Music

Music & Culture

Chuck Berry's Final Recordings Are Fresh And Forward-Looking

1:52pm June 23, 2017

by Ken Tucker

Berry, who died in March at the age of 90, left behind an album of new material, his first such collection since 1979. Rejecting nostalgia, Berry's last project is interesting and energetic.

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Algiers release The Underside of Power June 23.

Music & Culture

Algiers Unpacks Its Kaleidscopically Dense 'The Underside of Power' Track By Track

1:33pm June 23, 2017

by Bob Boilen

Algiers, now spread across three cities, have made a dense piece of work with The Underside of Power. Considering the record's sprawling scope, we asked them to help us understand it.

Music & Culture

Jessica Hernandez & The Deltas: Motor City Grit In Two Languages

12:07pm June 23, 2017

by Catalina Maria Johnson

Detroit, Havana and Mexico City come together in the group's bilingual double album, Telephone/Teléfono. The twin songs "Hummingbird" and "Colibrí" illustrate the power of lyrics in translation.

Music & Culture

Grizzly Bear's New Song, 'Four Cypresses,' Is A Foreboding Look At A World In Chaos

11:25am June 23, 2017

by Robin Hilton

"Four Cypresses" is a slow-simmering, moody reflection on the state of a displaced world, where "it's chaos, but it works."

Blind Boys of Alabama's new album, Almost Home, will be released Aug. 18.

Music & Culture

Blind Boys Of Alabama Announce 'Almost Home' — Hear Four Songs

10:45am June 23, 2017

by Rachel Horn

The storied roots-gospel group will release its latest LP, which features songs written by Valerie June, Phil Cook, John Leventhal and more, in August.

Radiohead's original cover art for the 1997 release of OK Computer

Music & Culture

Hear Radiohead Talk About 'OK Computer' In A 1997 Interview

9:40am June 23, 2017

by Robin Hilton

In the summer of 1997, Radiohead's Ed O'Brien and Colin Greenwood sat down with NPR to talk about their new album OK Computer, just as everything was about to change for the band.

The Beach Boys' 1967 – Sunshine Tomorrow includes 54 rarities from 1967, the year Wild Honey was released.

Music & Culture

Songs We Love: The Beach Boys, 'Aren't You Glad'

9:33am June 23, 2017

by Tom Moon

Out of the frustrating Smile sessions came a reset: the Beach Boys' deceptively simple Wild Honey. A new box set collects 54 rarities from 1967, including a new stereo mix of this under-loved song.

Holly Macve performs a Tiny Desk Concert on May 5, 2017. (Claire Harbage/NPR)

Music & Culture

Holly Macve: Tiny Desk Concert

9:00am June 23, 2017

by Stephen Thompson

Backed by a suitably low-key band, Macve would sound subtly radiant just about anywhere, from your nearest country bar to the most dreamily lit stage in Twin Peaks.

Prodigy of Mobb Deep in performance at New York's Hammerstein Ballroom in 2007.

Music & Culture

Prodigy And The America That Raised Him

8:45am June 23, 2017

by Kevin Powell

Mobb Deep's unapologetic poetry rose from the blacked-out hallways of this nation's ongoing nightmare, Kevin Powell writes.

Alan Gilbert (center) with the New York Philharmonic at Carnegie Hall. He has left that orchestra and announced his new position as chief conductor of the NDR Elbphiharmonie, in Hamburg, Germany.

Music & Culture

Philharmonic Flip-Flop: Conductor Alan Gilbert Trades New York For Hamburg

8:00am June 23, 2017

by Tom Huizenga

The conductor, who cut his tenure short as the New York Philharmonic's music director, finds a welcoming new home — with a glitzy new concert hall — in Hamburg, Germany.