Music & Culture

Music & Culture

First Listen: Hüsker Dü, 'Savage Young Dü' (Disc Three)

7:59am September 05, 2017

Through the '80s, Minneapolis three-piece Hüsker Dü helped broaden the ambitions and parameters of punk rock. Now, after years of work, its early recordings have been rebuilt from the ground up.

Music & Culture

Billy Bragg On Skiffle, The Movement That Brought Guitar To British Radio

1:56pm September 04, 2017

The singer describes skiffle as "a bunch of British school boys in the mid '50s playing Lead Belly's repertoire ... on acoustic guitars." Originally broadcast July 19, 2017.

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Walter Becker (left) and Donald Fagen of Steely Dan in 1977. Becker died on Sunday, Sept. 3 at 67 years old.

Music & Culture

Walter Becker Was A Master Of Musical Understatement

12:50pm September 04, 2017

by Tom Moon

If pop music is a constant tug of war between the reassuringly familiar and the jolt of the modernist new, the Steely Dan guitarist's gift was the ability to hit both extremes at once.

Composer Morton Feldman at the piano, ca. 1963.

Music & Culture

Turn It Down: Morton Feldman's Silent Revolution

10:00am September 04, 2017

by Tom Huizenga

If you've never heard For Bunita Marcus, pianist Marc-André Hamelin predicts it'll be either the most aggravating thing you've ever heard, or the best migraine medicine you've ever had.

Chavela Vargas' album La Llorona showcases the astonishing range of desolation and heartbreak that only she is able to reach.

Music & Culture

Shocking Omissions: The Astonishing Desolation Of Chavela Vargas' 'La Llorona'

10:00am September 04, 2017

by Paula Mejia

Vargas' ability to tap into the depths of the human spirit using just a guitar and her voice is exemplified by her 1994 album of original material and Mexican classics.

Music & Culture

Remembering Walter Becker Of Steely Dan

5:10am September 04, 2017

by Andrew Limbong

Walter Becker, one of the founders of the band Steely Dan, died on Sunday at age 67.

Guitarist Walter Becker of Steely Dan performs at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival at the Fair Grounds Race Course May 6, 2007 in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Music & Culture

Steely Dan's Walter Becker Dies At 67

1:04pm September 03, 2017

by Otis Hart

The guitarist, bassist and songwriter leaves behind a handful of classic albums that blended rock, jazz and sonic perfection in unprecedented fashion.

Brexit: The Musical, written by EU trade lawyer Chris Bryant and directed by Bronagh Lagan, debuted at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August in Scotland.

Music & Culture

Who's Got A Plan For Brexit? This Hit Musical Does

9:04am September 02, 2017

by Joanna Kakissis

Stressed over British politics, an EU trade lawyer channeled his anxiety into songwriting. The result, Brexit: The Musical, debuted at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and might head to London.

Music & Culture

Tyler Childers On Mountain Stage

5:25pm September 01, 2017

by Joni Deutsch

The eastern Kentucky troubadour leads his seven-piece band into a hellraising performance on Mountain Stage.

James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem. The band's new album, American Dream, is its first after a six-year hiatus.

Music & Culture

LCD Soundsystem Lives Its Darkly Philosophical, Archly Self-Aware 'American Dream'

4:32pm September 01, 2017

by Will Hermes

After a six-year hiatus, the New York dance-rock band has put out a "fiercely intergenerational" album, says pop critic Will Hermes.