Eliot Van Buskirk

In this episode: Back in 2002 Andrew W.K. kickstarted a party-rock movement with his debut, I Get Wet. The musician-turned-entertainer-turned-advice columnist and writer Phillip Crandall -- who covered W.K.’s debut in his new book for the 33 1/3 series -- reflect on that now-classic album. Plus, Crandall describes what it’s like to listen to I Get Wet on repeat for an entire year and we ask Andrew W.K. for the three people with whom he would most like to party.

Then: Blogger and “data storyteller” Eliot Van Buskirk has been crunching 50 years of Billboard and Spotify data on summer jams. He joins us with his analysis and some surprising conclusions about sun-soaked songs.

In this episode: Actress Jessie Mueller plays a very convincing Carole King in the new Broadway musical Beautiful. The young star talks about her one and only meeting with the legendary songwriter and s she performs songs from the show live in the Soundcheck studio.

Then, Nobel Prize-winning Princeton economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman also happens to be a diehard music fan. He shares a few favorite songs as part of Soundcheck's series Pick Three.

And: Beats Music is the latest entry in an already over-crowded market of streaming music services market that includes Spotify, Rdio, Pandora, and others. So how does Beats Music compare? Eliot Van Buskirk, editor at Evolver.fm, gives his first impressions after a week with the new service.

In this episode: When musician Phil Everly died last week at age 74, the music world paused to reflect on The Everly Brothers. The Everly's songs can be moving, eerie, and often subtle -- so subtle, in fact, that it can be easy to underestimate the impact that music had on the rock, pop, and folk that would follow in their footsteps. Craig Havighurst, the Nashville-based journalist and co-host of the Americana radio show Music City Roots, traces the duo's lasting musical legacy.

Then: Songwriter Jordan Lee runs Brooklyn's Kassette Klub label and leads Mutual Benefit, which on any given day could be a one-man-band or a full-on collective. Following two cassette releases, Mutual Benefit released its first proper album, Love's Crushing Diamond, and performs songs from it in the Soundcheck studio.

And: Eliot van Buskirk, editor of Evolver.fm, tells us why the time is ripe for a home audio revolution.

In this episode: Acclaimed British indie rock band Arctic Monkeys gives a taste of its new album AM with an acoustic performance in the Soundcheck studio. 

Then, a new experiment straight from the Soundcheck test kitchen: Players On Players, in which we introduce a professional musician with a professional athlete and get them talking about the intersections of sports and music. In this initial segment, songwriter Erin McKeown chats with football player Wade Davis.

And, Eliot Van Buskirk, of Evolver.fm tooks at the uphill battle for Pono, the new high-quality music system developed by Neil Young.

In this episode: Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning actress, Jane Lynch (Glee, A Mighty Wind), joins us to talk about taking over the role of meanie Miss Hannigan in Broadway’s revival of Annie. We revisit some of her music-filled past roles on screen — and we talk about the songs that make her cry.

Plus: From time to time, we turn to Eliot Van Buskirk, founder of Evolver.fm, to fill us in on the latest digital music news. We pick his brain about Google's new digital music service, the problem of collecting music in 2013 and how self-driving cars might affect the music business.

And: The duo Japanther was supposed to be an art project, and maybe they still are. But they're definitely a band. They channel their inner Simpsons on a new album called Eat Like Lisa Act Like Bart.