Music & Culture

Music & Culture

Miranda Lambert Mixes Assertiveness With Vulnerability On Her New Record

5:42pm December 05, 2016

by Ken Tucker

Lambert's new release features 24 songs on 2 CDs. Critic Ken Tucker calls The Weight of These Wings a collection that "keeps on giving the deeper you get into it."

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Southern California native Anderson .Paak is KCRW's pick for best new artist of 2016.

Music & Culture

Metropolis: 12/3/16

4:55pm December 05, 2016

This week's two-hour mix from KCRW's Jason Bentley begins with a track by Anderson .Paak, KCRW's pick for best new artist of 2016.

After 15 Years Of Silence, New York City's Trinity Church Organ Returns

4:40pm December 05, 2016

by Bradley George

The historic organ of New York City's Trinity Church has been silent for 15 years. That's because Trinity is on Wall Street, and it was buried in dust and debris during the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Now the organ is in Georgia and has just been reconsecrated.

Music & Culture

World Cafe Next: Leif Vollebekk

2:52pm December 05, 2016

by David Dye

After trying on other artists' styles, the Canadian songwriter has found his own remarkable voice. Hear two songs.

Six Organs of Admittance's new album, Burning The Threshold, comes out Feb. 24, 2017.

Music & Culture

Songs We Love: Six Organs Of Admittance, 'Taken By Ascent'

2:01pm December 05, 2016

by Doug Mosurock

Ben Chasny resets the dial of his long-running project with a momentous folk-blues burner. Chris Corsano, Circuit Des Yeux's Haley Fohr and Bitchin Bajas' Cooper Crain join in.

NPR Music's 50 best albums, our 100 top songs and much more from 2016.

Music & Culture

The Best Music Of 2016

12:26pm December 05, 2016

NPR Music ranked the 50 best albums and top 100 songs of the year. You'll find Beyoncé and Bowie, but there's so much to explore as we recount the ones we kept close in 2016.

circa 1955: Closeup of a man's hand preparing to drop a ballot through the slot of a padlocked ballot box. (Photo by Harold M. Lambert/Lambert/Getty Images)

Music & Culture

Vote For Your Favorite Albums Of 2016

12:20pm December 05, 2016

by Robin Hilton

Tell us what your top five new albums were in 2016. We'll compile a list of the 25 most popular picks and share them in the All Songs Considered podcast Dec. 13.

Music & Culture

Heavy Rotation: The Songs Public Radio Couldn't Stop Playing In 2016

11:42am December 05, 2016

Every month, we ask public radio's music curators to share the songs they're loving right now. Here's everything they loved in 2016.

Beyonce's Lemonade is one of the best albums of 2016.

Music & Culture

The Best 50 Albums Of 2016

11:41am December 05, 2016

These are the records NPR Music couldn't stop playing this year — ones that speak to a moment and a lifetime, ones that party, ones that exist in their own worlds.

Mitski's "Your Best American Girl" is one of the best 100 songs of 2016.

Music & Culture

The Top 100 Songs Of 2016

11:41am December 05, 2016

These are the pop anthems, rallying cries, party jams, riff rockers, perfumed piano pieces and emotional exorcisms that we loved to share this year.