Music

Music & Culture

Daniel Romano's 'Modern Pressure' Is The Work Of A Confident Pop Craftsman

2:07pm August 21, 2017

by Ken Tucker

The singer-songwriter mostly recorded this album in a cabin in Sweden. You can hear that intensity and obsessiveness in his attractive, eccentric pieces, which sometimes sound like works-in-progress.

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A second-line parade at the 2017 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, one of many sights underlining the event's place-based identity.

Music & Culture

As Jazz Fest Looks At 50, What Keeps It Alive?

8:34am August 21, 2017

by Alison Fensterstock

Having cycled through a full generation of performers (not to mention audience), how does the grandpa of festival culture compete in the Coachella-sized market it helped create?

'Blinded By The Light': Your Contributions To Our Solar Eclipse Soundtrack

6:36pm August 20, 2017

While watching the total eclipse, folks might want to follow along with some toe-tapping music about the sun, stars and moon. We've got the playlist for the wondrous sky event.

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Music & Culture

Scouring For New Music With 'Alt.Latino'

7:59am August 20, 2017

by Felix Contreras

Alt.Latino host Felix Contreras recently returned from the Latin American Music Conference in New York and presents some musical gems he discovered there.

Robin Pecknold, of the band Fleet Foxes, felt he needed to turn his attention back to the parts of his life that music had eclipsed in order to grow as an artist.

Music & Culture

How Time Off — And Surfing — Influenced Fleet Foxes' 'Crack-Up'

6:10pm August 19, 2017

In 2011, the band put its career on hold at the height of its success. Singer and songwriter Robin Pecknold says he needed to turn his attention back to other parts of his life to grow as an artist.

Ann Powers is NPR Music's critic and correspondent. You can read more of her work on The Record blog.

'Good Booty': Backing Up How Music And Sex Helped Shape American Culture

6:10pm August 19, 2017

by Dwane Brown

In her new book Good Booty: Love and Sex, Black and White, Body and Soul in American Music, Ann Powers explores how popular music became America's primary erotic art form.

President Trump and first lady Melania Trump will skip the Kennedy Center Honors later this year. It will be the fourth time in 40 years of the event that the sitting president won't be attendance.

President Trump To Skip Kennedy Center Honors, Highlighting Rift With Artists

4:45pm August 19, 2017

by Miles Parks

Three of the five honorees had already spoken out against the president and said they either planned to boycott a White House event or were considering it.

Power Of Peace is a new album from Carlos Santana and The Isley Brothers.

Music & Culture

Santana And The Isley Brothers Come Together For 'Power Of Peace'

5:52am August 19, 2017

by Felix Contreras

For this new collaborative album, the icons aimed for timelessness — a sound "frozen in immortality, eternity and infinity," Santana says. Power Of Peace was released July 28.

The 'diamond ring' effect is shown following totality of the solar eclipse at Palm Cove in Australia's Tropical North Queensland on November 14, 2012.

Music & Culture

The Sun, The Moon And A String Quartet: Kronos Plays Live To The Solar Eclipse

1:42pm August 18, 2017

by Tom Huizenga

The adventuresome ensemble, along with a science-friendly composer, transforms the rare solar event into music in real time.

Robert Plant's new album, Carry Fire, is due out on Nonesuch Records Oct. 13.

Music & Culture

Robert Plant Announces New Album, 'Carry Fire'

1:01pm August 18, 2017

by Robin Hilton

The former Led Zeppelin singer's 11th solo album arrives Oct. 13. Listen to its first single, "The May Queen," now.