The US public radio service NPR has just uploaded a new interview with Roger Waters. They asked Roger to play DJ, to play music by those he love and talk about what draws him to song. The conversation isn't about his time with Pink Floyd - over the course of this nearly hour-long interview, he doesn't mention the band once.

They ask him about his upcoming own solo work, including his upcoming "Us + Them" tour. As they note, "at the heart of everything, this creative force behind some of the 20th century's most iconic music is politics, money, greed and ultimately hope.

"Mention the music of Billie Holiday (who was addicted to heroin) and Waters launches into an assault on what he calls draconian drug laws that vilify addicts instead of treating them. That leads to a discussion of corruption and greed in politics and more knotty issues than we could reasonably keep track of: The U.S. presidential race, the conflict between Israel and Palestine, the state of the music industry, the futility of war, Guantanamo, civil rights and the Black Lives Matter movement, prison reform and how Waters, remarkably, remains hopeful and optimistic in the face of all the despair and suffering he sees plaguing the world.

You can hear the interview in full here: