National Geographic Weekend Music

<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.3333339691162px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">What do Antarctica, quantum physics, climate change and hip hop have in common? The answer:&nbsp;<b style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.3333339691162px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">DJ Spooky<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.3333339691162px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">, aka&nbsp;<b style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.3333339691162px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">Paul Miller<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.3333339691162px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">. The musician visited the frozen continent to create his&nbsp;most recent album, "Of Water and Ice<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13.3333339691162px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">," using climate data and sound he collected from Antarctica to inform the patterns that he incorporates into his songs. His songs "Of Water and Ice" and "Check Your Math" speak to the themes that drove this album, with Miller discussing the fact that many people don't believe in human-caused climate change; however, "You can't debate with a storm that just smashed your house." Miller, who grew up in Washington, D.C. says the city's many museums were a perfect escape from the city's punishing heat, while feeding his curiosity.

Antarctica: Of Water and Ice - DJ Spooky

Mistreatment of indigenous peoples were a hallmark of the European colonial populations around the world. Like in the United States, European Australians forced the Aboriginal populations into schools designed to strip them of their cultural heritage, language and traditions and assimilate into the greater Australian population. Country singer Roger Knox, a native Australian whose mother was taken from her home as an eight month old, has become a well-known voice of the disenfranchised Aboriginals. His newest album, "Stranger in My Land," is a classic protest album that laments the loss of a culture and identity for an entire population. (And the music is catchy.)

Aboriginal Elvis: Australian Protest Music - Roger Knox

Baba Brinkman isn’t just the University of Tennessee’s Singer in Residence. He’s their rapper in residence. Brinkman, who pursued a Master’s degree in Literature so he could better remix Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales into rap format. While in Tennessee, he’s learning math to fuel future raps, and performing The Rap Guide to Evolution about Darwin’s Origin of the Species, which can be just as controversial as rap itself. (June 2012)

Darwin's Delight: An Evolutionary Rap - Baba Brinkman

Rusted Root has been around the block. They are set to release their seventh studio album later this month, but as always, it's the oldies that keep fans coming back. The band's ubiquitous "<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Gel2zcOtJQ&amp;feature=player_embedded#!">Send Me On My Way</a>" appears everywhere, from jam band festivals to children's movies, which have helped recruit a new generation of fans. They visited NG Weekend's studios to play some tunes and reflect on their 22 years together. (September, 2012)

Send Me On My Way: Exploration With "Rusted Root"

In this week's Wild Chronicles segment, we bring Rusted Root back into the studio to play "Sun and Magic," from their new album,&nbsp; out in September, 2012.

"Rusted Root" Reboot

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