Jon Spencer Returns To The ‘Brutal And Strange’ World Of The Blues Explosion
Freedom Tower – No Wave Dance Party 2015 might be the funkiest Jon Spencer Blues Explosion album yet, and it’s…
Category: Music Interviews
Think Baltimore Music Is Weird? In The ’90s, Towson And Glen Arm Music Was Even Weirder.
Spurred by new, affordable technology, the home-recording boom of the 1980s and ’90s produced some of the most idiosyncratic music…
Meet Babeo Baggins Of Barf Troop, The Rap Collective Taking Over The Internet
With a playful but purposeful demeanor, rap collective Barf Troop makes music that’s just as much about the turn up…
Avant-Rock Producer Martin Bisi: ‘It Takes More Than A Few Clubs Closing To Kill A Scene’
You might not know his name, but if you’ve kept up with avant-rock music even slightly over the last 30…
‘You Have To Be Bored’: Dan Deacon On Creativity
The electronic artist’s new album, Gliss Riffer, is his most accesible yet. In a conversation with Arun Rath, he waxes philosophic on stress, technology and the value of a wandering mind.
Ian Svenonius: Modern Pop Music Is ‘The Voice Of Wall Street’
Ian Svenonius is one of D.C.’s most magnetic frontmen. He’s also an admitted rock ‘n’ roll despot. The former vocalist for Nation…
Rising Producer Chris McClenney: ‘Music Production Is Too Ubiquitous’
Chris McClenney tried out his first instrument around 8 years old, but he didn’t get hooked on music-making till a…
Hip-Hop Collective Doomtree On Getting Seven Artists In One Room
The Minneapolis rap crew is back with the album All Hands. NPR’s Arun Rath speaks with members Dessa and P.O.S.
Dengue Fever: Retro Pop, Cambodian Style
Brothers Ethan and Zac Holtzman formed Dengue Fever in the late ’90s, inspired by 1960s Cambodian psych-rock. Rachel Martin speaks with them and singer Chhom Nimol about their album, The Deepest Lake.
AraabMuzik: ‘I Have So Much Music, It Doesn’t Make Sense’
The Rhode Island-born producer and DJ tells the story of the father/son talk he once had with Cam’ron, delineates EDM and hip-hop and calls out the whole music industry for being flaky.
Sleater-Kinney’s Deleted Scenes
The beloved punk trio is back after nearly a decade away. Hear a few candid thoughts from the members about singing, live performance and having famous fans.
Did Led Zeppelin Play A Maryland Youth Center In 1969? Jeff Krulik Thinks So
Long before Led Zeppelin was riding motorcycles through hotel rooms and clothing middle schoolers everywhere, the band played a show…
The Music Midnight Makes: In Conversation With Joni Mitchell
The legendary composer and singer showed up at NPR’s Culver City studios just before the dead of night to talk about her “helium voice,” overcoming polio and painting songs with Bob Dylan.
SmCity’s Confident Gambit Into Hip-Hop’s ‘Critical Years’
“I apologize for my lateness/Finalizin’ my greatness” raps Simeon “SmCity” Booker during “Cinematic Moment,” one of the centerpiece tracks on Empire…
Working It Out With Torn Hawk, Ex-D.C. Musician And Weirdo
The Luke Wyatt story stretches from a Virginia college town to Berlin, but some of the 36-year-old musician and video…
Sleater-Kinney 2.0: The Band Talks About Its First Album In 10 Years
Sleater-Kinney’s Carrie Brownstein, Corin Tucker and Janet Weiss join Bob Boilen and Robin Hilton to discuss the band’s new album, No Cities To Love.
A Rational Conversation: Can The Delayed Album Curse Be Lifted?
If we now know about albums languishing in the clutches of major labels, are they more likely to see the light of day? Will they be any good when they get here?
Run The Jewels: ‘I’m Taking This Life’
“Me and Mike have managed to find a decent way to express something symbolically that kids need to be able to say simply,” says El-P. “I’m taking it over.”
A Rational Conversation: The 20-Year-Old Album That’s MF DOOM’s Missing Link
New information on an album shelved back in 1994 has become fodder for even more discussions of the shadowy rapper — some focused on his murky origins and others about his plausible impact.
In Conversation With George Clinton
Watch the inimitable funk stalwart sit for not one but two interviews about his work and where it comes from. Along the way, he tells stories about his many decades in the music industry.