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Will Hermes, a senior critic for Rolling Stone, contributor to "All Things Considered" and author of Love Goes to Buildings on Fire: Five Years in New York That Changed Music Forever, tells the story of New York and its music scene in the 1970s, from folk and hip-hop to salsa, jazz and classical.

Listen to our NYC 1973-1977 Mix! Staff picks and listener suggestions. Want to add a track? Suggest it to us on twitter @brianlehrer with the tag #lovegoes

Two cities duke it out on the baseball diamond – and in our studio. In this Soundcheck Smackdown, we pit the music of New York against the music of Detroit. On Motown's team is music journalist, author and Detroit resident Gary Graff; playing for the home team is Rolling Stone senior critic and author Will Hermes.

Western music has demonstrated its global reach in countless ways, and in recent years this has been particularly pronounced in the sounds of Africa. Groups like Amadou & Mariam, from Mali, and Buraka Som Sistema, from Angola, blend electro-pop and urban dance forms. Music journalist Will Hermes joins us to ...