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Dora Levitt
I'm a little bit nervous.
Robin Hilton
You're a little nervous? You should be.
Dora Levitt
Yeah, I am.
Robin Hilton
This could kind of make or break your entire career.
Dora Levitt
I know. That's what I'm feeling. And all I do all the time is listen to podcasts. That's like liter all I do. And they're all comedy podcasts. And I feel like they're my best friends. So I'm like, hmm, I wonder who's gonna want to be my friend after listening to this.
Robin Hilton
Oh, Dora, I don't know. Let's just try to get through the show. Well, it's all songs considered, NPR's long running discovery and Serious Music Nerdom podcast. I'm Robin Hilton, and I'm here with one of the coolest people I know and one of my favorite humans. Well, at least on the NPR music team, it's true. I think you're super cool. Dora Levitt is here. How long have you been at NPR?
Dora Levitt
Since January.
Robin Hilton
Just this January.
Dora Levitt
So, yeah, January 6th was my first day.
Robin Hilton
And you weren't an intern or anything, were you? You started like, as a contest with the contest, The Tiny Desk contest.
Dora Levitt
Yeah.
Robin Hilton
Did you know that we used to have a really robust internship program?
Dora Levitt
I did, because every single person I asked how they started at npr, they said, oh, I was an intern or I was a fellow.
Robin Hilton
There was a time All Songs Considered had its own intern. We had three a year. And I was thinking, you know those earliest interns we had, the very first ones, they're pushing their 50s now. Dora.
Dora Levitt
No, seriously.
Robin Hilton
So let's think about it. If you do the math, the show's 25 years old. The first interns we had were, let's say, in their early to mid-20s. Wow, 25 years. They're in the late 40s now. You know, some of them have probably had hip replacements. Yeah, something like that, yeah. Oh, God. Really? Well, Dora, kidding aside, I've wanted to have you on the show for a long time because one of the things that I clocked very early on with you is I totally vibe with the music that you love. Thank you. Our tastes in music really overlap really well, and you're always turning me on to really great stuff. So what do you want to start with?
Dora Levitt
I want to start with a song that I'm actually addicted to. And it's all that I talk about and it's beers with my name on them by Asher White.
Sam (Song Vocalist)
There's a surprise right in the. In the forest. All right. The f. Another person and I did the dishes I do not shake my lights and I wait for you to come home. You deserve to be paid. Who sat alone on phone Just went hard at the stage the casino counting cards the business spins eternal food away. You hear everybody say this far is about your nightmare now you wake up all the way home tonight. Sam. It's. It's. It's Sam. Sa. Sam.
Robin Hilton
That song is like a study in. How much awesome can you cram into one track, right? Incredible.
Dora Levitt
It just never stops moving forward. I first listened to it and my jaw was on the floor, and then I texted basically everybody that I know, right? And I was like, have you listened to this song? It feels like what it is to run around outside.
Robin Hilton
I thought you were gonna say what it feels like to have adhd, which I do have adhd.
Dora Levitt
I love that.
Robin Hilton
And, you know, my wife could not be more opposite, and she just doesn't get it. And I try to explain it to her, and it's like, I wanna just play this song and say, this is actually what it's like. This is the sound of my brain at any given moment.
Dora Levitt
Yeah. The church bells, organ that come in with the techno and the pop punk. It's so everything all at once and. And also just works together and moves and builds off itself. It's amazing.
Robin Hilton
There's also that really cool breakdown about halfway where it's actually, I think, the first real significant shift that the song takes. And there's this little sort of jazzy hi hat or something. Hint of it. You're like, all right, well, wait a minute, where is this going? And then it just gets wilder and wilder and it's so restless and twitchy and. Oh, incredible.
Dora Levitt
Completely.
Robin Hilton
So tell us about Asher White.
Dora Levitt
She's an artist, she's a writer. She's a sculptor as well, which I thought you can kind of really see with this song because it is really built out and kind of carving space within itself with all of the different breaks and how you do get, like, the jazzy bits that kind of allude to the beginning. More pop rock section, but still is this really heavy techno.
Robin Hilton
Yeah. So the album this is from is called 8 Tips for Catastrophe Living. I mean, just the. That title alone is enough to get me interested. And then you've got a song called Beers with my name on them. Also, more than enough to get me interested in it. But then, what a payoff. Wow. Asher White. Very good. Are you a Nico Case fan? Are you?
Dora Levitt
I can't say that I am. I mean, I know who Nico Case is, and her name kind of just swirls around in my algorithms, but I've never really spent the time listening.
Robin Hilton
So I think of her very much as a Gen X artist. She's just as relevant now as ever and still making great music. But, you know, she can go a very long time between albums. Her last one was eight years ago. And I think that once you start bumping up against a decade or so, you know, letting nearly a decade pass without putting anything out, you're. You're like halfway to an entire generation that maybe hasn't even heard you. But Nico Case is back now with a new solo album. Like I said, it's her first in eight years. She had to do a couple of new Pornographers albums in between, so she's been busy. But man, this new solo album, it has totally knocked me out. It's called Neon Grey, Midnight Green and I want to play this cut from it called Wreck.
Sam (Song Vocalist)
Calm down darling don't take me to war Please come back soon Sooner than you want to it's the only thing in this whole world that would please me I know you're selfish but you're the sun now and it's a big job One you did not fly for but maybe you want this too I look like the sun to I blaze freckles on your face I'm a meteor shattering around you and I'm sorry.
Dora Levitt
But.
Sam (Song Vocalist)
I've become a solar system since I found you Eruption possibilities of volatility of stars My clothes can hold together and I know I can't find this breakthrough so just stay to the end of the fireworks show there's no way to know what could happen but it's going you and me and I can live aside Whether or not you need so please don't be afraid of me oh my love so please don't be afraid of me oh my love Sam.
Robin Hilton
Nico Case just popping up here to remind us that she is one of our all time great songwriters. I think she just does, I don't know elegance so well. Her songs are elegant to me and they're soaring and euphoric, but also just full of so much wisdom. I don't know. These are all things that she does, I think better than most.
Dora Levitt
Completely. That line, do I look like the sun to you? Blazing freckles on your face. That's gorgeous. And the swell at the beginning that it strings. Right.
Robin Hilton
It's like chaotic.
Dora Levitt
I actually wrote down, I was like, now that got my attention, right? I got the, those strings are amazing. And the strings with the talk of the sun and meteors and fireworks, it's all just so, so grand.
Robin Hilton
Yeah. I think the music lands so well just on its own, but also thematically. I really love what she's talking about on this song and really across the whole record, which is it's really just about love and the love you have for your friends and the people who come into your life and help shape you and make you who you are. Losing those friends over time, it's so.
Dora Levitt
Beautiful and it really does make you remember how big of a feeling love is. And because the song is so huge, it makes you realize how powerful that feeling is.
Robin Hilton
This whole record I think is so good. From Nico Case, Neon Grey, Midnight Green. It is out September 26th.
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Robin Hilton
Got some more music that we want to play, plus your weekly reset coming at the end of the show. So be sure to keep listening for that. Also, if you want to support NPR and All Songs considered, just tell a friend about the show, share it with somebody, and leave us a review on Apple or Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. All right, Dora, what else are you loving this week?
Dora Levitt
You know, those strings in that Nico case song really reminded me of another song that came out this year with the same build of strings and guitar. It's called Total Euphoria by Caroline off of their sequel, Caroline 2.
Sam (Song Vocalist)
Sam. Did we ever talk about. Did we ever talk about. Did we ever talk about. Did we ever talk about how you left them if you like that? Did we ever talk about. Did we ever talk about. Did we ever talk about? Did we ever talk about.
Robin Hilton
Way weirder than the Nico case, But I hear that euphoria that you're talking about. I love how off balance everything is.
Dora Levitt
Right.
Robin Hilton
And so disjointed. Honestly, the first time I listened to this, I thought I accidentally had had a couple things, different things playing at the same time. I kept stopping, like, oh, did I? Is something playing on YouTube the same time I'm playing this on my computer? Oh, no, this is the song. And then there was another moment, you know, where it just suddenly goes really, really gritty. There's that.
Dora Levitt
Totally. It sounds like all of the different pieces of the song are kind of like fighting with each other to try and be first.
Robin Hilton
Yeah.
Dora Levitt
Yeah.
Robin Hilton
So have you ever seen Caroline live? I'm wondering if you saw them do this live by chance.
Dora Levitt
I wish.
Robin Hilton
Yeah. I asked because I think this would be a really hard song to pull off live, because I'm counting maybe four different rhythms going on. There are, like, two different guitars doing different things. There's the vocals doing its own thing, and then the drums are totally doing its own thing.
Sam (Song Vocalist)
Yeah.
Dora Levitt
Something that I. I really love about this song is how sparse the lyrics are and how they repeat with the rhythmic guitar and the drums. And I think it just. It builds so beautifully.
Robin Hilton
You know what this actually reminded me of? Do you listen to the microphones or Mount Erie? Do you?
Dora Levitt
The microphones? Yeah.
Robin Hilton
Yeah. And they're both Phil Elfram projects. Maybe something about the vocals, the way they sort of float and all that chaos. And also, I think the contrast, that there's this sense of beauty in all of that chaos. Do you hear that? You know what I'm talking about?
Dora Levitt
I really do. I think the fact that there are all of these parts, like, we were talking about fighting together, but they do still work together, is kind of where that beauty Lies.
Robin Hilton
Good stuff. So that's from the album Caroline 2, which, if you couldn't figure it out, was the band's second album, and that is already out. Came out in the spring. Well, I want to play what is a new discovery for me and I think maybe a discovery for you as well. Sterl Dagsland.
Dora Levitt
Yeah. I'd never heard of Sturl Dagsland and I love him.
Robin Hilton
Yeah. Incredible. An artist from Norway. One of the most remarkable voices I've ever heard. I mean, for real. I'm not just throwing that out there. This is not hyperbole.
Dora Levitt
I completely agree with you.
Robin Hilton
Yeah. The music is very strange, but incredibly powerful. I think he's about to release a new album called Dreams and Conjurations. And this is a cut from it called Hugging Horses.
Sam (Song Vocalist)
Let Sam. It's without Sam.
Robin Hilton
Incredible, right?
Dora Levitt
Amazing. The word that immediately came to me when I listened to the song was just yearning. I was like, there's so much yearning in the song.
Robin Hilton
Yeah, definitely an ache for something. I don't know what exactly, but can't understand. So I wrote to his publicist and asked, you know, so is there any auto tune or anything on this? And they said, no, this 100%. His voice, he. And he can get incredibly low too. So his range, his vocal range is just off the charts. I mean, it's incredible. Like, you listen to the very opening of that song. It sounds to me like the only way you could do it is with autotune. But that's his natural false.
Dora Levitt
I hear some, like, FKA twigs in there. Definitely Bjork a lot.
Robin Hilton
Yeah. Kate Bush, I think Kate Bush.
Dora Levitt
A little bit of Grimes, too.
Robin Hilton
Oh, yeah, Grimes. I was thinking the Knife.
Dora Levitt
Oh, my God.
Robin Hilton
Was a good reference point. Like, if you really like them, I think you would love this.
Dora Levitt
I do, yeah.
Robin Hilton
Very strange, some of this stuff. You know, his voice almost sounds like yodeling or something, which I never would think. Oh, yodeling. Let's put it on. Come on, crank it up.
Dora Levitt
Speak for yourself.
Robin Hilton
But it is just so transfixing. And there's something in it that just really gets the blood going too completely.
Dora Levitt
Yeah. Even the title, Hugging Horses. I feel like I do hear a gallop in there a little bit. Yeah. It's amazing.
Robin Hilton
Horses having a real moment right now. Have you noticed this?
Dora Levitt
Yeah, I know we've talked about this.
Robin Hilton
I'm.
Dora Levitt
All of my favorite bands recently have been horse related.
Robin Hilton
So there's Horse Vision, also a duo from Sweden. There's Feeble Little Horse, which I've played on the show Feeble Little Horse is great. I love Feeble Little Horse. I just went through my emails. It's just like, what notes have I gotten from bands? Lucky Horse, Red Horse Lords. I'm not making this up, Dora. Iron Horse, Horse Jumper of Love.
Dora Levitt
I was about to say Horse Jumper of Love.
Robin Hilton
Do you like Horse Jumper of Love?
Dora Levitt
You know, I haven't listened to much of Horse Jumper of Love Mouthful, but I keep seeing them everywhere and I keep being like, wow, I need to send this to Robin. A new horse.
Robin Hilton
Yeah, we should do. There's also Sugar Horse, the band Sugar Horse. There was a music festival in the UK this year called Acid Horse. Not to mention the Cleo Reed song, Always the Horse, Never the Jockey and the Heart Attack man song. Joy Rob Ride the Pale Horse. We could do probably hours just on horses news. You can use Dora.
Dora Levitt
Yeah, Horses Everywhere.
Robin Hilton
So sterile. Dagsland is the artist again and he makes music as a duo with his brother. Just the two of them. Best I can tell, they've been doing this for a long time, like more than a decade now. But this is just their second album, Dreams and Conjurations. It is coming out October 10th.
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Robin Hilton
All right, we still have your weekly reset coming up at the end of the show, so keep listening for that. But Dora, I know you've got another cut you want to play.
Dora Levitt
Yeah, so as you can probably tell, there's nothing I love more than, and I say this lovingly, a monotonous drone. And I don't think anyone does a monotonous drone like Model Actress, especially in their newest album Pirouette that came out earlier this year. And my favorite song is Doves.
Sam (Song Vocalist)
With winds like water in the light Shake oceans from the painted glass Beer these doubts oh, you're arrival I feel the wet I pose I bow for candles I lit for myself I arch my back I spread my arms I make a rapture out of swan floor to bells Bring down the sun in your mouth Melt the angels I drive my nails on black and stone I scratch my name in crooked roses Drinks sweat for wax and tears for smoke I make a rapture out of sa Gamble. Sam.
Robin Hilton
You said monotonous drone. I was thinking of something maybe more ambient sounding, but, like, it's a rhythmic drone that just keeps hammering the song.
Dora Levitt
Yeah, it's almost abrasive, but because of all of the beautiful, almost delicate imagery that the lead singer, Cole, is talking about, they really do balance the delicate and precious lyrics and ideas with these huge mechanical sounds, which is awesome.
Robin Hilton
I was thinking Radiohead. You must be a Radiohead fan.
Dora Levitt
Yeah, totally.
Robin Hilton
Especially towards the end there. But also, you know, we've been looking back at the past 25 years of music played on All Songs Considered. We're up to the period of the early to mid mid 2000s or so. You know, 4, 5, 6, around then. This feels like something that we could have been talking about from that time. It reminds me a little bit of what LCD sound system was doing around then, you know, where it has this almost relentless beat like that, just rattling through the whole song. But then this whole universe is built up around it.
Dora Levitt
Yeah, it's religious a little bit. And then the image of a dove is, of course, like peace and also feminine, which is a lot of what I feel like this album as a whole talks about is grappling with the divine feminine and queerness in general, which I think is so powerful.
Robin Hilton
So how did you come to this band? Is this like a college discovery or something? Or do you remember even how you found them?
Dora Levitt
So they host a annual Christmaka show, Chrisma Holiday, Chrismica show, and. And model actresses. They're from Brooklyn. This is their second album, and they put on the best concert I've ever seen in my entire life.
Robin Hilton
Wow.
Dora Levitt
Yes. The lead singer, Cole, really inspired by burlesque and just dance culture, has a very, very long microphone cord and just wanders throughout the crowd. And of course, the crowd just parts and everyone works together to hold the microphone cord. He sings in your face the entire time and it's awesome.
Robin Hilton
Was he ever up in your face when you were? All the time so you managed to position yourself.
Dora Levitt
Yeah, and I felt totally blessed. I was like, oh, my God, it's happening to me. I'm chosen. It's like a cult, for sure.
Robin Hilton
You can stay. You can go.
Dora Levitt
Yeah.
Robin Hilton
Super cool cut from Them Doves from the album Pirouette and Model Actress. I want to take us out on something completely different from everything that you've been playing and really, I guess everything I've been playing as well. This is from an artist that goes by the name Early Fearne.
Dora Levitt
You know, I'd never heard of Early Fearne, but this song is so hauntingly beautiful that the first time I listened to it, I had to listen to it again to kind of figure out what exactly happened.
Robin Hilton
Yeah.
Dora Levitt
And I was reading a little bit about Early Fearne and. And they were talking about making music in the mid New York Hudson Valley region, which I just lived there for a few years in college. And listening to it again, it so felt like wandering around in beautiful nature. I don't know if you felt that way.
Robin Hilton
Yeah, I mean, it's very beautiful. Ambient music, found sound music. It's from a record that Early Fern has coming out called Wetland Interiors, inspired by the wetlands of central New York State, which I didn't even know there were wetlands in New York, apparently.
Dora Levitt
Apparently. You know, I didn't really know that either.
Robin Hilton
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And this song is called Teasel, which I guess is a kind of plant that grows in wetlands. But. Yeah. Just close your eyes here, Let this one take you away. And maybe you won't even need the weekly reset we have coming after it.
Dora Levitt
Yeah, you'll just fall asleep.
Robin Hilton
Thanks so much, Dora. Let's do this again.
Dora Levitt
I would love to. Thanks for having me, Ravi.
Robin Hilton
All right. And keep listening for your weekly reset after this Early Fern the song Teasel. For NPR Music, I'm Robin Hilton. It's all songs considered.
Sam (Song Vocalist)
Satan Ra Sam SA.
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NPR – September 9, 2025
Host: Robin Hilton
Guest: Dora Levitt (NPR Music team)
This episode of “All Songs Considered” explores standout new music releases with NPR Music’s Dora Levitt joining host Robin Hilton. Together, they share recent song obsessions, introduce under-the-radar artists, and discuss what makes certain tracks feel innovative, strange, or emotionally powerful. From shapeshifting art-pop and post-rock to ambient field recordings, the episode highlights the diversity and unpredictability of the current music landscape.
The tone is playful and nerdy, with Robin and Dora exchanging affectionate banter and deep-diving into why the featured music resonates so personally with them.
[02:31–09:05]
“It’s so everything all at once, and it just works together and moves and builds off itself. It’s amazing.”
— Dora Levitt ([08:20])
[09:56–15:31]
“Her songs are elegant to me and they’re soaring and euphoric, but also just full of so much wisdom.”
— Robin Hilton ([13:57])
[17:39–24:15]
“The fact that there are all these parts... fighting together, but they do still work together, is kind of where that beauty lies.”
— Dora Levitt ([24:03])
[24:31–31:33]
“His voice almost sounds like yodeling or something, which I never would think—oh, yodeling, let’s put it on... But it is just so transfixing.”
— Robin Hilton ([29:56–30:11])
[33:00–39:52]
“They balance the delicate and precious lyrics and ideas with these huge mechanical sounds, which is awesome.”
— Dora Levitt ([37:39])
[40:09–41:48]
On ADHD and Asher White’s song:
"I wanna just play this song [for my wife] and say, this is actually what it’s like. This is the sound of my brain at any given moment."
— Robin Hilton ([08:06])
On appreciating Neko Case’s lyricism:
“That line, 'Do I look like the sun to you? Blazing freckles on your face,' that’s gorgeous.”
— Dora Levitt ([14:20])
On caroline’s chaotic beauty:
“The first time I listened to this, I thought I accidentally had a couple different things playing at the same time.... But this is the song!”
— Robin Hilton ([22:22])
On attending Model/Actriz shows:
“He sings in your face the entire time and it’s awesome.”
— Dora Levitt ([39:40])
The conversation is warm, occasionally self-deprecating, full of genuine musical passion, and sprinkled with in-jokes and quirks of NPR’s long family of music lovers. Both hosts share deeply personal responses to the music, blending emotional honesty with playful teasing and allusions to their own life experiences.
This episode serves as a musical treasure hunt, surfacing gems from vastly different genres and scenes, with Robin and Dora’s chemistry making their discoveries feel inviting and infectious. Their perspectives on music and life are threaded through each segment, making even the strangest or most experimental tracks feel accessible and emotionally resonant.
If you missed the episode, this summary delivers a curated guide to the artists, themes, and takeaways—ideal for music nerds seeking their next obsession.