Music & Culture

Olivia Block's recent compositions are a mix of music and found voices — often taken from used microcassette tapes, artifacts from the answering-machine era.

Music & Culture

A Composer Finds A Trove Of Ghostly Voices, Stuck Out Of Time

8:48am January 08, 2016

by David Schulman

Olivia Block ordered blank cassettes off eBay — the tiny kind you find in old answering machines — and quickly discovered they weren't blank. Now, those voices are finding their way into her work.

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Music & Culture

Composer Olivia Block In Her Own Words

6:22pm January 07, 2016

Composer Olivia Block is in love with the sounds of Chicago. What other people call noise, she calls music. We tag along with her and producer David Schulman for an audio tour of Chicago.

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Music & Culture

Latin Roots: Andean Music

3:55pm January 07, 2016

Is Paul Simon to blame for the lack of Andean music? Catalina Maria Johnson plays important songs.

Jesse Malin performs live for World Cafe.

Music & Culture

Jesse Malin On World Cafe

3:47pm January 07, 2016

The lifelong rocker with a history of leading New York City punk bands performs his new solo songs.

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French composer and conductor Pierre Boulez conducts during a rehearsal ahead of a concert of contemporary music in Baden-Baden, Germany, in 2007.

Music & Culture

French Composer Pierre Boulez Dies At 90

1:36pm January 07, 2016

by Anastasia Tsioulcas

The composer and conductor changed the way we hear music, not only through his own compositions but in the concerts he conducted. He died Tuesday at the age of 90.

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Music & Culture

KCRW Presents: Amason

12:51pm January 07, 2016

by Jason Bentley

The Stockholm band sings in both Swedish and English in a gorgeous live performance of "Algen."

White Denim's new album, Stiff, comes out March 25.

Music & Culture

Songs We Love: White Denim, 'Holda You (I'm Psycho)'

12:44pm January 07, 2016

by Art Levy

Rocking first single from the Austin band's new album, Stiff, simultaneously struts and sprints, and then explodes.

Adele's 25 was (by far) the biggest album of 2015, selling more than 6 million copies in less than two months.

Music & Culture

2015 In Album Sales: Adele, Adele, Adele

12:04pm January 07, 2016

by Anastasia Tsioulcas

According to Nielsen Music, the singer's stratospheric success with 25 made her the year's top-selling artist by far — even though 25 was available in only the last six weeks of 2015.

Music & Culture

16 Number One Songs From Our First 16 Years

11:32pm January 06, 2016

All Songs Considered is celebrating its Sweet 16 this month, so to mark the occasion on this week's show we're counting down our favorite songs from each of the past 16 years.

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Music & Culture

First Listen: Baaba Maal, 'The Traveller'

11:11pm January 06, 2016

by Tom Moon

On his first album since 2009, the Senegalese legend seeks a balance between his instantly wrenching voice and the modern tools he uses to enhance it.