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Soundcheck

Friday, December 21, 2007
  • Madonna performing during the Confessions Tour, in Los Angeles. Photo taken by wonderboylb@aol.com
    Madonna performing during the Confessions Tour, in Los Angeles. Photo taken by wonderboylb@aol.com

    Critics Week: Highs and Lows of 2007

    In 2007, Paul McCartney teamed up with Starbucks. Madonna split with Warner Brothers. And Radiohead rocked the Internet. Today on Soundcheck: Wired magazine columnist Eliot van Buskirk recaps the music industry's top business and technology stories from 2007. Plus, we conclude Soundcheck's Critics Week with a list of the worst, most overrated albums of 2007, according to Chicago Sun Times music critic Jim DeRogatis. Plus: accordionist and cabaret artist Rachelle Garniez performs live in our studio.

    More on Soundcheck's Critics' Week

Business and Tech Stories of 2007

Wired magazine columnist Eliot Van Buskirk shares the business and technology developments that drove the music industry in 2007.

Eliot Van Buskirk's top stories of 2007 (with help from readers of his blog, Listening Post)

- Radiohead's "In Rainbows" release

- Two major labels moved away from digital-rights management

- New royalty rates for Internet radio stir controversy

- The rise of ad-supported and sponsored music

- The dawn of the age of the connected music player

- The so-called "360 degree" record deal

- Album sales really drop off

- RIAA steps up campaign against file sharers, wins court victory

- Universal Music Group CEO reveals perplexing digital strategy [from Wired profile by Seth Mnookin]

- The return and re-imagining of the music video

Listening Post Blog at Wired.com

The Worst of 2007

Chicago Sun Times music critic Jim DeRogatis offers his irreverent look at the worst and most overrated albums of 2007. Also: we unveil the results of the Soundcheck listener poll.

Jim DeRogatis' list of the year's worst albums.

The Stooges, The Weirdness

Feist, The Reminder

Bjork, Volta

The Eagles, The Long Run

Rilo Kiley, Under the Blacklight

MIA, Kala

Jim DeRogatis' Web site

Rachelle Garniez

Since picking up the accordion 20 years ago, Rachelle Garniez has performed in New York clubs, on subway platforms, and in Carnival festivities in Venice. Rachelle joins us to play selections from her cabaret-flavored new album, "Melusine Years."

Rachelle Garniez performs at Joe's Pub on Dec. 22 at 9:30 p.m.

Rachelle Garniez's website

Irma Thomas

Soundcheck

August 22, 2008
New Orleans singer Irma Thomas has survived 50 years in the music business - and at least two hurricanes. She joins us to talk about her record, Simply Grand.

Bon Iver

Soundcheck

July 30, 2008
Singer-songwriter Justin Vernon spent a winter holed up in his father's hunting cabin in remote Wisconsin, recording songs about solitude that would be released under the name Bon Iver. He joins us to play some of them live.

Who's On Top and Who Should Be?

Soundcheck

August 14, 2008
Soundcheck looks at the artists who are reigning atop the Billboard albums chart -- and what their rankings tell us about the state of pop music.

The Next Big Things

Soundcheck

Paste magazine editor-in-chief Josh Jackson joins us to talk about Johnny Flynn, Janelle Monae, Bon Iver, Amy MacDonald and other must-hear artists who made Paste’s list of "The Best of What’s Next: 26 Emerging Artists You Should Know."