NPR Music

The Sea, The Sea On Mountain Stage

editor — Wed, 22 May 2013 15:40:00 +0000

The Sea, The Sea makes its first appearance on Mountain Stage, recorded live in Charleston, W.Va. The duo of singer-songwriters Mira Stanley and Chuck E. Costa first began performing and recording together in the fall of 2011. No stranger to West Virginia's most famous stage, Stanley spent much of her youth backstage at shows alongside her father, Mountain Stage bandleader Ron Sowell. She even auditioned once, as a very young girl, for host Larry Groce — "Don't call us, we'll call you," he told her.

Daft Punk: Accessing Electronic Music's Humanity

Ken Tucker — Wed, 22 May 2013 15:14:00 +0000

I freely admit that, until the new Random Access Memories, I wasn't much of a Daft Punk fan. I could appreciate the craft and imagination that went into creating the French duo's mixture of electronic genres — techno, house, disco — but the mechanical repetitions and heavily filtered vocals didn't turn me on in any other way.

But now, Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo have come up with an album that exposes the human side of their musical impulses.

KCRW Presents: Yo La Tengo

Jason Bentley, KCRW Music Director — Wed, 22 May 2013 12:59:00 +0000

Yo La Tengo has been able to stick together and make music on its own terms for more than 20 years; in today's climate, that's as rare as it is impressive. In an interview for KCRW, singer Ira Kaplan said the band likes to keep its process in the air and of the moment.

Jherek Bischoff On Q2 Music's 'Spaces'

editor — Wed, 22 May 2013 12:03:00 +0000

The latest episode of Q2 Spaces takes us to Washington state's Puget Sound and the small sailboat where musician, composer and producer Jherek Bischoff was raised — and to his Seattle apartment, where he surrounds himself with instruments and not much else.

"I've always worked with very little, but didn't let that stop me from trying to make big things.

Pat Metheny And John Zorn: A Vivid Sound World

Tom Moon — Tue, 21 May 2013 20:55:00 +0000

Guitarist Pat Metheny is revered for his bright, accessible modern jazz. Saxophonist and composer John Zorn is associated with much knottier, often dissonant experiments. Metheny's new Tap: John Zorn's Book of Angels, Vol.