What Now, the second solo album from Brittany Howard, is out Feb. 2, 2024. Bobbi Rich/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Editors' Picks A selection of stories handpicked by NPR Music editors.
Editors' Picks
On this week's Alt.Latino, an exploration of the rise of regional Mexican music. Jackie Lay/NPR hide caption
Regional Goes Global, Part 1: Finding Peso Pluma's music revolution in Nashville
The result of the improvised sessions that led to New Blue Sun is subtle but daring. Mainly because it flies in the face of everything we've come to expect, and selfishly demand, as André 3000 fans. Kai Regan/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
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The new album of music by Estonian composer Arvo Pärt is a warm blanket of comfort in troubled times. Luciano Rossetti/ECM Records hide caption
A disciplined plea for peace – and quiet – from composer Arvo Pärt
Having mounted outsized tours for decades, U2 is particularly suited to the technological wizardry of the Sphere in Las Vegas. But is the Sphere suited for more? John Katsilometes/Las Vegas Review-Journal hide caption
Composer Angélica Negrón, whose works are increasingly heard in concert halls across America, looks to her native Puerto Rico for inspiration. Catalina Kulczar/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
After more than 20 years of hosting All Songs Considered — and bringing hundreds of artists to the Tiny Desk - Bob Boilen is retiring. Meg Vogel/NPR hide caption
On Doja Cat's fourth album, Scarlet, she delights in playing the "demon" her haters and fans accuse her of being. Illustration by Jackie Lay hide caption
On 'Scarlet,' Doja Cat finds power harnessing the darkness of online vitriol
Olivia Rodrigo's second album, the follow-up to her 2021 breakthrough Sour, is called Guts. Photo by Nick Walker/Courtesy of the artist/Illustration by Jackie Lay/NPR hide caption
The members of Talking Heads — Jerry Harrison, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth and David Byrne — today and as they appeared in 1983 with their live band, for the concerts that would become the film Stop Making Sense. Sire Records/Michael Ochs Archives/Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images/Illustration by Jackie Lay hide caption
Be Your Own Pet has reunited and recorded Mommy, out Aug. 25, a nervy new album that's funkier, keener and more muscular than any of BYOP's previous work. Kirsten Barnett hide caption
On Aug. 12, 2011, Sonic Youth played the Williamsburg Waterfront in Brooklyn; it would be the band's final concert in the United States. Chris Gersbeck for NPR hide caption
The sunset of Sonic Youth: An oral history of the band's final U.S. show
American composer Joan Tower, about to turn 85, is still busy fielding commissions and writing music. Lauren Lancaster hide caption
JD Samson, Kathleen Hanna and Johanna Fateman recently reformed as Le Tigre for a European and North American tour. Monica Simoes/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Going back to her earliest days as a performer, Sinéad O'Connor has always rode an uneasy tension between suffering and liberation. Paul Bergen/Redferns/Getty Images hide caption
Tyler Childers will release a new album, Rustin' in the Rain, on Sept. 8. The video for the record's first single, "In Your Love," depicts a love story between two miners. Childers' friend and collaborator, the writer Silas House, says that he wanted to show that stories like this "are part of the story of Appalachia, too. These are human stories, not political stories." Sam Waxman/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
The Philip Glass Ensemble performing Music in Twelve Parts at the Idea Warehouse in 1975, with vocalist Joan La Barbara (far left). The Museum of Modern Art/SCALA/Art Resource, N.Y. hide caption
A section of Sedgwick Avenue in the Bronx, N.Y. was renamed Hip Hop Boulevard in 2016, in recognition of the apartment building where the music is said to have been born. José A. Alvarado Jr. for NPR hide caption
50 years ago, teenagers partied in the Bronx — and gave rise to hip-hop
Rapping in a deceptively versatile mutter-croak, Veeze ekes out dense, snake-like verses that are as captionable and clever as they are transparent about his vices. Jimmy Whisperz hide caption