What Wild Up unearths on Julius Eastman, Vol. 2: Joy Boy is more than just music, it's a set of relations and modes of comporting in the world that risk trading fleeting, worldly praise to regain the eternal soul. Ron Hammond hide caption
Editors' Picks A selection of stories handpicked by NPR Music editors.
Editors' Picks
A generation of contemporary artists are drawing on the lessons of the past to reimagine the classic bolero. Left to right: Olga Guillot, La Lupe, and Doris Anahí Victor Bizar Gomez for NPR hide caption
Renaissance, Beyoncé's seventh full-length solo album, mines a liberating history of dance music, from Donna Summer-sampling disco to modern Chicago house. Carlijn Jacobs/Via Parkwood Entertainment hide caption
At the beginning of her career, Kaija Saariaho had plenty of doubts. She ended up becoming one of the most revered composers of her generation. Maarit Kytöharju/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
UC Berkeley Professor Richard Taruskin, whose 4000-page book The Oxford History of Western Music set a benchmark for writing about the history of classical music. San Francisco Chronicle/Hearst N/San Francisco Chronicle via Getty hide caption
"That's where our story starts, but that's not where music starts."
The physicality of music — how it impacts the body and the way space can alter its effect — has been central to Caterina Barbieri's work. Furmaan Ahmed hide caption
Left-handed, Elizabeth Cotten turned the guitar so the bass strings were at the bottom, therefore "backwards." She used her thumb to play the melody and her fingers for the low notes. John Cohen, courtesy Deborah Bell, New York/National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution hide caption
Norah Jones in a 2002 portrait to promote Come Away With Me. Lourdes Delgado hide caption
"With the pandemic, with the climate crisis, the world is becoming more and more inhospitable for more and more people," Zola Jesus tells NPR. "Arkhon is about all of that." Shervin Lainez hide caption
Composer Carlos Simon's Requiem for the Enslaved, commissioned by Georgetown University, is a reckoning with the school's troubled history. Toko Shiik/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Review
Deceptive Cadence
'Requiem for the Enslaved' holds a major university's truths up to the light
'Requiem for the Enslaved' holds a major university's truths up to the light
USA. Mississippi. Tunica. 1985. © Eli Reed/Magnum Photos hide caption
Is there anyone more deserving of a chart-altering music sync than Kate Bush? TV Times/TV Times via Getty Images hide caption
The Japanese psych-rock band Les Rallizes Dénudés were after a visceral — sometimes violent — impact, borne from unimaginable loudness. M. Tezuka and OZ Press/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
S.G. Goodman composed parts of her new album, Teeth Marks, to evoke the feeling of traumatic experiences building up in the body. Ryan Hartley/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Heaven and hell are places on Earth in Ethel Cain's discography. Helen Kirbo hide caption
Jack Harlow is a rising star in the hip-hop world, someone that legends praise and peers envy. Urban Wyatt hide caption
In the metal bands Sleep and High on Fire, Matt Pike has always looked to esoteric sources. Over the last decade, however, he's found inspiration in the conspiracy theories of David Icke. Photo Illustration by Estefania Mitre/NPR; Getty Images hide caption
Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers is the first album from Kendrick Lamar since DAMN., the 2017 release that made him the first rapper to win a Pulitzer Prize. Renell Medrano/Courtesy of the artist hide caption
Argentine soldiers landing from a Sea King helicopter not far from Port Stanley, the capitol of the Falkland Islands (las Islas Malvinas). SeM/Universal Images Group via Getty hide caption
Leikeli47 (left) speaks with NPR's Sidney Madden about how Shape Up tracks the rapper's learning process to embody the confidence she so often preaches onstage to others. NPR hide caption
On his new album Un Verano Sin Ti, Bad Bunny opts for personal intimacy and cultural specificity, anchoring his music in the Caribbean. Eric Rojas hide caption