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Pretty much everything you'd want in a rock 'n' roll instrumental is in Campilongo's "Backburner": a terrific groove, trick-filled riffs and solos, and a point at which Campilongo thrashes and burns in a way that argues he paid attention to punk rock.

Coming from a singer-songwriter who wrote a triple-platinum hit in response to her label's request for a "marketable love song," Bareilles' latest single, "King of Everything," seems indicative of a trend. In an interview, Bareilles says she likes writing happy tunes that tell people to kiss off.

It's not quite right to suggest that Wilson transformed NPR Music's office into a church earlier this summer. It's more like he made us realize that church music can be played just about anywhere.

Host Marian McPartland calls Dearie an "incandescent singer and pianist" whose "delicate, swinging style makes every song a musical gem." The vocalist and pianist died this past year of natural causes. Piano Jazz remembers her life and music in an archival interview and performance.

Slumdog Millionaire composer A.R. Rahman produced a driving, powerful score that's already earned a Golden Globe. His organic approach to writing draws on a simple desire to make people smile when they listen. The eclectic soundtrack also features collaborations with singer M.I.A.

Hombre Lobo is the first studio album in five years by the act known as Eels. Frontman Mark Oliver Everett — better known to his fans as "E" — turns in what he calls "12 songs of desire."

With the release of her sixth album Seya, Oumou Sangare has gone from an outsider who sang about taboo subjects like polygamy and forced marriage to a major national celebrity.

DJ Quik and rapper Kurupt, both veterans of Los Angeles gangsta rap, have put aside their gang affiliations — Quik was once a Blood and Kurupt was long identified with the Crips — to focus on their common musical bonds in Blaqkout. While Kurupt's rapping is straightforward, Quik's production shows him to be playfully unhinged, yet fresh and experimental as ever.

Supergroups have a long tradition in popular music. Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson once joined forces as The Highwaymen. There were the Fania All-Stars, The Four Tenors and Audioslave. Now Conor Oberst, Mike Mogis, Jim James and M. Ward, calling themselves Monsters of Folk, have released their debut album.

Once dubbed "The Prince of Pops," Kunzel, who died Tuesday, continued in a long line of famous pops conductors such as Arthur Fiedler. Hear the exuberant Kunzel lead his beloved Cincinnati Pops Orchestra in music by Strauss and Copland.