On Monday, the team behind Lee Brice's "I Drive Your Truck" gathered in Nashville to celebrate the song's reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Country Airplay chart. From left: co-songwriters Jimmy Yeary, Connie Harrington and Jessi Alexander, military father Paul Monti and singer Lee Brice.
The competition for your ears — and dollars — just got a little tougher. On Wednesday, Google launched a paid music subscription service that will put it in direct competition with other streaming services like Spotify and Pandora. The announcement may just be the beginning for Google.
Solomon "Sully" Omar performs with the Afghan metal band District Unknown at the third annual Sound Central Festival in Kabul earlier this month.
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The 23-year-old, Colorado-born Omar (shown here performing an acoustic set with a member of District Unknown) says he was pleasantly surprised by the vibrant music scene he found when he landed in Kabul last year.
When 23-year-old Solomon "Sully" Omar felt the music scene in his native Denver wasn't giving him what he was looking for, he made a radical move. He headed for Kabul, capital of the war-torn country his parents had fled decades ago.
"I came here to continue my education and at the same time see what's in the music scene here and bring some of the skills and abilities that I have to the music scene," says Omar.
RNDM is a new band featuring Joseph Arthur, Pearl Jam bassist Jeff Ament and drummer Richard Stuverud. Ament and Arthur met when the latter opened for Pearl Jam on tour.
Ament tells World Cafe host David Dye that he was mesmerized by Arthur's ability to create band sounds by looping his guitar and vocals. He also describes how RNDM formed and explains the process behind creating its debut album, Acts.
Milo Greene — a band, not a person — makes its first appearance on Mountain Stage, recorded live on the campus of West Virginia University in Morgantown. The cinematic pop band offsets its atmospheric melodies with a driving, energetic edge.
Four of Milo Greene's five members — keyboardist Marlana Sheetz, bassist Graham Fink and guitarists Andrew Heringer and Robbie Arnett — share lead-vocal duties, and often swap instruments between songs. Along with Curtis Marrero on drums, they've opened for The Civil Wars on a 2011 tour and are set to play Lollapalooza this summer.
From the Northern Isles of Shetland and Orkney, to the Hebrides, the Isle of Man and Rathlin Island off the northern Irish coast, this week's diverse choice of music is insular only in the geographical sense.
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Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield. The video of Commander Hadfield's performance of David Bowie's song "Space Oddity" has been viewed more than 11 million times since it was posted to YouTube.
Blue Note Records (Gettin' Around by Dexter Gordon, 1965)
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Capitol Records (Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles, 1967)
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DFA Records ("Losing My Edge" b/w "Beat Connection" by LCD Soundsystem, 2002)
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DFA Records (B-side label)
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Drag City Records (Ys by Joanna Newsom, 2006)
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ECM Records (Codona by Collin Walcott, Don Cherry and Nana Vasconcelos, 1980)
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Fania Records (Fania All Stars Live by Fania All Stars, 1978)
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Flying Dutchman Records (Blues and the Soulful Truth by Leon Thomas, 1972)
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Flying Nun Records ("Baby's On Fire" by 3D's, 1992)
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Folkways Records (Folk Music of India by Various Artists, 1950)
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Goner Records (Live at Goner Records by The Reigning Sound, 2005)
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Harvest Records (Meddle by Pink Floyd, 1971)
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Impulse! Records (Coltrane "Live" at the Village Vanguard by John Coltrane, 1962)
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Jagjaguwar (Tramp by Sharon Van Etten, 2012)
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Lebendige Vergangenheit (Preiser Records) (performances by Pawel Lisizian)
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Matador Records (Mother of All Saints by Thinking Fellers Union Local 282, 1992)
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Merge Records (Funeral by Arcade Fire, 2005)
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Nonesuch Records (Yankee Hotel Foxtrot by Wilco, 2002)
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PAN ("Disingenuity" b/w "Disingenuousness" by Keith Fullerton Whitman, 2010)
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Stiff Records (New Boots and Panties!! by Ian Dury, 1977)
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Sublime Frequencies (Guitar El Chark by Omar Khorshid, 2010)
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Sub Pop (Strand by The Spinanes, 1996)
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Sugar Hill Records (Drop the Bomb by Trouble Funk, 1982)
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Verve Records (Norman Granz Jam Session/The Charlie Parker Sides by Charlie Parker with Benny Cater, Johnny Hodges, Ben Webster & Oscar Peterson, 1976)
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Hyperdub (Burial by Burial, 2007)
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ZZK Records (Rio Arriba by Chancha Via Circuito, 2010)
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