The Darkly Ecstatic Music of M. Lamar

M. Lamar combines the ecstatic mood of spirituals with the dark intensity of downtown punk theater, creating songs that address issues of his African-American heritage, American history, and today's social and gender politics. He accompanies his operatic soprano voice with piano and electronic ambiance, providing beauty, drama, confrontation, and catharsis. M. Lamar's new music event Surveillance Punishment and the Black Psyche will be presented at La Mama this month, and David Garland welcomes M. Lamar to the WNYC Studio to perform, and to talk about that piece and the many topics that inform and inspire his music.