When 2023’s Tiny Desk Contest winner Little Moon arrived at NPR, outward expressions of joy overshadowed the inner bundle of nerves this Springville, Utah band felt. The group’s winning song, “wonder eye,” unanimously wowed our contest judges Sharon Van Etten, Baby Rose, Sudan Archives and Albina Cabrera. Tiny Desk senior producer Bobby Carter and I, also judges, were in awe …
New Music Friday | The best releases out on May 26
The Chicago rapper Lil Durk returns this week with Almost Healed, a sometimes searing, sometimes tender examination of his life after years of loss and survival. On this week’s episode of New Music Friday, we dig into the music, talk about the pain that informs it and how Lil Durk has entered a new period of growth as an artist. …
Tina Turner, Rock and Roll Icon, Dead at 83
Tina Turner, a soul and rock powerhouse known for her octave-defying voice and mesmerizing stage moves, has died at the age of 83. Her death was announced in a statement on her official Facebook page, but offered no details about the cause. In her 2018 memoir, Tina Turner: My Love Story, Turner detailed a litany of health issues she had …
Kurt Cobain’s Broken Guitar Sells for Nearly $600,000
Kurt Cobain’s black Fender Stratocaster is covered in scratches and chipped wood. The names of Cobain and his former band, Nirvana, are misspelled. And the guitar itself, which was once smashed and put back together, is no longer playable. But on Saturday, the broken guitar was sold at Julien’s Auctions for a whopping $596,000 — nearly 10 times more than …
New Music Friday | The best releases out on May 19
The rapper Aminé and producer and DJ KAYTRANADA drop their highly anticipated joint project KAYTRAMINÉ this week, a free-wheeling, feel-good party album just in time for summer. We give a listen to several tracks from across the project to open this week’s show, marvel at the lyricism (“Y’all talkin’ like we’re equals when we know you’re Sméagols”) and talk about …
Announcing the winner of the 2023 Tiny Desk Contest
NPR Music received nearly 6,000 entries to this year’s Tiny Desk Contest, the annual search for the next great undiscovered artist to play a Tiny Desk concert. But one Springville, Utah, band rose to the top as its entry surprised the judges, moved them to tears and filled them with hope. Today, we’re thrilled to announce Little Moon is the …
New Music Friday: The best releases out on May 12
The singer Rahill is best-known to some for her work in the Brooklyn garage-rock group Habibi. But this week she drops her debut solo album, a collection of genre-hopping songs that are as danceable as they are idiosyncratic. On this week’s show we give a listen to Flowers At Your Feet and talk about the ways Rahill crafts deeply honest …
Watch Jacksonville Artists’ Tiny Desk Contest Submissions
The Tiny Desk Contest is back for 2023, with a new panel of judges and another opportunity for unsigned artists to earn an invite to perform on the revered, improvised stage in front of Bob Boilen’s desk at NPR Music HQ. Tens of thousands of musicians submitted their videos before the March 13 deadline — including nearly two-dozen artists from …
JPEGMAFIA and Danny Brown are Here to Blow Up your Function
On the rap internet, “scaring the hoes” has become code for a certain type of hip-hop: anything abrasive or weird or super-lyrical, designed for repeat close listening. More broadly, the phrase has evolved into a euphemism for any rap considered unfit for a party or similar social setting. To play Death Grips at the function is to scare the hoes. …
Feist holds a mirror up to her ‘Multitudes’
The commercial machinations of the music industry detest stepwise maturation. Consider the constant chatter about what is young and novel, as if real excitement, engagement and even insight can flow only from the hitherto unknown. Yes, it is totally intoxicating to believe you are experiencing culture’s bleeding edge with every incoming tide pool of best new artists; it is demoralizing, …
Fred again..: Tiny Desk Concert
When Fred again.. first proposed a Tiny Desk concert, it wasn’t immediately clear how he was going to make it work — not because he lacked creativity, but because translating purely electronic music at the Desk is a daunting task for anyone. How would an artist, whose performances take the form of DJ sets in front of massive audiences, curate …
Wednesday’s ‘Rat Saw God’ is Fearlessly, Chaotically, Grimly American
There was “a tear in every word,” is how longtime producer Billy Sherrill once described Tammy Wynette’s singing voice. It was the first lady of country music’s signature: a trembling, anguished voice that seemed to hold a teardrop in each note. Wynette had the ability to sell songs like “D-I-V-O-R-C-E” or “I Don’t Wanna Play House,” ’60s suburban melodramas as …
Kassa Overall | Tiny Desk Concert
Kassa Overall is no stranger to NPR. Back in 2020 he was a featured vocalist and percussionist on the Terri Lyne Carrington + Social Science Tiny Desk concert and in the same year he scored the original music for the first season of NPR Music’s Louder Than A Riot podcast. (His catchy theme song has been remixed by producer Suzi …
Durand Bernarr | Tiny Desk Concert
Durand Bernarr is an experience. At the Tiny Desk, members of his band — clad in costumes evoking characters from the Disney Channel animated series The Proud Family — surrounded Bernarr, outfitted in a white and magenta sequined ensemble with a wig styled in a pompadour, channeling the electric energy of the soul and funk singer of the Proud Family, …
After allegations against Win Butler, an existential crisis lingers for Montréal
“I usually write,” Élise Jetté laughs. “It’s hard to speak about a very emotional subject like this one.” The freelance music journalist had always been a fan of Arcade Fire. More than just one of her favorite bands, Arcade Fire defined her career. The band that made her a music journalist. As a young student at Université de Sherbrooke, she …
Louder Than A Riot Returns Thursday, March 16
New season explores the sexist prejudice against Black women in hip hop.
We’re supposedly living in a renaissance for Black women and queer folks in hip-hop, with so many running the game. But if you’re one of those people at the top, you’ve definitely come into contact with one of the most constraining forces in the culture: misogynoir, or the sexist prejudice against Black women specifically. Louder Than A Riot is a …
Join us at SXSW as Thee Sacred Souls, DEBBY FRIDAY, Hermanos Gutiérrez Perform on Public Radio Stage
SXSW, the week-long music industry (et al) gathering in Austin, Texas is in full-swing. And the Jacksonville Music Experience is there, too… kind of. As a Public Media organization and member station of NPR Music’s Live Sessions, we’re helping to welcome four emerging artists to the Public Radio Day Stage at SXSW. On Friday, March 17, San Diego soul trio …
Want to play your own Tiny Desk concert? The 2023 Contest is now open for entries
The Tiny Desk Contest–NPR Music’s annual nationwide search for the next great undiscovered artist to play a Tiny Desk concert–is back for its ninth year. The Tiny Desk team will begin accepting entries on Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023 at 10 a.m. ET. When you enter the 2023 Tiny Desk Contest, you join a nationwide community of music-makers and creators. Here’s …
10 takeaways from the 2023 Grammy Awards: Whose big night was it?
The Grammys love to brand themselves as “Music’s Biggest Night,” so it’s fitting that this year’s awards honored so many of music’s biggest names. Beyoncé, Adele, Harry Styles, Lizzo, Kendrick Lamar and Bad Bunny all took home trophies during Sunday night’s telecast, but some won bigger than others. Here are the storylines and takeaways that dominated the night. 1. The …
Beyoncé’s Renaissance tour is Ticketmaster’s next big test. Fans are already stressed
Updated February 2, 2023 at 8:06 PM ET News of Beyoncé’s first solo tour in more than six years has her many fans celebrating — and stressing out about whether they’ll actually be able to get tickets. The singer announced on Wednesday that she will bring her Grammy-nominated album Renaissance to cities across Europe and North America between May and …
Hermanos Gutiérrez | Tiny Desk Concert
There is a slow burning intensity to everything Hermanos Gutiérrez does, including how the duo walked into our offices and saw the Tiny Desk for the first time. “Wow, there it is…” Estevan said quietly to his brother Alejandro. Hermanos Gutiérrez’s origin story is as intricate as the guitar playing styles of its two members. The brothers have roots in …
NPR Music Partner Station’s 2023 Artists to Watch
From distinctive, R&B singer-songwriters to rising bands making fuzzed-out country rock, this year brings a new crop of artists set for a big break. Here, NPR Music’s partner stations select a new wave of artists poised for greatness in 2023. Baby Rose Atlanta based singer-songwriter Baby Rose has one of the most distinct voices in R&B right now and there’s …
Crosby, Stills & Nash co-founder David Crosby has died at 81
David Crosby, a prominent figure of the free-spirited 1970s Laurel Canyon scene who helped bring folk-rock mainstream with both The Byrds and Crosby, Stills & Nash, has died at 81. His publicist confirmed the artist’s death to NPR; no cause of death was given at the time of this report. Crosby had long dealt with serious health problems, including multiple …
Now Playing | Stella Kola, “Rosa”
Stella Kola by Stella Kola The eponymous debut from Stella Kola is a curveball from an already-unpredictable roster of underground U.S. musicians who are as provincial — in this case, the weird grottos and orchards of Massachusetts — as they are inscrutable. Led by Robert Thomas (Sunburned Hand of the Man) and Beverly Ketch (Bunwinkies) the album opens with “Rosa,” …
The Smile | Tiny Desk Concert
Surely my musical highlight for 2022 was this Tiny Desk concert from The Smile. Just how Radiohead‘s Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, and Sons of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner were going to perform songs from their sonically adventurous album A Light for Attracting Attention was a puzzle not only to me but to the band. They arrived early, along with saxophonist …
Watch Jax Multi-Instrumentalist & Songwriter Animal Clinic Perform at Blue Jay Listening Room
While synthesizers have been commercially available for more than a half-century, a puritanical divide long existed between analog- and electronic-approaches to music. However, owing much to decades of experimentation by artists in a range of genres — from mainstream pop to hip-hop to rock and folk — as well as the genre-agnosticism of modern listeners, the bridge between man and …
Terry Hall, singer with ska icons The Specials, dies at 63
LONDON — Musician Terry Hall, who helped create one of the defining sounds of post-punk Britain as lead singer of The Specials, has died. He was 63. The band announced late Monday that Hall had died after a brief illness. It called him “our beautiful friend, brother and one of the most brilliant singers, songwriters and lyricists this country has …
The Best Roots Music of 2022
In 2022, artists working within the orbit of the unstable category “roots music” got personal even as they explored complex cultural lineages and continued to challenge the rules of established scenes and forms. Before any tradition is solidified, it travels from hand to hand, heart to heart. Whether pushing the boundaries of mainstream country, demanding an expanded vision of traditional …
The 20 Best Hip-Hop Albums of 2022
A pall has been hanging over hip-hop this year: the ongoing criminalization of being a rapper looms large. The genre has faced over-policing and sensationalism before, dating back to the NYPD’s rap intelligence unit in 1999, but the scope of the crusade has expanded: lyrics continue to be treated like transcripts by the law, rappers are painted as crime lords …
The 10 Best Classical Albums of 2022
As many Americans step out and reconnect to a version of what their musical lives were before the pandemic, I remain, stubbornly, at home. No, I don’t have “cave syndrome,” but I’ve not had COVID and I want to keep it that way. My last concert was March 8, 2020, when I gleefully let the sounds of Third Coast Percussion …
The 10 Best Rock Albums of 2022
We still believe in rock and roll — as a force for good, laughter, debauchery, introspection or whatever revs your energy on a Saturday night. In 2022, the top 10 rock albums took a pilgrimage to Memphis, communed with theologians and poets, found the interconnectedness of all beings and danced through pain and pleasure. Below, find a ranked list of …
The 20 Best R&B Albums of 2022
In Washington, D.C., locals convene at Songbyrd Music House to discuss the merits of Tevin Campbell and Raphael Saadiq during R&B club, a monthly gathering for some of the genre’s devotees, taking deep dives into its rich history. The event was created by a few enthusiastic music people to wrangle and rally the supporters for a thing often wrongly presumed …
beabadoobee | Tiny Desk Concert
Beatrice Laus, who performs as beabadoobee, possesses the sort of soft, lilting voice that often runs the risk of getting lost in her signature sound — a mix of grungy, ’90s rock and noisy dream pop. Mix Laus the wrong way in a live setting and you miss out on vocals that lend whatever song they’re paired with an undeniable …
SAULT’s 5-Album Drop Deepens its Long-Standing Communal Values
Across 12 releases over three years, the London ensemble SAULT has posed a number of increasingly existential questions: “Why do fools always have something to say?” (7, 2019), “Can you forgive your people?” (Untitled (Black Is), 2020), “Can’t you see the light’s in your hands?” (Nine, 2021), “How do you fight for love?” (11, 2022). On Nov. 1, the group …
The Personal Apocalypse of Weyes Blood’s ‘And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow’
We use the word “apocalypse” to mean catastrophe, though the Greek word it’s derived from signifies a revelation. Natalie Mering opens her fifth album, And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow, with a small one of her own. She’s at a party, surrounded by people, and yet she feels unseen — no, it’s more complicated than that. Maybe these partygoers see …
After Her Voice Made Her an Icon, Björk Became Something Rarer: an Ecosystem
In a 1997 documentary about Björk, U2 frontman Bono spoke of the Icelandic pop star’s voice as a weapon. “The girl has a voice like an ice pick. Such a pure sound,” he gushed. “When The Sugarcubes played with U2, I would be preparing in the dressing room, and even if I couldn’t hear the band … I could always …