Music

Music & Culture

Kathleen Edwards On Taking A Break From Music And Finding 'Total Freedom'

7:56am August 08, 2020

Almost a decade ago, Canadian singer-songwriter Kathleen Edwards gave up music and opened a cafe called Quitters Coffee. She returns now with Total Freedom, her first album in eight years.

Tim Minchin plays Lucky in the new series Upright.

Tim Minchin Hauls A Piano Across Australia In 'Upright'

7:56am August 08, 2020

by Scott Simon

Singer, songwriter, and satirist Tim Minchin's new series opens with a bang: A frazzled man is driving an upright piano across the bare Australian landscape when he collides with a mouthy teenager.

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Music & Culture

'The South Got Something To Say' Is A Celebratory Canon Of Southern Rap

6:14pm August 07, 2020

NPR Music has launched The South Got Something To Say, a canon of Southern hip-hop. Its creator, critic Briana Younger, and NPR's Rodney Carmichael explained the project on All Things Considered.

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Beyoncé puts a conversation about Africa on the front line with her visual album Black Is King, which premiered on Disney+.

Opinion: We Are Africans. Here's Our View Of Beyoncé's 'Black Is King'

1:51pm August 07, 2020

Esther Ngumbi, a professor from Kenya, and Ifeanyi Nsofor, a doctor in Nigeria, react to the megastar's movie-length music video — and to criticism from other Africans.

Big Boi performs a Tiny Desk Concert on Oct. 1, 2018.

Music & Culture

The 5 Best Southern Rap Tiny Desk Concerts

11:07am August 07, 2020

by Bobby Carter

From Gucci Mane making Tiny Desk history as our first trap performer to Megan Thee Stallion repping Houston while headlining the very first Tiny Desk Fest, the South is legion at the Desk.

Much like the culture it originates from, Southern hip-hop is going to continue to grow and redefine itself as artists live, people move and neighborhoods change.

Music & Culture

Before The South Had Something To Say: How A Region Discovered Its Voice

10:58am August 07, 2020

by Maurice Garland

In the early 1990s, you might not think rappers from Atlanta had much in common with rappers from New Orleans or Miami. So when and how did "Southern hip-hop" get to be recognized as an entity?

"The stuff that used to ring true still does in a way and also doesn't anymore," says Phil Elverum. "The big, huge question I tried to think about with this giant song was mainly how to encompass these contradictions."

Music & Culture

Phil Elverum Returns To A Refuge As The Microphones

1:42pm August 06, 2020

by Lars Gotrich

Microphones in 2020 is a single 45-minute track written to "unburden myself from the weight of all this memory," says Phil Elverum, "even though I also think it has so much value."

A young Howard Ashman, photographed on the set of his musical Little Shop of Horrors.

Music & Culture

A New Documentary Shines A Spotlight On The Lyricist Behind The Disney Renaissance

9:26am August 06, 2020

by Tim Greiving

The Disney+ documentary Howard features the life and work of Howard Ashman, a lyricist known for Little Shop of Horrors and one half of the duo that brought the music for three classic films to life.

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When COVID-19 Canceled Music Festivals, These Banjo Lovers Planned A Virtual One

7:00am August 06, 2020

The pandemic has shut down most of the summer music festivals. But that did not stop two banjo players from organizing an online banjo contest.

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Belinda Carlisle of The Go-Go's. She says at live shows, the band was "a runaway train that could crash at any minute, and I think that's what people respond to."

Music & Culture

How The Go-Go's Perfected Pop-Punk

8:32pm August 05, 2020

by Hilary Hughes

The Go-Go's proved that pop and punk could mingle to land at the top of the charts. "You can take the girl out of punk, but you can't take punk out of the girl," says Charlotte Caffey, lead guitarist.