Music Features : NPR

Producer Phil Ramone, Who Made The Simple Sublime, Dies

Phil Ramone in New York in 1997. Ken Weingart/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption

Ken Weingart/Getty Images

Producer Phil Ramone, Who Made The Simple Sublime, Dies

March 30, 2013 • In making classic albums by Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, Stan Getz and Joao Gilberto, Phil Ramone's greatest talent as a producer and engineer may have been finding ways to make songs sound the way the musicians wanted.

Remembering Paul Williams, Founder Of Rock Magazine 'Crawdaddy!'

Issue 16 of the original run of Crawdaddy!, from June 1968. simonm1965/flickr hide caption

toggle caption

simonm1965/flickr

Remembering Paul Williams, Founder Of Rock Magazine 'Crawdaddy!'

March 30, 2013 • Paul Williams started the first American rock magazine as a college student in 1966, and pioneered a style of intelligent music writing from a fan's perspective.

A still from the video for E-40's 1993 song "Practice Looking Hard," in which rappers like The Coup's Boots Riley (second from right) and Tupac (not pictured) also appeared. Couresy of Zomba Recording hide caption

toggle caption

Couresy of Zomba Recording

The Record

The Many Sounds Of 1993 Bay Area Rap

March 28, 2013 • Overlooked by the industry, Bay Area rappers as different as E-40, Too Short and The Coup were free to make and sell music that didn't sound like anybody else's.

The Many Sounds Of 1993 Bay Area Rap

Listen · 7:20 7:20

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/175489318/175552123" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Transcript

Depeche Mode: A Dark And Steady 'Machine'

Mito Habe-Evans/NPR

The Record

Depeche Mode: A Dark And Steady 'Machine'

KCRW

March 25, 2013 • After 30 years together, Depeche Mode puts out its 13th album this week, the seductive Delta Machine. Jason Bentley of KCRW speaks with the band's core trio of members about making music apart and together and recovering from its darkest days.

Lessons From SXSW 2013: Take The Middle Road

Natalie Maines (center) at Central Presbyterian Church in Austin, Texas during the SXSW Music Festival. Maines's band included her father, Lloyd Maines (seated left) and Ben Harper (seated right). Mindy Best/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption

Mindy Best/Getty Images

The Record

Lessons From SXSW 2013: Take The Middle Road

March 19, 2013 • Big names and Next Big Things dominate coverage of Austin's festival, but there's quality music between the two poles. Ann Powers says the skill and subtlety those acts bring to the party interest her more than the sure bet of a legend or the sugar high of watching a baby band with buzz.

Jason Molina, A Folksinger Who Embodied The Best Of The Blues, Has Died

Steve Gullick/Courtesy of the artist

The Record

Jason Molina, A Folksinger Who Embodied The Best Of The Blues, Has Died

March 18, 2013 • Over a long and sometimes troubled career with bands like Songs: Ohia and Magnolia Electric Co., Jason Molina's songs made pain tangible and less terrifying.

Stevie Nicks: 'When We Walk Into The Room, We Have To Float In Like Goddesses'

Stevie Nicks speaking on stage at the 2013 South by Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas. Mito Habe-Evans/NPR hide caption

toggle caption

Mito Habe-Evans/NPR

The Record

Stevie Nicks: 'When We Walk Into The Room, We Have To Float In Like Goddesses'

March 17, 2013 • In an hour-long conversation with NPR Music's Ann Powers at SXSW in Austin, Texas, the Fleetwood Mac singer revealed her lessons on life, love and making a mark in the music industry.

Courtesy of Nasty Little Man

The Record

Atoms For Peace Doing It Live, Sort Of

March 15, 2013 • Despite its billing as a "DJ Set," Thom Yorke and Nigel Godrich's show at New York City's Le Poisson Rouge Thursday night was another thing completely.

Gangsta Rap Swap Meet Proprietor Wan Joon Kim Has Died

Wan Joon Kim (right), with his son Kirk and wife, Boo Ja, at their stall inside the Compton Swap Meet last January. Courtesy of Sam Quinones hide caption

toggle caption

Courtesy of Sam Quinones

The Record

Gangsta Rap Swap Meet Proprietor Wan Joon Kim Has Died

March 14, 2013 • Kim sold some of the earliest work of DJ Quik, Dr. Dre and Eazy-E in the mid-1980s, when few knew them and fewer stores would sell their music.

Gangsta Rap Swap Meet Proprietor Wan Joon Kim Has Died

Listen · 2:53 2:53

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/174334510/174345585" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Transcript

When Punk Met Funk, Deep In The Heart Of Texas

Big Boys in West Texas on the way to California in 1982. Randy "Biscuit" Turner is at the left, Chris Gates at the right, and Tim Kerr at the back. Bill Daniel/Courtesy of Light in the Attic Records hide caption

toggle caption

Bill Daniel/Courtesy of Light in the Attic Records

The Record

When Punk Met Funk, Deep In The Heart Of Texas

March 11, 2013 • The most fun strain of punk music came out of Austin, courtesy of the Big Boys. And though the band broke up in 1984, its legacy lives on in 2013.

D'Angelo And Questlove Bare The Roots Of 'Voodoo'

D'Angelo and Questlove on Monday night at Brooklyn Bowl. Courtesy of Okayplayer hide caption

toggle caption

Courtesy of Okayplayer

The Record

D'Angelo And Questlove Bare The Roots Of 'Voodoo'

March 5, 2013 • For D'Angelo's disciples, Monday night was a chance to see an artist defined by distance and mystery up close.

SXSW festival-goers line up at The Parish on Sixth Street in Austin for NPR Music's day party March 15, 2012. Mito Habe-Evans/NPR hide caption

toggle caption

Mito Habe-Evans/NPR

The Record

Why I'm Not Going To SXSW This Year

March 5, 2013 • In the annual Texas showdown between fledgling bands and crushing industry excess, one longtime SXSW attendee has started feeling like she's coming out behind.

How One Band Turned A Ghost Town Into A Giant Recording Studio

Courtesy of Efterklang

The Record

How One Band Turned A Ghost Town Into A Giant Recording Studio

March 4, 2013 • The Danish band Efterklang literally went to the ends of the earth — an arctic island 400 miles north of mainland Europe, to be exact — to make its album Piramida.

How One Band Turned A Ghost Town Into A Giant Recording Studio

Listen · 7:21 7:21

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/173274068/173401404" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Transcript

David Bowie, Rock's Shape Shifter, Returns

David Bowie's album, The Next Day, will come out on March 12. Jimmy King/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

toggle caption

Jimmy King/Courtesy of the artist

The Record

David Bowie, Rock's Shape Shifter, Returns

March 1, 2013 • After 10 years out of the public eye, the new album from Bowie, The Next Day, proves he's still a compelling pop star in today's music world.

David Bowie, Rock's Shape Shifter, Returns

Listen · 5:06 5:06

Download
Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/173186973/173217288" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Transcript