Reverbiage: Stories from NPR tagged 'beautiful'

Viking's Choice: A Year Of Beautiful Noise

Mon, 29 Dec 2008 14:02:00 EST

For the past month, NPR Music producer Lars Gotrich laid out multiple strips of paper on his desk, with names like Uncle Owen Aunt Beru, Extra Life and Erykah Badu printed on them. It turns out he was working on his list of the year's top CDs, analog-style. He shares his unique sense of music in this episode of All Songs Considered.

Live Saturday: Aimee Mann's Christmas Concert

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 16:14:00 EST

Singer-songwriter Aimee Mann doesn't seem like the type to gravitate toward Christmas music. But for the third year in a row, she'll perform material from her beautiful One More Drifter in the Snow and more at the Keswick Theater in Glenside, Penn. Hear the concert webcast live this Saturday, Dec. 13, starting at 8 p.m. ET.

New Keepers Needed for 1876 Lighthouse

Tue, 02 Dec 2008 06:40:00 EST

Wanted: a couple willing to run a Victorian bed-and-breakfast perched on a tiny island off San Francisco. Must be willing to cook, clean and endure a foghorn going off every 20 seconds half of the year. The historic lighthouse, turned guesthouse, is beautiful but isolated. As the outgoing tenants told the San Francisco Chronicle,"We'd probably stay forever if we could figure out how to get a pizza delivered."

Elizabeth Willis: 'Overture' & 'In Your Eyes'

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 12:42:00 EST

As a child, musician Elizabeth Willis was formally trained in piano and violin, and often imagined she'd grow up to be a classical musician. But at some point along the way she decided to walk away from classical music and start writing grand and beautiful pop. The 11 songs on her self-titled debut bridge the gap between her two passions by pairing her distinctive vocals and pop stylings with cinematic string and piano arrangements. The result is refreshing and often gorgeous.

Feeling The Vibes: The Short History Of A Long Instrument

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 14:16:00 EST

Jazz is the only genre of music that uses the vibes as a lead or improvisational instrument. It's been a process in helping to save this beautiful-sounding and versatile instrument from extinction. Leading off with Lionel Hampton, here are five examples of that beauty and versatility.

Paging Through History's Beautiful Science

Sun, 16 Nov 2008 01:54:00 EST

A new exhibit at California's Huntington Library is opening up the work of the giants of science. Colorful star charts, close-up lunar sketches and dog-eared books reveal the world as seen by the eyes of Newton, Galileo and Copernicus.

'Sleeping Beauties', Comforting A Lonely Sinner

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 17:18:00 EST

An adaption of Yasunari Kawabata's 1961 novella, Sleeping Beauties is a wistful erotic mystery centered around an eccentric German brothel. Mark Jenkins calls it artful and delicate — but with an oddly tone-deaf ending.

A Century Of Beautiful People

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 11:02:00 EST

Artists and athletes, celebrities and scribes, the talented and the tainted promiscuously link arms and promenade in this exuberant collection of portraits from the Vanity Fair archives.

New Exhibit Showcases 'Beautiful Science'

Fri, 31 Oct 2008 13:49:00 EDT

A new exhibit at California's Huntington Library showcases centuries of diagrams covering everything from anatomy to astronomy. Beautiful Science: Ideas that Changed the World collects original drawings from scientists such as Galileo, Darwin and Robert Hooke.

Milosh: 'Awful Game'

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 14:28:00 EDT

On his third and latest album, iii, Canadian musician Michael Milosh serves up a collection of seductive, down-tempo electronica, inspired by his year living and recording on Thailand's tropical Koh Samui island. A classically trained cellist since the age of 3, Milosh writes on his MySpace page that he's "always had an intense attraction to songs that are sad, soft and beautiful" and that in his music, he attempts to "ride that thin line of mixing technology with some heart." On iii, he's succeeded in doing just that.

Al Bara and Serjilla: Syria's Byzantine-Era Villages

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 12:30:00 EDT

An hour southwest of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, eerily beautiful and strange ruins appear in the midst of sprawling olive groves. They're remarkable remnants of Byzantine farming villages that flourished in 4th and 5th centuries.

Daniel Martin Moore: Optimistic Folk

Mon, 20 Oct 2008 12:49:00 EDT

Moore's story is a struggling musician's dream come true. In 2007, he sent his demo to Sub Pop Records unsolicited, and the charming folk songs caught the label's attention. Moore's debut album, Stray Age, showcases his beautiful voice and sensitive lyrics while marking him as an artist to watch.

Lambchop's Kurt Wagner: Tiny Desk Concert

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 11:21:00 EDT

Kurt Wagner writes and sings beautiful songs with Lambchop, a hefty Nashville ensemble with a calm, restrained sound. When Kurt Wagner came by our office to play a Tiny Desk Concert, he came alone, with just an acoustic guitar, a stack of lyrics and his humble, good-natured sense of humor.

In Stark, Simple 'Ballast,' An Emotional Stalemate

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 14:51:00 EDT

Austerely beautiful and emotionally candid, Lance Hammer's debut melds plainspoken American realism with oblique European minimalism. A study in stalemated lives, it's as dread-filled as a Robert Johnson song — though never that direct.

Doveman's 'Footloose': The Lillywhite Session

Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:50:00 EDT

Doveman's front-to-back cover of the Footloose soundtrack gets the multi-track treatment with Steve Lillywhite behind the boards. Thomas Bartlett's understated delivery and beautiful piano work is an homage to the joys of youth.

Critic Daniel Mendelsohn, In Love With 'Beautiful'

Sat, 13 Sep 2008 16:43:00 EDT

A classical scholar with a voracious appetite for high and low culture alike, he's dauntingly smart — but far too interested in why we love what we love to be a snob. Jacki Lyden talks to Mendelsohn about his new essay collection.

Make Peace, Make Jazz

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 14:06:00 EDT

In 1982, the UN began observing "Peace Day" every September at the opening of its General Assembly. In 2002, it officially declared Sept. 21 as a permanent date for the International Day of Peace. In preparation, here are five beautiful jazz performances that celebrate the spirit of the occasion.

Is America Obsessed With Beauty...

Fri, 22 Aug 2008 13:00:00 EDT

Director Darryl Roberts explores whether Americans care too much about looks in his new movie America the Beautiful. He follows models and interviews media editors to get answers.

Sneak Previews: Of Montreal, Okkervil River

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 13:09:00 EDT

With fall rapidly approaching, we'll soon begin making a list of the year's best albums. Two bands from last year's top-20 are back in the running again for this year: Okkervil River and Of Montreal. We've got a sneak preview of new music from both bands. Also on the show: Steve Earle and Gillian Welch offer songs from their performances at this year's Newport Folk Festival; Jeff Hanson sings with an improbable, but stunning voice on his new album, Madam Owl; New York-based The Walkmen have a beautiful, airy new CD that's both timeless and modern; and The Broken West is about to release one of the year's standout albums — their sophomore release — called Now or Heaven.

Woman Tells Of Being 'Young, Beautiful and HIV Positive'

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Marvelyn Brown was 19 when she tested HIV-positive in 2003. She writes about contracting the illness and the painful lessons learned from her experience in her new book, The Naked Truth: Young, Beautiful and (HIV) Positive. Joined by activist Rae Lewis Thornton, who is living with AIDS, Brown discusses family reaction to her HIV status and how she's helping increase HIV/AIDs awareness.

Beautiful, Graphic 'Flights' Of Fantasy

Wed, 13 Aug 2008 10:27:00 EDT

The latest volume in a spellbinding series of lush, graphic short-story collections melds diverse influences into modern fairy tales of vision and wonder.

Jeff Hanson: 'Nothing Would Matter At All'

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 15:41:00 EDT

Singer-songwriter Jeff Hanson has one of the most incredible and unique voices you will ever hear. That is, from a guy. Upon hearing Hanson's third full-length record, Madam Owl, the first thing anyone will notice is the singer's impossibly high voice that sounds more like that of a highly skilled female vocalist (or maybe a eunuch) than a 30 year old man. But if you listen closer, there is far more to Hanson's music than his beautiful singing. The warm strings and acoustic guitars that back his sparkling falsetto are equally as dramatic, and the sound he has created is huge and anthemic in spite of his modest solo artist ouevre.

Brazilian Psych-Rock For A Night On The Porch

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 15:52:00 EDT

In the 1970s in Recife, Brazil, a scene coalesced around a musician named Lula Cortes. An offshoot of the psychedelic rock scene happening around the world at the time, the movement created a handful of labels that recorded, produced and distributed some of the most beautiful music ever, perfect for hot summer nights.

Azeda Booth: 'Big Fists'

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 13:04:00 EDT

The sounds of Azeda Booth are full and lush, exploratory and eclectic, and perfect for listening on headphones. In Flesh Tones, the Canadian band's first full-length album, is a beautiful foray into dreamy, hypnotic electro-rock, full of vast atmospheric soundscapes and introverted laptop music.

Stars Like Fleas: 'You Are My Memoir'

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 10:46:00 EDT

Stars Like Fleas' music is disjointed, meandering, chaotic, and wonderfully unique. The group's second full-length release, The Ken Burns Effect, is a gorgeous jaunt through experimental orchestral pop that is as engaging as it is utterly confusing. The record seems at times aimless and at other times perfectly composed, if insanely so. With a wealth of instruments (at the album's recording the group was a 12-piece collective) that clash as often as they harmonize and tracks that drift from beautiful symphonies to discordant pandemonium on a whim, the album stands as a work of mad genius. Stars Like Fleas have created a sound that, though certainly not easily digestible, is extremely rich.