Live In Concert from NPR's All Songs Considered Folgen

Dan Deacon has built his reputation on live shows: comically unpredictable messes of frenetic dancing, audience participation and theatrics, all powered by the Baltimore resident's wildly addictive electro-freak-pop. Since getting his start in 2003, Deacon has always performed alone. But for his latest tour, he's joined by a 15-piece backing band. Deacon conducts the traveling orchestra from the dance floor, where he plants himself in the audience with a tangle of cables, analog drum machines and vintage electronics. This concert, from the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC was recorded and webcast live on May 17, 2009.

After an extensive negotiation involving three cups of hot green tea and a late change of venue, PJ Harvey and John Parish agreed to a performance and video shoot. The two showed up, sat down, produced a steel guitar and two amplifiers, and performed two beautiful songs from their new album, A Woman a Man Walked By.

When the enigmatic rock group Animal Collective released Merriweather Post Pavilion in January, it immediately became an early frontrunner for 2009's best record. Months later, it remains the year's most wildly imaginative release, with a strangely infectious stew of tribal rhythms, pulsing synths and shimmering vocals. Here, Animal Collective stops by Washington, D.C., for a full concert — a show webcast in its entirety at NPR Music. In addition to live streaming, the performance from the 9:30 Club will remain archived on this page and in the Live In Concert podcast.