The Contenders, Vol. 19: Neko Case, Asher White, caroline, more

All Songs Considered

NPR

Music

4.4 • 3.2K Ratings

🗓️ 9 September 2025

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Hear the songs we just had to share this week. NPR Music’s Dora Levite joins host Robin Hilton to update our running list of the year’s best songs, with head-spinning, shape-shifting wonders from Asher White, transcendent ambient sounds from Early Fern, the first new solo album from Neko Case in eight years and more.

Featured artists and songs:

1. Asher White: “Beers with my name on them,” from ‘8 Tips for Catastrophe Living’

2. Neko Case: “Wreck,” from ‘Neon Grey Midnight Green'

3. caroline: “Total Euphoria,” from ‘caroline 2’

4. Sturle Dagsland: “Hugging Horses,” from ‘Dreams And Conjurations’

5. Model/Actriz: “Doves,” from ‘Piourette’

6. Early Fern: “Teasel,” from ‘Wetland Interiors’

Weekly reset: Horses are really having a moment

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Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm a little bit nervous.
0:01.4	You're a little nervous.
0:02.1	You should be.
0:03.3	Yeah, I am. This could kind of make or break your entire career. I know, that's what I'm feeling. And all I do all the time is listen to podcasts. That's like literally all I do and they're all comedy podcasts and I feel like they're my best friends. So I'm like, hmm, I wonder who's going to want to be my friend after listening to this. Oh, Dora. I don't know.
0:23.2	Let's just try to get through the show.
0:31.7	Well, it's all songs considered.
0:33.8	NPR's long-running Discovery and Serious Music nerdam podcast. I'm Robin Hilton.
0:40.7	And I'm here with one of the coolest people I know and one of my favorite humans.
0:46.7	Well, at least on the NPR music team. It's true. I think you're super cool.
0:50.9	Thanks, Robin.
0:51.9	Dora Levitt is here. How long have you been at NPR?
0:55.5	Since January.
0:57.1	Just this January.
0:57.9	Yeah, January 6th was my first day.
1:00.4	And you weren't an intern or anything, where you started like as a, what?
1:04.9	With the contest.
1:05.8	The Tiny Desk contest?
1:07.6	Yeah.
1:08.4	Did you know that we used to have a really robust internship program here?
1:11.6	I did, because every single person I asked how they started at NPR, they said, oh, I was an intern.
1:17.6	Yeah.
1:18.6	I was a fellow.
	...

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