In the premiere episode of Soundscapes N.Y.C., host Ryan Purcell talks with celebrated writer Lucy Sante about the landscape of gender logics within the New York rock scene. It was a nebulous soundscape of counterculture formed around gender explorations and social upheaval set to the soundtrack of an aggressive style of rock ’n’ roll that critics would iden ... Show More
Today
John Minton, "Folk Music and Song in the WPA Ex-Slave Narratives" (UP of Mississippi, 2025)
In the late 1930s, fieldworkers with the Works Progress Administration interviewed about 3,500 formerly enslaved people resulting in approximately 20,000 pages of unedited typescripts. This collection of oral histories is arguably the single greatest body of African American folk ... Show More
1h 3m
Oct 7
In The Life of a Showgirl, Taylor Swift Addresses Love, Glamour, and Grit
It’s The Pop Culture Professors, and we review Taylor Swift’s new album “The Life of a Showgirl.” We consider the album’s themes: love, nostalgia, how hard it is to be famous, and how the internet is bad. We set the songs in the context of Taylor’s wider career and public persona ... Show More
30m 55s
Oct 4
Audrey Golden, "Shouting Out Loud: Lives of the Raincoats" (Da Capo Press, 2025)
In Shouting Out Loud: Lives of The Raincoats (Da Capo Press, 2025) Audrey Golden traces the history of the iconic band The Raincoats staring of the founding by Art students Gina Birch and Ana da Silva in 1977. Since the release of their seminal early records, the band has been re ... Show More
43m 17s
Nov 2024
Veronica Keller and Sabrina Mittermeier, "From Broadway to the Bronx: New York City’s History through Song" (Intellect, 2024)
From Broadway to the Bronx: New York City’s History through Song (Intellect, 2024) tells the history of New York City in song across a variety of different genres that the city has been home to and instrumental in developing, covering everything from early twentieth-century sheet ... Show More
56m 40s
Apr 2023
Annie Zaleski, "Lady Gaga: Applause" (Palazzo Editions, 2022)
As one of the world's best-selling musicians, Lady Gaga has set the musical bar high. Since her debut album, The Fame (2008), she has sold more than 124 million records and scooped numerous awards, including twelve Grammy Awards and eighteen MTV Music Video Awards.Yet she is much ... Show More
52m 16s
Jun 2024
The Devil's Music 62: Cynthia B-Girl
Cynthia Ross is a musician, writer, poet and spoken word performer. Better known as her stage name Cynthia B-Girl, she’s a punk rock pioneer and one of the earliest of proponents of the underground scene in Toronto, Canada. In 1977, Cynthia and B-Girls singer Lucasta met at post- ... Show More
1h 8m
Feb 2017
Oscar Week!: La La Land ft. Genevieve Koski
With the Academy Awards around the corner, Charlie and Nate try something new: a break down of the movie musical La La Land through two of its key songs, "City of Stars" and "Start a Fire." These numbers, one by composer Justin Hurwitz, the other by Hurwitz and John Legend, might ... Show More
52m 38s
Dec 2024
The Bridge: Slate Music Club 2024
The Slate Music Club is back, in a special edition of Hit Parade – “The Bridge”! Our year-end panel of critics—NPR Music’s Ann Powers, Hearing Things’ Julianne Escobedo Shepherd, Slate’s own Carl Wilson and Hit Parade host Chris Molanphy—discuss their favorite albums and singles ... Show More
35m 12s
Jun 2025
Billy Porter on activism and artists
Billy Porter, famous for his Broadway roles in such shows as Kinky Boots and Grease, and onscreen in Pose and Cinderella is making his directorial debut in theatre with This Bitter Earth. Jesse is an introspective Black playwright and when Neil, Jesse’s boyfriend, who is a white ... Show More
42m 18s
Dec 2024
The Year in Music
As 2024 comes to a close, critics, reporters and editors at The New York Times are reflecting on the year in arts and culture, including music.
Today, The Times’s pop music critics Jon Pareles, Lindsay Zoladz and Jon Caramanica talk with Melissa Kirsch, the deputy editor of Cultu ... Show More
33m 27s
Mar 2025
Breaking Gender Norms in Music & Creating an All-Female Album | Emel Mathlouthi at Quoz Arts Fest
The inspiring Emel Mathlouthi joins Tanya Khoury on the Quoz Arts Fest stage in Dubai for a riveting discussion on music, cultural roots, and breaking gender norms in the music industry. Emel shares her journey of proving that women can excel in music production, creating her all ... Show More
18m 28s