Music & Culture

Music & Culture

Indie-Pop Albums That Make The Cut Are More Than Mere Collections

12:30pm December 11, 2013

by Stephen Thompson

This week we're looking back at the year in music with a peek at NPR Music's 50 Favorite Albums of 2013. It's the annual list assembled by our in-house experts, including NPR music writer and editor Stephen Thompson. He tells Audie Cornish about his picks in the world of indie pop.

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Jim Hall performs with his trio and fellow guitarist Julian Lage at the 2013 Newport Jazz Festival.

Music & Culture

Remembering Jim Hall, A Different Sort Of Guitar God

10:10am December 11, 2013

by Tom Cole

The guitarist said he didn't "really have all that much technique anyway," but it was clearly enough to influence half a century of jazz musicians. Peers and proteges like Sonny Rollins, Julian Lage and John Scofield reflect on one of the finest ever on his instrument.

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The Beach Boys in 1964. Top row: Carl Wilson, Dennis Wilson. Bottom row: Mike Love, Al Jardine, Brian Wilson.

Music & Culture

A Nostalgic — But Bumpy — Journey With The Beach Boys

5:44pm December 10, 2013

by Ed Ward

In 2012, the band became another rock group that was celebrating its 50th anniversary. This year, it released Made in California, an eight-hour, six-disc retrospective of their career that, perhaps inadvertently, shows how this once-great force in American popular music faded from public view.

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Music & Culture

Review: Jonas Kaufmann Sings Wagner And Verdi

4:28pm December 09, 2013

by Lloyd Schwartz

At 44, the German tenor Jonas Kaufmann may be the most popular tenor of his generation in the international opera world, and one of the most versatile. Among his recordings this year are albums dedicated to both Verdi and Wagner, celebrating the bicentennials of their birth.

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Jason Isbell's new album is called Southeastern.

Music & Culture

Jason Isbell: A 'Southeastern' Songwriter's Path To Sobriety

12:07pm December 09, 2013

by NPR Staff

The country-rock musician's new solo album is deeply personal, drawing on issues like recovery from a battle with alcoholism that peaked during his time with the band Drive-By Truckers.

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Nick Lowe's Quality Street: A Seasonal Selection for All the Family is an album of original holiday songs and some reworked classics.

Music & Culture

Why Would Nick Lowe Make A Christmas Album? Ask Nick Lowe

6:12pm December 08, 2013

by NPR Staff

The esteemed UK songwriter says the idea of making a holiday record seemed laughable at first. He tells NPR's Arun Rath how he came around, and performs a few songs from the new Quality Street: A Seasonal Selection for All the Family.

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Oscar Isaac as the titular character in Joel and Ethan Coen's Inside Llewyn Davis.

Music & Culture

On Becoming Llewyn Davis, A Hero Who Excels At Failing

4:10pm December 06, 2013

by NPR Staff

Actor Oscar Isaac disappears into the title role of the new Coen brothers film, Inside Llewyn Davis, a black comedy about a '60s folk singer who just can't make it, no matter what he does. He speaks with NPR's Melissa Block about playing the less-than-likable character.

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Music & Culture

Pharrell Williams Blurs Lines With Daylong Music Video

11:57am December 06, 2013

Multi-music hyphenate Pharrell Williams hit it big earlier this year with the song, "Blurred Lines," which he co-wrote. Now Williams has blurred the lines of what makes a music video. The 24-hour-long music video for his new single, "Happy," has people dancing and lip-synching down Hollywood Boulevard in Los Angeles as the song loops over and over. Mimi Valdes, Williams' creative director, was on set for every day of the 11-day shoot, and she tells Robert Siegel and Melissa Block about the process.

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Songwriter Clegg On Mandela, South Africans' 'Bridge'

10:49am December 06, 2013

Renee Montagne talks to South African musician Johnny Clegg about his relationship with Nelson Mandela, who died Thursday at age 95. Clegg says his banned 1980s song that named Mandela and became an anthem came to him one day when he woke to gunshots and wondered "who can bridge you and me, every South African."

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Music & Culture

William Parker's Abstract Grooves Collected In Box Set

2:55pm December 05, 2013

by Kevin Whitehead

With six concerts spread over eight discs, Wood Flute Songs documents the bassist's exhaustive and creative live output.

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