Music & Culture

The songwriter and guitarist Sidi Touré is a superstar in Mali. But in the last 18 months, a violent insurgency from the country's northern regions made life very difficult — especially for artists. Now, he's set to release a new album, Alafia, recorded while rebels occupied his home town.

When it comes to heavy metal, one group has claimed the title of "world's heaviest metal band." The humans tinkering with the robots say the goal isn't to replace human musicians.

Inspired by an ethnomusicologist, musician Dan Kaufman revives forgotten melodies on Bella Ciao.

Miley Cyrus' "We Can't Stop" as doo-wop? Scott Bradlee imagines pop music in a time machine.

Dolby, who invented some of the technologies that revolutionized film and sound recording, was instrumental in developing surround sound technology. Dolby had been living with Alzheimer's and was diagnosed with leukemia this summer.

We all know what's most often excavated: Nirvana's roar, Biggie's cool murmur, the futuristic sigh of Aaliyah. But there's more to the decade than those obvious landmarks.

The label run by engineer Cookie Marenco sells super high-definition downloads — a development even she thought impossible 15 years ago. The downloads may be expensive, but she says, the sound is superior to current popular audio formats like MP3.

Producer and singer-songwriter Abel Tesfaye became an Internet phenomenon in 2010, when he began self-releasing free mixtapes of woozy, haunted R&B songs. His proper major-label debut, Kiss Land, marks his official step into the limelight.

After years of refusing to play his Creedence Clearwater Revival material, the rock icon has reinterpreted his early hits with a new generation of artists — from Dave Grohl to Brad Paisley — on his new album, Wrote a Song for Everyone.

Cee-Lo Green says the group's reunion provides an opportunity to bring something new and deep to hip-hop. Goodie Mob's new album, Age Against the Machine, aims to challenge the genre's mainstream powerhouses.