Pitchfork

Indie rock and NPR aren't such strange bedfellows anymore, and this latest pairing of the two seems downright cozy. On November 7, Shout! Factory Records will release This American Life: Stories of Hope & Fear, a two disc set compiling segments from the nationally syndicated, Ira Glass-hosted, weekly radio program "This American Life", produced by Chicago's WBEZ.

Sounds fine and dandy for schoolteachers and sweater-knitters, but here's where it gets hep-to-the-max: most segments feature a story or an interview set against the music of underground and not-so-underground sensations like Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore, Mogwai, Tom Zé (remixed by Tortoise), the RZA, Blonde Redhead, Calexico, Ida, Philip Glass, Carly Simon, Morcheeba, and more.

Divided into two discs along Hope/Fear lines, the collection even features storytelling by the ever-popular David Sedaris and "The Daily Show" correspondent John Hodgman. As if that weren't groovy enough, Divya Srinivasan (of Sufjan-Illinois and Waking Life fame) designed that purty cover up there. Complex tracklist after the jump.

Disc One: Hopes

01 An Interview with Jorge Just: "If I Can Make It There"
- Blonde Redhead: "In Particular"
- Bobby Johnson: "The Rules of Personal Space"
- Bobby Johnson: "Beautiful People"
- Galt MacDermot: "Bathtub"
02 Jonathan Goldstein & Starlee Klein: "Is This Thing On?"
- Ben Webster: "Blues for Billie Basie"
- Ben Webster: "Blues for Piney Brown"
03 David Wilcox: "Thinking Inside the Box"
- Aerial M: "Skrag Theme"
- Carly Simon: "Itsy Bitsy Spider"
- Gustavo Santaolalla: "Did This Really Happen?"
04 Alex Blumberg interviews Griffin Hansbury: "Infinite Gent"
- Ida: "Maybelle"
05 Sacha Rothchild: "Miami Vices"
06 An interview with Myron Jones & Carol Bove: "The Babysitters"
- Evan Lurie: "Jerry's Theme"
- Tom Zé: "Curiosidade (Tortoise Remix)"
- Kruder & Dorfmeister: "Deep Shit Pt. 1 & Pt. 2"
- Philip Glass: "Dance V"
- Portastatic: "Untitled (Track 15)"
- Ida: "Maybelle"
- Thurston Moore: "Kissing on the Bridge"
- Rick Rizzo/Tara Key: "Good Evening Mr. Peckinpah"

Disc Two: Fears

01 Michael Bernard Loggins, as read by Tom Wright: "Fears of Your Life"
- The RZA: "Flying Birds
- John Lurie: "Arriving at Kenny's"
- Mogwai: "Xmas Steps"
02 An Interview with Julie Snyder: "On Hold No One Can Hear You Scream"
- Bobby Johnston: "Many Hats"
- Bobby Johnston: "The Rules of Personal Space"
- Bobby Johnston: "Lullaby Lost"
- Zamfir: "The Lonely Shepherd"
- Erwin Helfer: "I'm Not Hungry But I Like to Eat-Blues"
- Leroy & The Drivers: "The Sad Chicken"
- Galt MacDermot: "Princess Gika"
03 Nancy Updike: "Anti-Oedipus"
04 David Sedaris: "So a Chipmunk and a Squirrel Walk Into a Bar"
- Calexico: "Sprawl"
- Galt MacDermot: "Bathtub"
- Black Cat Orchestra: "Seum Ma"
- Ben Webster: "When I Fall In Love"
05 John Hodgeman: "Slingshot"
- Caleb Sampson: "Circus in Outer Space"
- Calexico: "Whipping the Horse's Eyes"
- Morcheeba: "Big Calm"
- Mayfair Recordings: "HP Toys"