Word on the street is this album is really good. 

nprmusic:

It’s been a pretty consistent truth in the contemporary music field, starting about the mid-to-late ’80s: If you asked a young singer coming up, who did they love, who did they put on the turntable, so many people would say Nick Drake. He’s become a real musician’s musician.

—Joe Boyd, who produced Nick Drake’s first two albums back in 1969 and 1970. He talks with All Things Considered today about a new Nick Drake tribute album.

Here is a Fresh Air interview with Joe Boyd.

This post is from September, but that sentence “It’s just as heartbroken as you’d imagine” seems apt today.

nprmusic:

Hear “Heart My Heart,” the first music from Jason Molina (The Magnolia Electric Company, Songs: Ohia) since 2009. It’s just as heartbroken as you’d imagine.

[p4k]

nprmusic:

Mark your calendars! On March 14, NPR Music will broadcast the SXSW keynote by the unofficial Mayor of Rock ‘n’ Roll, Dave Grohl.

Photo: Matt Sayles

NPR Music:

When Cuban musician Juan de Marcos González teamed up with Ry Cooder to create Buena Vista Social Club, he became internationally known almost overnight. The bandleader is still at it, as you can see in this three-song set, recorded live for Jazz24.

Heads up, you guys: new Jimi Hendrix is being released March 5 and NPR Music has a First Listen:

[T]he newest collection of Hendrixiana (titled People, Hell and Angels, out March 5) is a suitable addition to the guitar giant’s large posthumous output, drawn from recordings he’d made between 1968 and 1970 with a variety of co-conspirators.

Ken Tucker reviews the new Richard Thompson album on the show today. Above, Thompson’s Tiny Desk performance.

Kevin Whitehead on Rudresh Mahanthappa’s new album Gamak:

On his new album Gamak, Mahanthappa takes off from Indian rhythms, but also the gamakas: the specific ways classical virtuosos tailor individual notes or move between them. They might attack a pitch from just above or below, or sweep upward as it trails off, or oscillate between notes. In these original tunes, as in traditional Indian music, those deviations are essential to the feeling and not mere decoration. Mahanthappa, who’s worked with Indian classical saxophonist Kadri Gopalnath, can get inside that authentic South Indian sound while turning it to his own ends.

Above, Mahanthappa’s Tiny Desk Concert for NPR Music

Nick Cave. New album. Yes, please.

nprmusic:

Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds “Jubilee Street,” from Push the Sky Away out Feb. 19.

Grizzly Bear’s fourth album rewards listeners with strange surprises and a few hooky, expansive ringers. Along the way, it showcases the considerable gifts of four guys willing to hover patiently through the detours, without sacrificing the beauty that makes the journey worthwhile.

Stream Shields now.

nprmusic:

Celebrate the Woody Guthrie centennial with a Folk Alley mix of Guthrie’s greatest songs, plus music from the musicians he inspired, like Joan Baez, Ani DiFranco and Old Crow Medicine Show.

Illustration: Aaron Meshon for eMusic (embiggen)

Tomorrow Fresh Air celebrates Woody Guthrie!

nprmusic:

Is it time to ban cellphones at concerts? Does it seem old-fashioned NOT to Tweet or Instagram during a show? Do you just wish twitpickers would just get out of the way?

Take our survey.

Ken Tucker reviews Fiona Apple’s new album: ” I mean it as a compliment to say that Apple is working in the literary tradition of “the difficult woman,” closing in on Virginia Woolf and already superior to Sylvia Plath. Apple’s achievement is to both indulge in melodrama and to isolate the hard truths behind her extravagant emotions.”

(via Fiona Apple’s ‘Wheel’ Of Extravagant Emotions : NPR)

Some Music For Your Morning: 100 Essential Noise Pop Songs. Enjoy!

(via The Mix: 100 Essential Noise Pop Songs : NPR)

nprmusic:

From “Breaking Up to Hard To Do” to “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart” to “When Doves Cry” to, yes, “Always Be My Baby,” hear 50 years worth of summer hits and help us pick 2012’s summer song.

I know I already posted this but I feel like this gif needs to be reshared. (Nice job, Lars.)

sketchylunch:

Jambox

Music for Your Summer: NPR Music put all the Songs of the Summers of the past 50 years in one playlist. Enjoy!