New albums by Jon Batiste and Louis Cato arrive with high expectations. Both — as their experience leading led the band at Stephen Colbert's The Late Show has proved — are stellar live performers.

Podcast hosts Sidney Madden and Rodney Carmichael say despite the misogynoir that has plagued the genre, hip-hop is poised for change. "The girls and the gays are running things," Madden says.

In 1995, the Memphis hip-hop group Three 6 Mafia took a shoestring DIY approach to recording their debut album, Mystic Stylez. Their example led to a flourishing independent hip-hop scene.

Leah Fleming chats with music producer and filmmaker Dallas Austin about receiving his upcoming honor at The Macon Film Festival, what's real in the movie Drumline and how a busted keyboard got him into music.

One hundred years after his birth in 1923, we celebrate the legacy of Elmo Hope — one of the most influential pianists you've probably never heard of.

With Herb Alpert, Moss presided over one of the industry's most successful independent labels with hits by the Carpenters, the Police, Janet Jackson, Carole King, Janet Jackson and hundreds of others.

In the mid-2000s, Be Your Own Pet's frenetic punk sneered at the trappings of adulthood. The group returns after a 15-year hiatus with Mommy, an album that builds on its oppositional beginnings.

The Spanish artist dances along the border of tradition and modernity in his Tiny Desk performance.

John Cale, a legend of avant-garde music, is out with a highly-collaborative album called Mercy at the age of 80.

For the first time, the band members, their crew and their fans tell the story of a landmark moment they didn't realize was happening. Sonic Youth's new album, Live in Brooklyn 2011, is out this week.

The video is a winning combination of nostalgia, intrigue and surrealism. And its viral ascent can tell us a lot about modern meme culture.

The New Orleans band talks about their new album, Pour It Out Into the Night.

One of the world's biggest stars performs a few of the world's biggest songs at the Tiny Desk.

This summer, three women at the peak of their powers lead a spectacular pop culture revival. Barbie, Beyoncé and Taylor Swift shattered records and created a communal economy of irrational exuberance.

Alan Paul’s most recent book on the Allman Brothers Band, published last month, explores the album “Brothers and Sisters” in the context of what was happening in the band and across the United States at the time of its release 50 years ago.