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While her band Rilo Kiley is known for its downbeat indie-rock sound, Jenny Lewis finds her foundation in country coming to the fore on her sophomore solo effort, Acid Tongue. Though she recorded the album in just three weeks, Lewis infuses her voice with a hint of jazzy soul without losing her grip on her country-rock roots.

In his new album, The Hard Way, Hunter delves even deeper into soul, fusing his smoky voice with the sounds of surf music. With nods to American soul legends such as Sam Cooke and Ray Charles, Hunter maintains a sense of nostalgia, while infusing his sound with modern style and distinctive technique. Hear him when he stops by World Cafe with host David Dye.

The Arab network al-Jazeera plays a taped message said to be from Osama bin Laden. The voice on the tape calls for more suicide attacks against America and Israel, and urges Iraqis to defy the United States as war looms. U.S. officials say the tape shows a link between bin Laden, al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein. Hear from NPR's Mike Shuster.

The music of Stephanie's Id is both calming and haunting. The four-piece group from Asheville, NC mixes gentle pop rhythms with simple piano, guitar, some strings and subtle synth flourishes to create a hazy backdrop for singer Stephanie Morgan's seductive voice. It's a beguiling mix of sounds with unexpected sonic turns as hushed, serene songs erupt suddenly into dark, explosive jams.

In a concert recorded by Swiss Radio DRS2, the charismatic Richard Bona has a heavenly voice and plays a funky bass. His newest CD is Bona Makes You Sweat, and at the 2008 Basel Jazz Festival, he goes further than that. Bona makes you swoon, sing, stand up and boogie with his band from Africa, the Caribbean and the U.S.

The Balustrade Ensemble makes music from another time, but one that never really existed. It's an imaginary world of creaky floors, dusty furniture and sepia-toned landscapes illuminated by distant strings and tinkling music boxes. The music is largely instrumental with the angelic voice of Wendy Allen, drenched in reverb, occasionally drifting in. It's a sometimes spooky world but curious and entirely enchanting.

Jaymay has been called a folk artist and she cites Bob Dylan among her influences. But her music is richer and more unpredictable than traditional folk singers. Jaymay's debut album, Autumn Fallin', is a collection of charmingly heartbroken songs that mix bluesy-folk and pop. She's got a soulful voice that compliments heartfelt lyrics with a complex and layered mix of instrumentation.

The device famous for making human voices sound robotic did not originate in the recording studio. As music journalist Dave Tompkins writes in How to Wreck a Nice Beach: The Vocoder From World War II to Hip-Hop, it began as a speech-encoding machine during World War II. Read an excerpt from Tompkins' book about the vocoder and its unexpected history here.

In 2004, All Things Considered aired a documentary called "Mandela: An Audio History" by producers Joe Richman and Sue Johnson of Radio Diaries. It tells the story of the struggle against apartheid through the voices of Mandela and the people who fought with and against him.This selection from that documentary recalls Mandela's treason trial, in which he was convicted and sentenced to serve life in prison on Robben Island.

Doyle Lawson grew up admiring Bluegrass legends — and now he is one. His mandolin and voice have been heard with bluegrass pioneers like J.D Crowe, the Country Gentlemen and Jimmy Martin. Lawson's band, Quicksilver, started in 1979, forging a mix of bluegrass and gospel that has earned them numerous awards. Their latest release is You Gotta Dig a Little Deeper.

As of Tuesday, the newly drawn congressional districts keep the 7th in western Minnesota and extend the 8th west to take in all the state’s northern Native American reservations and south to the northeast metro area. Minnesota kept eight congressional districts, but the lines shifted because of population changes within them.

NPR's Jennifer Ludden in Gaza reports another cease-fire between the Israelis and Palestinians failed to stem the violence raging throughout the Palestinian territories. There were gun battles near an Israeli settlement in Gaza and in at least one town in the West Bank. Israeli troops clashed with stone-throwing demonstrators in other areas.

NPR's Adam Hochberg reports that the 2000 census reveals a boom in growth in America's coastal areas. Demographers say the population explosion is driven by relatively cheap housing prices, desire to live near water, and technological advances that allow telecommuting. Environmentalists worry that the development boom threatens fragile coastal ecological systems.

The Immigration and Naturalization Service says it deported a record 67-thousand illegal aliens in the fiscal year that ended last month. But, critics say in another area the INS has been sloppy, allowing tens of thousands of aliens to become naturalized citizens despite their criminal records. NPR's Barbara Bradley reports.

Initial clues in the investigation of the break-up of the space shuttle Columbia suggest there may have been a problem with the tiles that protect the spacecraft against the heat of re-entry into Earth's atmosphere. Meanwhile, searchers are scouring a wide area of East Texas and Louisiana for shuttle wreckage. NPR's Richard Harris and Wade Goodwyn report.

The Peace Corps is experiencing a sudden jump in popularity in San Francisco thanks to a rash of Internet business failures. Former dot-com employees have helped double the number of people attending the Peace Corps' informational meetings in the area. Noah Adams talks with Dennis McMahon, public affairs specialist for the Peace Corps.

The speaker of Turkey's parliament promptly nullifies a vote that appeared to give narrow permission for U.S. troops to use Turkish bases as a staging area for a potential military strike against Iraq. Absences and abstentions prevented lawmakers who favored the proposal from achieving an absolute majority. Hear NPR's Guy Raz.

NPR's Martha Raddatz reports that despite reports from northern Iraq that some Iraqi troops have dug-in south of Irbil and that rival Kurdish groups were still clashing, US officials insist the Iraqi army is standing down and withdrawing from the UN air-patrolled area of northern Iraq.

A U.S. solder is killed and at least five wounded after shooting breaks out near an American checkpoint in Fallujah, Iraq. The incident comes a day after more than 1,500 U.S. soldiers arrived in the area in response to increasing attacks on American forces. Hear NPR's Nick Spicer.

People who are 30-year-olds this year were part of the first generation to learn about AIDS at the same time as they were learning about sex. NPR's Jason Beaubien has this report about four 30-year-olds from the Boston area, who reflect on coming of age in the shadow of AIDS.