Music

Music & Culture

The Story Behind Mark Ronson's Hit Song 'Uptown Funk'

1:32pm December 31, 2015

The producer says there was a time when his co-writers thought, "Maybe this song wasn't meant to be." He also describes working with Amy Winehouse and Bruno Mars. Originally broadcast April 16, 2015.

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Music & Culture

Darlingside On Mountain Stage

12:37pm December 31, 2015

Hear from the Massachusetts folk-pop band, which made host Larry Groce's favorite song of 2015.

This New Year's Eve, don't forget to dance. Alt.Latino can help.

Music & Culture

Ring In The New Year, 'Screwmbia' Style

11:49am December 31, 2015

by Felix Contreras

Pump up your New Year's Eve dance party with help from Alt.Latino and Texas "screwmbia" DJ Luis Espada, better known as King Louie of the Peligrosa collective.

Foals perform live at Apogee Studio for KCRW.

Music & Culture

KCRW Presents: Foals

11:45am December 31, 2015

by Jason Bentley

Watch the U.K. rock band perform the stadium-ready "What Went Down" live at L.A.'s Apogee Studio.

Music & Culture

First Listen: Hinds, 'Leave Me Alone'

11:20pm December 30, 2015

by Katie Presley

Debut album from Spanish all-girl, garage-pop quartet is the sound of youthful energy, beginners' confidence and a band settling into exactly what it wanted to be all along.

The Revenant (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

Music & Culture

First Listen: Ryuichi Sakamoto, Alva Noto & Bryce Dessner, 'The Revenant'

11:18pm December 30, 2015

by Tom Moon

The score gives Alejandro González Iñárritu's film its emotional baseline, summoning the profound disquiet of a forbidding winter in the American West.

Jaranas, psalteries and other instruments in Guillermo Contreras' apartment.

Music & Culture

With No Museum, Thousands Of Mexican Instruments Pile Into This Apartment

5:19pm December 30, 2015

by Betto Arcos

One man in Mexico City has amassed a collection that spans the country's history, from precolonial times to the present. Guillermo Contreras says they are the "most precious creations of humanity."

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Jon Vickers: Tenor with a throat of shining steel

Music & Culture

In Memoriam 2015

3:51pm December 30, 2015

by NPR Staff

NPR Music remembers musicians — singers, songwriters, instrumentalists — and other visionaries we lost in 2015. Explore and celebrate their musical legacies.

In January, Mucca Pazza set a Tiny Desk record by fitting 23 members onstage.

Music & Culture

2015: Looking Back On A Year At The Tiny Desk

2:19pm December 30, 2015

This year, NPR Music published 84 sessions from behind Bob Boilen's desk. From a 23-piece band to a lone guitarist to a massive dance party, here are 15 highlights.

It's a "waste a time to have expectations" about Young Thug (seen here performing in Atlanta in October), writes Rembert Browne.

Music & Culture

A Rational Conversation: Rembert Browne On Music In 2015, Even During The Hard Times

12:51pm December 30, 2015

by Eric Ducker

The writer-at-large for New York magazine discusses the year that saw the rise of Fetty Wap and Young Thug, Snapchat vs. Twitter and Meek Mill vs. Drake. Plus: continuous devastation.