January 2, 2024 • Our resident Viking, Lars Gotrich, connects epic Japanese storytelling, soul-sampling powerviolence, ambient rap and beautiful noise through thematic webs of history and memory.

“Everything is under control,” Meshell Ndegeocello sings, again and again, throughout “Call the Tune,” a haunted hymn amidst the collection of mystical prayers, jazz vamps, and folk musings that ...

This list of NPR Music's best songs of 2023 looks unlike any we've ever made before. It's not just the number of songs that has changed. There are no rankings here — in fact, the 123 songs below ...

Kylie Minogue raced back to the center of the dance floor with a viral smash. A surprise Shakira track broke the internet. Sexyy Redd owned every summer DJ set. And NewJeans rode a drum-and-bass beat ...

Is the sun finally setting on Anglo music’s global hegemony? The question has been timely for the last few years, but 2023 felt like a more permanent breakthrough for Spanish-language pop. Consider, ...

As hip-hop celebrated its 50th anniversary this year, headlines swirled around its potentially diminishing force as a commercial juggernaut: The first half of the year didn’t see a rap song or album ...