The Best of Car Talk

On this week's All Songs Considered, Robin Hilton shares the first single from Belle & Sebastian's upcoming album, Girls In Peacetime Want To Dance, out Jan. 20. If they're looking for it, "The Party Line" would give those girls what they want — it's a surprisingly bouncy song from the veteran Scottish band. Bob Boilen's week was devoted to the CMJ Music Marathon, where he saw more than 60 bands perform. You can hear songs by ten of his favorite discoveries from the New York-based festival here. Four of those songs are on the show this week, including an upbeat but dark song from the British trio Happyness, a grinding track from post-punk band Protomartyr, Japanese prog and punk rock from Bo Ningen and gorgeous vocals and instrumental harmonies from teenage Norwegian singer-songwriter Aurora. Robin also shares a gorgeous, spare song from Grouper (Liz Harris), whose forthcoming album, Ruins, is available to stream in its entirety in our First Listen series. And finally, it's difficult to believe that it's been more than a year since Lou Reed's death. A new reissue of The Velvet Underground's self-titled third album is packaged in a six-disc box set that includes previously unheard live recordings and a newly remastered version of the album. Robin plays a live version of "I'm Waiting For The Man" from the set, The Velvet Underground: 45th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition.