Music

January 26, 2023 - 3:19pm

Read full article: As Ryuichi Sakamoto returns with '12,' fellow artists recall his impact

Ryuichi Sakamoto has been an enormously respected artist for decades, starting with his work in the '70s and '80s as a member of Yellow Magic Orchestra in his native Japan to his deeply affective, Grammy and Oscar-winning scores for film and within his numerous avant-electronic solo experimentations. Those experimentations...

'This is not entertainment': John Zorn, all over Big Ears

January 26, 2023 - 11:04am

Content warning: This episode contains explicit language.

Trick question: How do you chronicle the creative plenitude of John Zorn? It's a fool's errand, considering his body of work, which at least resists categorization if not the very limits of description. Still, there's copious insight, and no small amount...

For Missy Mazzoli, composing is the hard work of making life easier

January 26, 2023 - 9:13am

As a youngster in rural Pennsylvania, Missy Mazzoli knew she didn't want to become an astronaut or a nurse. Instead, she announced at age 10 that she was a composer — even though she hadn't yet written a note. The adults in her life figured she'd get over it....

Tiny Desk meets globalFEST: Septeto Santiaguero, Bia Ferreira, Moonlight Benjamin

January 25, 2023 - 7:01pm

For the third year, Tiny Desk concerts team up with globalFEST for a thrilling online music festival — Tiny Desk meets globalFEST.

Hosted by Angélique Kidjo, the series echoes globalFEST's live flagship event in spirit but is centered in the framework of the Tiny Desk concert series. This...

deem spencer, '27'

January 25, 2023 - 12:42pm

Alongside the announcement of his sophomore album adultSW!M, Queens-raised rapper deem spencer, drops an introspective new single, "27" featuring singer DaVionne, that vulnerably depicts the heartache of loss and the power of living fully and making it to the age of 27.

In the track he floats from...

For the Beatles-obsessed, here are 3 never-before-seen photos from 1964

January 25, 2023 - 11:00am

When the Beatles embarked on the tour that helped launch the British Invasion in 1964, Paul McCartney had a 35mm camera on hand to help document the history-making mayhem. Now, more than half a century later, McCartney's never-before-seen photos from that tour are getting the coffee-table book treatment — as...

Overmono, 'Is U'

January 25, 2023 - 10:18am

In Britain in the late 2000s, Tom Russell and his brother Ed were still forging their identities as dance-music producers — it wasn't until the following decade that they really found themselves: Tom would work in prismatic industrial modes, while Ed found himself part of the thriving post-dubstep scene known...

Tiny Desk meets globalFEST 2023: Dakh Daughters, Khadija El Warzazia, Cui Jian

January 24, 2023 - 7:01pm

For the third year, Tiny Desk concerts team up with globalFEST for a thrilling online music festival — Tiny Desk meets globalFEST.

Hosted by Angélique Kidjo, the series echoes globalFEST's live flagship event in spirit but is centered in the framework of the Tiny Desk concert series. This...

Senators slam Ticketmaster over bungling of Taylor Swift tickets, question breakup

January 24, 2023 - 5:00pm

It's been 13 years since the Justice Department allowed a merger between corporate giants Live Nation and Ticketmaster to go through, creating the largest live event company in the country, if not the world. The deal was subject to an agreement with the government that set certain conditions and limitations...

Panic! at the Disco is ending after nearly two decades

January 24, 2023 - 1:23pm

Panic! at the Disco, the emo-pop band that began in 2004, is ending its run after seven albums and nearly two decades.

Brendon Urie, the band's frontman and last remaining original member, made the announcement on Instagram Tuesday. The post said the band's upcoming European tour for...

Adeem the Artist refines their ability to tell country tales from where they stand

January 24, 2023 - 11:00am

Is there a more pointed or pleasing satire of what it's like being newly visible at the margins of country and roots music than Adeem the Artist's "Redneck, Unread Hicks"? "Everybody gather 'round, we got another one here," they taunt in character. "It's got the pronouns listed; it's a...

Andy Shauf, 'Telephone'

January 24, 2023 - 10:39am

How many hundred-plus-year-old pieces of technology still have songs written about them today? No matter how fast the world progresses and expands, or how many times the device's whole design changes, the telephone call, with all its immediacy and intimacy, is still as fruitful and rich a songwriting subject as...

Kasien, 'BREATHE (SLOW IT DOWN)'

January 24, 2023 - 9:54am

If you're not hip to U.K. born Nigerian-Jamaican artist Kasien, his latest EP, FOLLOW ME, will have you trying to keep up — track after track, bar after bar. His lyrical conviction is contagious, revitalizing the listener through a robust global soundscape. Kasien is the life coach we didn't know...

The Senate's Ticketmaster hearing featured plenty of Taylor Swift puns and protesters

January 24, 2023 - 4:09am

The Senate Judiciary Committee held its much-anticipated hearing into Live Nation and the lack of competition in the ticketing industry on Tuesday.

While lawmakers grilled entertainment executives and antitrust experts, some of Ticketmaster's most vocal critics protested just steps away on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol: Taylor Swift...

Dos Santos' sound is a cultural melting pot as eclectic as their Chicago home

January 23, 2023 - 12:08pm

Last April, the city of Chicago rolled out their new tourism slogan: "The Middle of Everything." It's a phrase that not only applies geographically, as Chicago is essentially in the middle of the country, it also extends to the music scene and our guests today, Dos Santos.

For...

San Francisco Chinatown seniors welcome in the Lunar New Year with rap

January 22, 2023 - 4:00am

A cabaret dance troupe of elders from San Francisco's Chinatown has released a rap track and video celebrating the Lunar New Year.

That Lunar Cheer, a collaboration between the Grant Avenue Follies and Los Angeles-based rapper Jason Chu, hippety-hops into the Year of the Rabbit with...

Reneé Rapp wants to burn out by 30 — and it's all going perfectly to plan

January 21, 2023 - 6:00am

Reneé Rapp has a plan: she's going to burn out by 30.

The 23-year-old Broadway star, TV actor, and musician would never recommend this to anyone else, but that's her vision.

You may know about Rapp from TikTok, where she has more than a million followers, or her...

John Cale, ever restless, returns with the deeply collaborative 'Mercy'

January 20, 2023 - 5:06pm

"If you go and end up in a corner that you feel uncomfortable in, something will happen and you'll come up with a solution," explains the influential, always restless John Cale. "That's kind of my mantra."

Since co-founding The Velvet Underground with Lou Reed late in 1964,...

What's making us happy: A guide to your weekend viewing

January 20, 2023 - 4:00pm

This week, we snuck a peek at Sundance Film Festival, watched another "screenlife" horror movie, and got behind our favorite pop culture icons.

Here's what the NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour crew was paying attention to — and what you should check out this weekend....

TWICE, 'MOONLIGHT SUNRISE'

January 20, 2023 - 2:48pm

TWICE has always had traces of Atlanta bass in its DNA, but the K-pop girl group fully embraces the regional style on "MOONLIGHT SUNRISE," a new English-language single. Glossy synths and warbled vocals begin the track with a beguiling charm, and then singer Sana arrives to capitalize...

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As Ryuichi Sakamoto returns with '12,' fellow artists recall his impact

'This is not entertainment': John Zorn, all over Big Ears

For Missy Mazzoli, composing is the hard work of making life easier

Tiny Desk meets globalFEST: Septeto Santiaguero, Bia Ferreira, Moonlight Benjamin

deem spencer, '27'

For the Beatles-obsessed, here are 3 never-before-seen photos from 1964

Overmono, 'Is U'

Tiny Desk meets globalFEST 2023: Dakh Daughters, Khadija El Warzazia, Cui Jian

Senators slam Ticketmaster over bungling of Taylor Swift tickets, question breakup

Panic! at the Disco is ending after nearly two decades

Adeem the Artist refines their ability to tell country tales from where they stand

Andy Shauf, 'Telephone'

Kasien, 'BREATHE (SLOW IT DOWN)'

The Senate's Ticketmaster hearing featured plenty of Taylor Swift puns and protesters

Dos Santos' sound is a cultural melting pot as eclectic as their Chicago home

San Francisco Chinatown seniors welcome in the Lunar New Year with rap

Reneé Rapp wants to burn out by 30 — and it's all going perfectly to plan

John Cale, ever restless, returns with the deeply collaborative 'Mercy'

What's making us happy: A guide to your weekend viewing

TWICE, 'MOONLIGHT SUNRISE'

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