Music & Culture

Music & Culture

Read The Overwhelming, Tragic Story Of Makeunder's 'Great Headless Blank' EP

1:16pm July 09, 2015

by Bob Boilen

Hamilton Ulmer, the leader of the Oakland band, shares a track-by-track analysis of Makeunder's latest EP, which was inspired by a terrible year in the songwriter's life.

Amy Winehouse performs at London's Music of Black Origin Awards in 2007.

Documentary Seeks To Free Amy Winehouse From Her Tabloid Legacy

3:07pm July 08, 2015

In the dawning of the digital age, "She was the unlucky one to be having a nervous breakdown in public at the time," Amy director Asif Kapadia tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross.

Queue Listen Now

Music & Culture

Pokey LaFarge Mines His Midwestern Roots, Finds 'Something In The Water'

2:56pm July 08, 2015

The singer-songwriter brings his acoustic guitar to the Fresh Air studio to sing some new songs as well as some of his favorites from the 1920s and '30s. Originally broadcast April 27, 2015.

Queue Listen Now

Republican presidential candidate and TV personality Donald Trump arrives by escalator to the tune of "Rockin' in the Free World." Musician Neil Young did not approve of his song choice.

Trump's Campaign Theme Song Headache? Blame Michael Jackson, Sort Of

1:19pm July 08, 2015

by Tamara Keith

Candidates keep getting in trouble for picking theme songs without getting approval from the artist. You can trace this back to changes in both campaigning and the way companies sell products.

Queue Listen Now

José González returns with his first new solo album in seven years. Vestiges And Claws is due out Feb. 17.

Music & Culture

Song Premiere: José González, 'Every Age'

12:39pm July 08, 2015

by Robin Hilton

Hear a beautifully spare, existential meditation from González's first new solo album in seven years.

Music & Culture

Songs We Love: Houndmouth, 'For No One'

12:37pm July 08, 2015

by Ann Powers

The Indiana band will release its second album in 2015. This early sample is a striking, vibrating, epic folk ballad with almost surreal imagery and a story line that twists in odd directions.

Music & Culture

Songs We Love: Nora Jane Struthers, 'The Same Road'

12:32pm July 08, 2015

by Ann Powers

"The Same Road" is the first offering from Nora Jane Struthers' next album, and shows off her band's propulsive new direction. Rooted in bluegrass, Struthers is a serious woman with a light heart.

Brandi Carlile's fifth studio album, The Firewatcher's Daughter, will be out on March 3.

Music & Culture

Listen To 'The Eye,' A New Song By Brandi Carlile

11:59am July 08, 2015

by Ann Powers

Brandi Carlile will put out her fifth album, The Firewatcher's Daughter, in March. She talks with Ann Powers about family, her new album and the necessary recklessness of first-take rock and roll.

Frank Ocean released an Aaliyah tribute, "At Your Best (You Are Love)," on the late R&B singer's birthday.

Music & Culture

From The Isleys To Aaliyah To Frank Ocean, The Evolution Of 'Love'

11:44am July 08, 2015

by Ann Powers

Frank Ocean's cover of The Isley Brothers' "At Your Best (You Are Love)" shows how the singer is re-imagining R&B for the future by exploding stereotypes about gender.

Amy Winehouse, in an image taken from the documentary Amy, by director Asif Kapadia.

Music & Culture

Why Films About Musicians Leave So Much Music Off Screen

1:56pm July 07, 2015

by Ann Powers

Films about music — including documentaries about Amy Winehouse, Nina Simone and Kurt Cobain — tend to focus on everything surrounding the ineffable art without delving deeply into its core.