Content tagged music on http://www.wnyc.org/

Music to Love By (or at least Bang Your Head To)

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:34:35 -0500

Singer-songwriter John DeLore—you may know him better as The Reverend—finds out what New Yorkers put on when they want to get their honeys in the mood. The answers may alarm you.

Merrill Garbus Becomes tUnE-yArDs

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:43:37 -0500

Merrill Garbus is the performer and multi-instrumentalist behind tUnE-yArDs — a music project that blends African-inspired rhythms and vocals with electric bass and saxophone. But she only discovered music after a failed career as a puppeteer. She tells Kurt Andersen she found musical inspiration as a student living in Africa; her mother’s ukelele, purchased at an Army-Navy store, helped her to take the plunge.

Watch tUnE-yArDs perform songs from the album w h o k i l l below.

(Originally aired: June 3, 2011)

Video: tUnE-yArDs performs "Gangsta"

Video: tUnE-yArDs performs "You Yes You"

Video: tUnE-yArDs performs "Bizness"

Shlohmo: The Well-Rounded Beatmaker

Will Butler — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 07:00:00 -0500

In a workshop of beatmakers, Shlohmo is the multi-tool. Working in the rapidly evolving field of electronic music, Henry Laufer has proven himself increasingly versatile and handy with not only synthetic elements, but also real instruments. Sometimes a San Francisco art-school student but more lately an L.A. beat-scene savant, Laufer makes music that's soft-spoken and aloof, but he nonetheless carves out a comfortable niche amid his more established peers.

In "Rained the Whole Time," Laufer knits together a 360-degree scene in the mind's eye: a moody mid-range atmosphere, bounded by vivid horizons, with a central beat at the tune's focal point. The percussive centerpiece splits and pivots like a Rubik's cube in the hands of a master puzzler. A rich sub-bass lurks deep in the mix, dredged up only with the help of a good subwoofer. Finally, there's the low, breathy humming — a unmistakably human sound, sampled and re-sampled — resting at stereo dead-center as if it were emitting from the listener's own vocal cords.

"Rained the Whole Time" comes from the seductive new Vacation EP, which continues Shlohmo's trend toward sounds akin to James Blake rather than his own L.A. contemporaries. The other two tracks provide escapes in and of themselves, each glinting with R&B flavor and brooding allure.

Sharon Van Etten In Concert From World Cafe

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 06:40:00 -0500

On her 2009 breakthrough Because I Was in Love, Sharon Van Etten is the embodiment of exposed nerves; the very essence of wounded vulnerability. The albums which follow, 2010's epic and the new Tramp, stretch muscles and viscera over those raw nerves. Even when she's conveying disappointment, hurt or longing, Van Etten sounds more assertive and complex these days, aided by the ever-knottier contributions of guest players from The National, Wye Oak, Beirut and The Walkmen.

Evolving convincingly before the eyes of the world, she's now both a fearless balladeer and a blood-and-guts rocker, not to mention an increasingly vital and promising live performer. Listen to one of rock's rising stars perform live at WXPN's World Cafe Live in Philadelphia.

What The Grammys Say About Pop Music Now

NPR Staff — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 04:00:00 -0500

On Sunday night, the 54th annual Grammy Awards will be given out. Who is nominated for the Big 4 awards — Song, Record and Album of the Year, as well as Best New Artist — tells us what counts as mainstream pop now. Ann Powers spoke to Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep about the awards and her high hopes for one of the Song of the Year nominees: "Rolling in the Deep" by Adele and her co-writer Paul Epworth.

"Adele is the queen of the night," says Powers. "Not only is she likely to win many awards, but she's making her vocal comeback after throat surgery sidelined her for quite a while. So it's a very big night for the young British singer."

"Rolling In The Deep" is up for both Song of the Year and Record of the Year — which many people are confused by. Why is that not redundant?

"Song of the Year rewards songwriters," says Powers, "the people who actually pen the melody and the lyrics. Record of the Year rewards all the people that take that basic text and make it into something that you hear pouring out of whatever you listen to."

It's the difference between, in theory, sheet music and the performance. But Powers say the separation of the two awards is almost quaint now. "Frankly, even a song like 'Rolling In The Deep' which is a great song as it is — it's the production, it's the arrangement, it's the engineering that makes that totally indelible. Those things, I think, should be counted as elements of songwriting."

The other category that most people are frequently befuddled by is Best New Artist. The musicians nominated for it often don't seem all that new.

"This is the other condundrum of the Grammys," says Powers. "How can a best new artist like, say, Bon Iver, who's nominated this year, be on, not their first recording, but be kind of well into their career. The reason is the technical definition is that it's an artist who came to prominence this year, which is one of those beautiful fudges that allows for all sorts of people to enter this category."

Which means, technically, one could be 67 and just now hit the big time.

"I think it would be hard to have a best new artist who had 10 records out," Powers says, "but if you're on your second or even your third you can still get into the category."

This year the mix of those who did make it in is pretty varied. The rapper Nicki Minaj, country group The Band Perry, Bon Iver, the indie band led by Justin Vernon, the electronic DJ artist Skrillex and finally J. Cole, another young rapper.

Powers says that pop has generally been understood as what the mainstream listens to. But the range of styles nominated this year dissolves that notion what we're all listening to all sounds the same.

"A country band like The Band Perry might not necessarily share a core fan base with Skrillex, but I bet that a lot of people who are 20 years old have both on their iPods," she says. "And that's the thing — this range of new artists, to me, really speaks to pop right now in 2012."

Join Our Live Chat of the Grammy Awards

Abbie Fentress Swanson — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500

On Sunday, WNYC will host a live chat during the CBS telecast of the Grammy Awards.

Join the conversation from 8 to 11 P.M. to get an awards play-by-play and nuggets of obscure Grammys trivia from Soundcheck host John Schaefer, Time Out New York Music Writer Sophie Harris and an assortment of other New York Public Radio culture vultures.

The chat will begin on Sunday at 8 P.M. While you're gearing up for the big night, take our Grammy Awards survey. We want to hear from you who should win this year's awards, which performance you're most looking forward to — The Beach Boys re-united, Adele after vocal chords surgery or Chris Brown — and if removing 31 Grammy awards categories was a good or bad call.

Vote | Take Our Grammy Awards Survey

Abbie Fentress Swanson — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500

The Grammy Awards ceremony will be telecast this Sunday on CBS from 8 to 11 P.M. Ahead of the awards, WNYC wants to hear from you about what to watch out for.

Take our survey about who should win this year's awards, which performance you're most looking forward to — The Beach Boys re-united, Adele after vocal chords surgery or Chris Brown — and if removing 31 Grammy awards categories was a good or bad call.

Also, when you're watching the awards on Sunday, join our Grammys live chat, featuring Soundcheck host John Schaefer and Time Out New York Music Writer Sophie Harris.

Gig Alert: Tea Leaf Green

Monika Fabian — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Tea Leaf Green
"Honey Bee"
Playing on Friday at Bowery Ballroom (6 Delancey St., L.E.S.)
Get: Tickets ($22) | Directions

After more than a decade of playing together, Tea Leaf Green has its jam band cred firmly established.

The San Francisco quintet ventured into pop-friendlier terrain on its newest album, Radio Tragedy! Latin-inspired guitars lines can be heard on “All Washed Up” (see a live performance of the song in the video below), and the falsetto-sung choruses on “Easy To Be Your Lover” veer into Bee Gees turf.

Above, download the country-tinged tune "Honey Bee" from Tea Leaf Green's seventh studio release. The group plays at the Bowery Ballroom on Friday night and at the Brooklyn Bowl on Saturday night.

Darrell Scott: In Studio

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 17:57:55 -0500

Country singer and songwriter Darrell Scott has penned Top 40 hits for Travis Tritt and the Dixie Chicks, was tapped by Robert Plant for his “Band of Joy,” and wrote the modern Appalachian classic "You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive” – which has turned up not once, but twice, on the FX show “Justified.” He’s also just released a brand new album of new material called “Long Ride Home” – he joins us to play live.

Darrell Scott performs at Joe’s Pub on Thursday, Feb. 9th. More information here.

Sharon Van Etten: Hypnotically Complicated

Will Hermes — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:00:00 -0500

Like most pop singers, Sharon Van Etten seems to love repetition — a technique used aggressively in ad jingles and Top 40 hits, but also in more hypnotic and emotionally complicated ways. Van Etten's new record, Tramp, is full of repeated riffs, drones and phonemes, and they're more intense and emotionally packed than ever. Songs like "Serpents" display her expansive voice and coiled songwriting, and are earning Van Etten a good deal of attention.

Van Etten's first record, Because I Was In Love, was an album-length swoon of sad folk songs with just a whiff of rock 'n' roll musk. Tramp stinks of it more, in the most potent way — even when it's hushed, which is quite often. The record still centers and soars on that remarkable voice, which begins with the haunting timbre and phrasing of Karen Dalton and Joni Mitchell, and ends with the bruised muscularity of Van Etten's New Jersey rock forbears, Patti Smith and Debbie Harry.

Van Etten titled her record Tramp because, as a low-budget touring musician, she was essentially homeless, living on the road — though clearly she's playing with the word's other connotations, too. She now lives in Brooklyn, where she made the album with an all-star gang of kindred young rock musicians, so it seems she has found a home after all. But the album's dark beauty resides in its unresolved restlessness, its infinite-loop longing — which may be why, every time it ends, I want to play it again.

Winter Songs: Paul Simon, The Bard Of Bad Weather

NPR Staff — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:00:00 -0500

Among the hundreds of songs that remind NPR listeners of winter, one songwriter's name keeps coming up: Paul Simon, who's practically the bard of bad weather. From "Kodachrome" to "Slip Slidin' Away," almost a dozen of the New York musician's tunes were named when we asked for songs that evoke the winter season. Here are just a few of your stories.

Craig Finn: Tiny Desk Concert

Stephen Thompson — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 14:23:00 -0500

For all the fetishization of Craig Finn's words — which he's spit out in knotty bundles on many albums by rock bands The Hold Steady and Lifter Puller — he's usually careful to dress them up in brash, populist sounds. His desperate, damaged characters may live their lives on the brink, keeping one eye trained on the redemption brought about by some combination of God and rock 'n' roll, but Finn rarely leaves their stories unadorned. His words are usually propped up by the bruising guitars of Tad Kubler and positively Springsteenian bar-band arrangements; listeners can revel in his world-weary wordplay, pump their fists in time with the music or, for maximum effect, combine the two.

But on his new solo album, Clear Heart Full Eyes, Finn kicks himself free from the crutches of rock. It's a sad sort of breakup record, barren and broken and informed by the wisdom of age, but his instantly recognizable speak-singing ramble remains. Finn's starker side is, of course, nicely conducive to stripped-down arrangements behind Bob Boilen's desk at the NPR Music offices: All these mournful, inward-facing songs (including the unreleased "Jeremiah's Blues") really require is Finn, his acoustic guitar and the indispensable pedal steel of Ricky Ray Jackson. There'll be plenty of time for Finn to blow speakers when he's back with The Hold Steady — all in due time.

Set List:

"Apollo Bay"
"Western Pier"
"Jeremiah's Blues"

Credits:

Producer: Bob Boilen; Editor and Videographer: Michael Katzif; Audio Engineer: Kevin Wait; photo by Doriane Raiman/NPR

Nils Lofgren On World Cafe

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 14:00:00 -0500

Nils Lofgren has built a stellar reputation as a masterful guitarist in both solo and collaborative endeavors, and his extensive discography showcases a unique brand of high-energy blues-rock. Since the 1970s, Lofgren has released more than 40 solo albums, as well as plenty of collaborations with Neil Young, Lou Reed, Bruce Springsteen and his early band Grin.

The passage of time and two recent hip replacements — partly the product of his on-stage gymnastics — haven't slowed Lofgren down. His latest album came out this past December, and Old School is just as gritty and rocking as any classic Lofgren album, with an added element of nostalgia. With song titles such as "60 is the New 18" and "Ain't Too Many of Us Left," it demonstrates the way America's iconic rockers are still more than capable of anthemic, blisteringly quick guitar solos.

Music Magazine Spins Reviews To Twitter

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 13:00:00 -0500

SPIN Magazine is hoping to review 1,500 albums and mixtapes exclusively in 140-character tweets on the @SPINReviews Twitter feed in 2012. The music magazine recently abandoned their 80-word reviews for the new Twitter format.

Spin's Senior Editor, Christopher Weingarten argues that music criticism is evolving into a down loader's handbook and that the Twitter reviews will help readers discover new bands. Critics, however, think is killing the art of the music review.

How Do You Get To 'Sesame Street'? Practice, Practice, Practice

Anastasia Tsioulcas — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:31:00 -0500

Appearing on Sesame Street is a rite of passage for many celebrities. Speaking as a parent of a young child myself — and as someone who was part of the first generation to grow up on Big Bird, the Count, Oscar the Grouch and the rest of the pre-Elmo gang — I still enjoy seeing who shows up, from the band OK Go outfitted in totally and charmingly awkward primary colors to Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor attempting, only semi-successfully, to enjoy a quiet cafecito with Maria near Mr. Hooper's store.

This past week, the red-hot conductor Gustavo Dudamel joined Elmo to explain the word "stupendous," and it brought me right back to years of seeing classical musicians making very sweet guest turns on the show, like when Seiji Ozawa accompanied "Placido Flamingo" and Philip Glass contributed music for animation. I've pulled up a few of my favorite clips from over the years.

Justified: Soundtracking Harlan, Kentucky

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:04:14 -0500

Now in its third season, the FX crime drama “Justified” has a soundtrack shaped by its Appalachian setting. The show's music supervisor, Greg Sill, joins us to explain how he sets the tone for the Peabody award-winning series with bluegrass and Americana. Plus: musician James Dean, of the Harlan, Kentucky-based Cumberland River Band talks about growing up with bluegrass - and tells how he's carrying the tradition forward today.

Behind The Glamour, GRAMMY Controversy Brewing

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:00:00 -0500

'Gone Already' By Faith Evans Moves RuPaul

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:00:00 -0500

The Mingus Orchestra On JazzSet

Becca Pulliam — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:00:00 -0500

Get ready for ecstatic sounds, as the French horn, bass clarinet, bassoon, guitar and harp — along with reeds and brass, hand claps and vocals, bass and drums — dig the deep, dark, blues-drenched, jubilant Charles Mingus groove. From St. Bartholomew's Church on Park Avenue in Manhattan, it's all here in one concert: "Better Get It in Your Soul: The Music of Charles Mingus." The spirit of Mingus fills a sacred space.

Mingus grew up studying the cello and contra bass, but orchestras did not hire black musicians in the 1940s. Mingus fought back against this injustice all his life, during which time he became one of the greatest jazz bassists in history. He composed more than 300 pieces, and 84 boxes of his materials reside in the Charles Mingus Collection in the Library of Congress. And Mingus never forgot his childhood love of the orchestra. In liner notes to his album Let My Children Hear Music, he wrote, "Let my children have music! Let them hear live music. Not noise."

Since his death, his widow Sue Mingus has launched the groups Mingus Dynasty, the Mingus Big Band, the Mingus Orchestra and now — with Manhattan School of Music — she co-produces the annual Mingus High School Competition and Festival. It takes place President's Day weekend in New York.

MSM associate dean Justin DiCioccio is her co-producer. As early as 1972, when he had only three published charts to choose from, DiCioccio began teaching Mingus to high-school students in New York. He says improvising on a Mingus piece is like standing on a soapbox: You have to be yourself. "Play who you are" was Mingus' mantra, Sue Mingus says. It's a tall and exhilarating opportunity for teen musicians.

Coleman Hughes, Julian Lee and Zoe Obadia of the Jazz House Kids Big Band in Montclair, N.J., and director Julius Tolentino were successful in the competition in 2011, and they're back in 2012.

"We really would like to win [again]," Hughes says, "but we know there's going to be lots of great groups there. We have to do what we do. The rest is left up to the judges. It's out of our hands."

Saturday evening, Feb. 18, the Mingus Orchestra performs again — free and open to the public — at St. Bart's Church. The competition is Sunday, Feb. 19, at Manhattan School of Music. Bands are coming from Lexington, Mass., Milwaukee and Sacramento, as well as metro New York/New Jersey. You will not believe the quality and commitment of their playing.

Personnel: Frank Lacy, trombone; John Clark, French horn; Alex Sipiagin, trumpet; Scott Robinson, flute and alto sax; Wayne Escoffery, soprano and tenor sax; Douglas Yates, clarinet and bass clarinet; Michael Rabinowitz, bassoon; David Gilmore, guitar; Edmar Castaneda, harp; Boris Kozlov, bass; Donald Edwards, drums.

Credits

Our recording of the Mingus Orchestra is co-produced with Let My Children Hear Music, Inc., with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts. Surround Sound mix by Duke Markos.

Tussle over R.E.M's Trestle

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 11:34:02 -0500

A trestle in Athens, GA that appeared on the back cover of R.E.M.'s 1983 album, "Murmur," is facing an uncertain future. Cameron McWhirter recently wrote about the bridge for the Wall Street Journal - and he tells us the story.

Kris Bowers On 'Piano Jazz: Rising Stars'

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 11:33:00 -0500

Kris Bowers began his classical piano studies as a toddler in Los Angeles. In 2011, more than a few years later, he walked away with the top honor at the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition — a major career boost for the Juilliard student. From prepared piano to quiet ballads, he keeps a wide sonic palette in orbit at the Piano Jazz studios throughout this set of tunes.

Tammy McCann On 'Piano Jazz: Rising Stars'

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 11:33:00 -0500

Vocalist Tammy McCann discovered jazz while she was an opera student in her native Chicago. She decided to apply her considerable vocal range to a broad palette of musical styles, touring as a backup singer for Ray Charles and with her own successful gospel ensemble. That extensive vocal background crosses genres, too, as she tells host Jon Weber: "A little secret between just you and I: I use some of my classical melody lines for scat."

Here, Weber accompanies McCann in "Daydream," "Why Was I Born" and "Easy Living."

Julian Lage On 'Piano Jazz: Rising Stars'

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 11:33:00 -0500

As a child, Julian Lage was quickly recognized as a guitar prodigy. He recorded with David Grisman and toured with Gary Burton before he was old enough to drive. Since then, Lage has evolved into a composer with a deep understanding of the scope of American music, as evidenced by his fine 2011 album Gladwell. But Lage also continues to challenge himself as a musician by writing etudes that stretch his technique.

"I wanted to write a series of guitar pieces that basically challenged me and pushed me to refine some of these things that I hear other players do, but don't quite know how to practice them," Lage says. "Each one embodies a different skill set that I want to get better at."

Lage solos in his "Etude No. 1" and "Alone Together," and joins host Jon Weber for "Just Friends."

Taylor Eigsti On 'Piano Jazz: Rising Stars'

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 11:32:00 -0500

Twentysomething pianist, composer and educator Taylor Eigsti has been on the jazz scene for more than a decade, and has lately set his sights on bringing jazz to a new audience.

Hosted by Jon Weber, Piano Jazz: Rising Stars is a new program highlighting the jazz legends of tomorrow, and Eigsti is a perfect inaugural guest: "It's an exciting time for jazz, I think," he says, "and it gets a bad rap as not an exciting time for jazz. I'm very much an optimist."

Here, Eigsti blends the old and new with solo renditions of Coldplay's "Daylight" and his original, "Magnolia."

Grace Kelly On 'Piano Jazz: Rising Stars'

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 11:32:00 -0500

Before she turned 20, alto-saxophone phenom Grace Kelly was already a seasoned road warrior with tour dates around the world, and had recorded with some of jazz's biggest icons.

"I'm always surrounding myself with musicians who are much better than me," Kelly says. "I feel like, because of that, I have grown a lot as a musician. Getting to have mentors like Lee Konitz, Phil Woods and Wynton Marsalis — they have all taught me so many lessons, and I find that when I'm next to them on stage, it's like osmosis or something. Musically, I just hear it change my sound."

Kelly also recently added vocals to her resume. She duets with host Jon Weber in "The Way You Look Tonight" and a pair of original tunes: the bouncy "Philosophical Flying Fish" and the sultry bossa nova vocal "Gone."

You've Never Heard Jeff Buckley's 'Grace'?!

Dan Raby — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 08:47:00 -0500

Note: This is a recurring series in which we ask our unimaginably young interns to review classic albums they've never heard before. Dan Raby is the latest intern for All Songs Considered.

The first time I heard "Hallelujah" was in the summer of 2001. I was in middle school, didn't know anything about music, and was watching the animated movie Shrek. That first experience firmly shaped my associations with the song. Try as I might now it's impossible to disassociate the poetic tale from the context of Eddie Murphy's Donkey wandering around an abandoned castle looking sad.

Before you say anything, I know that the version of "Hallelujah" was done by John Cale and that the song was written by Leonard Cohen. That said, "Hallelujah" is a Jeff Buckley song first and foremost. The majority of covers – especially Wainwright's — stem from Buckley's version and not the dark, brooding Cohen original. Cohen made a personal song, his own private struggle with faith and love. Buckley's takes the concept and turns it universal. He draws out every little dramatic up and down to theatrical heights. He made the blueprint that every person with a guitar, a dream and a full string section could follow to leave people watching in tears.

This article isn't just about "Hallelujah" though, it's about Jeff Buckley's Grace and I need to be able to put my Shrek issues away and dig deep into the rest of the album. That's a difficult task because there's no great foothold into the album. Buckley remains a force that's hard for me to pin down. He quickly shifts from quiet ballads to blues to torch songs to quintessential 90s alt-rock. It left me playing catch up. I would enjoy the poppier "Last Goodbye" Buckley and then have to adjust to "Lilac Wine" chilly lounge Buckley with little transition time.

Since the musical styles were abruptly shifting, I focused on the one thing that was constant for the entire album, Buckley's voice. After only hearing "Hallelujah" I was surprised how dramatic he makes every song. He stretches emotions to their breaking point. It feels almost that Buckley was designed for theater rather than pop music. He would be perfect as a brooding Phantom of the Opera or Les Miserables' heroic Jean Valjean. There's no doubt that Jeff Buckley was a talented musician and singer, and I enjoyed almost all of the songs (the titular track was a personal favorite). As an album, however, Grace left me feeling distant — never able to personally connect with the man behind the songs.

Yesterday I discussed my misgivings about Grace with a friend who loves the album and will probably send me three angry emails thanks to this article. She argued that what made Buckley so special was his place in time. In a time when music was getting dirty and, dare I say, "grungy," his music was clean and fresh. He was emotional without being sarcastic or ironic. Looking at Grace for the first time in 2012, at a time when bands like the Arcade Fire and performers like Lady Gaga have made the theatrical an everyday occurrence, Buckley doesn't stand out for me like he would have in 1994. Maybe one day, when music tastes have shifted again and Buckley's influence on current artists isn't as prominent, I'll go back to Grace and see something entirely new.

Leala Cyr And Ricardo Vogt: Live At Berklee

Patrick Jarenwattananon — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 07:14:00 -0500

She's from a small Midwestern town. He comes from Southern Brazil. But Leala Cyr, a vocalist and trumpeter, and Ricardo Vogt, a guitarist, have been collaborating since they met at the University of Wisconsin at Green Bay. The married couple has not only been tapped to support fellow cross-cultural adventurers Milton Nascimento and Esperanza Spalding; they've also been developing their own takes on improvising traditions from their native countries.

Cyr and Vogt returned with a band to a school they attended, Berklee College of Music, for this installment of The Checkout: Live At Berklee series. In a live radio broadcast on WBGO and live online video webcast at NPR Music, Ricardo Vogt and Leala Cyr performed live at Berklee's Cafe 939 on Thursday, Feb. 9. For more information about this series and the full concert archive, visit npr.org/checkoutlive.

Set List

Parceria (Ricardo Vogt/Pedro Bernardo)
Conversas, Desenhos, Pinturas (Ricardo Vogt/Filó Machado/Marcelino Vogt)
Foto, Pão e Vinho (Ricardo Vogt/Pedro Bernardo/Milton Nascimento/Marcelino Vogt)
When I Saw You (Ricardo Vogt)
Eco (Ricardo Vogt)
Gritos de Crianças de Rua (Ricardo Vogt/Milton Nascimento)
The Usual Suss Chords (Ricardo Vogt)
Goin' Home (Leala Cyr)

Personnel

Leala Cyr, vocals/trumpet
Ricardo Vogt, guitar
Leonardo Genovese, piano
Ben Street, bass
Rafael Barata, drums

Credits

Producer and Host: Josh Jackson; Audio Engineer: David Tallacksen. Recorded Feb. 9, 2012 at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Mass.

Idrissa Diop: An Afro-Latin Anthem

Michaelangelo Matos — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 07:00:00 -0500

Idrissa Diop began his career in Dakar, where he was active between the late '60s and mid-'70s before departing to France, like many African musicians before him. During that time, he served as a crucial link to the time when Cuban records began making their way to Senegal after WWII. A dozen recordings from between 1968 and 1975 form a recent collection called Diamonoye Tiopité — issued by Teranga Beat, a new African-music reissue label.

Some of the material — in particular a couple cuts from 1975 in the album's second half — is previously unreleased, though it's likely that most Americans are still hearing Diop for the first time. But "Bamba," the title track from a 1975 album by the Diop-led SAHEL, was immensely popular: Diop says in Diamonoye Tiopité's liner notes, "I couldn't get out of my house. Everybody was singing, 'Touba Touba!' I was going out with my bodyguards."

It's not hard to hear why. That chorus of "Touba Touba Touba Touba" hits over joyous horns and a grinding, clipping rhythm that seems light while never letting up. It was a fusion — the grace of older Latin music giving some lift to the swift-punching, younger-sounding mbalax — that today sounds seamless.

A Ballet Dancer's Workout Music? Classical, Of Course

NPR Staff — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 04:00:00 -0500

Morning Edition has been asking people what music makes them move, in order to create The Ultimate NPR Workout Mix. The mix already includes a good selection of Kanye West, 2Pac and Madonna — which is just fine for some people. But we've also heard from some of you who prefer a different kind of workout soundtrack: classical music.

Jared Angle, a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet, is among that group. Just as we're used to seeing athletes wearing headphones with intense focus before a game, Angle says you'll see something similar backstage at the ballet before a show.

"That's your time to listen to whatever music you want to listen to, get into whatever mood you want to get into — or any mood you want to get out of," Angle says. "When people are warming up beside the stage, they have headphones in all the time."

Angle offered three picks for NPR's mix: Prokofiev's Symphony No. 1 transcribed for two pianos, a Handel aria called "Sorge Nell'Alma Mia," and a selection from the Philip Glass opera Akhnaten.

Of the last of those, Angle says, "The third movement in particular has some of the most energetic music that we dance to. By the end, when you're so tired, all you have to do is listen to the music — it's very percussive — and it just gets you right through, no matter how exhausted you are."

Get To Know The Song Of The Year Nominees: Mumford And Sons' 'The Cave'

Ann Powers — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 04:00:00 -0500

This Sunday the annual Grammy Award winners will be announced. One of the biggest categories is Song of the Year, which goes to a songwriter. Every day this week, we'll give you a little intel on one of the nominees. Today, Mumford and Sons' "The Cave."

If you watched the Grammys last year, you might remember Mumford and Sons playing "The Cave" during the telecast. The British band wasn't known all across America before last year's performance, but right afterward, sales of its album Sigh No More went way up, more so than those of any of the other acts that also played last year. Mumford and Sons didn't even win anything that night.

The band's Grammy performance almost certainly gave the song enough of a bump that it had a second life. The Grammys cultivate their own stars, and Mumford's trajectory exemplifies that.

A New Look at the Four Seasons, Pt. 2

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0500

Our look at the Four Seasons continues on this New Sounds, with the companion program to last night, geared towards the non-violin centered works that have used the Four Seasons as their launch pad. Again, these are works inspired by the Vivaldi work, including music from an electronic version by Wendy Carlos, a piece by Danish-born, Brooklyn-based saxophonist Rene Mogensen, plus Japanese flute improvisations, and many more.

PROGRAM #3129, The Four Seasons, New Music-Style Part 2 (First aired on 10/20/2010)

ARTIST(S)	RECORDING	CUT(S)	SOURCE
Philip Glass; London Philharmonic cond. by Marin Alsop; Robert McDuffie, violin	Glass: Violin Concerto No.2 - The American Four Seasons	Philip Glass: Violin Concerto No. 2 "The American Four Seasons": finale	Orange Mountain Music 0072 www.orangemountainmusic.com
Tosha Suiho, shinobue	4 Seasons In Kyoto	Kai-Ho, Summer [7:57]	D/83 Denon LPs Out of print.
Ethnic Heritage Ensemble	Three Gentlemen of Chicago	Moving Of Seasons [6:25]	Moers Music momu 01076 LP Out of print.
Rene Mogensen	Five Seasons	Winter Waves II [15:57]	Private CD; info available at: www.myspace.com/ReneMogensen
Wendy Carlos	Sonic Seasonings - Disc 1	Fall, excerpt [15:00]	East Side Digital 81372 Info at www.wendycarlos.com Out of print, but try Amazon.com

The Cranberries: In Studio

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 19:26:31 -0500

Irish pop band The Cranberries scored hits in the ‘90s with “Zombie” and “Linger.” As they reunite for a U.S. tour and an upcoming album called "Roses," they join us to play live in our studio.

The Dark Romance Of Cults' 'You Know What I Mean'

Dan Raby — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:29:00 -0500

Cults' Madeline Follin and Brian Oblivion have never been the kind of musicians to stay on the pure sweet side of the sixties pop they were obviously influenced by. They're much more likely to sing about the rebel motorcyclist plunging over the cliff than teeny boppers sock-hopping. The video for the band's new single, "You Know What I Mean," blends the traditional bubblegum pop style with their darker, more menacing undertones — striking a balance that will make you cringe and smile at the same time.

"You Know What I Mean" starts off sounding like pure saccharine as Follin croons over snaps and romantic piano chords. But diving into the lyrics of the song bring a darker picture into view. Follin is "afraid of the light" and wants her beau to "please come and save me." This is romance with an edge — a love song for shaky codependents with an uncertain future.

Just as Cults' music blends the sweet and the dark, the band's new video for "You Know What I Mean" has a classic sixties storyline and includes the group's skewed vision. Follin is in love with Oblivion but her father doesn't approve. It's a typical she's-from-one-world, he's-from-another trope, except for the fact that their lives revolve around a dilapidated carnival and Follin's father takes extreme measures. Even with the upsetting imagery there's a side of cute sweetness to the piece — Oblivion and Follin slow dancing is especially adorable. Like the end of so many of those love-from-different-world stories, the ones in love are able to find at least a sliver of happiness.

Director Isaiah Seret told us how the band pushed him for the video:

This was second time directing a video for Cults (the first being "Go Outside" in 2011) and I must say we really have an amazing connection and trust, which is so important when it comes to taking risks and making videos outside the standard 'safe zone'. For "You Know What I Mean" I first pitched a 'lighter' version of the concept, which the band came back asking me to make it crazier. I loved hearing that! In fact, that push is how I came up with key aspects of the storyline, specifically the burn victim elements."

Cult's self titled record is out now from Columbia Records. You can hear NPR's 2011 interview with the band here.

Lost In The Trees, 'Red'

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:28:00 -0500

I can remember exactly where I was the first time I heard Lost in the Trees. I was in my hometown of Raleigh, N.C., driving in my car, listening to the local college station. The host mentioned that local musician Ari Picker and his band would be performing a few songs. From the band's name I expected simple folk and was stunned to hear what felt like an entire orchestra pour out of my tiny minivan speaker.

Ari Picker has a knack for creating expansive songs that still remain privately his own. "Red," from the band's new album A Church That Fit Our Needs is dramatic and dark without veering into exaggeration or pure macabre.

Layers of sound bend around each other, bobbing and diving under the mix. Even with all the dense orchestration swirling around him, Picker's powerful, personal lyrics are front and center. The song's point of view flips from him ("I heard you weeping through the walls") to his mother ("Your love carried me through today") in a way that makes the song both a celebration and a sad remembrance of his mother's life.

For the video of "Red" the band has created a piece that could accurately be described as David-Lynchian — by which I mean the images within are unsettling and I have a hard time understanding most of it outside of Ari Picker's personal context. As small vignettes the images within are beautiful (especially the bathtub full of dead leaves), but slightly askew in a way that leaves you scratching your head. At times the video threatens to run off the rails and become purely theatrical, but that danger is quickly tempered by quiet moments such as Picker simply standing alone.

Ari Picker told NPR that the video was an immensely personal experience for him:

"When my mom passed, I gathered up all of her art supplies (sewing machines, paint brushes, fabrics) and put them into my writing space. She had also left behind a lot of tapes of her interviewing other artists about their work, a unfinished documentary of sorts. I used the four-track machine to harvest some of my moms conversations with the artist Clyde Jones (a local wood sculptor), and used them as samples on the record. When I was little, we lived in a large unkempt farm house, and my mother turned one of the bigger rooms into her art gallery. Around Christmastime she would put on a show and sell her work. She would take leaves from our magnolia tree and spray paint them gold as decorations for around the house. She would also cut flowers from our night blooming cereus and float the pedals around in the bath tub and take pictures of them. All these little acts of taking normal things and making them beautiful - that is what really influences me. The golden leaves, the swirling paint brushes, they are all intended to conceptualize an intangible place, the place where art is created, as well as a space for passing souls."

A Church That Fits Our Needs from Lost In The Trees comes out March 20 on Anti- Records. If you can't stand the wait you can see the band's Tiny Desk Concert from the NPR Music offices, and hear a live concert from Washington, D.C.

Mati Zundel's Kaleidoscopic Butcher Shop

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:27:00 -0500

Mati Zundel's an Argentine producer/songwriter, but that doesn't tell the whole story. He's making electronic music the likes of which you won't find in the UK or the US. In Zundel's electronic music and in this song "Señor Montecostes" you can hear the sounds of South America but also the sounds of Africa in the cumbia dance rhythms, the sounds of Detroit and some dubstep. Mati Zundel just signed to Waxploitation, a label known for Gnarls Barkely and Danger Mouse and so this may be your introduction to an artist you'll hear a lot from in 2012.

Zundel told us through email what he imaged the song's story to be:

A river boatman, Señor Montecostes, listens to the river. What he hears is the noise and mess of the out of the world — an out-of-control party that makes up the world that surrounds him.

His description "An out-of-control party" is the best way to sum up "Señor Montecostes." It feels as if Zundel somehow trapped a never-ending block party in his computer. The sounds of steel drums and maracas mix with electronic noise and fuzz to create an energetic, and slightly shambolic dance jam.

Matching the song's high energy, this video for "Señor Montecostes" may make your eyes pop out of your head. The dark subject matter (rainbow-colored goats being killed by a bloody butcher) is combined with frenetically-changing colorful geometric shapes. The directors, Luis Suarez and Moises Arancibia, keep everything constantly in motion. There's no time to think about the dark message underneath the bright flashing reds, yellows and greens. Here's how Luis Suarez described:

"Inspired by Latin American textile patterns, the video follows a goat's psychedelic mental trip through its life cycle, starting out in its the natural environment and ending in the hands of a butcher. It is a four minute trip of music and images through Latin American roots."

Mati Zundel's new record, Amazonico Gravitante, is due out on March 27th through Waxploitation/ZZK Records.

The Magnetic Fields' 'Andrew In Drag'

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:26:00 -0500

If there's been one song that's been the earworm of the All Songs Considered office, it'd have to be The Magnetic Fields' new single "Andrew in Drag." Ever since we first played the song on the show we've been humming bars, singing stanzas and practicing their Stephin Merritt impression. It's no mystery why the song has such sticking power — Merritt's songwriting ability makes crafting extremely catchy songs seem easy.

Be advised, this video contains nudity.

"[The song's] about a straight guy who falls madly in love with the drag persona of his straight friend Andrew," Merritt wrote in an email. It's a concept that could seem hackneyed in another musician's hands, but Merritt's clever writing draws out the absurdity and wit of the situation. In his trademark deadpan he constantly finds every single word ending with "ag" that he could possibly use. The instrumentals could perfectly fit in the band's classic 69 Love Songs album with a bouncing bass line and glossy synths. In a mere two minutes the song packs in a gigantic amount of charm and style.

Director Scott Valins created what feels like an infomercial on a channel you can't comprehend. Faceless models slip on and off clothes in front of a clean, white background. Magnetic Fields members Merrit and Claudia Gonson rotate expressionlessly. The two stars of the video, Darrell Thorne and the fantastically-named Stormy Leather, are seen in various points of drag transformation. Their physical image is quickly shifting, make-up is applied and smeared, mustaches are glued on, a lot of tape is used. As the models finally wipe away their hard work a blank nametag is flashed on the screen, reminding us that identity is complex and beyond conventional labeling.

Valins described for us the process behind creating the video's concept:

Stephin came to Valins&Co with this extraordinary song and together we explored the concept of playing with the ambiguities of gender and attraction. We took the opportunity to create a vibrant collage, exploring the intimate process of transforming ones gender. The backbone of the piece is a series of intimate portraits that lead the viewer to their own complex conclusions of what they are attracted to.

Love at the Bottom of the Sea will be out on March 6th from Merge Records.

Watch St. Vincent As A Giant Crumbling Sculpture In 'Cheerleader'

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:25:00 -0500

A new video for St. Vincent's song "Cheerleader," from last year's Strange Mercy, tackles the theme of the song, objectification. In the video, directed by Hiro Murai, the band's Annie Clark is a giant sculpture on exhibit and wanting to escape that role of being looked as an object. What ensues is simply beautiful and poignant.

The piece feels like a reference to Australian sculptor Ron Mueck's work — especially Mask II or In Bed. Mueck's pieces use hyper-realistic style and extreme scale (some gigantic, some miniscule) to play with the viewer's expectations of the human body. They seem so lifelike you feel they could get up and walk around the gallery.

You can listen to a concert from St. Vincent and hear music from Strange Mercy and more recorded in November at the 9:30 Club in Washington DC.

Guest DJ: Gael García Bernal's Music Diaries

Jasmine Garsd — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:05:00 -0500

English / Spanish

Several years ago, when I decided to become a journalist, I hung this saying above my office computer: "Unless you are absolutely sure that there is life after death, this is the only chance you get to prove your humanity."

Actor and director Gael García Bernal's work certainly embodies that quote. He exploded onto the Latin American film scene in 2000 with the now classic Amores Perros, and a year later achieved international recognition with Y Tu Mamá También. Since then, the films he's worked on have shown a commitment to artistry, and tend to be thoughtful, profound commentaries on the state of Latin America and Latinos today. His vision is apparent in his acting (in award-winning movies like The Motorcycle Diaries, about the life of Ernesto "Che" Guevara) and in the works he produces (Sin Nombre is a personal favorite, and I'm looking forward to the upcoming Who Is Dayani Crystal? with bated breath).

The other thing that unifies all of Bernal's work is amazing soundtracks — which is why we invited him to join us on this week's Alt.Latino. He works with renowned artists like Gustavo Santaolalla, Molotov, Julieta Venegas and Café Tacvba, while at the same time providing a platform for yet undiscovered artists who deserve a chance. In the words of Alt.Latino host Felix Contreras, Bernal's films call to mind those of Mexican cinema's "Epoca De Oro" (Golden Age), and have redefined Latin American cinema to be synonymous with excellent soundtracks.

Bernal joined us this week to share some of his favorite new bands, discuss how he is involved in the musical selections for his films and answer the million dollar question: How did he prepare to sing his ranchera-themed cover of Cheap Trick's "I Want You to Want Me" for the movie Rudo Y Cursi?

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English / Spanish

Esta Semana En Alt.Latino: Invitado Especial Gael García Bernal

Hace varios años, cuando decidí que lo mio era el periodismo, colgué el siguiente refrán en mi oficina: "A menos que estés absolutamente seguro que existe la vida después de la muerte, ésta es la única oportunidad que tienes para demostrar tu humanidad."

El trabajo de Gael García Bernal parece abrazar este concepto. Se hizo conocer en el cine latinoamericano con Amores Perros, un verdadero clásico desde su estreno en el 2000. Un año después, recibió reconocimiento internacional por su actuación en Y Tu Mamá También. Desde entonces, sus películas han demostrado un gran compromiso artístico y profundos comentarios acerca de la realidad de América Latina y de los latinos en Estados Unidos. Esta visión se ve claramente en su actuación en Diarios De Motocicleta, una biografía sobre la vida de Ernesto "Che" Guevara, pero también en los proyectos que ha decidido producir, tales como Sin Nombre y Los Invisibles

Todas las películas de Bernal tienen bandas sonoras espectaculares. Trabaja con artistas de renombre como Gustavo Santaolalla, Molotov, Julieta Venegas y Café Tacvba, pero a la vez colabora con músicos que no son conocidos, pero merecen ser descubiertos

Gael nos habla está semana desde su casa en Buenos Aires, contándonos sobre sus nuevos artistas favoritos, como elige la música para sus películas y la pregunta del millón: ¿A quién se le ocurrió la canción "Quiero Que Me Quieras" de Rudo Y Cursi?

In Russia, Punk-Rock Riot Girls Rage Against Putin

Corey Flintoff — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:00:00 -0500

Anti-government protests in Russia are taking many different forms, from mass rallies and marches to defiant street art and music.

Just recently, members of a feminist punk group were arrested in Moscow's Red Square after they performed a song ridiculing Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. The group, which calls itself Pussy Riot, says it's planning more stunts before March's presidential elections.

The band's latest performance took place on an icy winter's day in mid-January, when even the police who guard Red Square were hunched over from the cold. Eight young women doffed their coats, jumped over an iron fence and climbed atop a snowy stone platform.

They were dressed in summery short dresses and tights, but brightly colored balaclavas masked their faces. Dancing frantically to keep warm, they launched into a song that could be delicately titled "Putin Got Scared," though the lyrics in Russian were ruder than that.

Other members of the collective shot video of the Red Square performance, which promptly went viral on the Internet.

Eventually, they were detained, held for a few hours at a police station, and given small fines for holding an illegal protest. Band members say the "illegal" part is the whole point.

One band member — who goes by the name "Schumacher," an homage to the German car-racing champion — says many people in Russia are ready for more radical action than the leaders of the main opposition movement believe.

The members of the collective have known each another for years, she says, but they came together as a band in August to protest what they say are government policies against women.

Schumacher says feminist groups had campaigned all summer against government legislation that placed restrictions on legal abortions. They were further outraged by the announcement that Putin and current President Dmitry Medvedev planned to change places after the next election.

In December, the band performed a song called "Death To Prison, Freedom To Protest" on the roof of a garage next to a prison where other protesters were being held.

The collective is made up of about 10 performers, and about 15 people who handle the technical work of shooting and editing their videos. Members say all their decisions are collective and anonymous — Schumacher and her friend Kot won't give their real names, and they insist on wearing their balaclavas during the interview.

They didn't start as performers, says Kot, whose nickname means "Tomcat." She says they were politically engaged women who figured punk protest music would energize people through their emotions.

As to the group's name, Kot says band members are well of aware of its vulgar connotations in English. But "pussy" can also be taken as a term of endearment for girls in Russia.

Kot says the group members liked the tension between that word, and the rudeness and aggression of the word "riot." She says they plan to stage more protest exploits in the weeks leading up to the March 4 elections that Putin is expected to win.

On 'Karimba,' Peruvian Band Melds World Sounds

Banning Eyre — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 15:00:00 -0500

Gil Scott-Heron's "Last Holiday"

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:05:04 -0500

This weekend, the Grammys will bestow a posthumous lifetime achievement award on Gil Scott-Heron, the singer, writer and poet best known for the song “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.” Today, Los Angeles Times contributor Lynell George explains how Scott-Heron’s recently published memoir, “The Last Holiday,” sheds new light on his personal life and career. And, percussionist Larry McDonald reflects on his 30-year friendship with an artist credited as an inspiration for hip hop.

The Front Bottoms On World Cafe

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 14:00:00 -0500

Brian Sella and Mathew Uychich of the New Jersey band The Front Bottoms have been playing together for years. Luckily, they haven't lost a shred of their irreverent and emotional style over the course of their unconventional careers together: Before releasing an official studio album, they toured internationally, sharing the stage with everyone from Vanessa Carlton to Titus Andronicus. Their official, eponymous debut, which came out last September, combines smart comedy with melodically rich songcraft.

As described by the band, The Front Bottoms is rich in hooks and confessions while calling on influences ranging from Joni Mitchell to Green Day. Although containing its fair share of indie folk, punk influences creep through, as well. Filled with poetic imagery and endless humor, the album defies classification, and that's by design.

In this session, Sella and Uychich talk to World Cafe's David Dye about their lifelong friendship, writing songs in their teens and their live shows, and also perform live in the studio.

You can also hear The Front Bottoms perform live in concert from Philadelphia on World Cafe Live.

KCRW Presents: Meshell Ndegeocello

Jason Bentley, KCRW Music Director — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:42:00 -0500

Meshell Ndegeocello started out on the D.C. go-go circuit in the late '80s and continues to impress and surprise with each recording, the latest of which is Weather. During this live performance, "Oysters" is a piece of wrenching beauty, a gorgeous love song with Ndegeocello's vocals as its focal point. The band got into a groove during "Dead End," which showcases her unique bass-playing style, but it's just one highlight of this unpredictable music veteran's terrific session at KCRW.

'How To Be Black' Author Offers Up His Playlist

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 12:00:00 -0500

Watch St. Vincent As A Giant Crumbling Sculpture In 'Cheerleader'

Bob Boilen — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:45:00 -0500

You can listen to a concert from St. Vincent and hear music from Strange Mercy and more recorded in November at the 9:30 Club in Washington DC.

Chuck Prophet's 'Beautiful' Homage To San Francisco

Ken Tucker — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:00:00 -0500

Chuck Prophet's new album, Temple Beautiful, takes its name from a former synagogue that hosted punk-rock shows in the late '70s and early '80s; it was next door to the temple overseen by cult leader Jim Jones. That may sound like a grim or black-humored reference point around which to erect an album, but with Prophet, grimness, humor, fact and fiction mingle freely. Before anything else, he's a guitar player with a melodically nasal voice whose phrasing favors the whimsical and the querulous.

Over the course of this album, Prophet takes you on a tour of San Francisco as he's lived and dreamed it, watching Castro Street Halloween parades, the famous local stripper Carol Doda and the San Francisco Giants-era Willie Mays. Prophet says his album is filled with "Google-free" facts and non-facts to suit the mythology he wants to create about the city he's so fond of.

One of the ways Prophet achieves tension and release in his songs is by contrasting the content of the lyrics with the tone of the music. Take, for example, "White Night, Big City," about the 1978 murder of San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk and the riots that followed the trial of Milk's killer, Dan White. Prophet frames his version of that narrative with a song that has a jaunty melody, a refrain featuring doo-wop harmonies and openhearted compassion. The result is music whose ironies aren't cheap ones.

Ultimately, you can listen to Temple Beautiful for the superficial catchiness of its tunes, Prophet's slashed guitar chords and his searching, keening vocals and have a good time. And if you want to, you can listen more closely to what he's getting at on this album, and experience the album as one man's alternative history of three decades of West Coast culture and politics. All that, plus a few awfully good songs about having your heart broken.

Susan Werner On Mountain Stage

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 09:00:00 -0500

Susan Werner makes her seventh appearance on Mountain Stage for five songs from her new album, Kicking the Beehive. A talented and versatile artist, Werner has been influenced by a range of artists, from Joni Mitchell and Judy Collins to Thelonious Monk and Sting. Werner earned a voice degree in her native Iowa, and another in opera from Temple University before deciding to take her career in a different direction after seeing a performance by Texas folk singer Nanci Griffith.

Kicking the Beehive was produced by country stalwart Rodney Crowell and features cameos by Vince Gill, Keb' Mo' and lap steel ace Paul Franklin.

Werner's set is followed by a performance by The Carpenter Ants, lead by Mountain Stage guitarist Michael Lipton, and featuring the vocals of James "Jupie" Little and Charlie "T" Tuit, bassist Ted Harrison and drummer Ammed Solomon. They play a gospel tune written by Lipton and Little titled "It's a Blessing."

This segment originally aired on May 11th, 2011.

Dead Skeletons: A Spiritual Battle Song

Andrew Flanagan — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 07:00:00 -0500

It shouldn't be all that surprising that music with bared teeth and a white-knuckle grip, music that's loud and sharp and barbed, isn't written to communicate a fundamental joy with life. More often than not, the darkest sounds are born in the darkest part of the artist's mind; they're missives for the miserable, the desperately cathartic or the petulant and proud. So it's jarring when the Icelandic band Dead Skeletons' "Dead Mantra" — described by member Jón "Nonni Dead" Sæmundur as "a spiritual battle song" — all but forces listeners to smile elatedly.

First composed and uploaded to YouTube four years ago and re-released along with a full-length album this past fall, "Dead Mantra" begins with a whine of guitar and a timid drumbeat before ascending into a massive wall of ambient whirs, malevolent two-stepping bass, tremulous riffs and a far-away spinal cord of terse and playful drums. More than eight and a half minutes long, the song furiously sprints through psychedelics, refrains and long sections of meditative repetition — always returning to the core sentiment that "he who fears death cannot enjoy life," monotonically repeated in Icelandic, German and English. The sounds and the sentiment line up perpendicularly to each other, carving a space of cognitive dissonance that's at once confusing, comforting and hair-raising.

Thistle And Shamrock: Songs Of Robert Burns

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 05:30:00 -0500

Hear a variety of artists in the intoxicating embrace of the Scottish bard's songs, including Rod Paterson, June Tabor and Eddi Reader.

For more information on this program, visit www.thistleradio.com.

Get To Know The Song Of The Year Nominees: Bon Iver, 'Holocene'

Ann Powers — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 04:00:00 -0500

"Holocene" was written by Justin Vernon. He fronts the band Bon Iver, which you know very well if you like indie music. The band has been a critical darling for a few years now, and its second album is helping Vernon in particular become known in the wider world.

At this point in time there are a lot grown-up indie rock fans among the people who vote for the Grammys. This year Vernon is literally their poster boy, even after he told the New York Times this spring that he doesn't think industry awards are important. Bon Iver is nominated in the Best New Artist category, too.