If you want to know where music is heading, just listen to these 25 songs.

The New York Times Magazine compiled this list of songs and essays, reflecting on this moment in music history and noting the rising relevance of "the song" as a singular, digestible, private-yet-shared experience.

The playlist clocks in at just under 2 hours. You can listen to snippets on the New York Times Magazine website, or in its entirety on Spotify.

Several of the music critics joined us to discuss their choices:

CUNY faculty members haven't had a contract since 2010; for some university workers, there hasn't been a contract since 2009.

And as the first day of New York's state budget year approaches (April 1st), it's still a mystery as to what will happen with CUNY funding. 

Conor Skelding, reporter for POLITICO New York, gives an update on the funding disputes between the governor, mayor and state assembly.

EMILY's List is a political action committee (a PAC) that focuses on getting Democratic women into elected office.

Ellen Malcolm, founder and chair of EMILY's List and the author of When Women Win: EMILY’s List and the Rise of Women in American Politics (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2016), talks about the PAC's founding and the women it's helped elect.

When comparing Democratic women to Democratic men in elected office, Malcolm said women tend to be more progressive, and they are currently leading the fight in equal pay, paid family leave, paid sick leave, and women's health.

As for this election cycle, Malcolm says she totally gets why young millennial women are largely rallying around Bernie Sanders. She recalls knocking on doors for McCarthy during the height of the anti-war movement and thinking that her generation was going to change how politics worked.

So her message about young millennials for Bernie: "Good for them for getting involved. It's encouraging to see another generation getting active." Ultimately, she says we'll all need to get behind the party nominee come November.

Finding that "fewer than 2% of the 500,000 state and local seats are held by Asian Americans and Latina/os," Sayu Bhojwani, founder and president of The New American Leaders Project, talks about the impact of the lack of representation and the nuts and bolts of recruiting candidates for office.

Bhojwani, who also served as New York City's first Commissioner of Immigrant Affairs under Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg from 2002 to 2004, said there are several barriers to first- and second-generation immigrants getting elected. It's partly a lack of history of engagement with political party systems; campaign finance is another big barrier.

The outcome of next week's primaries in Ohio and Florida could shape the field of presidential candidates, before New Yorkers even have a chance to vote.

Mike Thompson, host of "Columbus on the Record" at WOSU, and Tom Hudson, vice president of news and special correspondent at WLRN in Miami, discuss last night's GOP debate and the upcoming primaries.

Thompson in Ohio says Trump is setting a tone that he's upset and fed up, and that resonates with a lot of the working class voters in Ohio, despite Kasich being their governor.

"He's in a real dogfight with Donald Trump [in Ohio]," said Thompson, explaining that Kasich was reelected as governor only 15 months ago but is currently campaigning hard in his home state.

And Marco Rubio has a lot at stake in Tuesday's primaries. Hudson pointed out: Rubio has only won 1 state-wide election in his home state of Florida, so he'll have a large gap to overcome.

Tom Johnson, co-founder and energy writer at NJ Spotlight, and Mae Wu, an attorney in the Health and Environment Program at the Natural Resources Defense Council in Washington. D.C., discuss the elevated levels of lead discovered in drinking water at Newark Public Schools and explores whether this could be a growing problem across the country as lead contamination in Newark follows the ongoing problems in Flint, Michigan.

Wu suggested that anyone who lives in an old building test their drinking water or purchase filters that protect against lead in drinking water, because of the prevalence of aging lead pipes in these structures.  

One listener on Twitter asked whether lead in water is a concern for adults? Wu said lead contamination is mostly harmful to young children, because it has an impact on development. 

Amid reports of rising numbers of overdoses and public restrooms being used for shooting up heroin, New York State Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal (D-67) talks about her call for supervised injection facilities, or SIFs.

.@BrianLehrer here's a brief review of 30 years of scientific literature on SIFs worldwide: https://t.co/Tm6fkZElww

On heroin vs. crack. @BrianLehrer: "Addiction is now a a public health issue vs. criminal issue now that it's impacting more white people."

@BrianLehrer the phenomenon of there only being a reaction/solution when things happen to white folks needs to be named.

First Paul O'Neill, and now Johnny Damon: several Yankees players have come out in public support of Donald Trump.

But Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr says no one's looking to them for political advice anyway, calling it "amazing" that they would come out for a candidate that disrespects so many communities, including women and immigrants.

@BrianLehrer The Mets are NOT the Canada of Baseball! Don't come trying to move in with us!:)

The Borough President, who supports Hillary Clinton, also commented on last night's debate, saying that for himself and many Latinos watching it was a relief to hear both Clinton and Sanders pledge not to separate families by deporting illegal immigrants.

Borough President Diaz was also proud to report lower crime rates in the Bronx for the third year in a row. And he credits it, largely, to the growing immigrant population. He said many immigrants who come to the Bronx are hard workers, family-oriented, people of faith, and law-abiding citizens. "You have to give credit where credit is due."

Brian also asked the Borough President about U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara's decision not to pursue an indictment against the NYPD officer who shot Bronx resident Ramarley Graham.

"It's deeply saddening, it's troubling, it's frustrating...a travesty of the judicial system," said Diaz. There's plenty of people in America who make a mistake that costs them their job, he explained. In this case, the officer's mistake cost someone a life. It makes sense for him to turn in his badge.

Rikers Island has become a symbol of dysfunction in the criminal justice system. So what would a humane jail look like?

Here to reflect on what works and what doesn't when designing a jail complex:

• Dr. Baz Dreisinger: professor, journalist, justice worker, film and radio producer, prison-rights activist, and author of Incarceration Nations: A Journey to Justice in Prisons Around the World (Other Press, 2016)

.@bazdreisinger + @glennEmartin on jail redesign. Glenn, who spent time on Rikers, calls it “a factory of despair.” pic.twitter.com/4Bf5Oj03zV

What's it like for self-identified liberals to live in a town where they're outnumbered by conservatives?

Justin Krebs shares stories of atheists, progressives, environmentalists, and other liberals, living in tucked-away towns from Texas to Alaska.

Krebs, the founding director of Living Liberally, a campaign director for MoveOn.org and the author of Blue in a Red State: The Survival Guide to Life in the Real America(The New Press, 2016), talks about his guide for left-wingers living in red states.

@BrianLehrer Yes, he is a racist. He uses people's ethnicity and religion to degrade their views and thoughts.

@BrianLehrer He's more an opportunist than anything. Not sure he believes in anything, including his racist rhetoric. But he fuels racism.

@BrianLehrer I can't believe the equivocation I'm hearing right now. Of course Trump is a racist! What's wrong with using the word "racist"?

@brianlehrer probably a disservice to ask about racism without first defining it. word used so variably has lost meaning. 'know his heart'?

@BrianLehrer If he's NOT racist, he sure does appeal to many. This happened last night https://t.co/7sr7BrTx34