CD Of The Month

WXPN Radio

The premier guide for new and significant artists in rock, blues, and folk - including NPR-syndicated World Cafe ®

Listen Xpo

24/7 Musical discovery. A unique mix of emerging and heritage blues, rock, world, folk, and alt-country artists.

Singer Songwriter Radio

Featuring classics from heritage troubadours to new musicians and bands in the singer-songwriter tradition.

Folk Radio

Folk music radio streaming on the web; Americana, Roots Music, recordings, and stories from folk's best.
Listen Live

U2 - No Line on the Horizon - Interscope

It's sometimes difficult to critique a band as accomplished and as influential as U2. And it must be equally as challenging to be a band of that stature and continue to create music as stimulating as your earliest works. On their 12th studio album, No Line On The Horizon, U2 has yet again crafted an album that is expansive, and at the same time attentive to that familiar U2 spirit.

No Line On The Horizon is immediate. It doesn't take very long to realize that U2 has done it yet again. Backed with the dream team of producers that includes Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois and Steve Lillywhite, No Line On The Horizon exceeds expectations and turns out soon to be classics. Songs like "I'll Go Crazy If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight" and "Magnificent" will certainly find their place in the epic U2 catalogue of hits. And for a band that knows the formula so well, they continue to be on the innovative front.

Influence for No Line On The Horizon certainly was impacted by travels around the globe. The band recorded in New York, London and even Morocco which becomes evident after listening to the atmospheric "Fez – Being Born". And while his work around the globe often takes headlines, credit Bono with drawing a line between the activist and the rock star. As he states boldly on "Get On Your Boots", the albums first single "...I don't want to talk about wars between nations, not right now...".

Whether it's opening the Grammys or five nights in a row on "Letterman", there are few bands that can match the promotional blitz with an album as engaging; U2 is one of the few.

Written by Mike Vasilikos

Help Support WXPN

Caravan Music Festival announces its 2013 dates / lineup, and it’s massive

The fourth annual Caravan Music Festival will once again bring a boatload of Philadelphia bands to the woods of Maine of a three day...Read More

Where to see (or avoid seeing) Kanye West’s new video projection in Philly tonight

Love Kanye West, hate him or occupy some ever-fluctuating middle ground (that’s me), you’ve got to give the dude credit...Read More

See Big Terrible and Ali Wadsworth celebrate Rotten City the North Star Bar tonight

Philly blues-rock combo Big Terrible is gearing up to usher its third release into the world; the Rotten City EP gets its physical...Read More

Review: Bobby McFerrin peforms this week’s Free at Noon (photos, audio, setlist)

Ten time Grammy winner Bobby McFerrin gave a stellar performance at this afternoon’s Free at Noon concert. McFerrin just...Read More

A conversation with The Thermals’ Kathy Foster about bass, Rocky and their first decade as a band (playing Union Transfer...

This spring, Portland indie-punk trio The Thermals turned ten and released an album that’s got all the fuzzy scuzzy energy and...Read More