Music Features

Music & Culture

Tiny Tech Tips: Why You Need Earplugs At Concerts

4:31pm March 12, 2019

by Josh Rogosin

It may be the last thing on your mind when you're seeing an artist, but sound pressure levels at a live show can seriously impact long-term hearing. Tiny Desk engineer Josh Rogosin is here to help.

Music & Culture

A Tribe Called Quest's 'Electric Relaxation' Celebrates 25 Years

5:02pm March 11, 2019

by Marc Rivers

The song "Electric Relaxation" from the hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest officially hit the airwaves 25 years ago this month. The single came off their classic album, Midnight Marauders.

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French composer Hector Berlioz died 150 years ago. He has been a lifelong favorite of the British author David Cairns, who wrote Berlioz's biography and edited and translated his memoirs.

Music & Culture

At 92, The Man Who Wrote The Book On Berlioz Resumes His Case

8:50am March 08, 2019

by Tom Huizenga

To mark the sesquicentennial of the composer's death — and a new box set of recordings — Berlioz biographer David Cairns celebrates the one-time musical misfit from France.

Music & Culture

All Ears: Contemplating The Cosmos

7:00am March 07, 2019

by Ruth Saxelby

A handful of recent experimental albums reach beyond our material world, turning away from familiar "cosmic" tropes, toward explorations of the elemental, the divine and the unknown.

Solange's When I Get Home album and film bathe in the rich cultural history of Houston, evoking the city's past while celebrating its present.

Music & Culture

Still Tippin': Solange At Home In Houston

8:30am March 06, 2019

by Sidney Madden

Days after Solange dropped her visual album When I Get Home, the artist/auteur doubled down on her love for Houston by hosting screenings of the album's companion art film all across the city.

R&B singer Kehlani shines in this month's Heavy Rotation mix.

Music & Culture

Heavy Rotation: 10 Songs Public Radio Can't Stop Playing

8:42am March 04, 2019

Listen to some newfound favorites, including an epic piano anthem by Florence + The Machine, an acoustic drive-by ballad from Oshima Brothers plus Kehlani's sassy new dance-floor bop.

Mark Hollis, photographed in 1998, the year his self-titled solo album was released. The singer and songwriter died in February 2019.

Music & Culture

Mark Hollis And Talk Talk's Brilliant, Nuanced, Stubborn Visions

11:59am February 28, 2019

by Simon Reynolds

Fame in hand, Mark Hollis led Talk Talk away from the '80s pop-rock that had made them and got weird, crafting two albums of intricate, desolate beauty. Afterwards, he ditched the machine completely.

Grammy-winner Ludwig GÃ¶ransson could add an Oscar to his mantle for composing Black Panther's original score.

Music & Culture

How Ludwig Göransson Helped Orchestrate America's Conversation On Race In 2018

5:30am February 23, 2019

by Rodney Carmichael

The Swedish composer is the link between Childish Gambino's "This is America," Grammys' song and record of the year, and Black Panther, which could help him win an Oscar this weekend.

Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga perform "Shallow" in A Star Is Born. It's likely to win Best Original Song at the Academy Awards this Sunday, but should it?

Music & Culture

The 2019 Oscars' Best Original Song Nominees, Cruelly Ranked

5:00am February 23, 2019

by Stephen Thompson

It's wrong to use the Academy Awards' celebration of excellence as an excuse to nitpick others' creative output. So let's do this.

Stephen Stills (left) performs with Buffalo Springfield on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in 1967.

Music & Culture

A Thousand People In The Street: 'For What It's Worth' Captured Youth In Revolt

4:48pm February 20, 2019

by Danny Hajek

Though often associated with the Vietnam War, Buffalo Springfield's signature song was inspired by a confrontation back home, which erupted on a few famous blocks in Los Angeles.

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