Yves Tumor’s disruptive pop-cultural synthesis

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The latest Yves Tumor album begins with a scream and ends with a call to lock eyes. A project with the koan-like title Praise A Lord Who Chews But Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds) might seem like it’s obscuring or even deliberately thumbing its nose at meaning, but the carnal bookending of a scream and a …

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The Beths | Tiny Desk Concert

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If you squint hard enough at the paper in front of Elizabeth Stokes, you’ll find an encouraging note she wrote to herself: Breathe. Relax. Smile. (followed by a hand-drawn smiley face, of course). We get it: The Tiny Desk is filmed in broad daylight, at eye level, in front of NPR employees and, eventually, is released to “the inside of …

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Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s Ruban Nielson on the family-inspired new album ‘V’

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Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s sound is something of a mystery. While it’s bathed in a lo-fi aesthetic, it has managed to evolve and grow through genres such a psychedelic, punk and even disco through the band’s decade-plus making music. UMO is back now with its latest album, V, bathing this time in the pools of Palm Springs and oceans of Hawaii …

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Join us at SXSW as Thee Sacred Souls, DEBBY FRIDAY, Hermanos Gutiérrez Perform on Public Radio Stage

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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 …

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Charley Crockett | Tiny Desk Concert

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Charley Crockett knew what he was doing when he stood behind the Tiny Desk and introduced himself by smoothly dropping three names: Charley Pride, Davy Crockett and Freddy Fender. With those references, the Texas troubadour framed his concert as a shrewd conversation with sturdy, old ways of singing, spinning yarns of folk heroism and drawing freely from the cultural melting …

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Lee Fields | Tiny Desk Concert

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This year’s Black History Month celebration at the Tiny Desk features a carefully crafted lineup spanning many genres, generations and walks of life. Each artist represents the best in their class and will be performing at the Tiny Desk for the first time. You can’t see it on the screen, but there’s a piece of paper taped to the Desk …

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Tom Verlaine, guitarist and singer of influential rock band Television, dies at 73

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Tom Verlaine, a founding father of American punk and a fixture of the 1970s New York rock scene, died Saturday in Manhattan as the result of a brief illness. He was 73. His death was confirmed to NPR in a press release from Jesse Paris Smith, the daughter of Verlaine collaborator Patti Smith, who also once dated the artist. “I …

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Jake Blount | Tiny Desk Concert

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Jake Blount has an astonishing imagination. While a concert of folk tunes could simply be a singer and perhaps a fiddle or banjo, the young proponent of traditional music brought eight bandmates and told the NPR crowd that they were here to play “Black folk music from the future.” Most of the songs are from Jake Blount’s late-2022 release, The …

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Fleetwood Mac singer-songwriter Christine McVie dies at 79

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Updated November 30, 2022 at 3:58 PM ET NEW YORK — Christine McVie, the British-born Fleetwood Mac vocalist, songwriter and keyboard player whose cool, soulful contralto helped define such classics as “You Make Loving Fun,” “Everywhere” and “Don’t Stop,” died Wednesday at age 79. Her death was announced on the band’s social media accounts. No cause of death or other …

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How The 1975’s Matty Healy Became the Bad Boy you Love to Roll your Eyes at

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This piece contains language that some readers may find offensive. When Matty Healy told an interviewer recently that he’s obsessed with the duality of having a dick, was he joking? It’s hard to tell. A little context: In that conversation, as throughout The 1975’s new album, the singer was commenting on the curses and blessings of his gendered existence. The …

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