Music Features : NPR

D'Angelo with Nelson George (left) onstage at the Brooklyn Museum Wednesday night. Drew Gurian/Red Bull Content Pool hide caption

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Drew Gurian/Red Bull Content Pool

D'Angelo: 'I'm Trying To Go Deep'

May 23, 2014 • In a conversation with author Nelson George at the Brooklyn Museum, the elusive singer and songwriter spoke on his idols, his process and his teenage years, and hinted at a new album.

Listen: D'Angelo In Conversation With Nelson George

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The Long Shadow Of Tom Warrior, Metal's Dark Innovator

Throughout his career, Thomas Gabriel Fischer has hinted that he makes his best music under bleak circumstances. Ester Segarra/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Ester Segarra/Courtesy of the artist

The Long Shadow Of Tom Warrior, Metal's Dark Innovator

May 21, 2014 • With his bands Celtic Frost and Triptykon, Thomas Gabriel Fischer has spent the last 30 years twisting heavy metal to match his own dark side.

A Rational Conversation: How Deep Is The Disco Revival?

Giorgio Moroder performs at HARD Day Of The Dead in Los Angeles in November 2013. Gabriel Olsen/Getty Images hide caption

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Gabriel Olsen/Getty Images

A Rational Conversation: How Deep Is The Disco Revival?

May 14, 2014 • The sound made famous by legends like Giorgio Moroder is showing up on Grammy-winning pop albums and major-label remixes, but is the renewed attention on disco anything more than nostalgia?

Tori Amos on stage in Glasgow, three days before the release of her 14th studio album, Unrepentant Geraldines. Ross Gilmore/Redferns via Getty Images hide caption

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Ross Gilmore/Redferns via Getty Images

Why Tori Amos Connects

May 13, 2014 • Tori Amos fans understand her music in elemental terms. To celebrate Unrepentant Geraldines, her excellent new album, we asked five of them to pinpoint the elements that make her so unmistakable.

Todd Terje: Supreme Leisure On The Dancefloor

Todd Terje in Oslo. Sigurd Fandango/Courtesy of Pitch Perfect PR hide caption

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Sigurd Fandango/Courtesy of Pitch Perfect PR

Todd Terje: Supreme Leisure On The Dancefloor

May 9, 2014 • The producer grew up in a rural town in the south of Norway. He gave astrophysics a try but his DJ career took off, and now he produces underground hits year after year.

Todd Terje: Supreme Leisure On The Dancefloor

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Well Into Spring, 'Frozen' Soundtrack Keeps The Charts Cool

Singer Idina Menzel (center) and Frozen songwriters Bobby Lopez (left) and Kristen Anderson-Lopez pose with gold records in February. Since then, the movie's soundtrack has sold over 1.5 million more copies. Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Disney hide caption

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Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Disney

The Record

Well Into Spring, 'Frozen' Soundtrack Keeps The Charts Cool

May 9, 2014 • The soundtrack to Disney's Frozen has been the biggest-selling album of 2014, topping the Billboard album chart for 13 weeks.

Well Into Spring, 'Frozen' Soundtrack Keeps The Charts Cool

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The album cover for Lily Allen's Sheezus goes after multiple targets, including Kanye West (in the album's title) and Queen Elizabeth II (the corgis). Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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The Record

Is It Worth It To Work It?

May 8, 2014 • Iggy Azalea, Lily Allen and Sky Ferreira may not have much in common as musicians, but all three have recently drawn fire for appropriating masculine African-American imagery.

Unheard Bounty On Mobb Deep's First Album In Eight Years

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Courtesy of We Get Press

Review

The Record

Unheard Bounty On Mobb Deep's First Album In Eight Years

May 5, 2014 • After an eight year absence, the release of a new Mobb Deep album would be notable enough, but it's the bonus disc of previously unheard sessions for The Infamous that send this package over the top.

These New Puritans: 'You Have To Be Meticulous'

These New Puritans, from left: Elisa Rodrigues, Thomas Hein, Jack Barnett, George Barnett. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Courtesy of the artist

The Record

These New Puritans: 'You Have To Be Meticulous'

May 2, 2014 • "I don't have the attention span for music that apes itself," says Jack Barnett, leader of the British band These New Puritans. His group has fine-tuned its sound by remaining open to many influences.

Nas in 1994, the year Illmatic was released. Danny Clinch/Courtesy of Sony Legacy hide caption

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Danny Clinch/Courtesy of Sony Legacy

The Record

'Illmatic': The Making Of A Classic

May 1, 2014 • This summer Nas is traveling the world performing his debut album in full. The crowds that are coming out to see him are turning up because the 20-year-old record is an acknowledged classic.

'Illmatic': The Making Of A Classic

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Minya Oh: 'I Was Never Gonna Not Want To Listen To This'

Minya Oh, who reviewed Illmatic in The Source in 1994 under the pen name Shortie and is now a radio personality on New York's Hot 97 who goes by Miss Info. Here she poses for a portrait backstage at a vitaminwater Fader uncapped event in 2012. Roger Kisby/Getty Images hide caption

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Roger Kisby/Getty Images

The Record

Minya Oh: 'I Was Never Gonna Not Want To Listen To This'

May 1, 2014 • Then an intern, Oh gave Illmatic the highest rating in The Source magazine, marking it a classic. Today she's Miss Info and she talks about her review and making LL Cool J cry.

Faith Newman: 'Who Is This Kid? And I Signed Him'

Faith Newman in late 1993 or early '94 at Sony Studios with, from left to right, DJ Premier, Large Professor, Nas, Q-Tip and L.E.S. — all the producers on Illmatic except for Pete Rock. Courtesy of Faith Newman hide caption

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Courtesy of Faith Newman

The Record

Faith Newman: 'Who Is This Kid? And I Signed Him'

April 30, 2014 • The music exec who signed Nas to Columbia Records and helped make his debut album, the much-lauded Illmatic, on her path into the business and New York hip-hop in the '80s and '90s.

Hear Four Musicians Talk About What Moves Them

NPR Music's Ann Powers (right) interviews musicians (from left) Mike McCready of Pearl Jam, Alynda Lee Segarra of Hurray for the Riff Raff, Sharon Jones and Meshell Ndegeocello at the EMP Pop Conference in Seattle. Brady Harvey hide caption

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Brady Harvey

The Record

Hear Four Musicians Talk About What Moves Them

April 30, 2014 • Sharon Jones, Pearl Jam's Mike McCready, Meshell Ndegeocello and Hurray For The Riff Raff's Alynda Lee Segarra shared struggles and successes in a joint interview at the EMP Pop Conference in Seattle.

Sharon Jones, Mike McCready, Meshell Ndegocello And Alynda Lee Segarra On Stage

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