Music

Cellists with the Playa Pops Symphony warm up before performing at Burning Man in 2014.

Music & Culture

Beethoven, Flaming Tubas And 5,000 Kazoos: Classical Music At Burning Man

10:37am August 29, 2015

by April Dembosky

More than 60,000 people will gather in the Nevada desert next week for the annual festival — and the Playa Pops Symphony, which made its debut last year, will be ready for them.

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Three years ago, Carly Rae Jepsen dominated the summer with a hit no one saw coming. Her new album is called Emotion.

Music & Culture

'It's Fun To Get A Little Deeper': Carly Rae Jepsen Walks The Pop-Star Tightrope

6:31pm August 28, 2015

by NPR Staff

When you have a hit like "Call Me Maybe," there's no escaping the pressure to follow strong. Jepsen says the moody shimmer of her new LP, Emotion, emerged only after she'd written more than 200 songs.

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Bassist Christian McBride syncs up with drummer Lewis Nash in 2011.

Music & Culture

All About That Bass, But Give The Drummer Some

6:31pm August 28, 2015

Bassist Christian McBride, host of NPR's Jazz Night In America, explains the complicated dynamics between the bass and the drums in jazz — and James Brown.

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Stock prices fluctuated wildly this week after a sharp plunge on Monday — but what does that sound like?

Music & Culture

Jace Clayton Translates Stocks Into Sound

6:16pm August 28, 2015

by Neda Ulaby

As a wild week on Wall Street comes to a close, experimental musician Jace Clayton shares his current work-in-progress: a composition that translates stocks' movements into sound.

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Music & Culture

Jazz Vocalist Issues A Convincing Calling Card With 'Nothing But Soul'

1:35pm August 28, 2015

by Kevin Whitehead

In her debut album, Tiffany Austin puts her own improvisational, jazzy spin on songs by the late composer Hoagy Carmichael. Critic Kevin Whitehead calls Austin "a singer to keep an ear on."

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Doudou N'Diaye Rose was a brilliant musician and a brilliant dresser as well, with a custom-made wardrobe of vivid, billowing outfits. Above, wearing Senegal's national colors, he sets the beat at a concert in Dakar on Dec. 10, 2010.

His Drum Talked And Everyone Listened: Remembering A 'Human Treasure'

8:40pm August 27, 2015

by Ofeibea Quist-Arcton

Senegalese percussionist Doudou N'Diaye Rose has died at age 85. He mastered his local drum language and brought it to the world, creating rhythms for the likes of Miles Davis and the Rolling Stones.

Poison Season, Dan Bejar's 11th album as Destroyer, continues the singer's campaign of constant reinvention by small degrees.

Music & Culture

In Classic Pop, Destroyer's Dan Bejar Finds A New Voice

11:17am August 27, 2015

by Andy Battaglia

For his latest album, Poison Season, the sometimes confrontational singer and songwriter, a master of reinvention, looked to the most iconic vocalist in American pop for an example: Frank Sinatra.

In Straight Outta Compton, Ice Cube's famous line from 1995's Friday — "Bye, Felicia!" — gets an origin story that has left some fans uncomfortable.

Music & Culture

A Meme Gets An Uncomfortable Backstory In 'Straight Outta Compton'

5:47pm August 25, 2015

by NPR Staff

The N.W.A biopic pays homage to a cultural reference made famous by member Ice Cube in the 1995 film Friday, but writer Allison Davis didn't find the joke funny.

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Yo La Tengo plays the music you hear between Morning Edition stories in Studio 1.

Music & Culture

Yo La Tengo: Morning Edition's In-House Band For A Day

1:32pm August 25, 2015

by Lars Gotrich

"This morning thing's not really working for me," says guitarist/vocalist Ira Kaplan. Well, too bad. Yo La Tengo played the music you hear between stories live.

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Music & Culture

Yo La Tengo Energizes Morning Edition Studio

1:32pm August 25, 2015

NPR's David Greene talks to members of the rock band Yo La Tengo at the end of their stint as Morning Edition's in-house band for a day, and throws it to them for a song.

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