Music

NEON's debut album spirals through some brain-rewiring punk.

Music & Culture

Viking's Choice: Burger Punk, Hard-Swung Free Jazz, Bioluminescent Ambient

1:44pm December 18, 2019

by Lars Gotrich

A few late-year greats, including tracks from Dark Thoughts, Irreversible Entanglements and Shorelights. Plus, a nine-hour playlist of the year in Viking's Choice.

Supreme Court Releases Additional Orders From Prior Week's Conference

Music & Culture

Unprecedented: Is A Threat Protected Speech?

12:44pm December 18, 2019

How necessary is it for a "reasonable" person to correctly interpret rap music?

This week's episode features music from Irish singer CaitrÃona O'Leary.

Music & Culture

The Thistle & Shamrock: Gifts

12:30pm December 18, 2019

The music of Andrew Finn Magill, Dick Gaughan and Caitríona O'Leary will help ease the tension and the pressure of the holidays.

Brittany Howard made NPR Music's No.1 album of 2019 with Jaime. She's on our playlist of best songs of the year, too.

Music & Culture

World Cafe's Best Songs Of 2019

10:16am December 18, 2019

Some of World Cafe's favorite songs of the year include music by Strand of Oaks, The Head and the Heart, Clairo, Sharon Van Etten and more.

Los Lobos perform during a Tiny Desk concert, on Dec. 13, 2019. (Catie Dull/NPR)

Music & Culture

Los Lobos: Tiny Desk Concert

5:00am December 18, 2019

by Felix Contreras

When Los Lobos gathered behind the Tiny Desk, it felt like they were cramped in the back room of a family Christmas party, calling up tunes from the Latin holiday song book.

Thousands of new holiday songs have been released since 1994, but none have become standards in the way pop songs about Christmas routinely did in the '60s, '70s and '80s. What's the challenge of cracking the tiny yuletide canon?

Music & Culture

Why Are There No New Christmas Songs?

5:34pm December 17, 2019

by Chris Klimek

Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You" is back at the top of the chart a quarter century after it was first released. So why haven't there been any lasting Christmas songs to take its place?

"I think the hardest things for a person to hear are best delivered in quiet and loving tones," Joan Shelley says. "They might not be nice and loving sentiments, but they're best whispered."

Music & Culture

Difficult Truths Best Whispered: Joan Shelley Sees The Beauty In The Fading

5:19pm December 17, 2019

Joan Shelley tries to write about love like it's "something that's got its own motion and inevitabilities outside our own plans and desires and fantasies."

Music & Culture

NPR Music Staff Picks: The Best Albums Of 2019

12:47pm December 17, 2019

This list of lists is made up of favorites picked by members of NPR Music's staff. It's a sprawling and deeply personal selection of albums to celebrate and send off 2019.

The band Black Pumas was recently nominated for a Grammy for best new artist, thanks in part to the support of Austin's KUTX and LA's KCRW public radio stations.

Music & Culture

Station Breaks: Our Favorite Live Sessions Of 2019

12:46pm December 17, 2019

Staff from public radio music stations handpicked their favorite performances, including music from the Grammy-nominated band Black Pumas, upcoming Americana artist Yola and Courtney Barnett.

Music & Culture

Exceptional Nashville Debuts You May Have Missed In 2019

9:57am December 17, 2019

by Jewly Hight

A former backup singer, a group of bluegrass veterans and a budding R&B star — seven artists bubbling under in Music City that won't be ignored in the new year.