Music & Culture

This is the single artwork for "Eraser III." We can't even print the acronym of the Toronto punk band it's from.

Music & Culture

Viking's Choice: Buzzsaw Punk, Aquatic Doom, Phantasmal Ambient

10:20am March 03, 2020

by Lars Gotrich

This week's playlist includes Cruel Diagonals' head-swirling loops, Astroturf Noise's free-jazz bluegrass, Drown's slow-moving metal and a Toronto punk band whose name we can't publish.

Neneh Cherry is mostly known in the US for her hit "Buffalo Stance." Author and professor Jayna Brown argues Cherry's recent songs like "Kong" show how an artist can mature over the years.

Music & Culture

Letting Neneh Cherry Mature Past Her 1989 Pop Zeitgeist Moment

5:14am March 03, 2020

For "One-Hit Wonders/Second-Best Songs," Jayna Brown, Black culture researcher at the Pratt Institute, recommends "Kong" by Neneh Cherry. Cherry is best known for her 1989 hit "Buffalo Stance."

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Now-former Recording Academy president and CEO Deborah Dugan, speaking at the Grammy nominations press conference last November.

The Recording Academy Fires Deborah Dugan, Its Short-Lived Leader

6:04pm March 02, 2020

by Anastasia Tsioulcas

The organization behind the Grammys announced Monday that it had fired Dugan, who was at the Academy for only five months, saying that an investigation found "multitudes" of complaints against her.

Bob Weir and the Wolf Bros play a Tiny Desk Concert (Laura Beltran Villamizar/NPR).

Music & Culture

Bob Weir And Wolf Bros: Tiny Desk Concert

5:22pm March 02, 2020

by Felix Contreras

Weir, along with Don Was and Jay Lane, play a set rich in Grateful Dead lore, including an emotional take on the sing-along, "Ripple."

Baritone Samuel Schultz, who resigned Monday from the board of AGMA.

Union Official Resigns Over Domingo Investigation, Confirms He Gave Media Information

4:20pm March 02, 2020

by Anastasia Tsioulcas

On Monday, baritone Samuel Schultz accused the American Guild of Musical Artists of trying to cover up the results of its investigation of famed singer Plácido Domingo.

The Archive of Contemporary Music in New York, which houses more than three million recordings dating back to the 1920s, is leaving its longtime Manhattan home due to rising rents.

Music & Culture

The Archive Of Contemporary Music — And Its 3 Million Recordings — Is Leaving NY

4:19pm March 02, 2020

by Jon Kalish

Bob George's archive is an independent operation whose supporters have included David Bowie and Keith Richards. Now it's being forced to move due to rising rents in Manhattan.

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On his debut solo album, Red Baraat bandleader Sunny Jain combines spaghetti western soundtracks, hip-hop and Bollywood — and celebrates his late father's migration from India to the United States.

Music & Culture

Sunny Jain's 'Wild Wild East' Is A Western-Inspired Ode To An Immigrant Father

4:19pm March 02, 2020

NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with the drummer and bandleader about his new album which re-invents the American cowboy myth, borrowing from Bollywood, hip-hop and traditional Punjabi music.

Flavor Flav, left, and Chuck D, photographed on May 1, 1987.

Music & Culture

Public Enemy 'Moving Forward' Without Flavor Flav After Bernie Sanders Rally

3:31pm March 02, 2020

by Andrew Flanagan

The hype man and former reality television star was dismissed from the legendary rap group he co-founded after sending the Sanders campaign a cease-and-desist over a performance on Sunday.

Music & Culture

Trumpeter Jeremy Pelt Is Understated And Nuanced On 'The Art Of Intimacy, Vol. 1'

2:38pm March 02, 2020

by Kevin Whitehead

Though Pelt can certainly play uptempo with a lot of fire, he also loves to play ballads, including a batch of obscure ones. A new album showcases his more introspective side.

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Music & Culture

Brandy Clark, A Vivid Storyteller, Finally Tells Her Own

1:12pm March 02, 2020

by Jewly Hight

"I went through a breakup of a 15-year relationship. And my therapy on an everyday basis is to go in and write songs," Brandy Clark says of her string- and horn-laden album, Your Life is a Record.