Hosted by Bob Boilen

NPR’s “All Songs Considered” is a weekly podcast aimed at giving airplay to a diverse number of rising artists and up-and-coming bands, such as Crooked Still, the Mountain Goats and Lambchop. The show is also good for an occasional live feed, like the recently provided coverage of Sleater-Kinney’s performance at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. Host Bob Boilen doesn’t saturate the short show with his own dialogue, so the songs flow smoothly and consistently, but he will conduct interviews occasionally with industry types like music magazine editors or the musicians themselves. Recent shows have included reggae, lo-fi rock, country, blues, folk and even Arabic music, to give you an idea of how many different offerings there are. If the show has one notable shortcoming, it’s that “All Songs Considered” doesn’t ever seem to consider hip-hop. 3 stars