Night After Night

NPR: "Olga Neuwirth's bold gender-bending opera has won the Grawemeyer Award"

"Olga Neuwirth's bold gender-bending opera has won the Grawemeyer Award"
NPR
December 6, 2021

NPR: "Nanci Griffith Has Died. The Texas Singer-Songwriter Was 68"

"Nanci Griffith Has Died. The Texas Singer-Songwriter Was 68"
NPR
August 13, 2021

NPR: "Peter Rehberg, Influential Electronic Musician And Label Head, Has Died At 53"

"Peter Rehberg, Influential Electronic Musician And Label Head, Has Died At 53"
NPR Music
August 10, 2021

NPR: "The Best Music of July: NPR Staff Picks"

"The Best Music of July: NPR Staff Picks"
NPR Music
August 3, 2021

William Parker: "Tabasco" from Mayan Space Station

The veteran bassist, composer and community organizer William Parker is having an incredible year, with a 10-CD box set and an authorized biography already under his belt. He put out two more new albums in July, and one of them, Mayan Space Station, feels exactly right for the long, hot days and nights of summer. Parker and drummer Gerald Cleaver play just behind the beat, rubbing some funky grit into their hypnotic grooves. And Ava Mendoza's electric guitar sings and soars in a way that might remind you of the late, great Sonny Sharrock.—Steve Smith

(This was my first vocal contribution for NPR… and just my second NPR vocal appearance ever, following my cameo in a Pauline Oliveros obituary reported by Lakshmi Singh in November 2016.)

NPR: "NPR Music's 27 Favorite Songs Of 2021 (So Far)"

"NPR Music's 27 Favorite Songs Of 2021 (So Far)"
NPR Music
June 30, 2021

Ryley Walker, "Rang Dizzy"

Two years after kicking addiction to the curb, singer, songwriter and guitarist Ryley Walker has achieved fever-pitch productivity, documenting pellucid songs, psychedelic jams and freewheeling improvisations on his Husky Pants label. Course in Fable, issued in April, weds his customarily airy tunesmithing with gently abstruse lyrics and prog-infused arrangements. "Rang Dizzy" is lush and brusque, a waking dream with implicit edge: When Walker ends each chorus with, "F*** me, I'm alive," his wonder feels weighty.—Steve Smith

NPR: "NPR Music's 26 Favorite Albums Of 2021 (So Far)"

"NPR Music's 26 Favorite Albums Of 2021 (So Far)"
NPR Music
June 30, 2021

Gabriella Smith/Gabriel Cabezas, Lost Coast

Inspired by California coastal woodlands ravaged by wildfires, Lost Coast is a paean to nature, an expression of outrage and a celebration of the close-knit bonds among its makers: composer Gabriella Smith, cellist Gabriel Cabezas and producer Nadia Sirota. The titular composition began life as a concerto, but then transformed into a rangy threnody for cello, voice and electronics; "Bard of a Wasteland," the buoyant album-opening ballad, breaks new ground for everyone involved.—Steve Smith

NPR: "Springsteen, Foo Fighters, Strokes Rock Vaccinated New Yorkers In June"

"Springsteen, Foo Fighters, Strokes Rock Vaccinated New Yorkers In June"
NPR
June 8, 2021