Soundcheck

On December 5, NBC will air a live version of the classic Rodgers & Hammerstein musical, The Sound of Music. The live show will star Carrie Underwood and True Blood's Stephen Moyer, and will undoubtedly have fans ready to compare every shot to the iconic 1965 film. In anticipation of the latest iteration of the musical, we brought NPR's Linda Holmes and musician Peter Kiesewalter to Soundcheck to make their case: is The Sound of Music a living monument to American theater, or has it gotten stale since its stage premiere in 1959?   Peter Kiesewalter is a multi-instrumentalist, arranger, and Sound of Music enthusiast. Linda Holmes hosts the Pop Culture Happy Hour at NPR and writes for the blog Monkey See, where she recently published "A Complete Curmudgeon's Guide to 'The Sound of Music.'" Holmes admits that she loves Rodgers & Hammerstein, but explains that if you're going to include "a song where ultimately you're telling me 17 of your favorite things, none of them should be doorbells," she explains. "It's uninspiring to me." She also finds Liesel's romantic subplot with Rolf, the mailman, mildly depressing and complains the young man is "not a very romantic figure ... even before he becomes a Nazi." Kiesewalter finds Rolf a tragic character, and loves the music unequivocally. He thinks the musical's premiere in 1959 totally changed the trajectory of Western music, and that Rodgers & Hammerstein accomplished a lot with their score. "They've achieved what every artist and every musician strives for in their life," he says, "which is to strip their entire career of all the technique, artifice, pretense orchestration, and return to that innocence ... They've made something sound so deceptively simple that it will annoy people -- some people -- but at the same time it'll sound like an old childhood song." What do you think about The Sound of Music? Is it one of your "Favorite Things"? Or would you rather bid it "So Long, Farewell"? Tell us in the comments below. 

Yesterday, we kicked off our Thanksgiving week series on introducing your parents to new music -- and how successful you've been. We heard from a lot of you, with responses ranging from "I played some Emily Wells for the 'rents, and they thought it was the bomb" to "Tried to change my dad's mind about country music by having him listen to the Robert Plant and Alison Krauss album Raising Sand on a long car ride. #BigFail." You can call us up and tell us your story at 866 939 1612 or leave a comment below.  Today, we talk with Paul Ford, the Brooklyn-based writer who joins us occasionally on Soundcheck. When we asked him about introducing his parents to new music, he told us, "I gave up an awfully long time ago. My mother -- we were once driving in a car and she had some classical [on] -- but it was peppered with loon calls. She had found this album that was classical plus loons. And I realized at that point that we're not going to catch up from there."  Take a listen to our entire conversation with him above -- and read host John Schaefer's thoughts about his own experience as a parent being introduced to new music by his daughters, below.  -------------------   We’re talking this week about trying to introduce your parents to music you love. We’ve already heard a few success stories but also a bigger number of “tried it, didn’t work” tales from our guests and listeners. Two people we have not heard from yet are my daughters. And I intend to keep it that way; Western civilization is in a precarious enough state as it is. But one of the very few benefits of being the parent of a teenage daughter is that you will, whether you like it or not, hear a lot of new music. And each of my girls has turned me on to artists that I found myself liking. My older daughter is into underground rap, and I first heard the LA duo King Fantastic when she played it for me from her iPod. The LA rap collective Odd Future got all the press, but King Fantastic, led by rapper Killer Reese One, came up with a knowing, possibly sincere mix of hipster rap and the classic gangsta sound of the late '80s/early '90s. Mostly they’ve released mixtapes and a few very NSFW videos, but the project is on hiatus at the moment while Reese serves a 22-month stint in prison.  The artists my younger daughter turned me onto are considerably better known, but she somehow had them on her iTunes well before either of them hit the charts. So when Wiz Khalifa broke on the scene with “Black and Yellow” a couple of years ago, I was able to sniff and say, “what, that old thing?”   Not that I actually did that – it’s the sort of insufferable behavior that makes people stop even trying to keep up. But it’s nice to know that I could have. Same thing with Foster The People. “Pumped Up Kicks” was accompanying homework assignments one night and I thought, well, that’s a catchy song. A day later I was enjoying the song on my own when I realized it was about a school shooting. A few months later, the song was all over the radio and Americans of several generations were in the uncomfortable position of singing along because how could you not? (Listen to the band's appearance on Soundcheck here).    So don’t give up trying to turn your parents on to the music you like. You never know what’s gonna stick. -John Schaefer

Even in a crowded field of hip-hop megastars, there's no denying Danny Brown is a straight-up original. Recording since his teens, the dynamic young rapper burst out of Detroit's underground hip-hop scene -- first with his self-released 2010 record The Hybrid, and again with the highly-praised XXX in 2011, an album that pushed Brown to hip-hop's top shelf thanks to his skillfully concise lyrical voice, a hypnotic flow, and sharp humor.  Now with Old -- his just-released new record named because people kept asking for "that old Danny Brown” sound -- Brown continues his upward trajectory. His songs are raw and grimy, detailing painful childhood memories, family struggle, and jail time. But with songs like "Clean Up" and "25 Bucks," -- which features melodic hooks from Purity Ring -- there's richer electronic music production sense. Then there's "Dip," a hard banger punctuated with choppy beats, gyrating synths, and heavy rumbling bass. Simply put, Old is another bold statement proving why Danny Brown is one of the most exciting emerging stars of hip-hop: There's no one out there who sounds quite like him.   Interview Highlights: Danny Brown, on his hometown of Detroit: Detroit is in me, in general. As much as I want to escape it, I’m still Detroit to the heart, to the fullest. That’s the scenery, that’s the environment, that’s where everything takes place in this album.   On where he finds inspiration for his songs: All of my songs, I’m writing about myself. And talking about what I’ve been through and where I’m trying to go in life. But then I also make songs where I’m just trying to have fun. Sometimes I just want to flex my lyrical muscle on somebody, and sometimes I would like to see a girl dance to some of my music. It all plays its part… When I make these albums, I do want to make them like a time capsule for that point in my life, but I still want to have fun too.   On his latest album, Old: As many projects as I’ve made and put out for free, I looked at this [album] like it was my first one. All those were demos, or just me making songs in the basement. This was my first time where I knew there would be a lot of people hearing this album that probably never heard of me.   On whether it's difficult to censor his lyrics while performing on the radio: I like to cuss…. There’s nothing worse than going to Best Buy and buying a CD and buying the clean version by mistake. It makes me want to slip in the bathtub on purpose or something.   On participating in the new interactive "Like A Rolling Stone" video: Bob Dylan… he was like the first guy rapping, to me. The way I took [Like A Rolling Stone], it was like, he’s rapping! He’s not really singing, you know? To me, his songs… you can hear it, you can take it for what it is… but there’s nothing like reading it. When I read it, it was like, I get it. He’s a real songwriter’s songwriter.     For more photos, visit Soundcheck's Tumblr page. Set List: "Dope Song" "Lonely" "Dip"

In 1983, a club unlike any other opened in New York. Area, on Hudson Street in TriBeCa, was a fusion of art and performance and night life that reinvented itself with a new theme every six weeks. Less than four years later, it was gone. But in its brief heyday, it was the place to be – not just for downtown artists and club kids, but for celebrities and power players from Andy Warhol and Madonna to Norman Mailer and Ed Koch. For Soundcheck's occasional series Vanished Venues, host John Schaefer looks back at Area 30 years later, with club co-founder Eric Goode. He and his sister Jennifer Goode have put together a new book of photographs and memories from those days, Area 1983-1987. We're also joined by Area DJ Johnny Dynell, to listen back to some of the songs that got people dancing at the club. Below, see some photos of Area from Eric & Jennifer Goode's Area 1983-1987 (All photos courtesy Abrams Books):   Eric Goode with Madonna, who lived just a few blocks from Area. Andy Warhol & Jean-Michel Basquiat Crowd outside Area spilling onto Hudson Street. The dance floor bar was turned into a gas station for the "American Highway" theme. Ludovik (body painted by Keith Haring), Haring, and John Sex

With the Thanksgiving holiday closing in, many of us will be spending a lot of time with our families this week. Here at Soundcheck, we decided that it’s time to talk about musical compatibility between you… and your parents. We want to know: Have you ever tried to introduce new music to your parents? How successful were you? You can post your response on Soundcheck.org or leave your story on our voicemail: 866-939-1612. We asked the same question of comedian and Twitter monster Rob Delaney. He’s the author of the new book Rob Delaney: Mother. Wife. Sister. Human. Warrior. Falcon. Yardstick. Turban. Cabbage. Delaney grew up with parents that liked music, but never quite understood his love of Danzig. He was however, able to find some common ground: "My mother and I would definitely listen to Billy Joel's An Innocent Man album and sing along in the car at top volume. We had that on cassette and LP." He's even gone to concerts with his parents, but when asked if Thanksgiving is the time to play your parents some new music, Delaney cautioned against it. "You really shouldn't," he tells host John Schaefer, "You should find the ground that you know you get along on musically and just celebrate that and then drive around in their station wagon later and listen to Slayer at top volume, cause you're not going to sell 'em on it."

The last time The Devil Makes Three played in the Soundcheck studio, we described its genre-smashing, punked-up bluegrass as “charming, danceable song.” And while the band hasn’t lost any of that ramshackle energy and charm, the band's new album, I’m A Stranger Here, finds the music shifting in something of a new direction with lyrics going a little darker. But, you can definitely still dance to these songs, too. Hear the band perform songs from the new record in the Soundcheck studio. Set List: "Stranger" "Hallelu" "Moment's Rest"

It's widely acknowledged that The Beatles' first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964 was a breakthrough moment for the band. Yet, in his new book, Got That Something!, New York Times music critic -- and Fab Four historian -- Allan Kozinn claims that it was actually the 1963 release of the single "I Want To Hold Your Hand" that changed everything. In an interview with Soundcheck host John Schaefer, Kozinn talks about the record label machinations behind the single and The Beatles' American debut, which played out against the backdrop of the Kennedy assassination.

Fifty years ago -- on the day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated -- guitarist John Lee Granderson was driving from Chicago to Tennessee when his car broke down. For the next two days, he repaired his car and composed a song, "A Man For the Nation." That story is recounted in the liner notes to Can’t Keep From Crying: Topical Blues on the Death of President Kennedy, an album project inspired by Granderson, and released on Testament Records. In honor of the the 50th anniversary of JFK's death, Soundcheck listens back to selections from the album, which contains eleven songs recorded by folk and blues artists in Chicago in the weeks following that infamous day in Dallas. The blues historian Pete Welding produced the album and called these 11 songs “topical blues.” Welding wrote in the liner notes, “They are by nature short-lived, celebrating as they do transitory events. A topical song usually lasts only as long as the event it celebrates is remembered.” The irony here, of course, is that this event would never be forgotten.

For a certain generation of rock fans, little induces nostalgia like The Stone Roses. The influential band exploded out of Manchester, England as part of the Britpop boom in the late 1980's and early '90s. But just as quickly, the band collapsed in a morass of legal wrangling and personality clashes leaving fans to wonder what might've been. Considering the band's messy break-up, few expected The Stone Roses would ever get back together. But last year, The Stone Roses surprised everyone by reforming and embarking on a reunion tour -- which is the subject of a new documentary, The Stone Roses: Made Of Stone. In an interview with Soundcheck host John Schaefer, Mark Herbert, the film's producer, and writer Jeff Gordinier -- author of X Saves The World, and who reviewed a recent biography of the band for The New York Times -- talk about the film, and the lasting impact of The Stone Roses' music.   Catch the film at Indiescreen in Brooklyn on November 29th & December 1st.

Chet Faker is the moniker of Australian electronic musician, producer and soulful singer Nicholas Murphy. The namesake is an homage to one of Murphy's musical heroes, Chet Baker, the legendary jazz trumpeter and sensitive crooner. And while it's a punny name, when you hear his smooth purring vocals hovering above a a bed of lounge-y electronics and vintage R&B, that musical connection to Baker is abundantly clear. A rising talent, Chet Faker first came into prominence in 2011 with an impressive cover of Blackstreet's "No Diggity," which first went viral online, and later appeared in a Super Bowl ad. He's followed that up with his 2012 EP Thinking In Textures, and worked on the self-titled record of fellow Australian, Flume. The duo is now is about to drop The Lockjaw EP, another collaboration between Faker and Flume, on Nov. 26.   Set List:  "Cigarettes And Chocolate" "I'm Into You" "Love And Feeling"

After a two-and-a-half year hiatus since Born This Way, Lady Gaga recently dropped -- or, given the Jeff Koons album cover, perhaps the proper phrase is "gave birth to" -- her latest album, Artpop. The highly-anticipated album debuted at No.1 on the charts, and yet despite a heavy promotional push, the record hasn't performed as well as expected sales-wise -- especially compared to her last album, which sold over a million copies in its first week (part of which was due to Amazon's $.99 sale of the album -- but not all of it).   Soundcheck host John Schaefer talks with music and charts writer Chris Molanphy about what's afoot in Gaga-land and whether we should judge the record on low sales alone.

It's fair to say that best-selling author Neil Gaiman and provocative songwriter and musically audacious firebrand Amanda Palmer have separately accumulated acclaimed bodies of work that have both won over fans and broken the Internet in half. Gaiman's superb Sandman series was a watershed moment in the development of graphic novels. He's also the creator of Coraline and the author of the novels American Gods, and, most recently, The Ocean At The End Of The Lane. Palmer -- the former frontwoman of the punk cabaret duo The Dresden Dolls -- is known as the "Social Media Queen of Rock 'n' Roll" thanks to her frequent engagement with her devoted fans who have helped fund her music via a successful -- and divisive -- Kickstarter campaign which resulted in last year's Theatre Is Evil, her first album with her new band The Grand Theft Orchestra. But collectively, Gaiman and Palmer may be one of the most creative power couples around. After Gaiman and Palmer got married a few years back, the two decided to go on a road trip. Then they thought, "Why not do some shows while we're at it? Why not do some shows together?" Soon, they had assembled a wildly popular traveling roadshow featuring a night of filled songs, covers, and duets, and readings of poetry, short stories and more.  Those performances are now collected in a just-released three-disc set, An Evening With Neil Gaiman & Amanda Palmer. In an interview with Soundcheck host John Schaefer, Gaiman and Palmer talk about their collaboration as they prepare to bring the show to Town Hall in New York this weekend, perform a duet live, and share some details about a few upcoming projects: Gaiman's television adaptation of American Gods and Palmer's book deal.   Hear Amanda Palmer and Neil Gaiman perform "Psycho," a disturbing country classic by Leon Payne: Amanda Palmer & Neil Gaiman - Psycho - Live on Soundcheck Interview Highlights On the biggest conflict of being together on stage Amanda Palmer: We're both so used to being in charge when we do our own gigs...that we wound up having little disagreements and spats about, like, what the song order should be, and what little details should be, and we were both really all of a sudden -- Neil Gaiman: ...We were both baffled at the idea that somebody else could have an opinion that could matter! AP: That was a little rough to work through. Total battle of the divas, and I think probably very healthy for our marriage. NG: As marriage things go, it was magnificent, because it definitely taught both of us humility, especially me. Gaiman, on the reported HBO adaptation of American Gods: I can say that it's not with HBO any longer. I am not in a position to tell you who it is actually with because the final pieces of paper have not yet been signed. But it is chugging very very happily forward. Amanda Palmer, on her new book deal: On the back of my TED Talk, which was really successful, I signed a book contract with Hachette. And I'm going to be sitting down to try to pen an entire nonfiction book -- I haven't really nailed it, but I'm pretty sure it's gonna be about the intersection between art and asking, and why artists and people in general have such a difficult time asking for things, which is a topic I've been discussing with a lot of artist friends lately in this new weird culture of digital sharing and crowd-funding and confusion.

Randy Weston is one of jazz's most renowned and visionary pianists and composers. Over six decades' Weston has been a true innovator, crafting thoughtful works that seamlessly meld jazz and blues theory with African rhythms. On his latest recording, The Roots Of The Blues, Weston continues his longstanding musical collaboration with saxophonist Billy Harper -- a soulful partnership that dates back to the 1974. Recorded in early 2013, the duo's record showcases inventive arrangements and improvisations and a shared love for the blues and rich global music traditions. It's another high mark for the distinguished musicians.       Set List: "Roots Of The Nile" (Randy Weston solo piano) "If One Could Only See" (Billy Harper solo sax) "Blues To Senegal" (Weston and Harper duo)

Gary Clark Jr. got his first guitar for Christmas back when he was just 12 years old and the Austin, Texas native has been playing around his hometown ever since. But with a breakout performance at Eric Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival in 2010, Clark Jr. netted not only a manager, but a recording deal with Warner Bros.  In the time since Gary Clark Jr.'s 2012 major label debut, Blak And Blu, he's played with Mick Jagger and blues legend B.B. King for the President at the White House, opened for The Rolling Stones, and played with Alicia Keys and The Roots. That album also scored big at his home town Austin Music Awards, winning eight awards, including musician and album of the year. And with a scorching and gritty blues rock sound -- that frequently draws comparisons to guitar legends like Jimi Hendrix -- Gary Clark Jr. has earned a loyal following and become a star on the rise. He plays an acoustic set live in the Soundcheck studio, and talks with host John Schaefer about growing up in Austin, why he doesn't play a Stratocaster, and the inspiration behind his song "Bright Lights."        For more photos from the session, visit Soundcheck's Tumblr page. Set List:  "When My Train Pulls In" "Bright Lights" "Next Door Neighbor Blues"

Not long ago, fans cringed if they heard their favorite band’s music in a TV ad. These days, a song in a commercial is more likely to attract fans than drive them away. RookieMag music editor Jessica Hopper talks about her recent Buzzfeed piece, "How Selling Out Saved Indie Rock," which details the rise of ad dollars in indie music and the death of “selling out.”   Samsung's latest commercial features Lorde's "Royals."   And Stephen Colbert recently poked fun at the trend: