Book of Love”
• 17:38 – Ages and Ages “Feel Amazing” + authenticity in music/AI anxiety
• 24:54 – Aldous Harding’s “One Stop”
• 33:19 – Video game soundtracks and Ryan Lott’s Marathon
• 40:06 – Underscores: “Tell Me You Want It”

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Final Thoughts

This episode delivers a dynamic blend of new releases, deep lyrical analysis, and discoveries across genres. Hilton and Levitt’s chemistry keeps things flowing, peppered with personal stories and fresh context. Whether you’re a folk fan, indie aficionado, pop devotee or an experimental music nerd, there’s a recommendation here to light up your playlist—and plenty of heartfelt moments to remind you why you love music.

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Further Listening:

• Noah Kahan’s The Great Divide (April 24)
• Olivia Rodrigo’s “The Book of Love” (from Help 2)
• Ages and Ages: Fine, Thanks and “Divisionary”
• Aldous Harding: Train on the Island (May 8)
• Ryan Lott: Marathon OST
• Underscores: U (March 20)

(All ads, sponsor breaks, and non-content sections omitted for clarity.)

Transcript

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[Robin Hilton]

of All Songs Considered comes to you from the NPR Music Podcast. We've got new episodes of this show every Tuesday, Alt Latino on Wednesday. And we close out every week in the NPR Music Podcast with New music Friday, NPR Music all. Also, of course, your Home for Tiny Desks and the Tiny Desk Contest.

[Dora Levitt]

Dora Levitt, I do love the Tiny Desk Contest.

[Robin Hilton]

And you have been, you're one of the producers and you've been going through all of the entries. Like, where are we with that? We're close to wrapping it up, aren't we?

[Dora Levitt]

I hope.

[Robin Hilton]

I hope. What could happen?

[Dora Levitt]

Well, right now, you included, our judges are picking their very favorite entries. We call it our Top Shelf series.

[Robin Hilton]

Yeah, I've already found I haven't seen one yet that I think, like, this could be the winner.

[Dora Levitt]

But I actually, I found one that I did think could definitely be the winner today. I said to Elle Mannion, the other producer of the contest, to look at our Desk of the Day series, which is on NPR Music's Instagram Stories, where we highlight another great entry every weekday from now until when Top Shelf starts. But one of those entries, I was like, this could be the winner in my eyes. I loved it so much.

[Robin Hilton]

Oh, wow. Well, I'm gonna have to check that out. You're gonna have to show it to me because the artist who won last year, Ruby Abaro, that was the first video I watched out of all of them. And I thought, did I just see the winner? But yeah. Well, on this episode of All Songs Considered, we are talking best new songs of the week. It's actually been a minute since we did a show where we update our running list of the year's best songs. I thought we would start with this new cut that we just got from Noah Kahn. And I'm just gonna say it right now. He's gonna have a year. I mean, he's already a pretty big deal. Things really blew up for him back in 2022 when he released the album Stick Season. I didn't know there was, like, another level for him, but I think he's found it on this new album that we know is coming now. It's called the Great Divide. I've already heard a handful of singles I got in advance on some of the music, and it is so good this new single that he just dropped is called Porch Light. And we can talk a little bit more about it after we hear it.

[Noah Kahn (performer)]

I would ask how you've been it's all over the Internet. But yeah, I mean, you knew that. After all you're looking for an autopsy or a half assed half apart Then I think you picked the wrong time to make this call it is not irrelevant that you stop picking your medicine But I'm giving you the benefit cause it's raining now I'll tell you how the weather is and you'll slip into some eloquently rambling mixed message and I should shut you down but it's cold and it's cold and it's cold and it's cold and it's cold I don't know I'm alone, I'm alone I'm alone, I'm alone I hope you tell me that you're burning down that you lost a taste to face the crowd Whatever made you famous made you sick but you can only do it pain aloud it ain't up to you to make it out and there ain't no shame in calling this thing quits but you don't and you don't but you don't and you don't and you don't

[Robin Hilton]

Here

[Noah Kahn (performer)]

it goes, here it goes, here it goes here it goes in your voices to my L. I hold everything holding any faith at all Pray for you, pray for you I leave the for that or broken holding what it's me that turns it off so it goes, so it goes so it goes? You act like we just sit up here and wait for you to reappear but baby there are bills to pay and your dad's road needs soul now try to drown out all the talk the eyeballs in the parking lot tilt people it ain't me you are But I guess you're my fault Here it ghost, here it ghost Here it ghost, here it ghost here it goes

[Dora Levitt]

And

[Noah Kahn (performer)]

I choke and I choke and I choke and I choke on the Always to my holding breath ain't holding any faith at all Will break you I leave the porch that on broken on turns it on so it goes so it goes so it goes. So it goes so it goes so it goes.

[Robin Hilton]

Doesn't he just sound like this unstoppable force?

[Dora Levitt]

He really does. To be completely honest, I never felt connected to stick season and it was so popular. And it is music that I feel like I would like. I really like folk and country music.

[Robin Hilton]

Yeah.

[Dora Levitt]

But yeah, hearing porchlight and hearing these new singles, he really sounds like he feels locked into the music that he really wants to make.

[Robin Hilton]

Yeah.

[Dora Levitt]

And, yeah, it's really amazing, which is why I never felt connected to Stick Season because it didn't feel totally authentic to him.

[Robin Hilton]

Oh, really? Yeah, because I feel like he's really poured himself into all of these songs, which is partly what this song Porchlight is all about. Because he has opened up his life so much in his music in ways that he feels like maybe, like, I don't know, like he feels a little guilty about revealing so much of his family life and whatnot in these songs. And this song, Porch Light is sung from the perspective of his mom. He's imagining his mom singing to him. You know, at one point he sings, I'd ask how you've been, but it's all over the Internet. Right, right. You know, or there's another moment when he sings, it's not irrelevant that you stop taking your medicine and I'm giving you the benefit because it's raining out. Like, all these very clear references to a lot of the struggles he's had with anxiety and depression. And, you know, he's a real advocate for mental health. All of that comes through. And I felt like that was in Stick Season too. But yeah, this new batch of songs, really powerful.

[Dora Levitt]

Yeah, he really has such a strong sense of place and memory in the lyrics. And also just like sonically as a whole and with all the imagery that's coming out with the album too. That picture of the window with the kids playing.

[Robin Hilton]

Yeah. Well, even Porchlight is awesome. Like, Porchlight says, I'm waiting for you. Porchlight says, we're home. This is home. And all of the comforts and safety and familiarity that that implies, the idea of home. And it's like, we're leaving a light on for you. You're welcome anytime. It's such a little image. Porch light. A porch light. But it says so much.

[Dora Levitt]

It really does.

[Robin Hilton]

So the album is called Great Divide. That song again was called Porchlight. This album is coming out in April, at the end of April, on April 24th. You know, one thing that's interesting about Noah Kahn's music is he takes this folk music form and he blows it up into these sort of fist in the air anthems. And it works so well.

[Dora Levitt]

Yeah, I feel like that ability to kind of build upon something that we know so well, like this folksy sound that Noah Khan has is really what sets apart these big name pop stars and stars from each other. And another person that did that recently, in a way that really spoke to me was Olivia Rodrigo. What she did was so incredible. It's a cover of the Book of Love by the Magnetic Fields and it was released on the most recent compilation from War child recordings called Help 2.

[Olivia Rodrigo (performer)]

The book of love is long and boring no one can lift the damn thing. It's full of charts and facts and figures and instructions for dancing

[Noah Kahn (performer)]

and I,

[Olivia Rodrigo (performer)]

I love it when you read to me and hear. You can read me any. The book of love has music in it. In fact, that's where music comes from. Some of it is just transcendental. Some of it is just really dumb. But I. I love it when you sing to me. You could sing me any. The book of love is long and boring and written very long ago. It's full of flowers and heart shaped boxes and things were all too young to know. I love it when you give me things.

[Noah Kahn (performer)]

You,

[Olivia Rodrigo (performer)]

You are to give me Wedding race, the wedding rings.

[Dora Levitt]

I am the biggest sucker for a cover song in the world. There's nothing that I love more than a cover, recorded cover, a cover at a concert. I just. It's my favorite thing in the world because it's so clear when an artist does a cover that this is something that they love. And it's such a nice way to be in conversation with a song and an artist that you respect and are influenced by. And the thing that makes a cover so great and that Olivia Rodrigo does so well here is keeping the same feeling of the song, but making something that feels very different. And in the original Magnetic Fields Book of Love, the instrumental and the guitar is so plucky and sharp.

[Robin Hilton]

Plucky and spare and quirky.

[Dora Levitt]

Exactly. But the vocals are very washed out and very large. And I feel like here Olivia Rodrigo flips that and has this very, very washed out instrumental. And her vocals are so sharp.

[Robin Hilton]

It's such an unexpected cover for so many reasons. One being what you were saying going into it. Like, she's this massive pop and rock star selling out stadiums, which could not be more opposite than the Magnetic Fields, which is sort of the quintessential indie rock and pop band and also totally different generations. But she really, I think she just really, really sticks the landing with this cover. To your point, a really, really great cover makes you appreciate the artist who's doing the COVID in new ways, but also then makes you appreciate the artist that's being covered in new ways. And you hear both of them in completely different contexts. And this works so perfect. It's such a perfect compliment to the original. I think she finds a little bit of sadness in this song, a little bit of loneliness. And in a song that, to me, is one of the greatest love songs ever written, period. And I have only heard joy and laughter. And it's a very funny song. The book of Love. Nobody can lift the damn thing. The book of love is so big and heavy. But hearing Olivia's version here. Yeah. It kind of finds this little. It's sort of like the ending of the Graduate where they found true love finally and they run off together and they're sitting in the back of the bus, and then this sort of sadness kind of comes over em. I don't know. It's a brilliant cover.

[Dora Levitt]

Yeah. I really like the way that you said that. Cause there is. When I listened to this cover and then I went back to the Book of Love, the original one, I was like, oh, this isn't as sad as I remember it being. Cause I listened to Olivia's first. She also. I mean, she's so brave for covering just a quintessential song.

[Robin Hilton]

Well, right. That's been heard a million times.

[Dora Levitt]

A million times. Yeah. And she's so good at paying homage to these classic hits. She does the same with Paramore.

[Robin Hilton]

Yeah.

[Dora Levitt]

Yeah.

[Robin Hilton]

Well, this compilation, it's called Help too. Bunch of other great artists and songs on it, too. Arlo Parks is on it. Arouj Aftab, Cameron Winters.

[Dora Levitt]

Cameron Winter.

[Robin Hilton]

Cameron Winters on it. I think Arctic Monkey's like, first song in a bunch of years. New song is on it. Totally worth checking out Wet Leg, which I was surprised to see.

[Dora Levitt]

Yeah.

[Robin Hilton]

Is on there as well. But. Yeah, I'm so glad you picked this one.

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[Robin Hilton]

You know, Dora, before the show, we were sitting in here just kind of going off on all the awful things in the world. And we thought that could just be the show, just us talking about all the things that are in the news right now. But I've been thinking a lot lately about AI. It's kind of hard not to, given how Much. It's been in the news lately. But, you know, just the whole debate about what is real, what is not real, what does that even mean? You know, there's a lot more going on in the AI debate than just that. But that's the part that's really been on my mind. And I've been struggling with what this means for my kids. And I mean, well, I mean, honestly, for everybody. Like, you know, what does it mean when we're not only living our lives through our screens, but when everything that's coming to us through our screens isn't even real? Right. So there's this great new song from the band Ages and Ages. This is a Portland band that I've loved for years. Ages and ages. Great new song I want to play that kind of reflects on all of this, on how empty the current age can feel and the idea of sort of, I don't know, like, desperately wanting something tangible and real and authentic to hold onto. The song is called Feel Amazing.

[Olivia Rodrigo (performer)]

Hey, find your way out Make a sun moon back to could be me, you could be you Nobody here loves to impress Find a little space if there's any number I know I said

[Noah Kahn (performer)]

I want it to be real and

[Olivia Rodrigo (performer)]

I want to feel amazing I don't

[Noah Kahn (performer)]

know where I want to be real

[Olivia Rodrigo (performer)]

and I want to feel amazing I'm watching the freeway on a weekday and the lights flick are so crazy on the rail Feels like. Both hands on the floor Feet and my side thoughts bending so fast make me feel like I.

[Noah Kahn (performer)]

Sam, I don't know what I want

[Olivia Rodrigo (performer)]

to feel amazing.

[Robin Hilton]

I just love Ages and Ages so much. Every. They're the kind of band, like, when I listen, do you know Ages and Ages?

[Dora Levitt]

I do.

[Robin Hilton]

Yeah. So. But they're the kind of band, when I listen to them, I think, why isn't this one of the biggest bands in the world? Because their music is so infectious, so catchy. Like, this whole song feel amazing. It's like such a breezy, playful take on what is essentially existential fatigue. Right. Like, why are we even here? Like, I don't know what I want. I just know that I want it to feel real and I want it to feel amazing.

[Dora Levitt]

I mean, halfway through the song, when it breaks, the chorus just keeps looping and looping, which I really love. And they just keep repeating, I just want to feel amazing. And it feels like even they're catching onto their own song.

[Robin Hilton]

Yeah. Do you think, like, he's starting to believe it?

[Dora Levitt]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Robin Hilton]

So that's. Tim Perry is the lead Singer, main guy in the band. I hit him up and said, so, like, where was this coming from? And he says that he was thinking about, and I'm quoting him here, about the search for authentic experience in a world where so many of these experiences have been repackaged and sold back as more sanitized and curated versions of their original selves, which I thought was really interesting. And then Tim goes on to say, when we search for meaning or satisfaction, what we're really aching for is a real experience. The waterfall without the gift shop. I love how he put that. I just want the waterfall. I don't want the gift shop with the waterfall.

[Dora Levitt]

I love that. That's so. I really like the way that he put that. When I was first listening to this song, I was like, it's so cool how when they sing Feel Amazing, that cuts through the kind of hypnotic looping instrumental in the back. And I was like, oh, maybe the Feel Amazing is the most authentic part of that and that's why it cuts through. But now, almost listening to you read kind of the intention behind the song, that feel amazing feels more synthetic.

[Robin Hilton]

Oh, interesting. Yeah. Yeah. Love this band. Ages and ages. If you don't know the band or maybe it sounds familiar and you can't remember, they had this incredible album called Divisionary a number of years ago that I really fell for. It had the song Divisionary, do the Right Thing, which has become my anthem for life. Do the right Thing. Totally should check that out. They did a tiny desk back in 2014. Everyone should check it out. The new album from Ages and Ages is called Fine. Thanks. And you and that song was called Feel Amazing. You're gonna totally bring us down now. Or where are we going from here?

[Dora Levitt]

Yeah, I'm gonna just bring everyone down to, like, Self Conscious Mania. I know that that's what we're wanting. Self Aware Mania maybe is better.

[Robin Hilton]

Wow, you're really selling that.

[Dora Levitt]

Yeah. Yeah. So stop it.

[Robin Hilton]

You know what I could really go for is some painfully self aware mania.

[Dora Levitt]

Yeah. So. And I feel like I'm making it sound more manic than it actually is by calling it manic. But I really do think that this new track, One Stop by Aldous Harding, is one of the most self reflective and honest pieces of music I've heard in a really long time. In a way, that's incredibly refreshing.

[Robin Hilton]

Wow. All right, so, Aldous Harding, the song One Stop,

[Olivia Rodrigo (performer)]

I've been Way Too Long. There's a tree that I used to climb Calling that one star Put my things in a long Line I love the streets here at night

[Noah Kahn (performer)]

I'm gonna

[Olivia Rodrigo (performer)]

write what I know Things I known for a long time I met the real John Cale he had no words but a dome I packed the stage while he a rides I bring my cell phone I rip myself off Imagining on the block Imagining. Why wouldn't I want to meet you? Why wouldn't I want to home? Why wouldn't I want to meet you? I'm gonna ride for the no kick around in the big ground so the lies I tell send me up and I can't get down I'm wearing big grass to town I rim myself on I rim myself on imagining. Imagining from the block

[Underscores (performer)]

why wouldn't I

[Olivia Rodrigo (performer)]

want to meet you? Why wouldn't I want to home? Why wouldn't I want to meet you? Why wouldn't I want to home Lo why Why wouldn't I want to meet you? Why wouldn't I want to home why wouldn't I want to meet you? Why wouldn't I want to hold you?

[Dora Levitt]

You. Again. I really love how this feels like such a true inner monologue of self affirmations and exploration and how sparse it is.

[Robin Hilton]

Yeah, I'm really curious to hear what it is that speaks to you in this song. I mean, I really love Aldous Harding a lot. This song kind of surprised me because a lot of her stuff can be just crushingly sad. And this is sort of one of the biggest or boldest sounding things that I've heard her do.

[Dora Levitt]

I think the thing to me. Cause I do agree it's a pretty big departure from what she normally does. And I feel like why I was so drawn to it is because the lyrics feel like such a free association into her mind and into what it is to go throughout your life in a self conscious way, but still in a competent way.

[Robin Hilton]

Yeah, I was having a hard time teasing out exactly what the song is about. It seems like she's revisiting her past a little bit. I'm not sure if she's addressing somebody that she had a. Maybe somebody she had a complicated relationship with or even a falling out. And she's saying, like, enough time has passed. I'm willing to reconnect if you are. I don't know. I wasn't entirely sure.

[Dora Levitt]

To me, it feels like the thoughts that you have right as you're falling asleep, when you're at your most alone, when you think back onto just awkward and strange moments that you've experienced that you might have, like, really prepared for the line that of course pops out to me is I met the real John Caleb.

[Robin Hilton]

That's true. It's like, oh, I've thought of this thing. Yeah.

[Dora Levitt]

Like this random thing just is coming into my mind and I'm gonna fixate on it. The line is, I met the real John Cale. He didn't have any words, but I don't mind.

[Robin Hilton]

Yeah, that's cool.

[Dora Levitt]

Yeah, like, that's cool. This is like maybe someone that I've been idolizing my whole life and it was kind of awkward and not everything that it was made out to be.

[Robin Hilton]

That kind of makes me think a little bit about the Mitsky song we got this year, Where's My Phone? Where it feels like these are just all these random thoughts that are popping in her head as maybe as she's trying to get to sleep or something, or maybe while she's randomly just trying to find where she left her phone. But yeah, well, that, yeah, that gives it some good context for me. My. My favorite moment in the whole song, honestly, is with that back third when the guitar comes in, that strummy guitar, and then it starts to fade, I'm like, no, no, keep going. It is so good. But I love the fade because that kind of implies there's no resolution here and this is just the beginning of a journey. Maybe.

[Dora Levitt]

Yeah, I read it in the same way of like, I can have all of these thoughts and feelings and anxieties swirling around, but when the guitar comes in, it's just like. And then onto the next thing. Did you watch the music video by any.

[Robin Hilton]

I haven't seen the video yet.

[Dora Levitt]

No, it's just her doing like an interpretive dance in an open space.

[Robin Hilton]

I definitely need to check it out. I have a running list of my all time favorite dance videos that have dancing in them and I'll pull it up every now and then, show the kids and stuff. Yeah, maybe that's one to add to it.

[Dora Levitt]

So this is the first single off of Aldis Harding's new album, Train on the island, which is going to be released May 8th of this year.

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This message comes from Midi Health co founders Joanna Strober and Dr. Kathleen Jordan discuss why they started a virtual care platform to empower and educate women in perimenopause and menopause. Historically, perimenopause and menopause have been very stigmatizing.

[Dora Levitt]

So people haven't wanted to admit that they are in perimenopause and menopause as though it was like embarrassing, which is insane. It's just something happening to your body. So one of the things that we're trying to do is destigmatize these topics. Perimenopause and menopause are just women's health. So we try to educate women all the time.

[Sponsor/Advertisement Voice]

Maybe it's your hormones and we would

[Dora Levitt]

like to help you. Yeah. And I find women actually want to talk about it. It's one of the things they always comment at MIDI is that they finally feel heard. One of the ways that women find MIDI is actually from other women and I think it's meaningful.

[Sponsor/Advertisement Voice]

MIDI health committed to helping women in midlife with perimenopause and menopause care Accessible via telehealth [e-mail] Dora I don't imagine

[Robin Hilton]

you're much of a video game player, are you? Do you? Are you gamer?

[Dora Levitt]

I, as you can probably imagine, am a very obsessive person. So if I find a game, I will do nothing but that. And I used to play only Minecraft in Creative mode for like hours on end and Sims 4.

[Robin Hilton]

So you know your limits and you just don't even. Yeah, I'm not much of one. Partly for the same reason. I just don't have time. Like I really enjoy them.

[Dora Levitt]

Yeah.

[Robin Hilton]

But I did. I bought a PlayStation 5 solely to play the Last of Us Part 1 and 2, which were incredible. That was like a year or two ago and I've not touched it since. I just played those games and that was it.

[Dora Levitt]

Did you watch the TV show first and were you like, I wanna play this game?

[Robin Hilton]

No, actually I wanted to play the video game first and then I watched the show and it was really pretty, like the sets. I thought, wow, whoever. There was a moment in the first season where they come up on this big building and I thought, oh my God, that's the building from the game. They matched it so perfectly.

[Dora Levitt]

That's what I heard that it was just like almost a shot for sh. Especially in like the first episode of the video game.

[Robin Hilton]

Yeah, yeah. Well, I asked because there's this new game out now that I might actually play solely because of the music that I heard from the video game. The video game is called Marathon and one of my all time favorite musicians, Ryan Lott, did the music for the video game. It just came out. I don't know a lot about the game. I did read some reviews that said that the action in it is relentless.

[Dora Levitt]

That's what I red too.

[Robin Hilton]

Yeah, like relentless. And if you listen to the soundtrack that Ryan did, it is also relentless. In fact, most of the tracks all run together. He's released it in two volumes. I want to play a bit of a song called Discontent from volume one of the Marathon soundtrack. And because they run together, we're going to hear just a little bit of the song that comes after it called Planetary Relocation Psychosis. So Discontent from Ryan Lott and the album Marathon on.

[Noah Kahn (performer)]

Sam, It. Sam, It's.

[Robin Hilton]

So when it goes into that part there with the panting, the breathless panting, which could not be more appropriate, that's the beginning of the next song. But like, what even is that? I'm listening to that. Like, how is he making these beats? How is he distorting them like that? I mean, maybe to other musicians, maybe it's not as complicated as it sounds to me, but it blows my mind.

[Dora Levitt]

The layering of all of the different sounds is so wild. Every time I listen to this again, I feel like I hear a new piece of it and I can only imagine this totally blew me out of the water in terms of what I consider a video game soundtrack to be.

[Noah Kahn (performer)]

Right?

[Robin Hilton]

Same.

[Dora Levitt]

Yeah, I didn't really. And maybe this is like. Because I don't play a lot of video games but. But I didn't realize they could be this specific. Yeah, yeah.

[Robin Hilton]

There's so much going on, so many quick turns and change ups and things bouncing around and like you say, one little sound that'll just sort of gurgle up in one little moment and then is gone. But this is the thing that I love so much about Ryan Lott's music and son Lux. So if you don't know Ryan, I guess I didn't mention this. Ryan Lott, also of the band Sun Lux, he makes music that I just don't understand. Like I listen to it and I think. I don't know what instrument that is. I don't know how he's making that sound. I don't know how he's doing that effect. I don't know how he's pieced all this together. Most music I listen to, and this is no shade against more obvious music because there's a lot of it I really love. Most music I listen to is like I can hear the seams of it. I can hear where it's all stitched together. I can hear the different elements and how they work together. His is just madness to me.

[Dora Levitt]

I totally agree. And the madness that he uses isn't overwhelming though, right? Yeah, it's so. I don't know, it feels like just like an incredibly layered painting.

[Robin Hilton]

It's so incredible, so impressive. So that was two songs, Discontent and Then a little bit of planetary relocation psychosis from volume one of the Marathon soundtrack from Ryan Lott. But, Dora, I know you've got one more you wanna play. And I actually think this is a good companion piece to the Marathon soundtrack completely.

[Dora Levitt]

Especially since we ended with that kind of like breathy outro. And this begins with a breathy intro.

[Robin Hilton]

Oh, that's true.

[Dora Levitt]

Yeah, yeah. They fade nicely into each other. So this is an artist called Underscores. And she has an album coming out March 20th, this Friday called you'd. And this is one of the singles off the album tell me. And then in parentheses, you want it. And it's one of the most exciting pop songs I've heard in a really long time. And it's because Underscores really gets at the need to dramaticize your life. She explains the album as it's music for malls, airports, hotels and supermarkets, which. This kind of music is my favorite type to listen to in those settings. Cause it makes you really feel like the main character of the situation. And in the music video for this single, you see her kind of being chased and running around malls and airports and hotel rooms and kind of weaving this action movie style montage against something just completely mundane.

[Robin Hilton]

Yeah, this definitely has a little bit more of a pop sheen to it than the Marathon soundtrack, but gets a little garbled. It feels very digital, a little glitchy. There's a great vibe shift near the end of the song that I really, really love. Gets a little weird and dark. We'll go out on this. The song again. Tell me you want it from the album U. And that's the letter U. And the artist underscores. Thanks, Dora. This is some good stuff.

[Dora Levitt]

Thanks, Robin. Glad you like it.

[Robin Hilton]

All right, I'm Robin Hilton. It's all songs considered from NPR

[Olivia Rodrigo (performer)]

youK hate looking back. I told her. I'm well aware.

[Noah Kahn (performer)]

Yeah.

[Underscores (performer)]

You gotta tell me you want it Tell me you want it. Tell me you want it Tell me you want it you gotta tell me you want it Tell me you want it you gotta tell me you want it Tell me you want it Tell me you want it Tell me you

[Robin Hilton]

want it

[Underscores (performer)]

Tell me you want it Tell me you want it Is I'm thinking too big.

[Olivia Rodrigo (performer)]

We all will be bab.

[Underscores (performer)]

We're destined for this.

[Noah Kahn (performer)]

I can't.

[Underscores (performer)]

Tell me you want it you gotta tell me you want it Tell me you want it you gotta tell me you want it Tell me you want it you gotta tell me you want it Tell me you want it you gotta tell me you want it. Tell me you want it. Been going since six in the morning,

[Olivia Rodrigo (performer)]

six in the morning.

[Jerry Advertisement Voice]

I get it.

[Underscores (performer)]

I don't even want it. You gotta tell me you want it. Tell me you want it.

[Jerry Advertisement Voice]

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