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Soundcheck

Friday, July 03, 2009
  • never mind

    The Album That Changed Your Life

    Nirvana inspired thousands of teenagers to pick up a guitar, but the band's music might have sounded very different if frontman Kurt Cobain had never picked up a Beatles album. Today: listeners and music critics tell us how one album changed their lives. Plus: the rock-powered jazz trio The New Standards performs in our studio. This is a repeat broadcast.

When a CD Is More Than a CD

Lurking in every music fan's collection is an album that changed a life in some way, big or small. Today we ask you to tell us about an album that compelled you to pick up an instrument, start a career in music, or make a big decision. Music writer Michael Azerrad and DJ Rekha, whose work fuses South Asian bhangra with hip-hop, join us to explain how certain albums changed them. This is a repeat broadcast.

More about DJ Rekha

The New Standards

The New Standards

Members of The New Standards led past lives in groups like the Suburbs, Semisonic, and Billygoat. On their latest album, Rock and Roll, the trio's rock chops fuel unplugged and jazzy covers of songs by Elvis Costello, Britney Spears and the Clash. They join us for an in-studio performance. This is a repeat broadcast.

Rock and Roll on Amazon.com
The New Standards site

Introducing our Video Contest

Soundcheck

John Schaefer gives the lowdown on Soundcheck's music video challenge with the Fiery Furnaces.

In Studio: Angel Deradoorian

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The 22-year-old multi-instrumentalist performs live in our studio.

Cucu Diamantes Performs Amor Cronico

Soundcheck

Cucu Diamantes went from a tough childhood in Havana, Cuba, to an art school in Rome to underground New York City, where she co-founded the Latin alternative band Yerba Buena.

In Studio: Stephanie McKay

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The local singer-songwriter performs "Jackson Avenue," a nostalgic toast to her childhood in the South Bronx.

In Studio: The Decemberists

The Portland, Ore., band's latest album, "The Hazards of Love," is a concept album with a mythological flair. They joined Soundcheck to play live for a studio audience in WNYC's Greene Space.

Sound Off

Soundcheck

Throughout May, Soundcheck presents “Sound Off” a Friday series on the many aspects of noise in music and our lives. The series -- which coincides with “Better Hearing and Speech Month” -- looks at issues like New York’s noisiest neighborhoods, the latest research on iPods and hearing loss, and what happens when noise becomes a musical ingredient.