Music & Culture

Maggie Rogers' Heard It In A Past Life is on our short list for the best albums out on Jan. 18.

Music & Culture

New Music Friday For Jan. 18: 7 Albums You Should Hear Now

9:53am January 18, 2019

It's a brand-new season of New Music Friday and our 2019 debut includes the sparkling, smart pop of Maggie Rogers, swooning love songs from James Blake, new Pedro The Lion, Deerhunter and more.

Queue Listen Now

Music & Culture

Listen To Ariana Grande's 'Sound of Music'-Inspired New Song '7 Rings'

9:48am January 18, 2019

by Joshua Bote

'7 rings' spins Julie Andrews' original ode to appreciating the little things into a big-spending-as-therapy bop.

Festival attendees wound up dragging their luggage to tents — and that's only one of the indignities documented in the Netflix film Fyre.

Fighting 'Fyre' With 'Fyre Fraud': Two Documentaries About The Same Disaster

8:04am January 18, 2019

by Linda Holmes

Netflix and Hulu both have documentaries about the fiasco of Fyre Festival available this week. Both are serviceable, but there are some differences, and some ethical questions about both.

Music & Culture

Composer And Pianist André Mehmari On The Possibilities Of Theme And Variation

5:43pm January 17, 2019

NPR's Ari Shapiro catches up with Brazilian composer and pianist André Mehmari, who improvised a nearly 30-minute version of the All Things Considered theme song.

Queue Listen Now

Music & Culture

'Turista' O Explorador: Our Favorite Latin Songs This Week

4:49pm January 17, 2019

This week, we explore unapologetic hip-hop from Natti Natasha, composed vallenato from Juanes and intimate electronica from Ferraz.

Lula Wiles' What Will We Do comes out Jan. 25 on Smithsonian Folkways Recordings.

Music & Culture

First Listen: Lula Wiles, 'What Will We Do'

3:43pm January 17, 2019

by Jewly Hight

The Berklee-educated trio of Isa Burke, Eleanor Buckland and Mali Obomsawin deftly mine the particulars of their individual lives into a rousing, modernist adaptation of Americana music.

Leyla McCalla's The Capitalist Blues comes out Jan. 25.

Music & Culture

First Listen: Leyla McCalla, 'The Capitalist Blues'

3:42pm January 17, 2019

by Jewly Hight

On her bustling third album, the former Carolina Chocolate Drops member maps her vision of the Afro-Caribbean diaspora while gently taking Anglocentricism (and capitalism) down a notch.

Mvstermind (left), Jean Deaux, Westerman and Tayla Parx.

Music & Culture

Slingshot: Artists To Watch In 2019

2:35pm January 17, 2019

If this list is any indication, 2019 will be filled with incredible music, thanks to artists like Kelsey Lu, IDER, Jean Deaux, Fontaines D.C., Mvstermind and more.

Music & Culture

First Listen: DAWN, 'new breed'

1:56pm January 17, 2019

by Sidney Madden

DAWN waves a flag for the weirdness of black girls while once again asserting herself as a musical chameleon capable of an elegantly executed audible middle finger.

Last December, IC3PEAK's Nikolai Kostylev (left) and Anastasiya Kreslina (right) arrived in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk to give a concert, only to be detained by the police.

Young Russian Musicians Struggle Under Government Scrutiny

7:46am January 17, 2019

by Lucian Kim

A new generation of Russians born after the collapse of the Soviet Union is coming of age and rebelling against the rules of the Putin regime through music.

Queue Listen Now