Music Interviews

Iron and Wine's new album is titled Ghost on Ghost.

Music & Culture

Iron And Wine: Words Like Seedlings

5:48pm April 29, 2013

by NPR Staff

Sam Beam says he isn't "worried about people understanding exactly what's happening" in any given song. In this interview, he discusses the "exposed, vulnerable place" described in "Caught in the Briars," as well as the themes that run through Ghost on Ghost, Iron and Wine's new album.

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Phoenix's latest album is called Bankrupt! Left to right: Thomas Mars, Laurent Brancowitz, Christian Mazzalai, Deck d'Arcy.

Music & Culture

Phoenix On Sounding Like Robots And Staying Restless

6:50pm April 20, 2013

by NPR Staff

The French pop quartet is notoriously slow to release new music. But vocalist Thomas Mars and guitarist Laurent Brancowitz say their new album, Bankrupt!, wouldn't have been the same without meticulous self-editing.

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Music & Culture

A Moment With Pulitzer-Winning Composer Caroline Shaw

1:57pm April 20, 2013

by NPR Staff

The violinist, vocalist and composer says that writing a piece like her prize-winning Partita for 8 Voices begins with "having a sound in your head that you really want to hear."

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Lady Lamb the Beekeeper's debut album is titled Ripely Pine.

Music & Culture

Lady Lamb The Beekeeper Emerges From Behind The Counter

3:31pm April 16, 2013

by NPR Staff

On her first studio album, Ripely Pine, singer-songwriter Aly Spaltro transforms a batch of solo recordings into full-band arrangements that explore the juxtaposition between lyrical content and musical tone.

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Thao & The Get Down Stay Down's new album is titled We The Common.

Music & Culture

Thao Nguyen's Musical Life Is Far From 'Common'

6:27pm April 13, 2013

by NPR Staff

A trip to a California women's prison inspired many of the songs on the folk-rocker's latest album, We the Common.

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The Music Is You: A Tribute To John Denver

Music & Culture

Dave Matthews Takes John Denver's Music 'To Tomorrow'

10:31am April 13, 2013

by NPR Staff

Matthews joins a diverse cast — including Emmylou Harris, My Morning Jacket and Old Crow Medicine Show — to honor the late singer-songwriter on a new tribute album.

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Morrissey, an outspoken critic of Margaret Thatcher, is one of many U.K. musicians who responded to the late British leader's reforms in song.

Music & Culture

The Thatcher Era's Effect On British Music

10:55am April 12, 2013

by NPR Staff

Journalist Stuart Maconie says Margaret Thatcher and her reforms inspired a wealth of music in the U.K. — the tone of which could be glowing or grim, depending on what part of the country the musicians were from.

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Jherek Bischoff's new album is titled Composed.

Music & Culture

Jherek Bischoff Crafts A Symphonic Sound On 'Composed'

2:05pm April 09, 2013

The musician, songwriter, composer and producer has made a name for himself by playing with the likes of Amanda Palmer. For his latest album, however, he found himself departing from a rock sound as he began writing his own orchestral arrangements.

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Bonobo's new album is titled The North Borders.

Music & Culture

Bonobo: Challenging Music's 'Borders,' Finding A New Frontier

6:04pm April 05, 2013

by NPR Staff

On his new album, The North Borders, the British composer and DJ uses samples from the outside world, like the sound of a truck's air brakes, to push the idea of what can create melody and rhythm.

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Listening Back To An Interview With Phil Ramone

10:15am April 02, 2013

Ramone started out as a sound engineer for Lesley Gore, and went on to work with Simon and Garfunkel, Barbra Streisand and Frank Sinatra. He died Saturday at the age of 79. Fresh Air remembers him by listening back to a 1995 interview. He talks about losing old demos and being mistaken for a member of The Ramones.

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