World Cafe

English band Ride were early pioneer of shoegaze, alongside contemporaries like Slowdive and My Bloody Valentine. Normalizing eight-minute anthems, like “Leave Them Far Behind”, as top 10 UK hits. But the Ride of today has fused shoegaze with another love: 80’s synth pop, like Depeche Mode and Talk Talk. Andy Bell joins me to talk about the evolution of Ride, and how they found the bullseye on their latest album, Interplay.

In the last few years, Amos Lee stepped away from his songs to explore the music of Lucinda Williams and Chet Baker, recording cover albums of both artists. Now, he’s returned to his catalog with his new album, Transmissions. Amos Lee talks about making sense of uncertainty, and performs in studio, on the next World Cafe.

Each year, the music industry in the UK and Ireland chooses their “Best Album” of the year and awards it the prestigious Mercury Prize. This year, the prize went to a relatively unknown indie-rock band called English Teacher, for their debut album, This Could be Texas. Get to know English Teacher with a live mini concert, on the next World Cafe.

To celebrate the release of his new album, Dunya, World Cafe is revisiting a 2021 conversation with Mustafa. Mustafa is a poet and musician who was raised in Toronto’s Regent Park housing project in a conservative Muslim family. He wasn’t exposed to a lot of music until a vocal teacher introduced him to Joni Mitchell & Prince. Mustafa performs songs from his album, When Smoke Rises, on the next World Cafe.

What happens when you combine a rock band, complete with lead and rhythm guitars, bass, and drums, with a jazz horn trio? You get The Dip! The ever fun and always funky seven-piece band from Seattle performs songs, including several from their new album, Love Direction, in a live mini-concert, on the next World Cafe.

During the pandemic, Jamie xx of The xx envisioned a time when he could DJ to crowds again. In doing so, he began listening to all types of records across all eras of dance music. His new solo album, In Waves, reflects that time. It’s eclectic, joyful, and packed full of superstar collaborators like Honey Dijon, Robyn and – of course – his bandmates in The xx. On the next World Cafe, Jamie xx talks about making In Waves, and shares some choice cuts from The Floor, his DJ residency in New York City.

On McKinley Dixon’s new album, Beloved! Paradise! Jazz?, he moved to Chicago, looking for a blank canvas to generate ideas for this wildly inventive and sonically lush LP that tackles themes of longing. Dixon will talk about why his sound can be difficult to pin down, his love of animation, and how the author Toni Morrison inspired the album’s title, on the next World Cafe.

We’re revisiting our favorite conversations of 2023, and if you like wordplay and huge dirty guitar riffs that sound like no one else, Queens of the Stone Age are back with their first new album in six years, called In Times New Roman. Frontman Josh Homme joins World Cafe host Raina Douris to discuss self-producing the album, as well as the influence of polka on his music. Then, Oliver Sim of The XX discusses taking inspiration from horror movies for his solo debut, Hideous Bastard. Sim will talk about the album and why he empathizes with the monsters in those films, on the next World Cafe.

2023 marked the long-awaited arrival of De La Soul’s catalog to streaming services. In one of our favorite interviews of the year, De La Soul’s Maseo and Posdnuos join us to look back on their remarkable career, including 1989’s seminal album, 3 Feet High and Rising. Plus, in another highlight conversation, we’ll talk with Tom Rowlands of The Chemical Brothers to find out how they chase emotions through sound on their latest album, For That Beautiful Feeling. That’s coming up on World Cafe.

All Week on World Cafe, we’re revisiting our favorite interviews of 2023. Up next, what do Madonna, Queen, and Don McLean all have in common? “Weird Al” Yankovic has parodied them and countless others during his nearly 5-decade long career. Weird Al joins us to talk about his life, his career, his songwriting process, and the recent film, “Weird: The Al Yankovic Story.” Plus, Killer Mike talks about his album, Michael, which tells the story of how a young Michael Render, an all-American boy growing up in Atlanta, became the rapper known as Killer Mike.