Music & Culture

Music & Culture

Leonard Cohen Explores The Fragility Of Life In 'You Want It Darker'

2:18pm October 31, 2016

by Ken Tucker

The 82-year-old songwriter mixes serious contemplation with mordant humor on his new album. Critic Ken Tucker says You Want It Darker features some of Cohen's simplest, most effective lyrics.

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Adia Victoria performs live for this World Cafe session.

Music & Culture

Adia Victoria On World Cafe

1:53pm October 31, 2016

by David Dye

A long geographic and musical journey led to the blues-rock singer's stunning debut, Beyond The Bloodhounds. Hear her play songs from that album live in Philadelphia.

Music & Culture

'La Llorona': A Spooky Folk Song With Many Lives

1:19pm October 31, 2016

by Felix Contreras

Just in time for Día de los Muertos, here are 12 versions of an old song that still frightens. Hear "La Llorona" performed by Chavela Vargas, Lila Downs, Mariachi Flor de Toloache and more.

Music & Culture

Metropolis: 10/29/16

11:46am October 31, 2016

Hear tracks from M83, Tycho, Little Dragon and more in a two-hour mix from KCRW's Jason Bentley.

Music & Culture

Grandaddy Reveals New Album, Video

8:03am October 31, 2016

by Robin Hilton

Grandaddy will release its first new album in more than a decade next year. It's called Last Place and is due out March 3 on Danger Mouse's 30th Century Records.

The Ramones, seen here in an undated photo, have been honored by having a second street in New York City renamed for them.

The Ramones Way: Street At Rockers' High School Is Renamed For Band

5:38pm October 30, 2016

by Bill Chappell

They're officially the coolest kids to come out of Forest Hills High in Queens, N.Y., and that's saying something. Other famous former students included Burt Bacharach, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel.

Bluegrass Police is a popular act at the Tokyo bluegrass club Rocky Top. From left to right are mandolin player Satoshi Hoshikawa (obscured), fiddler Yuuko Wakabayashi, bassist Tomonari Hiraizumi, banjo player Tatsuya Kuwahara and guitarist and vocalist M

Music & Culture

Meet The Musicians Behind Japan's Vibrant Bluegrass Scene

5:00pm October 30, 2016

by Naomi Gingold

Japan's love affair with the genre began with brothers Yasushi and Hisashi Ozaki, who formed the country's first bluegrass duo in 1957. Today, young bands like Bluegrass Police are reviving the scene.

The Minimoog synthesizer was essential to Mark Mothersbaugh's music career. "If you dissected my brain, there's probably a whole section that's Minimoog," he says.

Music & Culture

Devo's Mark Mothersbaugh On The Synths That Changed Pop Forever

8:29am October 30, 2016

by NPR Staff

The revolutionary Minimoog Model D is being revived after decades out of production. To demonstrate what's made it so influential, Mothersbaugh brought one of his own Moogs into NPR's studios.

Remembering Steve Goodman, The Folk Singer Who Immortalized The Chicago Cubs Anthem

9:12am October 29, 2016

Steve Goodman is the man responsible for "Go Cubs Go," a song that's been the anthem his beloved team since 1984. NPR's Scott Simon talks to Goodman's biographer Clay Eals about the singer's life.

Surviving A Shot To The Throat, Iconic Chicago Anthem Singer Returns To World Series

8:58am October 29, 2016

Wayne Messmer has sung the national anthem about 5,000 times, many times at Chicago Cubs home games. He tells Scott Simon what it means for the Cubs to be in the Series for the first time in decades.