Iconoclastic Musician Takes Measure Of His Life: ‘I Became A Fighter’
Fred Ho has combined improvisation with Asian themes to create his own form of political activism. Now, at age 56, Ho is dying of cancer.
Category: Music News
Hearing Devotion In Pop’s Details
“Radioactive,” by Imagine Dragons, just set a chart record for the longest run on Billboard‘s Hot 100. It’s just one of a few songs on the charts showing the influence of religious themes.
A Phony Article Epitomizes Hip-Hop’s Struggling Underclass
When even the biggest stars in the world are relying on extramusical gimmicks to hype new albums, what’s an unknown rapper supposed to do to get noticed? Maybe fake a profile in the paper of record?
Computer Love: Beats Music Wants To Be Your Everything
Ann Powers says that for the music lover searching for an immersive streaming service, newcomer Beats Music comes close to offering the complete package.
We Love Him For More Than Twizzles: Charlie White Plays Violin, Too
What does the champion ice dancer do after winning gold in Sochi? Play Vivaldi on the violin, of course.
Skrillex, King Of The Dance Club Hit-And-Run
The super-sized leading light of the new dance mainstream thrives at throwing the kind of one-off party that even a well-dressed, friendly audience in a regular-sized club can enjoy.
Classical Music Piece Enhances Roald Dahl’s ‘Dirty Beasts’
On Sunday, the London Philharmonic debuted a new piece of music based on Roald Dahl’s Dirty Beasts. With Matilda playing to sold-out crowds on Broadway and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory running in London’s West End, this is just the latest work by the author to get a musical soundtrack.
Pop Music Lags In Dealing With Interracial Love Anxieties
Interracial romances have been featured in American popular music for more than a century. But pop singers no longer croon about miscegenation even as the number of interracial and inter-ethnic marriages has sharply risen.
In The Digital Era, Hit Songs Aren’t Everything
The Internet is the new frontier for song royalties. If ASCAP has its way, law will prevail, but some songwriters and publishers see the organization as a relic.
600 Year-Old Butt Song From Hell
While admiring Hieronymus Bosch’s painting The Garden of Earthly Delights, a music and information systems student at Oklahoma Christian University…
Heavy Rotation: Shlohmo & Jeremih
Each month NPR Music asks public radio hosts and DJs to pick a favorite new song. Today we’ll hear from Jason King, host of I’ll Take You There, NPR Music’s new 24 hour Soul and R&B stream. He’s talking about his pick for Heavy Rotation: “No More” by Jeremih and Shlohmo.
Collecting Money For Songwriters, A 100-Year Tug Of War
ASCAP — the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers — was founded on Feb. 13, 1914, to protect its members’ copyrights by monitoring public performances of their music. It hasn’t been an easy century; in fact, just about every victory has come as the result of litigation.
Fiddler On The Slopes
One of the world’s most successful crossover musicians, violinist Vanessa-Mae, will fulfill a lifelong dream by skiing the women’s giant slalom at the Winter Olympics in Sochi next Tuesday. Though she is British, she is one half of the Olympic team from Thailand.
The Beatles, As America First Loved Them
Later, they’d get weird, experimental, and rebellious, but when the Beatles made their U.S. television debut 50 years ago, they were still just a band — but a magically brilliant band.
A Male Singer Shines In A Woman’s World
António Zambujo sings fado, the style of music often called Portugal’s blues — but his work owes more to João Gilberto and Chet Baker than to his contemporaries in the genre.
The Beatles’ Yearlong Journey To ‘The Ed Sullivan Show’
Even as they reached the Top 10 in Britain, appeared on TV and had young women swooning by the thousands across the pond, their first singles in the U.S. were released on tiny independent labels and went nowhere. What went wrong, and finally right, in the leadup to the night of Feb. 7, 1964.
A Rational Conversation: Ambition Returns To The Music Video
A decade after the MTV era ended, music videos are enjoying an Internet-fueled rebirth. Racy, interactive and homemade videos now go viral regularly and corporate partnerships and industry recognition are boosting budgets.
Playing SXSW 2014? Send Us Your Songs
If you’re in Austin come mid-March, we’re asking for one song (via MP3) to represent your sound.
Violin Worth $5 Million Makes A Safe Return Home
Police in Milwaukee have recovered a Stradivarius violin and arrested three suspects in its theft. The instrument, said to be worth approximately $5 million, was stolen in a brazen armed robbery from the concertmaster of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra late last month. Mitch Teich of WUWM in Milwaukee reports on the violin’s recovery.
Update: ‘I Have Begun To Hear A Little Again’
In the run-up to the Sochi Olympics, a sudden revelation: A very popular Japanese composer, Mamoru Samuragochi, announced that he doesn’t write his music. And that’s not all: he also admitted that he isn’t as deaf as he previously claimed.