Lars Gotrich

Costa’s voice was a key part of the sound that combined Brazilian pop music, psychedelic rock and the avant-garde in the late 1960s.

Based out of Washington, D.C., Bartees Strange was the constellation connector of our genre-spanning celebration at the 9:30 Club.

NPR Music’s resident Viking shares his favorite albums and top 10 hardcore songs of 2022.

When the words in a song hit you in just the right way, they can stay with you. We’re asking the folks at NPR Music: What lyrics did you hear in 2022 that you just couldn’t shake?

On this year-end episode, NPR Music producer Lars Gotrich takes host Bob Boilen around the globe to experience Vietnamese ambient, Chilean speed metal and auto-tune’d Ghanaian gospel music. Featured Tracks and Artists: • BKO: “Sadiona” from Djine Bora• Cheba Wahida: “Jrouli Jrouli” from Jrouli • Sơn FM: “Go Into the Mountains” from Points of Light (ST​๐​๐​๗​)• Switchblade: ”夜に踊る” from Blue Matter • Romperayo: “El Borracho” from Así No Se Puede Muchaches• La Colonie de Vacances: “L’amour universe…

Some of us have always loved Beauty Pill’s fiercely, intricately unique debut; the rest of y’all finally caught up.

Guitarist Patrick McDermott and pedal steel player Barry Walker unite again for a song as gentle as a sunkissed stream.

The guitarist responds to the quietude and complexity of his subject with bursts of compassion and even confusion.

Threadbare demos on a new reissue of 1998’s <em>Overcome by Happiness</em> illuminate Joe Pernice’s songwriting paradox: Brill Building pop woven from homespun scruff, sarcastic but always sure-footed.

In his work alongside bandmate Adam Wiltzie, McBride warped and wondered at new pathways for ambient music.