Soundcheck Podcast

The latest from Calexico -- best roadtrip album ever, or death by cactus? You decide.

Stay Positive? Hard to do anything but after listening to The Hold Steady's awesome new record.

Seeing Sounds, the latest from N*E*R*D, elicits -- shall we say -- differing opinions from the wags at SoundCheck.

Trent Reznor, creative force behind Nine Inch Nails, has had a lot of creative freedom lately with his liberation from any major record label. So he's spent a lot of time composing at his computer and distributing the product -- free, online. The results? We discuss.

Mates Of State -- the husband-and-wife duo of Jason Hammel and Kori Gardner -- sit down with us and talk about the new record and how it came together. That's infant daughter June on back-up hiccups.

The Roots have released "Rising Down," the follow-up to 2006's "Game Theory." Are they still the most socially conscious hip-hop group on earth? Listen up.

From his 1978 album Jesus Of Cool to last year's At My Age, Nick Lowe has had a long and varied career. That's a good thing.

A new sound and new instruments from The Black Keys -- but does it measure up?

Accelerate marks the long-awaited return from seminal alt-rockers R.E.M. But is it as good as 1987's Document? Listen up and find out.

When Herbie Hancock's "River: The Joni Letters" won album of the year last month at the 50th Grammy Awards, it marked the first time a jazz album took had won top honors since Stan Getz and João Gilberto won for "Getz/Gilberto" in 1965. Does the Hancock's win signal the start of a popular resurgence for jazz, or was beating Kanye West and Amy Winehouse merely a pleasant surprise with no larger implications.  for the jazz world? Hear Hartford jazz musicians Steve Davis, Rich Goldstein and Nat Reeves discuss Hancock's win and what it means for jazz.

It’s an independent rock band, yes, but members of Bridgeport, Conn., group Saint Bernadette insist they’re not indie-rockers. Either way, the band made its full-length debut last October with the lounge-noir collection “In the Ballroom.? Led by singer Meredith DiMenna and guitarist Keith Saunders, Saint Bernadette returns in early March with a new EP and a gig at South by Southwest in Austin.

Distortion is the latest from The Magnetic Fields, and it's quite a departure from the band's 2004 album, "i".We argue entertainingly about the relative merits.

Is "stoner" rock making a comeback? Or has it never left? Bands like Black Mountain and Dead Meadow carry the banner with new records.

Super Taranta! is the latest from Gogol Bordello.

Emerald City is the sixth studio album from John Vanderslice.We love it.

Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga is Spoon's sixth album.

Icky Thump is the latest album from The White Stripes.

The Mix-Up, the new album from The Beastie Boys, is an all-instrumental funk fest.

It's been 40 years since the Beatles released Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band, and judging by the renewed adulation it's received in recent weeks, you'd think it was the only important record released during the Summer of Love.We beg to differ.

"Boxer" is the fourth album from The National.