The WNYC show New Sounds turns 40 this week, proving that true newness never gets old. Since its first broadcast in 1982, host John Schaefer has been showcasing experimental, esoteric, and just plain weird music from around the world. New Sounds is not only “genre-free,” it is also hit-free. You will listen in vain for a catchy tune, or even a song with a chorus. As Julia Wolfe of the Bang on a Can Collective put it in the New York Review of Books, Schaefer’s programs are “not put together by algorithms or pumped by commercial interests, but curated with an intelligent human ear.” In 2019, WNYC announced that it was canceling New Sounds to make room for more “news/talk.” But after what the New York Times called “an outcry from artists, composers, listeners and staffers,” the show was reinstated. So while the concert at Brooklyn Bowl is officially honoring the 40th anniversary of the program’s founding, it doubles as a celebration of its recent rebirth. —Ash Carter

If you can’t make the festivities in person, New Sounds can be streamed 24/7 at newsounds.org and the WQXR app