Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
April is Autism Awareness Month

Milo Miles

Milo Miles is Fresh Air's world-music and American-roots music critic. He is a former music editor of The Boston Phoenix.

Miles is a contributing writer for Rolling Stone magazine, and he also writes about music for The Village Voice and The New York Times.

  • Roots of Chicha: Psychedelic Cumbias from Peru is the first album of Chicha music released outside of Peru. The unique music style grew out of the booming cities of the Peruvian Amazon in 1970 and incorporates surf guitars, synthesizers and distinctive melodies.
  • Fresh Air's music critic Milo Miles considers the work of the art-punk band Sonic Youth; the group's 1988 album Daydream Nation has just been reissued in a deluxe double-CD edition.
  • Celebrated salsa musician is the subject of the film El Cantante. Our music critic takes a look at his career, marked by dazzling musical highs and personal lows including heroin addiction and a suicide attempt.
  • The cross-cultural crew that is the New York band Balkan Beat Box came together around two Israeli musicians, Tamir Muskat and Ori Kaplan. Their latest album is called Nu Med; world music critic Milo Miles has a review.
  • Music critic Milo Miles reviews Mi Sueño, the posthumous album from Cuban singer Ibrahim Ferrer, who made a name for himself in his later years as a member of the Buena Vista Social Club. Ferrer died in 2005, at age 78.
  • Four female musicians from Bellingham, Wash., who call themselves "The Trucks," have released a debut album of the same name. The Trucks are another entry in a long line of female rock bands that know and find their audience.
  • A review of Last Man Standing, the new studio recording by Jerry Lee Lewis.
  • Milo Miles talks about the music of Brazilian singer, songwriter, and bandleader Marisa Monte. Monte produces her own records, organizes bands and shapes every aspect of her career. She released a pair of albums earlier this year, Universo ao Meu Redor, and Infinito Particular.
  • In the age of the sampler, three innovative guitar players are taking their instruments to new heights: Richard Leo Johnson, Dominic Frasca, and Jonas Hellborg. Johnson taught himself 12-string guitar. Frasca has translated the music of Steve Reich and Philip Glass. And Sweden's Hellborg leads his own trio.
  • Several recent DVDs take up the history of punk music. Don Letts' Punk Attitude focuses on the ethos of teen rebellion, while All Dolled Up tells the story of the influential New York Dolls.