Music

Taylor Swift attends the Met Gala on May 2, 2016. Her recent single "Look What You Made Me Do" has broken several chart and streaming records in the week and a half since its release.

Music & Culture

Taylor Swift's 'Look What You Made Me Do' Breaks Records, Stops 'Despacito' Short

1:51pm September 05, 2017

by Andrew Flanagan

Since its release on Aug. 25, the first single from Reputation has broken records all over the place — and cost the year's biggest single a historic notch in its belt.

A still from Charlie Parr's "Peaceful Valley" video.

Music & Culture

Charlie Parr's Raucous Junk-Rag 'Peaceful Valley' Is Anything But

10:00am September 05, 2017

by Lars Gotrich

With fingers flying like a hornet's nest knocked on its side, the guitarist's "Peaceful Valley" is a song for devil-may-care hermits and hoarders. Watch the animated video.

Jidenna performs a Tiny Desk Concert on July 6, 2017. (Photo: Liam James Doyle/NPR)

Music & Culture

Jidenna: Tiny Desk Concert

9:00am September 05, 2017

by Bobby Carter

The Nigerian-American MC and his band perform three reworked selections from Jidenna's impeccable debut album, The Chief.

Music & Culture

First Listen: Hüsker Dü, 'Savage Young Dü' (Disc Two)

8:46am September 05, 2017

Through the '80s, Minneapolis three-piece Hüsker Dü helped broaden the ambitions and parameters of punk rock. Now, after years of work, its early recordings have been rebuilt from the ground up.

Hüsker Dü. From left: Greg Norton, Grant Hart and Bob Mould.

Music & Culture

First Listen: Hüsker Dü, 'Savage Young Dü'

8:17am September 05, 2017

by Michaelangelo Matos

Through the '80s, Minneapolis three-piece Hüsker Dü helped broaden the ambitions and parameters of punk rock. Now, after years of work, its early recordings have been rebuilt from the ground up.

Music & Culture

First Listen: Hüsker Dü, 'Savage Young Dü' (Disc Three)

7:59am September 05, 2017

Through the '80s, Minneapolis three-piece Hüsker Dü helped broaden the ambitions and parameters of punk rock. Now, after years of work, its early recordings have been rebuilt from the ground up.

Music & Culture

Billy Bragg On Skiffle, The Movement That Brought Guitar To British Radio

1:56pm September 04, 2017

The singer describes skiffle as "a bunch of British school boys in the mid '50s playing Lead Belly's repertoire ... on acoustic guitars." Originally broadcast July 19, 2017.

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Walter Becker (left) and Donald Fagen of Steely Dan in 1977. Becker died on Sunday, Sept. 3 at 67 years old.

Music & Culture

Walter Becker Was A Master Of Musical Understatement

12:50pm September 04, 2017

by Tom Moon

If pop music is a constant tug of war between the reassuringly familiar and the jolt of the modernist new, the Steely Dan guitarist's gift was the ability to hit both extremes at once.

Composer Morton Feldman at the piano, ca. 1963.

Music & Culture

Turn It Down: Morton Feldman's Silent Revolution

10:00am September 04, 2017

by Tom Huizenga

If you've never heard For Bunita Marcus, pianist Marc-André Hamelin predicts it'll be either the most aggravating thing you've ever heard, or the best migraine medicine you've ever had.

Chavela Vargas' album La Llorona showcases the astonishing range of desolation and heartbreak that only she is able to reach.

Music & Culture

Shocking Omissions: The Astonishing Desolation Of Chavela Vargas' 'La Llorona'

10:00am September 04, 2017

by Paula Mejia

Vargas' ability to tap into the depths of the human spirit using just a guitar and her voice is exemplified by her 1994 album of original material and Mexican classics.