Music

Passion Pit's Michael Angelakos is a fussy sonic craftsman: A keyboardist and singer who started out working solo on his laptop, he now makes fizzily catchy electro-pop that orbits around monster hooks. He's not, in other words, the first musician you'd associate with a stripped-down performance behind NPR Music's Tiny Desk, where Technicolor production tends to give way to unfiltered voices and bare instrumental essentials.

Ask Swedish singer Sarah Assbring, sole member of the moody pop group El Perro del Mar, and she'll tell you these are grim times, but not without a flicker of hope. "In this world, you think you have no reason to believe in love or in anything much," she says. "Then one day, when you least expect it, a light appears on the far horizon. It's a flickering light, begging you to come, telling you to stay away."

This interview was originally broadcast on Nov. 24, 2010.

Born in 1928, Fats Domino enjoyed the first of his many hits — almost all of which were created in New Orleans — when "The Fat Man" rose up the R&B charts all the way to No. 2. That was in 1950. Which explains all the records on the wall at his house, and the regal status he is afforded.

That, and other musical explainers, are in our latest Treme music recap, with WBGO's Josh Jackson.

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One of the things I love about electronic music is the omnipotence of the producer. The spectrum of sounds possible with modern computer software is mind-boggling. Almost anything can happen.

British producer Andy Stott has been at the vanguard of exploring these new possibilities. In the early 2000s, the Manchester artist crafted some of the most gorgeous and inventive techno on the planet, but over the past few years, he's experimented with lower frequencies — much lower.

There's a new development in the British investigation into the allegations of child sex abuse against a late BBC television host: U.K. media, including the BBC, are reporting that police Sunday arrested rocker and convicted sex offender Gary Glitter on suspicion of sex offenses.

Peter Gabriel has just finished up the 25th-anniversary tour of his blockbuster album So. Manu Katche, the drummer who provided the driving beats for "Sledgehammer" and other songs from that record, was right there with Gabriel, helping him celebrate.

Singer Iris DeMent made her debut in 1992 with an album called Infamous Angel.

In the late 1990s, Beth Orton set the music world buzzing with her singular sound: part folk, part electronica. But six years ago, she found herself at a life-changing juncture: pregnant with her first child — and dropped from her record label.