The Contenders, Vol. 16: Jay Som, Jeff Tweedy, Kassa Overall, more

All Songs Considered

NPR

Music

4.4 • 3.2K Ratings

🗓️ 22 July 2025

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Can music save the world? The songs in this week's mix consider the power of creativity as we update our running list of the year's best tracks, with new ones from Jay Som, Jeff Tweedy and more.

Featured artists and songs:
1. Jay Som & Jim Adkins: "Float," from 'Belong'
2. Google Earth (John Vanderslice & James Riotto): "meow meow," from 'For Mac OS X 10.11'
3. Goon: "For Cutting The Grass," from 'Dream 3'
4. Jeff Tweedy: "One Tiny Flower," from 'Twilight Override'
5. Kassa Overall: "Rebirth Of Slick (Cool Like Dat)," from 'Cream'

'All Songs Considered' 25th anniversary segment: Our No. 1 songs from 2021

Weekly reset: Twilight at Nags Head, with crickets and barking dog in the distance

Enjoy the show? Share it with a friend and leave us a review on Apple or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Questions, comments, suggestions or feedback of any kind always welcome: [email protected]

Hear new songs from past episodes in the All Songs Considered playlists in Apple Music and Spotify.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	I don't know, man. Let's listen to some music.
0:03.0	Music. Music's pretty good. It's all songs considered.
0:07.3	I'm Robin Hilton, NPR Music Editor Sheldon Pierce here. Hey, Sheldon.
0:12.1	Hey, Robin. Can I start with a callback?
0:14.7	You can indeed. I thought we'd start with a callback because I've actually been thinking of you.
0:18.8	I'm touched. I've been thinking of you. I'm touched.
0:27.3	I've been thinking of you because do you remember when you played this song on the show, I think it was back around the end of April or so?
0:31.6	Indeed I do.
0:33.6	Something I've been going to tell you for a long time.
0:38.6	It might hurt you.
0:40.4	Hope you don't lose your mind.
0:42.8	Miles, Caiton.
0:44.0	I just got goosebumps hearing this again.
0:46.5	Genuinely, the song I lied to you.
0:48.7	And I've been thinking of you and this song because I finally saw the movie sinners.
0:53.9	It's come to streaming. So,
0:55.5	yeah, you didn't have to worry about taking the kids to the theater. Right. They would not
1:01.1	have watched that movie. But the thing is, you know, when you played this song on the show,
1:06.3	you said it comes at this pivotal moment in the movie. Yeah. But you didn't tell me what it was because you didn't want to spoil it for me.
1:12.4	I'm so glad you didn't.
1:13.6	Because it really is.
1:15.2	It's just a special sort of crescendo to everything that's happened.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.