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New York was long-considered the capital of hip-hop, but in recent years the center of power has shifted to Atlanta. A new book of photographs and essays captures a snapshot of the heart of the “Dirty South.” The book’s photographer Michael Schmelling and writer Kelefa Sanneh join us to survey the scene.

As Hanukkah approached this year, Marc Weidenbaum, of the sound art website Disquiet, wanted to do something different. So, he enlisted a group of remixers to take on traditional Jewish songs - from holiday favorites to Hannukah classics. The remixers hail from Iowa to Portugal, and the results are just as diverse. Marc Weidenbaum joins us to share experpts from the resulting album called, in Yiddish: "Anander mol, Anander veig" or “Another time, Another way" released by Tabletmag.com.

The English singer-songwriter Damon Gough won Britain’s prestigious Mercury Prize in 2000 for an album recorded as Badly Drawn Boy. He composed songs for the soundtrack to “About a Boy,” the 2002 film adaptation of a Nick Hornby novel. But recently, he nearly quit music altogether. Gough joins us to talk about his career and his seventh album, “It's What I'm Thinking.”

Watch the video of Gough performing the song, "This Electric."

Click through to see the music played on Soundcheck today!

The so-called "diva of the cello," Maya Beiser, will perform tonight with the American Composers Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. Click here to download the piece “Memories” composed by Armenian musician Djivan Gasparian.

The Budos Band is all instrumental, all New York and all kinds of raucousness. Download the group's track, "Unbroken, Unshaven" here.

The Toronto trio Austra is led by the once opera-bound Katie Stelmanis. Download the band’s first single, “The Beat and The Pulse.”