Paul Motian (wiki) (myspace) (allaboutjazz), one of the great jazz drummers of our time, is dead at 80. [more inside]
posted by Lutoslawski on Nov 22, 2011 - 30 comments

David Lynch's debut album, Crazy Clown Time, is streaming in its entirety on NPR first listen until November 8th. That is all.
posted by Lutoslawski on Oct 30, 2011 - 28 comments

Balance, directed by Jay Buim, is a beautiful music video about two hitchhikers trying to get to the beach. The music comes from the latest album by NC/MD band Future Islands: On The Water. [more inside]
posted by codacorolla on Oct 16, 2011 - 5 comments

In their 25 year career San Fransisco-based Kronos Quartet might be most famous for creating the go-to dramatic movie trailer music but they've recently courted controversy with their latest album, 9/11, with Steve Reich (NPR First Listen). The album is another in a long line of collaborations with composers such as Phillip Glass, Terry Riley, and Pēteris Vasks. And like any good instrumental ensemble, they've covered Hendrix, Sigur Ros, and Tom Waits. Oh, and they've been on Sesame Street. [more inside]
posted by The Whelk on Sep 17, 2011 - 34 comments

Since 2008, NPR's All Songs Considered has been doing the Tiny Desk Concert series in which they invite a musician or band or very large group to come and play a song behind the desk of the show's host, Bob Bollen, with the video camera running. The result can be intimate, absurd, raucous and just plain enjoyable. A browseable archive of all 150+ shows is here. [more inside]
posted by 1f2frfbf on Aug 14, 2011 - 42 comments

What has Richard Buckner been up to, since 2006's Meadow? [more inside]
posted by dubold on Jul 26, 2011 - 31 comments

How Much Does It Cost To Make A Hit Song? "Def Jam started paying for Rihanna's recent single, "Man Down," more than a year ago. In March of 2010, the label held a writing camp in L.A. to create the songs for Rihanna's album, Loud." [more inside]
posted by incandissonance on Jul 21, 2011 - 75 comments

Marlon Brando. Yeah, sure, he could act. Very talented guy. But, hey, he also invented a radically innovative tuning system for conga drums. Played the congas, too. Yup. That's right.
posted by flapjax at midnite on Jul 3, 2011 - 23 comments

NPR's Alt.Latino is a new program that started almost a year ago. There is the main NPR sub-site that provide access to everything Alt.Latino, including the blog with a tracklist and links, and a 30 minute radio-type show, where the two hosts chat about the music, describing the lyrics for those not fluent in Spanish, and providing background on the musicians.
posted by filthy light thief on Jun 3, 2011 - 16 comments

"Now is a better time to be a musician, or a fan of music, than any other time in all of human history." Last Friday, the NPR Planet Money podcast featured musician Jonathan Coulton, whose online success prompted one host to compare the man (or his brand) to the blanket-with-arms Snuggie, i.e. "we didn't know we wanted it, and then all of a sudden we did." Coulton responds with his own thoughts on new business models for musicians in the Internet/file-sharing age.
posted by mrgrimm on May 26, 2011 - 48 comments

The Sad, Beautiful Fact That We're All Going To Miss Almost Everything. The vast majority of the world's books, music, films, television and art, you will never see. It's just numbers.
posted by crossoverman on Apr 18, 2011 - 89 comments

Listening to Rap for the First Time, with a Book Critic
posted by OverlappingElvis on Nov 4, 2010 - 80 comments

NPR is streaming the sets from the Newport Jazz Festival. Highlights include Dave Douglas' Brass Ecstasy, Marshall Allen with Joe Morris and Matthew Shipp, Ken Vandermark's Powerhouse Sound, and Rez Abbasi.
posted by kenko on Aug 14, 2010 - 7 comments

uPlaya uses algorithms to determine if a song will be a hit. [more inside]
posted by Lutoslawski on Oct 12, 2009 - 42 comments

A (mostly) complete concert by the Elephant 6 Orchestra is available to stream or download. [more inside]
posted by 1f2frfbf on Dec 12, 2008 - 26 comments

Live right now NPR is broadcasting REM from SXSW along with sets from Summerbirds in the Cellar, Johnathan Rice, Papercranes and Dead Confederate.
posted by plexi on Mar 12, 2008 - 53 comments

NPR and twelve public radio partners have launched NPR Music, a free, multi-genre Web site showcasing the best of public radio music.
posted by jaimev on Nov 7, 2007 - 18 comments

Hurdy Gurdy. Swedish techno band that uses only sounds sampled from the hurdy gurdy. [via NPR] [a little more inside]
posted by Squid Voltaire on Mar 9, 2006 - 12 comments

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah are a band that, less than a year ago, were making music without the help of a record label, pressing CDs themselves and selling them at concerts and on the Internet. Then the following happened: June 9: Dan Bierne writes about the band on his MP3 blog, June 14: Pitchfork Media posts a review of the song "In This Home On Ice", June 15: Blogger Gothamist posts an interview with the band, June 20: Blogger Stereogum announces the band's show at the Knitting Factory, June 21: Gothamist reports that David Bowie was in the audience at the Knitting Factory show, and June 22: Pitchfork posts one of a slew of reviews of Clap's first album. Now, they've been named to dozens of critics 'best of' lists, they're playing Conan and Letterman, and are about to embark on a new tour. Why choose today to post an article about a band blowing up written in November you ask? Because their tour kicks off tonight at the 9:30 club in DC, and you can listen to it live.
posted by ND¢ on Mar 8, 2006 - 140 comments

So You Think You Hate Country Music? Then listen to this. The roots of American country music may surprise you. In this series of NPR programs, trace the gradual development of real country music through the first half of the 20th century. Learn how a woman's instrument of the late 1800s, the parlor guitar, became the the central symbol of country and rock; see how African-American musical forms like gospel and blues meshed with the development of country and early rock and influenced the traditional forms in turn; listen to German-Mexican hybrids of accordian style; find out why women had so many honky-tonk torch songs to sing in the late 40s. The series contains hours of content (narrative, interviews, music tracks), and a multitude of excellent links for deeper digging.
posted by Miko on Feb 2, 2006 - 111 comments

NPR’s Live Concert Series site offers recordings of recent live performances by James Brown, Sinead O’Connor, Iron & Wine and Calexico, Son Volt, My Morning Jacket, The White Stripes, M. Ward, Sigur Ros, Bloc Party, The Decemberists, and live tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. ET, Colin Meloy.
posted by ND¢ on Jan 27, 2006 - 46 comments

Yes, it's the great god bird,
with its altar call.
posted by deafmute on Jul 7, 2005 - 15 comments

Hip-Hop Legends Digable Planets Reunite! Word, and they're touring.
posted by sudama on May 25, 2005 - 29 comments

The Shot Chord Heard Round the World! On the morning of Nine Eleven 2002 at 8:46am, over 160 choirs across the world will sing Mozart's "Requiem" to metaphorically stand in for the thousands of voices silenced a year ago. Among all the ideas I've heard to commemorate this occasion, this one seems the most dignified, and least cringeworthy. They mentioned it on NPR's Morning Edition (caution: Real Audio file).
posted by ZachsMind on Sep 10, 2002 - 33 comments

Christopher O'Riley is a pianist who has transcribed some Radiohead tunes. Give a listen if you like, and spare me the Radiohead does/doesn't suck thread.
posted by uftheory on May 31, 2002 - 16 comments

Terry Gross gets more than she bargained for from KISS frontman. Don't you think they'd make a cute couple? (Maybe soon we'll see her here.)
posted by ColdChef on Feb 6, 2002 - 74 comments

Narco corridos ("drug ballads") , the modern variant of the traditional Mexican corrido, are often likened to gangsta rap-- the songs tend to glorify drug traffickers, the most famous performers are mysteriously murdered, and Mexican radio stations have banned them entirely, hoping to curb drug-related violence. (And while I must sheepishly admit that I hadn't even heard of them until I heard this segment--an interview with Elijah Wald[RA link] on NPR last week, I'm now obsessed.)
posted by cowboy_sally on Nov 26, 2001 - 9 comments

Boosting the Blues covered on Marketplace Radio. At the bottom of the page is a short summary and a link to the David Brancaccio interview (12 minutes or so in Real Audio clip) of Taj Mahal's involvement and spreading the word about the Music Maker Relief Foundation.
posted by vanderwal on Mar 2, 2001 - 1 comment