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M’lady’s Records says it will keep the change in place “until that number gets tuned up and/or we go down in flames.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the announcement of the new policy, we sent a few questions to Lyman. His answers were prompt, passionate and colorful.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Had this plan been cooking for a while, or was it a sudden decision?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A bit of both; we’re just tired of record labels being these petit bourgeois institutions that don’t really have much impact on their communities. Most just seem inert to me; vague curatorial exercises largely rooted in making money or pacifying some parochial sub-culture (the latter is particularly popular here in the Pacific Northwest). One could (almost) be forgiven for buying into all that Silicon Valley garbage that we don’t need curators or organizers anymore … which is complete silliness, and really more of a reflection of the Randian solipsism that has infected most of so-called underground culture. Record labels have historically been hugely influential in creating context, the most neglected of artistic values currently … as the great British stand-up Stewart Lee is fond of saying, “context is not a myth” … It’s rare enough these days to see labels operate with an ethos, and rarer still to see that ethos extended to how they conduct their non-creative affairs. So … time to start lobbing some (admittedly tiny) grenades into the lobby. Hopefully it’ll ruin someone’s brunch plans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How much will this discount affect M’LR’s bottom line?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the risk of sounding flippant … don’t care much. The bottom line for this label is about engaging with this amorphous and elusive community some people call “the underground.” That bottom line has kept us going through the growing pains of trying to manage a self-financed DIY record outfit. If we were in this to stay fiscally sound, it would have been abandoned before it even started. We’d just go make espresso in a food truck … and grow a beard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Were you inspired by other shops or companies? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sort of, but only in opposition. The cost and valuation of music has been under siege for almost 20 years now, and I think it’s led to a very safe counterculture, wherein people are less likely to be insane or unpopular, lest the show offers/sync licenses dry up. Can’t get 20 seconds of your song into a Cheetos ad unless you play the game, rigged as it is. All of this ties into a larger concern of ours to do with the ancillary music professions (publicists, licensing departments) really becoming the new curators. Unlike labels, these companies are really just “cool” proxies/conduits for advertising. And f*** advertising, especially in its current state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How’s the announcement gone over with your audience? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Very well received, no complaints, though this may have something to do with announcing that any fellas that did grouse would have to pay double. Since we don’t advertise in any real way or hire publicists to spiel for us, we’ve been afforded the greatest luxury of choosing who we wanna communicate with, and slowly refining that audience over the past few years. Thusly … not a lot of antagonists in the mix, at least not via the communication channels we employ (mailing list, “social” media, etc).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How do you verify who’s placing these mail orders?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Well, most of our orders are paid for via online payment services where one would need an account and verify their identity that way … if anyone’s gonna go to the trouble of conjuring a fake identity and getting fake credit cards in their name just so they can order some punk records from li’l old us, fair play — that 23 percent has been EARNED. \u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2015 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Portland+Record+Label+Offers+Women+A+Pay-Gap+Discount&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Earlier this week, Portland, Ore. record company M’lady’s Records announced a new policy. Starting today, women will pay 77 percent of list price for all of their mail orders.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That number might sound familiar: The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics \u003ca href=\"http://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/cps/highlights-of-womens-earnings-in-2013.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">reports\u003c/a> that among full-time employees, women still make less than men. The oft quoted ratio is $0.77 for ever ydollar made by a man. (Though there are \u003ca href=\"http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2013/08/gender_pay_gap_the_familiar_line_that_women_make_77_cents_to_every_man_s.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">different ways to interpret\u003c/a> the precise disparity.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>M’lady’s is not the first company to instate such a policy: A Brooklyn bar and a \u003ca href=\"http://lessthan100.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pittsburgh pop-up boutique\u003c/a> have both recently drawn attention for charging based on the same price structure. “This number gets hotly debated all the time,” says M’lady’s Records’ Brett Lyman. “But it’s a good place to start, I reckon.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But M’lady’s did not make the change for a day, as the bar did, and is not a traveling project aimed at education, as the boutiqu’se is. It’s a small record company, self-described as “radical[ly] feminist and willfully obstinate,” and is reliant on sales to survive. M’lady’s Records says it will keep the change in place “until that number gets tuned up and/or we go down in flames.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After the announcement of the new policy, we sent a few questions to Lyman. His answers were prompt, passionate and colorful.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Had this plan been cooking for a while, or was it a sudden decision?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A bit of both; we’re just tired of record labels being these petit bourgeois institutions that don’t really have much impact on their communities. Most just seem inert to me; vague curatorial exercises largely rooted in making money or pacifying some parochial sub-culture (the latter is particularly popular here in the Pacific Northwest). One could (almost) be forgiven for buying into all that Silicon Valley garbage that we don’t need curators or organizers anymore … which is complete silliness, and really more of a reflection of the Randian solipsism that has infected most of so-called underground culture. Record labels have historically been hugely influential in creating context, the most neglected of artistic values currently … as the great British stand-up Stewart Lee is fond of saying, “context is not a myth” … It’s rare enough these days to see labels operate with an ethos, and rarer still to see that ethos extended to how they conduct their non-creative affairs. So … time to start lobbing some (admittedly tiny) grenades into the lobby. Hopefully it’ll ruin someone’s brunch plans.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How much will this discount affect M’LR’s bottom line?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>At the risk of sounding flippant … don’t care much. The bottom line for this label is about engaging with this amorphous and elusive community some people call “the underground.” That bottom line has kept us going through the growing pains of trying to manage a self-financed DIY record outfit. If we were in this to stay fiscally sound, it would have been abandoned before it even started. We’d just go make espresso in a food truck … and grow a beard.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Were you inspired by other shops or companies? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sort of, but only in opposition. The cost and valuation of music has been under siege for almost 20 years now, and I think it’s led to a very safe counterculture, wherein people are less likely to be insane or unpopular, lest the show offers/sync licenses dry up. Can’t get 20 seconds of your song into a Cheetos ad unless you play the game, rigged as it is. All of this ties into a larger concern of ours to do with the ancillary music professions (publicists, licensing departments) really becoming the new curators. Unlike labels, these companies are really just “cool” proxies/conduits for advertising. And f*** advertising, especially in its current state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How’s the announcement gone over with your audience? \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Very well received, no complaints, though this may have something to do with announcing that any fellas that did grouse would have to pay double. Since we don’t advertise in any real way or hire publicists to spiel for us, we’ve been afforded the greatest luxury of choosing who we wanna communicate with, and slowly refining that audience over the past few years. Thusly … not a lot of antagonists in the mix, at least not via the communication channels we employ (mailing list, “social” media, etc).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How do you verify who’s placing these mail orders?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Well, most of our orders are paid for via online payment services where one would need an account and verify their identity that way … if anyone’s gonna go to the trouble of conjuring a fake identity and getting fake credit cards in their name just so they can order some punk records from li’l old us, fair play — that 23 percent has been EARNED. \u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2015 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Portland+Record+Label+Offers+Women+A+Pay-Gap+Discount&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0715953/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Roger Rees\u003c/a>, the Tony Award-winning Welsh-born actor and director who got his start on the stage but also appeared in film and television shows such as \u003cem>Cheers\u003c/em> and \u003cem>The West Wing\u003c/em>, died Friday night in New York at age 71 after what his spokesman described as a “brief illness.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Associated Press says Rees “had abruptly left \u003cem>The Visit\u003c/em> on Broadway in late May to undergo a medical procedure.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rees played the Sheriff of Rottingham in Mel Brooks’ \u003cem>Robin Hood: Men in Tights\u003c/em> (1993) and had roles in \u003cem>The Scorpion King\u003c/em> (2002) and \u003cem>The Pink Panther\u003c/em> (2006).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The AP writes:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\n\u003cp>“Rees played the snobbish Robin Colcord on TV’s \u003cem>Cheers\u003c/em> — he was known for his condescending remarks and rivalry with Sam Malone and for dating Rebecca Howe — and the British ambassador, Lord John Marbury, in \u003cem>The West Wing\u003c/em>. Other recent TV credits include \u003cem>Elementary\u003c/em> and \u003cem>The Good Wife.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But he was probably best known onstage for playing the title character in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s original production of Charles Dickens’ \u003cem>The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby\u003c/em> in England and on Broadway. He won an Olivier Award and then a Tony. When it was adapted to TV, he earned an Emmy Award nomination.”\u003c/p>\n\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.playbill.com/news/article/roger-rees-stage-actor-made-famous-by-nicholas-nickleby-dies-at-71-351533\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Playbill.com\u003c/a> says:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\n\u003cp>“\u003cem>Nicholas Nickleby\u003c/em> was unlike anything else ever seen on the London or New York stages when it arrived in the early 1980s. David Edgar adapted Dickens’ 1839 tale of the fortune-tossed, but loyal and good-hearted Nicholas who, after losing his father, must struggle to support his mother and sister, all without the help of his uncle Ralph, a heartless businessman.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“John Caird and Trevor Nunn co-directed the piece, which was performed in two parts, each four hours in length, for which audiences had to buy two separate tickets. An unlikely prospect to become a hot ticket, the show became a critical and popular sensation after it opened at the Aldrich Theatre in 1980. It arguably inaugurated an era of marathon theatre spectacles which continues to this day.”\u003c/p>\n\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>Rees is survived by his husband, author Rick Elice. \u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2015 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Roger+Rees%2C+Welsh-Born+Stage%2C+Screen+And+TV+Actor%2C+Dies+At+71&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0715953/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Roger Rees\u003c/a>, the Tony Award-winning Welsh-born actor and director who got his start on the stage but also appeared in film and television shows such as \u003cem>Cheers\u003c/em> and \u003cem>The West Wing\u003c/em>, died Friday night in New York at age 71 after what his spokesman described as a “brief illness.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Associated Press says Rees “had abruptly left \u003cem>The Visit\u003c/em> on Broadway in late May to undergo a medical procedure.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rees played the Sheriff of Rottingham in Mel Brooks’ \u003cem>Robin Hood: Men in Tights\u003c/em> (1993) and had roles in \u003cem>The Scorpion King\u003c/em> (2002) and \u003cem>The Pink Panther\u003c/em> (2006).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The AP writes:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\n\u003cp>“Rees played the snobbish Robin Colcord on TV’s \u003cem>Cheers\u003c/em> — he was known for his condescending remarks and rivalry with Sam Malone and for dating Rebecca Howe — and the British ambassador, Lord John Marbury, in \u003cem>The West Wing\u003c/em>. Other recent TV credits include \u003cem>Elementary\u003c/em> and \u003cem>The Good Wife.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“But he was probably best known onstage for playing the title character in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s original production of Charles Dickens’ \u003cem>The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby\u003c/em> in England and on Broadway. He won an Olivier Award and then a Tony. When it was adapted to TV, he earned an Emmy Award nomination.”\u003c/p>\n\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.playbill.com/news/article/roger-rees-stage-actor-made-famous-by-nicholas-nickleby-dies-at-71-351533\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Playbill.com\u003c/a> says:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\n\u003cp>“\u003cem>Nicholas Nickleby\u003c/em> was unlike anything else ever seen on the London or New York stages when it arrived in the early 1980s. David Edgar adapted Dickens’ 1839 tale of the fortune-tossed, but loyal and good-hearted Nicholas who, after losing his father, must struggle to support his mother and sister, all without the help of his uncle Ralph, a heartless businessman.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“John Caird and Trevor Nunn co-directed the piece, which was performed in two parts, each four hours in length, for which audiences had to buy two separate tickets. An unlikely prospect to become a hot ticket, the show became a critical and popular sensation after it opened at the Aldrich Theatre in 1980. It arguably inaugurated an era of marathon theatre spectacles which continues to this day.”\u003c/p>\n\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>Rees is survived by his husband, author Rick Elice. \u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2015 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Roger+Rees%2C+Welsh-Born+Stage%2C+Screen+And+TV+Actor%2C+Dies+At+71&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>In the wake of a bad breakup, journalist and gay activist David Thorpe did what many of us do: He took intense inventory of his own flaws and insecurities, then stepped up one of them into a Thing. A good Thing, as it turns out, whose end result is the charming documentary \u003cem>Do I Sound Gay?\u003c/em>, in which Thorpe wryly treats his anxieties about his “gay” voice as an exercise in self-improvement, and winds up with a compelling portrait of internalized homophobia and liberation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thorpe admits that going in, he was “repelled” by a speech style that makes gay men sound like “braying ninnies.” His efforts to “normalize” his own nasal up-speak with exercises prescribed by a cheery speech pathologist and a Hollywood voice coach are mildly amusing, but they feel a bit like comic filler working too hard. When he broadens his inquiry into widespread assumptions about effeminacy, the story gets a whole lot livelier, more fun, and more illuminating.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R21Fd8-Apf0\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Back in South Carolina’s Bible Belt, where Thorpe grew up, relatives and childhood friends point out that he didn’t sound gay until he came out of the closet in college. Friends within his tight-knit gay circle are more divided: Some confess to hating their lisping, adenoidal voices; others own gayspeak with varying degrees of defiance and jubilation. Thorpe brings in linguists to testify that there’s little evidence to support the argument that gay speech is innate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The explanation that pleases him most is that gay speech has its origins less in biology or neuro-chemistry than in early female influence: Men who grow up mostly around women tend to mimic feminine speech styles — which, Thorpe argues, would explain why some straight men sound gay, and why gays who grow up with brothers often develop basso profundos. That’s a persuasive, if mostly anecdotal thesis as far as it goes. Unless you believe that women lisp more than men do, though, it doesn’t cover the lisping that so many of Thorpe’s friends seem to hate in the way they talk. Yet some also honed their voices — and their ambivalence — from television and classic movie stars who sounded cosmopolitan and sophisticated, or who, like Liberace, turned their effeminacy to their own advantage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Do I Sound Gay?\u003c/em> is very good on the way many gay men who were bullied as children have learned to turn the hatred of others inward, which helps explain cases of gay hyper-masculinity and internal ostracism of effeminate men. The movie’s ending is upbeat, with good reason. Taking his cue from the swelling ranks of gay celebrities (among them George Takei, Margaret Cho and the ineffably funny and candid David Sedaris) who are willing to speak on camera about liberating themselves from their own fears, Thorpe realizes he’s been asking the wrong questions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While he was busy trying to iron out his gay voice, New York State legalized gay marriage, and the film’s release comes just weeks after the Supreme Court legalized gay marriage across the nation. The last word surely belongs to a clip reel of wonderfully high-spirited teenage boys who, far from feeling cowed by the abuse they took as kids, stiffened their spines and took full ownership of their own expressive styles.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>In the wake of a bad breakup, journalist and gay activist David Thorpe did what many of us do: He took intense inventory of his own flaws and insecurities, then stepped up one of them into a Thing. A good Thing, as it turns out, whose end result is the charming documentary \u003cem>Do I Sound Gay?\u003c/em>, in which Thorpe wryly treats his anxieties about his “gay” voice as an exercise in self-improvement, and winds up with a compelling portrait of internalized homophobia and liberation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thorpe admits that going in, he was “repelled” by a speech style that makes gay men sound like “braying ninnies.” His efforts to “normalize” his own nasal up-speak with exercises prescribed by a cheery speech pathologist and a Hollywood voice coach are mildly amusing, but they feel a bit like comic filler working too hard. When he broadens his inquiry into widespread assumptions about effeminacy, the story gets a whole lot livelier, more fun, and more illuminating.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/R21Fd8-Apf0'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/R21Fd8-Apf0'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Back in South Carolina’s Bible Belt, where Thorpe grew up, relatives and childhood friends point out that he didn’t sound gay until he came out of the closet in college. Friends within his tight-knit gay circle are more divided: Some confess to hating their lisping, adenoidal voices; others own gayspeak with varying degrees of defiance and jubilation. Thorpe brings in linguists to testify that there’s little evidence to support the argument that gay speech is innate.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The explanation that pleases him most is that gay speech has its origins less in biology or neuro-chemistry than in early female influence: Men who grow up mostly around women tend to mimic feminine speech styles — which, Thorpe argues, would explain why some straight men sound gay, and why gays who grow up with brothers often develop basso profundos. That’s a persuasive, if mostly anecdotal thesis as far as it goes. Unless you believe that women lisp more than men do, though, it doesn’t cover the lisping that so many of Thorpe’s friends seem to hate in the way they talk. Yet some also honed their voices — and their ambivalence — from television and classic movie stars who sounded cosmopolitan and sophisticated, or who, like Liberace, turned their effeminacy to their own advantage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>One of the most outstanding and challenging new bits of music I’ve heard this year comes from Makeunder, the project of Hamilton Ulmer, an Oakland-based musician with a penchant for exploration. “Great Headless Blank” was the inspired track \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/sections/allsongs/2015/04/14/399457829/new-mix-built-to-spill-milk-carton-kids-brown-bird-protomartyr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">we played\u003c/a> on \u003cem>All Songs Considered\u003c/em> back in April, now it’s the title track to Makeunder’s latest EP, which we are proudly premiering here, along with track-by-track thoughts from Hamilton Ulmer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’m a firm believer in falling for music on its own terms. I often listen to music not knowing who I’m listening to, since knowing often comes with personal bias. What I heard felt like it could have come from Dirty Projectors, only this got even weirder than that. “Great Headless Blank” is punctuated by sax and claps that glue the off-kilter soaring vocals like fingers holding onto a cliff. I sensed the song was about desperation and hope but honestly I was simply fascinated by a sound filled with choral harmonies and influences that could include \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/15228868/bela-bartok\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Béla Bartók\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/15393592/ornette-coleman\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ornette Coleman\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/15321830/talking-heads\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Talking Heads\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Well, Hamilton wrote to us to tell us the tale of this remarkable debut EP, and oh god, it’s simply full of tragedy and reflection. Thankfully, it’s not depressing; musically it’s quite inspiring. So dig in. If you’re like me, listen first and read Ulmer’s words after. Whatever works. This is thoughtfully crafted music with a good soul at its heart. \u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Makeunder, ‘Great Headless Blank’\u003c/h2>\n\u003chr>\n\u003ch3>Great Headless Bank\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>“When I was 26, my oldest brother fell into a coma after a motorcycle accident, both of my grandfathers died within months of each other and my father passed away from lung cancer, forcing my mother to sell her belongings and home so she could pay her debts – all in the span of a year. These songs represent a few scenes from that period.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Six months after it all ended, I was jetlagged and wide awake in a hotel room in San Francisco at 3:00 a.m., locked out of my apartment after flying in from London. Sometimes absurd, frustrating situations pull you away from what’s in front of you. I had the beginning of an Emily Dickinson poem floating in my head: ‘Pain has an element of blank; / It cannot recollect / When it began, or if there was / A time when it was not.’ There was no chance I’d get any sleep, so I pulled out my laptop, opened a Logic session and wrote a sketch of this song, singing all the parts into my laptop microphone. It took me another year before I felt ready to record it more seriously. At the time, an engineer friend and I took unbooked days at his studio and I’d freestyle the arrangement myself using whatever instruments were lying around, pulling in a few folks for parts I couldn’t do. At first I had no idea what to do with the finished song, and figured I had said all I cared to about this terrible period of my life. But then several more songs began to flow out of me, and I realized I wasn’t finished addressing the trauma on my own terms.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://www.npr.org/player/embed/417727920/417775368\" width=\"100%\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003ch3>Far From The Sober West\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>“If you get on I-10 in Los Angeles, drive thirteen hundred miles straight across the stark, arid, moon-like margins of America, and exit the highway just past the Hill Country, you’ll end up a few minutes away from my childhood home in San Antonio. And if you drive straight through, it only takes about twenty-two hours. My family knew the route well, having first made it when we moved from California to Texas in my parents’ rickety white Ford Econoline in the late ’80s, a trailer in tow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This song is about my siblings driving my cancer ridden father one more time along the desert stretch so he could die in his own home, at peace and in hospice. My parents had attended my maternal grandfather’s funeral in Palm Springs, taking a detour in Bakersfield to visit my father’s parents, when my dad’s labored breathing grew too heavy. A trip to a clinic revealed large growths in his lungs. He rushed into a round of chemotherapy right then, just before his own father passed away in his sleep in the room adjacent to his. We could hardly afford the time to acknowledge how everything was crumbling around us. My sister rented an SUV, loaded it with a battery-powered respirator and a few oxygen tanks, and drove in shifts with my brother while my parents sat in the back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The production of this song was troubled from the start. With the exception of the percussion, I recorded almost everything in my bedroom studio using two different microphones, which was also how I produced most of the other songs on this EP, with the exception of the title track. I pulled several favors to record strings, woodwinds, dozens of voices, modular synth patches and swarms of guitars. It demanded a dozen rewrites. I maxed out Logic Pro completely while recording it, and Pro Tools while mixing it. I’m not sure anyone understood or believed in this song while we were making it. But I love it more than anything else on this EP by a mile.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://www.npr.org/player/embed/417727920/417775408\" width=\"100%\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003ch3>Window-Mounted Frigidaire\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>“While my siblings brought my father back across the southwest, I flew home to pare down my parents’ possessions and disinfect every surface. Sorting through boxes of financial documents, filling garbage bags with useless stuff held on to for no good reason, it was the first time I was alone since the diagnosis the week before. I resented my dad for his lifelong chain-smoking habit, resented my parents for choosing a lifestyle that led to financial instability and helplessly falling into debt and felt sorry for myself for ever being born into any of it. And I was embarrassed to be carrying such anger when they were counting on me to begin dismantling their house.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“After cleaning all day I’d fire up Logic Pro and record songs about my recently deceased grandfather’s journey to America with the saxophone and violin I had just inherited from him, using my laptop’s internal microphone. Those recordings became Makeunder’s first EP. My only company at night was the window unit that kept my bedroom livable during the Texas summer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://www.npr.org/player/embed/417727920/417775828\" width=\"100%\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003ch3>Inevitable Conclusion\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>“I fell into an intense, passionate relationship with a British woman when I returned to San Francisco after cleaning my parent’s home. Not long after meeting we fantasized about marriage, who would live where and when, starting a band, traveling together. Tragedy sometimes has a way of planting your feet solidly in the moment, and you take what is in front of you and throw yourself into it. But after my father died and her visa waiver expired, we found ourselves in different countries and I finally felt the weight of grief. There was no way I could leave the country. She held that against me, and we rode through a painful long-distance relationship for two years. I always figured that if I could find peace with my dad’s death, I’d move to London in a heartbeat and we’d pick up where we left off. The irony, of course, was that the bliss that defined that first month was long gone after all the back and forth. And at any rate, when I finally told her I was ready to give up my life and move to London for her, she’d met someone else.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://www.npr.org/player/embed/417727920/417775883\" width=\"100%\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003ch3>Plain Tendency\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>“I was nearly done recording the EP when I had decided that I needed to add this one. It wasn’t planned, and I’m sure it frustrated everyone who wanted the record done sooner, but the story would have felt incomplete if I hadn’t. I holed up all alone in my studio for three weeks, working through it with my voice, rewrite after rewrite, through considerable tears. It felt right that the most mournful song would be the barest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The inspiration for the song came from watching my father take his last breath at 5:00 a.m., the hospice nurse solemnly informing us that he’d finally reached the end of his suffering. The earth didn’t shake. Time didn’t stand still. We could hear birds faintly chirping outside as they had before. Death doesn’t visit. It’s always present. It just happens. It’s indifferent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“After I finished recording the song, I only listened to it two or three more times to check the mix and master. I’d be content to never hear it again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://www.npr.org/player/embed/417727920/417775979\" width=\"100%\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003ch3>What A Lovely Bandsaw!\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>“‘What A Lovely Bandsaw!’ describes the weekend where my family held an estate sale to part with my father’s tools & belongings, so my mother could pay off her liens and put the home on the market. We watched hundreds of acquaintances and strangers rummage through every box, corner and cabinet, while we struggled to put a price on things my mother never thought she’d have to sell: finished works of art, handmade furniture, gouges, chisels, saws, a menagerie of power tools. Some we hardly understood how to value, others were important set pieces in my childhood memories.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My parents never felt like they belonged in Texas and my father likened their mortgage to a prison sentence. They would have been happy to abandon the house and get the hell out of San Antonio for good. In the end, however, it was impossible not to feel overwhelmed as the home quickly disappeared, piece by piece, before we even had a chance to come to terms with everything we’d lost.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://www.npr.org/player/embed/417727920/417776111\" width=\"100%\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2015 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Read+The+Overwhelming%2C+Tragic+Story+Of+Makeunder%27s+%27Great+Headless+Blank%27+EP&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>One of the most outstanding and challenging new bits of music I’ve heard this year comes from Makeunder, the project of Hamilton Ulmer, an Oakland-based musician with a penchant for exploration. “Great Headless Blank” was the inspired track \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/sections/allsongs/2015/04/14/399457829/new-mix-built-to-spill-milk-carton-kids-brown-bird-protomartyr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">we played\u003c/a> on \u003cem>All Songs Considered\u003c/em> back in April, now it’s the title track to Makeunder’s latest EP, which we are proudly premiering here, along with track-by-track thoughts from Hamilton Ulmer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’m a firm believer in falling for music on its own terms. I often listen to music not knowing who I’m listening to, since knowing often comes with personal bias. What I heard felt like it could have come from Dirty Projectors, only this got even weirder than that. “Great Headless Blank” is punctuated by sax and claps that glue the off-kilter soaring vocals like fingers holding onto a cliff. I sensed the song was about desperation and hope but honestly I was simply fascinated by a sound filled with choral harmonies and influences that could include \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/15228868/bela-bartok\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Béla Bartók\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/15393592/ornette-coleman\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ornette Coleman\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/15321830/talking-heads\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Talking Heads\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Well, Hamilton wrote to us to tell us the tale of this remarkable debut EP, and oh god, it’s simply full of tragedy and reflection. Thankfully, it’s not depressing; musically it’s quite inspiring. So dig in. If you’re like me, listen first and read Ulmer’s words after. Whatever works. This is thoughtfully crafted music with a good soul at its heart. \u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Makeunder, ‘Great Headless Blank’\u003c/h2>\n\u003chr>\n\u003ch3>Great Headless Bank\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>“When I was 26, my oldest brother fell into a coma after a motorcycle accident, both of my grandfathers died within months of each other and my father passed away from lung cancer, forcing my mother to sell her belongings and home so she could pay her debts – all in the span of a year. These songs represent a few scenes from that period.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Six months after it all ended, I was jetlagged and wide awake in a hotel room in San Francisco at 3:00 a.m., locked out of my apartment after flying in from London. Sometimes absurd, frustrating situations pull you away from what’s in front of you. I had the beginning of an Emily Dickinson poem floating in my head: ‘Pain has an element of blank; / It cannot recollect / When it began, or if there was / A time when it was not.’ There was no chance I’d get any sleep, so I pulled out my laptop, opened a Logic session and wrote a sketch of this song, singing all the parts into my laptop microphone. It took me another year before I felt ready to record it more seriously. At the time, an engineer friend and I took unbooked days at his studio and I’d freestyle the arrangement myself using whatever instruments were lying around, pulling in a few folks for parts I couldn’t do. At first I had no idea what to do with the finished song, and figured I had said all I cared to about this terrible period of my life. But then several more songs began to flow out of me, and I realized I wasn’t finished addressing the trauma on my own terms.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://www.npr.org/player/embed/417727920/417775368\" width=\"100%\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003ch3>Far From The Sober West\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>“If you get on I-10 in Los Angeles, drive thirteen hundred miles straight across the stark, arid, moon-like margins of America, and exit the highway just past the Hill Country, you’ll end up a few minutes away from my childhood home in San Antonio. And if you drive straight through, it only takes about twenty-two hours. My family knew the route well, having first made it when we moved from California to Texas in my parents’ rickety white Ford Econoline in the late ’80s, a trailer in tow.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This song is about my siblings driving my cancer ridden father one more time along the desert stretch so he could die in his own home, at peace and in hospice. My parents had attended my maternal grandfather’s funeral in Palm Springs, taking a detour in Bakersfield to visit my father’s parents, when my dad’s labored breathing grew too heavy. A trip to a clinic revealed large growths in his lungs. He rushed into a round of chemotherapy right then, just before his own father passed away in his sleep in the room adjacent to his. We could hardly afford the time to acknowledge how everything was crumbling around us. My sister rented an SUV, loaded it with a battery-powered respirator and a few oxygen tanks, and drove in shifts with my brother while my parents sat in the back.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The production of this song was troubled from the start. With the exception of the percussion, I recorded almost everything in my bedroom studio using two different microphones, which was also how I produced most of the other songs on this EP, with the exception of the title track. I pulled several favors to record strings, woodwinds, dozens of voices, modular synth patches and swarms of guitars. It demanded a dozen rewrites. I maxed out Logic Pro completely while recording it, and Pro Tools while mixing it. I’m not sure anyone understood or believed in this song while we were making it. But I love it more than anything else on this EP by a mile.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://www.npr.org/player/embed/417727920/417775408\" width=\"100%\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003ch3>Window-Mounted Frigidaire\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>“While my siblings brought my father back across the southwest, I flew home to pare down my parents’ possessions and disinfect every surface. Sorting through boxes of financial documents, filling garbage bags with useless stuff held on to for no good reason, it was the first time I was alone since the diagnosis the week before. I resented my dad for his lifelong chain-smoking habit, resented my parents for choosing a lifestyle that led to financial instability and helplessly falling into debt and felt sorry for myself for ever being born into any of it. And I was embarrassed to be carrying such anger when they were counting on me to begin dismantling their house.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“After cleaning all day I’d fire up Logic Pro and record songs about my recently deceased grandfather’s journey to America with the saxophone and violin I had just inherited from him, using my laptop’s internal microphone. Those recordings became Makeunder’s first EP. My only company at night was the window unit that kept my bedroom livable during the Texas summer.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://www.npr.org/player/embed/417727920/417775828\" width=\"100%\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003ch3>Inevitable Conclusion\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>“I fell into an intense, passionate relationship with a British woman when I returned to San Francisco after cleaning my parent’s home. Not long after meeting we fantasized about marriage, who would live where and when, starting a band, traveling together. Tragedy sometimes has a way of planting your feet solidly in the moment, and you take what is in front of you and throw yourself into it. But after my father died and her visa waiver expired, we found ourselves in different countries and I finally felt the weight of grief. There was no way I could leave the country. She held that against me, and we rode through a painful long-distance relationship for two years. I always figured that if I could find peace with my dad’s death, I’d move to London in a heartbeat and we’d pick up where we left off. The irony, of course, was that the bliss that defined that first month was long gone after all the back and forth. And at any rate, when I finally told her I was ready to give up my life and move to London for her, she’d met someone else.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://www.npr.org/player/embed/417727920/417775883\" width=\"100%\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003ch3>Plain Tendency\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>“I was nearly done recording the EP when I had decided that I needed to add this one. It wasn’t planned, and I’m sure it frustrated everyone who wanted the record done sooner, but the story would have felt incomplete if I hadn’t. I holed up all alone in my studio for three weeks, working through it with my voice, rewrite after rewrite, through considerable tears. It felt right that the most mournful song would be the barest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The inspiration for the song came from watching my father take his last breath at 5:00 a.m., the hospice nurse solemnly informing us that he’d finally reached the end of his suffering. The earth didn’t shake. Time didn’t stand still. We could hear birds faintly chirping outside as they had before. Death doesn’t visit. It’s always present. It just happens. It’s indifferent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“After I finished recording the song, I only listened to it two or three more times to check the mix and master. I’d be content to never hear it again.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://www.npr.org/player/embed/417727920/417775979\" width=\"100%\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003ch3>What A Lovely Bandsaw!\u003c/h3>\n\u003cp>“‘What A Lovely Bandsaw!’ describes the weekend where my family held an estate sale to part with my father’s tools & belongings, so my mother could pay off her liens and put the home on the market. We watched hundreds of acquaintances and strangers rummage through every box, corner and cabinet, while we struggled to put a price on things my mother never thought she’d have to sell: finished works of art, handmade furniture, gouges, chisels, saws, a menagerie of power tools. Some we hardly understood how to value, others were important set pieces in my childhood memories.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“My parents never felt like they belonged in Texas and my father likened their mortgage to a prison sentence. They would have been happy to abandon the house and get the hell out of San Antonio for good. In the end, however, it was impossible not to feel overwhelmed as the home quickly disappeared, piece by piece, before we even had a chance to come to terms with everything we’d lost.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://www.npr.org/player/embed/417727920/417776111\" width=\"100%\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2015 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Read+The+Overwhelming%2C+Tragic+Story+Of+Makeunder%27s+%27Great+Headless+Blank%27+EP&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Caine Prize Winner: Literature is Not a Competitive Sport",
"headTitle": "Caine Prize Winner: Literature is Not a Competitive Sport | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Newly named Caine Prize winner Namwali Serpell says that her “act of mutiny” — as she calls it — was premeditated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.caineprize.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The literary prize\u003c/a>, awarded annually to just one African writer for a short story written in English, comes with a financial reward — just over $15,000. The Zambian writer says she’d dreamed up her mutiny days before the Monday ceremony: If she should win, she’d split that sum with her fellow nominees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s such a wonderful group of people, such a cohesive group of writers,” she says in an interview with NPR. “And it just felt weird and sad that we were now going to be pitted against each other in some kind of battle royal. I think, for the writers obviously, literature’s not a competitive sport.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Serpell, 34, won this year’s prize for “The Sack” — a story that’s as subtle as it is blunt, claustrophobia and regret cinching up around the reader’s ears as the plot shifts and twists in little ways. And while the author might not take home a larger purse than the other shortlisters, she does have something else to show for herself: an effusive citation from the award’s lead judge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It yields fresh meaning with every reading,” says panel chairwoman Zoe Wicomb in a statement. “Formally innovative, stylistically stunning, haunting and enigmatic in its effects.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was a bit shocked,” says Serpell, recalling her reaction at the ceremony when she was named the winner. Her family had been following along in Lusaka, Zambia — by the glow of cellphones and candlelight, as it turns out, because there had been a blackout in the area. “I was mostly trying to keep it together long enough to do my acceptance speech.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Serpell left Lusaka when she was still young, leaving the city with her family at age 9. Despite returning for a year in her teens, Serpell has spent much of her life in the U.S. — studying literature at Harvard and Yale, and now teaching the subject at the University of California, Berkeley. Though she lives in California, she has visited Lusaka every year since her family returned in 2002.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The place she comes back to isn’t exactly the same as the one she left.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Gertrude Stein is famous for having said about Oakland, Calif.: ‘There’s no there there.’ But what she’s actually referring to is that her childhood home had burned down, and when she went to where it used to be, she said there’s no there there,” says Serpell.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Sometimes I feel that way when I go home.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dirt roads she once tread with friends have been paved, traffic clogs the streets as it never had before, and even on a broader scale, an influx of Chinese immigration and investment has rendered the city radically changed from her childhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And yet, at times she’s expected to answer for this childhood home she now infrequently visits, or more remarkably, for the literature of an entire continent — and no more so than in weeks like these.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“None of us really like being asked the question, ‘Why are you an African writer?’ ” she says of herself and her fellow shortlisters. “Or ‘\u003cem>Are\u003c/em> you an African writer?’ Or, ‘What is Africa and life itself?’ But we’ve been getting these all week.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The questions, in some ways, are intrinsic to the prize itself. Named for British patron Sir Michael Harris Caine (no, not \u003cem>that \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/2013/05/30/187296744/michael-caine-i-spent-my-life-doing-something-that-i-love\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sir Michael Caine\u003c/a>) and awarded in Oxford University’s Bodleian Library, the Caine Prize has occasionally \u003ca href=\"http://bostonreview.net/fiction/varieties-blackness\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">attracted criticism\u003c/a> — even from \u003ca href=\"https://storify.com/brittlepaper/binyavanga-caineprize-beef\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">past winners\u003c/a> — alternately for not representing the best of African writing, or for being expected to represent \u003cem>too much\u003c/em>. As a prize born on an island, it faces the difficult task of recognizing just one story from an entire continent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As another nominee for this year’s prize, Elnathan John, put the matter in \u003ca href=\"http://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2015/jul/02/caine-prize-african-writing-any-questions\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Guardian\u003c/a> last week: “I would prefer not to be a spokesperson at all. Whether for Africa or African writing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think that tension is acknowledged by both the writers shortlisted and the Caine Prize itself. It’s also a tension that, I have to admit, is kind of intrinsic to who I am because my father is British of origin,” Serpell says. “I think that kind of conflict inside can be a source of criticism, but it can also be a source of productive and interesting clashes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though, she says, one step toward resolving some of these difficulties is by simply having more literary prizes on the continent. She lists several collectives and magazines — like South Africa’s \u003ca href=\"http://www.chimurenga.co.za/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Chimurenga\u003c/a> and Kenya’s \u003ca href=\"http://www.kwani.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kwani?\u003c/a> — as proof of a publishing industry that’s already thriving from the ground up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Having a prize next to the Caine Prize rather than one to displace it, I think, would be the ideal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For now, though, she’s thrilled with the prize — and, by laying down her newly earned winnings, splitting them up and diminishing the duel between writers, she says she’s also taking steps toward that change herself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That and, well, also creating a little insurance plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I keep joking to the other shortlisted writers that if I’m ever unemployed,” she laughs, “I will be calling them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.caineprize.com/pdf/2015%20The%20Sack%20-%20Namwali%20Serpell.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003ci>Read the “The Sack,” the Caine Prize-winning story.\u003c/i>\u003c/a> \u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2015 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Caine+Prize+Winner%3A+Literature+Is+Not+A+Competitive+Sport&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Newly named Caine Prize winner Namwali Serpell says that her “act of mutiny” — as she calls it — was premeditated.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.caineprize.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The literary prize\u003c/a>, awarded annually to just one African writer for a short story written in English, comes with a financial reward — just over $15,000. The Zambian writer says she’d dreamed up her mutiny days before the Monday ceremony: If she should win, she’d split that sum with her fellow nominees.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s such a wonderful group of people, such a cohesive group of writers,” she says in an interview with NPR. “And it just felt weird and sad that we were now going to be pitted against each other in some kind of battle royal. I think, for the writers obviously, literature’s not a competitive sport.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Serpell, 34, won this year’s prize for “The Sack” — a story that’s as subtle as it is blunt, claustrophobia and regret cinching up around the reader’s ears as the plot shifts and twists in little ways. And while the author might not take home a larger purse than the other shortlisters, she does have something else to show for herself: an effusive citation from the award’s lead judge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It yields fresh meaning with every reading,” says panel chairwoman Zoe Wicomb in a statement. “Formally innovative, stylistically stunning, haunting and enigmatic in its effects.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I was a bit shocked,” says Serpell, recalling her reaction at the ceremony when she was named the winner. Her family had been following along in Lusaka, Zambia — by the glow of cellphones and candlelight, as it turns out, because there had been a blackout in the area. “I was mostly trying to keep it together long enough to do my acceptance speech.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Serpell left Lusaka when she was still young, leaving the city with her family at age 9. Despite returning for a year in her teens, Serpell has spent much of her life in the U.S. — studying literature at Harvard and Yale, and now teaching the subject at the University of California, Berkeley. Though she lives in California, she has visited Lusaka every year since her family returned in 2002.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The place she comes back to isn’t exactly the same as the one she left.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Gertrude Stein is famous for having said about Oakland, Calif.: ‘There’s no there there.’ But what she’s actually referring to is that her childhood home had burned down, and when she went to where it used to be, she said there’s no there there,” says Serpell.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Sometimes I feel that way when I go home.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dirt roads she once tread with friends have been paved, traffic clogs the streets as it never had before, and even on a broader scale, an influx of Chinese immigration and investment has rendered the city radically changed from her childhood.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And yet, at times she’s expected to answer for this childhood home she now infrequently visits, or more remarkably, for the literature of an entire continent — and no more so than in weeks like these.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“None of us really like being asked the question, ‘Why are you an African writer?’ ” she says of herself and her fellow shortlisters. “Or ‘\u003cem>Are\u003c/em> you an African writer?’ Or, ‘What is Africa and life itself?’ But we’ve been getting these all week.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The questions, in some ways, are intrinsic to the prize itself. Named for British patron Sir Michael Harris Caine (no, not \u003cem>that \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/2013/05/30/187296744/michael-caine-i-spent-my-life-doing-something-that-i-love\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sir Michael Caine\u003c/a>) and awarded in Oxford University’s Bodleian Library, the Caine Prize has occasionally \u003ca href=\"http://bostonreview.net/fiction/varieties-blackness\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">attracted criticism\u003c/a> — even from \u003ca href=\"https://storify.com/brittlepaper/binyavanga-caineprize-beef\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">past winners\u003c/a> — alternately for not representing the best of African writing, or for being expected to represent \u003cem>too much\u003c/em>. As a prize born on an island, it faces the difficult task of recognizing just one story from an entire continent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As another nominee for this year’s prize, Elnathan John, put the matter in \u003ca href=\"http://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2015/jul/02/caine-prize-african-writing-any-questions\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Guardian\u003c/a> last week: “I would prefer not to be a spokesperson at all. Whether for Africa or African writing.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I think that tension is acknowledged by both the writers shortlisted and the Caine Prize itself. It’s also a tension that, I have to admit, is kind of intrinsic to who I am because my father is British of origin,” Serpell says. “I think that kind of conflict inside can be a source of criticism, but it can also be a source of productive and interesting clashes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though, she says, one step toward resolving some of these difficulties is by simply having more literary prizes on the continent. She lists several collectives and magazines — like South Africa’s \u003ca href=\"http://www.chimurenga.co.za/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Chimurenga\u003c/a> and Kenya’s \u003ca href=\"http://www.kwani.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kwani?\u003c/a> — as proof of a publishing industry that’s already thriving from the ground up.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Having a prize next to the Caine Prize rather than one to displace it, I think, would be the ideal.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For now, though, she’s thrilled with the prize — and, by laying down her newly earned winnings, splitting them up and diminishing the duel between writers, she says she’s also taking steps toward that change herself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That and, well, also creating a little insurance plan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I keep joking to the other shortlisted writers that if I’m ever unemployed,” she laughs, “I will be calling them.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.caineprize.com/pdf/2015%20The%20Sack%20-%20Namwali%20Serpell.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u003ci>Read the “The Sack,” the Caine Prize-winning story.\u003c/i>\u003c/a> \u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2015 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Caine+Prize+Winner%3A+Literature+Is+Not+A+Competitive+Sport&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Peruvians Love Their Chicha Street Art. The Government ... Not So Much",
"headTitle": "Peruvians Love Their Chicha Street Art. The Government … Not So Much | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>Elliot Tupac is bringing the street art of Peru to Washington, D.C.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A brush in one hand, a can of spray paint in the other, a tanned \u003ca href=\"http://www.elliottupac.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Tupac\u003c/a> is emblazoning the word “Libertad” — Spanish for freedom — in big bold letters. Their neon colors are so intense they could practically glow in the dark.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The art he’s creating is called chicha. It’s definitely fun to look at it. And it turns out to be a bit controversial as well. In March, the government of Peru painted over a Tupac mural with the words “Antes sonaba” (I used to dream) and many other street murals in a historic district in Lima. The reasons are unclear; the government reportedly says it was trying to preserve the historic district.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As for Tupac, he just keeps on making chicha-style murals. That’s why the \u003ca href=\"http://www.festival.si.edu/2015/peru/performing-and-visual-arts/urban-art-and-music/smithsonian\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Smithsonian Folklife Festival\u003c/a> brought him to town for its celebration of Peruvian culture.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’ve not been to Peru (or the festival), you may be wondering: What exactly is chicha?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The word itself has a murky origin. In Latin America, most people use it to refer to a popular fermented corn \u003ca href=\"http://www.festival.si.edu/2015/peru/foodways/smithsonian\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">drink\u003c/a>. Some say it’s derived from the word for maize (\u003cem>chichab\u003c/em> in Kuna, a Colombian language) or fermented water (\u003cem>chichiatl\u003c/em> in Nahutl, an Aztec language).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in Peru, chicha is more than just a drink. It’s a \u003ca href=\"http://www.festival.si.edu/2015/peru/performing-and-visual-arts/urban-art-and-music/smithsonian\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">music\u003c/a> genre that uses rock ‘n’ roll instruments like \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15400402\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">electric guitars\u003c/a> and synthesizers to rock out funky beats and folk melodies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ow_OjkSLZDI\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Chicha started out as a music movement in the ’60s,” says Cristina Díaz-Carrera, co-curator of the 2015 Smithsonian Folklife Festival. It sprang from Cumbia, a “catchy” dance music that started out in Colombia. Peruvians added local rhythms, instruments, melodies and dance moves and renamed it “chicha.” In the ’90s, says Diaz-Carrera, the Ministry of Culture in Peru recognized chicha as a valid art form.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alfredo Villar, a Peruvian art historian and a participant at the festival, called chicha “the contemporary baroque.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s overloaded with information. It’s an explosion of color and sound,” Villar says of the music, “It’s like a carnival.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many of the fans are migrants from the central Andean valley regions of Peru — the Huancayo, who’d flocked to cities like Lima as a result of the \u003ca href=\"https://books.google.com/books?id=UA84AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA26&lpg=PA26&dq=huancayo+land+reform&source=bl&ots=ez78l7XcFv&sig=hkm6MfR0REIRUqV3Z4YRg0izjWk&hl=en&sa=X&ei=uIqVVY_hGMK5ggSLv7vYBw&ved=0CCgQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=huancayo%20land%20reform&f=false\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">land reform\u003c/a> in the 1940s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With the music came the art — first posters advertising concerts, then murals with a message.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The look of chicha is credited to Los Shapis, an ’80s band, which wore brightly colored outfits inspired by embroidery from their native Huancayo region. Other groups loved the look. And bands began working with street artists to create posters that captured their essence and style with \u003ca href=\"http://www.festival.si.edu/blog/2015/chicha-art-ancestral-colors-modern-designs/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">neon\u003c/a>-bright colors and big letters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But not everyone in Peru approved of the music and the street art it spawned.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Chicha was actually a disparaging word in the beginning. The lower class listens to this music,” Díaz-Carrera says, “the art and everything associated with it, if you’re in the upper class you didn’t want it on your street.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These class tensions remain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The elite don’t like chicha art, especially when it’s in the streets,” Villar says. “They’re changing a little bit, but I don’t think there’s sincere change.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The murals offer these communities a way to express themselves, to communicate with each other, and appreciate art outside of the museum setting, says Alexia Fawcett, community engagement manager for the Folklife Festival.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10825145\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/07/n77a8474-9_custom-c88d0627f5549702c8dc173cbe3ed99916a83768-800x533.jpg\" alt=\""Monky" silk screens posters for some of Peru's top chicha bands. (Photo by Joshua Cogan)\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-10825145\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/07/n77a8474-9_custom-c88d0627f5549702c8dc173cbe3ed99916a83768-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/07/n77a8474-9_custom-c88d0627f5549702c8dc173cbe3ed99916a83768-400x266.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/07/n77a8474-9_custom-c88d0627f5549702c8dc173cbe3ed99916a83768-1180x786.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/07/n77a8474-9_custom-c88d0627f5549702c8dc173cbe3ed99916a83768-960x639.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/07/n77a8474-9_custom-c88d0627f5549702c8dc173cbe3ed99916a83768.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">“Monky” silk screens posters for some of Peru’s top chicha bands. (Photo by Joshua Cogan)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>So naturally there was an uproar when the government erased the murals earlier this year. The people of Lima responded on social media with hashtags \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/search?q=%23SalvemosLosMurales&src=typd\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">#SalvemosLosMurales\u003c/a> (save the murals) and \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/search?q=%23BorraronUnoPintaremosMil&src=typd\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">#BorraronUnoPintaremosMil\u003c/a> (they erased one, we’ll paint a thousand) as well as staged protests.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, chicha is finding a global audience. “In other countries we have love and support; they let us do the work we do on the walls,” says Pedro “Monky” Rojas, a chicha pioneer who was also part of the Folklife contingent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tupac has brought his brightly colored artwork to the walls of many countries — Chile, Tunisia and even the United Kingdom a couple of weeks ago. The art is mainly in the streets — “that’s where it has to be,” Tupac says — but he also offers lettering workshops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And despite the Peruvian government’s recent action, chicha continues to flourish in the streets where it was born.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can go to Lima, go to the northern coast, the southern coast,” says Diaz-Carrera. “Chicha is everywhere.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2015 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Peruvians+Love+Their+Chicha+Street+Art.+The+Government+...+Not+So+Much&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Walk down a street in Peru and you'll likely see an example of the glow-in-the-dark posters and murals. Lots of people love them. But the upper crust — and the government — aren't impressed.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Elliot Tupac is bringing the street art of Peru to Washington, D.C.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A brush in one hand, a can of spray paint in the other, a tanned \u003ca href=\"http://www.elliottupac.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Tupac\u003c/a> is emblazoning the word “Libertad” — Spanish for freedom — in big bold letters. Their neon colors are so intense they could practically glow in the dark.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The art he’s creating is called chicha. It’s definitely fun to look at it. And it turns out to be a bit controversial as well. In March, the government of Peru painted over a Tupac mural with the words “Antes sonaba” (I used to dream) and many other street murals in a historic district in Lima. The reasons are unclear; the government reportedly says it was trying to preserve the historic district.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As for Tupac, he just keeps on making chicha-style murals. That’s why the \u003ca href=\"http://www.festival.si.edu/2015/peru/performing-and-visual-arts/urban-art-and-music/smithsonian\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Smithsonian Folklife Festival\u003c/a> brought him to town for its celebration of Peruvian culture.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If you’ve not been to Peru (or the festival), you may be wondering: What exactly is chicha?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The word itself has a murky origin. In Latin America, most people use it to refer to a popular fermented corn \u003ca href=\"http://www.festival.si.edu/2015/peru/foodways/smithsonian\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">drink\u003c/a>. Some say it’s derived from the word for maize (\u003cem>chichab\u003c/em> in Kuna, a Colombian language) or fermented water (\u003cem>chichiatl\u003c/em> in Nahutl, an Aztec language).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in Peru, chicha is more than just a drink. It’s a \u003ca href=\"http://www.festival.si.edu/2015/peru/performing-and-visual-arts/urban-art-and-music/smithsonian\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">music\u003c/a> genre that uses rock ‘n’ roll instruments like \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15400402\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">electric guitars\u003c/a> and synthesizers to rock out funky beats and folk melodies.\u003c/p>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/Ow_OjkSLZDI'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/Ow_OjkSLZDI'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>“Chicha started out as a music movement in the ’60s,” says Cristina Díaz-Carrera, co-curator of the 2015 Smithsonian Folklife Festival. It sprang from Cumbia, a “catchy” dance music that started out in Colombia. Peruvians added local rhythms, instruments, melodies and dance moves and renamed it “chicha.” In the ’90s, says Diaz-Carrera, the Ministry of Culture in Peru recognized chicha as a valid art form.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alfredo Villar, a Peruvian art historian and a participant at the festival, called chicha “the contemporary baroque.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s overloaded with information. It’s an explosion of color and sound,” Villar says of the music, “It’s like a carnival.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many of the fans are migrants from the central Andean valley regions of Peru — the Huancayo, who’d flocked to cities like Lima as a result of the \u003ca href=\"https://books.google.com/books?id=UA84AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA26&lpg=PA26&dq=huancayo+land+reform&source=bl&ots=ez78l7XcFv&sig=hkm6MfR0REIRUqV3Z4YRg0izjWk&hl=en&sa=X&ei=uIqVVY_hGMK5ggSLv7vYBw&ved=0CCgQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=huancayo%20land%20reform&f=false\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">land reform\u003c/a> in the 1940s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With the music came the art — first posters advertising concerts, then murals with a message.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The look of chicha is credited to Los Shapis, an ’80s band, which wore brightly colored outfits inspired by embroidery from their native Huancayo region. Other groups loved the look. And bands began working with street artists to create posters that captured their essence and style with \u003ca href=\"http://www.festival.si.edu/blog/2015/chicha-art-ancestral-colors-modern-designs/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">neon\u003c/a>-bright colors and big letters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But not everyone in Peru approved of the music and the street art it spawned.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Chicha was actually a disparaging word in the beginning. The lower class listens to this music,” Díaz-Carrera says, “the art and everything associated with it, if you’re in the upper class you didn’t want it on your street.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>These class tensions remain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The elite don’t like chicha art, especially when it’s in the streets,” Villar says. “They’re changing a little bit, but I don’t think there’s sincere change.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The murals offer these communities a way to express themselves, to communicate with each other, and appreciate art outside of the museum setting, says Alexia Fawcett, community engagement manager for the Folklife Festival.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_10825145\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/07/n77a8474-9_custom-c88d0627f5549702c8dc173cbe3ed99916a83768-800x533.jpg\" alt=\""Monky" silk screens posters for some of Peru's top chicha bands. (Photo by Joshua Cogan)\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-10825145\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/07/n77a8474-9_custom-c88d0627f5549702c8dc173cbe3ed99916a83768-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/07/n77a8474-9_custom-c88d0627f5549702c8dc173cbe3ed99916a83768-400x266.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/07/n77a8474-9_custom-c88d0627f5549702c8dc173cbe3ed99916a83768-1180x786.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/07/n77a8474-9_custom-c88d0627f5549702c8dc173cbe3ed99916a83768-960x639.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/07/n77a8474-9_custom-c88d0627f5549702c8dc173cbe3ed99916a83768.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">“Monky” silk screens posters for some of Peru’s top chicha bands. (Photo by Joshua Cogan)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>So naturally there was an uproar when the government erased the murals earlier this year. The people of Lima responded on social media with hashtags \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/search?q=%23SalvemosLosMurales&src=typd\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">#SalvemosLosMurales\u003c/a> (save the murals) and \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/search?q=%23BorraronUnoPintaremosMil&src=typd\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">#BorraronUnoPintaremosMil\u003c/a> (they erased one, we’ll paint a thousand) as well as staged protests.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, chicha is finding a global audience. “In other countries we have love and support; they let us do the work we do on the walls,” says Pedro “Monky” Rojas, a chicha pioneer who was also part of the Folklife contingent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Tupac has brought his brightly colored artwork to the walls of many countries — Chile, Tunisia and even the United Kingdom a couple of weeks ago. The art is mainly in the streets — “that’s where it has to be,” Tupac says — but he also offers lettering workshops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And despite the Peruvian government’s recent action, chicha continues to flourish in the streets where it was born.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“You can go to Lima, go to the northern coast, the southern coast,” says Diaz-Carrera. “Chicha is everywhere.” \u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2015 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Peruvians+Love+Their+Chicha+Street+Art.+The+Government+...+Not+So+Much&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "The Cosby Revelation: How a Decade-Old Deposition Came to Light",
"headTitle": "The Cosby Revelation: How a Decade-Old Deposition Came to Light | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>On Monday, a decade-old deposition became the talk of the nation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/07/06/420652103/report-cosby-admitted-giving-woman-sedative-quaaludes\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">As we reported\u003c/a>, in it comedian Bill Cosby admits that he gave sedatives to at least one woman whom he wanted to have sex with.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The deposition was given by Cosby during the discovery phase of a civil lawsuit against the comedian. At the time, the judge presiding over the case sealed the records of the case while lawyers from both sides gathered evidence. While that was going on the two parties came to a settlement, signed a confidentiality agreement and the temporary seal — and the case for that matter — was forgotten.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, how and why did this deposition become public now?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The simple answer is that after accusations of sexual assault re-emerged against Cosby, the Associated Press asked the court to unseal the documents and the court agreed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Legally it’s more interesting. U.S. District Judge Eduardo Robreno \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2158930-cosby-order.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">issued a 25-page memo\u003c/a> outlining his reasoning. Here’s how he explains it:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>— The \u003ca href=\"https://www.paed.uscourts.gov/documents/locrules/civil/cvrules.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">court’s rules\u003c/a> state that unless there is an objection, documents filed in the court will be unsealed automatically two years after the conclusion of litigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>— When the AP filed a request to have the documents unsealed, Cosby’s attorneys objected, saying it would violate Cosby’s right to privacy by making public, among other things, “intimate knowledge about his sex life.” Cosby’s lawyer also argued that the release would embarrass Cosby and would violate the confidentiality agreement signed by the two parties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>— Robreno dismissed all those arguments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>— Perhaps the most intriguing part is that Robreno concluded that Cosby should be thought of as a public servant. Previous courts have held that public servants, or politicians, give up some of the privacy protections afforded to regular citizens or even public figures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>— So, how did Robreno make that leap? He argued that while Cosby is clearly a public figure, when he talks about issues of public policy like unwed mothers and crime, he becomes a “public moralist,” which is akin to being a public servant. Robreno writes:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/07/cosby-order-Q1.jpg\" alt=\"cosby-order-Q1\" width=\"553\" height=\"134\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-10824599\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/07/cosby-order-Q1.jpg 553w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/07/cosby-order-Q1-400x97.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 553px) 100vw, 553px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Later:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/07/cosby-order-Q2.jpg\" alt=\"cosby-order-Q2\" width=\"552\" height=\"231\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-10824600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/07/cosby-order-Q2.jpg 552w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/07/cosby-order-Q2-400x167.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 552px) 100vw, 552px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>— In the footnotes, Robreno specifically points out \u003ca href=\"http://www.eightcitiesmap.com/transcript_bc.htm\">Cosby’s speech\u003c/a> at the 50th anniversary commemoration of the \u003cem>Brown v. Board of Education\u003c/em>. In it, Cosby lays into the black community. Cosby said: “Ladies and gentlemen, in our cities and public schools we have 50 percent drop out. In our own neighborhood, we have men in prison. No longer is a person embarrassed because they’re pregnant without a husband. No longer is a boy considered an embarrassment if he tries to run away from being the father of the unmarried child.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>— The release of these documents, \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2158930-cosby-order.html#document/p19/a225693\">Robreno argues\u003c/a>, is therefore important for the public to weigh “the stark contrast between Bill Cosby, the public moralist and Bill Cosby, the subject of serious allegations concerning improper (and perhaps criminal) conduct …”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>— On the embarrassment claim, the judge counters:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/07/cosby-order-Q3.jpg\" alt=\"cosby-order-Q3\" width=\"546\" height=\"276\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-10824601\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/07/cosby-order-Q3.jpg 546w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/07/cosby-order-Q3-400x202.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 546px) 100vw, 546px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>— Finally, as to the confidentiality agreement, Robreno says the two parties never filed the settlement agreement with the court, so the court has no obligation to honor it: \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/07/cosby-order-Q4.jpg\" alt=\"cosby-order-Q4\" width=\"547\" height=\"314\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-10824602\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/07/cosby-order-Q4.jpg 547w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/07/cosby-order-Q4-400x230.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 547px) 100vw, 547px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2015 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=The+Cosby+Revelation%3A+How+A+Decade-Old+Deposition+Came+To+Light&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>On Monday, a decade-old deposition became the talk of the nation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/07/06/420652103/report-cosby-admitted-giving-woman-sedative-quaaludes\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">As we reported\u003c/a>, in it comedian Bill Cosby admits that he gave sedatives to at least one woman whom he wanted to have sex with.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The deposition was given by Cosby during the discovery phase of a civil lawsuit against the comedian. At the time, the judge presiding over the case sealed the records of the case while lawyers from both sides gathered evidence. While that was going on the two parties came to a settlement, signed a confidentiality agreement and the temporary seal — and the case for that matter — was forgotten.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So, how and why did this deposition become public now?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The simple answer is that after accusations of sexual assault re-emerged against Cosby, the Associated Press asked the court to unseal the documents and the court agreed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Legally it’s more interesting. U.S. District Judge Eduardo Robreno \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2158930-cosby-order.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">issued a 25-page memo\u003c/a> outlining his reasoning. Here’s how he explains it:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>— The \u003ca href=\"https://www.paed.uscourts.gov/documents/locrules/civil/cvrules.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">court’s rules\u003c/a> state that unless there is an objection, documents filed in the court will be unsealed automatically two years after the conclusion of litigation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>— When the AP filed a request to have the documents unsealed, Cosby’s attorneys objected, saying it would violate Cosby’s right to privacy by making public, among other things, “intimate knowledge about his sex life.” Cosby’s lawyer also argued that the release would embarrass Cosby and would violate the confidentiality agreement signed by the two parties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>— Robreno dismissed all those arguments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>— Perhaps the most intriguing part is that Robreno concluded that Cosby should be thought of as a public servant. Previous courts have held that public servants, or politicians, give up some of the privacy protections afforded to regular citizens or even public figures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>— So, how did Robreno make that leap? He argued that while Cosby is clearly a public figure, when he talks about issues of public policy like unwed mothers and crime, he becomes a “public moralist,” which is akin to being a public servant. Robreno writes:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/07/cosby-order-Q1.jpg\" alt=\"cosby-order-Q1\" width=\"553\" height=\"134\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-10824599\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/07/cosby-order-Q1.jpg 553w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/07/cosby-order-Q1-400x97.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 553px) 100vw, 553px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Later:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/07/cosby-order-Q2.jpg\" alt=\"cosby-order-Q2\" width=\"552\" height=\"231\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-10824600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/07/cosby-order-Q2.jpg 552w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/07/cosby-order-Q2-400x167.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 552px) 100vw, 552px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>— In the footnotes, Robreno specifically points out \u003ca href=\"http://www.eightcitiesmap.com/transcript_bc.htm\">Cosby’s speech\u003c/a> at the 50th anniversary commemoration of the \u003cem>Brown v. Board of Education\u003c/em>. In it, Cosby lays into the black community. Cosby said: “Ladies and gentlemen, in our cities and public schools we have 50 percent drop out. In our own neighborhood, we have men in prison. No longer is a person embarrassed because they’re pregnant without a husband. No longer is a boy considered an embarrassment if he tries to run away from being the father of the unmarried child.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>— The release of these documents, \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2158930-cosby-order.html#document/p19/a225693\">Robreno argues\u003c/a>, is therefore important for the public to weigh “the stark contrast between Bill Cosby, the public moralist and Bill Cosby, the subject of serious allegations concerning improper (and perhaps criminal) conduct …”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>— On the embarrassment claim, the judge counters:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/07/cosby-order-Q3.jpg\" alt=\"cosby-order-Q3\" width=\"546\" height=\"276\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-10824601\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/07/cosby-order-Q3.jpg 546w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/07/cosby-order-Q3-400x202.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 546px) 100vw, 546px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>— Finally, as to the confidentiality agreement, Robreno says the two parties never filed the settlement agreement with the court, so the court has no obligation to honor it: \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/07/cosby-order-Q4.jpg\" alt=\"cosby-order-Q4\" width=\"547\" height=\"314\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-10824602\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/07/cosby-order-Q4.jpg 547w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/07/cosby-order-Q4-400x230.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 547px) 100vw, 547px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2015 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=The+Cosby+Revelation%3A+How+A+Decade-Old+Deposition+Came+To+Light&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Producer Jerry Weintraub Dies At 77",
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"content": "\u003cp>Jerry Weintraub, the legendary producer behind such hits as \u003cem>The Karate Kid\u003c/em> and \u003cem>Ocean’s Eleven,\u003c/em> died Monday in Santa Barbara, Calif. He was 77.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cause was cardiac arrest, according to Rogers & Cowan, the PR firm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Weintraub began his career as a talent agent for MCA in the 1950s, representing clients such as Jack Paar. He then became a leading concert promoter, handling acts like Elvis Presley and Bob Dylan. His first production venture was Robert Altman’s \u003cem>Nashville,\u003c/em> which garnered five Academy Award nominations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m not afraid of anything,” Weintraub \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125829398\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">told NPR in a 2010 interview\u003c/a>. “I’m never afraid of failing. I failed many times. Failure only teaches you how to be successful next time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s more from \u003ca href=\"http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/jerry-weintraub-dead-producer-dies-806941\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Hollywood Reporter\u003c/a>:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\n\u003cp>“A promoter and impresario in the old sense, Weintraub was a larger-than-life, Damon Runyon-esque character. A steely, hard-charging personality, he was wildly successful in a ranging entertainment career that spanned over 50 years.”\u003c/p>\n\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2015 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Producer+Jerry+Weintraub+Dies+At+77&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Jerry Weintraub, the legendary producer behind such hits as \u003cem>The Karate Kid\u003c/em> and \u003cem>Ocean’s Eleven,\u003c/em> died Monday in Santa Barbara, Calif. He was 77.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cause was cardiac arrest, according to Rogers & Cowan, the PR firm.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Weintraub began his career as a talent agent for MCA in the 1950s, representing clients such as Jack Paar. He then became a leading concert promoter, handling acts like Elvis Presley and Bob Dylan. His first production venture was Robert Altman’s \u003cem>Nashville,\u003c/em> which garnered five Academy Award nominations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m not afraid of anything,” Weintraub \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125829398\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">told NPR in a 2010 interview\u003c/a>. “I’m never afraid of failing. I failed many times. Failure only teaches you how to be successful next time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s more from \u003ca href=\"http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/jerry-weintraub-dead-producer-dies-806941\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Hollywood Reporter\u003c/a>:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\n\u003cp>“A promoter and impresario in the old sense, Weintraub was a larger-than-life, Damon Runyon-esque character. A steely, hard-charging personality, he was wildly successful in a ranging entertainment career that spanned over 50 years.”\u003c/p>\n\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2015 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Producer+Jerry+Weintraub+Dies+At+77&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "After Sketchy Science, Shark Week Promises to Turn Over a New Fin",
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"content": "\u003cp>It has been called the “Super Bowl of the ocean.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shark Week is a ratings bonanza for the Discovery Channel with more than 40 million people tuning in last year. Shark Week \u003ca href=\"http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/shark-week/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">kicked off this weekend\u003c/a> with the most hours of programming ever in its 28-year history But many scientists think the huge audiences — and the hype — have come at the expense of real science.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A generation of shark scientists cut their teeth on Shark Week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve loved sharks since I was a little kid,” says 29-year-old marine biologist Jonathan Davis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve always dreamed of being on Shark Week,” he says. “It was my ultimate goal when I was a kid. I always watched it, and it was extremely informative when I was younger.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So imagine Davis’ joy when Shark Week producers called him two years ago to make a documentary, which they said would be about his research on bull sharks in Louisiana’s Lake Pontchartrain. As a graduate student at the University of New Orleans, Davis was thrilled when they paid for a day of tracking and tagging sharks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The producers interviewed Davis about his work and at the end, he says, they casually asked if he ever heard of a legendary shark of the bayous called the Rooken.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And I said, ‘No, of course not. That sounds like a ridiculous fisherman story,’ ” Davis says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You can guess what happened next. To his horror, Davis found himself \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/2014/08/30/344562317/when-wildlife-documentaries-jump-the-shark\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">featured on a “documentary”\u003c/a> that had little to do with his research.\u003cem> Voodoo Shark\u003c/em> strongly suggested that Davis believed in the Rooken.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s no way I could’ve known they were going to portray it like that,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Voodoo Shark\u003c/em> shows Davis and his team doing real research, pulling sharks out of the water and tagging them on the deck. Davis says he did not see any unusual sharks. What was unusual was a producer’s reaction when they hooked a big one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One of the guys was like, “Oh, maybe you should just let it bite you, that would be so exciting.’ And I was just thinking to myself, ‘Are you kidding me? You really think I wanna let the shark bite me just for ratings? Are you serious?’ ”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ellen Prager, a marine scientist who has taught at the University of Miami and writes books for children about sharks, says she and her colleagues have a list of things that drive them crazy about Shark Week, such as the emphasis on sharks attacking people and feeding frenzies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s not what you typically see in nature,” Prager says. “And in fact, some of the shark researchers I know have hardly ever even seen sharks feeding in the wild.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then there’s the frenzy of factual errors. David Shiffman, who studies sharks at the University of Miami, has spent the past few years calling out Shark Week in public.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Shark Week two years ago did not appreciate it when I recommended an 8-year-old neighbor to fact check the scripts for them,” he says. “Because that 8-year-old knew more about sharks than whoever was writing those scripts did.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All these scientists agree that Shark Week hit bottom two years ago with an infamous, fictionalized “documentary” about a 100-foot, 80-ton shark they called “the serial killer of the seas.”\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">\nIt was presented in such a way that you could very easily watch it and not know it was fictional.\u003cbr>\n\u003ccite>Scientist David Shiffman on ‘Megalodon’\u003c/cite>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>That shark, named Megalodon, also happens to be extinct — and has been for more than a million years. But Discovery resurrected Megalodon, with made-up stories of sightings and attacks. The narrator even threw in some exciting Nazi connections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If the shark that’s in the Nazi U-boat photo is in fact the same shark that’s in the shark iPhoto that was taken just after the boat attack, then that means there’s been a 50-ton monster in these waters for over 70 years,” said one character in the movie.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Megalodon: The Monster Shark Lives\u003c/em> was the highest-rated program in Shark Week history. Even though the network ran a disclaimer saying it was fake, experts like Shiffman were unimpressed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was presented in such a way that you could very easily watch it and not know it was fictional,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Discovery says it’s turning over a new leaf — or a new fin — when it comes to Shark week, says Howard Swartz, who recently took over as head of development and production.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This year we’re focusing quite a bit on research and science, more so probably than we have in the past,” Swartz says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Discovery Channel has promised it will produce no more fake documentaries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve toyed with a lot of different types of storytelling over the years,” Swartz says. “And I just think now in a forward-looking direction, I think we wanna focus more on the research angle.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But how do you make anything as sexy as a 50-ton Nazi-affiliated shark? Swartz says you go to Cuba, where there are stories about a monster great white roaming the coasts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Allegedly, a 21-foot, 7,000-pound great white,” Swartz says. “So the question was, you know was that the biggest great white ever caught? And if it was, was there something unique to these Cuban waters that these animals are growing so big or attracting animals so big?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, Shark Week sent some of its shows in advance to some critics, including Shiffman. He says sharks need the Discovery Channel to not demonize them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When I say one out of every four species of sharks, skates and rays are threatened with extinction, there are some people that say, ‘Good it should be more of them going extinct. Sharks are bad! Sharks are scary!’ But they’re not!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shiffman says sharks are beautiful and wild. He hopes this year Shark Week will make them reality stars. \u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2015 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=After+Sketchy+Science%2C+Shark+Week+Promises+To+Turn+Over+A+New+Fin&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Shark Week is here, and scientists are afraid. Not of the toothy swimmers — but of inaccuracies, bad science and the demonization of animals that aren't as ferocious as Discovery Channel has made out.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>It has been called the “Super Bowl of the ocean.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shark Week is a ratings bonanza for the Discovery Channel with more than 40 million people tuning in last year. Shark Week \u003ca href=\"http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/shark-week/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">kicked off this weekend\u003c/a> with the most hours of programming ever in its 28-year history But many scientists think the huge audiences — and the hype — have come at the expense of real science.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A generation of shark scientists cut their teeth on Shark Week.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve loved sharks since I was a little kid,” says 29-year-old marine biologist Jonathan Davis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve always dreamed of being on Shark Week,” he says. “It was my ultimate goal when I was a kid. I always watched it, and it was extremely informative when I was younger.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So imagine Davis’ joy when Shark Week producers called him two years ago to make a documentary, which they said would be about his research on bull sharks in Louisiana’s Lake Pontchartrain. As a graduate student at the University of New Orleans, Davis was thrilled when they paid for a day of tracking and tagging sharks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The producers interviewed Davis about his work and at the end, he says, they casually asked if he ever heard of a legendary shark of the bayous called the Rooken.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“And I said, ‘No, of course not. That sounds like a ridiculous fisherman story,’ ” Davis says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>You can guess what happened next. To his horror, Davis found himself \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/2014/08/30/344562317/when-wildlife-documentaries-jump-the-shark\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">featured on a “documentary”\u003c/a> that had little to do with his research.\u003cem> Voodoo Shark\u003c/em> strongly suggested that Davis believed in the Rooken.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There’s no way I could’ve known they were going to portray it like that,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Voodoo Shark\u003c/em> shows Davis and his team doing real research, pulling sharks out of the water and tagging them on the deck. Davis says he did not see any unusual sharks. What was unusual was a producer’s reaction when they hooked a big one.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One of the guys was like, “Oh, maybe you should just let it bite you, that would be so exciting.’ And I was just thinking to myself, ‘Are you kidding me? You really think I wanna let the shark bite me just for ratings? Are you serious?’ ”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Ellen Prager, a marine scientist who has taught at the University of Miami and writes books for children about sharks, says she and her colleagues have a list of things that drive them crazy about Shark Week, such as the emphasis on sharks attacking people and feeding frenzies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That’s not what you typically see in nature,” Prager says. “And in fact, some of the shark researchers I know have hardly ever even seen sharks feeding in the wild.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then there’s the frenzy of factual errors. David Shiffman, who studies sharks at the University of Miami, has spent the past few years calling out Shark Week in public.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Shark Week two years ago did not appreciate it when I recommended an 8-year-old neighbor to fact check the scripts for them,” he says. “Because that 8-year-old knew more about sharks than whoever was writing those scripts did.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>All these scientists agree that Shark Week hit bottom two years ago with an infamous, fictionalized “documentary” about a 100-foot, 80-ton shark they called “the serial killer of the seas.”\u003c/p>\n\u003caside class=\"pullquote alignright\">\nIt was presented in such a way that you could very easily watch it and not know it was fictional.\u003cbr>\n\u003ccite>Scientist David Shiffman on ‘Megalodon’\u003c/cite>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/aside>\n\u003cp>That shark, named Megalodon, also happens to be extinct — and has been for more than a million years. But Discovery resurrected Megalodon, with made-up stories of sightings and attacks. The narrator even threw in some exciting Nazi connections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If the shark that’s in the Nazi U-boat photo is in fact the same shark that’s in the shark iPhoto that was taken just after the boat attack, then that means there’s been a 50-ton monster in these waters for over 70 years,” said one character in the movie.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Megalodon: The Monster Shark Lives\u003c/em> was the highest-rated program in Shark Week history. Even though the network ran a disclaimer saying it was fake, experts like Shiffman were unimpressed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It was presented in such a way that you could very easily watch it and not know it was fictional,” he says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Discovery says it’s turning over a new leaf — or a new fin — when it comes to Shark week, says Howard Swartz, who recently took over as head of development and production.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“This year we’re focusing quite a bit on research and science, more so probably than we have in the past,” Swartz says.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Discovery Channel has promised it will produce no more fake documentaries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve toyed with a lot of different types of storytelling over the years,” Swartz says. “And I just think now in a forward-looking direction, I think we wanna focus more on the research angle.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But how do you make anything as sexy as a 50-ton Nazi-affiliated shark? Swartz says you go to Cuba, where there are stories about a monster great white roaming the coasts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Allegedly, a 21-foot, 7,000-pound great white,” Swartz says. “So the question was, you know was that the biggest great white ever caught? And if it was, was there something unique to these Cuban waters that these animals are growing so big or attracting animals so big?”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year, Shark Week sent some of its shows in advance to some critics, including Shiffman. He says sharks need the Discovery Channel to not demonize them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“When I say one out of every four species of sharks, skates and rays are threatened with extinction, there are some people that say, ‘Good it should be more of them going extinct. Sharks are bad! Sharks are scary!’ But they’re not!”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shiffman says sharks are beautiful and wild. He hopes this year Shark Week will make them reality stars. \u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2015 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=After+Sketchy+Science%2C+Shark+Week+Promises+To+Turn+Over+A+New+Fin&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "NPR Music's 25 Favorite Albums Of 2015 (So Far)",
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"content": "\u003cp>We’ll call it in the air: 2015 is going to end up being a great year for music. The albums that have impressed us the most over the year’s first six months are a varied lot. There’s enormous ambition on display here, epic works crafted to bust boundaries or reshape at will (check out that three-hour debut album), but also intensity in small gestures: a pair of devastating albums about loss, two more anchored in the sounds of sisterly harmonies. As we reach the year’s mid-point, take a moment to listen with us, ears wide open to a great six months of music. Let’s hope the second half of 2015 lives up to it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Advisory: Some of the songs on this page contain profanity.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>ALABAMA SHAKES\u003cbr>\u003cem>Sound & Color\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/alabamashakes_custom-e197e7902b347566d9796f6be89d96b2a9828bb6.jpg\" alt=\"Sound & Color by Alabama Shakes\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-10817745\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/alabamashakes_custom-e197e7902b347566d9796f6be89d96b2a9828bb6.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/alabamashakes_custom-e197e7902b347566d9796f6be89d96b2a9828bb6-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/alabamashakes_custom-e197e7902b347566d9796f6be89d96b2a9828bb6-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/alabamashakes_custom-e197e7902b347566d9796f6be89d96b2a9828bb6-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/alabamashakes_custom-e197e7902b347566d9796f6be89d96b2a9828bb6-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/alabamashakes_custom-e197e7902b347566d9796f6be89d96b2a9828bb6-75x75.jpg 75w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On its second album, this Athens, Ala. band — now chart-toppers, late-nite TV veterans, large-font festival draws — sounds less like a historically-accurate pedestal for propping up Brittany Howard’s monumental rock-soul-blues voice than a demolition crew with a work order to knock down some pedestals. Where the Shakes’ debut\u003cem>, Boys & Girls\u003c/em>, bopped along on the energy generated by its musicians locking into perfect step, \u003cem>Sound & Color \u003c/em>sees each band member stretching out. Bassist Zac Cockrell and drummer Steve Johnson might be the album’s\u003cem> \u003c/em>secret weapons, switching tempos and clearing space for the emotive guitar playing of Heath Fogg. Howard coos and sighs as often as she howls, hanging in the background for long stretches, yet still comes across as someone who doesn’t have to tell you twice to step aside. Like its predecessor, you can dance to all the songs on \u003cem>Sound & Color\u003c/em>, but it’s an angrier, druggier, cooler, \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/2015/04/12/398068310/first-listen-alabama-shakes-sound-color\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">freakier\u003c/a> kind of dancing. \u003cem>–Jacob Ganz\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://www.npr.org/player/embed/417426717/418406546\" width=\"100%\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>BJÖRK\u003cbr>\u003cem>Vulnicura\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/bjork_custom-98e3030d4db57fbf5884e004814aad2361da05f0.jpg\" alt=\"Vulnicura by Bjork\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-10817746\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/bjork_custom-98e3030d4db57fbf5884e004814aad2361da05f0.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/bjork_custom-98e3030d4db57fbf5884e004814aad2361da05f0-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/bjork_custom-98e3030d4db57fbf5884e004814aad2361da05f0-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/bjork_custom-98e3030d4db57fbf5884e004814aad2361da05f0-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/bjork_custom-98e3030d4db57fbf5884e004814aad2361da05f0-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/bjork_custom-98e3030d4db57fbf5884e004814aad2361da05f0-75x75.jpg 75w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s nothing easy or joyous about \u003cem>Vulnicura\u003c/em>. \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/15191158/bjork\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Björk\u003c/a>‘s break-up album is full of pain and betrayal. Its electronic beats won’t let you dance, the strings are heavy, there’s not a singable chorus and the words are wounds documenting an almost anthropological timeline of love lost. And with all that, \u003cem>Vulnicura\u003c/em> is worth its weight. It’s a universal album for all of us who have tangled in love. There’s never been a record quite like this; alongside all the hurt, there’s still healing to be had and to be heard. \u003cem>–Bob Boilen\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://www.npr.org/player/embed/417426717/418406485\" width=\"100%\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>BOMBA ESTEREO\u003cbr>\u003cem>Amanecer \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/bombaestereo_custom-ef0364272f2bc124ab95ecf3d269af1158f913f0.jpg\" alt=\"Amanecer by Bomba Estereo\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-10817747\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/bombaestereo_custom-ef0364272f2bc124ab95ecf3d269af1158f913f0.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/bombaestereo_custom-ef0364272f2bc124ab95ecf3d269af1158f913f0-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/bombaestereo_custom-ef0364272f2bc124ab95ecf3d269af1158f913f0-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/bombaestereo_custom-ef0364272f2bc124ab95ecf3d269af1158f913f0-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/bombaestereo_custom-ef0364272f2bc124ab95ecf3d269af1158f913f0-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/bombaestereo_custom-ef0364272f2bc124ab95ecf3d269af1158f913f0-75x75.jpg 75w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/121272357/bomba-estereo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bomba Estereo\u003c/a> has cemented itself as a band that is able to produce fun, danceable music that is also deeply rooted in tradition. The Colombian band’s sound is as much an exploration of Latin America’s indigenous and African roots as it is a stroll through the noisiest neighborhoods of Bogota. With its latest album, the band goes beyond just being incredibly fun and energetic — it dives further into a spiritual, reflective feel. \u003cem>Amanecer\u003c/em> is intimate in a way the previous Bomba Estereo albums are not, like hanging out at an after-party with someone you always suspected you could fall in love with. The crowning gem is the song “Mar (Lo Que Siento),” a reflective, airy piece that feels like drifting away on a beach after a night of dancing. \u003cem>–Jasmine Garsd\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://www.npr.org/player/embed/417426717/418406468\" width=\"100%\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>BOSTON MODERN ORCHESTRA PROJECT\u003cbr>\u003cem>Play (Andrew Norman) \u003c/em>\u003cbr>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/bmop_custom-d8ba0bddf010c798d93c5f10a8a688954b60b38a.jpg\" alt=\"Andrew Norman's Play, performed by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-10817748\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/bmop_custom-d8ba0bddf010c798d93c5f10a8a688954b60b38a.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/bmop_custom-d8ba0bddf010c798d93c5f10a8a688954b60b38a-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/bmop_custom-d8ba0bddf010c798d93c5f10a8a688954b60b38a-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/bmop_custom-d8ba0bddf010c798d93c5f10a8a688954b60b38a-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/bmop_custom-d8ba0bddf010c798d93c5f10a8a688954b60b38a-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/bmop_custom-d8ba0bddf010c798d93c5f10a8a688954b60b38a-75x75.jpg 75w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just how good is Andrew Norman’s \u003cem>Play\u003c/em>? It might just be the best piece of large-scale orchestral music so far in the 21st century. Scored for full orchestra plus piano and extra percussion, \u003cem>Play\u003c/em> is a rigorously constructed, wildly rambunctious beast in the spirit of older works like \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/15162965/olivier-messiaen\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Olivier Messiaen\u003c/a>‘s \u003cem>Turangalila\u003c/em> Symphony and new ones like Thomas Adès’ \u003cem>Tevot\u003c/em>. From the opening seconds, Norman, a Californian in his mid-30s, sets up a symphonic thrill ride. Through its three levels (not unlike a video game), \u003cem>Play\u003c/em> unleashes spasms of melody and whiplash transitions, but also unveils landscapes of serene beauty. Late in the piece, he carefully builds an extraordinary crescendo, topped with a sweet oboe line soaring over an orchestra that twitches and roils. \u003cem>Play\u003c/em> is a staggering achievement, built with wit and wonder. Yet for all its flamboyance — made all the more brilliant in a brave, exacting performance from Gil Rose’s Boston Modern Orchestra Project — the piece, like most great art, is a fascinating journey, one you’ll want to take again and again. \u003cem>–Tom Huizenga\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://www.npr.org/player/embed/417426717/418406132\" width=\"100%\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>BROTHERS OF THE SONIC CLOTH\u003cbr>\u003cem>Brothers of the Sonic Cloth \u003c/em>\u003cbr>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/brothersofhtesoniccloth_custom-238153439d73904901e859e80605a2235489c2d0.jpg\" alt=\"Brothers of the Sonic Cloth\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-10817749\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/brothersofhtesoniccloth_custom-238153439d73904901e859e80605a2235489c2d0.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/brothersofhtesoniccloth_custom-238153439d73904901e859e80605a2235489c2d0-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/brothersofhtesoniccloth_custom-238153439d73904901e859e80605a2235489c2d0-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/brothersofhtesoniccloth_custom-238153439d73904901e859e80605a2235489c2d0-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/brothersofhtesoniccloth_custom-238153439d73904901e859e80605a2235489c2d0-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/brothersofhtesoniccloth_custom-238153439d73904901e859e80605a2235489c2d0-75x75.jpg 75w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Seattle’s Tad Doyle has been at this heavy game coming on three decades now. With bands like TAD and Hog Molly, he could take a bummer riff and make it boil and hum in ways others just couldn’t. Years in the making, Brothers of the Sonic Cloth’s debut is a thoroughly satisfying doom metal LP that is fully awake and teeming with power. \u003cem>–Lars Gotrich\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://www.npr.org/player/embed/417426717/418406021\" width=\"100%\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>CHRIS STAPLETON\u003cbr>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Traveller \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/chrisstapleton_custom-2251bd262f3768adc8edff8c3d8809fef2f2251e.jpg\" alt=\"Traveller by Chris Stapleton\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-10817750\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/chrisstapleton_custom-2251bd262f3768adc8edff8c3d8809fef2f2251e.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/chrisstapleton_custom-2251bd262f3768adc8edff8c3d8809fef2f2251e-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/chrisstapleton_custom-2251bd262f3768adc8edff8c3d8809fef2f2251e-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/chrisstapleton_custom-2251bd262f3768adc8edff8c3d8809fef2f2251e-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/chrisstapleton_custom-2251bd262f3768adc8edff8c3d8809fef2f2251e-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/chrisstapleton_custom-2251bd262f3768adc8edff8c3d8809fef2f2251e-75x75.jpg 75w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s the truth: Music critics are so buried in new releases that some — including those that rank in a given year’s Top 10 — might only get a few impassioned spins before being retired to make room for a new deluge. But a select few become the soft denim jackets in a music lover’s listening closet, pulled out time after time, lending comfort, suiting every occasion, with treasure stuffed in every pocket. This exquisite debut album by one of Nashville’s great all-around talents is that kind of satisfying. It rocks hard; it doles out heartache; it’s funny and profound; it showcases a stunning voice and celebrates the camaraderie of a fine band. It’s a keeper in the deepest sense.\u003cem> –Ann Powers\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://embed.spotify.com/?uri=spotify:track:178OI1A3qjROeFeh8lmNwW\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" width=\"690\" height=\"80\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>COURTNEY BARNETT\u003cbr>\u003c/strong>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit \u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/courtneybarnett_custom-d0a0483b67bab1f41ad6335e421bdc3c1e72345e.jpg\" alt=\"Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit by Courtney Barnett\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-10817751\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/courtneybarnett_custom-d0a0483b67bab1f41ad6335e421bdc3c1e72345e.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/courtneybarnett_custom-d0a0483b67bab1f41ad6335e421bdc3c1e72345e-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/courtneybarnett_custom-d0a0483b67bab1f41ad6335e421bdc3c1e72345e-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/courtneybarnett_custom-d0a0483b67bab1f41ad6335e421bdc3c1e72345e-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/courtneybarnett_custom-d0a0483b67bab1f41ad6335e421bdc3c1e72345e-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/courtneybarnett_custom-d0a0483b67bab1f41ad6335e421bdc3c1e72345e-75x75.jpg 75w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’ve been wanting this record since I saw \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/239210251/courtney-barnett\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Courtney Barnett\u003c/a> three times in 2013 and heard her two EPs (repackaged together last year). Unlike those EPs, Barnett recorded her debut album with her touring band, and what’s most striking is this Australian trio’s ability to make rock and roll feel vital and not played out. Chalk some of that up to the fact that this band of bass, drums and Courtney on guitar are truly great players, but they also bolster some of the best words rock has ever had. Take this example from “Dead Fox,” a song about the repercussions of industrial agriculture:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\n\u003cp>Heading down the Highway Hume\u003cbr>Somewhere at the end of June\u003cbr>Taxidermied kangaroos are littered on the shoulders\u003cbr>A possum Jackson Pollock is painted in the tar.\u003cbr>Sometimes I think a single sneeze could be the end of us\u003cbr>My hay-fever is turning up, just swerved into a passing truck\u003cbr>Big business overtaking\u003cbr>Without indicating.\u003cbr>He passes on the right, been driving through the night\u003cbr>To bring us the best price.\u003c/p>\n\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>Barring some bolt of musical lightning before year’s end, this debut album from Courtney Barnett will be my number one record of the year. \u003cem>–Bob Boilen\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://www.npr.org/player/embed/417426717/418405876\" width=\"100%\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO AND THE VANGUARD\u003cbr>\u003c/strong>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Black Messiah \u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/d-angelo_custom-ed724fcecedcbaf33cf409014dc6bd9d467b346a.jpg\" alt=\"Black Messiah by D'Angelo And The Vanguard\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-10817752\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/d-angelo_custom-ed724fcecedcbaf33cf409014dc6bd9d467b346a.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/d-angelo_custom-ed724fcecedcbaf33cf409014dc6bd9d467b346a-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/d-angelo_custom-ed724fcecedcbaf33cf409014dc6bd9d467b346a-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/d-angelo_custom-ed724fcecedcbaf33cf409014dc6bd9d467b346a-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/d-angelo_custom-ed724fcecedcbaf33cf409014dc6bd9d467b346a-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/d-angelo_custom-ed724fcecedcbaf33cf409014dc6bd9d467b346a-75x75.jpg 75w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Technically it’s a 2014 album (it dropped without much advance warning mid December) but cut us some slack: \u003cem>Black Messiah\u003c/em>‘s singles really started making waves in 2015 and \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/370926966/dangelo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">D’Angelo\u003c/a> has been killing it on tour this spring. You shouldn’t hold Mr. Michael Archer to a fixed calendar anyways: After a 14-year hibernation, he pulled a rabbit trick by gifting us a tricky, sexy, modern classic that seemingly synthesizes the entirety of analog-era avant-garde soul — \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/15696782/jimi-hendrix\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Hendrix\u003c/a>, Sly, Clinton, \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/15394157/prince\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Prince\u003c/a>, Shuggie and more. He also brings the gentle bossa-like feel of “Really Love” and those Monk-ish changes on “Sugah Daddy.” Remember the old adage that if you’re late enough you’ll be on time again: The experimental sonics of \u003cem>Black Messiah\u003c/em> — with its barely intelligible lyrics and impressive analog mix by Russ Elevado — somehow manage to capture the muffled anger and simmering agitation that increasingly defines black life in the age of Ferguson, Baltimore and Charleston. The creeping, almost resigned weariness of tunes like “Charade” suggests both the everyday melancholy and profound resilience of people darker than blue facing a violent, supremacist culture. As did Charles Burnett’s \u003cem>Killer of Sheep\u003c/em> or Bill Gunn’s \u003cem>Ganja & Hess\u003c/em> for film in their respective moments, \u003cem>Black Messiah\u003c/em> sublimates some of the feeling of 21st century black life in recorded musical form. It’s inspiration information, indeed. \u003cem>–Jason King\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://embed.spotify.com/?uri=spotify:track:2RcanAJpudPNDkyIe9DzKS\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" width=\"690\" height=\"80\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cstrong>DJ SOTOFETT\u003cbr>\u003c/strong>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Drippin’ For A Tripp \u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/djsotofett_custom-e3e23f3810bf49a106b4f92c1737d9be15c7ad4c.jpg\" alt=\"Drippin' For A Tripp by DJ Sotofett\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-10817753\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/djsotofett_custom-e3e23f3810bf49a106b4f92c1737d9be15c7ad4c.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/djsotofett_custom-e3e23f3810bf49a106b4f92c1737d9be15c7ad4c-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/djsotofett_custom-e3e23f3810bf49a106b4f92c1737d9be15c7ad4c-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/djsotofett_custom-e3e23f3810bf49a106b4f92c1737d9be15c7ad4c-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/djsotofett_custom-e3e23f3810bf49a106b4f92c1737d9be15c7ad4c-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/djsotofett_custom-e3e23f3810bf49a106b4f92c1737d9be15c7ad4c-75x75.jpg 75w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A sprawling, varied LP From the Sex Tags Mania boss DJ Sotofett, \u003cem>Drippin’ For A Tripp\u003c/em> blends sparkling new age with ambient house and West African melodies. The Norwegian DJ’s left-field dance label has a reputation for oddball charm, so it makes sense that his debut LP strikes a chord between warm and weird. Made with six different artists over a two year period, the record’s reggae, batucada and dub influences hang neatly between sinewy synths and flashes of psychedelia. Watch out for “Nondo,” where Maimouna Haugen’s intro vocal lulls the senses before housey drums and trippy pings perk them back up. \u003cem>–Sami Yenigun\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://www.npr.org/player/embed/417426717/418405695\" width=\"100%\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Drippin’ For A Tripp\u003cem> is only available in physical formats. Buy it from \u003ca href=\"http://www.forcedexposure.com/Artists/DJ.SOTOFETT.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forced Exposure\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"http://honestjons.com/shop/artist/DJ_Sotofett/release/Drippin_For_A_Tripp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Honest Jon’s\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cstrong>DONNIE TRUMPET & THE SOCIAL EXPERIMENT\u003cbr>\u003c/strong>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Surf\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/surf_custom-29183b6239c864d5e2db84c2b6b00ce6a4d820b7.jpe\" alt=\"Surf by Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-10817754\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/surf_custom-29183b6239c864d5e2db84c2b6b00ce6a4d820b7.jpe 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/surf_custom-29183b6239c864d5e2db84c2b6b00ce6a4d820b7-32x32.jpe 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/surf_custom-29183b6239c864d5e2db84c2b6b00ce6a4d820b7-64x64.jpe 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/surf_custom-29183b6239c864d5e2db84c2b6b00ce6a4d820b7-96x96.jpe 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/surf_custom-29183b6239c864d5e2db84c2b6b00ce6a4d820b7-128x128.jpe 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/surf_custom-29183b6239c864d5e2db84c2b6b00ce6a4d820b7-75x75.jpe 75w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the last time: This is NOT a Chance The Rapper album. Not to say that a Chance album wouldn’t be nice, but \u003cem>Surf\u003c/em> is a welcome digression in the much-hyped Chicago MC’s career. And although Chance is its vocalist, the group is fronted by, as its name suggests, Donnie Trumpet, a.k.a. Nico Segal. On \u003cem>Surf, \u003c/em>the band takes pleasure in sidestepping categorizations, not with a defiant snarl but rather a cheerful smile. It’s a feel good album in the “turn up!” era: an amalgam of jazz, poetry, neo-soul and hip-hop with an effervescent pop appeal that just happens to feature great live instrumentation and unexpected guest shots from artists as disparate as \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/36898288/erykah-badu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Erykah Badu\u003c/a> and Quavo. Who knew happy didn’t have to be hokey? \u003cem>–Timmhotep Aku\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://www.npr.org/player/embed/417426717/418405179\" width=\"100%\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GIRLPOOL\u003cbr>\u003cem>Before The World Was Big \u003c/em>\u003cbr>\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\n\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/girlpool_custom-610ffd1d67745c8505fdf19b11822282831f37c7.png\" alt=\"Before The World Was Big by Girlpool\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-10817755\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/girlpool_custom-610ffd1d67745c8505fdf19b11822282831f37c7.png 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/girlpool_custom-610ffd1d67745c8505fdf19b11822282831f37c7-32x32.png 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/girlpool_custom-610ffd1d67745c8505fdf19b11822282831f37c7-64x64.png 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/girlpool_custom-610ffd1d67745c8505fdf19b11822282831f37c7-96x96.png 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/girlpool_custom-610ffd1d67745c8505fdf19b11822282831f37c7-128x128.png 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/girlpool_custom-610ffd1d67745c8505fdf19b11822282831f37c7-75x75.png 75w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/381937892/girlpool\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Girlpool\u003c/a>, Harmony Trividad and Cleo Tucker have distilled the equipment necessary for a direct link between ear canal and heartstrings down to two members, two instruments, one cassette, one EP and one full-length album. That album, \u003cem>Before The World Was Big\u003c/em>, is a lo-fi collection of punk songs that have a playful spirit but aren’t playing around. Trividad and Tucker specialize in no-frills singing and simple instrumentation that cut through bone and aim for marrow. The title track, in particular, features vocal harmonies that are almost startling in their poignancy and impact, bringing life to lyrics about memory and the loss of things remembered. Girlpool’s lack of polish does nothing to diminish its shine, and its free-spirited approach to punk only adds to the power behind their punch.\u003cem> –Katie Presley\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://www.npr.org/player/embed/417426717/418404861\" width=\"100%\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>IBEYI\u003cbr>\u003cem>Ibeyi\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/ibeyi_custom-ca6af2a49db46c525a0d9b523ad0045f982292fb.jpg\" alt=\"Ibeyi by Ibeyi\" width=\"200\" height=\"172\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-10817756\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are a lot of things to admire about the self-titled debut from \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/338284149/ibeyi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ibeyi \u003c/a>— an accomplishment considering that there simply aren’t a lot of things in it. It’s made by a band of twin sisters: One sings and plays piano; the other sings backup and makes beats. The textures are often minimal, the assembly spare. Of course, there’s more behind that, namely two musical parents who raised them in France and Cuba and around Afro-Cuban religious culture. So their foray into the production-and-voice duo model is sung in both English and Yoruba (and a little French), with electronics that employ traditional cajón and batá drums toward hip-hop ideas. It’s very much a summons to the ghosts of their history, whether in direct incantations to Santería deities or in its dedication to their father and elder sister, who both died prematurely. And there’s the way their voices hang, overlap, chant in unison, linger as a chorus; Ibeyi may be only two people, but there are more presences in the room. \u003cem>— Patrick Jarenwattananon\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://www.npr.org/player/embed/417426717/418404599\" width=\"100%\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>J. COLE\u003cbr>\u003cem>2014 Forest Hills Drive \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/jcole_custom-fb0e99fdb64545c72fcd22df2a8cec29d468dbf2.jpg\" alt=\"2014 Forest Hills Drive by J. Cole\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-10817757\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/jcole_custom-fb0e99fdb64545c72fcd22df2a8cec29d468dbf2.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/jcole_custom-fb0e99fdb64545c72fcd22df2a8cec29d468dbf2-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/jcole_custom-fb0e99fdb64545c72fcd22df2a8cec29d468dbf2-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/jcole_custom-fb0e99fdb64545c72fcd22df2a8cec29d468dbf2-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/jcole_custom-fb0e99fdb64545c72fcd22df2a8cec29d468dbf2-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/jcole_custom-fb0e99fdb64545c72fcd22df2a8cec29d468dbf2-75x75.jpg 75w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Can everyone just give \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/397293070/j-cole\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jermaine Cole\u003c/a> his props already? With this album, Cole, ever the underdog, has proven that he’s not only come into his own artistically but also that he deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as hip-hop’s current elite. A surprise release in December of last year, \u003cem>2014 Forest Hills Drive\u003c/em> makes our 2015 list because: A) it was released after we published our \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/2014/12/08/368731400/npr-musics-50-favorite-albums-of-2014\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2014 albums list\u003c/a> and B) although it dropped during the holiday season it stayed in rotation well into the new year. Chalk it up to Cole’s now-perfected formula of breaking up his bravado with moments of introspection and brutal honesty. Musically we heard him explore melody as he never had before, singing from his soul as much as he rapped his little heart out. Largely self-produced and featuring no one but background vocalists, it proves he can carry an album on his own, without the aide of his Roc Nation benefactor \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/16318474/jay-z\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jay Z\u003c/a> or a big name producer — a feat in itself. So again, can J. Cole finally get his just due? \u003cem>–Timmhotep Aku\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://embed.spotify.com/?uri=spotify:track:16qYlQ6koFxYVbiJbGHblz\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" width=\"690\" height=\"80\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>JAZMINE SULLIVAN \u003cbr>\u003cem>Reality Show\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/jazminesullivan_custom-88d565389bb15ff6c431f0cf1d4f8a28107fdf14.jpg\" alt=\"Reality Show by Jazmine Sullivan\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-10817758\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/jazminesullivan_custom-88d565389bb15ff6c431f0cf1d4f8a28107fdf14.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/jazminesullivan_custom-88d565389bb15ff6c431f0cf1d4f8a28107fdf14-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/jazminesullivan_custom-88d565389bb15ff6c431f0cf1d4f8a28107fdf14-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/jazminesullivan_custom-88d565389bb15ff6c431f0cf1d4f8a28107fdf14-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/jazminesullivan_custom-88d565389bb15ff6c431f0cf1d4f8a28107fdf14-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/jazminesullivan_custom-88d565389bb15ff6c431f0cf1d4f8a28107fdf14-75x75.jpg 75w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2011, as one of R&B’s strongest voices, Jazmine Sullivan announced via Twitter that she was taking a self-imposed hiatus from singing: “i promised myself when it wasn’t fun anymore i wouldn’t do it. and here i am [sic],” she wrote. Fast-forward four years, and she’s finally back — with a hell of a concept in front of her. On \u003cem>Reality Show,\u003c/em> Sullivan interprets the imaginary life of your present-day reality TV star by flirting with just about every approach possible. She never lets us get the least bit comfortable: she effortlessly transitions from flawless a capella runs (“Forever Don’t Last”) to full-fledged visions of sensual clarity (“Veins”). The somewhat unsettling “Mascara” juxtaposes fleshed-out, meaningful production and Sullivan’s fully alive voice with lyrics that grate against everything we believe in: “Most people think I’m shallow ’cause I’m always dressed like I’m going out to the club / But I gotta keep up cause it’s new chicks poppin’ up everyday and they want the same thing.” Whichever direction she flows, Sullivan gently reminds us with each turn that she’s capable of taking anything on — with no problem. \u003cem>–Kiana Fitzgerald\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://embed.spotify.com/?uri=spotify:track:6KOc6ViZB8NtfCVABmTe66\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" width=\"690\" height=\"80\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>KACEY MUSGRAVES \u003cbr>\u003cem>Pageant Material\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/kaceymusgraves_custom-32202915eef7d840060eb250f5ae868de0e9bf51.jpg\" alt=\"Pageant Material by Kacey Musgraves\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-10817759\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/kaceymusgraves_custom-32202915eef7d840060eb250f5ae868de0e9bf51.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/kaceymusgraves_custom-32202915eef7d840060eb250f5ae868de0e9bf51-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/kaceymusgraves_custom-32202915eef7d840060eb250f5ae868de0e9bf51-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/kaceymusgraves_custom-32202915eef7d840060eb250f5ae868de0e9bf51-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/kaceymusgraves_custom-32202915eef7d840060eb250f5ae868de0e9bf51-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/kaceymusgraves_custom-32202915eef7d840060eb250f5ae868de0e9bf51-75x75.jpg 75w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/174510165/kacey-musgraves\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kacey Musgraves\u003c/a>‘ 2013 debut, \u003cem>Same Trailer Different Park,\u003c/em> mixed go-your-own-way anthems with heartbreaking songs about lives set adrift by circumstance, tradition and old habits. For the most part, \u003cem>Pageant Material\u003c/em> doubles down on the anthems at the expense of the heartbreak: It’s largely a collection of mission statements about minding your own business, being yourself despite outside pressures, trusting your family warts and all, and making the most of what we’re given while we’re around to enjoy it. But those mission statements — again written by Musgraves, again with ace assists from a small team that includes Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally — are quotably, often poignantly irresistible. “Dime Store Cowgirl,” for example, may tread familiar thematic ground in the way it paints Musgraves as a country star who’s remained unchanged by the trappings of fame. But the song, like so much of what surrounds it on \u003cem>Pageant Material,\u003c/em> is a gorgeously shimmering, almost impossibly infectious charmer. \u003cem>–Stephen Thompson\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://embed.spotify.com/?uri=spotify:track:4vHVfwVi2CEc4r7P1Pr9iu\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" width=\"690\" height=\"80\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>KAMASI WASHINGTON\u003cbr>\u003c/strong>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>The Epic\u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/kamasiwashington_custom-98df6b2aef81941ce4f307eee6d90d216edbbb8f.jpg\" alt=\"The Epic by Kamasi Washington\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-10817760\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/kamasiwashington_custom-98df6b2aef81941ce4f307eee6d90d216edbbb8f.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/kamasiwashington_custom-98df6b2aef81941ce4f307eee6d90d216edbbb8f-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/kamasiwashington_custom-98df6b2aef81941ce4f307eee6d90d216edbbb8f-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/kamasiwashington_custom-98df6b2aef81941ce4f307eee6d90d216edbbb8f-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/kamasiwashington_custom-98df6b2aef81941ce4f307eee6d90d216edbbb8f-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/kamasiwashington_custom-98df6b2aef81941ce4f307eee6d90d216edbbb8f-75x75.jpg 75w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not that this record sounds, in any specific regional identity sort of way, like Los Angeles. If anything, it sounds like dislocation and amalgam: like ’70s modal swing, like Donald Byrd’s \u003cem>A New Perspective\u003c/em> meets \u003cem>Charlie Parker With Strings,\u003c/em> like the last half century of black popular music. But L.A. is integral to its existence. It’s where saxophonist and composer Kamasi Washington, now 34, met his bandmates in high school or before. It’s where they found various gigs with pop stars, set up residencies in clubs that would have them, lived in actual houses where they can jam and pooled their money to book a recording studio for a month. The first fruit from that collective undertaking is overkill: 17 songs, nearly three hours, horns, a double rhythm section, strings, vocal chorus. It’s gloriously so, an imposing collection that first overwhelms with volume and energy and ecstatic solos and reveals its depth of color and hummable melodies as you begin to process it. It’s proof that you can both go big and go home. \u003cem>–Patrick Jarenwattananon\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://www.npr.org/player/embed/417426717/418404453\" width=\"100%\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>KENDRICK LAMAR\u003cbr>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>To Pimp A Butterfly\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/kendricklamar_custom-0f8eee868936faf9f65bb9f422b4bf7e507e0caf.jpg\" alt=\"To Pimp A Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-10817761\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/kendricklamar_custom-0f8eee868936faf9f65bb9f422b4bf7e507e0caf.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/kendricklamar_custom-0f8eee868936faf9f65bb9f422b4bf7e507e0caf-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/kendricklamar_custom-0f8eee868936faf9f65bb9f422b4bf7e507e0caf-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/kendricklamar_custom-0f8eee868936faf9f65bb9f422b4bf7e507e0caf-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/kendricklamar_custom-0f8eee868936faf9f65bb9f422b4bf7e507e0caf-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/kendricklamar_custom-0f8eee868936faf9f65bb9f422b4bf7e507e0caf-75x75.jpg 75w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year he got labeled a sell-out due to his support for Australian hip-popper Iggy Azalea and for making a seemingly conservative remark about Mike Brown’s shooting in a \u003cem>Billboard\u003c/em> story. This year he made a surprising, possibly jarring, cameo in fan \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/120581188/taylor-swift\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Taylor Swift\u003c/a>‘s “Bad Blood” mega-video. So this we know: \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/166009689/kendrick-lamar\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kendrick Lamar\u003c/a> isn’t chasing traditional street cred and he may not always be down for the righteous cause. Loving him is complicated. But not unlike social media loose cannon \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/14889532/kanye-west\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kanye West\u003c/a>, Lamar knows how to filter his manic ideas and channel his range of feeling into a cohesive album as artistic statement. \u003cem>To Pimp a Butterfly\u003c/em>‘s scalding mix of neo-soul, jazz, electronica, sampled soul, sound effects and spoken word interludes — to say nothing of Lamar’s diverse constellation of vocal personas and his wicked ability to warp his own flow on demand — makes this album far more outré, and self-consciously bizarre, than his 2012 throwback cinematic \u003cem>Good Kid M.A.A.D City\u003c/em>. It’s a sprawling, chaotic structure of feeling in the form of 16 album tracks. The list of collaborators here, from George Clinton to \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/15396311/robert-glasper\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Robert Glasper\u003c/a> to Thundercat, and even the faux staged interview with \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/88479205/tupac-shakur\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Tupac\u003c/a>, helps deliver the goods; but it is Lamar’s profound insistence on self-empowerment in the context of his own scars and trauma that really wows. Top tracks include “i,” coasting on its instantly-recognizable \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/15331601/the-isley-brothers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Isley Brothers\u003c/a>‘ sample, and the marauding black masculinity screed “King Kunta.” There are no easy, simple answers in\u003cem> To Pimp a Butterfly\u003c/em>; in working through its unapologetic mania, maybe you’ll discover your own truths. \u003cem>–Jason King\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://embed.spotify.com/?uri=spotify:track:0N3W5peJUQtI4eyR6GJT5O\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" width=\"690\" height=\"80\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>LOS HIJOS DE LA MONTAÑA \u003cbr>\u003cem>Los Hijos de la Montaña \u003c/em>\u003cbr>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/loshijosdelamontana_custom-0c1f3c586e60306e73473ab0bcb719242a197f14.jpe\" alt=\"Los Hijos de la Montaña by Los Hijos de la Montaña\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-10817762\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/loshijosdelamontana_custom-0c1f3c586e60306e73473ab0bcb719242a197f14.jpe 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/loshijosdelamontana_custom-0c1f3c586e60306e73473ab0bcb719242a197f14-32x32.jpe 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/loshijosdelamontana_custom-0c1f3c586e60306e73473ab0bcb719242a197f14-64x64.jpe 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/loshijosdelamontana_custom-0c1f3c586e60306e73473ab0bcb719242a197f14-96x96.jpe 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/loshijosdelamontana_custom-0c1f3c586e60306e73473ab0bcb719242a197f14-128x128.jpe 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/loshijosdelamontana_custom-0c1f3c586e60306e73473ab0bcb719242a197f14-75x75.jpe 75w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’ve been calling it “The Meeting of the Mendozas,” this first-ever collaboration between songwriter Sergio Mendoza and vocalist Luz Elena Mendoza. The two (unrelated) musicians represent two very unique takes on Mexican influences in their music: Luz Elena is the husky-voiced lead singer of Y la Bamba, a group from the Pacific Northwest that I once described as a group of “rugged choir boys”; Sergio has divided his time between Calexico and his own Orkesta Mendoza, a 1950s-inspired mambo rock band. Together these Mendozas sound nothing like their separate bands: Los Hijos de la Montaña is a captivating sonic soundscape of a mythical Southwest, a land where the border doesn’t exist and the musical flow is bilingual and bi-cultural. It hasn’t caused much of a stir in the crowded world of online music, but this album is worth a second and even third listen six months into this year. There is a well-crafted and expertly-performed world in this music that is very real to many of us who grew up in the Southwest. This collaboration nails the sound in our heads perfectly. \u003cem>–Felix Contreras\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://www.npr.org/player/embed/417426717/418404336\" width=\"100%\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>MBONGWANA STAR \u003cbr>\u003cem>From Kinshasa\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/mbongwanastar_custom-532fee2ae2597bd28978f43709c586fb6bde455b.jpg\" alt=\"From Kinshasa by Mbongwana Star\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-10817763\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/mbongwanastar_custom-532fee2ae2597bd28978f43709c586fb6bde455b.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/mbongwanastar_custom-532fee2ae2597bd28978f43709c586fb6bde455b-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/mbongwanastar_custom-532fee2ae2597bd28978f43709c586fb6bde455b-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/mbongwanastar_custom-532fee2ae2597bd28978f43709c586fb6bde455b-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/mbongwanastar_custom-532fee2ae2597bd28978f43709c586fb6bde455b-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/mbongwanastar_custom-532fee2ae2597bd28978f43709c586fb6bde455b-75x75.jpg 75w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The original title for this album was “From Kinshasa to the Moon,” and that sounds just about right — this commingling of Congolese street music and electronic sounds is at once earthy and totally futuristic. Anchored by two veterans of the DRC’s Staff Benda Bilili (Yakala “Coco” Ngambali and Nsituvuidi “Theo” Nzonzawho) who teamed up with Paris-based Irish producer Liam Farrell, Mbongwana Star lives true to its name: “mbongwana” means “transformation” in the Lingala language. From the album’s first single, the hyper-metallic “Malukayi” (featuring Konono Nº1), to the sweat-drenched Congolese rumba of “Shégué” and the dance floor thrust of “Nganshé,” you hear the band’s metamorphic power throttling straight into the fringes of the great beyond. \u003cem>–Anastasia Tsioulcas\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://www.npr.org/player/embed/417426717/418404176\" width=\"100%\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>RHIANNON GIDDENS \u003cbr>\u003cem>Tomorrow Is My Turn \u003c/em>\u003cbr>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/rhiannongiddens_custom-5891affac18931df678bde97c406f217cc89458d.jpg\" alt=\"Tomorrow Is My Turn by Rhiannon Giddens\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-10817764\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/rhiannongiddens_custom-5891affac18931df678bde97c406f217cc89458d.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/rhiannongiddens_custom-5891affac18931df678bde97c406f217cc89458d-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/rhiannongiddens_custom-5891affac18931df678bde97c406f217cc89458d-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/rhiannongiddens_custom-5891affac18931df678bde97c406f217cc89458d-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/rhiannongiddens_custom-5891affac18931df678bde97c406f217cc89458d-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/rhiannongiddens_custom-5891affac18931df678bde97c406f217cc89458d-75x75.jpg 75w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first thought that takes over during a listen to \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/384980773/rhiannon-giddens\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Rhiannon Giddens\u003c/a>‘ solo debut is: This woman can sing anything. Country, art song, R&B, old-timey sounds in the style of her old band Carolina Chocolate Drops, the songbooks of Dolly Parton and \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/15396720/nina-simone\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Nina Simone\u003c/a>: check. Stop marveling for a moment and this impeccably constructed, hotly executed collection reveals the brain and soul that feed the extraordinary voice. Giddens and producer \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/15171857/t-bone-burnett\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">T-Bone Burnett\u003c/a> recast the American songbook with women at the center. Giddens’ deeply personal interpretations of songs made famous by \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/15396529/patsy-cline\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Patsy Cline\u003c/a>, the mezzo- soprano Florence Quivar, Elizabeth Cotten, Odetta and others strip away the tired truisms smothering our understanding of musical history. In the hands of this young master, stories that seemed beyond refreshing shine, renewed. \u003cem>–Ann Powers\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://www.npr.org/player/embed/417426717/418403325\" width=\"100%\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>SEATTLE SYMPHONY \u003cbr>\u003cem>Dvořák, Symphony No. 9; Varèse, Amériques \u003c/em>\u003cbr>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/seattlesymphony_custom-ab6a30d718c5dd322e6ec9cc313a3e4904ef0f4b.jpg\" alt=\"Dvořák, Symphony No. 9; Varèse, Amériques by Seattle Symphony\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-10817765\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/seattlesymphony_custom-ab6a30d718c5dd322e6ec9cc313a3e4904ef0f4b.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/seattlesymphony_custom-ab6a30d718c5dd322e6ec9cc313a3e4904ef0f4b-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/seattlesymphony_custom-ab6a30d718c5dd322e6ec9cc313a3e4904ef0f4b-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/seattlesymphony_custom-ab6a30d718c5dd322e6ec9cc313a3e4904ef0f4b-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/seattlesymphony_custom-ab6a30d718c5dd322e6ec9cc313a3e4904ef0f4b-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/seattlesymphony_custom-ab6a30d718c5dd322e6ec9cc313a3e4904ef0f4b-75x75.jpg 75w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This album is an irresistible musical pairing of two sketches of the United States. The first is \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/15033227/antonin-dvorak\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dvorak\u003c/a>‘s famous and lush paean to the “new” Native and African-American sounds he heard in America, which has become one of the most popular symphonies ever. The other is Edgard Varèse’s crackling, clangorous \u003cem>Ameriques\u003c/em> — far less well-known, but riveting and necessary. Perhaps even more important than the repertoire are the performances. This recording bursts with terrific playing — listen to that tremendous brass! Those urgent, razor-sharp strings! And it serves as proof of the Seattle Symphony’s triumphant claim, under the leadership of Ludovic Morlot, as one of the truly great American orchestras. Beautifully engineered, too. \u003cem>–Anastasia Tsioulcas\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://www.npr.org/player/embed/417426717/418407642\" width=\"100%\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>SUFJAN STEVENS \u003cbr>\u003cem>Carrie & Lowell \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/sufjanstevens_custom-3d159564518f48722b351340d4618f94dc2dc252.jpg\" alt=\"Carrie & Lowell by Sufjan Stevens\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-10817766\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/sufjanstevens_custom-3d159564518f48722b351340d4618f94dc2dc252.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/sufjanstevens_custom-3d159564518f48722b351340d4618f94dc2dc252-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/sufjanstevens_custom-3d159564518f48722b351340d4618f94dc2dc252-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/sufjanstevens_custom-3d159564518f48722b351340d4618f94dc2dc252-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/sufjanstevens_custom-3d159564518f48722b351340d4618f94dc2dc252-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/sufjanstevens_custom-3d159564518f48722b351340d4618f94dc2dc252-75x75.jpg 75w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A decade after \u003ca href=\"http://pitchfork.com/features/staff-lists/6222-top-50-albums-of-2005/5/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">his coming-out party\u003c/a> as indie’s gentlest superhero, it was starting to feel reasonable to wonder whether \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/15121560/sufjan-stevens\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sufjan Stevens\u003c/a>‘ feet might ever touch the ground again. From \u003cem>Illinois \u003c/em>to \u003cem>The Age of Adz \u003c/em>via \u003cem>The BQE,\u003c/em> Stevens built an ornate, dense collection of epic songs that was awe-inspiring but not always welcoming. On \u003cem>Carrie & Lowell,\u003c/em> Stevens dials things back to a whisper to reckon with the 2012 death of his mother. If it sounds like a “classic” Sufjan album on the surface, it conceals its mastery of subtle changes only lightly, all the ambition of his previous albums on the head of a pin. A deep pool of familial regret and pain in “Should Have Known Better” ripples with hope and acceptance. The gentle propulsion of “Drawn To The Blood” gives way to ambient shimmer. The most immediately “Sufjan-like” song on the album, “Eugene,” begins with lines about lemon yogurt and the “hysterical” light in the Oregon town of the title. It sounds like it could be the set-up for a new entry in his long-abandoned 50 States project, but turns despondent: “What’s the point of singing songs if they’ll never even hear you?” Stevens sings before the song abruptly ends. “We’re all gonna die,” he repeats later. And then, “F*** me, I’m falling apart.” By the album’s end, he’s lost and alone, but take a breath and put the album on again and you’ll hear him forgive his mother in the opening song. Healing doesn’t follow a straight line; neither does art. \u003cem>–Jacob Ganz\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://www.npr.org/player/embed/417426717/418403102\" width=\"100%\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>TORRES \u003cbr>\u003cem>Sprinter\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/torres_custom-652d0a4375a8db48ae92774154c903dc34e7735b.jpg\" alt=\"Sprinter by Torres\" width=\"200\" height=\"199\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-10817767\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/torres_custom-652d0a4375a8db48ae92774154c903dc34e7735b.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/torres_custom-652d0a4375a8db48ae92774154c903dc34e7735b-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/torres_custom-652d0a4375a8db48ae92774154c903dc34e7735b-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/torres_custom-652d0a4375a8db48ae92774154c903dc34e7735b-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/torres_custom-652d0a4375a8db48ae92774154c903dc34e7735b-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/torres_custom-652d0a4375a8db48ae92774154c903dc34e7735b-75x75.jpg 75w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Sprinter\u003c/em> is the sound of an artist at the moment her vision snaps into startling focus. Mackenzie Scott had showed promise before; her early work as \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/390468475/tores\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Torres \u003c/a>exuded moody cool and unsettling atmosphere. \u003cem>Sprinter\u003c/em>, though, is something else, and it’s apparent within its opening minute. “Strange Hellos” opens with a strained whisper through clenched teeth, and by the time 60 seconds have passed, the song has accelerated into something approaching a full roar — it’s confident and scary and mysterious and crowd-pleasing all at once. From there, the ideas keep pouring out, as Scott explores crises of faith and identity with equal parts aggression and grace. \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/15405929/pj-harvey\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">PJ Harvey\u003c/a> is as fine a reference point as any, but \u003cem>Sprinter\u003c/em> also plays around with quieter atmospheres in songs that storm, seethe and surprise. \u003cem>–Stephen Thompson\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://www.npr.org/player/embed/417426717/418403057\" width=\"100%\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>VIJAY IYER TRIO\u003cbr>\u003cem>Break Stuff \u003c/em>\u003cbr>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/vijayiyer_custom-9883795d16e245f4f5700c4d832a5d1dbedaa58d.jpg\" alt=\"Hood by Vijay Iyer Trio\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-10817768\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/vijayiyer_custom-9883795d16e245f4f5700c4d832a5d1dbedaa58d.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/vijayiyer_custom-9883795d16e245f4f5700c4d832a5d1dbedaa58d-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/vijayiyer_custom-9883795d16e245f4f5700c4d832a5d1dbedaa58d-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/vijayiyer_custom-9883795d16e245f4f5700c4d832a5d1dbedaa58d-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/vijayiyer_custom-9883795d16e245f4f5700c4d832a5d1dbedaa58d-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/vijayiyer_custom-9883795d16e245f4f5700c4d832a5d1dbedaa58d-75x75.jpg 75w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To say \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/92749291/vijay-iyer\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Vijay Iyer\u003c/a> has expanded the boundaries of jazz has become old hat. For my money he has accomplished the same kind of innovation and forward thinking that \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/15368370/miles-davis\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Miles Davis\u003c/a> used to brag about. There are some of the usual trappings: a jazz trio; larger big bands full of saxophones and brass; quirky, angular compositions that echo the best of the most challenging jazz. But what Iyer brings to every group context and performance is the kind of wandering spirit that us jazz fans cherish but rarely encounter. Plenty of musicians experiment and even dip into the screech and howl of the avant-garde but so precious few ever master the jazz tradition enough to be able abandon it and carve out a place for their own. \u003cem>Break Stuff\u003c/em> is but another chorus in the continuing song that is the life and music of Vijay Iyer. I have no doubt the next album as will be as good as his last. So for now, I spend time with his current album and marvel at how he does it. \u003cem>–Felix Contreras\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://www.npr.org/player/embed/417426717/418402988\" width=\"100%\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>WILLIAM BASINSKI \u003cbr>\u003cem>Cascade \u003c/em>\u003cbr>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/williambasinski_custom-902b71dfaf91310b397ab1ba56a964a270bf8a4b.jpg\" alt=\"Cascade by William Basinski\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-10817769\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/williambasinski_custom-902b71dfaf91310b397ab1ba56a964a270bf8a4b.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/williambasinski_custom-902b71dfaf91310b397ab1ba56a964a270bf8a4b-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/williambasinski_custom-902b71dfaf91310b397ab1ba56a964a270bf8a4b-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/williambasinski_custom-902b71dfaf91310b397ab1ba56a964a270bf8a4b-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/williambasinski_custom-902b71dfaf91310b397ab1ba56a964a270bf8a4b-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/williambasinski_custom-902b71dfaf91310b397ab1ba56a964a270bf8a4b-75x75.jpg 75w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A master of tape loop manipulation, composer \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/163552901/william-basinski\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">William Basinski\u003c/a> is known best for his mournful, mysterious, five-hour-long recording \u003cem>The Disintegration Loops.\u003c/em> Fifteen years ago, while digitizing fragile reels of tape, he discovered a transitory beauty as they literally crumbled in the tape deck, but found new life as digital files. Now again, Basinski has rescued old tapes to create \u003cem>Cascade,\u003c/em> another mesmerizing ambient landscape. “I agonized over these and almost threw them in the trash,” he wrote in a promotional email. \u003cem>Cascade\u003c/em> appears to be built from a single fragile piano riff, drenched in reverb, slightly overmodulated and looped for nearly 40 minutes. But as usual with this most subtle composer, there’s much below Cascade’s shimmering surface. Instead of stasis, a slight tug of current floats you down a rippling streamlet. The music emerges from nowhere, shifts almost imperceptibly, then quietly recedes. Why it packs as much emotional punch as it does is a mystery best left unanswered. \u003cem>Cascade,\u003c/em> aside from its dark beauty and quiet power, is a vindication for all packrats — proof that having second thoughts about what to trash and what to save can be a glorious thing. \u003cem>–Tom Huizenga\u003c/em> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://www.npr.org/player/embed/417426717/418401447\" width=\"100%\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2015 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=NPR+Music%27s+25+Favorite+Albums+Of+2015+%28So+Far%29&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "We'll call it in the air: 2015 is going to end up being a great year for music. Here are 25 albums we fell in love with over the year's first six months.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>We’ll call it in the air: 2015 is going to end up being a great year for music. The albums that have impressed us the most over the year’s first six months are a varied lot. There’s enormous ambition on display here, epic works crafted to bust boundaries or reshape at will (check out that three-hour debut album), but also intensity in small gestures: a pair of devastating albums about loss, two more anchored in the sounds of sisterly harmonies. As we reach the year’s mid-point, take a moment to listen with us, ears wide open to a great six months of music. Let’s hope the second half of 2015 lives up to it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Advisory: Some of the songs on this page contain profanity.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>ALABAMA SHAKES\u003cbr>\u003cem>Sound & Color\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/alabamashakes_custom-e197e7902b347566d9796f6be89d96b2a9828bb6.jpg\" alt=\"Sound & Color by Alabama Shakes\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-10817745\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/alabamashakes_custom-e197e7902b347566d9796f6be89d96b2a9828bb6.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/alabamashakes_custom-e197e7902b347566d9796f6be89d96b2a9828bb6-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/alabamashakes_custom-e197e7902b347566d9796f6be89d96b2a9828bb6-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/alabamashakes_custom-e197e7902b347566d9796f6be89d96b2a9828bb6-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/alabamashakes_custom-e197e7902b347566d9796f6be89d96b2a9828bb6-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/alabamashakes_custom-e197e7902b347566d9796f6be89d96b2a9828bb6-75x75.jpg 75w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On its second album, this Athens, Ala. band — now chart-toppers, late-nite TV veterans, large-font festival draws — sounds less like a historically-accurate pedestal for propping up Brittany Howard’s monumental rock-soul-blues voice than a demolition crew with a work order to knock down some pedestals. Where the Shakes’ debut\u003cem>, Boys & Girls\u003c/em>, bopped along on the energy generated by its musicians locking into perfect step, \u003cem>Sound & Color \u003c/em>sees each band member stretching out. Bassist Zac Cockrell and drummer Steve Johnson might be the album’s\u003cem> \u003c/em>secret weapons, switching tempos and clearing space for the emotive guitar playing of Heath Fogg. Howard coos and sighs as often as she howls, hanging in the background for long stretches, yet still comes across as someone who doesn’t have to tell you twice to step aside. Like its predecessor, you can dance to all the songs on \u003cem>Sound & Color\u003c/em>, but it’s an angrier, druggier, cooler, \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/2015/04/12/398068310/first-listen-alabama-shakes-sound-color\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">freakier\u003c/a> kind of dancing. \u003cem>–Jacob Ganz\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://www.npr.org/player/embed/417426717/418406546\" width=\"100%\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>BJÖRK\u003cbr>\u003cem>Vulnicura\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/bjork_custom-98e3030d4db57fbf5884e004814aad2361da05f0.jpg\" alt=\"Vulnicura by Bjork\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-10817746\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/bjork_custom-98e3030d4db57fbf5884e004814aad2361da05f0.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/bjork_custom-98e3030d4db57fbf5884e004814aad2361da05f0-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/bjork_custom-98e3030d4db57fbf5884e004814aad2361da05f0-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/bjork_custom-98e3030d4db57fbf5884e004814aad2361da05f0-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/bjork_custom-98e3030d4db57fbf5884e004814aad2361da05f0-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/bjork_custom-98e3030d4db57fbf5884e004814aad2361da05f0-75x75.jpg 75w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s nothing easy or joyous about \u003cem>Vulnicura\u003c/em>. \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/15191158/bjork\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Björk\u003c/a>‘s break-up album is full of pain and betrayal. Its electronic beats won’t let you dance, the strings are heavy, there’s not a singable chorus and the words are wounds documenting an almost anthropological timeline of love lost. And with all that, \u003cem>Vulnicura\u003c/em> is worth its weight. It’s a universal album for all of us who have tangled in love. There’s never been a record quite like this; alongside all the hurt, there’s still healing to be had and to be heard. \u003cem>–Bob Boilen\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://www.npr.org/player/embed/417426717/418406485\" width=\"100%\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>BOMBA ESTEREO\u003cbr>\u003cem>Amanecer \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/bombaestereo_custom-ef0364272f2bc124ab95ecf3d269af1158f913f0.jpg\" alt=\"Amanecer by Bomba Estereo\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-10817747\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/bombaestereo_custom-ef0364272f2bc124ab95ecf3d269af1158f913f0.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/bombaestereo_custom-ef0364272f2bc124ab95ecf3d269af1158f913f0-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/bombaestereo_custom-ef0364272f2bc124ab95ecf3d269af1158f913f0-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/bombaestereo_custom-ef0364272f2bc124ab95ecf3d269af1158f913f0-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/bombaestereo_custom-ef0364272f2bc124ab95ecf3d269af1158f913f0-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/bombaestereo_custom-ef0364272f2bc124ab95ecf3d269af1158f913f0-75x75.jpg 75w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/121272357/bomba-estereo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bomba Estereo\u003c/a> has cemented itself as a band that is able to produce fun, danceable music that is also deeply rooted in tradition. The Colombian band’s sound is as much an exploration of Latin America’s indigenous and African roots as it is a stroll through the noisiest neighborhoods of Bogota. With its latest album, the band goes beyond just being incredibly fun and energetic — it dives further into a spiritual, reflective feel. \u003cem>Amanecer\u003c/em> is intimate in a way the previous Bomba Estereo albums are not, like hanging out at an after-party with someone you always suspected you could fall in love with. The crowning gem is the song “Mar (Lo Que Siento),” a reflective, airy piece that feels like drifting away on a beach after a night of dancing. \u003cem>–Jasmine Garsd\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://www.npr.org/player/embed/417426717/418406468\" width=\"100%\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>BOSTON MODERN ORCHESTRA PROJECT\u003cbr>\u003cem>Play (Andrew Norman) \u003c/em>\u003cbr>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/bmop_custom-d8ba0bddf010c798d93c5f10a8a688954b60b38a.jpg\" alt=\"Andrew Norman's Play, performed by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-10817748\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/bmop_custom-d8ba0bddf010c798d93c5f10a8a688954b60b38a.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/bmop_custom-d8ba0bddf010c798d93c5f10a8a688954b60b38a-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/bmop_custom-d8ba0bddf010c798d93c5f10a8a688954b60b38a-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/bmop_custom-d8ba0bddf010c798d93c5f10a8a688954b60b38a-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/bmop_custom-d8ba0bddf010c798d93c5f10a8a688954b60b38a-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/bmop_custom-d8ba0bddf010c798d93c5f10a8a688954b60b38a-75x75.jpg 75w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Just how good is Andrew Norman’s \u003cem>Play\u003c/em>? It might just be the best piece of large-scale orchestral music so far in the 21st century. Scored for full orchestra plus piano and extra percussion, \u003cem>Play\u003c/em> is a rigorously constructed, wildly rambunctious beast in the spirit of older works like \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/15162965/olivier-messiaen\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Olivier Messiaen\u003c/a>‘s \u003cem>Turangalila\u003c/em> Symphony and new ones like Thomas Adès’ \u003cem>Tevot\u003c/em>. From the opening seconds, Norman, a Californian in his mid-30s, sets up a symphonic thrill ride. Through its three levels (not unlike a video game), \u003cem>Play\u003c/em> unleashes spasms of melody and whiplash transitions, but also unveils landscapes of serene beauty. Late in the piece, he carefully builds an extraordinary crescendo, topped with a sweet oboe line soaring over an orchestra that twitches and roils. \u003cem>Play\u003c/em> is a staggering achievement, built with wit and wonder. Yet for all its flamboyance — made all the more brilliant in a brave, exacting performance from Gil Rose’s Boston Modern Orchestra Project — the piece, like most great art, is a fascinating journey, one you’ll want to take again and again. \u003cem>–Tom Huizenga\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://www.npr.org/player/embed/417426717/418406132\" width=\"100%\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>BROTHERS OF THE SONIC CLOTH\u003cbr>\u003cem>Brothers of the Sonic Cloth \u003c/em>\u003cbr>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/brothersofhtesoniccloth_custom-238153439d73904901e859e80605a2235489c2d0.jpg\" alt=\"Brothers of the Sonic Cloth\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-10817749\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/brothersofhtesoniccloth_custom-238153439d73904901e859e80605a2235489c2d0.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/brothersofhtesoniccloth_custom-238153439d73904901e859e80605a2235489c2d0-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/brothersofhtesoniccloth_custom-238153439d73904901e859e80605a2235489c2d0-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/brothersofhtesoniccloth_custom-238153439d73904901e859e80605a2235489c2d0-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/brothersofhtesoniccloth_custom-238153439d73904901e859e80605a2235489c2d0-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/brothersofhtesoniccloth_custom-238153439d73904901e859e80605a2235489c2d0-75x75.jpg 75w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Seattle’s Tad Doyle has been at this heavy game coming on three decades now. With bands like TAD and Hog Molly, he could take a bummer riff and make it boil and hum in ways others just couldn’t. Years in the making, Brothers of the Sonic Cloth’s debut is a thoroughly satisfying doom metal LP that is fully awake and teeming with power. \u003cem>–Lars Gotrich\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://www.npr.org/player/embed/417426717/418406021\" width=\"100%\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>CHRIS STAPLETON\u003cbr>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Traveller \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/chrisstapleton_custom-2251bd262f3768adc8edff8c3d8809fef2f2251e.jpg\" alt=\"Traveller by Chris Stapleton\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-10817750\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/chrisstapleton_custom-2251bd262f3768adc8edff8c3d8809fef2f2251e.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/chrisstapleton_custom-2251bd262f3768adc8edff8c3d8809fef2f2251e-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/chrisstapleton_custom-2251bd262f3768adc8edff8c3d8809fef2f2251e-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/chrisstapleton_custom-2251bd262f3768adc8edff8c3d8809fef2f2251e-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/chrisstapleton_custom-2251bd262f3768adc8edff8c3d8809fef2f2251e-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/chrisstapleton_custom-2251bd262f3768adc8edff8c3d8809fef2f2251e-75x75.jpg 75w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here’s the truth: Music critics are so buried in new releases that some — including those that rank in a given year’s Top 10 — might only get a few impassioned spins before being retired to make room for a new deluge. But a select few become the soft denim jackets in a music lover’s listening closet, pulled out time after time, lending comfort, suiting every occasion, with treasure stuffed in every pocket. This exquisite debut album by one of Nashville’s great all-around talents is that kind of satisfying. It rocks hard; it doles out heartache; it’s funny and profound; it showcases a stunning voice and celebrates the camaraderie of a fine band. It’s a keeper in the deepest sense.\u003cem> –Ann Powers\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://embed.spotify.com/?uri=spotify:track:178OI1A3qjROeFeh8lmNwW\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" width=\"690\" height=\"80\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>COURTNEY BARNETT\u003cbr>\u003c/strong>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit \u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/courtneybarnett_custom-d0a0483b67bab1f41ad6335e421bdc3c1e72345e.jpg\" alt=\"Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit by Courtney Barnett\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-10817751\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/courtneybarnett_custom-d0a0483b67bab1f41ad6335e421bdc3c1e72345e.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/courtneybarnett_custom-d0a0483b67bab1f41ad6335e421bdc3c1e72345e-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/courtneybarnett_custom-d0a0483b67bab1f41ad6335e421bdc3c1e72345e-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/courtneybarnett_custom-d0a0483b67bab1f41ad6335e421bdc3c1e72345e-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/courtneybarnett_custom-d0a0483b67bab1f41ad6335e421bdc3c1e72345e-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/courtneybarnett_custom-d0a0483b67bab1f41ad6335e421bdc3c1e72345e-75x75.jpg 75w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’ve been wanting this record since I saw \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/239210251/courtney-barnett\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Courtney Barnett\u003c/a> three times in 2013 and heard her two EPs (repackaged together last year). Unlike those EPs, Barnett recorded her debut album with her touring band, and what’s most striking is this Australian trio’s ability to make rock and roll feel vital and not played out. Chalk some of that up to the fact that this band of bass, drums and Courtney on guitar are truly great players, but they also bolster some of the best words rock has ever had. Take this example from “Dead Fox,” a song about the repercussions of industrial agriculture:\u003c/p>\n\u003cblockquote>\n\u003cp>Heading down the Highway Hume\u003cbr>Somewhere at the end of June\u003cbr>Taxidermied kangaroos are littered on the shoulders\u003cbr>A possum Jackson Pollock is painted in the tar.\u003cbr>Sometimes I think a single sneeze could be the end of us\u003cbr>My hay-fever is turning up, just swerved into a passing truck\u003cbr>Big business overtaking\u003cbr>Without indicating.\u003cbr>He passes on the right, been driving through the night\u003cbr>To bring us the best price.\u003c/p>\n\u003c/blockquote>\n\u003cp>Barring some bolt of musical lightning before year’s end, this debut album from Courtney Barnett will be my number one record of the year. \u003cem>–Bob Boilen\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://www.npr.org/player/embed/417426717/418405876\" width=\"100%\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cstrong>D’ANGELO AND THE VANGUARD\u003cbr>\u003c/strong>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Black Messiah \u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/d-angelo_custom-ed724fcecedcbaf33cf409014dc6bd9d467b346a.jpg\" alt=\"Black Messiah by D'Angelo And The Vanguard\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-10817752\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/d-angelo_custom-ed724fcecedcbaf33cf409014dc6bd9d467b346a.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/d-angelo_custom-ed724fcecedcbaf33cf409014dc6bd9d467b346a-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/d-angelo_custom-ed724fcecedcbaf33cf409014dc6bd9d467b346a-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/d-angelo_custom-ed724fcecedcbaf33cf409014dc6bd9d467b346a-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/d-angelo_custom-ed724fcecedcbaf33cf409014dc6bd9d467b346a-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/d-angelo_custom-ed724fcecedcbaf33cf409014dc6bd9d467b346a-75x75.jpg 75w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Technically it’s a 2014 album (it dropped without much advance warning mid December) but cut us some slack: \u003cem>Black Messiah\u003c/em>‘s singles really started making waves in 2015 and \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/370926966/dangelo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">D’Angelo\u003c/a> has been killing it on tour this spring. You shouldn’t hold Mr. Michael Archer to a fixed calendar anyways: After a 14-year hibernation, he pulled a rabbit trick by gifting us a tricky, sexy, modern classic that seemingly synthesizes the entirety of analog-era avant-garde soul — \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/15696782/jimi-hendrix\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Hendrix\u003c/a>, Sly, Clinton, \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/15394157/prince\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Prince\u003c/a>, Shuggie and more. He also brings the gentle bossa-like feel of “Really Love” and those Monk-ish changes on “Sugah Daddy.” Remember the old adage that if you’re late enough you’ll be on time again: The experimental sonics of \u003cem>Black Messiah\u003c/em> — with its barely intelligible lyrics and impressive analog mix by Russ Elevado — somehow manage to capture the muffled anger and simmering agitation that increasingly defines black life in the age of Ferguson, Baltimore and Charleston. The creeping, almost resigned weariness of tunes like “Charade” suggests both the everyday melancholy and profound resilience of people darker than blue facing a violent, supremacist culture. As did Charles Burnett’s \u003cem>Killer of Sheep\u003c/em> or Bill Gunn’s \u003cem>Ganja & Hess\u003c/em> for film in their respective moments, \u003cem>Black Messiah\u003c/em> sublimates some of the feeling of 21st century black life in recorded musical form. It’s inspiration information, indeed. \u003cem>–Jason King\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://embed.spotify.com/?uri=spotify:track:2RcanAJpudPNDkyIe9DzKS\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" width=\"690\" height=\"80\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cstrong>DJ SOTOFETT\u003cbr>\u003c/strong>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>Drippin’ For A Tripp \u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/djsotofett_custom-e3e23f3810bf49a106b4f92c1737d9be15c7ad4c.jpg\" alt=\"Drippin' For A Tripp by DJ Sotofett\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-10817753\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/djsotofett_custom-e3e23f3810bf49a106b4f92c1737d9be15c7ad4c.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/djsotofett_custom-e3e23f3810bf49a106b4f92c1737d9be15c7ad4c-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/djsotofett_custom-e3e23f3810bf49a106b4f92c1737d9be15c7ad4c-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/djsotofett_custom-e3e23f3810bf49a106b4f92c1737d9be15c7ad4c-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/djsotofett_custom-e3e23f3810bf49a106b4f92c1737d9be15c7ad4c-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/djsotofett_custom-e3e23f3810bf49a106b4f92c1737d9be15c7ad4c-75x75.jpg 75w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A sprawling, varied LP From the Sex Tags Mania boss DJ Sotofett, \u003cem>Drippin’ For A Tripp\u003c/em> blends sparkling new age with ambient house and West African melodies. The Norwegian DJ’s left-field dance label has a reputation for oddball charm, so it makes sense that his debut LP strikes a chord between warm and weird. Made with six different artists over a two year period, the record’s reggae, batucada and dub influences hang neatly between sinewy synths and flashes of psychedelia. Watch out for “Nondo,” where Maimouna Haugen’s intro vocal lulls the senses before housey drums and trippy pings perk them back up. \u003cem>–Sami Yenigun\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://www.npr.org/player/embed/417426717/418405695\" width=\"100%\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Drippin’ For A Tripp\u003cem> is only available in physical formats. Buy it from \u003ca href=\"http://www.forcedexposure.com/Artists/DJ.SOTOFETT.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forced Exposure\u003c/a> or \u003ca href=\"http://honestjons.com/shop/artist/DJ_Sotofett/release/Drippin_For_A_Tripp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Honest Jon’s\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cstrong>DONNIE TRUMPET & THE SOCIAL EXPERIMENT\u003cbr>\u003c/strong>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>Surf\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/surf_custom-29183b6239c864d5e2db84c2b6b00ce6a4d820b7.jpe\" alt=\"Surf by Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-10817754\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/surf_custom-29183b6239c864d5e2db84c2b6b00ce6a4d820b7.jpe 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/surf_custom-29183b6239c864d5e2db84c2b6b00ce6a4d820b7-32x32.jpe 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/surf_custom-29183b6239c864d5e2db84c2b6b00ce6a4d820b7-64x64.jpe 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/surf_custom-29183b6239c864d5e2db84c2b6b00ce6a4d820b7-96x96.jpe 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/surf_custom-29183b6239c864d5e2db84c2b6b00ce6a4d820b7-128x128.jpe 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/surf_custom-29183b6239c864d5e2db84c2b6b00ce6a4d820b7-75x75.jpe 75w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>For the last time: This is NOT a Chance The Rapper album. Not to say that a Chance album wouldn’t be nice, but \u003cem>Surf\u003c/em> is a welcome digression in the much-hyped Chicago MC’s career. And although Chance is its vocalist, the group is fronted by, as its name suggests, Donnie Trumpet, a.k.a. Nico Segal. On \u003cem>Surf, \u003c/em>the band takes pleasure in sidestepping categorizations, not with a defiant snarl but rather a cheerful smile. It’s a feel good album in the “turn up!” era: an amalgam of jazz, poetry, neo-soul and hip-hop with an effervescent pop appeal that just happens to feature great live instrumentation and unexpected guest shots from artists as disparate as \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/36898288/erykah-badu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Erykah Badu\u003c/a> and Quavo. Who knew happy didn’t have to be hokey? \u003cem>–Timmhotep Aku\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://www.npr.org/player/embed/417426717/418405179\" width=\"100%\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>GIRLPOOL\u003cbr>\u003cem>Before The World Was Big \u003c/em>\u003cbr>\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\n\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/girlpool_custom-610ffd1d67745c8505fdf19b11822282831f37c7.png\" alt=\"Before The World Was Big by Girlpool\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-10817755\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/girlpool_custom-610ffd1d67745c8505fdf19b11822282831f37c7.png 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/girlpool_custom-610ffd1d67745c8505fdf19b11822282831f37c7-32x32.png 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/girlpool_custom-610ffd1d67745c8505fdf19b11822282831f37c7-64x64.png 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/girlpool_custom-610ffd1d67745c8505fdf19b11822282831f37c7-96x96.png 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/girlpool_custom-610ffd1d67745c8505fdf19b11822282831f37c7-128x128.png 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/girlpool_custom-610ffd1d67745c8505fdf19b11822282831f37c7-75x75.png 75w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/381937892/girlpool\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Girlpool\u003c/a>, Harmony Trividad and Cleo Tucker have distilled the equipment necessary for a direct link between ear canal and heartstrings down to two members, two instruments, one cassette, one EP and one full-length album. That album, \u003cem>Before The World Was Big\u003c/em>, is a lo-fi collection of punk songs that have a playful spirit but aren’t playing around. Trividad and Tucker specialize in no-frills singing and simple instrumentation that cut through bone and aim for marrow. The title track, in particular, features vocal harmonies that are almost startling in their poignancy and impact, bringing life to lyrics about memory and the loss of things remembered. Girlpool’s lack of polish does nothing to diminish its shine, and its free-spirited approach to punk only adds to the power behind their punch.\u003cem> –Katie Presley\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://www.npr.org/player/embed/417426717/418404861\" width=\"100%\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>IBEYI\u003cbr>\u003cem>Ibeyi\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/ibeyi_custom-ca6af2a49db46c525a0d9b523ad0045f982292fb.jpg\" alt=\"Ibeyi by Ibeyi\" width=\"200\" height=\"172\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-10817756\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There are a lot of things to admire about the self-titled debut from \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/338284149/ibeyi\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ibeyi \u003c/a>— an accomplishment considering that there simply aren’t a lot of things in it. It’s made by a band of twin sisters: One sings and plays piano; the other sings backup and makes beats. The textures are often minimal, the assembly spare. Of course, there’s more behind that, namely two musical parents who raised them in France and Cuba and around Afro-Cuban religious culture. So their foray into the production-and-voice duo model is sung in both English and Yoruba (and a little French), with electronics that employ traditional cajón and batá drums toward hip-hop ideas. It’s very much a summons to the ghosts of their history, whether in direct incantations to Santería deities or in its dedication to their father and elder sister, who both died prematurely. And there’s the way their voices hang, overlap, chant in unison, linger as a chorus; Ibeyi may be only two people, but there are more presences in the room. \u003cem>— Patrick Jarenwattananon\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://www.npr.org/player/embed/417426717/418404599\" width=\"100%\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>J. COLE\u003cbr>\u003cem>2014 Forest Hills Drive \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/jcole_custom-fb0e99fdb64545c72fcd22df2a8cec29d468dbf2.jpg\" alt=\"2014 Forest Hills Drive by J. Cole\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-10817757\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/jcole_custom-fb0e99fdb64545c72fcd22df2a8cec29d468dbf2.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/jcole_custom-fb0e99fdb64545c72fcd22df2a8cec29d468dbf2-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/jcole_custom-fb0e99fdb64545c72fcd22df2a8cec29d468dbf2-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/jcole_custom-fb0e99fdb64545c72fcd22df2a8cec29d468dbf2-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/jcole_custom-fb0e99fdb64545c72fcd22df2a8cec29d468dbf2-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/jcole_custom-fb0e99fdb64545c72fcd22df2a8cec29d468dbf2-75x75.jpg 75w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Can everyone just give \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/397293070/j-cole\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jermaine Cole\u003c/a> his props already? With this album, Cole, ever the underdog, has proven that he’s not only come into his own artistically but also that he deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as hip-hop’s current elite. A surprise release in December of last year, \u003cem>2014 Forest Hills Drive\u003c/em> makes our 2015 list because: A) it was released after we published our \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/2014/12/08/368731400/npr-musics-50-favorite-albums-of-2014\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2014 albums list\u003c/a> and B) although it dropped during the holiday season it stayed in rotation well into the new year. Chalk it up to Cole’s now-perfected formula of breaking up his bravado with moments of introspection and brutal honesty. Musically we heard him explore melody as he never had before, singing from his soul as much as he rapped his little heart out. Largely self-produced and featuring no one but background vocalists, it proves he can carry an album on his own, without the aide of his Roc Nation benefactor \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/16318474/jay-z\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jay Z\u003c/a> or a big name producer — a feat in itself. So again, can J. Cole finally get his just due? \u003cem>–Timmhotep Aku\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://embed.spotify.com/?uri=spotify:track:16qYlQ6koFxYVbiJbGHblz\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" width=\"690\" height=\"80\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>JAZMINE SULLIVAN \u003cbr>\u003cem>Reality Show\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/jazminesullivan_custom-88d565389bb15ff6c431f0cf1d4f8a28107fdf14.jpg\" alt=\"Reality Show by Jazmine Sullivan\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-10817758\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/jazminesullivan_custom-88d565389bb15ff6c431f0cf1d4f8a28107fdf14.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/jazminesullivan_custom-88d565389bb15ff6c431f0cf1d4f8a28107fdf14-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/jazminesullivan_custom-88d565389bb15ff6c431f0cf1d4f8a28107fdf14-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/jazminesullivan_custom-88d565389bb15ff6c431f0cf1d4f8a28107fdf14-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/jazminesullivan_custom-88d565389bb15ff6c431f0cf1d4f8a28107fdf14-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/jazminesullivan_custom-88d565389bb15ff6c431f0cf1d4f8a28107fdf14-75x75.jpg 75w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2011, as one of R&B’s strongest voices, Jazmine Sullivan announced via Twitter that she was taking a self-imposed hiatus from singing: “i promised myself when it wasn’t fun anymore i wouldn’t do it. and here i am [sic],” she wrote. Fast-forward four years, and she’s finally back — with a hell of a concept in front of her. On \u003cem>Reality Show,\u003c/em> Sullivan interprets the imaginary life of your present-day reality TV star by flirting with just about every approach possible. She never lets us get the least bit comfortable: she effortlessly transitions from flawless a capella runs (“Forever Don’t Last”) to full-fledged visions of sensual clarity (“Veins”). The somewhat unsettling “Mascara” juxtaposes fleshed-out, meaningful production and Sullivan’s fully alive voice with lyrics that grate against everything we believe in: “Most people think I’m shallow ’cause I’m always dressed like I’m going out to the club / But I gotta keep up cause it’s new chicks poppin’ up everyday and they want the same thing.” Whichever direction she flows, Sullivan gently reminds us with each turn that she’s capable of taking anything on — with no problem. \u003cem>–Kiana Fitzgerald\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://embed.spotify.com/?uri=spotify:track:6KOc6ViZB8NtfCVABmTe66\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" width=\"690\" height=\"80\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>KACEY MUSGRAVES \u003cbr>\u003cem>Pageant Material\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/kaceymusgraves_custom-32202915eef7d840060eb250f5ae868de0e9bf51.jpg\" alt=\"Pageant Material by Kacey Musgraves\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-10817759\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/kaceymusgraves_custom-32202915eef7d840060eb250f5ae868de0e9bf51.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/kaceymusgraves_custom-32202915eef7d840060eb250f5ae868de0e9bf51-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/kaceymusgraves_custom-32202915eef7d840060eb250f5ae868de0e9bf51-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/kaceymusgraves_custom-32202915eef7d840060eb250f5ae868de0e9bf51-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/kaceymusgraves_custom-32202915eef7d840060eb250f5ae868de0e9bf51-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/kaceymusgraves_custom-32202915eef7d840060eb250f5ae868de0e9bf51-75x75.jpg 75w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/174510165/kacey-musgraves\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kacey Musgraves\u003c/a>‘ 2013 debut, \u003cem>Same Trailer Different Park,\u003c/em> mixed go-your-own-way anthems with heartbreaking songs about lives set adrift by circumstance, tradition and old habits. For the most part, \u003cem>Pageant Material\u003c/em> doubles down on the anthems at the expense of the heartbreak: It’s largely a collection of mission statements about minding your own business, being yourself despite outside pressures, trusting your family warts and all, and making the most of what we’re given while we’re around to enjoy it. But those mission statements — again written by Musgraves, again with ace assists from a small team that includes Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally — are quotably, often poignantly irresistible. “Dime Store Cowgirl,” for example, may tread familiar thematic ground in the way it paints Musgraves as a country star who’s remained unchanged by the trappings of fame. But the song, like so much of what surrounds it on \u003cem>Pageant Material,\u003c/em> is a gorgeously shimmering, almost impossibly infectious charmer. \u003cem>–Stephen Thompson\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://embed.spotify.com/?uri=spotify:track:4vHVfwVi2CEc4r7P1Pr9iu\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" width=\"690\" height=\"80\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>KAMASI WASHINGTON\u003cbr>\u003c/strong>\u003cem>\u003cstrong>The Epic\u003c/strong>\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/kamasiwashington_custom-98df6b2aef81941ce4f307eee6d90d216edbbb8f.jpg\" alt=\"The Epic by Kamasi Washington\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-10817760\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/kamasiwashington_custom-98df6b2aef81941ce4f307eee6d90d216edbbb8f.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/kamasiwashington_custom-98df6b2aef81941ce4f307eee6d90d216edbbb8f-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/kamasiwashington_custom-98df6b2aef81941ce4f307eee6d90d216edbbb8f-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/kamasiwashington_custom-98df6b2aef81941ce4f307eee6d90d216edbbb8f-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/kamasiwashington_custom-98df6b2aef81941ce4f307eee6d90d216edbbb8f-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/kamasiwashington_custom-98df6b2aef81941ce4f307eee6d90d216edbbb8f-75x75.jpg 75w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s not that this record sounds, in any specific regional identity sort of way, like Los Angeles. If anything, it sounds like dislocation and amalgam: like ’70s modal swing, like Donald Byrd’s \u003cem>A New Perspective\u003c/em> meets \u003cem>Charlie Parker With Strings,\u003c/em> like the last half century of black popular music. But L.A. is integral to its existence. It’s where saxophonist and composer Kamasi Washington, now 34, met his bandmates in high school or before. It’s where they found various gigs with pop stars, set up residencies in clubs that would have them, lived in actual houses where they can jam and pooled their money to book a recording studio for a month. The first fruit from that collective undertaking is overkill: 17 songs, nearly three hours, horns, a double rhythm section, strings, vocal chorus. It’s gloriously so, an imposing collection that first overwhelms with volume and energy and ecstatic solos and reveals its depth of color and hummable melodies as you begin to process it. It’s proof that you can both go big and go home. \u003cem>–Patrick Jarenwattananon\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://www.npr.org/player/embed/417426717/418404453\" width=\"100%\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>KENDRICK LAMAR\u003cbr>\u003c/strong>\u003cstrong>\u003cem>To Pimp A Butterfly\u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/kendricklamar_custom-0f8eee868936faf9f65bb9f422b4bf7e507e0caf.jpg\" alt=\"To Pimp A Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-10817761\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/kendricklamar_custom-0f8eee868936faf9f65bb9f422b4bf7e507e0caf.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/kendricklamar_custom-0f8eee868936faf9f65bb9f422b4bf7e507e0caf-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/kendricklamar_custom-0f8eee868936faf9f65bb9f422b4bf7e507e0caf-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/kendricklamar_custom-0f8eee868936faf9f65bb9f422b4bf7e507e0caf-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/kendricklamar_custom-0f8eee868936faf9f65bb9f422b4bf7e507e0caf-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/kendricklamar_custom-0f8eee868936faf9f65bb9f422b4bf7e507e0caf-75x75.jpg 75w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last year he got labeled a sell-out due to his support for Australian hip-popper Iggy Azalea and for making a seemingly conservative remark about Mike Brown’s shooting in a \u003cem>Billboard\u003c/em> story. This year he made a surprising, possibly jarring, cameo in fan \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/120581188/taylor-swift\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Taylor Swift\u003c/a>‘s “Bad Blood” mega-video. So this we know: \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/166009689/kendrick-lamar\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kendrick Lamar\u003c/a> isn’t chasing traditional street cred and he may not always be down for the righteous cause. Loving him is complicated. But not unlike social media loose cannon \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/14889532/kanye-west\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kanye West\u003c/a>, Lamar knows how to filter his manic ideas and channel his range of feeling into a cohesive album as artistic statement. \u003cem>To Pimp a Butterfly\u003c/em>‘s scalding mix of neo-soul, jazz, electronica, sampled soul, sound effects and spoken word interludes — to say nothing of Lamar’s diverse constellation of vocal personas and his wicked ability to warp his own flow on demand — makes this album far more outré, and self-consciously bizarre, than his 2012 throwback cinematic \u003cem>Good Kid M.A.A.D City\u003c/em>. It’s a sprawling, chaotic structure of feeling in the form of 16 album tracks. The list of collaborators here, from George Clinton to \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/15396311/robert-glasper\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Robert Glasper\u003c/a> to Thundercat, and even the faux staged interview with \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/88479205/tupac-shakur\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Tupac\u003c/a>, helps deliver the goods; but it is Lamar’s profound insistence on self-empowerment in the context of his own scars and trauma that really wows. Top tracks include “i,” coasting on its instantly-recognizable \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/15331601/the-isley-brothers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Isley Brothers\u003c/a>‘ sample, and the marauding black masculinity screed “King Kunta.” There are no easy, simple answers in\u003cem> To Pimp a Butterfly\u003c/em>; in working through its unapologetic mania, maybe you’ll discover your own truths. \u003cem>–Jason King\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https://embed.spotify.com/?uri=spotify:track:0N3W5peJUQtI4eyR6GJT5O\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" width=\"690\" height=\"80\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>LOS HIJOS DE LA MONTAÑA \u003cbr>\u003cem>Los Hijos de la Montaña \u003c/em>\u003cbr>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/loshijosdelamontana_custom-0c1f3c586e60306e73473ab0bcb719242a197f14.jpe\" alt=\"Los Hijos de la Montaña by Los Hijos de la Montaña\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-10817762\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/loshijosdelamontana_custom-0c1f3c586e60306e73473ab0bcb719242a197f14.jpe 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/loshijosdelamontana_custom-0c1f3c586e60306e73473ab0bcb719242a197f14-32x32.jpe 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/loshijosdelamontana_custom-0c1f3c586e60306e73473ab0bcb719242a197f14-64x64.jpe 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/loshijosdelamontana_custom-0c1f3c586e60306e73473ab0bcb719242a197f14-96x96.jpe 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/loshijosdelamontana_custom-0c1f3c586e60306e73473ab0bcb719242a197f14-128x128.jpe 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/loshijosdelamontana_custom-0c1f3c586e60306e73473ab0bcb719242a197f14-75x75.jpe 75w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I’ve been calling it “The Meeting of the Mendozas,” this first-ever collaboration between songwriter Sergio Mendoza and vocalist Luz Elena Mendoza. The two (unrelated) musicians represent two very unique takes on Mexican influences in their music: Luz Elena is the husky-voiced lead singer of Y la Bamba, a group from the Pacific Northwest that I once described as a group of “rugged choir boys”; Sergio has divided his time between Calexico and his own Orkesta Mendoza, a 1950s-inspired mambo rock band. Together these Mendozas sound nothing like their separate bands: Los Hijos de la Montaña is a captivating sonic soundscape of a mythical Southwest, a land where the border doesn’t exist and the musical flow is bilingual and bi-cultural. It hasn’t caused much of a stir in the crowded world of online music, but this album is worth a second and even third listen six months into this year. There is a well-crafted and expertly-performed world in this music that is very real to many of us who grew up in the Southwest. This collaboration nails the sound in our heads perfectly. \u003cem>–Felix Contreras\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://www.npr.org/player/embed/417426717/418404336\" width=\"100%\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>MBONGWANA STAR \u003cbr>\u003cem>From Kinshasa\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/mbongwanastar_custom-532fee2ae2597bd28978f43709c586fb6bde455b.jpg\" alt=\"From Kinshasa by Mbongwana Star\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-10817763\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/mbongwanastar_custom-532fee2ae2597bd28978f43709c586fb6bde455b.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/mbongwanastar_custom-532fee2ae2597bd28978f43709c586fb6bde455b-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/mbongwanastar_custom-532fee2ae2597bd28978f43709c586fb6bde455b-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/mbongwanastar_custom-532fee2ae2597bd28978f43709c586fb6bde455b-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/mbongwanastar_custom-532fee2ae2597bd28978f43709c586fb6bde455b-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/mbongwanastar_custom-532fee2ae2597bd28978f43709c586fb6bde455b-75x75.jpg 75w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The original title for this album was “From Kinshasa to the Moon,” and that sounds just about right — this commingling of Congolese street music and electronic sounds is at once earthy and totally futuristic. Anchored by two veterans of the DRC’s Staff Benda Bilili (Yakala “Coco” Ngambali and Nsituvuidi “Theo” Nzonzawho) who teamed up with Paris-based Irish producer Liam Farrell, Mbongwana Star lives true to its name: “mbongwana” means “transformation” in the Lingala language. From the album’s first single, the hyper-metallic “Malukayi” (featuring Konono Nº1), to the sweat-drenched Congolese rumba of “Shégué” and the dance floor thrust of “Nganshé,” you hear the band’s metamorphic power throttling straight into the fringes of the great beyond. \u003cem>–Anastasia Tsioulcas\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://www.npr.org/player/embed/417426717/418404176\" width=\"100%\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>RHIANNON GIDDENS \u003cbr>\u003cem>Tomorrow Is My Turn \u003c/em>\u003cbr>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/rhiannongiddens_custom-5891affac18931df678bde97c406f217cc89458d.jpg\" alt=\"Tomorrow Is My Turn by Rhiannon Giddens\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-10817764\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/rhiannongiddens_custom-5891affac18931df678bde97c406f217cc89458d.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/rhiannongiddens_custom-5891affac18931df678bde97c406f217cc89458d-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/rhiannongiddens_custom-5891affac18931df678bde97c406f217cc89458d-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/rhiannongiddens_custom-5891affac18931df678bde97c406f217cc89458d-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/rhiannongiddens_custom-5891affac18931df678bde97c406f217cc89458d-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/rhiannongiddens_custom-5891affac18931df678bde97c406f217cc89458d-75x75.jpg 75w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first thought that takes over during a listen to \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/384980773/rhiannon-giddens\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Rhiannon Giddens\u003c/a>‘ solo debut is: This woman can sing anything. Country, art song, R&B, old-timey sounds in the style of her old band Carolina Chocolate Drops, the songbooks of Dolly Parton and \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/15396720/nina-simone\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Nina Simone\u003c/a>: check. Stop marveling for a moment and this impeccably constructed, hotly executed collection reveals the brain and soul that feed the extraordinary voice. Giddens and producer \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/15171857/t-bone-burnett\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">T-Bone Burnett\u003c/a> recast the American songbook with women at the center. Giddens’ deeply personal interpretations of songs made famous by \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/15396529/patsy-cline\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Patsy Cline\u003c/a>, the mezzo- soprano Florence Quivar, Elizabeth Cotten, Odetta and others strip away the tired truisms smothering our understanding of musical history. In the hands of this young master, stories that seemed beyond refreshing shine, renewed. \u003cem>–Ann Powers\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://www.npr.org/player/embed/417426717/418403325\" width=\"100%\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>SEATTLE SYMPHONY \u003cbr>\u003cem>Dvořák, Symphony No. 9; Varèse, Amériques \u003c/em>\u003cbr>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/seattlesymphony_custom-ab6a30d718c5dd322e6ec9cc313a3e4904ef0f4b.jpg\" alt=\"Dvořák, Symphony No. 9; Varèse, Amériques by Seattle Symphony\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-10817765\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/seattlesymphony_custom-ab6a30d718c5dd322e6ec9cc313a3e4904ef0f4b.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/seattlesymphony_custom-ab6a30d718c5dd322e6ec9cc313a3e4904ef0f4b-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/seattlesymphony_custom-ab6a30d718c5dd322e6ec9cc313a3e4904ef0f4b-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/seattlesymphony_custom-ab6a30d718c5dd322e6ec9cc313a3e4904ef0f4b-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/seattlesymphony_custom-ab6a30d718c5dd322e6ec9cc313a3e4904ef0f4b-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/seattlesymphony_custom-ab6a30d718c5dd322e6ec9cc313a3e4904ef0f4b-75x75.jpg 75w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This album is an irresistible musical pairing of two sketches of the United States. The first is \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/15033227/antonin-dvorak\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dvorak\u003c/a>‘s famous and lush paean to the “new” Native and African-American sounds he heard in America, which has become one of the most popular symphonies ever. The other is Edgard Varèse’s crackling, clangorous \u003cem>Ameriques\u003c/em> — far less well-known, but riveting and necessary. Perhaps even more important than the repertoire are the performances. This recording bursts with terrific playing — listen to that tremendous brass! Those urgent, razor-sharp strings! And it serves as proof of the Seattle Symphony’s triumphant claim, under the leadership of Ludovic Morlot, as one of the truly great American orchestras. Beautifully engineered, too. \u003cem>–Anastasia Tsioulcas\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://www.npr.org/player/embed/417426717/418407642\" width=\"100%\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>SUFJAN STEVENS \u003cbr>\u003cem>Carrie & Lowell \u003c/em>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/sufjanstevens_custom-3d159564518f48722b351340d4618f94dc2dc252.jpg\" alt=\"Carrie & Lowell by Sufjan Stevens\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-10817766\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/sufjanstevens_custom-3d159564518f48722b351340d4618f94dc2dc252.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/sufjanstevens_custom-3d159564518f48722b351340d4618f94dc2dc252-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/sufjanstevens_custom-3d159564518f48722b351340d4618f94dc2dc252-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/sufjanstevens_custom-3d159564518f48722b351340d4618f94dc2dc252-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/sufjanstevens_custom-3d159564518f48722b351340d4618f94dc2dc252-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/sufjanstevens_custom-3d159564518f48722b351340d4618f94dc2dc252-75x75.jpg 75w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A decade after \u003ca href=\"http://pitchfork.com/features/staff-lists/6222-top-50-albums-of-2005/5/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">his coming-out party\u003c/a> as indie’s gentlest superhero, it was starting to feel reasonable to wonder whether \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/15121560/sufjan-stevens\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Sufjan Stevens\u003c/a>‘ feet might ever touch the ground again. From \u003cem>Illinois \u003c/em>to \u003cem>The Age of Adz \u003c/em>via \u003cem>The BQE,\u003c/em> Stevens built an ornate, dense collection of epic songs that was awe-inspiring but not always welcoming. On \u003cem>Carrie & Lowell,\u003c/em> Stevens dials things back to a whisper to reckon with the 2012 death of his mother. If it sounds like a “classic” Sufjan album on the surface, it conceals its mastery of subtle changes only lightly, all the ambition of his previous albums on the head of a pin. A deep pool of familial regret and pain in “Should Have Known Better” ripples with hope and acceptance. The gentle propulsion of “Drawn To The Blood” gives way to ambient shimmer. The most immediately “Sufjan-like” song on the album, “Eugene,” begins with lines about lemon yogurt and the “hysterical” light in the Oregon town of the title. It sounds like it could be the set-up for a new entry in his long-abandoned 50 States project, but turns despondent: “What’s the point of singing songs if they’ll never even hear you?” Stevens sings before the song abruptly ends. “We’re all gonna die,” he repeats later. And then, “F*** me, I’m falling apart.” By the album’s end, he’s lost and alone, but take a breath and put the album on again and you’ll hear him forgive his mother in the opening song. Healing doesn’t follow a straight line; neither does art. \u003cem>–Jacob Ganz\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://www.npr.org/player/embed/417426717/418403102\" width=\"100%\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>TORRES \u003cbr>\u003cem>Sprinter\u003c/em>\u003cbr>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/torres_custom-652d0a4375a8db48ae92774154c903dc34e7735b.jpg\" alt=\"Sprinter by Torres\" width=\"200\" height=\"199\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-10817767\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/torres_custom-652d0a4375a8db48ae92774154c903dc34e7735b.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/torres_custom-652d0a4375a8db48ae92774154c903dc34e7735b-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/torres_custom-652d0a4375a8db48ae92774154c903dc34e7735b-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/torres_custom-652d0a4375a8db48ae92774154c903dc34e7735b-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/torres_custom-652d0a4375a8db48ae92774154c903dc34e7735b-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/torres_custom-652d0a4375a8db48ae92774154c903dc34e7735b-75x75.jpg 75w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Sprinter\u003c/em> is the sound of an artist at the moment her vision snaps into startling focus. Mackenzie Scott had showed promise before; her early work as \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/390468475/tores\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Torres \u003c/a>exuded moody cool and unsettling atmosphere. \u003cem>Sprinter\u003c/em>, though, is something else, and it’s apparent within its opening minute. “Strange Hellos” opens with a strained whisper through clenched teeth, and by the time 60 seconds have passed, the song has accelerated into something approaching a full roar — it’s confident and scary and mysterious and crowd-pleasing all at once. From there, the ideas keep pouring out, as Scott explores crises of faith and identity with equal parts aggression and grace. \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/15405929/pj-harvey\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">PJ Harvey\u003c/a> is as fine a reference point as any, but \u003cem>Sprinter\u003c/em> also plays around with quieter atmospheres in songs that storm, seethe and surprise. \u003cem>–Stephen Thompson\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://www.npr.org/player/embed/417426717/418403057\" width=\"100%\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>VIJAY IYER TRIO\u003cbr>\u003cem>Break Stuff \u003c/em>\u003cbr>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/vijayiyer_custom-9883795d16e245f4f5700c4d832a5d1dbedaa58d.jpg\" alt=\"Hood by Vijay Iyer Trio\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-10817768\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/vijayiyer_custom-9883795d16e245f4f5700c4d832a5d1dbedaa58d.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/vijayiyer_custom-9883795d16e245f4f5700c4d832a5d1dbedaa58d-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/vijayiyer_custom-9883795d16e245f4f5700c4d832a5d1dbedaa58d-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/vijayiyer_custom-9883795d16e245f4f5700c4d832a5d1dbedaa58d-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/vijayiyer_custom-9883795d16e245f4f5700c4d832a5d1dbedaa58d-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/vijayiyer_custom-9883795d16e245f4f5700c4d832a5d1dbedaa58d-75x75.jpg 75w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To say \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/92749291/vijay-iyer\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Vijay Iyer\u003c/a> has expanded the boundaries of jazz has become old hat. For my money he has accomplished the same kind of innovation and forward thinking that \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/15368370/miles-davis\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Miles Davis\u003c/a> used to brag about. There are some of the usual trappings: a jazz trio; larger big bands full of saxophones and brass; quirky, angular compositions that echo the best of the most challenging jazz. But what Iyer brings to every group context and performance is the kind of wandering spirit that us jazz fans cherish but rarely encounter. Plenty of musicians experiment and even dip into the screech and howl of the avant-garde but so precious few ever master the jazz tradition enough to be able abandon it and carve out a place for their own. \u003cem>Break Stuff\u003c/em> is but another chorus in the continuing song that is the life and music of Vijay Iyer. I have no doubt the next album as will be as good as his last. So for now, I spend time with his current album and marvel at how he does it. \u003cem>–Felix Contreras\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://www.npr.org/player/embed/417426717/418402988\" width=\"100%\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003chr>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>WILLIAM BASINSKI \u003cbr>\u003cem>Cascade \u003c/em>\u003cbr>\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/williambasinski_custom-902b71dfaf91310b397ab1ba56a964a270bf8a4b.jpg\" alt=\"Cascade by William Basinski\" width=\"200\" height=\"200\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-10817769\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/williambasinski_custom-902b71dfaf91310b397ab1ba56a964a270bf8a4b.jpg 200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/williambasinski_custom-902b71dfaf91310b397ab1ba56a964a270bf8a4b-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/williambasinski_custom-902b71dfaf91310b397ab1ba56a964a270bf8a4b-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/williambasinski_custom-902b71dfaf91310b397ab1ba56a964a270bf8a4b-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/williambasinski_custom-902b71dfaf91310b397ab1ba56a964a270bf8a4b-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2015/06/williambasinski_custom-902b71dfaf91310b397ab1ba56a964a270bf8a4b-75x75.jpg 75w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A master of tape loop manipulation, composer \u003ca href=\"http://www.npr.org/artists/163552901/william-basinski\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">William Basinski\u003c/a> is known best for his mournful, mysterious, five-hour-long recording \u003cem>The Disintegration Loops.\u003c/em> Fifteen years ago, while digitizing fragile reels of tape, he discovered a transitory beauty as they literally crumbled in the tape deck, but found new life as digital files. Now again, Basinski has rescued old tapes to create \u003cem>Cascade,\u003c/em> another mesmerizing ambient landscape. “I agonized over these and almost threw them in the trash,” he wrote in a promotional email. \u003cem>Cascade\u003c/em> appears to be built from a single fragile piano riff, drenched in reverb, slightly overmodulated and looped for nearly 40 minutes. But as usual with this most subtle composer, there’s much below Cascade’s shimmering surface. Instead of stasis, a slight tug of current floats you down a rippling streamlet. The music emerges from nowhere, shifts almost imperceptibly, then quietly recedes. Why it packs as much emotional punch as it does is a mystery best left unanswered. \u003cem>Cascade,\u003c/em> aside from its dark beauty and quiet power, is a vindication for all packrats — proof that having second thoughts about what to trash and what to save can be a glorious thing. \u003cem>–Tom Huizenga\u003c/em> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Tim Burton’s shadowy tales have taken audiences from a pastel suburban paradise in \u003cem>Edward Scissorhands\u003c/em> to the dark streets of Gotham City in \u003cem>Batman\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Accompanying Burton’s strange worlds are the mysterious and unforgettable scores by composer Danny Elfman. Over the last 30 years, the two have forged an iconic partnership.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There was instant chemistry in terms of what we were into,” Danny Elfman says about the first time he met Tim Burton. “We had a lot of common roots … we both grew up as horror movie kids.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Burton’s latest film, \u003cem>Big Eyes\u003c/em>, marks the duo’s 16th collaboration together.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To celebrate, the Lincoln Center Festival in New York City opens Monday with \u003cem>\u003ca href=\"http://www.lincolncenterfestival.org/2015/danny-elfman-s-music-from-the-films-of-tim-burton\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Danny Elfman’s Music from the Films of Tim Burton\u003c/a> \u003c/em>at Avery Fisher Hall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The first act features music from \u003cem>Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure\u003c/em> — the first movie the two worked on together. While filming, Burton asked Elfman to score the film.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I had a four-track tape player and I went and recorded a demo,” he says. “Sent them to him on a cassette. That was it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Burton called back a few weeks later and offered Elfman the job.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“In the beginning and over the years of working together, considering that it’s been 16 films, we’ve talked very little about them,” Elfman says. “Tim doesn’t like to analyze his films. Tim’s never been that way. And so we usually will see a film, he’ll tell me how he feels, a little bit about this character, that character, and we don’t really communicate until I have music to play.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I grew up feeling that I was from another planet,” Elfman says. “And I get the feeling that Tim also grew up similarly … The worlds he created didn’t seem that weird to me, it just seemed like, ‘Okay, yeah.’ ”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Hear the full piece at the audio link below.\u003c/em> \u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ciframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http://www.npr.org/player/embed/419643892/420097073\" width=\"100%\" height=\"290\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\">\u003c/iframe>\u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2015 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=For+Danny+Elfman%2C+The+Strange+Worlds+Of+Tim+Burton+Just+Make+Sense&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cp>Observing the consequences of the Mexican drug trade on both sides of the U.S. border, \u003cem>Cartel Land\u003c/em> toggles between Arizona and the state of Michoacan, about 1,000 miles to the south. Only the latter of the twinned storylines really pays off, but that one is riveting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Up north, director Matthew Heineman and cinematographer Matt Porwoll follow Tim “Nailer” Foley, a military veteran who decided to secure the Arizona border. In part, this is a personal reclamation project. Nailer became a vigilante after kicking his addiction to booze and drugs and losing his construction job in the 2008 maxi-recession.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nailer and his ad hoc troops are sincere, it seems, about wanting to protect their neighbors from Mexican thugs. But they’re also instinctively anti-immigrant. (One Arizona vigilante considers any Mexican migrant who already speaks English a major villain, even after a hapless guy explains that he just picked up the lingo while working in a Cancun hotel.) If all illegal drugs stopped crossing the border, Nailer’s men would not consider the battle won.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Further south, Michoacan’s residents don’t have to don night-vision goggles and patrol empty desert to locate narco-gangsters. They’re everywhere in the impoverished state, which under more peaceful circumstances might be best known for its lime and avocado crops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the filmmakers arrive, the region is dominated by the Knights Templar, a murderous mob whose name alone indicates the muddled iconography of cartel-dominated territory. They have come to think of themselves as defenders of the faith, even as they expand from drugs to kidnapping and protection rackets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Against the Knights, local pillars of the community organize the Autodefensas. The group is run by a committee, but one man emerges as its spokesperson: Jose Manuel Mireles Valverde, a white-haired, grandfatherly doctor who doesn’t apply the Hippocratic oath to cartel members. Mireles is articulate and charismatic, but not without weaknesses that can be exploited by the Knights and the Mexican government — and those with a foot in each camp.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The movie, inevitably, focuses on Mireles and several dramatic events that involved him in 2014. But the larger story is the tendency of power to corrupt in a land where violence is the only controlling political authority. As the Autodefensas’ influence grows, so do their transgressions. Michoacan may have traded one savage occupying army for another.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Heineman shot much of the footage himself, clearly at great risk. Impressively, he had the presence of mind to keep filming during tense standoffs and full-blown firefights. He also captured scenes with masked participants — such as a coven of Mexican cooks around a witches’ cauldron of methamphetamine — and ones where the subjects probably thought the camera was off. Occasionally, he points the lens away from the action and settles just for audio of the events.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although the musical score is sometimes intrusive, everything else in \u003cem>Cartel Land\u003c/em> is skillfully balanced. The film is crisply photographed and tightly edited, both of which are essential to navigating so much narrative chaos and moral anarchy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Heineman was lucky to come out of this project intact. After viewing Michoacan’s mayhem from a more comfortable distance, \u003cem>Cartel Land\u003c/em> viewers may feel similarly fortunate. \u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2015 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Investigating+The+Drug+Trade+In+%27Cartel+Land%27&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Observing the consequences of the Mexican drug trade on both sides of the U.S. border, \u003cem>Cartel Land\u003c/em> toggles between Arizona and the state of Michoacan, about 1,000 miles to the south. Only the latter of the twinned storylines really pays off, but that one is riveting.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Up north, director Matthew Heineman and cinematographer Matt Porwoll follow Tim “Nailer” Foley, a military veteran who decided to secure the Arizona border. In part, this is a personal reclamation project. Nailer became a vigilante after kicking his addiction to booze and drugs and losing his construction job in the 2008 maxi-recession.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nailer and his ad hoc troops are sincere, it seems, about wanting to protect their neighbors from Mexican thugs. But they’re also instinctively anti-immigrant. (One Arizona vigilante considers any Mexican migrant who already speaks English a major villain, even after a hapless guy explains that he just picked up the lingo while working in a Cancun hotel.) If all illegal drugs stopped crossing the border, Nailer’s men would not consider the battle won.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Further south, Michoacan’s residents don’t have to don night-vision goggles and patrol empty desert to locate narco-gangsters. They’re everywhere in the impoverished state, which under more peaceful circumstances might be best known for its lime and avocado crops.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When the filmmakers arrive, the region is dominated by the Knights Templar, a murderous mob whose name alone indicates the muddled iconography of cartel-dominated territory. They have come to think of themselves as defenders of the faith, even as they expand from drugs to kidnapping and protection rackets.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Against the Knights, local pillars of the community organize the Autodefensas. The group is run by a committee, but one man emerges as its spokesperson: Jose Manuel Mireles Valverde, a white-haired, grandfatherly doctor who doesn’t apply the Hippocratic oath to cartel members. Mireles is articulate and charismatic, but not without weaknesses that can be exploited by the Knights and the Mexican government — and those with a foot in each camp.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The movie, inevitably, focuses on Mireles and several dramatic events that involved him in 2014. But the larger story is the tendency of power to corrupt in a land where violence is the only controlling political authority. As the Autodefensas’ influence grows, so do their transgressions. Michoacan may have traded one savage occupying army for another.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Heineman shot much of the footage himself, clearly at great risk. Impressively, he had the presence of mind to keep filming during tense standoffs and full-blown firefights. He also captured scenes with masked participants — such as a coven of Mexican cooks around a witches’ cauldron of methamphetamine — and ones where the subjects probably thought the camera was off. Occasionally, he points the lens away from the action and settles just for audio of the events.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Although the musical score is sometimes intrusive, everything else in \u003cem>Cartel Land\u003c/em> is skillfully balanced. The film is crisply photographed and tightly edited, both of which are essential to navigating so much narrative chaos and moral anarchy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Heineman was lucky to come out of this project intact. After viewing Michoacan’s mayhem from a more comfortable distance, \u003cem>Cartel Land\u003c/em> viewers may feel similarly fortunate. \u003c/p>\n\u003cdiv class=\"fullattribution\">Copyright 2015 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.\u003cimg decoding=\"async\" src=\"http://www.google-analytics.com/__utm.gif?utmac=UA-5828686-4&utmdt=Investigating+The+Drug+Trade+In+%27Cartel+Land%27&utme=8(APIKey)9(MDAxOTAwOTE4MDEyMTkxMDAzNjczZDljZA004)\">\u003c/div>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
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"soldout": {
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"title": "SOLD OUT: Rethinking Housing in America",
"tagline": "A new future for housing",
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