Nov 29th, 2008 · Part alt-country, part indie-rock, the band Delta Spirit burst onto the stage this year with its debut album, Ode to Sunshine. The album is packed with serious messages set to pop riffs, thrown together with everything but the kitchen sink, including the occasional percussive trash can lid. NPR's Scott Simon talks to front man Matt Vasquez and bassist Brandon Young about the struggles of the road and unusual album art.
Nov 26th, 2008 · Minneapolis-based quintet One for the Team offers a healthy dose of sunshine on its sophomore album, Build It Up. The album, which first dropped this past summer, serves up a dozen tracks of jangly power pop, with glimmering unisex harmonies that offer a welcome balm to the wintry weather.
Nov 17th, 2008 · President-elect Barack Obama talks as though he'll throw the White House doors open and let in the sunshine. But some reporters who have been covering the Obama campaign are a little doubtful about what that means for journalists.
Nov 8th, 2008 · The screenwriter is best known for films that make the human mind the landscape of the story, like Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and the new film Synecdoche, NY.
Oct 30th, 2008 · Poll numbers don't show a lot of good news for Republican John McCain. But an unusually upbeat staff and murmurs of sunny internal polls have pundits and reporters speculating on an upset. Alex Chadwick and Madeleine Brand get the details from Slate.com's chief political correspondent John Dickerson.
Oct 7th, 2008 · Chances are you've heard at least one song by the London-based Noah and the Whale. Recently, the folk-rock band had its immutably cheerful tune "5 Years Time" featured in a Saturn SUV commercial. Clapping, whistling and ukulele play joyfully together with choruses capable of inducing a Diabetic coma from all the sugary sweetness. But there's nothing wrong with that. Sometimes the world needs an extra dose of sunshine, and the members of Noah and the Whale make that their specialty.
Sep 18th, 2008 · Based in San Diego, Delta Spirit has made its musical home somewhere between indie-rock and alt-country, with a foundation built on battle-cry vocals and unconventional instrumentation, even including trash-can lids. The band performs from its debut CD in a session on WXPN.
Aug 13th, 2008 · This week From the Top is in Daytona Beach, Florida, where a nimble-fingered 15-year-old violinist plays Wieniawski, a 13-year-old flutist takes inspiration from Jethro Tull, and a multi-talented teen soprano sings Donizetti. This program originally aired on February 20, 2008.