Music & Culture

Kathleen Hanna (center) is the frontwoman of The Julie Ruin. The band's debut album is titled Run Fast.

Music & Culture

Kathleen Hanna On Working Through Illness And Focusing Anger

6:18pm September 01, 2013

by NPR Staff

The icon behind two pioneering bands, Bikini Kill and Le Tigre, has a new project called The Julie Ruin. It comes after years of being sidelined from sickness and some deep thought about her own long career.

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Typhoon, the Portland, Ore. band led by Kyle Morton, features a dozen musicians playing precise and complicated arrangements.

Music & Culture

Typhoon: Songs For A Lost Childhood

11:59am August 31, 2013

by NPR Staff

Kyle Morton, leader of the Portland, Ore. musical collective Typhoon, can trace the start of his songwriting career back to one life-altering bug bite.

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Over the Rhine is the married duo of Linford Detweiler and Karin Bergquist. The pair's new double album, Meet Me at the Edge of the World, is its 15th studio release.

Music & Culture

'We Grow Songs': Over The Rhine On Making Untamed Music

10:29am August 30, 2013

by NPR Staff

Linford Detweiler and Karin Bergquist are approaching their 17th wedding anniversary, and they've been making music together even longer. Meet Me at the Edge of the World, their latest album as Over the Rhine, grows from the couple's deep and tangled roots in rural Ohio.

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Iowa City librarian Jason Paulios reviews recently donated CDs. Paulios says donations of old music give the library greater freedom to purchase new stuff, as well as license digital versions directly from smaller artists.

Music & Culture

A Unique Digital Music Service, For Locals Only

1:30pm August 28, 2013

by Clay Masters

Just as e-books have begun working their way into libraries, librarians are grappling with how to embrace digital music. At the Iowa City Public Library, an unusual licensing arrangement with local artists is having some success.

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Sam Baker's Say Grace is his fourth album since he started making them in 2004, at age 50.

Music & Culture

Sam Baker's 'Say Grace' Is At Once Beautiful And Broken

6:31pm August 27, 2013

by Robert Christgau

The Austin singer-songwriter's latest album is his fourth since he started making them in 2004, at age 50. Critic Robert Christgau says Baker's backstory, which includes surviving a terrorist attack, "must be told."

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The Renaissance Street Singers give a performance at the Winterdale Arch, near the West 81st Street gate in Central Park.

Music & Culture

Atheists Take Old Hymns Out Of The Chapel And Into The Streets

10:16am August 26, 2013

by Joel Rose

For 40 years, the Renaissance Street Singers have given free public performances of sacred music. But they insist that their mission is not religious in nature.

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Music & Culture

MTV Video Awards Celebrate 30 Years

7:00am August 26, 2013

The MTV Video Music Awards were held in Brooklyn, New York, Sunday night. The video of the year trophy went to Justin Timberlake for "Mirrors."

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Julia Holter's latest album is titled Loud City Song.

Music & Culture

Julia Holter's 'Loud City Song' Is A Story On Top Of A Story

5:08pm August 25, 2013

by NPR Staff

The lush vocals and minimal cabaret orchestration of Holter's music has graced albums dedicated to such high-minded concepts as Greek mythology and French New Wave films. Her latest is loosely based on the 1958 film musical Gigi.

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Franz Ferdinand's latest album is titled Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action.

Music & Culture

Franz Ferdinand's Alex Kapranos On The Importance Of Structure

11:17am August 25, 2013

"Too much jamming kills the band," the leader of the Glasgow quartet says. On the new Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action, the band tries to lead with good concepts and let the music follow.

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The hook in Vanilla Ice's song "Ice Ice Baby" was based on a passage from "Under Pressure" by David Bowie and Queen, but the rapper denied the similarity at first.

Music & Culture

Haven't I Heard This Song Before?

9:12pm August 23, 2013

by Jacob Ganz

A pinch of melody, a dash of groove. Pop music is built on making a song sound just new enough to be intriguing. So what happens when one song sounds a little too familiar?

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