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How Queer Tastemakers, Movers And Shakers Shaped The Music Of New Orleans

Big Freedia, shown performing in 2019 in New Orleans, is part of our starter kit for the queer music of New Orleans. Paras Griffin/Getty Images, hide caption

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Paras Griffin/Getty Images,

How Queer Tastemakers, Movers And Shakers Shaped The Music Of New Orleans

June 19, 2020 • No single lineage can contain New Orleans music. But one central thread is the legacy of queer performers and tastemakers — from Bobby Marchan to Big Freedia — who steered the sounds and the scenes.

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New Music Friday: The Top 7 Albums Out On June 19

Phoebe Bridgers. Her sophomore full-length, Punisher, is on our shortlist of the week's best new albums. Frank Ockenfels hide caption

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Frank Ockenfels

Our shortlist of the week's best new albums includes a celebration of love from John Legend, a stunning release from Phoebe Bridgers, a long-lost Neil Young record, the Malian singer Oumou Sangaré and more.

Love In Abundance: A Guide To Women's Music

Tracy Chapman, shown here at the 39th Grammy Awards, is included in our starter kit for women's music. Timothy Clary/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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Timothy Clary/AFP via Getty Images

A Guide To Women's Music

Women's music is music written by, for and about women (and, more often than not, women who love women). Our starter kit includes music by Cris Williamson, Ferron, Toshi Reagan, Ani DiFranco and more.

Lil Baby's "The Bigger Picture" is a conscious trap anthem for the Black Lives Matter movement. Matthew Geovany /Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Matthew Geovany /Courtesy of the artist

Heat Check

Whether it's a trap anthem for the protests or a tale of petty personal betrayal, this week's Heat Check considers the bigger picture.

This Is How I Feel: A Playlist By Young Black Listeners

Music speaks truth to anger and frustration, but also provides a sense of hope and beauty. Rashida Chavis for NPR hide caption

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Rashida Chavis for NPR

This Is How I Feel

We asked our young Black listeners: Is there one song that's helping you address your feelings right now?

Comic book artist Daniel Warren Johnson (Murder Falcon, Extremity) illustrates the music of Viking's Choice. Horns up! Daniel Warren Johnson hide caption

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Daniel Warren Johnson

Viking's Choice

This week: a psych-folk zoner from Sarah Louise, Ric Wilson's high-powered disco tribute to Ida B. Wells and drag icon Marsha P. Johnson and Mr. Bungle's first studio recording in over 20 years.

Team Dresch's song "Fagetarian and Dyke" is featured in our playlist of queer punk. Courtesy of Jealous Butcher Records hide caption

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Courtesy of Jealous Butcher Records

Queer As Punk

"Queer punk" might be redundant if making over-the-top statements at the top of your lungs isn't precisely what makes punk "punk" and queer "queer." Here's a guide to the genre's history and legacy.

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Opinion: Black Protest Is Music. Learning The Melody Isn't Enough

Terence Blanchard is a jazz trumpeter, composer and educator. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Courtesy of the artist

Opinion: Black Protest Is Music. Learning The Melody Isn't Enough

Terence Blanchard, the acclaimed jazz trumpeter and composer, says the fate of the new civil rights movement will depend on the well-meaning outsiders who show up to support it.

Phoebe Bridgers On Her New Album 'Punisher,' Surprise Released A Day Early

Phoebe Bridgers is one of the most prolific young songwriters to emerge in the last several years. Her second solo album, Punisher, is out now. Frank Ockenfels/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Frank Ockenfels/Courtesy of the artist

Phoebe Bridgers On Her New Album 'Punisher'

The LA singer-songwriter talks about her second solo album, which includes guest appearances from peers like Conor Oberst, copying ideas from her heroes and the way lyrical specificity mimics poetry.

Rita Indiana, La Monstra, Returns With 'Black Sabbath Dembow'

"I have found metal to be very descriptive of the horrors that we've lived in the Dominican Republic under dictatorships, [slavery]," Rita Indiana says. "Our history is a horrorosa." Noelie Quintero/Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Noelie Quintero/Courtesy of the artist