Marissa Lorusso

What does it take to really know a record? To overcome feeling alienated by a challenging album, it sometimes takes abandoning preconceived ideas of expertise and looking for something more personal.

Dacus's third album is an intimate collection of snapshots from her youth and teen years. Both searching and empathetic, it channels what it means to revisit the past with the wisdom of distance.

Whether you're ready for Hot Vax Summer or preparing for a more cautious reentry to everyday life, roséwave understands. Here are 101 songs to soundtrack your summer, wherever you're at.

This week's entries include odes to being fed up and a song inspired by silence. If you want to send us your song, don't delay: There's less than a week left to enter this year's Tiny Desk Contest.

Throughout the next few weeks, we'll be sharing some of the many Contest entries that have caught our attention. Our first edition includes folk from California, hip-hop from Maryland and more.

The Twin Peaks red room is "home" for this critically acclaimed indie rock band's Tiny Desk quarantine concert.

The members of this indie rock trio all sing and play each other's instruments. Watch Palberta perform from a Philly basement in this quarantine concert.

Send in your video before midnight on June 7. If you win, you'll play your very own Tiny Desk concert at NPR's headquarters in Washington, D.C.

During an intense reckoning with the global climate crisis, Tamara Lindeman wrote much her new album. For her, the biggest takeaway was "to acknowledge that I could care this much and this deeply."

Sylvain's rhythm guitar playing was the foundation for the raw, hard-driving sound of the New York Dolls, who presaged punk and new wave and influenced generations of musicians.