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Brainstorm: NPR Front Row

NPR

By Bob Boilen

Published April 10, 2013 at 8:00 AM EDT

There was a "fire in the belly" feel when Brainstorm took the stage at TenOak in Austin, Texas, during the South by Southwest music festival this past March. In its best moments, the trio from Portland, Ore., has an edge that embodies both African highlife guitar and the sounds of late-'70s post-punk a la Gang of Four.

It all seems fit to burst in this new song, "Maybe a Memory." There's great interplay within the trio, and that tension — the push and pull driving Adam Baz on drums, Patrick Phillips on guitar (could have used more guitar in the mix that night) and Tamara Barnes — helps make it easy for a newcomer to fall in love with Brainstorm.

Credits:

Producers: Saidah Blount, Bob Boilen, Mito Habe-Evans; Assistant Producer: Denise DeBelius; Videographers: Christopher Farber, A.J. Wilhelm; Audio Engineers: Suraya Mohamed, Kevin Wait;Special Thanks To: South By Southwest, TenOak, Apes On Tape; Executive Producers: Anya Grundmann, Keith Jenkins

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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Bob Boilen

In 1988, a determined Bob Boilen started showing up on NPR's doorstep every day, looking for a way to contribute his skills in music and broadcasting to the network. His persistence paid off, and within a few weeks he was hired, on a temporary basis, to work for All Things Considered. Less than a year later, Boilen was directing the show and continued to do so for the next 18 years.

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