First Listen: William Tyler, 'Modern Country'
On the guitarist's new album, Tyler's instrumentals stretch past the limits of most lyrics and approach a rare sense of mystery.
Music & Culture
In 'Porcelain,' Moby Searches For Validation And Finds Unlikely Success
The electronic musician's new memoir traces his journey from Connecticut suburbs to New York City raves. It's a tale of dance clubs, DJs and Manhattan in the 1990s full of self-deprecating humor.
First Listen: Fantastic Negrito, 'The Last Days Of Oakland'
Angry, righteous and redemptive, The Last Days Of Oakland celebrates survival, as Xavier Dphrepaulezz infuses his songs with hard-bitten perspectives on life, love, art, commerce, class and society.
First Listen: Paul Simon, 'Stranger To Stranger'
After 13 solo albums, Simon still views pop as a language of exuberant dances and polyrhythmic upheavals. Even now, his music pulses with the feeling of invention.
Hip-Hop Group Adds Rhymes To The 'Morning Edition' Theme Song
David Greene and Renee Montagne share a hip-hop rendition of the Morning Edition theme. A hip-hop group by the name of Jazzy Triggs took the theme, added a beat and dropped some rhymes on top.
Songhoy Blues On World Cafe
With Music In Exile, the forward-thinking desert-blues band raises awareness of war in its home country, Mali. Hear an interview and performance.
First Listen: Xenia Rubinos, 'Black Terry Cat'
Rubinos returns fully formed, with her musical vision still finding ways to meld the unexpected, the familiar and, in songs like "Mexican Chef," the fiercely political.
Songs We Love: Mara Hruby, 'In The Wee Small Hours'
The singer-songwriter faces her fears with a jazz standard about a love that once was. "[I] couldn't think of having a more proper goodbye to that home and chapter of my life than this video."
First Listen: Robert Ellis, 'Robert Ellis'
On his fourth solo album, the Americana singer-songwriter considers the tilted fulcrum of a dissolving marriage in order to confront the allure and the cost of restlessness.
Viking's Choice: Owen, 'Lost'
After starting a band with young proteges and touring a successful American Football reunion, Mike Kinsella has a new sense of purpose on a lush, lively new album, his ninth under the name Owen.