NPR Music

The singer opens up about her debut acting role on the mysterious Netflix series The OA, the personal experiences that inspired her performance and how to cry on command.

Every January, we look forward to globalFEST, a one-night showcase of newly emerging and well-established artists from around the world. This annual event, held at Manhattan's Webster Hall, is where industry insiders and cool-hunters alike ferret out the next big global music acts on the touring circuit — the buzzed-about bands playing on this single winter night form the vanguard of what you're going to be watching at festivals and at venues across the country over the next couple of years.

We have a candid interview with Julien Baker, a young singer of sad, thoughtful songs. Her new song, "Funeral Pyre," is being released on the storied independent label Matador Records.

Guest host and NPR Music contributor Timmhotep Aku talks with comedian, actor and writer Hannibal Buress. Buress is known and loved for his brand of irreverent comedy and his gift for finding absurdity in the seemingly mundane. It's an audacity that informs not only his sense of humor, but also his taste in music. A hip-hop head from Chicago's West Side, Buress is a true rap omnivore whose tastes run the gamut from the uber-popular to the obscure.

Bob chats with Radiohead's visionary guitarist Jonny Greenwood about the making of the band's newest record, A Moon Shaped Pool.

The bassist, singer and songwriter behind some of the 20th century's most iconic music goes deep into race, civil rights, prison reform, the troubled music industry and more.

Paul McCartney talks about his solo career-spanning compilation Pure McCartney, his creative process, how he stays inspired and why he sometimes thinks he should take songwriting more seriously.

Paul Simon talks about his album, Stranger To Stranger, and why it may be his last, at least for a while. He also shares the new song, "The Werewolf."

Three weeks before David Bowie released Blackstar, and three weeks before he died, I spoke with jazz saxophonist Donny McCaslin and long-time friend and producer Tony Visconti about making what would be David Bowie's final album.

Our resident Viking Lars Gotrich recalls 2016 in feral metal, dystopian and ocean-mimicking synths and Afro-futurist pop cubism.