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Megan Draper (Jessica Pare) and Don Draper (Jon Hamm) in an episode of Mad Men's sixth season. Michael Yarish/AMC hide caption

itoggle caption Michael Yarish/AMC

A (Nearly) Comprehensive Guide To The Music Of 'Mad Men'

by Chris Molanphy

April 7, 2015 • From "The Twist" to "Is That All There Is?," the songs that Mad Men uses to depict the 1960s are perfect — but often unpredictable — representations of the decade's slow evolution.

Sufjan Stevens' album Carrie & Lowell is out this week. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

itoggle caption Courtesy of the artist

How To Be Alone: Musicians Confront Solitude

by Ann Powers

April 1, 2015 • On new albums, Sufjan Stevens, Kendrick Lamar and Laura Marling all hold the world at a distance in order to embrace creation.

Madonna, Deadmau5, Kanye West and Jay Z onstage at the Tidal launch event. Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images hide caption

itoggle caption Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images

Jay Z's Music Service, Tidal, Arrives With A Splash, And Questions Follow

by Sam Sanders

March 31, 2015 • The premium streaming service, which will be owned in part by musicians, was unveiled in a star-packed ceremony. The first question it needs to answer: Can it attract listeners?

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Colleen Green. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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A Rational Conversation: Colleen Green And Going Hi(gher)-Fi In 2015

by Eric Ducker

March 19, 2015 • What type of signal does it send when a musician moves from the bedroom to the studio?

Aaron Watson on stage during the National Finals Rodeo Cowboy Fanfest in Las Vegas in 2014. Mindy Small/Getty Images hide caption

itoggle caption Mindy Small/Getty Images

Winning In Country Music, With No Help From Nashville

by NPR Staff

March 17, 2015 • Traditional country musicians, the kind who never get airplay on mainstream country radio stations, are thriving in regional scenes supported by devoted live audiences.

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Assassin poses New York in 2006. Kristy Leibowitz/Getty Images hide caption

itoggle caption Kristy Leibowitz/Getty Images

Assassin: Rap's Best Kept Secret Weapon

by Rob Kenner

March 12, 2015 • Call it weaponized wordplay. When rappers want to make a statement, they call this Jamaican dancehall star — but they don't call his name.

David Goldman/Courtesy of the artist

Benjamin Booker Faces The Past

by Ann Powers

March 11, 2015 • In a double-length video for two songs from his debut album, the punk-influenced blues singer struggles with civil rights issues that we can't seem to settle.

Courtesy of Warp Records

Planet Of Sound: The Long, Unmistakable Orbit Of Aphex Twin

by Michaelangelo Matos

March 5, 2015 • A flood of music — official and semi-secret, after years of silence — puts the career of the electronic musician Richard D. James, best known as Aphex Twin, into new and revealing perspective.

Josh Tillman's latest album as Father John Misty, I Love You, Honeybear, is a sincere and shocking catalog of the main character's adventures in sex and love. Emma Tillman/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

itoggle caption Emma Tillman/Courtesy of the artist

Ann Powers

Sympathy For The Devils

by Ann Powers

February 28, 2015 • From Lana Del Rey to Father John Misty, musicians in the current pop moment who expose themselves, warts and all, do so in isolation, without support or challenge from a like-minded community.

Mr. Probz. Ilja Meefout/Courtesy of RCA Records hide caption

itoggle caption Ilja Meefout/Courtesy of RCA Records

The Fans

A Rational Conversation: Is EDM Easy Listening Now?

by Eric Ducker

February 25, 2015 • In 2013, people we're predicting dubstep would be replaced with deep house, but now, as dance music becomes even more mainstreamed, those house sounds are becoming ever lighter.

Blur, producer Stephen Street and BBC host Zane Lowe during the band's Facebook webcast. Facebook hide caption

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Blur Announces First Album In 12 Years

by Otis Hart

February 19, 2015 • The classic Brit-pop band's eighth studio album will be called The Magic Whip. It will be out on April 28.

D'Angelo. Gregory Harris/Courtesy of RCA Records hide caption

itoggle caption Gregory Harris/Courtesy of RCA Records

The Fans

D'Angelo At The Apollo: We Were All Here Before

by Jason King

February 10, 2015 • The concert, like Black Messiah, was bulwark: it was a reminder that music's ability to bring people together to celebrate soulful feeling is, as Fela once remarked, a weapon of the future.

Sam Smith accepts the award for Best New Artist at the 2015 Grammy Awards.

Michael Tran/Getty Images

The Industry

Sam Smith Wins 4 Grammy Awards, Including Song Of The Year

by Jacob Ganz

February 8, 2015 • The British singer also won Best New Artist and Record of the Year, for "Stay With Me." Beck won Album of the Year for his subdued, folky Morning Phase.

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The sound salvation, cleaning up the nation.

Colin Davey/Getty Images

The Industry

Radio, Radio: How Formats Shaped, Splintered And Remade Pop Music

by Eric Weisbard

February 7, 2015 • Over the second half of the 20th century, radio gave music its deepest connection to Americans. By splitting the dial into different formats, it produced a pop scene of striking diversity.

Nile Rodgers (left) and Pharrell Williams (right) on stage with Stevie Wonder during a performance of Daft Punk's "Get Lucky" during the 2014 Grammy Awards. Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images hide caption

itoggle caption Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

On The Grammy Stage, Collaborations Will Rule

February 6, 2015 • During a Grammy telecast that's over three hours, only a dozen or so awards are handed out — but there will be a boatload of performances, most with more than one marquee musician on stage at a time.

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Frank Black (right) and Joey Santiago of the Pixies perform at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in 2004, the year the band reunited after more than a decade apart. Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images hide caption

itoggle caption Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images

Unfinished Business

by Chris Molanphy

February 3, 2015 • Bands like Pixies, Pavement and Sleater-Kinney might reunite for money, unfulfilled glory or a renewed creative spark. But can album sales help us measure how much they have been missed?

Bruno Mars (left) and Mark Ronson, whose song, "Uptown Funk!," has been the No. 1 song in the country for four weeks in a row. Vevo/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

itoggle caption Vevo/Courtesy of the artist

The Musicians

Pop's New Old Sound: Retro Without Rules

January 29, 2015 • From Sam Smith to Meghan Trainor, to Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars, many of the biggest hits on today's charts pilfer from the past, but not all borrowing works the same way.

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Some of A$AP Mob at BET's 106 & Park Studios in July 2013. Standing, from left to right, ASAP Bari, ASAP Yams and ASAP Illz. In front, from left to right, ASAP Ferg, ASAP Twelvyy and ASAP Rocky. John Ricard/Getty Images hide caption

itoggle caption John Ricard/Getty Images

The Industry

A Rational Conversation With ASAP Yams

by Eric Ducker

January 28, 2015 • A posthumously published interview reveals the New York rap impresario's insights, directness and humor that made him so beloved in the music community.

Frank Ocean released an Aaliyah tribute, "At Your Best (You Are Love)," on the late R&B; singer's birthday. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

itoggle caption Courtesy of the artist

Ann Powers

Frank Ocean, 'At Your Best (You Are Love)'

by Ann Powers

January 27, 2015 • Frank Ocean's cover of The Isley Brothers' "At Your Best (You Are Love)" shows how the singer is re-imagining R&B for the future by exploding stereotypes about gender.

International pop star Demis Roussos hams it up for the camera at the Cannes Film Festival in May 1975. Roussos died in Athens Sunday at age 68. Ralph Gatti/AFP/Getty Images hide caption

itoggle caption Ralph Gatti/AFP/Getty Images

The Musicians

From Prog-Rock Pioneer To Kitsch King: Remembering Demis Roussos

by Anastasia Tsioulcas

January 26, 2015 • Greek songman Demis Roussos lived an enormously colorful life, from his start as a prog-rock pioneer to being held captive by Hezbollah terrorists. He died Sunday at age 68 in Athens.

Bjork. Courtesy of Sacks and Co. hide caption

itoggle caption Courtesy of Sacks and Co.

Ann Powers

Bjork's 'Vulnicura': An Inquiry Into Melodrama

by Ann Powers

January 21, 2015 • If its songs demand that the listener get uncomfortably close to the viscera of romantic experience, they do so the better to expose how humans move through pain and finally justify leaving it behind.

Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

The Musicians

Kim Fowley, Producer And Rock Svengali, Dies

by Neda Ulaby

January 16, 2015 • Checkered barely begins to describe Fowley's long, crazy career in music. He was the infamous first manager and producer of the all-girl band The Runaways.

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David Oyelowo (left) as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Carmen Ejogo as Coretta Scott King in Selma. Atsushi Nishijima/Paramount Pictures hide caption

itoggle caption Atsushi Nishijima/Paramount Pictures

How One Of Gospel's Essential Songs Gave 'Selma' Its Soul

by Ann Powers

January 15, 2015 • A hymn favored by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. helps the Oscar-nominated film make a well-known historical story powerfully intimate. But the song has a tragic story of its own.

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