Episodes
Eminem and Common confront the same milestone — middle age — from opposite angles
July 19, 2024 10:10The two veteran rappers read as comic inversions of one another on their new albums, by turns renewed and restrained by the instincts that defined them at the start of their careers. (Image credit: Aaron J. Thornton) * This article was originally published here
West of Roan collects ancient folktales — not personal folklore
July 18, 2024 10:18In an era when connecting the tidbits of an artist’s private life can seem more important than following a musical thread between songs, West of Roan's Queen of Eyes revives faith in the power of the concept album. (Image credit: Blake McMeekin) * This article was originally published here
50 years later, Stevie Wonder's 'First Finale' remains ripe for rediscovery
July 16, 2024 10:27Fulfillingness’ First Finale won the Grammy for Best Album in 1975, yet today it feels underrated — perhaps because its overall tone was more meditative than the albums immediately preceding it. * This article was originally published here
Zach Bryan makes — and breaks — his own myth on 'The Great American Bar Scene'
July 10, 2024 10:12The Great American Bar Scene, features love songs, thorny anthems, autobiographical lore and even a mini-arc that directly invokes classic Bruce Springsteen songs. '/> Bruce Springsteen, 40 years on from Born in the U.S.A., shows up on Bryan’s new album to offer the wisdom and regret of a lifetime of telling truths and spinning yarns. (Image credit: Keith Griner) * This article was originally published here
Unpacking hip-hop's sprawl in 2024's most eclectic release date
July 04, 2024 10:12Megan Thee Stallion's post-traumatic reset, a left-field Lil Yachty collab, the raunchy return of cupcaKKe: June 28 delivered a truckload of major albums, and a portrait of modern rap's main tension. (Image credit: Kevin Winter/Getty Images for Live Nation) * This article was originally published here
Megan Thee Stallion sheds her skin on 'Megan'
July 03, 2024 10:13A lot has happened to rapper Megan Thee Stallion over the last couple of years including a highly publicized trial after being shot by a former friend, a messy breakup, and a feud with artist Nicki Minaj. She confronts all of that and more on her boastful and vulnerable new album Megan. But she also has fun on playful tracks like 'Down Stairs DJ' and 'Otaku Hot Girl' that are odes to self-pleasure and her anime nerddom. (Image credit: Rich Fury) * This article was originally published here
Finnish conductor Klaus Mäkelä thrills both in person and on recording
July 02, 2024 10:09The 28-year-old conductor has been making news lately — getting rave reviews for renditions of Stravinsky and Debussy, and also for being the music director of more than one major orchestra. * This article was originally published here
50 years later, Steely Dan's 'Pretzel Logic' still sounds fresh
June 28, 2024 10:10By 1974, Steely Dan's two albums had helped established the band as a viable business proposition. With Pretzel Logic, they began a quest for studio perfectionism that would last for decades to come. * This article was originally published here
3 exhilarating songs showcase music genres being explored in new ways
June 27, 2024 10:30Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs' “Dare To Dream," Tommy Richman's "Million Dollar Baby" and Jeff and Steven McDonald's “Born Innocent" feature spontaneous sounds rooted in deep knowledge of the past. * This article was originally published here
In Peso Pluma’s 'Éxodo,' he outgrows his regional Mexican roots
June 25, 2024 10:15Éxodo, pushes his sound further.'/> On his new album, Éxodo, regional Mexican hitmaker Peso Pluma gives listeners a sampler of his burgeoning potential as a multi-genre star. (Image credit: Arenovski) * This article was originally published here
For a rising class of rap cyborgs, there's mastery in the mumble
June 22, 2024 10:24New albums by Don Toliver and LUCKI take opposite paths to the same calling, an understanding of rap as texture rather than text. (Image credit: Jack Dalton) * This article was originally published here
Kendrick Lamar takes the West Coast off standby
June 21, 2024 10:06Lamar's blowout Juneteenth concert, held at the Forum in Los Angeles and live-streamed on Amazon Music, planted flags for the future of LA rap, while uniting in hate for a certain Toronto titan. (Image credit: Timothy Norris/Getty Images for pgLang, Amazon) * This article was originally published here
Gunna can't flaunt his way out of the YSL trial's shadow
June 14, 2024 10:25The rapper slipped free from the legal mess that swallowed his label and his mentor Young Thug — but on his new album, he's still in the grip of an unending image crisis. (Image credit: Frazer Harrison) * This article was originally published here
‘It Was All a Dream’ shows the work of a nascent rap feminist
June 13, 2024 10:23A new documentary by the hip-hop historian and critic dream hampton, culled from her own never-before-seen footage of rap's golden age, illustrates the hard labor for women who love the music. (Image credit: Courtesy of the artist) * This article was originally published here
Pedro the Lion's youthful nostalgia is quietly transformational
June 12, 2024 10:24David Bazan's multi-part memoirs have blurred memories of his adolescence, but with the goal of being honest and accountable. NPR Music critic Ann Powers sees connections between Pedro the Lion's Santa Cruz and Jane Schoenbrun’s new film, I Saw the TV Glow. (Image credit: Ryan Russell) * This article was originally published here
As African pop crests again, women are leading the second wave
June 07, 2024 10:25The Year I Turned 21, is a global-minded symphony of influences, and part of a recent wave of young women charting their own course for African pop.'/> Released in a span of three months, the new albums by Ayra Starr, Tems and Tyla are not merely career-making for the artists, but ground-shifting for the pop music of the continent. (Image credit: Mikey Oshai) * This article was originally published here
Swamp Dogg's 'Blackgrass' is one of the best country albums of the year
June 06, 2024 10:09Swamp Dogg, aka Jerry Williams Jr., began his career in the 1960s. Now 81, he demonstrates that, in his long career in R&B, soul and funk, country is another road he’s traveled. * This article was originally published here
Vince Staples, the visible man
May 31, 2024 10:06Dark Times, represents a new direction in an already singular major-label rap career.'/> Staples has always lived in a few worlds: art-rap hero, hall-of-fame interviewee, and a homebody whose inner life is none of our business. On Dark Times, his worlds finally converge. (Image credit: Shaniqwa Jarvis) * This article was originally published here
Mask off: When rappers bust their own myths
May 24, 2024 10:12Please Don't Cry functions as a reintroduction to the rapper — long defined by her technique, now revealing some of the real person behind that prowess.'/> Rapsody and Mach-Hommy, two rap technicians long defined by their skill above all, shake off that armor on a pair of striking new albums that demonstrate wildly different kinds of vulnerability. (Image credit: Jhalin Knowles) * This article was originally published here
These 3 songs capture the spirit of the summer
May 22, 2024 10:09Carsie Blanton sings a protest anthem in "After the Revolution." Sabrina Carpenter channels a disco party with her catchy hit "Espresso." "Life Is," by Jessica Pratt, is an immediate, sweeping drama. * This article was originally published here
How Cindy Lee became the music world's underground success story of 2024
May 21, 2024 10:27One of the best albums of 2024, Diamond Jubilee, isn't on streaming services. The artist who released it, Cindy Lee, has rejected the streaming era's demands to create something entirely their own. * This article was originally published here
On 'One of Wun,' Gunna can't flaunt his way out of the YSL trial's shadow
May 18, 2024 10:30The rapper slipped free from the legal mess that swallowed his label and his mentor Young Thug — but on his new album, he's still in the grip of an unending image crisis. (Image credit: Frazer Harrison) * This article was originally published here
On Beth Gibbons' 'Lives Outgrown,' the Portishead singer invites us in
May 17, 2024 10:24Thirty years after Portishead's debut, Gibbons' first solo album is the testament of an uncanny singer simply making it through each day. (Image credit: Eva Vermandel) * This article was originally published here
Beyoncé's 'Cowboy Carter' is a portrait of the artist getting joyously weird
May 12, 2024 10:27Cowboy Carter has ignited discourse about the place of Black musicians in country music. But it's also evidence of its creator's desire to break genre walls by following her most eccentric impulses.'/> Cowboy Carter has spurred plenty of discussion for being a groundbreaking country album. But for one critic, it calls to mind a cult favorite '70s psych-rock concept album. (Image credit: Mason Poole) * This article was originally published here
What's past is present for Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov
May 11, 2024 10:24The 86-year-old Kyiv native, living in exile in Berlin, has a new album of symphonic works that explores the idea of reminiscence. (Image credit: Dmitri Matveyev) * This article was originally published here
Why Future trusts Metro Boomin
May 10, 2024 10:27After a decade ruled by their influence, the buzzy reunion of two hip-hop giants finds one imbued with a startling new power. (Image credit: Theo Wargo) * This article was originally published here
Taylor Swift's 'Tortured Poets' is written in blood
May 09, 2024 10:06The Tortured Poets Department, her artistry is tangled up in the details of her private life and her deployment of celebrity. But Swift's lack of concern about whether these songs speak to and for anyone but herself is audible throughout the album.'/> With The Tortured Poets Department, the defining pop star of her era has made an album as messy and confrontational as any good girl's work can get. (Image credit: Beth Garrabrant) * This article was originally published here
Dua Lipa's 'Radical Optimism' is loaded with hyper-catchy bangers
May 08, 2024 10:25The British singer Dua Lipa has become one of the world's biggest pop stars. Now, she's back with Radical Optimism, a sort of concept record about moving through life with a more mature and constructive attitude. But it's also a pretty straightforward collection of grievance-free, hyper-catchy bangers. (Image credit: Tyrone Lebon) * This article was originally published here
On 'The Tortured Poets Department,' Taylor Swift spares no one
May 07, 2024 11:11Taylor Swift dropped an epic new album that spans two hours — and two high-profile breakups. The Tortured Poets Department delves deeply into two of the singer's recent relationships — one with the English actor Joe Alwyn and the other with Matty Healy, who's the lead singer of The 1975. And while Taylor Swift indulges in a few beefs on this record, the target she returns to most often is herself. Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at plus.npr.org/happyhour (Image credit: Beth Garr...
Taylor Swift's confessional 'Tortured Poets' would have benefitted from an edit
May 06, 2024 10:30Though Swift performs a range of experience and emotions, the music on her 11th album feels thin and is often in service of lyrics that could have used a red pencil. * This article was originally published here
Whither the West Coast gangsta?
May 05, 2024 10:20G Slim's Revenge, a certain rap archetype that has faded since its '90s ubiquity appears to be alive and well.'/> A familiar rap character, the Cali hustler cruising in a low-rider, has faded in the 21st century. On new albums by G Perico, Mozzy and Gangrene, that figure is alive and well, living in the margins. (Image credit: Estevan Oriol) * This article was originally published here
On 'Here in the Pitch,' Jessica Pratt's pop seduces listeners into a Los Angeles noir
May 04, 2024 10:27Here in the Pitch, her best album, feels completely lucid.'/> The singer-songwriter's fourth album is her best yet, with crisp, commanding songwriting, shades of '60s baroque pop and melodies that seem to have existed forever. * This article was originally published here
Sonny Rollins' big-hearted music speaks for itself on newly reissued 'Freedom Weaver'
May 03, 2024 10:12In 1959, Rollins was a few years into one of the great hot streaks in jazz history when he took a three-week trip to Europe. Three hours from that tour are heard on a new Rollins-approved reissue. * This article was originally published here
Boots with the spurs: 'Cowboy Carter' and the need for validation
April 09, 2024 10:06Grab your cowboy hat, and saddle up that horse, because Beyoncé's highly anticipated album, Cowboy Carter is here. So far, the album has spurred praise, criticism, and questions about what the actual goal of this project is and how it fits into the Renaissance trilogy. To get into all of that, Brittany joined NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour to discuss whether this foray into country is an exercise in experimentation or industry validation. * This article was originally published here
Cellist Maya Beiser's variation on a minimalist manifesto
April 06, 2024 10:27In C, which helped launch the style of music called minimalism.'/> Armed with just her cello, a looping machine and a pair of percussionists, Beiser crafts a rendition of Terry Riley's pioneering In C that is equally mesmerizing and graceful. (Image credit: Boyang Hu) * This article was originally published here
Emo rap at its limits
April 05, 2024 10:24Embedded in genre : sadboy, a collaborative release by rappers MGK and Trippie Redd, is an accidental lesson in what once made the collision of rap and pop-punk so electrifying. (Image credit: Christopher Polk) * This article was originally published here
Beyoncé bucks the country industry establishment with sprawling 'Cowboy Carter'
April 04, 2024 10:20While Beyoncé's new album suggests the country-music industry's problematic history of excluding Black artists, the collection as a whole is as much a celebration as it is a critique. * This article was originally published here
Celebrating singer Sarah Vaughan, on what would have been her 100th birthday
March 28, 2024 10:18Born in 1924 in Newark, N.J., Vaughan came up in the '40s, alongside bebop, a new jazz style she instantly took to. In the following decades, she proved to be one of the best singers of any genre. * This article was originally published here
Tierra Whack springs to the forefront of hip-hop creativity on a new album
March 27, 2024 10:06The Philadelphia rapper and singer is known for her playful side, but she widens her subject matter on World Wide Whack, with emotions ranging from ecstatic happiness to the deepest despair. * This article was originally published here
On 'Tigers Blood,' Waxahatchee is in her anti-eras era
March 23, 2024 10:12Katie Crutchfield's gorgeous sixth album affirms that real lives are lived not in clear chapters, but as a zig-zag of pitfalls and revelations one can only hope to learn from. (Image credit: Molly Matalon) * This article was originally published here
Rediscovering the rigor of composers Julia Perry and Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson
March 02, 2024 10:12A new album, American Counterpoints, reasserts the importance of two 20th century Black composers whose work has been neglected. (Image credit: David Lees) * This article was originally published here
Argue's Secret Society produces 'Maximum Tension' on a lively new album
February 29, 2024 10:06Composer Darcy James Argue runs a jazz big band — but imagines its sound as if big bands had stayed current rather than faded away. The music's clarity, contrasts and rhythms are all impressive. * This article was originally published here
'Untame the Tiger' represents a high point of Mary Timony's adventurous career
February 28, 2024 10:15The indie rocker's guitar playing conveys a confidence in making music — even when the songs themselves detail doubt and vulnerability. Untame the Tiger is her first solo album in 15 years. * This article was originally published here
The Beatles' 'Now and Then' is a wistful curiosity, 45 years in the making
February 27, 2024 10:27The Beatles' final song could never live up to the body of work that precedes it. But it could never diminish it, either. (Image credit: Bruce McBroom) * This article was originally published here
A disciplined plea for peace – and quiet – from composer Arvo Pärt
February 26, 2024 10:24A new album of music by the 88-year-old Estonian mystic seems to put an arm around you and whisper, "In troubled times, music can help." (Image credit: Luciano Rossetti) * This article was originally published here
Composer Angelica Sanchez takes inspiration from the sound of the woods at night
February 25, 2024 10:30Sanchez's latest album, Night Creatures, features music for nine instruments that variously contrast, blend or clash — channeling the open-air feeling of the pitch-dark woods at night. * This article was originally published here
Reflecting on the legacy of the flute in pop music
February 24, 2024 10:15This week, Andre 3000 released an instrumental album featuring the flute instead of an expected rap album. Scott Simon asks LA Times' August Brown about the flute's decades-long role in pop music. * This article was originally published here
Guitarist Marnie Stern mixes wit and warmth on 'The Comeback Kid'
February 23, 2024 10:03Stern is known for the eight years she spent as a guitarist in Seth Meyers' late-night-talk-show house band, but her own upbeat, highlight original music is unlike anything you'll ever hear on TV. * This article was originally published here
A music critic revisits 2 artists he overlooked in 2023: King Tuff and Danny Brown
February 22, 2024 10:03Given the ceaseless torrent of music being released, it's almost inevitable that worthy artists slip through the cracks. Rocker King Tuff and hip-hop's Brown deserve a special mention. * This article was originally published here
Chick Corea renders Mozart with daring and playfulness on a posthumous new album
February 21, 2024 10:24In 2018, three years before his death, the pianist and composer gave a concert in Sardinia that included both Mozart and George Gershwin. A live recording of that concert is now available. * This article was originally published here