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World Cafe
3:15 pm
Thu June 28, 2012

John Lydon On World Cafe

Credit Courtesy of Paul Heartfield
John Lydon (center right) of Public Image Ltd.
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By editor

Originally published on Thu August 16, 2012 11:09 am

Though John Lydon remains best known as Johnny Rotten, former lead singer of The Sex Pistols, his music career didn't end with the pioneering punk act's split in 1978. Lydon formed Public Image Ltd shortly thereafter and dropped his adopted stage name. Widely considered the first post-punk band, PiL experiments with a wide palette of sounds, including dub, rock and disco.

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JazzSet
2:44 pm
Thu June 28, 2012

Allison Miller's Boom Tic Boom On JazzSet

Credit Margot Schulman / Courtesy of the Kennedy Center
Allison Miller leads Boom Tic Boom at the Kennedy Center during the Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Festival.
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Originally published on Fri April 26, 2013 4:56 pm

Allison Miller has a jazz portfolio with Dr. Lonnie Smith, Steven Bernstein and a host of others, as well as a pop career with Brandi Carlile, Ani DiFranco and Natalie Merchant. She's a U.S.

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Favorite Sessions
2:35 pm
Thu June 28, 2012

JD McPherson: From Little Kids To Little Richard

Credit opbmusic.org
JD McPherson performs in Portland for opbmusic.org.
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By editor

Originally published on Thu June 28, 2012 2:55 pm

Call JD McPherson's style a throwback if you like, but don't mistake it for novelty. The former punk rocker and middle-school art teacher crafts a raw and energetic blend of jump blues, rockabilly and early rock 'n' roll on his debut album Signs & Signifiers, recording to 1/4 tape on analog equipment. Still, McPherson is as likely to cite The Smiths or Wu-Tang Clan as influences as he is Little Richard or Ruth Brown.

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All Songs Considered Blog
1:59 pm
Thu June 28, 2012

Second Stage: Vows, 'Winter's Grave'

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Credit Courtesy of the artist
Credit Courtesy of the artist
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By Emily White

Vows' debut album Winter's Grave arrived to NPR folded carefully in a worn piece of paper xeroxed with hand-drawn artwork. True to it's packaging, Winter's Grave is delicately hand-crafted rather then sloppily home-spun.

Vows is a dreamy, atmospheric band with pop sensibilities from a small town in New Jersey. The album's title track has a satisfying blend of enchanting and eerie sounds. It opens with a vibrant riff that rattles over synth keys but slips into dissonant, creepy organ sounds.

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Concerts
1:38 pm
Thu June 28, 2012

Live From Tanglewood: The Boston Symphony Orchestra

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Credit Erik Jacobs for NPR
The Boston Symphony Orchestra opened their 75th anniversary season at Tanglewood on July 6, 2012.
Credit Erik Jacobs for NPR
Picnickers started arriving hours early for this concert; by the time the music started, some 12,00 concertgoers packed the Shed and Tanglewood's grounds.
Credit Erik Jacobs for NPR
Conductor Christoph von Dohnanyi has been a frequent guest conductor at the Boston Symphony Orchestra recently.
Credit Erik Jacobs for NPR
In an ideal pairing of music of setting, the orchestra played Beethoven's Symphony No. 6, "Pastoral."
Credit Erik Jacobs for NPR
The all-Beethoven concert began with the Leonore Overture No. 3.
Credit Erik Jacobs for NPR
Dohnanyi's gestures at the podium were mostly very restrained.
Credit Erik Jacobs for NPR
The program for this opening night at Tanglewood on July 6, 2012, replicated the very first concert the Boston Symphony Orchestra gave at their then-new summer home in 1937.
Credit Erik Jacobs for NPR
The Boston Globe called this performance of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony "full, open and robust," and praised Dohnanyi for "lean textures kept his Fifth from tipping over into the land of flabby orchestral cliche."
Credit Erik Jacobs for NPR
The weather could not have been more perfect for dining and listening to music al fresco.
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By editor

Originally published on Mon July 9, 2012 6:59 am

Seventy-five years ago, an American institution was born: Tanglewood, the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, a cultural mecca to arts lovers and the musical refuge for generations of young artists.

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