Soundcheck: Recent Episodes
WNYC Studios
Live performances and conversations in which artists talk about their work, their process, and themselves. Genre-blind but open-eared. Hosted by John Schaefer.
Grammy-nominated jazz and R&B ensemble, Terri Lyne Carrington + Social Science, are back with their sophomore album, Trip the Night Fantastic, after a seven-year-long break. In line with their debut record, Waiting Game, the group has a new batch of songs dealing with a wide range of social justice issues, voiced in melodies and spoken words.
“Once you open your eyes to any social issue, so many others go hand in hand, because they overlap. There are all these intersections, so I can’t really do anything without thinking about gender justice or even racial justice, because those are two huge parts of my identity,” says the bandleader Terri Lyne Carrington, whose day job as the founder and artistic director of Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice undoubtedly highlights the source material for the album. But, at the end of the day, Trip the Night Fantastic is a communal effort, with each member sparking the flame for a new creation which then becomes enriched with the input of guest artists such as Arooj Aftab, Brandee Younger, and Tarriona ‘Tank’ Ball. And though those artists are missing from this Soundcheck session, most of the Social Justice band is present, with Terri Lyne Carrington on drums, Matthew Stevens on guitar, Morgan Guerin on bass, joined by guest vocalists Christie Dashiell and Ian Michael, who also plays our piano. - Sırma Munyar
(Photo of Terri Lyne Carrington by Meredith Truax)
Setlist: 1.Autonomy Song 2.Children's Song 3.Solidarity Song
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Welcome to the WASABI edition of Soundcheck! No, not the spicy green paste that comes with your sushi order. We’re talking about the collaborative project formed by the London-born indie rock band Art Brut and their New York counterpart, We Are Scientists, known as We Are Scientists Art Brut International. Though they released a collaborative record in 2019, each band visited our studios at separate moments in time. But how could we not combine their sessions into one when they all spoke so fondly of each other? Join us, as we revisit their recent live performances and interviews with our host, John Schaefer.
We Are Scientists' Setlist: 1. Please Don't Say It 2. Dead Letters 3. What You Want Is Gone
Art Brut's Setlist: 1. Formed a Band 2. Emily Kane
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Brooklyn-based guitarist and composer Yasser Tejada & the group Palotré combine African-rooted Dominican traditional folk styles and fuse them with R&B, church gospel, funk, jazz, and rock into a celebration of Afro-Dominican culture. On this edition of Soundcheck from 2019, they play some songs from their record, Kijombo, in-studio.
Watch the video of the session here.
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The late South African pianist and composer Abdullah Ibrahim (aka "Dollar Brand") had a notable career, helped early on by Duke Ellington, and acknowledged later by Nelson Mandela, who called Ibrahim “our Mozart.” In 2019, Abdullah Ibrahim became a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master, and he released an album titled The Balance, (which was his 70th or 71st LP, and that's not including his work as a sideman, which might push the total album credits to over 100!). The Balance is full of "lush horn lines, lilting melodies, and uplifting chord progressions, characteristic of Abdullah's own particular brand of Township Jazz," and on this episode of Soundcheck, which was recorded in August 2019, Abdullah Ibrahim performs some solo piano works, in-studio.
Setlist: 1.Dreamtime 2.Nisa 3.The Balance
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On this episode of Soundcheck, a great band bids farewell after a monumental career that lasted more than a quarter of a century. American avant-garde group The Bad Plus spent long years fusing instrumental jazz with rock music, with each member playing their seemingly traditional instruments to their fullest extent in unexpected ways. They perform some tunes from their final record, “Complex Emotions” and reflect on their creative journey. Also, Ethiopia-born, California-based singer Meklit joins us with live renditions of some songs from her album, “A Piece of Infinity,” singing in her native tongue of Amharic and taking inspiration from the Golden Age of Ethiopian pop music.
Meklit's Setlist: 1. Ambassel 2. Tizita
The Bad Plus' Setlist: 1. Casa Ben 2. Carrier
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After almost a decade-long wait, the Grammy-nominated alt-country artist Tift Merritt returns with her new record Sugar, in which she sings, “I didn’t really want to be here tonight / I don’t need you looking at me / I don’t like the light bright.” Is a romantic love story the inspiration behind these words? Or is it the music industry itself, which is, as Merritt puts it, the ultimate “bad boyfriend”.
“This was a little song that was negotiating how I could come back and stay grounded in my own world that I’ve built off-stage,” she explains. And that world recently got a lot bigger. Merritt, alongside her partners, restored a historic boutique hotel in Raleigh, North Carolina, now called, The Gables. “I wanted to build a place where I wanted to hang out,” she says, as she expresses her hope that her neighborhood will feel the same way. For a songwriter who feeds on every day singing at the kitchen table and the strange but lovable characters of the South, a communal space may just become the breeding ground for new stories to tell through music.
Until those songs come to light, we have an entire album to keep us company, and Merritt’s solo performance for this episode of Soundcheck is just the primer we needed. (- Sırma Munyar)
Setlist: 1. Everyday Singing 2. Sugar 3. Finest Feelings
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Chamber pop duo Gracie and Rachel, formed by keyboardist Gracie Coates and violinist Rachel Ruggles, spent many years playing music together, living together, and even growing up together during their high school years. But when time came to work on their new album, they couldn’t write in the same room. Instead, they each turned their attention inward, reflecting on their emotions separately. The result was two batches of songs that undeniably belonged together, in their fourth record titled If We Could, Would We.
Gracie and Rachel bring their confessional lyrics, ethereal vocals, dreamy soundscapes drenched in strings, guitars, and synths, back to our studio: this time with Asher Kurtz on guitar and Connor Parks on drums, for this edition of Soundcheck. (- Sırma Munyar)
Setlist: 1. Leaving Home Is Going Home 2. Green Light 3. Caroline 4. Myself Again
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Latin music culture has produced countless artists who amplify decades of traditions and stories through their unique point of view. Two of those artists are Julieta Venegas and Marilina Bertoldi, who have both earned numerous Latin Grammy nominations in recent years. Singer-songwriter Julieta Venegas, who collaborated with superstar Bad Bunny on “Lo Siento BB:/,” is a multi-instrumentalist whose artistry encapsulates pop, rock, and regional Mexican music. And Argentine rock 'n' roll icon Marilina Bertoldi’s creativity contains multitudes, as her retro electric guitar solos pierce through a wall of glitchy and sampled sounds. As you listen to both artists’ performances from our studios, you’ll be transported to a small seaside town in the summer in one moment, and a sweaty nightclub in the next.
Julieta Venegas's Setlist: 1. La Línea 2. Tiempos Dorados 3. Oleada
Marilina Bertoldi's Setlist: 1. Pucho 2. La Casa de A
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Multi-instrumentalist Zoh Amba is widely known in the avant-garde jazz world for their remarkable talent as a saxophonist. Having cemented their reputation as a natural improviser, they now turn their attention to seemingly new territory that is really a homecoming: gritty, Appalachian folk-rock music.
In their debut singer-songwriter record, titled Eyes Full, Zoh Amba studies the culture of their hometown of Kingsport, Tennessee, picking up the guitar as a main instrument for the first time. With every voice-cracking cry, Zoh Amba embodies the troubles of hardworking small-town people, telling their stories in musical settings that are not sophisticated, but raw and authentic instead. The same spirit of mirroring the struggles of others can be vividly heard in this edition of Soundcheck, as Zoh Amba performs some of their aching new songs live with their band. (- Sırma Munyar)
Setlist: 1. Weed Eating 2. Eyes Full 3. Runnin' Bet 4. Southern Soil 5. Dead End Street
(Photo of Zoh Amba by A.J. Morales)
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Helado Tropical ("tropical ice cream") is a collaboration between Helado Negro, the experimental pop project of Ecuadorian-American singer/songwriter Roberto Carlos Lange, and Reyna Tropical, which is the work of the Mexican-American musician Fabi Reyna (also of the cumbia band Savila). Created out of openness and spontaneity, and nearly “telepathic communication” in the studio. there is a tenderness and intimacy that feels like “summer's warmth on a Sunday” to their debut record. Helado Tropical shares some of their new languorous and inviting groove-based Latin pop, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Tocando 2. Sensacion 3. Soledad
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New York’s history as a city of immigrants has had a huge impact on music. Six-time Grammy-winning pianist Arturo O’Farrill follows in the footsteps of his father, Chico O’Farrill, a pioneer of the Afro-Cuban jazz that developed in NY in the 1940s. Now, Arturo O’Farrill often collaborates with his own sons, trumpeter Adam O’Farrill and drummer Zack O’Farrill, in both Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra and The O'Farrill Family Band. The latter group comes together to play music from all three generations in our studio. After that, another New York-based musician, clarinetist Michael Winograd and his all-star band, recreates a pivotal moment in the history of klezmer and jazz music, honoring the traditions of an earlier group of musical immigrants, the Jewish people of Eastern Europe.
O'Farrill Family Band Set list: 1. Chico O'Farrill: Pura Emocion 2. Arturo O'Farrill: Alisonia 3. Adam O'Farrill: The Man From the Sea
Michael Winograd & All-Star Band Set list: 1. Tipsy 2. Silkene Pajamas
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Jazz-funk brass band EMEFE didn’t plan on getting back together after their indefinite hiatus in 2016. Everyone involved with the project at the time, including founding member and drummer Miles Francis, went on to pursue other musical endeavors, until one of their 2015 album tracks, titled “Sun Spat,” began to gain some traction online years later.
“We never heard from anybody from Spotify or any of these companies. It truly felt like people listening,” says Francis, highlighting this rare experience at a time when artists fought for attention like never before. After millions of streams, fan covers of the song emerged and EMEFE couldn’t ignore the buzz anymore.
Shortly after their reunion, they recorded a new album, aptly titled Forward. Now, they’re back on the road as a 10-piece band, with Doug Berns on bass, Jake Pinto on keys, Jas Walton on tenor sax, Lynn Ligammari on baritone sax, Jackie Coleman on trumpet, Aani Kisslinger on trombone, Alden Harris-McCoy and Tony Jarvis on guitars, and Javier Ramos on congas and shekere. We managed to fit them all into our studio to bring you their special performance of afrobeat-infused EMEFE songs, old and new, for this edition of Soundcheck. (- Sırma Munyar)
Setlist: 1. Stutter 2. Sun Spat 3. The Dirt
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The Tunisian-born, American-based singer and activist Emel Mathlouthi, who records simply as Emel, became famous when her song "Kelmti Horra" became the anthem of the Arab Spring uprising some fifteen years ago. Since coming to the States, Emel has released a series of albums united by the themes of freedom, struggle, and community. Sonically, though, her songs have varied from dark electronica to North African-inflected pop to haunting and artful ballads. Her 2024 album, MRA, lifts up women and spotlights the fight against [the] patriarchy, and veers into more pop and hip hop than ever before. Emel and her band play live, in-studio.
Set list: 1. footsteps 2. Nar 3. Massive Will
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What makes certain musical moments memorable? In the case of the Canadian indie rock band The New Pornographers, it’s a quarter of a century filled with inventive arrangements, power pop melodies, and striking lyrics that feel both abstract and relatable. And in the case of Portuguese fado singer Carminho, it’s a single, show-stopping moment in the film “Poor Things,” where all the action stops as she sings an aching song from atop a balcony. On this edition of Soundcheck, The New Pornographers play some tracks from their latest record “The Former Site Of,” while Carminho breathes new life into songs from her album, titled “Eu Vou Morrer de Amor ou Resistir: ‘I’ll die of love, or I’ll resist.’”
The New Pornographers' setlist: 1. Votive 2. Spooky Action 3. The Former Site Of // The New Pornographers are playing live dates in North American through October 2026
Carminho's setlist: 1. Canção à ausente 2. Lá vai Lisboa // Carminho is playing live dates in Europe now through fall of 2026
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Folktronica songwriter Ásgeir didn’t plan on becoming a singer. When he was younger, all he wanted to do was to make music with his garage band. He only found himself singing in front of a microphone because “somebody had to do it.”
As he grew into his musical identity, Ásgeir immersed himself in the music of his vocal heroes, including Jeff Buckley, Jónsi of Sigur Rós, and Justin Vernon of Bon Iver. Their ethereal falsetto tones influenced his own approach to singing and a new Icelandic star was born.
Ásgeir’s first record, titled Dýrð í dauðaþögn, became the best-selling debut album in Iceland to date in 2012, beating the debuts of Björk and Sigur Rós. Since then, he’s been singing his songs mostly in English, often with lyrics borrowed from the poetry of his father, Einar Georg Einarsson. In his fifth studio album, Julia, Ásgeir takes the pen in his own hands for the first time, interpreting his life experiences from a singular lens. He plays some songs from that record and reflects on their inception. (- Sırma Munyar)
- Smoke 2. Ferris Wheel 3. Sugar Clouds
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Saxophonist Isaiah Collier spent most of his lifetime playing his instrument religiously. He looked up to his idol John Coltrane so much that he performed several tribute concerts in his name. But the young jazz composer is ready to take on new creative challenges with his upcoming EP, JOY. What kind of new challenges? Well, he showed up at our studio without his saxophone, for one.
On this episode of Soundcheck, Collier plays our piano and sings his soulful new songs with his band: with Davis Whitfield on keys, Conway Campbell on bass, and Tim Regis on drums. Collier’s compositions are deeply personal, but they carry the spirit of communal celebration, which becomes most apparent in these exuberant, dynamic, and spontaneous performances. (- Sırma Munyar)
- Where I'm Loved 2. When the Dust Settles 3. Joy
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Music can be a serious business. But no one says, “I work music.” You play music. In this episode, discover two very different musical acts who understand the significance of having a playful streak. First, we welcome three best friends who formed the indie rock band Horsegirl when they were still in high school in Chicago; they play a couple of songs from their sophomore album, “Phonetics On and On.” Later, New Orleans-born, three-time Grammy-winning jazz pianist and composer Sullivan Fortner makes good use of our piano, performing some of his original music as well as a piece by Chopin in a way only he can.
Horsegirl Set list: 1. Where'd You Go 2. Switch Over 3. 2468
Sullivan Fortner Set list: 1. Grandpa's Spells (Jelly Roll Morton) 2. It's A Game 3. Chopin's Valse Du Petit Chien
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What happens when an electric guitar is used to interpret music from cultures that completely ignore the Western tonal system? Guitarist Marisa Anderson dove into the depths of late filmmaker Harry Smith’s record collection to find out. While Smith himself once did similar research to compile his influential Anthology of American Folk Music, Anderson was more interested in compositions and improvisations that emerged outside of her country. She felt particularly drawn to recordings from places the United States has been in conflict with for decades, which led her down the path of producing her own Anthology of UnAmerican Folk Music.
Transcribed in her “first language”, the electric guitar, and accompanied by soundscapes built with keyboards, the accordion, and other instruments, Anderson carefully arranged pieces from Afghanistan, Yemen, Vietnam, and more. As she bent the strings of her guitar to achieve some form of microtonality, she kept questioning the concept of being unamerican: “Who are the people we’ve been told in our lifetimes are “unamerican?” What have we lost or been denied access to in the fallout from that label?”
Anderson brings some of her interpretations to our studio for a solo performance and explains her process. “This project changed me permanently… I’m a better listener,” she says, as she approaches each new territory with the curiosity and joy of a child in a candy store. (- Sırma Munyar)
- Hamd 2. Sarvi Simin 3. Taqsim for Guitar
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Photo of Lara Downes by Ebru Yildiz
Pianist Lara Downes has spent the last couple of years traveling the country and collecting not only music, but also stories, for a pair of projects that celebrate America at 250. One is her multimedia piece called The Declaration Project, and the other is an album of music that spans at least 250 years of American history called Hold These Truths, which amplifies the stories gathered in her Declaration Project. The music ranges from before the nation’s founding to new works – an overall reflection on revolution, resistance, and resilience from early 20th century composer Harry T. Burleigh to Nigerian-American composer Shawn Okpebholo. Lara Downes plays some of these works, in-studio.
Set list:
1. Harry Burleigh: The Frolic
2. Christopher Tin:Hope Is the Thing with Feathers
3. Jeff Beal: Elation
4. Shawn Okpebholo: Wondrous Free
5. Ricky Ian Gordon: Finding Home
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The New Orleans band Tank and the Bangas have been public radio favorites since they won NPR’s Tiny Desk Contest in 2017. Since then, they’ve built their considerable reputation on their high octane, dance-ready blend of R&B, hip hop, spoken word and pop. The Grammy-winning band has some new songs to play for us from their latest album, The Last Balloon. After that, we welcome Rodney Crowell into our studio, who helped create the genre known as alternative country. He’s written #1 hits for himself and artists like Bob Seger and Waylon Jennings, as well as collaborating with Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Sheryl Crow and, most notably, Emmylou Harris. He joins us to tell some tales and give us a taste of his 2025 album, Airline Highway.
Setlist:
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Tank and the Bangas - "Move"
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Tank and the Bangas - "No Invite"
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Rodney Crowell - "Rainy Days in California"
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Rodney Crowell - "21 Song Salute"
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Rodney Crowell - "Taking Flight"
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For Dallas-born folk singer-songwriter Anjimile, who grew up in a conservative Christian family with immigrant parents from Malawi, life wasn’t always easy to figure out. His journey as a young adult, trans man, while simultaneously battling addiction, resulted in the brutally honest 2020 album, Giver Taker, which the artist deemed to be full of prayers. A few years later came The King, his most defiant and intense record to date, which helped Anjimile deal with the complex emotions that stem from existing as a Black, trans person in the current political climate. And though that album felt like one filled with curses, the latest addition to his discography, titled You’re Free to Go, appears to be “an album of blooming.” As Anjimile puts it, “a lot of the themes are related to transformation and/or growing pains… a blooming spring is a beautiful thing but it’s also a disruption to the status quo.”
As his voice deepened and grew in confidence, Anjimile discovered “a newfound level of comfort”, both in singing and composing his music. And though he appeared on Soundcheck before, he returns with a new sonic palette and stories, encapsulating moments of acceptance and eagerness to let love in. (- Sırma Munyar)
Set list: 1. Rust and Wire 2. The Store 3. Waits For Me
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Elizabeth Ziman, who performs as Elizabeth and the Catapult, is a singer-songwriter from Brooklyn. Over the past twenty years, she and a slowly rotating cast of musical friends have released six LPs, full of songs that offer a neat, often unexpected blend of the witty and the vulnerable. Her latest release is called Responsible Friend, "about slowing down in a world that keeps accelerating. It’s a commitment to friends, family, and self, at a time when everyone seems to be carrying more than they can reasonably hold" (Bandcamp). Elizabeth and the Catapult play in our studio.
Set list: 1. 50/50 2. When the Doctor Needs A Doctor 3. I Love You Still
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On this episode of Soundcheck, revisit a special live performance and interview from our archives, recorded in 2019. Multi-instrumentalist, composer, host of the podcast Aria Code, and MacArthur Fellow Rhiannon Giddens collaborated with Italian pianist and percussionist, Francesco Turrisi on there is no Other: twelve songs that explore the connections between European, Arabic, African-American, and Mediterranean sounds with an opposition to "othering" and “a celebration of the spread of ideas, connectivity, and shared experience” (Nonesuch Records).
The duo’s artistic cross-pollinations and discoveries draw from Italy, Ireland, Iran, Africa, and Brazil, among other places, and reflect the history of the movement of both people and instruments (with particular attention paid to both the trans-Saharan and the trans-Atlantic slave trade). Giddens and Turrisi have mentioned in interviews that audiences probably won’t be thinking about how cultures meet, collide, and create new forms. But perhaps as the players weave their magic, the result might also be that the music will start deep and productive conversations about migrations. Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi, along with bassist Jason Sypher, join us in-studio to perform some of these songs. – Caryn Havlik
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The London-based art rock band, Mary in the Junkyard, is getting ready to release their debut album after four years of trying to make sense of strange things in life through music. “I think that life is very surreal,” says the vocalist of the group, Clari Freeman-Taylor, as she explains why she enjoys “writing about things that may be a little bit unsettling”. Nothing about the order of life is rehearsed, so why should their music be? Their practice relies heavily on their songwriting and arranging rituals where they carefully piece each layer of sound together. But preparations for live performances are enforced with a spirit of spontaneity, which, as the viola and bass player Saya Barbaglia points out, is a big part of their sound.
The duo blurred the rigid lines of classical music together as they grew into their teenage years with rock music. They traded hours of sight-reading for jam sessions that led to endless scraps of ideas. Those ideas would eventually become fully fleshed-out songs with the addition of drummer David Addison to the band.
Mary in the Junkyard’s upcoming LP, Role Model Hermit, carries hints of Freeman-Taylor and Barbaglia’s classical music background, as dense string arrangements pop up every now and then. But in our studio, the trio reveals the core of each song they perform: raw, skeletal, dark, and light, all at the same time. (- Sırma Munyar)
Setlist: 1. New Muscles 2. Myrtle 3. Blood
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Bassoonist Joy Guidry is a versatile improviser, performance artist, and composer of experimental ambient electronic music, who has founded her own record label, Jaid Records. While she is classically-trained, she has also listened deeply to some of the spiritual jazz of Pharoah Sanders, Alice Coltrane, Shabaka, and Nala Sinephro, and collaborates widely, most recently at the Park Avenue Armory in New York with Jessie Cox, Tcheser Holmes, and Scott Li. Her latest album Five Prayers, is a collection of works for bassoon with electronics, in which the Houston-born musician and sound architect takes inspiration from the spirit of the Black church and atmospheric sounds of ambient music. Joy Guidry performs in-studio.
Set list: 1. Georges 2. Dear June 3. You've Done What You Can
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Imagine the tropical grooves of Colombia and Mexico in an avant-garde setting. That’s the ethos of Ruido Tovar; the new collaborative project between Eblis Alvarez of Meridian Brothers and Camilo Lara of the Mexican Institute of Sound.
Before releasing their debut self-titled record together, both Alvarez and Lara were known to experiment with electronics, fusing modern sounds with music styles that are typically considered traditional. Alvarez put a spin on cumbia and salsa with his band Meridian Brothers, while Lara pushed the electronica movement in Mexico forward with his project, the Mexican Institute of Sound.
Coming together as Ruido Tovar, the duo joins the Soundcheck host, John Schaefer, with their pocket-sized effects pedals and compact synthesizers to perform some new songs from their new record and discuss their journey in music thus far. (- Sırma Munyar)
Setlist: 1. El Campeon 2. Concorde 3. Ritmo Babilonia
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British singer and songwriter Paris Paloma, a very sharp and thoughtful young artist who considers grief, politics, creativity, love, art, Greek mythology, and power structures in her music and in interviews, has opened for Florence & the Machine, played Glastonbury, and lent her voice to the Tolkien universe. She has built a community – her fairies –over the past few years, from her first EP, 2021’s cemeteries and socials (you want dark? Folk-horror-pop? She’s got you) to what will be her latest album, The Fatal Flaw, due out in September 2026. [View the artwork for the single “Good Boy”]
Paris Paloma offers the anti-AI song “Miyazaki”, about the unstoppable human need to create – and yes, named after the legendary Studio Ghibli director Hayao Miyazaki. Plus, she plays an intimate version of her feminist anthem, “Labour”, (which she played with the Resistance Revival Chorus on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert in 2025), in-studio.
Set list: 1. Labour 2. Miyazaki 3. Stem the Flow
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The New Orleans band Tank and the Bangas have built their considerable reputation on a high-energy, exuberant blend of R&B, funk, hip hop, spoken word, gospel, and pop. Listeners may recall how the band first introduced themselves to the public radio community in 2017 by winning the NPR Tiny Desk contest, and have since been awarded a GRAMMY. Their new album is called The Last Balloon, and it completes a trilogy that began with Green Balloon in 2019 and Red Balloon in 2022. Tank and the Bangas play a few fizzy-lifting, playful, and cathartic songs from the Last Balloon, in-studio.
Set List: 1.Move 2. No Invite 3. Whole World
Photo of Tank and the Bangas by Jeremy Tauriac
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Nottingham post-punk duo Sleaford Mods have built their career on going against the grain, challenging the British class system, capitalism, and pop culture. They’d tear it all down if they could. Vocalist Jason Williamson and producer Andrew Fearn are known for their relentless streams of expletive-laden takedowns of social and political hypocrisy, but they’re also catchy in their own minimalist, not suitable for a workplace way. Sleaford Mods’ latest album is called The Demise of Planet X, and they perform some of these danceable and ferocious rants, in-studio.
Set list: 1. I Don't Rate you 2. Megaton 3. Elitist G.O.A.T.
Photo by Ewen Spencer/Courtesy of the artist
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Emma Hospelhorn is known as a flutist when she goes by her full name, especially as a member of Chicago’s Ensemble Dal Niente; the acclaimed collective that brings experimental chamber music to the masses. But when she steps into the universe of her solo project, Em Spel, she writes and sings surreal, beguiling songs that fall somewhere in between dream pop, art rock, and folk music.
The multi-instrumentalist has a new album out, titled Bird or Snake, in which she occasionally breaches the constraints of tonality and uses layering techniques to texturize the organic elements that define her sound. The pandemic carved out enough space in Hospelhorn’s busy schedule for the creation of new Em Spel songs, some of which she performs live with her band for this episode of Soundcheck. (- Sırma Munyar)
Setlist: 1. The Poet 2.Sea Wall 3.Geographic
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The Klezmatics have never been just a klezmer band. From their beginnings 40 years ago, they’ve fused klezmer music, rooted in the Jewish communities of Eastern Europe, with the sounds of jazz, psychedelia, Latin music, punk energy, gospel fervor, global rhythms, and even ambient music. They’re also a band whose music rises to meet the moment, from their debut album Shvaygn = Toyt, silence equals death, released during the height of the AIDS epidemic, to their latest album, which is a 40th-anniversary statement called We Were Made For These Times. It uses music as activist art to speak to questions of immigration, labor, and belonging - answering with urgency, care, faith, community, and collective action, (Bandcamp liner notes). The Klezmatics play some of these anthemic songs of resilience and joy, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Un du akerst 2. Elegy for the Innocents 3. Plane Wreck at Los Gatos (Deportee)
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Ryan Bingham may be known as the character, Walker, on the hit neo-Western television series Yellowstone by many; but he’s also built a fandom around his rich Americana discography, spanning seven studio albums in 19 years. Earning an Oscar and a Grammy for “The Weary Kind”, the theme song for the film Crazy Heart co-written with T Bone Burnett, jumpstarted Bingham’s music career back in 2010. Since then, he’s been composing, recording, and performing his heartfelt songs that sound like they belong in a different time from decades past.
Playing slide guitar and singing raspy melodies with ease, Bingham embodies the persona of an artist who appreciates the melting pot of Texas – so much so that he recently starred in a short film called Love Letter to Texas, written and directed by Jeff Nichols. And though Bingham may not be a troubadour, he certainly performs like one, both in the studio and on stage. His latest album, titled They Call Us the Lucky Ones and recorded with the Dallas-based collective The Texas Gentlemen, is a testament to his willingness to welcome spontaneity, recounting his stories in the moment as they come. You can feel the same spirit on this episode of Soundcheck, as Bingham performs some of his new songs solo at our Manhattan studios. (- Sırma Munyar)
Setlist: 1. Let the Big Dog Eat 2. Relevance 3. Blue Skies
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Hiss Golden Messenger is the band led by singer/songwriter and guitarist M.C. Taylor, whose Americana folk and roots music has featured a rotating cast of characters, many but not all of them from North Carolina’s rich and varied musical scene. The band’s latest album is called I’m People, a simple enough title for a record that opens up onto some expansive ideas on what it means to be human and alive in America in 2026. Warm and twangy, soulful and jangly, M.C. Taylor and the current lineup of Hiss Golden Messenger play some of these songs, in-studio.
Set list: 1. In The Middle of It 2. Last Orders 3. Mercy Avenue
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Mexican singer-songwriter Julieta Venegas is considered a living legend among her peers. But when it’s just her and her favorite musical instruments, like the piano, the accordion, or the Venezuelan cuatro guitar, her artistry is just as raw, honest, and vulnerable as it was in her early days in music.
On her new record, Norteña, Venegas acknowledges the fact that none of us are as innocent as we used to be. Missing that pre-internet naïveté and going back to her roots played a big part in her writing process. Still, she’s not one to live in the past. As she puts it: “You have to let go of things… Even the things you think are really the best moments of your life are not going to be, because then you’re going to keep on going, and you’re going to find other best things in your life.”
This art of being at peace with present time is most apparent on this edition of Soundcheck, where she performs two singles from her new album, as well as a beloved song from two decades ago. In the studio, Venegas is known to fuse pop, rock, and regional Mexican music with well-thought-out and expansive arrangements. But here, she picks up a different instrument for each song, singing and playing organically, as she injects her momentary emotions into every note. (- Sırma Munyar)
Setlist: 1. La Línea 2. Tiempos Dorados 3. Oleada
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Gamelan Yowana Sari is a Balinese art ensemble in residence at the Aaron Copland School of Music at CUNY Queens College made up of students, alumni, faculty, and community patrons – all guided by GYS founder Michael Lipsey and co-directors Fred Trumpy and Ruka Shironishi. This contemporary group of percussionist ringers (ahem) are “fostering the creation of new works for gamelan”, and are “deeply committed to the transmission of Balinese culture through traditional music” (Bandcamp). GYS recently traveled to Bali to record some of these new works - some for gamelan and electric guitars- for their self-titled debut album, (which is out now on Cantaloupe Music.) Recently, they traveled from Queens and elsewhere with their heavy metal arsenal of traditional metallophones and gongs; 7- and 8- string guitars; and a hi-hat turtle to play (and count in cycles of fives and sevens) in the Jerome L. Greene Performance Space. Bonus - there's also a tour of the instruments! (- Caryn Havlik)
- Stones Are the Flowers (Kyle Miller) 2. Guirlandes, mvt 1 (Theo Merigeau) 3. aERIFORm kiTE (Evan Ziporyn)
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New York-based Sofia Rei is a Grammy-nominated vocalist, songwriter and producer from Buenos Aires, Argentina who was classically trained as a singer and fell in love with Brazilian music. Her new album, Antónima expands the concept of chamber music, looks to South American and Caribbean dance music (cumbia, candombe), and combines elements of Oya’s healing thunder and improvisation – all while flirting with jazz and experimental pop - as she and longtime collaborator and co-producer JC Maillard skillfully layer her voice and electronic sounds. Then there’s the all-star lineup of featured guest musicians on the album - many of them visionary Latin American women creators – who help Sofía Rei to celebrate future sounds. She and JC Maillard play in-studio. (- Caryn Havlik)
Set list: 1. El Mundo Es Redondo (Anonimous) 2. Si Una Cae 3. Marciana
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Morgan Nagler writes new songs every day, whether she’s in a room with the likes of Phoebe Bridgers and HAIM, or by herself playing an acoustic guitar in her bedroom. When she’s collaborating with other artists, there’s a lot of thought put into what each song is supposed to be about. But in private, Nagler refers to her tried and true “puke method”, eager to see what emerges, unfiltered.
Then perhaps it shouldn’t come as a surprise that her debut album, which was born after a series of side projects, carries an intimate, conversational tone. Despite the layered electric guitar textures and thoroughly arranged instrumentals, Nagler sings as though she’s right there, sitting next to you. In her co-write sessions with other artists, she “shows up and there’s nothing, but by the end of the day, you’ve got a song with a nice demo recorded. And then, you can just wipe your hands of it.” Such is the privilege of a songwriter stepping into another artist’s universe. In her own universe though, Nagler assesses all her heartbreaks and existential crises, summing it all up with an appropriate album title: I’ve Got Nothing to Lose, and I’m Losing It
In the making of her album, Nagler had “the time of her life”, having so many of her collaborators show up for her passion project. But for this edition of Soundcheck, she’s accompanied by nothing but her own guitar, putting her story in front and center. (- Sırma Munyar)
Setlist: 1. Cradle the Pain 2. Hurt 3. Heartbreak City
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Alisa Weilerstein is more than just a virtuoso cellist; she is also a winner of the MacArthur Fellowship, the so-called “genius” award. There is a real genius in the way Alisa Weilerstein connects music in her solo concerts, combining core classical pieces and commissioning new works to expand the solo cello repertoire. Take, for example, her latest project called Fragments, which is a multimedia series that weaves 27 newly-commissioned pieces into all of the solo cello suites by J.S. Bach. She imagines anarc of listening, where one might hear Serbian-born, Quebec-based composer Ana Sokolović; American-born Joan Tower; cellist/composer Paul Wiancko; percussionist/composer Andy Akiho; American composer Jeffrey Mumford;J.S. Bach, and Argentinian Osvaldo Golijov all on the same bill and tied together. Alisa offers a sample of this exploration of sound and meaning, with a little bit of birdsong, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Joan Tower - For Alisa, and J.S. Bach - Cello Suite No. 1 in G major, Prelude, BWV 1007
2. Osvaldo Golijov - The Last Moho Braccatus and J.S. Bach Cello Suite no. 5 in C minor, Courante, BWV 1011
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Brooklyn-based folk-rock band The Lone Bellow have stuck through thick and thin for the past 15 years. Their creative output has been fairly consistent, only disrupted recently by a burglary on the road. Strangely, the thieves who broke into their tour van stole the hard drives containing the vocal takes for their latest record and left the precious instruments behind. Still, the financial burden was significant enough to delay the release of What a Time to Be Alive. After a successful crowdfunding campaign, the trio had their second shot at realizing their vision.
Now back on the road after a short break to promote their new album across the US, The Lone Bellow is once again ready to welcome “the alchemy of everybody together in the room” on stage. But first, they share their rich vocal harmonies, backed with acoustic guitars and a mandolin, at our Manhattan studios for the latest installment of Soundcheck. (- Sırma Munyar)
Setlist: 1. I Did It for Love 2. You Were Leaving 3. No Getting Over You
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Texas-born folk singer-songwriter Jana Horn lives in Brooklyn, NY now. Perhaps it was this lifestyle change that established the introspective and fragmented nature of her eponymous third album. The calm in her voice, guided by instruments that sound as though they follow their own communal continuous clock, softens the blow of her existential lyrics: “Seeing eternity as a quality of time / Done with my dying / I can breathe again”.
Drifting between melancholy and optimism, Horn writes and performs conversationally, blurring the line between speech and song. The core team of musicians she opens her heart to play a big part in weaving the delicate and gentle atmosphere around her vocals, both in the studio and on the road. Two of those musicians, bassist Jade Guterman and drummer Adam Jones join us for the latest edition of Soundcheck with Jana Horn. Hear their performance and the artist’s interview with our host, John Schaefer. (- Sırma Munyar)
Setlist: 1. Come on 2. It's alright 3. Designer
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The band Art Brut has been making excitable, eccentric indie rock since their debut LP Bang Bang Rock N Roll was released in the UK back in 2005. The music is catchy, hook-laden, guitar-based indie rock. The lyrics are delivered in a kind of speech-song by Eddie Argos; they could be about falling in love or hitting the dance floor, but they’re just as likely to tell us a story of a double-crossing superhero or the joys of riding public transportation. Art Brut delivers a gleefully feral set of songs from their vast catalogue (including the recent second volume of a boxed set, Sorry, That It Doesn’t Seem Like It’s Planned! Battling Satan 2009-2020) to play in-studio.
Set list: 1. Formed a Band 2. Emily Kane 3. She Kissed Me and It Felt Like A Hit
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Mike Doughty is many things; a solo artist, founding bandmember of Soul Coughing and Ghost of Vroom, and a published writer – who not only wrote two memoirs but also an oratorio based on the biblical Book of Revelation that was staged at WNYC’s Greene Space.
Simply put, Doughty has built a long-lasting career since his days of working as a doorman at the New York club, The Knitting Factory. On his way up, he embraced all aspects of the art of writing good songs, from welcoming “cowboy chords” when they come, to opening his mind up to the universe of avant-garde jazz – or even German grammar-inspired lyrics. Today, he is a storyteller who is honest with himself and transparent with his audience, composing and sharing new songs weekly with his patrons on Patreon while continuing to pour his heart out on the road, as he’s about to do so on his Solo Tour ’26, playing all over the United States.
In the early days of this new adventure, Doughty joins our host, John Schaefer, with his collaborator, Andrew “Scrap” Livingston, for an intimate live performance and a warm chat for this edition of Soundcheck. (- Sırma Munyar)
Setlist: 1. White Lexus 2. Mr. Bitterness 3. Light Will Keep Your Heart Beating in the Future
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The Syrian-American rapper, poet, and peace activist Omar Offendum blends the sounds of hip hop and classical Arab music and literature into his stage works. He has spent much of the past few years on a New York-themed work called The Little Syria Show, named after a historical neighborhood in Lower Manhattan. In a celebration of Arab-American cultural heritage, Omar Offendum shares insights on diasporic memory and performs some of the songs from The Little Syria Show, in-studio. – "Sinsyrianly"
Set list: 1. Peddling Dervish 2. Mojaddareh 3. Not Quite White
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American folk singer-songwriter Annahstasia’s music career blossomed since the day she got kicked out of her teenage choir. Her voice didn’t blend homogenously with others, as it always meant to stand out. Today, with her soulful contralto register, she often gets compared to the greats like Nina Simone, Tracy Chapman, and Sade. But the way she utilizes her voice and songwriting melds a distinct brand of her own.
As a storyteller, Annahstasia doesn’t worry too much about predictable song structures with repeatable sections. Instead, she invites her collaborators and listeners into her safe space to participate as a communal sonic atmosphere begins to take shape. Like an “energy doula”, she approaches the dynamics in her music with the utmost care, birthing not only words and musical notes but also volumes of emotion. Sometimes, her melodies and harmonies are tethered so tightly to silence that you might miss them if you’re not listening closely. Then, they burst out again, like a thunderstorm that came out of nowhere to grasp your attention and never let go.
Offering an inimitable aural experience, Annahstasia performs a solo set at our Manhattan studios for this edition of Soundcheck, ahead of her sold-out four-night residency at Public Records in Brooklyn. Hear her latest anecdotes about her journey in the music industry and how she defends the art of live music recording in the age of bedroom pop productions. (- Sırma Munyar)
Setlist: 1. Be Kind 2. Take Care of Me 3. Slow
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Rapper, singer, and songwriter Dessa is a longtime member of Minneapolis’s influential Doomtree collective, has toured and recorded with orchestras, and been artist-in-residence at The Greene Space, our ground floor performance venue here in New York. But Dessa is also a writer, a poet, and a keen observer of the times. Her explicit commentary on the state of American politics, along with digressions on art, science, business, love, failure, and creativity fuel her latest songs, which she performs in-studio.
Set list: 1. Camelot 2. Tough Call 3. What if I'm Not Ready
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The duo called Dalava has put out three albums based on old Czech, specifically Moravian, folk songs, sourced from melodies transcribed over 100 years ago by the great- grandfather of Dálava's singer, Julia Úlehla. Their latest record, Understories, uses symbolic birds and stories to set a series of progressively darker, more experimental arrangements that seem to cast those songs adrift in both time and place. Julia Úlehla and guitarist Aram Bajakian (Lou Reed, John Zorn) explore magic and realism, harnessing the intense emotion in the body memory of ancestral connections as they perform in-studio. -Caryn Havlik
Set list: 1. Escape Velocity 2. Entanglement 3. Side Real Time
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Argentine singer-songwriter Marilina Bertoldi’s brand of rock 'n' roll contains multitudes between the old and the new. Her electric guitar, though it may only be a decade old, has all the markings of a seasoned instrument that has taken the stage at sweaty clubs and music festivals across the Americas and Europe. And the sound of it adds an unmistakably retro touch to Bertoldi’s music, which is often accompanied with glitchy and sampled production elements (and a state-of-the-art pedalboard to control it all). All the sonics aside though, it is Bertoldi’s intensely honest storytelling, which takes on a deeper meaning on stage, that makes her artistry stand out.
Listen to her fiery performance from our Manhattan studios with Manu Fernandez on drums, as well as her words on life on the road and the creative process behind the latest album PARA QUIEN TRABAJAS Vol. I, which recently earned Bertoldi a Latin Grammy nomination. (- Sırma Munyar)
Setlist: 1. Pucho 2. O No? 3. La Casa de A
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Canadian indie rock collective The New Pornographers has a history that spans almost three decades. Leaving nine albums behind, the band enters a new era with The Former Site Of, which, as always, centers on frontman A.C. Newman’s introspective songwriting, studying self-destructive tendencies and character building with power pop soundscapes in the backdrop. While writing the new batch of songs, some of which originated prior to the creation of the previous record Continue as a Guest, Newman looked for ways to not “ruin them with lyrics”; sporadically revisiting demos, muting and unmuting the vocals, looking to achieve symbiosis between the story and its music.
As A.C. Newman puts it, “Being a musician… It’s easy to lose sight of why you do it” and get sidetracked by the business side of the job. Remembering the purest reasons why lies in the writing process that leads to words like: “The thing about fortune / It does no favors / And it's form fitting / You barely know that it's there” (Pure Sticker Shock).
Newman pays a visit to our studios with bandmember Kathryn Calder, accompanied by session musicians Lilah Larson and Adam Minkoff for a special live performance and an eye-opening interview. (- Sırma Munyar)
Setlist: 1. Votive 2. Pure Sticker Shock 3. Spooky Action 4. The Former Site Of
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Experimental music composers Elori Saxl and Henry Solomon found common ground in electroacoustic duets in their collaborative album, Seeing Is Forgetting.
Solomon is a Los Angeles-based saxophonist who can improvise in any musical setting, whether he’s recording with Paramore, Miley Cyrus, and HAIM, or assembling a score for a film. Saxl’s intricate music writing also knows no bounds, dancing between classical and electronic music in her commissions from PBS, Guggenheim, and This American Life. Together, the duo recorded three hours of music in LA, embarking on a sonic adventure free of hesitation and doubt. Blurring the rigidity of the steps between musical notes, they filled the gradients with glides and noise, often losing track of who’s playing which parts, as their sessions went on. The tricky part of their creative process was narrowing their “near-telepathic” musical conversations down to an album form. But they finally did, achieving fluid cohesion between Saxl’s JUNO-106 harmonies and Solomon’s baritone sax and bass clarinet melodies. Now, their conversations continue on stage and throughout the live performances captured at our Manhattan studios, built upon the base of Seeing Is Forgetting, but continuously encountering new ideas and happy accidents. (- Sırma Munyar)
Setlist: 1. Reno Silver 2. Thousand Steps 3. Heart
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Martin Hayes is one of the great Irish fiddlers of our time, and one of the things that makes his playing so distinctive is the way he incorporates elements of jazz and contemporary classical music. Hayes is a founding member of the Irish-American supergroup The Gloaming, and he’s led a couple of ensembles, the Martin Hayes Quartet and the Common Ground Ensemble, that include musicians from the New York new music scene. Guitarist Kyle Sanna, for example, is part of the Common Ground Ensemble, who are part of a St Patrick's Day 2026 concert at Carnegie Hall and he joins Martin Hayes to play a few tunes, in-studio.
Set list: 1. The Wild Geese/Lord Leitrim 2. Port An Deoari/My Mary Ann 3. The Golden Castle/Mikey Callaghans
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As both a musician and an activist, Steve Earle has been a voice for people living on the margins. His songs blend folk, country, and rock, and among his many awards are a bunch of Grammys and his recent induction into the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. And yet, many people will be more familiar with Steve Earle’s work as an actor, on screen, on stage, and on TV series like The Wire and Treme. Add in a tumultuous personal life, and you have a guy with stories to tell. Steve Earle’s current tour is called Fifty-One Years of Songs and Stories, and he plays a solo set, including a tune from the show, 'Tender Mercies', in-studio.
Set list: 1. Copperhead Road 2. I Don't Trust Happiness 3. City of Immigrants
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The young Mexican singer-songwriter Humbe is no stranger to posting short clips of his songs on TikTok. He feeds on the transparency between his artistic universe and the fans that flock to it like a moth to a flame. His authentic brand of soul, contemporary R&B, and Latin dance music triggers the algorithm time and time again, connecting with audiences across the globe. The latest album, Dueño del Cielo, marks another milestone in his artistic exploration, “looking into the sky when there’s nothing left on the ground”. Filled with religious imagery, voice memos of lived experiences, and dreamy depictions of the chemistry behind human emotions, the album combines Humbe’s candid lyricism with impressively passionate vocal performances.
Humbe’s 2026 tour is ongoing with dates in North America, South America, and Europe. He takes a break from the road to play a stripped-down set with his band at our Manhattan studio. (- Sırma Munyar)
Setlist: 1. Harry Stamper 2. Fantasmas 3. Morfina
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Spanish indie folk artist Guitarricadelafuente has come a long way since his days of posting covers on social media. Back then, he wasn’t only inspired by his own culture, but American folk music as well, reinterpreting songs of Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan. Eventually finding his own vein within the art of storytelling, Guitarrica began drawing inspiration from folklore, viewing it as not a snapshot from the past, but “something that already lives within us”. In his two albums, La Cantera and Spanish Leather, this is the concept he embraces, embodying the curiosity and joy of a kid that lives in a village, discovering the city for the first time.
There is a delicate melancholy in the music of Guitarricadelafuente, but a celebration of love and laughter, too. His lens is an unfiltered one, embracing the reality of unadulterated human emotions and making peace with the poses he strikes daily. Fresh off the NPR Tiny Desk stage, he takes a short break from his first world tour to play a stripped-down set at the Soundcheck studios. (- Sırma Munyar)
Setlist: 1.Poses 2. Mataleón 3. Quién teme a la máquina?
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The singer and songwriter Niia has spent much of her career confounding expectations. She’s done smoky versions of old jazz standards as well as original songs that draw on dance music, hip hop and R&B, and live The self-dubbed "goth jazz princess" is something of a provocateur, with her sensual music "living in the tension between control and collapse". Niia and her band play some of the songs from her latest release, V, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Pianos & Great Danes 2. fucking happy 3. Maria in Blue
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Singer-songwriter Justin Hicks spent years recording and touring with acclaimed bassist Meshell Ndegeocello, experiencing her genre-agnostic approach to music first-hand. In his debut album, Man Of Style, he is just as hard to pin down stylistically as his long-time collaborator. Yet he manages to fuse a rich array of R&B, soul, rock, jazz, and folk music, dressing his songs in each genre effortlessly. The intricate vocal harmonies and avant-garde textures put Hicks’ stories in an other-worldly realm on the album. But his songwriting skills snap into focus when he performs with a piano and an autoharp live in-studio.
Hicks may follow in the footsteps of great storytellers like Marvin Gaye, Roberta Flack, and James Taylor, singing his poems with the utmost vulnerability. As a music producer though, he keeps an open mind. The word “style” is not a constraint but a guide to Hicks, as he draws inspiration from life itself. From creating a sonic body scan of his time living in New York to surviving a night of carbon monoxide poisoning, he reveals the multitude of layers in the makeup of his art in this episode of the Soundcheck Podcast. (- Sırma Munyar)
Setlist: 1. Wendy 2. Man of Style 3. Oh!
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Composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist Emily Wells works in the space between art-pop and neoclassical chamber music using electronic and acoustic instruments: synths, strings, and hip-hop production in elegant layers to support her singular and dramatic vocals. For her 2019 album, This World Is Too _____ For You she expanded her sonic palate to include a string quintet and French horn for a collection of swirling and dramatic chamber-pop showpieces.
Together with the Grammy-nominated chamber orchestra the New York-based Metropolis Ensemble, and drummer Shayna Dunkleman (Xiu Xiu, Peptalk), she performs some of these songs, in-studio. (From the Archives, 2019.)
Set list: 1. Misconceptions On Forever 2. Stay Up 3. Hymn For The New World
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The spiritual and spirited sounds of Qawwali music, the Sufi devotional style from Pakistan, go all the way back to the 13th century. And incredibly, the Saami family of Pakistan has kept that tradition going in an unbroken line for almost 800 years. The Saami Brothers belong to the best known Gharana (a system of connection or “house” in Hindustani music) of Qawwali, the Qawwal Bachon Ka Gharana of Delhi, and are the custodians of the traditions of Qawwali and Khayaal of Hazrat Ameer Khusrau and Ustad Taanrus Khan Sahab, (The Aga Khan Museum). The brothers are well-versed in several genres of classical music, such as dhrupad, khayal, tarana, thumria and dadra which they blend during their performances of qawwal and perform in Urdu, Sindhi, Punjabi, Arabic, Hindi, Birj Bhasha, Saraiki and Persian. The Saami Brothers talk about Khayal (a possible translation is “imagination”), which is among the oldest forms of Hindustani vocal improvisation, passed carefully from master to student, generation to generation, (Northwest Asian Weekly). 'Qawwali', Arabic for "utterance", refers to the devotional music of the Sufis, the mystics of the Islamic religion. The term includes both the medium and its performance (Real World). The Saami Brothers perform both Qawwali and Khayaal, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Sufi Dhikr in Raag Bhario'n: Allahu-Allahu 2. Qaul (Qawwali): Man Kunto Maula
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Drummer and composer Marcus Gilmore looks to the creative openness of his drum elders – like his grandfather, Roy Haynes, the late tabla master Zakir Hussain, or renaissance man and drummer Milford Graves - and underscores the drum set as melodic instrument – exploiting all of the potential of the components – bending notes, playing with the natural vibrations, or augmenting his set up with Sunhouse Sensory Percussion. (With thanks to Modern Drummer Magazine’s June 2019 issue.) He joins us in-studio to amaze and delight with his percussive sorcery. (From the Archvies, 2019). – Caryn Havlik
Set list: 1. Silhouwav 2. Excerpts of Nube 3. Flashforward
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As a violinist, Darian Donovan Thomas has played with alternative soul singer Moses Sumney, the chamber ensemble Mediaqueer, and the Pakistani-American singer Arooj Aftab, among many others. But Thomas is also a singer, songwriter and producer whose own music reflects his omnivorous musical experience. Hyper-pop, ambient electronica and contemporary classical music are all fair game in his latest record, which is called A Room With Many Doors – Day. Darian Donovan Thomas and Phong Tran play some of these songs, live in-studio.
Set list: 1. Mr & Mr Married/Safe Space 2. Snow Storm 3. Purple Flower
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Samora Pinderhughes is a singer, songwriter, and multimedia artist. His music exists at the intersection of jazz, hip hop, and community activism, and often deals with issues like racism, the prison system, and music as a place for healing - like The Healing Project(Opens in a new window). Samora’s current project is a residency at the Museum of Modern Art that includes his film Real Talk and a series of live performances. The overall exhibition is called Samora Pinderhughes: Call And Response, and it brings Samora back to our studio and our piano.
Set list: 1. Hold That Weight 2. For those lost, for those taken 3. Grief
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The rapper Heems first came to wide attention over 15 years ago as part of the alternative hip hop band Das Racist. His solo career has included collaborations with Childish Gambino, Blood Orange, and the actor Riz Ahmed, with whom Heems formed the group Swet Shop Boys. He’s also been a vocal proponent of the Punjabi and wider South Asian communities here in New York, and his songs often include a head-spinning mix of musical references, cultural pride, and social commentary. Heems and producer Zachary Levine-Caleb play songs from his latest, A Hundred Alibis, in-studio.
Set list: 1. The Ballet 2. Star-Crossed
A Hundred Alibis by Heems
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NYC's Latin X-Perimental band Zemog El Gallo Bueno , led by Brooklyn, New York based Puerto Rican born/Peruvian composer, Abraham Gomez-Delgado,makes music that draws from popular Afro-Puerto Rican, Cuban and South American Rhythms but is also inspired from German Cosmic music, Japanese Buto Dance, Punk Rock, Classical Minimalism and American Free Jazz. Sung in both Spanish and English, the songs deal with issues such as immigration, racism, the power of dancing together, living in-between and the balance of imbalance in life. And the band is an exuberant and unified force of chosen family - top musicians who play with the fluidity of a hive mind as they change feels and styles. Zemog El Gallo Bueno plays in-studio. (Band photo includes engineers Irene Trudel and Milton Ruiz, along with host John Schaefer)
Set list: 1. Caso Por Casa 2. La Memoria 3. Taino (Por Siento)
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Hannah Jadagu was just out of high school when she released her first EP, full of songs recorded on her iPhone. in 2023, while studying at NYU, she released her debut LP, Aperture, a studio creation that blended bedroom pop, indie rock, and R&B. Her latest album, Describe, captures her euphoric and reserved flow of feelings and ideas, and documents how she has played with new sounds and production techniques. Hannah Jadagu and her band play live, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Gimme Time 2. Normal Today 3. My Love
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Arturo O’Farrill may be best known as the longtime leader of the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, but he’s done so much else, as a pianist, bandleader, and educator. He’s the son of the Latin jazz legend Chico O’Farrill, and his sons Adam and Zack have established themselves as leading players on trumpet and drums respectively. Sometimes their schedules line up and they play as The O'Farrill Family Band. Hear music from three generations of the O’Farrill family, in-studio, AND there’s also big news about Arturo’s ambitious plans to build a cultural center in East Harlem.
Set list:
1. In Whom I Am Well Pleased (Arturo)
2. The Man From the Sea (Adam)
3. Gonki Gonki (Zack)
4. Pura Emocion (Chico)
5. Alisonia (Arturo)
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Iraqi-born, American-based composer and NEA Heritage Fellow Rahim AlHaj plays the oud, the Arab lute. Derek Gripper is a classical guitarist from South Africa who has somehow found a way to play West African music for the 21-string harp, or kora, on the six strings of his instrument. Both musicians have played in a wide variety of styles, and recently, they began playing together as a duo. Hear their duo set from the New York Guitar Festival, recorded at Kaufman Music Center’s Merkin Hall in June of 2025 and in partnership with The World Music Institute.
Set list:
- Derek Gripper – Fifty-Six
- Gripper: Lindo
- Gripper: Tita
- Rahim AlHaj: Closeness
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Derek Gripper is a classical guitarist from South Africa who has somehow found a way to play West African music for the 21-string harp, or kora, on the six strings of his instrument. Iraqi-born, American-based composer and NEA Heritage Fellow Rahim AlHaj plays the oud, the Arab lute. Both musicians have played in a wide variety of styles, and recently, they began playing together as a duo. Hear solo sets by Derek Gripper and a solo piece by Rahim AlHaj. The music comes from the New Sounds Live Concert Series in partnership with the New York Guitar Festival and the World Music Institute, and was recorded at Kaufman Music Center’s Merkin Hall in June of 2025.
Set list:
- Derek Gripper - Blue Light
- Derek Gripper - Chiwo
- Derek Gripper - Moss on the Mountain
- Rahim AlHaj - Dream
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Guitarist Steve Gunn has established himself as a singer/songwriter and as an ace collaborator with artists like Hiss Golden Messenger and Kurt Vile. With over 20 albums to his credit, you might think he’s done it all, but until 2025, Gunn had never done an album of solo instrumentals. In August 2025 he released Music For Writers, a collection of sonic landscapes, and in very short order he was back behind the mic this past November with a new album of songs called Daylight Daylight. Steve Gunn performs, in-studio.
(See him on a US West Coast tour
Set list: 1. Nearly There 2. Morning On K Road 3. Another Fade
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Klezmer music may have its roots in the Jewish communities of Eastern Europe, but it found a home here in NY in the 1920s and 30s, and the klezmer revival that began almost a half century ago was also centered in New York. Clarinetist Michael Winograd has been a major figure on the klezmer music scene for a couple of decades now, both as a composer and as a kind of music historian. His current project is a remake of a 1955 album that flopped at the time and is now considered a classic meeting of klezmer and jazz. That album was called Tanz!, Yiddish for dance, and Michael Winograd leads a stellar lineup of musicians to play some of the tunes, in-studio.
- Tipsy 2. Silkene Pajamas
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The British band Public Service Broadcasting describes their work as "Teaching the lessons of the past through the music of the future", (Bandcamp). Their songs are often built on sampled speech, layers of melodies, and propulsive grooves. Public Service Broadcasting plays music from their latest project, The Last Flight, based on the enduring story of Amelia Earhart, (plus an older banger from their album sampling the space race), in-studio.
Set list: 1. Electra 2. Arabian Flight 3. Go!
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Rebecca Foon is best known as a cellist – she’s been a pivotal figure on the Montreal scene, playing with bands like Thee Silver Mt Zion and her world music/chamber ensemble Esmerine. But Foon has also been making solo records, often including her vocals as well, and her latest, Black Butterflies, is a collection of songs that blends dream pop, minimalism, and ambient music. Rebecca Foon plays live, in-studio.
Set list: 1. If I Could Only See the Distant Sky 2. in a time of truth 3. Flood of Eternity
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Listen to music from South African-born, UK-based cellist and vocalist Abel Selaocoe; Hot Psychedelic Gnawa Blues By French-Moroccan band Bab L’ Bluz; guitarist, producer, bandleader Adrian Quesada of Black Pumas and his dramatic Latin pop 'Boleros Psicodélicos', featuring Grammy-winning Puerto Rican singer-songwriter iLe. Plus, composer and harpist Brandee Younger and her trio; and the Dublin-based brothers Ye Vagabonds with a preview of new songs for 2026.
Set list:
ARTIST: Adrian Quesada, with iLe
WORK: Mentiras con Cariño [2:02]
RECORDING: Live for the Soundcheck Podcast, Aug. 2025
SOURCE: This performance not commercially available.
INFO: The tune appears on Boleros Psicodélicos
ARTIST: Ye Vagabonds
WORK: The Flood [3:05]
RECORDING: Live for the Soundcheck Podcast Nov. 2025
SOURCE: This performance not commercially available.
INFO: The album All Tied Together, comes out Jan. 30, 2026 | https://yevagabonds.bandcamp.com/album/all-tied-together
ARTIST: Bab L' Bluz
WORK: Imazighen [4:13]
RECORDING: Live for the Soundcheck Podcast, April 2025
SOURCE: This performance not commercially available.
INFO: The tune appears on Swaken
ARTIST: Abel Selaocoe
WORK: Ka Bohaleng [3:13]
RECORDING: Live for the Soundcheck Podcast, Feb. 2025
SOURCE: This performance not commercially available.
INFO: The tune appears Hymns of Bantu
ARTIST: Adrian Quesada, with iLe
WORK: Mentiras con Cariño [4:01]
RECORDING: Live for the Soundcheck Podcast, Aug. 2025
SOURCE: This performance not commercially available.
INFO: The tune appears on Boleros Psicodélicos
ARTIST: Brandee Younger Trio
WORK: BBL [5:26]
RECORDING: Live for the Soundcheck Podcast, July 2025
SOURCE: This performance not commercially available.
INFO: The tune appears on Gadabout Season
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Hear music by Portuguese fado singer Carminho; Grammy-winning classical quartet Third Coast Percussion performing music written for them by the late Indian tabla master Zakir Hussain; and Ethiopian-born singer and bandleader Meklit’s blend of jazz, pop, and soul. Also, music from Chicago-formed, New York-based American rock band Horsegirl; and the quartet Les Égarés, who are Ballaké Sissoko (kora) and Vincent Segal (cello) and Vincent Peirani (accordion) and Émile Parisien (sax). They combine chamber music, French chanson, West African folk, and jazz in a fluid and “wandering” mix of styles.
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New York-based drummer and educator Matt Wilson has performed with and/or played on many recordings by other musicians - Joe Lovano, John Scofield, Charlie Haden, Lee Konitz, among others - and leads ensembles of his own, but at this time of year, the thing he might be best known for is his Christmas Tree-O. And yes, he went there – putting a pun right in the band’s name. The trio, featuring multi-reed player Jeff Lederer and bassist Paul Sikivie, takes holiday tunes as a whimsical jumping off point for a variety of jazz styles, from swing to free improv. Their recent album is called Tree Jazz – The Shape Of Christmas To Come, and they’re here to play their gleeful, irreverent, and sometimes nerdy takes on music of the season, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Up on the Rooftop 2. Good King Wenceslas 3. Shine Your Light
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Saxophonist and composer Donny McCaslin has been playing with jazz luminaries like Maria Schneider and Dave Douglas, and leading his own band, for a couple of decades. But he’s best known for his work with David Bowie, who basically hired Donny’s whole ensemble to be the band on his final album Blackstar. His latest, Lullaby for the Lost, is a guitar-driven, rock-influenced, groove-laden beast (in the best way). Donny McCaslin and his band play some of the tunes live, in-studio.
Set List: 1. KID 2. Solace 3. Mercy
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New York-based classically trained composer and musician Kelly Moran’s music draws on everything from classical to dance to metal, but ends up sounding like none of those. She has become known for her music for prepared piano – a regular piano whose strings have things like metal or wood placed on the strings to alter the sound. Moran has also worked with electronic keyboards, and has recorded music for unaltered, completely acoustic piano. (She has also composed for classical musician Margaret Leng Tan, toured with Oneohtrix Point Never and FKA Twigs, and worked with other visionary contemporaries like Kelsey Lu and Yves Tumor.) Her 2025 record, Don’t Trust Mirrors (Warp Records), combines all three kinds of keyboards. Kelly Moran has brought her audio interface, her tools, and her bags of screws and bolts. She has prepared our piano, and plays in-studio.
Set list: 1. Don't Trust Mirrors 2. Prism Drift 3. Vesela
Kelly Moran on sampling her own instrument and production techniques
Kelly Moran's Track by Track notes on Don't Trust Mirrors
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The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horse. The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night. The Besnard Lakes Are The Last Of The Great Thunderstorm Warnings. The Besnard Lakes are a rock band from Montreal with a knack for intriguing album titles. Their latest is The Besnard Lakes Are The Ghostly Nation, a collection of arty, often psychedelic songs about a society in crisis. The Besnard Lakes play live in our studio for the latest edition of Soundcheck Podcast.
Set list: 1. Chemin de la Baie 2. Give Us Our Dominion 3. In Hollywood
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The Brooklyn band called Momma revolves around the singing and songwriting team of Etta Friedman and Allegra Weingarten who combine gauzy vocal harmonies with walls of roaring guitars. Their 2022 album Household Name was a critical favorite, and their 2025 album, Welcome To My Blue Sky, builds on that success with songs about longing, infidelity, leaving people behind, and unknown futures. Etta and Allegra of Momma play uplugged versions of those songs, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Bottle Blonde 2. I Want You (Fever) 3. Rodeo
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The Icelandic keyboardist and composer Eydís Evensen has released three albums of music that blends classical lyricism with the repeating patterns of post-minimalist music. "Her compositions, guided by emotion, are intimate explorations of mourning, hope, reflection, and renewal—creating a world that invites listeners to feel their way through the music" (Lincoln Center event program). On her latest LP, Oceanic Mirror, one might hear reflections of Iceland’s landscapes – glacial stillness, volcanic tension, the power and motion. Eydís Evensen plays new songs from the album, in-studio. She plays in New York at Lincoln Center's David Rubenstein Atrium on Jan. 9, 2026.
Set list: 1. OM, Helena's Sunrise 2. Drifter 3. Winter's Void, Somnolent
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The L.A-based, Brooklyn-born band called Boyish is built around the songwriting of India Shore and Claire Altendahl, and while they’ve been releasing music since 2018, they’ve just put out their debut album, called Gun. The album presents a series of scenes and character studies from a fictional American town called Gun, which seems to be haunted – by memories and dreams for sure, but also possibly by a ghost. All accompanied by roaring guitars and frayed vocals. Boyish plays in-studio for the Soundcheck Podcast.
Set list: 1. Jumbos 2. A Town Called Gun 3. Prom
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English singer and multi-instrumentalist Patrick Wolf built his sizable reputation on a blend of Baroque pop and arty, classically-informed folk-rock. But a series of setbacks kept him from the music scene for a decade, before he returned with an EP in 2023, and in June of 2025, his latest LP called Crying The Neck. Patrick Wolf joins us at the piano, to play new songs, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Enter the Day 2. The Last of England 3. Foreland
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Both old and new, Austin-based band Black Pumas is centered around guitarist and producer Adrian Quesada and 27-year-old songwriter Eric Burton. Grammy Award-winning Quesada has played in Grupo Fantasma and Brownout, and accompanied artists from Prince to Daniel Johnston. Burton grew up in church and then got heavily involved in musical theater. He arrived in Austin in 2015 after busking his way across the country from Los Angeles, and connected with Quesada on the phone. From idea to session to self-titled debut album, they've been making music that is neither retro nor derivative, with influences ranging from Sam Cooke to Neil Young and Ghostface Killah. Now a touring machine, Black Pumas brings their skillful combination of folky strum, sticky funk, dusty psych, and old soul to an in-studio session. (From the Archives, 2019.)
Set list: 1. Colors 2. Black Moon Rising 3. Oct 33
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Listen to music from American musicians, the harpist Ashley Jackson and the Oklahoma-based Cherokee singer and songwriter Ken Pomeroy. Both sets come from our Soundcheck series of live performances and interviews, available as a twice-weekly podcast, wherever you get podcasts.
With her clever guitar playing and powerful stories, Oklahoma-based Cherokee singer and songwriter Ken Pomeroy draws on brutal honesty and the songwriting skills she has honed since she was 11 years old. She’s already found herself on the big screen and small when her song “Wall of Death” made its way onto the Twisters soundtrack, while Hulu’s Reservation Dogs featured her soul-mining gem, “Cicadas.” Pomeroy touches on her Native American heritage (mentioning coyotes – a troubling omen) and somewhat painful, personal past, as she plays songs from her 2025 album Cruel Joke (Rounder Records), in-studio.
Ken Pomeroy Set list: 1. Stranger 2. Days Getting Darker 3. Flannel Cowboy
Then, listen to harpist, soloist, collaborator (Harlem Chamber Players), educator, and arranger Ashley Jackson as she presents music from her 2025 album called Take Me To The Water (Decca Records). In the American spiritual tradition, water is a powerful metaphor for freedom and for moving from this life to the next. Jackson’s record takes listeners on a watery journey through works by Debussy, the jazz harpist Alice Coltrane, blues, and some classic spirituals. As Jackson declares in a statement about the record, ”Water is something that we all need. It sustains us, it gives us life. Take Me to the Water reminds us we have a choice: we can let water be the thing that divides us, or, it can allow us to come together through our shared humanity.” She plays some of her arrangements of spirituals on a sculpted maple harp, in-studio.
Ashley Jackson’s Set list: 1. River Jordan 2. Deep River II 3. Take Me to the Water I
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Ye Vagabonds are brothers Brían and Diarmuid Mac Gloinn. They grew up in rural Carlow but moved to Dublin in 2012 and became known on the traditional Irish, blues and folk scenes in the city, playing folk songs as well as their own original material, (Bandcamp). They’re part a wave of bands who’ve remade or extended the folk tradition; they’ve also collaborated with members of the Dublin new music group Crash Ensemble. Their award-winning music is a traditional mix of traditional Irish and European music, old time American tunes, sibling harmonies, and the music of the 1960s folk revival. Ye Vagabonds are working on their fourth album due in 2026, to be called All Tied Together, and they’ll play some of their new songs, in-studio.
Set list: 1 On Sitric Road 2. The Flood 3. Danny
Title "Backwards to Go Forwards" by Myles O'Reily
Photo courtesy of Aiken Promotions
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Cochemea is a sax player, composer and arranger who spent some years playing vintage-style soul with Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings, as well as stints with Amy Winehouse, David Byrne, hip hop duo Run The Jewels and dozens more. Born Cochemea Gastelum into an Indigenous Yaqui family in California, he’s found time over the past few years to release three albums of his own music, the latest being Vol. III: Ancestros Futuros. These albums don’t attempt to untangle the knot of Indigenous, Spanish, and American cultural interactions over the centuries, instead using them as musical source material. With a lightly processed alto sax sound and lots of percussion, Cochemea and his band create songs that usually don’t have words, although wordless vocals, chanted or sung, are part of the sonic tapestry. The result is music that is not only beyond category, it almost seems beyond time, as the album title suggests. Cochemea and his band have filled our studio, mostly with percussion instruments to play a live set. (-John Schaefer)
Set list: 1. Otros Mundos 2. Ancestros Futuros 3. Omeyocan
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The now London-based Polish pianist and composer Hania Rani quickly attracted fans with her 2019 album of solo piano works in the post-classical style, a blend of classical lyricism and minimalist patterns. Her later albums expanded to include electronics, and her voice; she is equally versed in the music of composers like Philip Glass and bands like Radiohead. But her new record is something different – a four part piano concerto with orchestra, called Non Fiction, which is a reflection on the human cost of war. The work was recorded at Abbey Road Studios, with a 45-piece orchestra and experimental instrumentalists Rakhi Singh (Manchester Collective), Jack Wylie (Portico Quartet), and percussionist/composer Valentina Magaletti. Hania Rani performs the piano part of the opening movement of the piece Non Fiction, and other original works, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Non-Fiction I - Sonore 2. Nostalgia 3. F Major
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Master violinist/vocalist/composer L. Shankar (aka Shenkar) has spent the past four decades developing a personal style that ranges from strict Indian classical music to Western instrumental pop although usually he lands somewhere in the middle. Since playing his first solo concert at the age of seven, he has gone on to accompany many of South India’s leading vocalists and become a major soloist. Schooled in voice, violin, and the drums, he has composed new ragas and folk songs, and played with countless other master musicians. In the 1970s, with John McLaughlin, Zakir Hussain, Vikku Vinayakram, and Ramnad Raghavan, he co-founded the legendary Indo-jazz group Shakti. In the 1980s, he introduced a custom-made 10-string double violin capable of covering the whole range of the orchestra’s string section from violin to double bass. He has collaborated with Frank Zappa and Peter Gabriel and has continued to expand the international audience for Indian music, often combining North Indian (Hindustani) and South Indian (Carnatic) styles, (Robert Browning Associates program notes, 2022). L. Shankar performs original works, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Ananda Nadamadum Tillaj Sankara 2. Ganapathiye Varuvaai 3. Shamudu
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The Australian-born musician and songwriter Tommy Emmanuel is a virtuoso guitarist and Grammy winner who has played with everyone from the legendary Chet Atkins to younger guitarists like Jason Isbell and Billy Strings. Long based in Nashville, he’s been releasing solo albums pretty regularly since 1979. His new record is called Living In The Light, and fuses his pop, jazz, classical, and roots influences into a daring collection of intimate and cinematic storytelling. Tommy Emmanuel, Certified Guitar Player, plays and tells tales, rough edges and all, in our studio.
Set list: 1. Black and White To Color 2. Little Georgia 3. Drowning Heart
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The Barr Brothers, the indie-folk-rock band from Montreal, have just released their first album in eight years called Let It Hiss. Brad Barr, the band’s singer, guitarist and songwriter is a versatile collaborator and risk-taker who revels in making unusual sounds. The latest songs can be folk-leaning, or may draw from the blues and American songwriting; they represent a reckoning with vulnerability, truth, with helpings of gratitude and humility. And while Andrew couldn’t be here for this session, Brad Barr, along with Stuart Bogie on sax and clarinet and Shahzad Ismaily on bass play (and improvise a bit) on some songs from the new album, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Naturally 2. Another Tangerine 3. Run Right Into It
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The Portuguese singer and songwriter Carminho is one of the leading singers in the style known as fado – the deeply soulful, melancholy music that is somewhat akin to Spanish flamenco or American blues. She has collaborated with the iconic Brazilian musician Caetano Veloso, performed for the late Pope Francis, recorded with Steve Albini, and made a special appearance in the film Poor Things, by Yorgos Lanthimos, where she sings from a balcony accompanying herself on the teardrop-shaped Portuguese guitar. Carminho has a new album called Eu Vou Morrer de Amor ou Resistir – I’ll die of love, or I’ll resist. Accompanied by classical guitar, Portuguese guitar, and acoustic bass guitar, she performs in-studio.
Set list: 1. Canção à ausente 2. Saber 3. Lá vai Lisboa
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The Mexican singer Silvana Estrada made an immediate impression with her debut LP Marchita back in 2022. Quickly hailed as a unique voice in Latin music for her blend of jazz, chamber music, and traditional folk, Estrada took her time making her follow-up album, and it appears to have been time well-spent: Vendrán Suaves Lluvias, or “there will come soft rains,” is a heartfelt, elegant, quietly melodic album full of songs about love, lost love, and what it takes to just keep on keeping on. Silvana Estrada performs some of these latest songs in intimate arrangements on cuatro, accompanied by musician Joe Grass on guitar and pedal steel, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Dime 2. No Te Vayas Sin Saber 3. Good Luck, Good Night
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The singer Meklit, born Meklit Hadero in Ethiopia, is based in the Bay Area, where she has released a number of albums that blend jazz, pop, and soul with the echoes of Ethiopian pop. Her latest album, A Piece of Infinity, finds Meklit singing mostly in Amharic, and looking back to what is sometimes called the Golden Age of Ethiopian music – the time in the early 70s when Latin music, American funk, and traditional Ethiopian scales and rhythms all came together. Meklit and her band perform some of these new songs, in-studio.
- Ambassel 2. Tizita 3. Geefata
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Canadian singer and composer Patrick Watson has been making records for almost a quarter century – with a cinematic blend of indie rock, cabaret pop, and chamber music that has made him a favorite of film directors and music supervisors. His latest record, Uh Oh, is the result of a pretty big uh-oh moment for a singer: Watson lost his voice. He thought it was broken forever, and wrote a collection of songs and collaborations with other people - voices that he wanted to hear: among them the artists Charlotte Cardin, La Force, Martha Wainwright, and Klô Pelgag. Luckily, Watson managed to get his voice back; he performs in-studio with his frequent collaborator, the singer/songwriter La Force.
Set List: 1. Lonely Nights 2. Peter and the Wolf 3. House on Fire
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American indie rock band The Antlers began almost 20 years ago as a solo project from singer and songwriter Peter Silberman. While the previous album, Green To Gold, was a pastoral, almost folky affair, the new album, Blight, is almost like a classical song cycle, and is a musical warning about nature under siege. “The consequences of accelerating technology and environmental neglect feel imminent; that sense of urgency made me want to speak more candidly,” he explains (Transgressive Records). Silberman and longtime Antlers drummer Michael Lerner play some of these new songs, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Consider the Source 2. Calamity 3. A Great Flood
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GRAMMY-winning musical omnivore Sullivan Fortner merges New Orleans grit and spice with invention (and not just J.S. Bach), for an alchemical jazz that is wise, feisty, mischievous, and dynamic. His exposure to R&B, soul, and gospel at home; his time at Oberlin and the influence of various teachers in jazz and classical disciplines; and his longtime collaborator Cécile McLorin Salvant have all informed his approach to writing and playing, with an emphasis on PLAY. Fortner is the inaugural Bell Jazz Award Winner, and he performs tunes from early blues and jazz, a version of a Chopin waltz, and his own original music, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Grandpa's Spells (Jelly Roll Morton) 2. It's A Game 3. Chopin's Valse Du Petit Chien
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The Spanish-born singer, songwriter and producer Pablopablo recently released his debut LP, but he’d already built up an impressive array of writing and producing credits, winning Latin Grammys back in 2022 under his given name, Pablo Drexler. Those awards were for his work on a collaboration between his father, the popular Uruguayan-born musician Jorge Drexler, and the Spanish superstar C. Tangana. And collaboration is an important part of Pablopablo’s music as well, as you’ll hear on his record, Canciones En Mi. Pablopablo plays solo, and with guest musician Macario Martinez, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Todavia 2. Vida Nueva 3. Ojos de Ajonjoli
Christone "Kingfish" Ingram has been steeped in the Blues since he was eight years old, when he visited the Delta Blues Museum as a student in Clarksdale, Mississippi (Jackson Advocate). He played drums, bass, and GUITAR and was recognized at a young age for his exceptional musical talent with his debut album Kingfish, in 2019 on Alligator Records. Since then he’s released two more albums, won a Grammy and a shelfful of Blues Music Awards, and he’s still just 26. His raw and inspired guitar playing, soulful vocals and mature songwriting, bandleading, mentoring younger musicians, and starting his own record label have led Christone “Kingfish” Ingram to be “the face of a new generation of blues artists” (Fender). Christone "Kingfish" Ingram and his band play songs from the new album, called Hard Road, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Voodoo Charm 2. Bad Like Me 3. Nothin' But Your Love
“Shamstep” band, 47SOUL, take their name from the Arabic name for the Levant region – Bilad al-Sham, with members from Jordan, Washington DC, and Israel - spanning the divides of the Palestinian Diaspora. The music is a mix of dubstep, hip-hop and electro-Arabic dabke with lyrics in both Arabic and English, which are intensely political in their call for celebration and freedom in the struggle for equality. The quartet 47SOUL performs their smart dance music in-studio. (From the Archives, 2019.)
Set list: 1. Don’t care where you’re from 2. Moved Around 3. Intro To Shamstep
The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble is a musically free-ranging band of brothers from the south side of Chicago. Their music draws from funk, funky jazz, Afrobeat, hip hop, rock, reggae, and R&B, and they’ve performed with Tony Allen, Wu Tang Clan, De La Soul, Prince, Femi Kuti, Gorillaz, Yasiin Bey (aka Mos Def), and the B52's, to name a few. Growing up, the members of HBE were raised with music as a constant, as they are the sons of the late jazz trumpeter Phil Cohran (Earth, Wind, and Fire, Sun Ra Arkestra). Now based between Brooklyn and Chicago, the full party of Hypnotic Brass Ensemble plays some tunes in-studio. (Archives, 2019)
Set list: 1. Menage 2. War 3. ACF
Rumbo Tumba is the project of the Argentine musician Facundo Salgado, who uses a looping station and a battery of handmade, traditional South American instruments to create brilliant musical conversations between South American traditions and modern technology. Rumbo Tumba can make an improbable amount of sound, live and alone, constructing sounds and atmospheres that transport listeners to the purest places in nature. Hear his live in-studio set for us and his explanation of how he makes all this music live. Rumbo Tumba plays in New York at Public Records on October 10.
Set list: 1. Monte 2. Barro 3. Huguaju
From the 2025 New York Guitar Festival, hear music from legendary American jazz guitarist Bill Frisell and Icelandic bass player Skúli Sverrisson, who were about to go into the studio and record their second album as a duo. Part of the New Sounds Live concerts, the music was recorded at the First Unitarian Congregational Society in Brooklyn, and was a co-presentation of World Music Institute.
Set list: 1. Sverrisson: Her Room 2. Sverrisson: Draumfari 3. Frisell: Baby 4. Sverrisson: Afternoon Variant
Cole Quest & The City Pickers are a bluegrass band from Brooklyn, and if that surprises you, well, the fact is New York City has had a long, strong bluegrass scene going back to the 1950’s. Cole Quest draws on that tradition, and his own family tradition - he’s the grandson of the folk icon Woody Guthrie – in originals and updated versions of Guthrie tunes. Cole Quest & The City Pickers shred with high-spirited energy and that high lonesome sound, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Where I'm From 2. Early Morning Dew 3. I Ain't
The Soundcheck Podcast series offers up music from recent sessions, all revolving around The Blues –at the root of so much popular music, and where the roots have grown into other fruits worldwide. Listen to French-Moroccan band Bab L' Bluz and their hot psychedelic blues spiked with the Gnawa trance rhythms of northern Africa's Maghreb. There’s the “Desert Blues” of West Africa in music by singer and guitarist Mdou Moctar from Niger. He and his band combine rock and psychedelia, call-and-response and accelerating threes, and fiery guitar playing for trancey and ecstatic results. Listen to Texas-raised singer, guitarist, and songwriter Ruthie Foster and her longtime bandmates who play some of their feel-good and hopeful blues. Hear the timeless sound of West Georgia Blues by singer and guitarist Jontavious Willis (along with the wicked tunings and his slide playing), in-studio. Plus, there’s the groove and swagger of Yemen Blues, and their fusion of Moroccan trance, Arab and Bedouin folk, and Western funk and rock. The American singer-songwriter Fantastic Negrito plays some of his blues-stomp-and-roll music with roots in his family’s past. Plus, hear the vintage soul and blues-rock sound of Memphis and Mississippi-rooted, Brooklyn native singer Bette Smith.
Soundcheck Special, Sept. 2025 – “Blues Is the Roots” (First aired 9/20/25)
ARTIST: Marco Benevento
WORK: Eagle Rock [1:02]
RECORDING: TigerFace
SOURCE: Royal Potato Family
INFO: https://marcobenevento.bandcamp.com/album/tigerface
ARTIST: Jontavious Willis
WORK: Ghost Woman [5:52]
RECORDING: Live for the Soundcheck Podcast, Nov. 2024
SOURCE: This performance not commercially available
INFO: https://jontaviouswillis.com
ARTIST: Fantastic Negrito
WORK: Son of a Broken Man [5:02]
RECORDING: Live on Soundcheck, Oct. 2024
SOURCE: This performance not commercially available.
INFO: https://www.fantasticnegrito.com/
ARTIST: Ruthie Foster
WORK: Phenomenal Woman [7:00]
RECORDING: Live for the Soundcheck Podcast, March 2023
SOURCE: This performance not commercially available.
INFO: https://www.ruthiefoster.com/
ARTIST: Mdou Moctar
WORK: Imouhar [6:18]
RECORDING: Live for the Soundcheck Podcast, June 2024
SOURCE: This performance not commercially available.
INFO: https://www.mdoumoctar.com/
ARTIST: Bab L' Bluz
WORK: Imazighen [4:15]
RECORDING: Live for the Soundcheck Podcast, April 2025
SOURCE: This performance not commercially available.
INFO: https://www.bablbluz.com/
ARTIST: Yemen Blues
WORK: Allenby [5:26]
RECORDING: Live for the Soundcheck Podcast, Sept. 2024
SOURCE: This performance not commercially available.
INFO: https://yemenblues.com/
ARTIST: Bette Smith
WORK: Darkest Hour [3:35]
RECORDING: Live for the Soundcheck Podcast, Aug. 2024
SOURCE: This performance not commercially available.
INFO: https://www.bettesmith.com
Canada’s Ron Sexsmith is a songwriter whose fans include Elvis Costello, Elton John, Paul McCartney, and a few other folks who know a thing or two about that mysterious process. Sexsmith is now forty years into his career, with 18 albums, three of Canada’s Juno Awards, and a novel to show for it. His latest album is called Hangover Terrace, and it ranges from aching ballads to the tongue-in-cheek advice for living. Ron Sexsmith plays solo, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Cigarette and Cocktail 2. Rose Town 3. Gold In Them Hills
Distinctive songwriter Cass McCombs takes a broad view of the American experience – from the mundane to the mythic. His new songs from a wide-ranging double album - Interior Live Oak contain “specific detail amid strange painterly settings” (The Guardian) and remain hopeful despite the feeling of listening to someone who has lived the extreme aspects of modern life. Cass McCombs plays a stripped-down set, in-studio.
Set List: 1. Missionary Bell 2. Home At Last 3. Peace
Pianist and composer Omar Sosa draws on his own Afro-Cuban heritage, American jazz, and spiritual and meditative practices from around the world to create music that defies categorization. He’s traveled widely, especially in Africa, recording the sounds of the people, the animals, and the instruments of those places and sometimes incorporating them into his own works. Sosa, along with the Cuban-born, New York-based sax player Yosvany Terry, and drummer Julian Miltenberger, play new music, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Bola 2. My Three Notes (Mis Tres Notas) 3. Muevete en D
“Failed bull-rider turned seminal songwriter” (Red Light Management), native Texan Rodney Crowell is considered to be one of the chief architects of Americana music, and a songwriter admired by good songwriters. Crowell has had an eventful career in his half century of writing songs, making records and helping create the style that’s come to be known as alternative country. He’s worked with a who’s who of American music: Emmylou Harris at first, and then much later as well, but also Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Sheryl Crow – the list is too long to go into. Rodney Crowell is back with a new album called "Airline Highway" featuring many top-notch collaborations. He plays a solo set, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Rainy Days in California 2. The Twenty-One Song Salute (Owed to G.G. Shinn and Cléoma Falcon) 3. Taking Flight
From the 2025 New York Guitar Festival, listen to a live set by the adventurous guitarist/composer Mary Halvorson along with drummer/composer Tomas Fujiwara, playing their original works. This show was recorded at the First Unitarian Congregational Society in Brooklyn, as part of the New Sounds Live concert series, and was also a co-presentation of World Music Institute.
Set list: 1. Fujiwara: June 2. Fujiwara: Nudgestorms 3. Halvorson: Folded Secret 4. Frisell: Untitled
Norwegian pianist Tord Gustavsen and his trio, featuring new bassist Sigurd Hole and long-time collaborator, drummer Jarle Vespestad, combine together folk influences and church music for unhurried embraces of melody. Expressive and reflective, Gustavsen’s ‘Nordic blues’ slowly unfurls passages of delicate lyricism, with enough space for contemplation, and only the notes that are needed from all players in the trio.
On the 2018 release, The Other Side, the trio effortlessly injects old Norwegian lullabies and dance forms into original works, and develops haunting and riveting responses to both Scandinavian hymns and Bach Chorales. The Tord Gustavsen Trio joins us to play some of these compositions in-studio. (From the Archives, 2018) - Caryn Havlik
Set List: 1. The Tunnel 2. O Traurigkeit 3.Schlafes Bruder
Adrian Quesada is probably best known as one of the two co-founders of the psychedelic soul band Black Pumas, but the guitarist and producer has also been part of Grupo Fantasma, Brownout and Ocote Soul Sounds. Lately, he’s also been pursuing another musical project called Boleros Psicodélicos, an homage to the phenomenon of balada music that blossomed throughout Latin America between the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. Balada is “a refined collision of bossa nova smoothness, Beatlesque psychedelia and torrid boleropathos” which “used art-pop instrumentation (mostly strings and harpsichords)”, and “employed songs about heartbreak and longing as a means to transport the listener to an opulent, cinematic fantasy world”, (Bandcamp). Quesada has recently released the second volume of these modern takes on vintage Latin pop sounds, all featuring some of the leading voices in modern Latin alternative music. Quesada, his band, and guest artists -L.A. singer and producer Angélica Garcia, Grammy-winning Puerto Rican singer-songwriter iLe (Ileana Cabra), and violinist and vocalist Mireya Ramos (of the all-female Mariachi band Flor de Toloache) – all perform in-studio.
Set list: 1. Tus Tormentas with Mireya Ramos 2. No Juego with Angelica Garcia 3. Mentiras con Cariño with iLe
The New York-based singer, songwriter, and producer Anand Wilder was a cofounder of the experimental indie band Yeasayer, and more recently has pursued a wide-ranging solo career. His 2022 solo debut, I Don’t Know My Words, was a genuine solo project, with Anand playing everything himself. Now, though, Anand Wilder has a new record called Psychic Lessons, and it is very much a collaboration with two other musician/producers, Walter Fancourt and Jachary, both of whom join him to play new songs, in-studio.
Set List: 1. Appointment in Samarra 2. Selkie Bride 3. Molly's Song 4. Bog People
The singer Elisapie is an Inuk musician, filmmaker, advocate, and writer who has become a nationally-celebrated figure in Canada – her portrait appears on a postage stamp in that country’s Indigenous leaders series. Her latest album, Inuktitut, is notable for a couple of reasons: first, it’s sung in the language called Inuktitut, and second, it is an album of reworked songs by Fleetwood Mac, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and more. Elisapie, in looking back to the songs of her youth, celebrates the resilience and joy of the Inuit people and the spirit of connection. She and her band play in-studio.
Set list: 1. Uummati Attanarsimat (Heart of Glass) 2. Isumagijunnaitaungituq (The Unforgiven) 3. Arnaq
Named after being mis-identified while returning a uHaul, the pop’n’roll band We Are Scientists has been making melancholic, nostalgic, and melodic songs, familiar and fun, for some 20 years. Since their debut album With Love And Squalor, they’ve wandered into the worlds of comedy and English soccer while continuing their own spin on indie rock with and without synths. Keith Murray and Chris Cain, on their latest, Qualifying Miles, return to a more direct, "band in a room" sound, reminiscent of the '90s guitar rock heroes of their youth with pedal boards aplenty and rock waltzes. We Are Scientists, with touring drummer, Keith Carne, plays in-studio.
Set list: 1. Please Don't Say It 2. Dead Letters 3. What You Want Is Gone
Eleanor Friedberger, best known as one half of the indie rock duo The Fiery Furnaces, has recently shifted her musical landscape, swapping out live instruments in favor of drum programming and synths for a sound that she can create mostly on her own. (Part of her desire to be more self-reliant, in the wake of the 2016 election.) On her 2018 record, Rebound, she channels the sound and energy of an experience at a very smoky 80’s goth disco in Athens where they do a “chicken dance.” Lyrical inspiration came to Friedberger from a biography about the poet Edna St Vincent Millay. Eleanor Friedberger brings these dark and smoky, yet groovy and poetic tunes to perform in-studio. (From the Archives)
The duo of Rachael & Vilray turns the idea of "Everything old is new again" on its head – making new things that sound really old. Over the course of three albums they offer a contemporary take on tin pan alley, the great American songbook, and vintage small combo jazz. The duo’s latest album is West of Broadway and it brings Rachael & Vilray back to our studio to play some of these new and knowing songs.
Set list: 1. Forever Never Lasts 2. Is It Jim? 3. My Key to Gramercy Park
New York based composer Cassie Wieland first unveiled her ambient songwriting project she calls Vines in 2023. Now she’s released a full LP under the name Vines – that record, called I’ll be here, is full of atmospheric, textural washes of sound and processed vocals that suggest a story rather than actually telling you one. The live version of Vines includes an unusually-constructed ensemble: Wieland on keyboards, synths, vocoder, and vocals, Adam Holmes on a Sensory Percussion Kit, and Adrianne Munden-Dixon on violin. Vines plays some of these inviting, cinematic song-scapes, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Evicted 2. Tired 3. I am my home
Indianapolis-based group 81355 (pronounced ‘bless’) is a collaboration between the rapper/singers Oreo Jones and Sirius Blvck, and the lyricist/producer Sedcairn, and while they’re clearly rooted in hip hop, they’re not bound by it. On their impressive new album Bad Dogs, the band races through electropop, future soul, grunge, and avant-garde boom-bap, all the while designing a hazy and heavy Afrofuturist take on a live band augmented by electronics - supported by members of their "Naptown" underground music community. They play music from their latest, 'Bad Dogs', in-studio for the #SoundcheckPodcast.
Set list: 1. Heart of Stone 2. Guitar 3. Capstone
In 2000 the Bad Plus helped usher in the new century with what looked like a 20th century jazz piano trio, with music ranging from groove-based originals to covers of Black Sabbath and Igor Stravinsky. Over the past quarter century they’ve repeatedly surprised listeners. Lately founding members Reid Anderson (bass) & Dave King (drums) with no piano at all have formed a quartet with reedist Chris Speed and guitarist Ben Monder. The Bad Plus’s latest album is called Complex Emotions and they play some of these compositions in-studio.
Set List: 1. Casa Ben 2. French Horns 3. Carrier
Cautious Clay is the stage name of singer, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Josh Karpeh. He burst out of the gate with his song “Cold War” in 2017, a song that was later sampled by Taylor Swift in her track “London Boy”. Cautious Clay’s music blends R&B, neo-soul, jazz, and more, and his subsequent output includes cowriting with John Legend and of course his own records, the most recent of which is called The Hours: Morning. Cautious Clay and his band play new music, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Fade Blue 2. Tokyo Lift (5am) 3. Art Museum
The Hours: Morning by Cautious Clay
Bandleader, educator, and improviser Brandee Younger plays the harp. But while she has classical training and knows her way around Ravel and Debussy, she has long been fascinated by harpists like Dorothy Ashby and Alice Coltrane, Black women who created new spaces for the harp in the worlds of jazz and pop. Brandee Younger’s new album is called Gadabout Season, and on it, she plays her own compositions, and plays them on Alice Coltrane’s own harp. She and her trio play in-studio.
Set list: 1. Gadabout Season 2. New Pinnacle 3. BBL
Larry & Joe is a duo that blends the traditional folk music of Venezuela and Appalachia. The duo consists of Larry Bellorin, who has mastered the folk harp of Venezuela, and Joe Troop, who led the Latin-tinged bluegrass band Che Apalache. Larry, a legend of Llanera music, came to America in 2016 as an asylum seeker and describes his current immigration status as “limbo.” Joe Troop is a banjo, fiddle and guitar player who has written songs about migration, and works with asylum seekers; he relocated to North Carolina to be in this duo with Larry.
Together, they’ve blended their musical inheritances and traditions performing on harp, banjo, cuatro, fiddle, maracas, guitar, and upright bass. Their latest is called Manos Panamericanos, and they’re on a mission to show that music has no borders. Larry & Joe play in-studio.
Set list: 1. Golpe de Garza 2. Silver Lining 3. The Dreamer
American singer-songwriter Laura Stevenson has found a musical home in the area between indie rock and confessional singer/songwriter folk. Her new album, Late Great, runs the gamut of feelings: one moment pulsating with a shoegaze-influenced dreamscape of sparkling guitars and in another, there’s tender, acoustic reflection with elusive, poetic lyrics. Armed with a new career path, she processes heartbreak on this “document of loss”, reconnecting with her healing relationship to music (Rough Trade Records). Laura Stevenson plays intimate arrangements of these new tunes, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Honey 2. Domino 3. Not Us
John Butler has been one of Australia’s most successful independent musicians over the past quarter century. Much of that time he’s led the platinum selling John Butler Trio, three of whose albums hit number one on the Australian charts. Lately, he has been celebrating going solo, using his signature blend of rock, pop, folk, blues, and roots music. Butler’s new album, Prism, the third in his four album project, in which he continues to explore "what it is to be human: love, death, politics, inner and outer turmoil and redemption", (Billboard), comes out on September 5. John Butler and his band play a couple of the singles from the album, as well as on old fave, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Trippin On You 2. So Sorry 3. Zebra
The band Buscabulla began here in New York over a decade ago, when singer Raquel Berrios and multi-instrumentalist Luis Del Valle began making their sophisticated, electronically-tinged Latin pop together. The name Buscabulla loosely translates as “troublemaker,” though the only trouble they’ve caused is to people who’ve tried to pin down their music. Their songs have a dreamy pop atmosphere but often ride along on sturdy Caribbean rhythms. Elements of funk and experimental electronic music are also part of the mix. Now, Buscabulla is based in Puerto Rico, where they’ve collaborated with Bad Bunny and released two LPs, the latest one called Se Amaba Asi. They play some of these new tunes, in-studio.
New York indie-pop group Wet, sometimes melancholic, sometimes bright, and always soulful, has just released Two Lives, a memoir-ish bittersweet reflection on life’s major transitions, featuring some of vocalist Kelly Zutrau’s most accomplished songwriting yet. With deconstructed R&B elements, dreamy textures, and a lot of vulnerability, Wet plays some of their “their signature slow-burning electro-pop” (Chicago Reader) in the studio.
Set list: 1. Shut My Eyes 2. Double 3. Coffee In The Morning / Soon To Be Moon
Cheikh Ibra Fam is a singer and songwriter from the West African nation of Senegal; he toured the world singing with Senegal’s famous dance band, Orchestra Baobob, for six years. In 2022, he released his first solo record, Peace in Africa, and in October he’ll release his new album, Adouna, or Life, which draws from Afro-Cuban rhythms and classic soul. Cheikh Ibra Fam and his band preview these new songs of hope and resilience, in-studio.
New York group La Banda Chuska combines the psychedelic takes on the sounds of 1970’s Peru and Colombia and brings them to the beach party resulting in an irresistible cumbia-surf mixture. They play in-studio.
In Peru and Colombia in the early 70s, young musicians who’d grown up with South American folk sounds began picking up electric guitars and playing their own psychedelic take on the rhythms and styles of the region. Fifty years later and one hemisphere to the north, the New York group called La Banda Chuska takes those sounds and adds elements of 60s surf guitar and 80s dance rock to create a fun, international sort of party music. La Banda Chuska plays some songs from their 2025 album Basic Bichos.
Set list: 1. Ratas y Mapaches 2. Barba Azul 3. La Selva Me Salvó
When we last heard from Rachika Nayar, she was creating warped textures from her guitar and the software program called Ableton. Our introduction to Nina Keith came from her 2019 album Maranasati 19111, an eerie album of electroacoustic chamber music. After fan-girling each other’s music online, the two composer/musicians have now joined forces for a new project called Disiniblud. Their fantastical wordless conversations graze freely from post-rock, glitchy indie electronica, neo-classical, and pop – “all resulting in a work that suggests sweeping transformation can come from embracing old wounds with childlike wonder”, (album liner notes on Bandcamp.) Disiniblud plays new music from their 2025 self-titled debut album, in-studio.
The Philadelphia-via-Vegas artist, singer, and songwriter Shamir has had a decade long career as a musical shapeshifter. Shamir has marked his ten year career with his tenth album, and perhaps not surprisingly, it’s called Ten. What is surprising is that it features songs that Shamir didn’t write, but that were written by his friends and colleagues - in essence, a love letter to the community of people who shaped Shamir’s life. And the most surprising thing about Ten is that Shamir says it's his final album as a solo artist. He plays intimate arrangements of these songs, in-studio.
Set list: 1.I love my friends 2. Neverwannago 3. 29
Listen to a Juneteenth edition of the Soundcheck Podcast, with music celebrating African-American culture and history. Juneteenth marks the day that the enslaved people of Galveston, Texas learned that they were legally free - June 19, 1865. Hear music from Igmar Thomas' Revive Big Band – a blend of jazz, neo-soul, funk, blues, and hip hop – which showcases the deep roots of Black American Music; composer and electronic artist Jlin; the slide blues guitar of Jontavious Willis; American roots artist Valerie June; hip-hop production meets contemporary classical in music by W4RP Trio; and the country-soul of The War and Treaty.
- The War and Treaty – “Mr. Fun”
- Jontavious Willis – “Ghost Woman”
- Valerie June – “Endless Tree”
- Igmar Thomas' Revive Big Band - To Kinda Lounge Around ft. Raydar Ellis
- Jlin – “Precision of Infinity”
- W4RP Trio & LiKWUiD – "Here’s One"
Guitarist Marc Ribot has established himself as one of the most versatile , distinctive, in-demand guitarists anywhere. He’s played with Tom Waits, Marianne Faithfull, Elvis Costello, and dozens, maybe hundreds of others, and led his own bands that have touched on jazz, Cuban music, no wave, and more. But now, with his new album, "Map of a Blue City", we get another side of Marc Ribot: he sings.
The album incorporates recordings made over nearly half of Ribot’s life. Some of the songs were decades in the making, going from demos and home recordings in the 1990s to at one point in 2014 recording with his friend, the legendary producer Hal Willner, who died in 2020. Ribot had shelved the project several times, but the songs just wouldn’t leave him alone. Finally working with producer and guitarist Ben Greenberg, they found was a way to reconcile the intimate recordings and previous choices – adding overdubs and taking things away. Ultimately, Ribot says “There are some hard truths and cold observations in these songs. I wanted the room to be small enough so that we couldn’t turn away: but warm enough to feel like you’re hearing it from a friend.” Ribot plays some of these tunes in-studio.
Set list: 1. Elizabeth 2. Death of a Narcissist 3. Bella Ciao
The melodic power pop band OK Go, as much a visual art ensemble as they are a rock band, has just released its first new album in over a decade. It’s called And The Adjacent Possible, and it’s full of relatively small songs with some really big ideas. It also means there are some new entries into the catalog of how-did-they-do-that videos that OK Go has become famous for. The band plays new songs and an oldie in-studio for the Soundcheck Podcast - sans treadmills.
Set list: 1. A Stone Only Rolls Downhill 2.This Too Shall Pass 3.Love
The string quartet known as Brooklyn Rider features the usual two violins, viola and cello. And that’s about all that’s usual with this band. Over the past two decades they have played with Yo Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble, Mexican singer Magos Herrera, Irish fiddler Martin Hayes, and banjo wiz Bela Fleck. They’ve commissioned a bunch of new pieces, and now, to celebrate their 20th anniversary, they’ve released a new record called The Four Elements - a wide range of music from the past and the present which is representative of, or directly inspired by Earth, Air, Fire, Water. And in parallel, the record is also designed to raise the alarm and bring “attention to the powerful forces of climate change which represent the single greatest challenge of our time”, (Bandcamp). Brooklyn Rider plays new works and an older piece, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Colin Jacobsen - A Short While To Be Here... - I. Whoa, Mule! 2-3 Colin Jacobsen - A Short While To Be Here... - IV.- The Old Cow Died-V. Little Birdie," 4.Osvaldo Golijov: Tenebrae
Kentucky-based singer and songwriter S. G. Goodman blends a deeply-rooted Americana sound with indie rock and sharply observed tales of life, love and loss. Her songs acknowledge the poverty, violence, and homophobia of the region while celebrating its beauty and the strength to be found in family, friends, and storytelling. Her new album, Planting By The Signs, (due out June 20), is named for an ancient farming tradition that still exists in parts of the South, where the position of the moon as it moves through the signs of the zodiac determines when it’s a good time to plant crops. Goodman previews some of these new songs, in-studio.
Set list: 1. I'm in Love 2. Fire Sign 3. Heat Lightning
The brass and dhol-led party band Red Baraat began as a Punjabi wedding band here in New York, but for the past 15 years they’ve brought their raucous energetic dance sound to everyone through a series of well-received albums and their memorable live shows. Drummer and bandleader Sunny Jain, infused the band with the sounds of his upbringing: music of the South Asian diaspora (Bollywood soundtracks, Jain Bhajans (devotional songs), and Bhangra ) injected with go-go, jazz, and rock. Red Baraat plays in-studio to celebrate their 15 year anniversary and the release of their new album, Bhangra Rangeela.
Set list: 1. Bhangra Rangeela 2. Thums Up 3. Zindabad
Denver-born songwriter, guitarist, singer, activist, and performer Jill Sobule, is possibly best-known because of her breakthrough hit of “I Kissed a Girl” (pre-dating Katy Perry by more a decade), and “Supermodel,” the anthem from the film Clueless. In her over seven albums, the troubadour has "mused on topics such as the death penalty, anorexia, shoplifting, reproduction, the French resistance movement, adolescence and the Christian right." She has also written music for TV and theater, been active in numerous social and political causes, and been a pioneer in the art of crowdfunding.
On her 2018 album, Nostalgia Kills, released on her own Pinko Records, the songwriter/composer tackles adult topics, and looks back without sentimentality to “exorcise some junior high school demons.” The late Jill Sobule and her band joined us to perform some of these songs in-studio in 2018. (From the Archives.) - Caryn Havlik
Set list: 1. Where Do I Begin 2. Island of Lost Things 3. I Don’t Wanna Wake Up
Since releasing his first solo album in 2010, William Tyler has become associated with the so-called cosmic country style – his music has tended to be expansive, atmospheric, clearly rooted in Americana but with an experimental edge. Now comes Tyler’s new record, Time Indefinite – an album that might, paradoxically, be his most modern or avant-garde sounding. “Crafted by razor blade and chainsaw, it’s destructive and hopeful, a mirror and a dream, internal and external, unsettled and peaceful, non linear and all at once, analogue and digital, broken and repaired then broken again, surprising and nostalgic, but it’s a product of its time, definitely”, (Jake Davis, via Instagram.) William Tyler, along with producer, engineer, and synthesist Jake Davis play some of the songs, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Star of Hope 2. Anima Hotel 3. Concern
The artist, producer, and educator Jlin, born Jerrilynn Patton, first came out of the electronic dance music scene – specifically, the Chicago style of house music known as footwork. But she’s also become a sought-after composer, and one of her works was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Her collaborators include Icelandic pop star Bjork, composer Philip Glass, experimental electronic musician Holly Herndon, dance companies, and lots more. Jlin’s unsettled rhythms, unexpected samples, and surprising sonic effects are layered, and played live (!) when she performs. Jlin joins us to play a set of pieces that draw on her typically bewildering array of sound sources, including a piece in six, “Iris”.
Set list: 1. B12 2. Iris 3. The Precision of Infinity
Macie Stewart is a multi-instrumentalist, singer, and composer who’s been a key player in the Chicago music scene, and a go-to collaborator for her string arrangements for pop stars like SZA, or playing with leading improvisers like Makaya McCraven or touring with Japanese Breakfast. Her current project is an album called When Distance Is Blue, full of atmospheric and cinematic works, soundscapes really, that feature prepared piano, field recordings, strings and more. These soundscapes make music out of the places in-between, inviting a careful listen to one's surroundings, and allowing space for the silence and boredom. Macie Stewart, along with violinist gabby fluke-mogul, play some of these works, in-studio.
Set list: 1. I Forget How to Remember My Dreams/Tsukiji 2. Mouthful of Glass 3. Murmuration/Memorization
Because she is the daughter of Ravi Shankar, perhaps the most famous Indian classical musician of the past century, Anoushka Shankar is associated with that style of music. But though she plays the sitar, and does indeed play Indian ragas in the style of her illustrious dad, she has also drawn on jazz, flamenco, various world and electronic music traditions, and more. Her new record, We Return To Love, is the conclusion of a trilogy of EPs. The masterful sitarist, film composer, and impassioned activist Anoushka Shankar presents the third chapter in her current trilogy of mini-albums, which explores her fascination with Goa Trance. She and her band perform live at National Sawdust, as part of the Grammy Museum's series, "A New York Evening With".
Set list: Stolen Moments, New Dawn, Hiraeth, We Burn So Brightly, Amrita, Daybreak
The fiddler Mark O’Connor is probably best known for his million-selling Appalachian Waltz project – a kind of chamber/folk album with famed cellist Yo Yo Ma and bassist Edgar Meyer. Mark has also written string quartets, concertos, and orchestral pieces – and they all come from the same place as his solo fiddle sets – everything is rooted in the sounds of American music, especially bluegrass. Maggie O’Connor is also a fiddler, and singer, who moves easily between those two worlds, and together, this husband-and-wife team have been touring with a program called Beethoven and Bluegrass. There’s no Beethoven today for this session, but hear some O’Connor classics, old and new, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Limerock 2. We Just Happened To Fly 3. Appalachia Waltz
Since 1981, Welsh musician Mike Peters has been the voice of the hit-making British band The Alarm. After the band split up in 1991, Peters wrote and released solo work, before reconstituting The Alarm in 2000, (Wikipedia.) Since being diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia in 2005 (he is also co-founder of the Love Hope Strength Foundation), Mike Peter’s career has been largely determined by the cycle of remission and relapse. But to listen to The Alarm’s 2023 album Forwards, and you’ll hear a man whose songwriting is as anthemic as ever, and, yes, determinedly forward looking. Mike Peters played some of these new songs, as well as one of the band’s old hits, on acoustic baritone guitar, in-studio. (From the archives, 2023.)
Set list: "Forwards", "Next", "The Stand"
Watch "Forwards":
Watch "Next":
Watch "The Stand":
King Hannah is an indie-rock duo from Liverpool consisting of singer and songwriter Hannah Merrick and guitarist Craig Whittle. Their latest album, Big Swimmer, seems to be the result of Merrick’s observations after touring around the United States, where it wasn’t the big cities or expansive vistas that inspired her songs, but the little moments and conversations and observations – details that inspire songs that can be drily funny, unsettling, or both. She also toggles between a kind of pitched speech and outright singing over moody electrified rockenroll - sometimes fuzz-drenched, sometimes jangly. King Hannah plays in-studio.
Set list: 1. New York Let's Do Nothing 2. Crème Brûlée 3. Big Swimmer
Bab L’ Bluz is a French-Moroccan band playing a distinctive band of rock, one that’s built on the sounds of North and West African music, and on the Blues. The band was born from the dream of propelling Guembri (the Gnawa's guitar) on the international music scene of contemporary music, and has expanded to include electric mandole and electric ribab. They’ve released two albums on Peter Gabriel’s Real World record label, the most recent of which is called Swaken – kind of a “Losing yourself to find yourself” trance state, (Bandcamp's Swaken liner notes.) Bab L’ BLuz plays their “Hot Psychedelic Gnawa Blues!”, in-studio.
Set list: 1."Ila Mata" 2."Imazighen" 3."IWAIWA FUNK"
Aotearoa singer/songwriter Marlon Williams’(Kāi Tahu, Ngāi Tai) is a singer and songwriter from Lyttleton, New Zealand. He’s spent this past decade creating a personal blend of country, indie, and folk music; and he’s been an actor, and makes an appearance in the film A Star Is Born. But his new album is something different – maybe not musically, but Marlon Williams is from a Maori family and has chosen to sing in the Maori language on his new record, called Te Whare Tīwekaweka. He’s also the subject of a new documentary film, which follows Williams through international tours to quiet home life, all while working on the album. Marlon Williams chats about his journey with his ancestral tongue, his collaborators, and the process of writing his first te reo Māori album; he plays solo, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Aua Atu Rā 2. Kāhore He Manu E 3. Pānaki
Immersion consists of the husband and wife team of Colin Newman, who you may know from the veteran English rock band Wire, and Malka Spigel from the band Minimal Compact. And Nanocluster is the name of a series of collaborations between the Immersion and various guests (Laetitia Sadier, German post-rock duo Tarwater, electronic musicians Ulrich Schnauss and Scanner, and others.) Vol. 3 of Nanocluster features the NY-based ambient country band called SUSS. The veteran musicians of SUSS - Pat Irwin (the B-52s, Raybeats, 8 Eyed Spy), Bob Holmes (numun, Rubber Rodeo), and Jonathan Gregg (the Combine, the Linemen) - combine pedal steel, mandolin, national steel guitar, and other textures with electronics to create their wide open sonic landscapes, (Swim). Immersion and SUSS play music from their open-minded and atmospheric explorations, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Khamsin 2. In The Far Away 3. State of Motion
The British cellist, producer, and composer Peter Gregson has collaborated with some of the biggest names in contemporary music, including Max Richter, Gabriel Prokofiev and Jóhann Jóhannsson. His own work includes soundtracks for film and TV, electroacoustic works, and a series of string quartets. Daringly, he has also “recomposed” J.S. Bach’s six cello suites for himself, a cello ensemble, and electronics. His latest album, Peter Gregson, is collection of contemporary songs without words for cello and a modular synthesizer that he built out himself. Peter Gregson plays some of these songs in-studio.
Set List: 1. Prism 2. Constellation 3. Vision
The Indian-born tabla player and composer, teacher, and advocate Zakir Hussain, son of Ustad Alla Rahka, who passed away in December of 2024, wasn’t just a virtuoso improviser - he was one of the world’s exceptional percussionists, working in many genres, and was the world’s preeminent tabla master. Zakir Hussain enjoyed the different challenges that each new collaborator would “ throw at him”. Just a few weeks before he passed away, Ustad Zakir Hussain joined Pandit Rahul Sharma, the son of illustrious santoor master Pandit Shivkumar Sharma, who established the pedigree of the santoor within Indian Classical Music to play in-studio. This Soundcheck Podcast session was recorded in October of 2024.
The Nigerian singer, songwriter and bandleader and Seun Kuti keeps alive the Afrobeat tradition founded by his legendary father, Fela Kuti, back in the 1970s. In fact, when Fela died in 1997, it was Seun, his youngest son, who took over the band, now called Egypt 80. Like his late father, Seun Kuti takes on topics like government corruption and corporate greed in his songs, setting his lyrics and his blazing sax solos to an insistent dance beat. Seun Kuti and Egypt 80 play tunes from their most recent album, Heavier Yet (Lays The Crownless Head), in-studio.
Set list: 1. Stand Well Well 2. Love and Revolution 3. Emi Aluta
New York-based Ruckus is an early music ensemble that plays with the energy of a rock band. Most early music groups feature instruments like the harpsichord and the viola da gamba, and Ruckus does too, but you’ll also hear synthesizer, guitar, bassoon, bass, and near Eastern frame drums. And on their new album, The Edinburgh Rollick, they focus on traditional Scottish folk songs and dances. Ruckus featuring Keir GoGwilt plays in-studio.
Set list: 1. The Gigg Set (Cairngoram Mountain, The Gigg, Lady Charlotte) 2. Robie Dona Górach 3.The Forrests Set (Lord Elcho, Dunkeld House, Forrest’s)
CocoRosie -the band founded by the sisters Sierra and Bianca Casady – blends elements of pop, freak folk and electronic music into a distinctly personal, idiosyncratic sound. The sisters use their voices, electronics, and found sounds – usually the sounds of toys – to make songs that can be whimsical, provocative, haunted, beautiful - sometimes all at once. CocoRosie plays new songs from their latest album, Little Death Wishes, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Wait for Me 2. Cut Stitch Scar 3. Paper Boat 4. Give It to the Wind
Little Death Wishes by CocoRosie
In 2010, we first fell under the spell of an extraordinary duo: Ballaké Sissoko, master of the West African harp or kora, and Vincent Segal, the French cellist. After a couple of albums together they added another duo, accordion virtuoso Vincent Peirani and sax player Emile Parisien, and that quartet has released an album called Les Egarés – those who stray – an apt name for a band that refuses to color within the lines. There is a unity and fluidity in the way the players listen without competing, return musical answers to questioning phrases, and maintain fluidity and a sense of play. The quartet, “a poetic asylum for the two duos” (Bandcamp) – where chamber music, French chanson, West African folk, and jazz all mix freely - is performing here in the U.S. on tour for the fist time, and they play in-studio.
Set list: 1. Esperanza 2. Orient Express 3. Banja
Harpist, soloist, collaborator (Harlem Chamber Players), educator, and arranger Ashley Jackson’s brand new album is called Take Me To The Water. In the American spiritual tradition, water is a powerful metaphor for freedom and for moving from this life to the next. Jackson’s record takes listeners on a watery journey through works by Debussy, the jazz harpist Alice Coltrane, blues, and some classic spirituals. As Jackson declares in a statement about the record, ”Water is something that we all need. It sustains us, it gives us life. Take Me to the Water reminds us we have a choice: we can let water be the thing that divides us, or, it can allow us to come together through our shared humanity.” She plays some of her arrangements of spirituals on a sculpted maple harp, in-studio.
Set list: 1. River Jordan 2. Deep River II 3. Take Me to the Water I
New York composer and guitarist Rafiq Bhatia is part of the art rock band Son Lux, the experimental trio best-known for scoring the film Everything Everywhere All At Once. His new EP – his first new solo project in 5 years - features pianist and improviser Chris Pattishall and is called Each Dream, A Melting Door. In their electro-acoustic songs, Rafiq alters the audio output from his guitar in real time with effects software, while Chris responds at the keyboard - although sometimes Chris will lead the exploration. ("It’s basically a set of works for a piano that sounds like a piano and a guitar that sounds like anything and everything else", -John Schaefer.) The longtime friends and collaborators play some of their filmic, sculpted, and evolving soundscapes, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Occlusion 2. Ijen 3. Supplicant
Jan Blomqvist is part of the legendary electronic music scene in Berlin – but he’s also a singer and producer, so his take on techno and house music is more song-oriented than many of his fellow DJs. One thing that sets Blomqvist apart is that he makes music in the studio with an eye towards live performance, earning him a description of “concert techno”. His latest album, MUTE, is about a generation that has grown up with apparently unlimited connectivity but still feels disconnected (which is also the name of his record label.) Sometimes the songs grow from and explore silence, (not just the space before the beat drops), while others create hope in dark and uncertain times. There’s even a song that tells the love story between a human and an AI, like in the film HER or the recent novel Annie Bot. Jan Blomqvist lays down pulsing energy and haunting vocals, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Destination Lost 2. Underwater 3. Algorithm
German producer & multi-instrumentalist Aukai, aka Markus Sieber, grew up in the former East Germany, but his travels have taken him through Latin America, and he is now based in Colorado. "Aukai" is a Hawaiian term for a seafaring traveler, and on 2018 record, Branches of Sun, he has captured a certain nomadic wanderlust which might connect a listener to a certain peace of being in nature, high in the mountains.
With an ensemble that centers on the South American ronroco, a kind of mandolin-like lute, (“the bigger brother of the charango”), harp, violin, percussion and electronics, Aukai and Ensemble perform some of his electro-acoustic creations, in the studio. (From the Archives, 2018.)
Watch the complete live session:
With her clever guitar playing and powerful stories, Oklahoma-based Cherokee singer and songwriter Ken Pomeroy draws on brutal honesty and the songwriting skills she has honed since she was 11 years old. She’s already found herself on the big screen and small when her song “Wall of Death” made its way onto the Twisters soundtrack, while Hulu’s Reservation Dogs featured her soul-mining gem, “Cicadas.” Pomeroy touches on her Native American heritage (mentioning coyotes – a troubling omen) and somewhat painful, personal past, as she plays songs from her album Cruel Joke (due in May 2025), in-studio.
Set list: 1. Stranger 2. Days Getting Darker 3. Flannel Cowboy
Syrian clarinetist and composer Kinan Azmeh has been based here in New York for many years. His music is an organic mix of East and West, of classical composition, jazzy improvisation, and Near Eastern music traditions. He’s played with the Silk Road Ensemble and lots of other groups large and small, but the one we see him with most often is his Arab-Jazz Quartet known as CityBand – all one word. It’s a band where Azmeh’s stirring and expressive clarinet meets Kyle Sanna’s rustic guitar, soaring at times over the dynamic and volatile backdrop of John Hadfield’s percussion and Josh Myers’ bass. Along with some talk about his homeland of Syria, apricot trees, and (of course), soccer, Kinan Azmeh and CityBand play some of the music from their latest album, called Live In Berlin, in-studio.
Set List: 1. Daraa 2. Jisreen 3. Wedding
The War And Treaty is built around the husband and wife team of Michael and Tanya Trotter, who’ve spent the past decade honing their own, often jubilant blend of country and soul. Their new album is called Plus One, and features touches of jazz, bluegrass, blues, even a nod or two to hip hop. There are some songs involving whiskey, a few nods to Ray Charles, and a powerful Muscle Shoals sound. The War And Treaty play some of their new music, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Carried Away 2. Mr. Fun 3. Leads Me Home
Third Coast Percussion is a Grammy-winning classical quartet based in Chicago. They’re all composers themselves, but they’ve also worked with a wide variety of other composers, including Philip Glass and the late great tabla player Zakir Hussain. Their new EP, Murmurs In Time, features Zakir’s work of that name, and he was supposed to join Third Coast Percussion here today, but as you may know, he passed away in December. This Soundcheck studio premiere of the work features a disciple of Hussain’s, Salar Nader. We’ll also hear an excerpt from another work written for Third Coast Percussion, by Tigran Hamasyan, the Armenian jazz pianist and composer. Oh – and it’s in 23/8, for anyone counting along. (-John Schaefer)
Set list: 1. Tigran Hamasyan – Sonata for Percussion, 3rd Mvmt. – “23 for TCP” 2. Zakir Hussain: Murmurs In Time – second mvmt.
The singer Sachal Vasandani has become known for his distinctive takes on jazz standards, and for his wide ranging covers, from Bob Dylan to Billie Eilish. But Sachal is also a songwriter himself, and his new album, Best Life Now, is largely a collection of original songs musing on stories of sensuality, heartbreak, and other love struggles. Sachal Vasandani and his band play some of those songs, imbued with warmth and soulful groove, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Best Life Now 2. Don't Give up On Me 3. Call Me
Best Life Now by Sachal Vasandani
Spanish singer and songwriter Victoria Canal mixes pop styles, from bangers to weighty tunes with thoughtful, often probing, occasionally flirty lyrics, which revolve around her own complicated identity. She won two of Britain’s prestigious Ivor Novello Awards, famously sang with Coldplay at last year’s Glastonbury Festival, and had released a pair of EPs that marked her as a distinctive songwriter.Her latest LP, Slowly It Dawns, sparkles with wisdom hard-learned and offers up vulnerability - all with a sense of light-hearted play. Victoria Canal plays some of these songs, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Vauxhall 2. Black Swan 3. 15%
The rapper and songwriter Brother Ali has been releasing his distinctive brand of hip hop since the turn of the century – music that combines pointed social commentary, nerdy music references, and the veteran producer Ant’s maximalist, often playful beats. Brother Ali’s brand new LP is called Satisfied Soul, and on it, there is wisdom, self-reflection and unflinching critique, rooted in hope and defiance. Brother Ali and Ant perform live, in-studio.
Set list: 1. D.R.U.M. 2. Name Of the One 3. Handwriting
Satisified Soul by Brother Ali
The band Horsegirl is three best friends from Chicago who began playing together while still in high school. But their 2022 debut album, Versions of Modern Performance, showed a band that already had a distinctive sound that showed that DIY didn’t necessarily mean simple. With two of the three musicians now attending NYU, the band has moved here to New York. Taking a break from Antigone and Oedipus, they're here to play some songs from their new album, called Phonetics On And On. Horsegirl plays in-studio.
Set list: 1. Where'd You Go 2. Switch Over 3. 2468
Phonetics On and On by Horsegirl
Sam Amidon is a folk fiddler, multi-instrumentalist, and singer from New England who now lives in Old England. He's become known for his inventive and often surprising arrangements of folk songs from both sides of the Atlantic. But he’s also someone who refuses to stay in his lane. So you could call his new album, Salt River, a collection of folk songs - if your definition of folk song is broad enough. Sam Amidon and multi-instrumentalist Chris Vatalaro expand folk tunes – shape note anthems, murder ballads, traditional songs - and play in-studio.
Set list: 1. Three Five 2. Golden Willow Tree 3. I'm On My Journey Home
Amayo is the Nigerian-born, Atlanta-based singer and songwriter who was the longtime front-person for the band Antibalas. Now out on his own, Amayo continues to create his own distinctive take on the Afrobeat sound pioneered in the 1970s by the legendary Fela Kuti. But Amayo’s songwriting and his live performances are also deeply affected by his longtime Kung Fu practice - he is a senior master (Sifu) of the Jow Ga Kung Fu School of martial arts. AMAYO’s new solo album is called Lion Awakes, and he and his big band play some of the high-energy tunes, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Lion Awakes 2. Black Magic Sister
The South African-born, UK-based cellist Abel Selaocoe doesn’t really cross musical boundaries – he ignores them entirely. He’ll play Bach cello suites, but he also writes music that draws on the throat singing and instinctive vocalizations of his South African heritage, as well as works with electronics, cello preparations, and site-specific sound installations. And sometimes, he’ll create a performance that seems to be all of them at once. He has a new album coming called Hymns of Bantu, due on February 21. Abel Selaocoe plays some of those pieces, solo, in-studio.
Abel Selaocoe appears courtesy of Warner Classics
Set list: 1.Ka Bohaleng 2. Les Voix Humaines/Tsohle Tsohle 3. Dinaka
The English band Wunderhorse now have two albums under that name, although the first of them, 2022’s Cub, was essentially a solo album by vocalist and songwriter Jacob Slater. Their latest, called Midas, came out this past fall to rave reviews and is very much a portrait of a band who can capture a visceral feeling in their recorded music that is "very imperfect, very live, very raw; no frills". Slater and the band take you where “Something is coming but you don’t know what it is and you can’t stop it,” (Black Arts PR). Wunderhorse plays in-studio.
Set list: 1. Midas 2. Rain 3. Teal
Richard Reed Parry is perhaps best known as the really tall, really redheaded guy playing half a dozen instruments in the Grammy-winning band Arcade Fire. But he’s also a founder of the instrumental group Bell Orchestre, and a composer of contemporary classical music. In 2018, he visited the studio with a new project called Quiet River of Dust, and it was at least partly inspired by the psychedelic folk/rock scene in Britain in the late 1960's. He and Quiet River of Dust perform some of the musical meditations, in-studio. (From the Archives.)
Set list: 1. Finally Home 2. Song of Wood 3. I Was in the World (Was the World In Me?)
South African guitar virtuoso Derek Gripper plays music originally meant for the 21 stringed lute-harp, the kora, on his 6-string Segovia-styled guitar and does it so well that the world’s leading guitarists and kora players keep wondering how one even does that. His original music is informed by kora master Toumani Diabaté, Malian singer-songwriter Salif Keita, Estonian minimalist composer Arvo Part, Brazilian guitarist Egberto Gismonti and German Baroque innovator, J.S. Bach. Watch out, because he’s about to collaborate with the Iraqi-American oud player and composer Rahim Alhaj. (Ed. note: just wait until the 11 or 13-strings of the oud and those maqams make it to the 6-string guitar in Gripper's hands!) For now, Gripper plays another unbelievable arrangement of a Malian kora song, as well as an original song informed by the cascading style of kora music, plus the Prelude of the second cello suite by J.S. Bach, in-studio. - Caryn HavlikSupplemental Reading: The Beauty of Everyday Things, In Search of Lost TimeSet list: 1. Alla L'a Ke 2. Moss on the Mountain 3. J.S. Bach: Prelude BWV 1008 (Second Cello Suite)
BALLAKÉ SISSOKO AND DEREK GRIPPER by Ballaké Sissoko and Derek Gripper
Everyday Things: Bach's Second Cello Suite BWV 1008 by Derek Gripper
Hip hop and classical music come together in the hybrid chamber music of W4RP Trio. The new record, featuring the spoken word artist DJ LiKWUiD, is called Sermon of the MatriarK and it is a celebration of powerful female characters in the African diaspora. But it’s also a celebration of the ways in which artists can move freely across genre lines – and possibly, upending even your most basic assumptions about what a band is. The W4RP Trio actually has four members, who play their new songs, along with the rapper and award-winning artivist LiKWUiD, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Up 2. Here's One 3. Gimme Dat, excerpt
Violinist, composer, and bandleader Jenny Scheinman is a familiar figure to jazz fans, having played for years with Bill Frisell, Allison Miller, and many others. But jazz is just one part of her music. In her own albums and in her work with musicians from Lou Reed to Lucinda Williams to Jason Moran, Scheinman incorporates a wide range of American music, including rock, folk, country, gospel, and even surf into a colorful, personal, and accessible style. Her latest album is called All Species Parade, and it brings Jenny Scheinman and her impressive band back to our studio.
Set list: 1. House of Flowers 2. Ornette Goes Home 3. All Species Parade
All Species Parade by Jenny Scheinman
Sax player, MC, and bandleader Lakecia Benjamin grew up playing salsa and merengue in Washington Heights. She counts jazz greats Terri Lyne Carrington, Gary Bartz, and Clark Terry among her mentors; and her list of collaborators includes Missy Elliott, Stevie Wonder, Lil Wayne, Dianne Reeves, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Brandee Younger, and Jazzmeia Horn. Benjamin is primarily known as a jazz musician, although as you might imagine she takes a pretty wide-angled view of jazz. Her latest record, the Grammy-nominated Phoenix Reimagined, is a live reworking of her 2023 album Phoenix, which earned three Grammy nominations. Sax player Lakecia Benjamin and her band play some of her latest tunes, in-studio.
- Trane 2. Let Go 3. Mercy
Phoenix Reimagined (Live) by Lakecia Benjamin
Trumpeter, bandleader and composer Igmar Thomas has served as music director for Lauryn Hill, the rapper Nas, and the sax player Kamasi Washington, among many others. But for many years he has also been the leader of the Revive Big Band, a group that demonstrates just how closely related jazz and hip hop are. That band has finally released its debut album, called Like A Tree It Grows, and its starry roster includes guests like rapper Talib Kweli, soul singer Bilal, and the late jazz legend Dr. Lonnie Smith. Rooted in Black American music and combining jazz, hip hop, funk, soul, blues, and gospel, this multi-generational ensemble plays in-studio.
- The Coming 2. R & P 3. To Kinda Lounge Around
Like A Tree It Grows by Igmar Thomas’ Revive Big Band
Jarana Beat is a world music group based here in New York, whose cross cultural celebratory sound is inspired by Mexican folk and Afro-Indigenous music. Using traditional instruments and dance percussion in addition to their voices, Jarana Beat gained wider attention by playing with the star Mexican singer Lila Downs, but they’ve also released a series of their own albums over the past decade or so, bringing elements of jazz and Latin pop to their deeply rooted sounds. For this in-studio performance of their original songs, the members of the flexible ensemble in-studio are: Sinuhe Padilla- Leona / Voice; Ivan Contreras – Jarana / Voice; Felipe Fournier - Quijada de Burro & Pandero Jarocho, Voice; Lautaro Burgos - Bombo Legüero; Tania Mesa – Violin/ Voice; and Martin Rodriguez - tarima, dance percussion.
Set list: 1. Jarabe Neoyorquino 2. Dolor de Aqui 3. Echapalante
The team behind the Soundcheck podcast series offers their favorite live performances from the WNYC studios this year: including Mexico City-based cellist, producer, and singer Mabe Fratti and her trio; Brazilian composer Amaro Freitas playing the piano's insides; and the soulful mambo of Cuba big band Orquesta Akokán. Plus, Norwegian punk cabaret sextet Kaizers Orchestra, Georgia singer and musician Lizz Wright, and Brooklyn-based Zelenaya with their Eastern European folk songs set to heavy metal (cough...nepotism on that last band...cough.)
Also, fiery roots music for everyone by American singer-songwriter Fantastic Negrito, multi-instrumentalist Shabaka's flute-based meditative spiritual jazz, and the saucy multi-instrumentalist Joan Wasser of Joan As Police Woman at the piano.
Playlist:
ARTIST: Kaizers Orchestra WORK: Bøn Fra Helvete [1:01] RECORDING: Live on Soundcheck, Oct. 2024 SOURCE: This performance not commercially available. The song appears on the album, Ompa til du dørINFO: https://kaizers.no
ARTIST: Orquesta Akokán WORK: Con Licensia [5:12] RECORDING: Live on Soundcheck, July 2024 SOURCE: This performance not commercially available. INFO: https://www.orquestaakokan.com/
ARTIST: Fantastic Negrito WORK: Son of a Broken Man [5:02] RECORDING: Live on Soundcheck, Oct. 2024 SOURCE: This performance not commercially available. INFO: https://www.fantasticnegrito.com/
ARTIST: Lizz Wright WORK: Sparrow [6:31] RECORDING: Live on Soundcheck, April 2024 SOURCE: This performance not commercially available. INFO: https://www.lizzwright.net
ARTIST: Joan as Police Woman WORK: Lemons, Limes, and Orchids [5:55] RECORDING: Live on Soundcheck, Sept. 2024 SOURCE: This performance not commercially available. INFO: https://www.joanaspolicewoman.com/
ARTIST: Shabaka WORK: I’ll Do Whatever You Want [4:46] RECORDING: Live on Soundcheck, May 2024 SOURCE: This performance not commercially available. INFO: https://www.shabakahutchings.com/#/
ARTIST: Mabe Fratti WORK: Kravitz [2:54] RECORDING: Live on Soundcheck, Sept. 2024 SOURCE: This performance not commercially available. INFO: https://tinangelrecords.bandcamp.com/album/sentir-que-no-sabes
ARTIST: Kaizers Orchestra WORK: Bøn Fra Helvete [1:01] RECORDING: Live on Soundcheck, Oct. 2024 SOURCE: This performance not commercially available. The song appears on the album, Ompa til du dør INFO: https://kaizers.no/
ARTIST: Zelenaya WORK: Okro Mch’edelo [4:58] RECORDING: Live on Soundcheck, June 2024 SOURCE: This performance is not commercially available INFO: https://zelenaya.bandcamp.com/album/folk-songs
ARTIST: Amaro Freitas WORK: Danca do Martelos [1:48] RECORDING: Live on Soundcheck, Oct. 2024 SOURCE: This performance is not commercially available. INFO:https://amarofreitas.com
Hear favorite live performances from the WNYC studios this year including Georgia singer, musician, and record label founder Lizz Wright; the soulful mambo of Cuban big band Orquesta Akokán; and the roots music for everyone performer - American singer-songwriter Fantastic Negrito. Also, Brooklyn-based Zelenaya with their Eastern European folk songs set to heavy metal; and the multi-reed instrumentalist Shabaka (Hutchings), with his trio of harp and percussion, and his arsenal of wood flutes.
Best of Soundcheck 2024, Part 1
Playlist:
ARTIST: Lizz Wright WORK: Sparrow [1:01] RECORDING: Live on Soundcheck, April 2024 SOURCE: This performance not commercially available. INFO: https://www.lizzwright.net
ARTIST: Orquesta Akokán WORK: Con Licensia [5:12] RECORDING: Live on Soundcheck, July 2024 SOURCE: This performance not commercially available. INFO: https://www.orquestaakokan.com/
ARTIST: Lizz WrightWORK: Sparrow [6:31]RECORDING: Live on Soundcheck, April 2024SOURCE: This performance not commercially available. INFO: https://www.lizzwright.net
ARTIST: Fantastic Negrito WORK: Son of a Broken Man [5:02] RECORDING: Live on Soundcheck, Oct. 2024 SOURCE: This performance not commercially available. INFO: https://www.fantasticnegrito.com/
ARTIST: Zelenaya WORK: Okro Mch’edelo [4:58] RECORDING: Live on Soundcheck, June 2024 SOURCE: This performance is not commercially available INFO: https://zelenaya.bandcamp.com/album/folk-songs
ARTIST: Shabaka WORK: I’ll Do Whatever You Want [4:46] RECORDING: Live on Soundcheck, May 2024 SOURCE: This performance not commercially available. INFO: https://www.shabakahutchings.com/#/
Hear favorite live performances from the WNYC studios this year including Mexico City-based cellist, producer, and singer Mabe Fratti; Norwegian punk cabaret sextet Kaizers Orchestra; and an intimate piano and a microphone version of the title track, "Lemons, Limes, and Orchids", from the latest record of the same name by Joan As Police Woman. Plus, Sinkane, aka Ahmed Gallab, the bandleader and songwriter who weaves the sounds of Afrobeat, disco, funk, and soul into his music for community and for shaking it; and the Brazilian pianist and composer Amaro Freitas plays the insides and outsides of our piano.
Playlist
ARTIST: Kaizers Orchestra WORK: Bøn Fra Helvete [1:01] RECORDING: Live on Soundcheck, Oct. 2024 SOURCE: This performance not commercially available. The song appears on the album, Ompa til du dør INFO: https://kaizers.no/
ARTIST: Sinkane WORK: How Sweet Is Your Love [5:30] RECORDING: Live on Soundcheck, January 2024 SOURCE: This performance not commercially available. INFO: https://www.sinkane.com/
ARTIST: Kaizers Orchestra WORK: Bøn Fra Helvete [1:01] RECORDING: Live on Soundcheck, Oct. 2024 SOURCE: This performance not commercially available. The song appears on the album, Ompa til du dør INFO: https://kaizers.no/
ARTIST: Mabe Fratti WORK: Kravitz [2:54] RECORDING: Live on Soundcheck, Sept. 2024 SOURCE: This performance not commercially available. INFO: https://tinangelrecords.bandcamp.com/album/sentir-que-no-sabes
ARTIST: Amaro Freitas WORK: Danca do Martelos [9:48] RECORDING: Live on Soundcheck, Oct. 2024 SOURCE: This performance is not commercially available. INFO: https://amarofreitas.com/
ARTIST: Joan as Police Woman WORK: Lemons, Limes, and Orchids [5:55] RECORDING: Live on Soundcheck, Sept. 2024 SOURCE: This performance not commercially available. INFO: https://www.joanaspolicewoman.com/
New York-based drummer and educator Matt Wilson has performed with and/or played on many recordings by other musicians - Joe Lovano, John Scofield, Charlie Haden, Lee Konitz, among others - and leads ensembles of his own, but at this time of year, the thing he might be best known for is his Christmas Tree-O. And yes, he went there – putting a pun right in the band’s name. The trio, featuring multi-reed player Jeff Lederer and bassist Paul Sikivie, takes holiday tunes as a whimsical jumping off point for a variety of jazz styles, from swing to free improv. They have a new album called Tree Jazz – The Shape Of Christmas To Come, and they’re here to play their gleeful, irreverent, and sometimes nerdy takes on music of the season, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Up on the Rooftop 2. Good King Wenceslas 3. Shine Your Light
The band yMusic formed as a contemporary classical chamber music ensemble, but you’re more likely to have heard them playing with people like Paul Simon, Bruce Hornsby, Emily King, and John Legend. They’re also the sextet of choice for classical composers like Caroline Shaw and Missy Mazzoli. For 16 years they’ve been gleefully obscuring the line between classical and popular music, and their latest collaboration with choreographer Kyle Abraham, the new multimedia piece called “Dear Lord Make Me Beautiful” saw the group writing and performing their own music. They play some of these originals, in-studio.
Set list: 1.Running 2. Mystique 3. Zebras
Samora Pinderhughes is a singer, composer, filmmaker, and producer who has worked regularly with the rapper Common and scored several award-winning documentaries. His own works includes The Healing Project, a 10-year exploration of the prison system and the racism and violence that feeds it, which led to his official solo debut album Grief in 2022; and a new record, 8 years in the making, about love, grief, depression and forgiveness, called Venus Smiles Not In The House Of Tears. Pinderhughes was the first-ever Art for Justice + Soros Justice Fellow, is getting his Ph.D. at Harvard University, and is shaping new worlds through his art, his honesty, and his vulnerability. Samora Pinderhughes is at our piano with a small ensemble, to play tender and reflective songs from his latest, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Forgive Yourself / Gatsby 2. WCID 3. Drown
Venus Smiles Not in the House of Tears by Samora Pinderhughes
Nour Harkati is a Tunisian musician and songwriter, now based here in New York City. His new album, Moulena, has just come out and it represents Harkati’s musical journey from North Africa to the US, featuring rhythms and instruments from traditional North African music blended with elements of Western pop and rock. The ancient Guembri used in trance music, combines with the gritty and modern sounds of guitar, electronics and drums, as Harkati and his band play in-studio.
Set list: 1. Rahmen 2. Sidi 3. DWE
Guitarist Jeff Parker is probably best known for his work in the Chicago-based post rock band Tortoise, but he’s had a prolific career as a soloist and a sideman. In the past few years he’s been leading his ETA IVtet, an all-star group of musicians (saxophonist Josh Johnson, bassist Anna Butterss, and drummer Jay Bellerose) - on the L.A. experimental music scene. Together, they create transcendent, long-form journeys into innovative, often uncharted territories of groove-oriented, painterly, polyrhythmic, minimalist and mantric improvised music (Bandcamp liner notes). The Jeff Parker ETA IVtet plays in-studio.
Set list: 1. Improvisation 2. Improvisation on Freakadelic
Pom Pom Squad is the band led by singer and guitarist Mia Berrin; their debut album, Death of a Cheerleader, offered a gimlet-eyed, often ironic view of pop culture through a queer lens. Now Pom Pom Squad has released its sophomore LP called Mirror Starts Moving Without Me, full of punk attitude and blazing guitars, but also moments of intense vulnerability and reflection. The band plays in-studio.
Set list: 1. Downhill 2. Messages 3. Everybody's Moving On
Grammy and Mercury Nominated and Brit award-winning songwriter Laura Marling has mapped out new musical territories, including chamber pop and electronics. Her latest record, Patterns in Repeat was written following the birth of her daughter in 2023 and contains lovely songs crafted with propulsive riffs in motion, augmented by string arrangements. The album itself is an intimate affair, recorded at home, often with Marling’s daughter in the room, and the songs look at how generations interact with each other, passing on old memories and making new ones. There are protective vows to a child, as well as reflections on “a transition between one way of being to another”. Laura Marling plays some of these new songs, solo, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Patterns 2. Caroline 3. No One's Gonna Love You Like I Can
Mulitple Grammy winning singer, songwriter and producer Rodney Crowell was one of the founders of the style that’s come to be known as alternative country. His career has been marked by notable collaborations, like the one with Emmylou Harris that brought Rodney to our ground floor performance venue The Green Space back in 2013. Now Rodney is back, with a new album called Close Ties, and it features collaborators like Sheryl Crow, and Rosanne Cash and John Paul White. The new album draws on folk, blues, rock’n’roll, and, yes, alt country, but mostly it draws on Crowell’s own deep well of stories and characters, whether fictional or not.
Jontavious Willis is a blues singer and guitarist from west Georgia, hence the title of his recent album, West Georgia Blues. He’s not even 30, but Willis has an old soul – he loves the blues musicians from the 1920s, 30s, and 40s, and when he writes his own songs they come from deep roots -and might easily be mistaken for music that could be nearly a century old. He has a soul singer’s croon, and an effortless sense of swing to his guitar playing; oh – and the wicked tunings and his slide playing! He has what legendary bluesman Taj Mahal thinks is “a great new voice of the 21st Century in the acoustic blues”. Jontavious Willis plays some of his recent songs, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Keep Your Worries On The Dance Floor 2. Ghost Woman 3. Time Brings About a Change
The singer, guitarist and songwriter José Junior recently released his debut album, called Spanish Leather, a mix of indie rock, Latin pop, and psychedelia, with the songs pretty evenly split between English and Spanish. The album is about overcoming the curveballs that life throws in the way - heartbreak, unemployment, and a near death experience - and coming out the other side. “Rebirth is real, you just need to believe”. José Junior and his band fuzz it up, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Death of a Party Boy 2. Chico Malo 3. Projections
In the 1930s the style known as "jazz manouche" took over France and soon spread around the world, led by musicians like the legendary guitarist Django Reinhardt and the violinist Stephane Grappelli. That hot swinging style, a combination of American jazz elements and more traditional Romani music, has endured for almost a century. Over the past four decades that has been in part because of Dorado Schmitt, the French musician who plays both the violin and the guitar. In what is now a family affair, Schmitt leads the band on violin, joined by his sons Amati and Samson Schmitt on guitar, cousins on upright bass, and rhythm guitar, and Ludovic Beier on accordion, all of whom trade fiery solos, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Miro Django 2. Piazza Italia 3. El Dorado 4. The Light of God
The Australian-born, California-based singer/songwriter and producer RY X seems to have multiple careers: writing intimate, diaphanous folk/pop songs that offer connection and vulnerability; collaborating as a producer, singer, or DJ with some of the biggest names in electronic dance and pop, like Drake, Diplo, and the band Odesza; and performing with orchestras, including the LA Phil, and the London Philharmonic. RY X spent the pandemic time looking inward and listening to nature. He walks on the quiet wild side, with regular collaborator Gene Evaro Jr., playing recent songs, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Only 2. You 3. Howling
Philadelphia-based garage band Low Cut Connie is led by pianist, and songwriter Adam Weiner, who has been sexing up piano-based party rockenroll for quite some time. Along the way, critics anointed them with either or both the words “scuzz(ball)” and “sleaze”, later amplified by a Nashville local paper, who called them “Sultans of Sleaze” in a cover story. Their latest full-length, Art Dealers, celebrates hard at the intersection of sleazy and soulful, and “is all kink and no shame,” says Weiner in the press release. It sees the singer and pianist looking back at his early days in New York, -and to the gritty New York of Lou Reed and Patti Smith- with reckless abandon. Low Cut Connie lets loose with some of their wild, passionate rockenroll, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Sleaze Me On 2. Are You Gonna Run? 3. Whips and Chains
Danielia Cotton is a singer, guitarist, cancer survivor and marathon runner. The sounds of classic country and soul are at the heart of Cotton’s music, although her last couple of releases have seen her incorporating everything from indie rock to blues to rap as well. Her latest EP is Charley’s Pride: A Tribute to Black Country Music, and it brings Danielia Cotton and her band to play new songs in-studio.
Set list: 1. Good Day 2. Bring Out The Country in Me 3. Follow Me
English singer, songwriter, and producer Nick Lowe came out of the so-called pub rock scene in the UK in the 70s, and made his mark as a producer (Elvis Costello, Graham Parker, The Pretenders, The Damned), had a "short-lived career as a pop star, and a lengthy term as a musicians’ musician", (Bandcamp.) But in his current ‘second act’ as a silver-haired, tender-hearted but sharp-tongued singer-songwriter, he’s released a new set of songs full of more "cool tunes" and rockabilly-inspired guitar playing on a record called, Indoor Safari. Nick Lowe plays a solo set, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Love Starvation 2. Different Kind of Blue 3. Cruel to Be Kind
Brazilian pianist and composer Amaro Freitas is from the city of Recife, on the northeastern edge of Brazil, a city rooted in African culture. But his latest album, Y’Y, looks in a different direction. The title, spelled Y’Y, is an indigenous Amazonian word for river, and the album is celebration of nature in its musical journey down the Amazon - the water, the rainforest, the Indigenous people of the region, and the exotic wildlife. There’s also perhaps a warning that our connection to nature is more important than we may think. Freitas found that the usual piano sounds weren’t always enough, and enhances his sonic palette by preparing the piano and playing the insides for his visionary and futuristic decolonized Brazilian jazz. For example, in his piece, “Uiara,” an Indigenous name for the pink river dolphins of the Amazon, Freitas uses an electric magnet to bow some strings inside the instrument, and uses adhesive tape to give other strings a more earthy sound. Elsewhere, there are plucked strings and an echo-laden rattle as his polyrhythms shake the body of the piano - “it’s as though my left hand is Africa and my right hand is Europe,” he recently told The New York Times.
“Trying to rescue things that came before coloniality," he notes, is a theme that has been woven into Freitas's work for years, (National Sawdust). While his connection to the earth and the ancestors is an undercurrent on the record Y'Y, there is also a strong connection to and showcasing of the global Black avant-jazz community, as he recorded with woodwind and flute virtuoso Shabaka Hutchings (London), harpist Brandee Younger (New York), bassist Aniel Someillan (of Cuban descent), along with guitarist Jeff Parker and drummer Hamid Drake (Chicago). For this live set in the studio, Amaro has prepared our piano and performs some of these works live. - Caryn Havlik
Set list: 1. Uiara/Viva Naná 2. Angico 3. Dança dos Martelos
The story of Fantastic Negrito is one of those stranger-than-fiction tales – born Xavier Dphrepaulezz and raised in a strict Muslim home, he had an aborted career as an R&B star under the name Xavier, a near-fatal car accident, a seven year break from music, and then came roaring back with what he called “Black roots music for Everyone.” As Fantastic Negrito, he won the first NPR Tiny Desk Concert and then three Grammys for his stomping, blues-rockin’ albums. But the story has taken another unexpected twist, and that has led to Fantastic Negrito’s new album, Son Of A Broken Man.
During the quarantine part of the pandemic, Fantastic Negrito dug into his family’s past on one of the ancestry sites. He’d found that he was the son of a “yarn-spinning” father who claimed roots in East Africa, but whose lineage actually went back several generations to a tobacco plantation in Virginia. Between the large number of siblings and the “punk rock story” of mixed marriage in his family, he uncovered a lot of inconsistencies with the stories of the past, and a whole lot of loving. Fantastic Negrito “hides behind the flashy jacket” and turns his trauma into art, playing some of his blues-stomp-and-roll music for everyone, in-studio. - Caryn Havlik
Set list: 1. Devil In My Pocket 2. Crooked Road 3. I Hope Somebody's Loving You 4. Son of a Broken Man
Hermanos Gutierrez is a band formed of the brothers Alejandro and Estevan Gutiérrez, based in Switzerland, who make instrumental music that looks to mid-century Mexican popular song, draws on the sounds of 60s surf guitar and the nocturnal landscapes of ambient music. Their 2022 album, El Bueno Y El Malo (The Good & The Bad) was definitely a nod to the Ennio Morricone soundtracks for those old spaghetti westerns, like The Good The Bad & The Ugly . Their 2024 release Sonido Cósmico looks to the desert for their spacious and spiritual fingerpicking, with one of the tracks specifically taking its inspiration from the Wim Wenders film, Paris, Texas. They play songs from their latest, Sonido Cósmico, in a special event, recorded at the GRAMMY Museum’s “A New York Evening With" at National Sawdust this past fall. - Caryn Havlik
Set list: 1. Sonido Cósmico 2. Low Sun, 3. Until We Meet Again 4. Cumbia Lunar
The Cristal Baschet is a very rare and delicate otherworldly-sounding glass organ comprised of 56 chromatically-tuned glass rods. Only a handful of musicians on this planet play the instrument professionally; one of them is Loup Barrow, a French musician and composer. Barrow has been a committed instrumentalist since first taking violin lessons at age 5; he’s also focused on drums, Moroccan percussion, steel pan, and the glass harp. He features the Cristal Baschet, with piano and orchestra, on a striking album called Immineo, which might bring to mind Arvo Pärt or the 11th-century German composer, mystic, and abbess Hildegard Von Bingen. Recently, Loup Barrow spent a few hours here in our studio assembling this sound sculpture to play it, in-studio. - Caryn Havlik
Set list: 1. Northern Lights 2. Passio
Scottish composer Erland Cooper writes ambient classical works that celebrate nature and create a strong sense of place. These days there are lots of musicians doing that sort of thing, but Cooper has gone all-in. His piece Carve The Runes and Be Content With Silence was composed and recorded in 2021, and then the only copy of the master tape was buried in the Scottish soil, to be recomposed, Cooper says, by the earth itself. There followed a kind of treasure hunt with Cooper leaving clues every solstice or equinox until a year and a half later the tape was discovered - and there’s a lot more to the story. Erland Cooper and his ensemble play excerpts from Carve The Runes And Be Content With Silence, in-studio.
Set list: 1. With Silence Mvt 3, part 2 2. Music For Growing Flowers (radio edit) 3. Shalder
The trio Heavy MakeUp uses voice, synths, drum machines, and brass to improvise songs on the spot. Together, the band is singer and songwriter Edie Brickell and brass & electronic musicians CJ Camerieri and Trever Hagen, who have created music as side-people, songwriters, and producers. They bring all of those skills to bear and play, creating songs as a collective, somehow "beautifully constructing metaphorical stories with concrete sections", in the moment, (Camerieri, in a Relix interview). They freely and enthusiastically make up new songs, and play music from their album Here It Comes, in-studio. - Caryn Havlik
Set list: 1. Here It Comes 2. So Emotional 3. 160 Varick 4. Song for John 5. Stay and Play
The Norwegian sextet Kaizers Orchestra combines rock, opera, Balkan music, and a kind of punk cabaret with character studies and heavy drinking to great effect. Many of their albums, and videos, are chapters in a Faust-like story, and though they sing in their local western dialect of Norwegian, somehow the sense of an unsettling narrative comes through. In 2013, they played at the Met Museum in what was billed as their first – and last- American performance. But this theatrical, indefinable band, are touring their live show in the US and they brought their car parts, concert trash barrels, pump organ, and hip flasks to play live in The Greene Space.
Set list: 1. Aldri Vodka, Violeta 2. Bøn Fra Helvete 3. En For Orgelet, En For Meg
My Brightest Diamond is the project led by singer, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and composer Shara Nova (formerly Worden), who has continued to weave her own way through pop, experimental and classical worlds. Her latest, Fight The Real Terror, strips things down to just Shara and her guitar, and is full of the raw emotion that erupted from her upon learning about Sinéad O'Connor's passing in 2023. Shara Nova plays some of these new My Brightest Diamond songs, in-studio, and wields an autoharp besides.
Set list: 1. Fight the Real Terror 2. Safe House 3. Have You Ever Seen An Angel
Geordie Greep was the lead singer and guitarist for the celebrated British rock band black midi. With that band on indefinite hiatus, Greep is now focused on his own songs, which range freely across the musical landscape, encompassing jazz-rock and blues, but also country and Brazilian music. Hold on tight, for there are "stop-starts, blasts and bangs, and whispered soliloquies as [the listener] is never quite sure when, or whether, [one is] supposed to be shocked; or laugh", (Rough Trade Records). Geordie Greep and his band play new music from his debut solo album called The New Sound, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Holy, Holy 2. Terra 3. The New Sound
Lollise is a musician, fashion designer, and visual artist from Botwana in southern Africa, now based here in New York. After many years of recording and touring with Underground System and the FELA! band, Lollise steps forward with her own bold Afro-futurist pop, rich with layers of kinetic, danceable percussion and gentle waves of ambient noise. Drawing on Setswana folk song, the sounds of nature, and infectious dance beats, she plays some of the hybrid songs from her debut LP, I Hit The Water, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Semang Mang 2. eDube 3. Mme Mma Ndi
The Heavy Heavy is a band out of Brighton, England – but they sound like a band that’s been time-shifted straight out of 1975. Led by lifelong musicians Will Turner and Georgie Fuller, they breathe an incandescent new energy into sounds from decades ago, "transcending eras with a hypnotic ease" (Bandcamp.) Their sound might be a sweet and starry-eyed collision of psychedelia and blues, acid rock and sunshine pop all at once. The Heavy Heavy play in-studio.
Set list: 1. One of a Kind 2. Lovestruck 3. Happiness
One Of A Kind by The Heavy Heavy
Moira Smiley refers to herself as a song collector; she's also a singer, multi-instrumentalist (banjo, accordion, piano, and hand & body percussion), and songwriter. Smiley has sung in arenas, cathedrals, kitchens, back porches, sound stages, and on glaciers with the likes of Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Tune-Yards, Tim O’Brien, Eric Whitacre, Los Angeles Master Chorale, New World Symphony and Solas. But she’s spent a good portion of her career collecting, arranging and performing traditional songs from Appalachia, The Balkans, The Republic of Georgia, Wales, and more. Her latest album is called The Rhizome Project, and features a string quartet along with many guests. Moira Smiley and a string quartet [Sara Caswell (violin), Dana Lyn (violin), Josh Henderson (viola), Jody Redhage-Ferber (cello)] perform in-studio.
Set list: 1. Go Dig My Grave 2. Mourning Dove 3.Now Is The Cool Of The Day
The Rhizome Project by Moira Smiley
The singer, songwriter, and multi instrumentalist Joan Wasser is "not a cop" and has been recording for the past twenty years under the name Joan As Police Woman – a saucy reference to the 1970s cop show that starred Angie Dickinson. She’s also collaborated with a huge range of musicians, from the worlds of rock, funk, folk, and experimental music. Her new album, called Lemons, Limes and Orchids, has a mostly nocturnal, understated quality while it celebrates joy and love in the face of extremely difficult times. Joan plays some stripped down versions of some of the songs, including the extraordinary title track, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Full-Time Heist 2. Lemons, Limes and Orchids 3. Remember the Voice
Yemen Blues is a band led by Israeli singer and songwriter Ravid Kahalani. For more than a decade now, the group has incorporated the sounds of Moroccan trance, Arab and Bedouin folk, and Western funk and rock into a high energy, groove-filled dance party. But behind that sound is a social conscience, and the band’s latest album is pointedly called Only Love Remains. Yemen Blues plays in-studio.
Set list: 1. Ma'Ahla Asalam. 2. Greatest Man /Prayers 3. Allenby 4. Lfouq Lfouq
Born in Guatemala but active in Mexico City’s bustling music scene, cellist, electronic music producer, and singer Mabe Fratti has been making music for several years that could lean toward the experimental and the avant-garde on the one hand, and what seems to be a flair for pop melodies on the other. She writes songs that encompass chamber music, electronic music, soundscapes, and hard rock, -perhaps with jazz overtones- without ever settling into any one of them. Fratti and her collaborators have such talent for risk-taking, for playfulness with sound and its manipulation, and for endless riffs - whether cello (amplified and with pedals) or vocal processors, and artfully using feedback, field recordings, and loops. Her latest album is called Sentir que no Sabes, or Feel like you don’t know. Mabe Fratti and her trio play some of these songs in-studio. - Caryn Havlik
Set list: 1. Quieras o No 2. Kravitz 3. Oidos
The Midwest band Cloud Cult is more than a band – it’s a creative collective who continually celebrates life and love, and catharsis through music and multimedia performances (CloudCult.com.) They’re also known for their ecofriendly ways of making and touring their music. Recently in 2022, their orchestral-folk-rock sound was expanded as they were playing and recording with the Minnesota Orchestra. Over the years, the band has embraced joy as an act of resilience, and their latest, Alchemy Creek was written, recorded and produced by front man Craig Minowa in the solitude of a tiny cabin on wheels and named for the nearby creek in the middle of the Wisconsin woods. The band plays some of these new songs, in-studio. - Caryn Havlik
Set list: 1. The Universe Woke Up As You 2. One Human Being 3. Different Kind Of Day
Nashville-based artist Conner Youngblood is a singer, multi-instrumentalist and producer; his new record, called Cascades, Cascading, Cascadingly, is full of richly textured songs – in multiple languages (Spanish, Japanese, and Danish, in addition to his native English.) The music employs a wide array of effects without ever losing that organic, intimate feel; think of "sad Phil Spector meets shoegaze," (Schaefer). Conner plays some of these spacious, dreamy, and quietly curious maximalist bedroom-pop songs, in-studio.
Set list: 1. From an Ocean, to a Lake 2. Solo yo y Tú 3. Blue Gatorade
Vocalist and composer Meredith Monk is a multi-disciplinary artist, whose work involves music, dance, film, theatre, and now: biology meets anthropology. In her recent large-scale work, Cellular Songs, musical forms evoke biological processes as layering, replication, division, and mutation in a “deeply affecting meditation on the nature of the biological cell as a metaphor for human society” (Financial Times). Through this work, Monk takes the microscopic unit of the cell, then projects and expands it as a proposal for “an alternative possibility of human behavior, where the values are cooperation, interdependence and kindness,” (much like how a cell functions, minus the kindness part.) Using their voices-as-instruments, Meredith Monk & Vocal Ensemble perform some of these Cellular Songs, along with violin, piano and keyboard, in-studio. [From the Archives, 2018.] -Caryn Havlik
Meredith Monk & Vocal Ensemble perform "Indra's Net" at the Park Avenue Armory, Sept. 23-Oct. 6
Watch the session via YouTube:
The New York band Crumb creates playful and brooding swirls of sounds, somewhere at a crossroads of psychedelia, pop, jazz, and rock. Their latest album AMAMA (Grandmother) [self-released via their own label Crumb Records], experiments with textures and synthscapes: glitchy pitch-shifted vocals, cell phone recordings, nautical blips, sax mouthpiece solos, blasted drum samples, and piano strings dampened with Silly Putty. With lyrics whose meaning may emerge later, Crumb’s haunting music winds up being far from gentle or ‘chill’ and explores fraught encounters and transience, while striving to be carefree and searching for connection. Crumb plays a live set, in-studio. - Caryn Havlik
Set list: 1. The Bug 2. Side by Side 3. Genie
American classical pianist and educator Christopher O’Riley has spent his career gleefully ignoring musical boundaries and playing whatever turned him on. In addition to playing Beethoven, Busoni, Ravel, Scriabin, and Liszt, he’s also arranged music by Nick Drake, Nirvana, Elliot Smith, and Radiohead; he leads masterclasses covering nearly every aspect of piano playing and repertoire from 1600 to 2020. Christopher O’Riley’s latest album is of J.S. Bach’s Well Tempered Clavier, done in a distinctly personal, even idiosyncratic style. He presents his years-long study of the Preludes & Fugues by Bach and a recent arrangement of a classic popular song, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Bach: Prelude & Fugue #1 in C major, BWV 846 2. Bach: Prelude & Fugue #4 in C# minor, BWV 849 3."Over the Rainbow"
Mehrnam Rastegari is a New York-based master of the traditional Persian spike fiddle, the kamancheh. She is also a composer, writing film scores and ensemble works that draw on both Eastern and Western musical traditions. She moved here from Iran in 2022 and formed the Mehrnam Rastegari Traditional Persian Band, a group of New York locals which features traditional Iranian instruments kamancheh, qanoun, daf, and vocals. Rastegari leads that band in music she’s written, along with traditional Persian, Arabic, and Kurdish music. The Mehrnam Rastegari Traditional Persian Band plays in-studio. - Caryn Havlik
Set list: 1. Velveleh 2. Khosha Howraman 3. Show charay
Guitarist, composer, and teacher Benjamin Verdery seems to know everybody who’s ever picked up the instrument. Ben is a classical guitarist himself, but his musical friends include Andy Summers of the Police, the fingerpicking virtuoso Leo Kottke, flamenco legend Paco Pena, guitarist Bryce Dessner of the indie rock band The National – the list goes on and on. Lots of contemporary composers have written works for him, and Ben himself has written a wide range of works. He’s filled a 40 year career with a wild assortment of collaborations and collaborators. Recently, Ben emailed to say he was retiring next year, so it seemed high time that we invite him back here before he jets off to Hawaii. Benjamin Verdery plays some of his own pieces from his collection called Some Towns and Cities, and yes, at least one of those towns is in Hawaii.
Set list: 1. Capitola, CA 2. Keanae, HI 3. Milwaukee, WI
Christopher Rountree is probably best known as the conductor of the LA-based new music ensemble known as Wild Up. Over the last 14 years he and that band have played with Bjork, done live film scores to movie screenings, and embarked on a multiyear recording project of the long forgotten and now rediscovered music of Julius Eastman. But Christopher Rountree is also a composer, and his latest work is called 3 BPM. It seems like it might be his reply to the rise of AI in music, because he describes the piece as “a musical framework for being together.” In an open score that could be part map, and part game, the ensemble performs the entirety of 3 BPM in-studio.
The ensemble for this New York in-studio includes:
Christopher Rountree, voice / synthCatherine Brookman, voice / synth Nadia Sirota, viola Adam Tendler, pianoPhong Tran, electronicsTaylor Levine, electric guitarRachel Beetz, flute
3 BPM by Christopher Rountree with Wild Up | HOCKET | Nadia Sirota
Brooklyn native Bette Smith reconnects with her Memphis and Mississippi roots on her latest, "Goodthing", full of songs that show off her voice -rich and raspy- and her band’s vintage soul and blues-rock sound. But the album also speaks to Smith’s spiritual side, embracing the gospel music she heard in church and around the house every weekend – like Mahalia Jackson and Reverend James Cleveland. Bette Smith and her band play up that southern rock/soul sound, inspire determination, and offer a prayer, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Whup 'Em Good 2. Darkest Hour 3. Eternal Blessings
The band called LA LOM is a trio of LA natives who play an instrumental blend of twangy guitar melodies over Latin rhythms like the cumbia and bolero, drawing on the sounds of their city. The band got their start as a hotel band playing soul covers, and morphed into warm, vibe-heavy rock that blends Mexican, Cuban, and Peruvian traditions alongside classic jazz, rockabilly, and soul. LA LOM – Los Angeles League of Musicians - who are Zac Sokolow (Guitar), Jake Faulkner (Bass), and Nicholas Baker (Drums/Percussion), play music that may touch on Cumbia, Chicha, and Americana, from their full-length self-titled album, in-studio. - Caryn Havlik
Set list: 1. Danza de LA LOM 2. San Fernando Rose 3. Angels Point
Angélica Garcia has been on a journey – a musical journey – from “gothic storytelling, and swampy, blues-inflected rock” (Schaefer, 2016) to dance-floor Latin pop bangers with moody electronics, sung mostly in Spanish on her latest release, Gemelo. It’s a record that “untangles the Mexican and Salvadoran roots of the Californian-born artist, dismantles the cycles which help and harm, and calls upon the spirits of her ancestors for its power”, (Line of Best Fit). From throbbing, industrial rock that sounds like a sci-fi magic ritual to clublike textures couching empowerment anthems, Angélica Garcia performs her latest tunes, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Juanita 2. Gemini 3. Paloma
Cinder Well is the musical project of singer and songwriter Amelia Baker, who is from California but who fell under the spell of Irish folk music and eventually moved to County Clare on Ireland’s west coast. Cinder Well’s music often has a haunted, nocturnal quality – her 2020 album No Summer was widely referred to as “doom folk” - where the drone, darkness, and space may overlap with that in the metal world. Her latest record, Cadence, is full of evocative, often elusive imagery and her quietly intense vocals.
Set list: 1. Two Heads, Grey Mare 2. Overgrown 3. From Behind the Curtain
The artist STEFA is a classically-trained vocalist who combines punk, experimental rage-pop, loops, and somatic jazz as they channel their ancestors. Based in Queens and born to Colombian immigrant parents, STEFA’s latest is an album called Born With An Extra Rib, which was released alongside a ritual performance film that they created as Artist-In-Residence at The Kitchen. STEFA shares their spirit and song, along with their talented band, in-studio. STEFA plays at Industry City at 6PM on Aug. 8.
Set list: 1. 3COSAS! 2. Costillas 3. How Do I Cope?
Born With An Extra Rib by STEFA*
Although he’s based in Iceland, singer/songwriter John Grant is American, and his experience growing up gay in a conservative religious family in Colorado has colored his music since he began releasing solo records in 2010. A former member of the Denver-based alternative rock band The Czars, he’s recorded with the Texan folk rock group Midlake, collaborated with countless others, and is also a festival curator, noted polyglot, author, and translator. Grant’s own songs range from bangers to ballads, usually shot through with sharp streaks of mordant wit. That’s the case with his latest record The Art of the Lie which also features lots of electronics and some processing of the voice. John tells stories and performs unplugged versions of his tunes, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Grey Tickles Black Pressure 2. Touch and Go 3. Zeitgeist
The duo of Marc Ribot, the New York guitarist, and Leyla McCalla, the New Orleans cellist and banjo player, may seem unlikely at first. Ribot is known for his work with Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, his own avant-noise trio Ceramic Dog, and much more; McCalla writes songs that draw on the African-American string band tradition, Cajun music, and her own Haitian heritage. But Ribot was also a student of the Haitian classical guitarist/composer Frantz Casseus, and the two musicians share a strong genre-agnostic streak. Together they play a set at the 25th Annual New York Guitar Festival, recorded in June of 2024 at Kaufman Music Center and co-presented by the World Music Institute.
Set list: Kamen Sa Ou Fe (trad Haitian); Petro (Frantz Casseus); City Called Heaven (trad American); Lavi Vye Neg (Gesner Henry); Sun Without The Heat (Leyla McCalla); Non Fon Bwa (Casseus); Peze Café (trad Haitian); Tree (Leyla McCalla)
Marc Ribot has released over two dozen records on his own, ranging from Cuban dance music to free jazz, Haitian classical guitar to political avant-folk. His playing – elegant, edgy, and sometimes, somehow, both at once – has made him the go-to guitarist for artists like Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, Tom Waits, Laurie Anderson, McCoy Tyner, and so many others. He has been a regular part of the New York Guitar Festival over the years.
Leyla McCalla was the cellist in the Grammy-winning string band Carolina Chocolate Drops, before moving on to writing her own songs. She is a member of Our Native Daughters, a quartet of Black women who all play the banjo (and other instruments), and has recorded four albums on which she also plays guitar. Her new record, Sun Without The Heat, came out in April.
Akusmi is the name of the recent project by the French-born London-based producer, composer, and multi-instrumentalist Pascal Bideau. His work blends the churning rhythms of minimalism with the sounds of jazz and, occasionally, the gamelan music of Indonesia. Mostly he plays sax and piano, but in a pinch he’ll play bass guitar, flute, synthesizer or percussion too. Some Akusmi songs can be ethereal and atmospheric, but more often they’re pulsating and almost danceable. In live performance, Akusmi becomes a band, in this case a trio with violinist/composer Christopher Tignor and trombonist Rick Parker. They play in-studio.
Set list: 1. Divine Moments of Truth 2. Oblique 3. Concrescence
The vintage sounds and energy of Cuban dance music of the mid-20th century live on in the music of Orquesta Akokán, a group of Cuban and American musicians who made a big splash with their debut record just six years ago. The band’s name, Akokán, is from Africa; it’s a Yoruba word meaning “from the heart.” And this group’s collective heart beats to the rhythms of Havana (and Miama, and Brooklyn), which means salsa, rumba, and soul in addition to mambo. Orquesta Akokán has a brand new album called Caracoles, and it brings the band back to our studio to play some of these new songs.
Set list: 1. Con Licencia 2. Pan con Tibiri 3. Caracoles 4. Suave Suave
Sample collaborative music by Pulitzer Prize-winning vocalist/composer Caroline Shaw and the versatile quartet Sō Percussion from their latest release, Rectangles and Circumstance, as played in-studio.
Composer/vocalist/violinist Caroline Shaw, who has produced for Kanye West and Nas, won a Pulitzer Prize in 2013 for her Partita for 8 Voices, which was written for and performed with the vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth; she also teaches at NYU. Brooklyn-based Sō Percussion (Eric Cha-Beach, Adam Sliwinski, Josh Quillen, Jason Treuting) is a force of music and noise-making comprised of composer/percussionists/instrument builders/finders who beat, shake, bow, immerse, and rip all kinds of things – home goods and instruments - both acoustic and electric; they also compose.
Listen to some of these songs with contributions by Caroline Shaw, and with her band Ringdown, together with Sō Percussion, as played live, in-studio.
Cuban singer, percussionist, and bandleader Ivan Llanes is now based here in New York, and on his debut LP, called La Vida Misma, you hear a reflection of Ivan’s musical interests, which begin with Cuban salsa and go on to include R&B, Brazilian music and more. He's fluent in Latin, Caribbean, and jazz traditions and is a prolific composer and sideman. Ivan’s band is similarly expansive, an 8-piece ensemble who perform new music from Ivan's debut record, in the round, in-studio.
See Ivan Llanes and his band in Times Square on July 11 at 5PM
Boston-based Marissa Nadler writes intimate, sweeping dreamy and eerie songs, that shimmer with gothic melancholy. On her 2018 record, For My Crimes, she enlisted accomplished musicians: harpist Mary Lattimore, drummer Patty Schemel (Hole), experimental multi-instrumentalist Janel Leppin, and Eva Gardner plays additional bass. Guest vocals came from Angel Olsen, Kristin Kontrol (Dum Dum Girls), and Sharon Van Etten, plus saxophonist Dana Colley (Morphine) was also a collaborator. These bittersweet and sharp slow burning tunes have a piercing intensity, driven home by Nadler’s gripping voice. Marissa Nadler performs some of these songs in their stripped-down form, in-studio (from the Archives, 2018.) -Caryn Havlik
Set list: 1. For My Crimes 2. Said Goodbye to That Car 3. I Can’t Listen to Gene Clark Anymore
The band called English Teacher is from the northern English city of Leeds, although as their debut LP This Could Be Texas suggests, one place is very much like another when it comes to how people treat each other, and themselves. One might expect a band with a name like English Teacher to be smart, and their songs are chock-full of literary and cultural references, as well as unexpected shifts in sound and mood. They play bright and crispy post-punk songs that combine a talky, angularity with indie-prog, rock, and folk electronica, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Albatross 2.Nearly Daffodils 3. Albert Road
Composer, guitarist, and instrument builder Paolo Angeli is from the Italian island of Sardinia, and his instrument began as a chiterra sarda, a large, slightly deeper member of the guitar family. But over the years he has added multiple layers of strings: harp strings, sitar strings, motorized hammers, pickups, propellers, movable bridges, kalimba, and so much more – attached to the body of the guitar to help multiply the sonic possibilities. Then, there are the pedals! Paolo Angeli, as a one-man-orchestra with foot percussion, and traditional Sardinian vocals, performs new compositions from his latest, Nijar, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Monologo de la Luna 2. Nijar 3. Ramas de Suenos 4. Telon 5. A tour of the prepared Sardinian guitar
British singer, songwriter and guitarist Richard Thompson OBE was part of the groundbreaking folk rock band Fairport Convention in the 1960's, made records with his then-wife, Linda Thompson, and has many fan-favourite solo records as well. Rolling Stone lists him as one of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time and the LA Times called him the greatest living songwriter after Bob Dylan. The folk-shredder and troubadour Richard Thompson joins us to play some acoustic solo versions of songs from his 2018 album, called 13 Rivers. (From the Archives.)
Watch the full session here:
The NYC group Zelenaya mixes traditional folk music with heavy metal in ways that are both surprising and convincing. Haunting three part harmonies, doom-laden guitars, pummeling drums – somehow it all comes together in Zelenaya’s debut album, called simply, Folk Songs. The band has both confused and carried away audiences at campground diasporic folk festivals and at death metal shows; serving up music for those who are into Ukrainian choirs, Mussorgsky, math rock and Tuareg guitar bands, Black Sabbath, and Bolt Thrower. In what is likely the first instance of a blast beat and a wall of amps in the Soundcheck Studio, Zelenaya sculpts Eastern European folk tunes into doom metal-laden arrangements, sung in Ukrainian and Georgian, in-studio. (-John Schaefer/Caryn Havlik)
Set list: 1. Hora Za Horoyu (Ukrainian) (Mountain Beyond Mountains) 2. Okro Mch’edelo (Georgian) (Goldsmith) 3. Oy Letilo Kupailo (Ukrainian) (Oh, Kupalo Flew)
The Tuareg singer and guitarist Mdou Moctar is from Niger, and his music career began with his songs being shared across mobile phone trading networks in West Africa. Now, as an ambassador of the Agadez sound, he plays his songs on the world’s biggest music stages, including Coachella, and, coming soon, Bonnaroo and Glastonbury. Moctar and his band combine rock and psychedelia, often in the "Desert Blues" style of loping and sometimes accelerating threes. Mdou Moctar’s latest album is called Funeral for Justice, and features his most fiery guitar playing yet. He and his band are here, to stretch out and play this perhaps trancey music for staying lifted, in-studio.
They play at Bowery Ballroom on June 25 and at Warsaw in Brooklyn on June 26.
- Imouhar 2. Modern Slaves 3. Imajighen
The duo called Ringdown makes what they refer to as electronic cinematic pop from Portland, Oregon. But there are also elements of folk and classical music in their songs, which makes sense given who they are. Ringdown is Caroline Shaw, Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and musician, and Danni Lee Parpan, folk-rock singer and songwriter. Together, they have a handful of Grammys, and a "Best Drum Major" Award - and they have begun releasing songs about love, and heartbreak, and dancing. They present a preview of new music - using synths, violin, keyboard, voices, and processing - from their forthcoming EP, in-studio.
Ringdown headlines the closing night celebration of ChamberQUEER 2024: Constellation, in Brooklyn on Sunday, June 16.
Set list: 1. Reckoning 2. Thirst 3. Two-Step
The band called Tipa Tipo comes from Brooklyn via Peru. The trio plays an unexpectedly danceable mix of tropical Latin funk, cumbia, disco, and yacht rock. With their synthesizers, guitar, and tight vocal harmonies, they offer a kind of retro 70s sound, but with a modern, feminist sensibility and lyrics sung mostly in Spanish. Tipa Tipo play songs from their latest record, Cintas, in-studio, with all of the cowbells.
Set list: 1 Poco Tiempo 2 Grifo 3 Ataque de Medianoche
Julia Holter’s could be in the realm of contemporary classical music, experimental pop, and ambient music. Often dreamy and elusive, her songs defy easy description. As likely to work with adventurous rockers as with contemporary classical musicians, Holter has an unusually keen ear for unexpected sounds. Take her song, “Evening Mood,” where hazy layers of vocals swirl over a rhythm section that seems more about the feeling of movement than the actual sound of it – and it turns out the basis of the song is a heavily processed heartbeat. Her latest record, built around the waterlike flow of the body's internal sound world, is called Something in the Room She Moves. Julia Holter and her band play new music, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Spinning 2. Marienbad 3. Talking to the Whisper
The alternative rock band Guster, formed over bongos and acoustic guitars at Tufts University in 1991, has built its reputation on their striking vocal harmonies, their close connection to their fans, and their sense of humor. So in the wake of Taylor Swift’s bank-busting Eras tour, Guster embarked on their own tour, which they called "We Also Have Eras" – a reminder of their enduring presence and road warrior work ethic on the music scene for over 30 years. Guster has a new record out, their first in 5 years, called Ooh La La, and it brings the band back to our studio for a live set, with bongos.
Set list: 1. Keep Going 2. Black Balloon 3. Satellite (with Max Fine, piano)
Grace Cummings, the Australian singer and songwriter from Melbourne, has a strikingly rich and commanding voice, the kind that can cut through a big production. Which is good because Cummings has become known for her love of big, dramatic productions and gothic atmospheres. Her new album, Ramona, made in L.A., goes for a cinematic, emotional sound, and it brings Grace Cummings and her band to play some of her songs, in slightly smaller arrangements, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Common Man 2. Ramona 3. Work Today (And Tomorrow)
Ramona by Grace Cummings
Graham Haynes, the Bahia, Brazil-based composer, cornetist, and bandleader, “expands and confounds what we understand as jazz and electronic music.” His work grows out of a keen sense of New York’s many histories of music and musical movement, (Graham Haynes’ Instagram.) Haynes has played with jazz luminaries like Vijay Iyer, the late Pharoah Sanders, and of course his own dad, the famed drummer Roy Haynes. But he has always been interested in other styles – electronic music, hip hop, traditional music from other parts of the world, and contemporary classical music. Haynes, along with New York-based multi-instrumentalist Lucie Vitkova, do some improvisations involving cornet, electronics, accordion, synthesizer and more, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Improvisation 1 2. Improvisation with hichiriki / cornet
New York’s The Jazz Passengers – despite the name – don’t just play jazz. Founded in 1987 by sax player Roy Nathanson and trombonist Curtis Fowlkes, the band has worked with spoken word artists, rock stars like Elvis Costello and Deborah Harry, and theatrical elements that have an almost modernist vaudeville flavor. Over the years the band would become a place where some of New York’s most creative musicians could spread their wings and have some fun.
Their new album, Big Large, is a journey back through the band’s long musical history – it is also the last album made with Curtis Fowlkes, who died last year. The Jazz Passengers is now a mix of the veterans and a new generation, and Roy Nathanson has led them all to our studio to play tunes by turns angular and searing, warm and masterful from the band’s repertoire.
Band members: Roy Nathanson, sax, voice; with Bill Ware, vibes; Brad Jones, bass; EJ Rodriguez, drums; Marc Ribot, guitar; Sam Bardfeld, violin; Lucy Hollier (Curtis' student, now playing his trombone); Isaiah Barr, sax; Gabe Nathanson, voice and trumpet.
Set list: 1. Tikkun 2. Kidnapped 3. Jolly Street
Big Large: In Memory of Curtis Fowlkes by The Jazz Passengers
Alice Merton burst out of the starting gate with her 2016 single "No Roots", a song that celebrated her nomadic upbringing in four different countries. Since then, the British-based German-Irish-Canadian singer-songwriter has released two albums of songs with somewhat introspective, perhaps brooding lyrics, set to uplifting and sunny melodies. When we last checked in with her in 2019, she’d just released her debut LP called Mint and was living in Germany. She has lately been touring on music from her new EP called Heron, and plays a stripped-down intimate set, in-studio, including her rearranged single, "No Roots".
Set list: 1. Don’t Leave Me Alone With My Thoughts 2. Run Away Girl 3. No Roots
Singer Kiran Ahluwalia was born in India, grew up in Canada, and is largely based here in New York. Her music reflects her transcontinental upbringing, as she mixes the sounds of traditional South Asian song forms with Western rock and jazz. A two-time JUNO (Canadian Grammy) winner, Ahluwalia’s work has featured collaborations with leading musicians from the Celtic and Fado worlds, as well as Malian super group, Tinariwen. Her six-piece band includes electric guitar, tabla, drum kit, accordion/organ and electric bass and is led by guitarist Rez Abbasi, a Pakistani-American who is also Ahluwalia’s husband. Her latest album, Comfort Food, features songs that protest Hindu fundamentalism in India and the nationalism that continues to stir conflicts between India and Pakistan and celebrates pancakes… Kiran Ahluwalia and her band perform some of these songs in-studio. - Caryn Havlik
Set list: 1. Dil 2. Tera Jugg 3. Pancake
Shabaka Hutchings, now Shabaka, has been a crucial and connected London-based musician for years, leading arena dance-jazz band Sons of Kemet, cosmic psych-dub-funk trio The Comet Is Coming, and the collaborative band Shabaka & the Ancestors. He began incorporating layered flutes on the last Sons of Kemet record Black to the Future, and kept on picking up more and other woodwinds, first on his 2022 ambient meditation, Afrikan Culture, and now on his new full-length, Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace. On it, Shabaka plays flutes: the Slavic woodwind called svirel, Japanese shakuhachi, Andean quena, and even clarinet. Plus, rapper and flutist André 3000 contributes flute to “I’ll Do Whatever You Want”.
This time, in his visit to our studio, Shabaka, together with Charles Overton on harp and Austin Williamson on drums, play some of the songs from Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace. Plus, Shabaka talks us through the different flutes in his bow case, including a clay turtle ocarina and a non-student shakuhachi. Read more on Shabaka’s Shakuhachi journey via SoundAmerican. – Caryn Havlik
Set list: 1. Insecurities / As the Planets and the Stars Collapse 2. Living 3. I'll Do Whatever You Want
José James has often been called a “jazz singer for the hip hop generation,” having come to jazz through tracing hip hop samples and over the course of twelve records, he’s also incorporated R&B, soul, rock, funk, and Latin music into his songs. While he’s mostly sung his own music over the years, he has occasionally covered songs by some of his favorite artists: Bill Withers, Gil Scott-Heron, Erykah Badu and Billie Holiday.
James has just released a new album called 1978, which sees him looking back, past hip hop, to the soul music of the 70s. But this is soul music with a message; songs like “For Trayvon” make that clear. But it’s also message-music with soul: José James closes the album with “38th & Chicago,” which has a jazzy bassline, an almost bossa nova guitar sound, and a Caribbean lilt in the percusson. José James and his band play some of these hot grooves in-studio. -John Schaefer
Set list: 1. Let's Get It 2. Planet Nine 3. Saturday Night (Need You Now)
American indie rock-chamber collective, San Fermin, has been making lush, wide-angled Baroque-pop songs for more than a decade. The band was founded by keyboardist Brooklyn-based Ellis Ludwig Leone, who has multiple creative outlets as a songwriter, classical composer, and founding partner (with bandmate Allen Tate) of a record label focused on collaborations. The latest batch of 'immediate pop' songs on the 2024 album, Arms, is about things falling apart, but the process of making it brought people together, (Brooklyn Magazine). The band San Fermin plays some of these new songs, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Weird Environment 2. Didn't Want You To 3. Arms
France-based Cameroonian musician and composer Blick Bassy’s quiet and beautiful songs fall somewhere on the spectrum of soul, folk, and electro, while the sounds of West and Central Africa have continued to resonate and embody a deep reverence for the traditional music of Cameroon and other parts of Africa. Past albums by Bassy have also referenced Delta blues, and his latest effort, Mádibá, dedicated to the theme of water, is full of modern electronic beats, delicate guitars, brass arrangements, and rich Bassa vocals. His Bandcamp calls it "Africanity at the crossroads of soul, folk, and electro". Blick Bassy is about to release an extended version of that 2023 LP; it’s called Mádibá Ni Mbondi and is due out on May 17. Catch him on tour in the U.S.A. this May. -Caryn Havlik
Set List: 1."Loba" 2."Hola Me" 3."Li Yanga"
Mádibá Ni Mbondi by Blick Bassy
Vocalist and songwriter Lizz Wright is usually referred to as a jazz or gospel singer, and she certainly does sing both of those styles. But she’s also comfortable with blues and R&B and the Great American Songbook. Her latest album is called Shadow, and it features striking versions of songs by Cole Porter, Sandy Denny, and others. The record also includes a number of Lizz Wright’s own songs, which draw inspiration from her Southern upbringing in Georgia, and wander freely among the many styles of American music. “Shadow” happens to be Wright's studio debut under her label, Blues & Greens Records, a new step in her artistic freedom, and without the genre constraints imposed by record labels. Lizz Wright and her band perform some of these acoustic songs, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Sparrow 2. Circling 3. Your Love
Reyna Tropical is led by guitarist, singer, songwriter and co-producer Fabi Reyna, who is the founder of She Shreds Media, dedicated to women and non-binary guitarists. Investigating landscapes of the tropical diaspora - from Cartagena, Colombia to Fajardo, Puerto Rico and Cuaji (la costa chica de Guerrero), the latest release, Malegría, is a collection of 20 tracks infused with the beat of all things tropical. The music is a blend of Latin rhythms with rock, dance music, and psychedelia and offers connection to the land and the ancestors as well as resilience, and a continuation—a celebration of spiritual survival pulsing with sunny dance beats. Reyna Tropical plays in-studio. - Caryn Havlik
Set list: 1. Suavecito 2. Catagena 3. Conexion Ancestral
Malegría by Reyna Tropical
Brooklyn-born rapper, producer & founding member of Flatbush Zombies, Erick the Architect released his debut solo LP, I’ve Never Been Here Before, in February. While it’s full of trenchant social commentary, it’s also focused on dealing with loss and finding freedom in vulnerability. The tracks draw from funk, gospel, soul, reggae and jazz, with throughlines to musical greats like John Coltrane and George Clinton (who contributed to the album). Erick the Architect and his touring trio bring their elastic funk basslines, character studies, killer beats, and spacey sound effects to perform in-studio.
Set list: 1. Ezekiel's Wheel 2. Beef Patty 3. Liberate
I've Never Been Here Before by Erick the Architect
Deerlady is the name of the band led by singer and bassist Mali Obomsawin and guitarist and singer Magdalena Abrego. Mali was part of the folk rock trio called Lula Wiles; then she released her album of Indigenous jazz called Sweet Tooth in 2022, drawing heavily on her Abenaki heritage. Magdalena, a Chicago-born guitarist whose parents migrated from Mexico and Puerto Rico, has played with the minimalism-meets-jazz collective known as Numinous, as well as the improvising sax player Allison Burik. In January, the two of them released their first album together, with the cheeky title Greatest Hits, “a collection of songs about intimacy under colonialism by Mali Obomsawin" (Bandcamp), and it sees the two of them turning the amps to 11 and pairing softly sung vocals with roaring guitars. Deerlady plays their shoegazey headbangers, in stripped-down arrangements, in-studio. - Caryn Havlik
- Masterpieces 2. Believer 3. There There
Greatest Hits by Deerlady, Mali Obomsawin, Magdalena Abrego,
London vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and producer Cosmo Sheldrake creates songs and sound worlds out of people, places, creatures, plants, fungi, and collected sounds. With his combination of traditional instrumentation and electronic production, field recordings, and both human and more-than-human voices (birdsong and insect choruses), Sheldrake pursues adventures in song, capturing the childlike wonder of a curious tea party, and staying connected to the natural world throughout. Cosmo Sheldrake juxtaposes these orchestrated natural sounds with his racks of gear to share his marvelous sound world in some songs from his latest, Eye to the Ear, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Stop the Music 2. I Did and I Don't and I Do 3. Does the Swallow Dream of Flying?
Eye To The Ear by Cosmo Sheldrake
Honduran-American artist Lorely Rodriguez, known professionally as Empress Of, is a singer, songwriter, musician and record producer based in Los Angeles, California. Her albums are full of bright, indie pop that mixes dance music, electronica, trap, and on her most recent album, Latin music. Empress Of’s new album, her fourth, is called For Your Consideration, and it’s a mischievous exploration of heartbreak, affairs, regaining your sexiness, and pursuing lust and control. Empress Of plays some stripped down versions of some of the new songs, in-studio. - Caryn Havlik
Set list: 1.Lorelei 2. Kiss Me 3. What's Love
Welsh musician and songwriter Gruff Rhys (of Super Furry Animals, the pop outfit known for their catchy songs and weird videos) poetically harnesses both the gritty and the trippy in his own music. But he’s also a composer, producer, filmmaker and author. His latest release, the 25th album of his career (individually, collaboratively and as a member of various bands), is a solo album called Sadness Sets Me Free, sung in English, and left open to chance. Rhys and his bandmates play some of these new songs, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Bad Friend 2. Sadness Sets Me Free 3. Celestial Candyfloss
Sadness Sets Me Free by Gruff Rhys
Formed in North London, Bombay Bicycle Club is the sound of four best friends finding joy and savoring the connection in making music together and experimenting. They think of themselves as a genre-less band (The Independent), “not bound down by genre in a way that a lot of our contemporaries were”. With the 2023 release of My Big Day, and an EP called Fantasies, both of which feature a host of guest vocalists, it’s clear that they’re still freely mixing sounds and cover a lot of ground, sonically. Bombay Bicycle Club plays an unplugged set in-studio.
Set list: 1. Turn The World On 2. Diving 3. Luna
The Japanese singer/composer/producer Hatis Noit, is originally from the northernmost island of Hokkaido. Her name, hatis noit ハチスノイト, means the stem of the lotus flower and is intended to serve as a connection between the living world (represented by the lotus flower) and the spirit world (the lotus root). Further, Hatis Noit feels that singing is not unlike Tai chi, and is a way to connect the physical world to the spiritual world and nature.
Now based in London and using vocal techniques she’s adapted from around the world, Hatis Noit makes music by using electronics to layer and occasionally process her voice. She sings in a pure, Renaissance vocal style, in the keening tradition of the Balkans, in the style of Japanese gagaku or court music, and in a classical operatic mode… sometimes all in the same song. The Japanese singer and electronic musician Hatis Noit creates these choirs of sound all by herself, using a looping station, live, in-studio. - Caryn Havlik
Set list: 1. Aura 2. Himbrimi 3. Inori
Spanish singer and songwriter Maria José Llergo grew up in the region of Andalucia, the home of flamenco music, where she learned violin, and listened to her grandfather sing. From these roots, she grows her own flamenco - and it has "wings" - the sounds of contemporary pop, R&B, and electronica to augment and transform the style. Where there could be flamenco guitar and the "torn throat" crying vocals of flamenco singing, her music is soaring and buoyant global pop, showcasing her instrument - her voice. Maria José Llergo and her band perform in-studio. - Caryn Havlik
Set list: 1. Juramento 2. SuperPoder 3. Aprendiendo A Volar
Watch "Aprendiendo A Volar":
The “distinctive style” of British composer and musician Roger Eno’s slowly unfolding sonic landscapes has “attracted a cult following” (Eno’s bio). As well as first collaborating with his brother Brian and Daniel Lanois in 1983 on Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks, he has made over a dozen solo albums and other collaborative pieces. He’s composed for theatre, TV, and film; formed the ambient music supergroup Channel Light Vessel in the 90s; collaborated with The Orb, Lou Reed, Laraaji, Jarvis Cocker and Beck; and was the Musical Director for Tim Robbins and his band, The Rogues Gallery, (RogerEno.com).
In 2020 the album Mixing Colours by Roger and Brian Eno brough him to the prestigious classical music label Deutsche Grammophon. Roger’s latest solo release for that label is called the skies, they shift like chords, and includes solo piano tracks, layers of instrumental and electronic colours, along with an appearance by vocalist Cecily Eno, his daughter. Roger Eno and Cecily Eno perform in-studio.
Set list: 1. There Was a Ship 2. Shadow Clock 3. Tapestry
The Tibetan singer Yungchen Lhamo was given the name Lhamo at birth by a Buddhist monk. The name means Goddess Of Melody, and Yungchen has spent her adult life living up to that title. After fleeing Tibet by walking over the Himalayas, in 1989, she established herself as a leading voice for Tibetan culture in the west, releasing a series of albums on Peter Gabriel’s Real World Record label and has become one of the signature voices on the global music scene, even singing for the Dalai Lama. In her work, she combines songs, prayers, and mantras dedicated to spiritual awakening, unconditional love, and compassion for all beings. Now based in upstate New York, she’s put the principles of Tibetan Buddhism to work not only in her music, but also in her activities leading the One Drop Of Kindness Foundation. Her latest album is also called One Drop of Kindness, and it brings Yungchen Lhamo back to our studio.
Set list: 1. Sound Healing 2. Sun and Moon (acapella) 3. Four Wishes
Daymé Arocena, an Afro-Cuban singer from Havana now based in Puerto Rico, has been performing semi-professionally since she was 8 years old. She was trained as a composer, arranger, choir director, and band leader (Wikipedia) at conservatory, in addition to being “a practitioner of the Santeria religion, and a master of its profound musical tradition,” (Afropop Worldwide). Arocena was also part of the band Maqueque, an all-female band of young Cuban artists blending folkloric Cuban music and jazz (NPR Music).
Since emerging as a solo artist, her songwriting has been a winning mix of jazz, soul, Caribbean, rumba, and folkloric music, imbued with Yoruban spirituality. But her latest release, Alkemi, celebrates the sounds of North American and Latin pop, intentionally so, as she picked Eduardo Cabra of Calle 13 to help produce on the album, which also features guests and sounds from around the Caribbean. Daymé Arocena and her band play some of the songs from Alkemi, in-studio. - Caryn Havlik
Set list: 1. America Boy 2. Como Vivir Por El 3. Por Ti
The singer and songwriter Sheherazaad blends the rich tradition of poetry and music from South Asia with Western instruments and production techniques. Her new album, Qasr, was produced by Grammy-winning Pakistani-American singer Arooj Aftab, and it offers a subtly colored, moody collection of songs that, in the tradition of the old collection 1001 Nights, tell stories. Stories that conjure "real strains of displacement, the push and pull of diaspora, and the depravity of erasure and forgotten roots", (Erased Tapes). Sheherazaad and her ensemble perform the music of her origins, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Dhund Lo Mujhe 2. Khatam 3. Koshish
Haitian-American composer, flutist, vocalist, and educator Nathalie Joachim is half of the duo Flutronix, whose music blends classical flute playing with electronic sounds. She also played for a spell in the Grammy-winning contemporary classical music ensemble Eighth Blackbird. But in 2019 Nathalie began exploring her family’s roots in Haiti with a striking album called Famn d’Ayiti, using flute, string quartet, electronics, field recordings and her own singing. Now, she’s continued that exploration with a new album called Ki moun ou ye, or Who Are You / and the Kreyol meaning is Who Claims You? On it, her precisely assembled original songs and compositions explore ideas about family, ancestry, and identity using recorded voices of family members, along with her own flute riffs and voice, and percussive elements. Nathalie Joachim presents music from her latest album called Ki moun ou ye, or "Who Are You / Who Claims You?", in-studio.
Set list: 1. Kenbe m 2. Kouti Yo 3. Ki moun ou ye
Singer, songwriter, guitarist, and educator Mary Timony has been a hugely influential figure on the indie and alternative rock scenes for over 30 years. Starting with the band Autoclave in 1990, she went on to front the group Helium for much of the 1990s, was a member of the supergroup Wild Flag, and is a guitarist and singer of the band Ex Hex. Her latest album, Untame The Tiger, is a solo record – her first in at least 15 years – is full of tasty guitar licks and thoughtful lyrics. Mary Timony and her band play some of the new tunes, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Summer 2. No Thirds 3. The Guest
Helado Negro is the avant pop project of Roberto Carlos Lange, born in Florida to Ecuadorian parents but for many years based in Brooklyn. In recent years he’s moved around a bit (Marfa, TX!) and is now based in Asheville NC, which is where he made his new dreamscapey bilingual avant-pop album called Phasor. While it definitely has the dreamy, warm sound of an Helado Negro album, it also feels different - the grooves are more prominent and there are new sonic textures we haven’t heard before, perhaps due to inspiration from Pauline Oliveros’ Deep Listening, Foley sound art, and many other sources – including what the sun feels like.
Set list: 1. Echo Tricks Me 2. Out There 3. Best For You And Me
The American Patchwork Quartet is a group that reflects the American melting pot – the patchwork quilt of people who’ve come and made the U.S.A. their home. APQ features two-time Grammy winner Clay Ross, of the band Ranky Tanky, drummer Clarence Penn, and two musicians who immigrated from Asia: the singer Falu (from India) and bassist Yasushi Nakamura (from Japan). Their debut, untitled album is just out, and includes fresh, often Indian-tinged arrangements of old fiddle tunes, folk hymns, and early blues. As the famed folksong collector and producer Alan Lomax said, “America has a patchwork culture made of the dreams and songs of all its people.” The American Patchwork Quartet performs their take on old folk songs in-studio.
Set list: 1. Wayfaring Stranger 2. Lazy John 3. Shenandoah
Ethan Lipton writes plays, and songs, and sometimes, plays with songs. His musical No Place To Go won an Obie for its trenchant take on the decline of the American workspace, and in another musical, The Outer Space, a couple finds that they can flee planet earth but not its problems. Ethan Lipton & His Orchestra, according to their own biography, offer "modern lounge with a chewy singer-songwriter center" with songs that may present a melancholy wit and a cockeyed worldview. Ethan Lipton & His Orchestra, his longstanding four-piece band, have a new album out, called Did You Do The Thing We Talked About, and they play some of these songs in-studio.
Set list: 1. Mess That Summer 2. To Have Done It 3. Crazy for New York
Pianist and composer Vijay Iyer first got together with bassist and composer Linda May-Han Oh and drummer/composer Tyshawn Sorey in 2021, when they released their brilliant album Uneasy. But with all three musicians having such busy careers, it seemed like it might be a kind of musical summit – the sort of thing that only happens once. Now, those same three gifted players have released a second album called Compassion, on which the trio's connected interplay can seem telepathic, as the musicians imagine future possibilities with warmth and clarity. The Vijay Iyer Trio plays some of these newer works, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Tempest 2. Compassion 3. Ghostrumental
NYC-based rock unit Bodega makes artful post-punk songs with brawny, catchy riffs and shouty gang vocals. Their lyrics contain politically-minded and perhaps cheeky commentaries on advertising, technology, pop culture, high art - and how we consume it all; oh- and on gentrification as well. They play bracing new tunes from the forthcoming album, Our Brand Could Be Yr Life, in-studio. -Caryn Havlik
Set list: 1. Tarkovski 2. Shiny New Model 3. City Is Taken
Our Brand Could Be Yr Life by BODEGA
Guitarist and songwriter John Leventhal has spent almost a half century producing, playing for, and co-writing with some of the music world’s most familiar names – Elvis Costello, Shawn Colvin, Jim Lauderdale, Marc Cohn, Joan Osborne, Sarah Jarosz, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Willie Nelson, and of course, Rosanne Cash, to whom Leventhal is married. He’s won a fistful of Grammys, but the one thing he hasn’t done in all that time is a solo record. Until now. Rumble Strip is a collection of instrumentals, a few songs, and a surprising cover or two. John Leventhal plays some of these tunes in-studio.
- Floyd Cramer's Dream 2. JL's Hymn No. 2 3. That's All I Know About Arkansas
Bobby Rush is in the Blues Hall of Fame, and he’s won three Grammy awards. The first came when he was 83, the second four years later, and the third most recently this month. Now 90 years old, Bobby Rush still tours, dancing around the stage like a guy half – no, a quarter of his age, and not even COVID could stop him from writing and recording his latest album, called All My Love For You. Bobby Rush demonstrates how he put the funk into the blues, recounts what it was like enduring within the music business (he owns all his own publishing), and tells tales while playing the blues, in-studio. -Caryn Havlik
Set list: 1. Let Me In Your House 2. Chicken Heads 3. Garbage Man
Trumpeter, singer and composer Keyon Harrold gained a lot of attention for his contribution to the Don Cheadle film Miles Ahead, where he played all of the Miles Davis parts on that Grammy-winning soundtrack. But Keyon’s first professional gig was with the rapper Common, and throughout his career he’s moved effortlessly between the worlds of jazz, hip hop, soul and R&B, as a trumpeter, and, as a singer and songwriter. His new album, his third, is called Foreverland, and Keyon Harrold and his band PLAY some of it, in-studio. (Serious emphasis on play. The band is a joy to watch! – Caryn Havlik)
Set List: 1. Find Your Peace, feat. Stout 2. Don't Lie, feat. Malaya 3. Beautiful Day, feat. Malaya and Stout
Foreverland by keyon harrold
The German-born, New York-based singer and actress Ute Lemper's career has spanned a century of songs from the worlds of cabaret jazz, avant-garde pop, musical theater, even contemporary classical music. But when she sings the music of Kurt Weill, a much earlier German-born, NY-based artist, she has few equals. So when Carnegie Hall decided to launch its series exploring the music of the Weimar Republic, Ute Lemper had to have a featured role to play. On Friday, Feb. 9, she’ll be performing her tribute to Weimar Berlin at Zankel Hall, and she’s in the studio to give us a preview of what that’ll sound like. Ticket info for Ute Lemper at Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall in the round on Feb. 9.
Set list: 1. Solomon Song/Pirate Jenny 2. Cabaret Songs (Medley of Sexual Liberation) 3. En Brecht/ Die Moritat von Mackie Messer
London-based country-folk-pop outfit The Wandering Hearts are known for their deft fingerpicking, rousing choruses, dark-hued lyrics, and sweet, close vocal harmonies. Their music is a blend of Laurel Canyon and British folk sensibilities, heartfelt songwriting and storytelling, and was a great fit at the recent official Americana Fest showcase in Nashville, TN. The Wandering Hearts play new songs from their latest release, ‘Mother’, in-studio.
Set list: 1. River to Cry 2. Not Misunderstood 3. About America
The singer Britti is from Louisiana, and her debut LP, winningly titled Hello, I’m Britti, is like being introduced to someone who somehow already feels familiar. Britti’s songs are full of the classic sounds of vintage soul, New Orleans funk, blues, and even country/heartland rock. Her sultry croon, ranging from Sade-meets-second line to shimmering country-pop (like her childhood favorite Dolly Parton), on her Dan Auerbach-produced debut album, lounges atop a hazy retro vibe with both country twang and a horn section. Britti plays some of these new songs in a stripped-down setting with just voice and guitar, in-studio.
Set list: 1. So Tired 2. Nothing Compares to You 3. Keep Running
Sudanese-American bandleader Sinkane, aka Ahmed Gallab, weaves the sounds of Afrobeat, disco, soul, even krautrock into his irresistible, dance-ready songs. With his latest, We Belong, due out in April, Sinkane found inspiration in Black Arts, Music and Culture and sought out collaborations across a New York community of artists, musicians, poets, and authors. Those full gospel harmonies, a deeper understanding of composition, and connecting with people all generate a message of hope and belonging, and of shaking it. As Sinkane has quoted of late in some interviews, “Free your mind and your ass will follow!”
Set list: 1. Everything is Everything 2. How Sweet Is Your Love 3. We Belong
American pianist Lara Downes has been redefining what it means to be a classical musician, often by expanding our definition of classical music. She’s championed the works of women and Black composers; she’s been a cultural activist and a broadcaster. Now, she’s commissioned a radical new arrangement of Gershwin's "Rhapsody In Blue" by Puerto Rican composer Edmar Colón, to mark the 100th anniversary of Gershwin’s iconic piece. Lara Downes and Edmar Colón play some of "Rhapsody in Blue, Reimagined", in-studio.
Set List: 1. Love Will Find A Way (Eubie Blake) 2. My Lord What A Mornin’ (trad/arr. H.T. Burleigh) / On Bended Knees (Burleigh arr of Nobody Knows The Trouble I’ve Seen) 3. Study in Blue (Gershwin/Edmar Colón)
Canadian-based Afro-Cuban duo OKAN takes their name from the word for heart/soul in the Afro Cuban religion Santeria. Both co-leaders, composers and multi- instrumentalists Elizabeth Rodriguez and Magdelys Savigne are classically-trained musicians (violin and percussion and orchestration); and their music combines the traditional chants and rhythms of the Afro-Cuban tradition with jazz, electronica, and pop. The Juno-Award winning OKAN plays compositions from their latest record, Okantomi, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Oriki Oshun 2. Okantomi 3. La Reina del Norte
Self-described “lifelong hustler,” Xavier Amin Dphrepaulezz, is better known by his stage name Fantastic Negrito, and makes “black roots music for everyone” - blues with a giant undercurrent of punkass. Fantastic Negrito’s songs tell of a hard life with some complete do-overs and a few near-death experiences. Coming from a crossroads with optional deals, his music might be informed just as much by California funk-punk (Bad Brains and Fishbone), hip hop, thrash metal, punk, Prince and his self-taught ways - specifically Dirty Mind (according to this Guardian interview) and the blues records he’d heard as a kid, visiting family in southern Virginia.
Lately, his tunes have been placed and licensed for TV and film series (Empire, Hand of God, and in the case of his song “Working Poor,” Bernie Sanders’ political campaign.) But back in the early 2000's he had co-founded a record label, which grew into Oakland-based multimedia creative collective, the Blackball Universe cooperative, fed and financed with the publishing royalties of his own musical alter egos Chocolate Butterfly, Me and This Japanese Guy and Blood Sugar X.
Fantastic Negrito's 2018 record, Please Don’t Be Dead, references his own near-fatal car crash, and is driven in part by political and social issues in these broken and fractured times. The record is full of heavy riffs, cheeky songwriting, playful musicianship, and a whole lot of surviving. It brings Fantastic Negrito to the studio to play some of these tunes. -by Caryn Havlik
Watch the individual songs below:
The singer and guitarist Lau Noah is based here in New York, but she’s originally from Catalonia in Spain, and her guitar playing reflects the sounds of Spanish classical and flamenco music. But there are also elements of Latin American music, jazz, pop, even bluegrass on her latest album. That’s because that record, called A Dos, is (as the title implies) a series of duets with people like jazz singer Cecile McLorin Salvant, mandolinist Chris Thile, and pop star Jacob Collier. Lau Noah with fellow singer Elliott Skinner, plays some of these duets, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Wooden Chair 2. Siete Lágrimas 3. If a Tree Falls in Love with a River
Lau Noah's album release show for A Dos is on January 23rd at Joe's Pub
Nashville-based Brooklyn-born The Lone Bellow blends passionate, acoustic-based blues, country, and roots music into folky Americana with three-part vocal harmonies. They first brought their ever-shifting blend of American folk music and heartland rock to our studio before that first album even came out, and they’ve joined us at various points during their 10 year journey. The Lone Bellow plays songs built around warm, twangy guitar riffs, and a single old-timey microphone, in-studio, to celebrate their tenth anniversary.
Set list: 1. Green Eyes and a Heart of Gold 2. Cost of Living 3. Honey
Singer and multi-instrumentalist Louis Michot won a Grammy with his band the Lost Bayou Ramblers, a group that takes the Cajun tradition and adds a healthy dose of punk energy and occasional electronics. Now, he’s released a solo album called Rêve du Troubadour – the troubadour’s dream – and it’s full of traditional Cajun sounds married to contemporary beats, whistled choruses, and guest musicians like Bombino, the Tuareg guitarist from Niger, and the cellist Layla McCalla. Louis Michot and his trio play some of these old melodies, enhanced with field recordings and danceable beats, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Amourette 2. Rêve du Troubadour 3. Chanquaillie/Acadiana Culture Backstep
Hear favorite live performances from the WNYC studios this year: music by Indigenous two-spirit song carrier and activist Jeremy Dutcher; electronically-enhanced piano-based work by German-Swiss duo Grandbrothers; and Irish garage-punk band Sprints. Also, there's the quiet thrill and expressive song-play of Argentinian vocalist Sofía Rei and Peruvian bass player Jorge Roeder. Plus, listen to partly composed, and partly improvised music from Serbian quartet EYOT.
ARTIST: Jeremy DutcherWORK: Honor Song [4:29]RECORDING: Live on Soundcheck, Oct. 2023SOURCE: This performance not commercially available. INFO: jeremydutcher.com
ARTIST: GrandbrothersWORK: Blood Flow [5:55]RECORDING: Live on Soundcheck, Sept. 2023SOURCE: This performance not commercially available. INFO: grandbrothersmusic.com
ARTIST: SprintsWORK: Up and Comer [3:44]RECORDING: Live on Soundcheck, Dec. 2023SOURCE: This performance not commercially available. The song appears on the album, Letter to SelfINFO: https://www.sprintsmusic.com/
ARTIST: Sofía Rei and Jorge RoederWORK: Días de Sitio [2:54]RECORDING: Live on Soundcheck, Aug. 2023SOURCE: This performance not commercially available. The song appears on the album, Coplas EscondidasINFO: https://jorgeroeder.bandcamp.com/album/coplas-escondidas
ARTIST: EYOTWORK: 557799 [5:57]RECORDING: Recorded for the Soundcheck Podcast, May 2023SOURCE: This performance is not commercially availableINFO: A version appears on 557799
Hear favorite live performances from the WNYC studios this year: including Mercury Prize-winning London Afrobeat-jazz-hip hop quintet Ezra Collective; drummer Allison Miller’s chamber jazz band (with tap dance!); and beatmaker/bandleader Kassa Overall’s jazz meets rap and sound design. Plus, the furiously exhilarating post-punk of Atlanta-born quartet Algiers; and Mexican singer Magos Herrera with members of Brooklyn’s own The Knights.
Playlist:
ARTIST: Ezra CollectiveWORK: No Confusion [5:01]RECORDING: Live on the Soundcheck PodcastSOURCE: This performance not commercially available. The song appears on the album, Where I'm Meant To BeINFO: https://ezracollective.bandcamp.com/album/where-im-meant-to-be
ARTIST: Allison MillerWORK: Hudson [5:12]RECORDING: Live on Soundcheck, Nov. 2023SOURCE: This performance not commercially available. INFO: allisonmiller.com
ARTIST: Magos Herrera, Members of The KnightsWORK: Aire [5:02]RECORDING: Live on Soundcheck, August 2023SOURCE: This performance not commercially available.INFO: https://magosherrera.bandcamp.com/album/aire
ARTIST: Kassa OverallWORK: Make My Way Back Home [4:57]RECORDING: Recorded for the Soundcheck Podcast, July 2023SOURCE: This performance is not commercially available. A version appears on AnimalsINFO: https://www.kassaoverall.com/
ARTIST: AlgiersWORK: Irreversible Damage [5:04]RECORDING: Recorded for the Soundcheck Podcast, April 2023SOURCE: This performance is not commercially available. A version appears on ShookINFO: https://www.algierstheband.com
The phenomenal pianist Stewart Goodyear, known as both an improviser and composer, famously played all 32 of Beethoven's sonatas in one sitting, when he turned 32 years old. In predictably jaw-dropping fashion, Stewart then turned his electrifying powers to Tchaikovsky's 'The Nutcracker,' with his own transcription of the complete ballet. (The album, released in October 2015, was chosen by the New York Times as one of the best classical music recordings of 2015.) He has since recorded Ravel piano works, his own "Callaloo" Suite and Piano Sonata, and Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. He was supposed to have toured with Chineke! Orchestra, playing his "Callaloo" Suite this past year, but well. Yeah. 2020. Instead, we'll revisit this 2015 in-studio performance of pieces from Tchaikovsky's 'The Nutcracker.'
JJJJJerome Ellis describes himself as “a stuttering, Afro-Caribbean composer, poet, and performer.” His last album,The Clearing, was a brilliant mix of sax, electronic music, and storytelling, featuring his own, stuttering voice. But his new project doesn’t involve speech – though it is inspired by prayer. It’s called Compline, named after the old evening prayers of Western Christianity, and it’s a series of contemplative works for solo piano. JJJJJerome Ellis plays improvisations on Compline, his new set of piano works, in-studio.
Set list: Compline Improvisation No. 4, Compline Improvisation No. 2, Compline Improvisation No. 3
Compline in Nine Movements by JJJJJerome Ellis
Nefesh Mountain has established itself over the past ten years as an unusual sort of bluegrass band, playing progressive, Jewish-themed music. The band is led by the husband and wife team of Eric Lindberg and Doni Zasloff and they’ve played with bluegrass legends like Jerry Douglas and Sam Bush. What is different about Nefesh Mountain is the way they incorporate Jewish themes and sometimes even Hebrew lyrics into a style of music that has its roots, in part at least, in Christian gospel music. Nefesh Mountain plays a live set in The Greene Space.
Set list: Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning, The Narrow Bridge, A Sparrow’s Song, A Mighty Roar
Singer and guitarist Anjimile made a striking impression with his 2020 album Giver Taker, a buoyant collection of indie folk pop. Now, he’s returned with a new record called The King, a much darker record that wrestles with Anjimile’s journey as a Black trans person in a divided America. The album draws on a wider range of sounds, including elements of metal and contemporary classical music. Anjimile plays solo, unplugged versions of some of these new songs.
Set list: "Animal" "Anybody" "The King"
Pianist, bandleader and composer Joey Alexander was born in Indonesia and in 2013 at the age of 10, was invited by Wynton Marsalis to perform at the Jazz at Lincoln Center Gala. He spent his teenage years as an interpreter of many jazz classics, playing with Wayne Shorter and Esperanza Spalding, and at major festivals and night clubs, worldwide. In 2022, he released an album of originals rich in melodic and harmonic interplay called Origin. His latest album, a second record of (mostly) his own music, called Continuance, is just out, and it brings Joey Alexander to our piano, to play some of these tunes in a solo setting.
Set list: 1. Blue 2. Aliceanna 3. Why Don't We
Braxton Cook first made a name for himself as a teenager gigging on the Washington DC jazz scene; toured extensively alongside Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah (formerly Christian Scott), and worked in New York where he’s played sax with Jon Batiste (as part of the Soul soundtrack), Christian McBride, and others. But all the time, there was another side of Braxton Cook: the smooth R&B crooner. His latest solo album, Who Are You When No One Is Watching mixes jazz, soul, R&B, and some elements of hip hop production. The material also addresses current issues around injustices and racism, while giving a journaling spin to personal experiences. Braxton Cook and his band play some of these new songs and a tune from his 2018 record, No Doubt, in-studio.
Set list: 1. No Doubt 2. The Same 3. MB
Sprints is a garage-punk band from Dublin where they’re known for take-no-prisoners live shows and claim among their influences the likes of early Pixies, Bauhaus, Siouxsie Sioux, King Gizzard, Savages and LCD Soundsystem. Their first full-length album is called Letter To Self, and amidst the crashing, searing, seething guitars, there is “an exploration of pain, passion and perseverance”, (dedication for the album), and some inward-looking lyrics. Sprints throws down a mix of deadpan delivery and explosive emotion, playing new songs in-studio. - Caryn Havlik
Set list: 1. Adore Adore Adore 2. Up and Comer 3. Literary Mind
Johan Lenox has one of the more unusual resumes in the music world. He’s probably best known as a producer, working with hip hop stars like Travis Scott and Big Sean. But he’s also a singer, pianist, and a composer of contemporary classical music. He’ll produce uncategorizable work with Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Ellen Reid, write music for the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, and cover a Nirvana song, all as part of his omnivorous musical diet. Lenox’s 2023 release is called Johan's Childhood Chamber Nostalgia Album, which leans toward ambient music with an unfocused childlike spirit. Johan Lenox and a small chamber music trio play in-studio.
Set list: "Hopes and Dreams", "Boy With Blurry Eyes", "When I Was Your Age"
Web Extra: "Dumb" by Nirvana
The Minneapolis trio Barbaro grows out of the American bluegrass tradition, but the key words there might be “out of”, as Barbaro doesn’t race through banjo breakdowns and flashy fiddle solos, although they can do those things. The band is something of progressive version of bluegrass – using traditional instrumentation like fiddle and banjo, but drawing inspiration from electronic music and writing songs that may sound pastoral and folky but which often carry a bit of a bite. Barbaro plays new songs from their rootsy chamber music album, About The Winter, and chats about horse racing, in-studio.
Set list: "Subtle Hints", "Gardens", "All My Friends"
Mountain Man, the Appalachian a cappella trio, features the timeless sound of three voices singing in harmony, with an occasional strum of the guitar. They released an album in 2010, a trio of college friends who’d gotten used to singing together, but then went their separate ways after college. All three of them toured for a long time as Feist’s backup singers, and lately Amelia Meath, one third of the trio, has been keeping busy as half of Sylvan Esso. Meath, along with Alexandra Sauser-Monnig and Molly Sarle are back, with their first album in eight years, Magic Ship.
As our colleague Justin Sergi writes, "their immaculate precision of timing and tuning and phrasing, comes from love and friendship and the elemental, historic 'fun' of singing three-part harmony with your friends." "It is a precision that can, perhaps, only be born from family. Which is what they are: family." The family of Mountain Man joins us to perform songs, chat about community in North Carolina, the internet, peace and joy, and Molly's cat, Magic Ship.
Set list:
BoatUnderwearAGT Watch "AGT":
The musician known as No-No Boy is a Vietnamese-American singer and songwriter, real name Julian Saporiti, whose music incorporates the sounds of American folk but adds various Asian instruments and scales, as well as field recordings and found sound. Saporiti took the name No-No Boy from a post-war novel about the treatment of Japanese-Americans after the notorious internment camps set up during the second World War. And his songs often tell stories of marginalized Asian communities that are wrestling with their place in the American melting pot. No-No Boy’s latest album is Empire Electric, and it brings Julian and his band to our studio.
Set list: 1. Jakarta 2. Little Monk 3. Two Candles In the Dark
New York-based drummer, composer, and educator Allison Miller has played with singer/songwriters like Brandi Carlile, Ani DiFranco, or Natalie Merchant, but she’s best known for her own bands, and her own music, which is usually labeled jazz, but you’ll hear elements of rock, funk and folk in there too. She’s the bandleader of the chamber jazz band Boom Tic Boom, and is part of the all-star jazz group Artemis along with many other collaborations. Allison Miller’s latest album, Rivers In Our Veins, features a new band, including several members of Boom Tic Boom but with tap dancers as well.
Allison Miller presents the full multimedia Rivers In Our Veins on Nov. 25 at Roulette.
Commissioned by Mid Atlantic Arts Organization and Lake Placid Center for the Arts, Rivers In Our Veins is inspired by five major rivers of the Northeast United States – the James, Delaware, Potomac, Hudson and Susquehanna – their history, how they serve the communities around them, and how those communities need to better upkeep them. Allison Miller goes deep with research about rivers and social movement — migratory movement — along rivers, as well as what she learned from the River Keepers. [Much more about Rivers In Our Veins.]
Her top-shelf band, with violinist Jenny Scheinman, bassist Todd Sickafoose, clarinetist Ben Goldberg, trumpeter Jason Palmer, and pianist Carmen Staaf, along with two phenomenally talented tap dancers, perform selections from Rivers In Our Veins, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Hudson 2. Of Two Rivers (Part 2) 3. Fierce
Icelandic singer and songwriter Laufey Lín Jónsdóttir, known by the mononym Laufey (pronounced Lay-vay), is having a breakout year. Now based in L.A., the young singer with the timeless-sounding voice crafts songs which look to the great American songbook and the jazz-inflected pop of the mid-20th century. Her roots are in both classical music (she’s a trained cellist) and in jazz and her mission is connecting multiple generations, especially her own, to both jazz and classical music. She plays modern torch songs from her latest album, Bewitched, in-studio. [P.S. Check out Laufey’s online book club.]
Set list: “Promise”, “California and Me”, “From the Start”
The songwriter, pianist, vocalist, and producer Raia Was has become known for her dark art- and alt-pop. She was raised here in New York, and some of the city’s darkness, risk-taking, and energy flow through her songs which may oscillate between brooding intensity and cathartic euphoria. [“You Are" was featured in HBO’s Euphoria.] Raia Was has just released her second record, called Captain Obvious, on a new cooperative record label called Switch Hit Records, and it brings her and her dream band of collaborators play in-studio.
Set list: “What It Feels Like” “Any Evil” “So Close” "Easy To Force It”
Watch "What It Feels Like":
Watch "Any Evil":
Watch "So Close":
Watch "Easy to Force It":
The 2018 release from American pop band Speedy Ortiz, Twerp Verse, speaks smartly to political and social situations of the present from a feminist perspective of truth-telling and is designed, on purpose, to make us uncomfortable lyrically and musically. With songs that airdrop aggressive, unpredictable chord progressions and disorienting rhythms behind enemy lines, this record is music for popping out from the cover of safety, armed with teeth and claws. Speedy Ortiz plays some of these tunes, in-studio. (From the Archives, 2018.)
Son Rompe Pera started as a street band in Mexico City, but the marimba-playing cumbia punks have spent the past six years honing an electrifying and buzzy mix of modern cumbia, tropical dance beats, hard-hitting punk, psychedelic guitars, traditional Mexican and Colombian rhythms, horns, and a pinch of dub and hip hop, (Kennedy Center program notes.) Their 2020 record Batuco, named after the band’s marimba player father, leaned more toward a folkloric, traditional sound by way of nine covers. However, their 2023 record, Chimborazo, delivers 12 originals that really bring the marimba to the mosh pit, including a song where the title is a Chilean expletive and is based on a dream about an alien abduction. Son Rompe Pera slays, in-studio. (-Caryn Havlik)
Set list: "Selva Negra", "La Muerte del Amor", "Chucha"
Watch "Selva Negra":
Singer, rapper, and writer Dessa is a member of the long-running hip hop collective known as Doomtree, though hip hop is just one part of what she does. She has also performed concerts of her songs with the Minnesota Orchestra, published well-received books of essays and audio plays, and hosts the podcast Deeply Human. Dessa, along with harpist Aviva Jaye and saxophonist/keyboardist Joshua Holmgren, play new songs from her 2023 album, called Bury The Lede, in-studio.
Set list: "Hurricane Party", "Blush", "Tell Me Again"
Pianist Pascal Le Boeuf’s background is in both jazz and electronic music, and he has established himself as a sought-after composer of contemporary classical music. His work communicates tension and release, leaves space for improvisation, and explores the limits of a continuous high-energy work lasting as long as possible. There’s also a lot of trust and collaboration built into the process.
Le Boeuf performs in what might otherwise look like a classic jazz trio – piano, bass and drums – if it weren’t for the additional strings playing with them. Then, he also manipulates the strings inside our piano, and beats the outsides of the piano as well. Pascal Le Boeuf and his band play music from his 2023 album, Ritual Being, in-studio.
Set list: “Transition Behavior”, “Wanderlust”, “Obliquely Wrecked”
Pachyman is a one-man dub band; that one man is Pachy Garcia, and though he’s based in LA, he grew up in Puerto Rico, at a time when Jamaican music – especially dub reggae - was having a big impact on the island’s music scene. Pachyman’s new album is called Switched On, and is an homage to the era when musicians first began manipulating synthesizers to emit gloriously off-kilter bleeps, bloops, and whooshes - think Switched On Boleros and Switched On Bach. The new record brings Pachy and his dub-drenched sound system from another dimension to our studio.
Set list: "Trago Coqueto", "Lovers", "Switched On"
Watch "Trago Coqueto":
Watch "Lovers":
Watch "Switched On":
Switched-On by PACHYMAN
German singer and actress Ute Lemper’s career defies easy description. She’s a musical theater legend – starring in the original Paris production of Cabaret and adorning the sides of NYC buses when she starred in the Broadway run of Chicago. But she’s also a singer who has recreated the songs of Edith Piaf, Jacques Brel, and Kurt Weill, and sung contemporary songs by Elvis Costello, Nick Cave, and Philip Glass. And in recent years, she’s been writing songs as well, taking inspiration from Hiatus Kaiyote, John Legend, Joni Mitchell, Sarah McLachlan, Annie Lennox, Erykah Badu and/or Robert Glasper. Ute Lemper’s new album, Time Traveler, is a collection of her original works and she’s brought her band in to our studio to play some of them.
Set list: "Time Traveler", "Envie d’Amour"/"Magical Stone", "The Gift"
CMAT might look like one of those specialized tests you have to take to get into a post-graduate program, but this stage name is actually the initials of Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson, a Dublin pop singer whose cleverly-titled debut LP If My Wife New I’d Be Dead was a hit in Ireland last year. With cultural references that range from Belgian football manager Vincent Kompany to Gilmore Girls, (she also loves Patsy Cline), CMAT knows how to take a deep dive down a topical rabbit hole and make it into relatable pop. She distills her maximalist tendencies down to an unplugged, intimate setting, playing songs from her brand-new record, Crazymad, For Me, in-studio.
Set list: “Where Are Your Kids Tonight?”, “Rent”, “I Wanna Be A Cowboy, Baby”
Watch "Rent":
Watch "I wanna be a cowboy baby":
I Wanna Be A Cowboy, Baby! by CMAT
Milwaukee-based blues singer and guitarist Buffalo Nichols, on his self-titled 2021 debut, showed how timeless the blues can be, both musically and emotionally. On his latest album, called The Fatalist, Nichols uses contemporary 21st century sounds and techniques to remind us that the blues have been and are always with us, intimately tied to present-day 2023. Buffalo Nichols plays some of these new songs, in-studio.
Set list; “Turn Another Stone”, “The Long Journey Home”, “The Difference”
Jeremy Dutcher, the classically trained Two-Spirit song carrier, composer, activist, is a Member of the Wolastoqiyik People of the Neqotkuk (formerly known as Tobique First Nation) in Eastern Canada. Dutcher burst upon the music scene in Canada in 2018, winning the prestigious Polaris Music Prize for their debut LP, where Dutcher performed with archival recordings of their Wolastoq ancestors. Dutcher has just released on October 6, called Motewolonuwok (People of great spiritual power),and it continues Dutcher’s exploration of their First Nations roots: celebrating the culture, addressing the endangered language and land rights, and correcting the record. Jeremy Dutcher's trio plays in-studio. - Caryn Havlik
Set list: "Skicinuwihkuk" (Indian Land), "Pomawsuwinuwok Wonakiyawolotuwok" (The People Are Rising), "Qonute" (Honor Song)
Watch ""Skicinuwihkuk":
Watch "Honor Song":
Growing up in a Jamaican family in Florida, June McDoom was surrounded by reggae; but she found herself drawn to the sounds of 1960's and 1970's folk. Now based in New York, she has released her debut EP, which surrounds those songs with touches of psychedelia, and arrangements that in their own homespun way seem to echo another sound of the 60s – Phil Spector’s so-called "wall of sound". In her intimate acoustic musings, June McDoom’s voice rarely rises above a breathy croon, following its own melody regardless of the kaleidoscope of sounds behind her. McDoom and her band play in-studio.
Set list: "On My Way", "Stone After Stone", "By June"
Watch "Stone After Stone":
June McDoom by June McDoom
The London-based electronic music composer and producer Ryan Lee West records under the name Rival Consoles, and he’s always been concerned with creating an organic, living quality to his experimental electronic music. He draws on both the arena-sized grooves of EDM – electronic dance music – and the more intimate sounds of ambient music without ever settling on one or the other. Rival Consoles plays in-studio.
Set list: “Pulses of Information”, “Articulation”, “Quiet Home”
Ballard is the name of the new album credited to LANZ & Kris Allen. Lanz is Benjamin Lanz, the trombonist and composer who plays with The National and Beirut and numerous other bands. Kris Allen is a sax player, bandleader and educator. But when you put them together, it's like Brian Eno and Sun Ra went to a My Bloody Valentine show, through perhaps a krautrock or post-rock filter. The result is a trippy batch of instrumentals built from highly processed electroacoustic sounds, sometimes maddeningly catchy and other times ambient and cool. LANZ & Kris Allen, along with drummer Robin Baytas, play some of this music, in-studio.
Set list: "Panenka", "Let Me, Please", "Rabona"
Ballard by LANZ & Kris Allen
Bass player and songwriter Michael Olatuja has a career that spans continents and styles. He grew up in Lagos, Nigeria, spent his teenage years playing on the London jazz scene, and has spent much of his career here in New York, playing with everyone from Diana Ross to Shakira to the band for the Broadway hit Frozen. His latest album, called Lagos Pepper Soup, is a tribute to those three cities, and his cinematic Afrobeat sound contains jazz roots of Fela Kuti and Tony Allen, but also perhaps a bit of orchestration from his work with Broadway and Angelique Kidjo. Michael and his band play songs from the new album in-studio.
Michael Olatuja plays at Joe's Pub on Sept. 27.
Michael teaches you the recipe for pepper soup here:
Set list: “Brighter Day”, “The Hero’s Journey”, “Lagos Pepper Soup”
Watch “The Hero’s Journey”:
Watch "Lagos Pepper Soup":
The German-Swiss duo with the unlikely name of Grandbrothers draws on electronic dance music, ambient music, and minimalism. Their tag line is “messing around with grand pianos since 2012,” which captures the essence of their play: they use ALL parts of the piano to generate raw sounds –the notes of the keyboard but also striking the wooden case; or flossing, well, bowing the strings; and E-Bow-like contraptions that oscillate the strings – which are sampled, processed, and assembled in real time. The results are striking creations that are not out of place in either a cathedral or a dance club. Their latest record is Late Reflections, and it brings Grandbrothers, who are the Swiss engineer/mechanic/software designer Lukas Vogel and German-Turkish pianist Erol Sarp, to play in the studio on the occasion of their first U.S. tour.
Watch Bloodflow:
Watch What We See:
Watch Bloom:
Born in Washington, D.C., and raised in Atlanta, Carlos Simon has become one of classical music’s most eloquent and visible chroniclers of the Black American experience. Although it’s not just classical music – Carlos draws on jazz, R&B, and especially gospel music, as Simon is the son of a preacher. Music is his pulpit, and he says he uses music as therapy and to make sense of it all. He's toured from the back of a flatbed truck, done street-busking, and played cocktail piano music in bars, with an ever-optimistic outlook of "You never know who’s listening”.
He’s currently Composer-In-Residence at the Kennedy Center, and his 2022 LP called Requiem For The Enslaved was nominated for a Grammy. Now, he’s released two recordings in quick succession – first Breadth, an orchestral response to the killing of George Floyd, and just one week later, Together, a collection that features Carlos Simon performing solo piano works and a few small ensemble pieces. He plays some of these solo works at our piano, and a rendition of a well-known hymn, with special guest cellist Seth Parker-Woods.
Watch Amazing Grace with Seth Parker-Woods, cello:
Watch Memory of Summer:
Watch Traveling Song:
Singer Nellie McKay’s songs hearken to pre-Elvis pop and maybe even Tin Pan Alley, and are offered with charm and intimacy. She has also released a whole album of Doris Day songs and a record of 60s covers, in addition to her 2004 splash debut, Get Away From Me and appearances in Broadway and Off-Broadway productions. And while she still sounds like a singer from another time, she’s back with an album of originals called Hey Guys, Watch This. Nellie McKay plays new songs on both piano and ukulele, in-studio. - Caryn Havlik
Watch The Drinking Song:
Watch Driftin':
Watch Did I Catch You Dreaming:
Brooklyn-based Pathos Trio consists of two percussionists - Marcelina Suchocka and Felix Reyes and keyboardist/composer Will Healy- all of whom are equally capable of playing acoustic chamber music or darker-hued electronically-altered sounds. The trio’s new album is called Polarity, and it’s a collection of works specifically written for the Pathos Trio by several composers - drummer/composer Ian Chang of Son Lux; percussionist and member of the International Contemporary Ensemble Clara Warnaar; and digital and electronic composer Phong Tran among them - with nods to alternative rock, progressive/black metal, minimalism, and electronic synthwave. The trio performs some of these newly-commissioned works, in-studio.
Set list: "Mega Cicada" by Ian Chang; "Home/Gone" by Clara Warnaar; "Split" by Phong Tran
Listen to a set from contemporary jazz guitar legend guitarist Bill Frisell, together with guitarist, bassist, and vocalist Luke Bergman. Frisell is a singular player in the jazz world, consistently sticking to his roots and American folk, while trying out any other thing that may move him. Bergman is, in Frisell’s words, “a master harmonizer, organizer, orchestrator, imaginator” (Program notes, Grace Cathedral). Together they swapped musical ideas remotely during the pandemic and composed a number of pieces. Listen to some of those tunes, including “Waltz for Hal Wilner” from his 2022 album, Four (Blue Note), and other works. - Caryn Havlik
Set list: 1. "Claude Utley" 2. "Let Them Ring" 3. "Fathers Day" 4. "Canon" 5. "Waltz for Hal Wilner"
English singer-songwriter and folk-rocker Mike Rosenberg, formerly of the band Passenger, might be best known for his song “Let Her Go.” Originally from Brighton & Hove, Rosenberg busked his way through England and Australia in the early 2000’s and worked with a five-piece band until 2009, when he decided to continue under that name as a solo artist. He’s played giant stages and summer festivals in Europe, opening for old friend Ed Sheeran. Mike Rosenberg, aka Passenger, plays songs from his 2018 record, Runaway, in-studio. (From the Archives.)
Watch the individual songs below:
Brooklyn singer-songwriter Kendra Morris draws on 60s pop, 70s funk, the indie rock of the 2000’s, and the timeless sounds of soul and R&B on her latest record I Am What I’m Waiting For. She’s also a visual artist who’s done videos for her own songs in the past as well as those by the hip hop supergroup Czarface and the producer MF Doom. Notably absent are “love songs” – instead, the record dives into her fears of flying, the mundane conflicts of domesticity and cohabitation, and a valiant attempt to expand the birthday song canon. Kendra Morris and her band play some of these songs, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Still Spinning 2. Dominoes 3. What Are You Waiting For?
Bassist Jorge Roeder is from Peru; vocalist Sofía Rei is originally from Argentina. Both of them are based here in New York, and have worked with a broad range of New York musicians (John Zorn, Bobby McFerrin, Julian Lage, and many others); and that experience is reflected in the ease with which they move between Latin, jazz, and experimental music. (Between them they’ve worked in classical music, jazz, avant-garde, Latin music, metal, and electronics.) Their brand new album together, called Coplas Escondidas, is just the two of them – voice and bass – and it's a collection of songs with a variety of quietly thrilling textures and dramatic melodies. Sofía Rei and Jorge Roeder play in-studio.
Set list: 1. Días de Sitio 2. Prestados 3. Negro Sobre Blanco
Cellist Issei Herr, classically trained at Juilliard, creates expansive waves of sound through the processing and layering of her instrument. Her debut record, Distant Intervals, includes ambient soundscapes that explore openness, vulnerability, and a sense of wonder, and is full of titles that hint at transformation, both musical and personal. There also seems to be a Zen element in her layers; they’re contemplative, yet quite ordered as they build delicate crystalline structures. Issei Herr plays some of those pieces, as well as a brand new work where her acoustic cello interacts with forest sounds, in-studio. Issei Herr shares a bill with percussionist Matt Evans at the Noguchi Museum on Sunday. Aug. 27.
Set list: Prelude & Aubade, Flutter, Aveu (The Beginning Is a Farewell) feat. Maria BC
Watch "Prelude & Aubade":
Watch "Flutter":
Watch "Aveu (The Beginning Is a Farewell)" feat. Maria BC:
Junun is a musical collaboration between India-based Israeli composer Shye Ben Tzur, a group of Indian musicians called The Rajasthan Express, and composer (and Radiohead’s guitarist) Jonny Greenwood. The music is in the ecstatic Sufi music style known as qawwali (made famous by the late Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan), and it's devotional music—sometimes in Urdu, Hebrew, and Hindi, and is built on a percussion-dense and brass enriched groove with everything to love. In 2018, the band was opening for Radiohead on tour, but they joined us to perform some of these ecstatic tunes, in-studio. (From the Archives, 2018.) -Caryn Havlik
Watch the individual songs below:
The sounds of American roots music – folk ballads, fiddle tunes, early blues, New Orleans second line grooves – may seem like they belong to another century. But the NY-based collective called Too Sad For The Public takes those old songs and remakes them, often in surprising ways. Too Sad For The Public’s arranger and producer Dick Connette, along with a sextet version of the band featuring vocalist Ana Egge, play some of the tunes from the latest album, Vol. 2, Yet And Still, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Railroad Bill 2. Old Forty
From Kinshasa, the capital of Congo, comes the band known as Jupiter & Okwess, led by the charismatic singer Jupiter Bokondji. When we last met the band, in 2018, they had just released their second album, a star-studded collection called Kin Sonic. Jupiter & Okwess are touring around to support their latest record, Na Kozonga, which offers a striking mix of high-energy dance, funk, and Afropop, while mixing samba, New Orleans, and soul influences in different languages.
Set list: 1. Solobombe 2. Mieux que ca 3. Muba
Brazilian singer/songwriter Sessa (born Sergio Sayeg in Sao Paolo) is heir to the great tradition of MPB – Brazilian popular music, in the vein of Gilberto Gil or Caetano Veloso. But he favors a stripped down approach that reflects his own love of the German minimalist group Cluster, and his lyrics – often about love, heartbreak, and the power of music – echo themes in Leonard Cohen’s songs and Sun Ra’s cosmic jazz. He plays songs from his latest, Estrela Acesa, or “Burning Star” at the 2023 New York Guitar Festival in the Greene Space.
Set list: Grandeza, Ponto de Faca, Pele de Estera, Sereia Sentimental, Flor do Real
The Mexican singer Magos Herrera has a distinctive, elegant, and expressive voice, and while she’s usually thought of as a jazz singer, she’s also done a lot of collaborating with artists from the worlds of pop and classical music. Largely based here in New York, Herrera has recently put out a new album, called Aire, which features her own sextet and a full orchestra – a kind of communal response to the isolation of the pandemic, when most of the songs were written. Her own band and members of the Brooklyn-based orchestra called The Knights present some of these jazz-fluid songs, rich with drama and feeling, in-studio.
Set list: 1.Aire 2. The Calling 3. Choro de Lun
Classical Korean guitarist and improviser Jiji has a penchant for blowing minds with her playing, improvising, and stage banter. She adapts the stunning and acrobatic Caprice No. 24 by 19th century virtuoso violinist and composer Niccolò Paganini. Plus, she plays a work by the Icelandic composer, guitarist and professor of electronic composition, Gulli Bjornsson. Both performances were recorded live at the 2023 New York Guitar Festival in the Greene Space.
Set list: Claudia Sessa (arr. Jiji): "Occhi Io Vissi Di Voi"; Gulli Björnsson: "Dynjandi"; Niccolò Paganini (arr. Jiji)- "Caprice No. 24"
Black Belt Eagle Scout is the work of the singer and guitarist Katherine Paul, KP for short, whose music is deeply rooted in the culture of the Swinomish community on the coast of Washington. Black Belt Eagle Scout’s latest album is called The Land, The Water, The Sky, and it often pairs Katherine Paul’s quiet musings on land, love, and community with roaring guitars and pounding drums. Black Belt Eagle Scout plays some of these new songs, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Nobody 2. Don't Give Up 3. My Blood Runs Through This Land
Watch "Nobody":
Watch "Don't Give Up":
Watch "My Blood Runs Through This Land":
The band Altin Gün is based in the Netherlands but they’ve gained global attention – and a Grammy nomination – for their psychedelic, glam rock and disco-tinged versions of songs from Turkey in the 1970s. So, in the 70s the folk rock movement racing through the British Isles made its way to Anatolia, inspiring young Turkish musicians to recast old Turkish folk songs with electric guitars, synthesisers and the like. Forty years later, Altin Gun has been resurrecting the creativity and the energy of this corner of the music world, with their own hi-octane, dance-ready arrangements. Their latest album is called Ask, and they play new tunes, in-studio.
Set list: 1. Su Sızıyor 2. Canim Oy 3.. Doktor Civanim
The chamber pop duo known as Gracie and Rachel have always had a kind of yin and yang quality to them: Gracie Coates, the pop songwriter at the piano; Rachel Ruggles, the classically trained violinist. "Blending baroque elements, ethereal soundscapes, and penetrating vulnerability, the duo creates an emotionally haunting sound" with an electric energy, (Righteous Babe Records.)
The high school friends from Berkeley, California were operating out of Brooklyn, where the duo made its reputation, but Gracie has moved to upstate New York. Rather than signaling an end, though, Gracie’s move has spawned a new collection of songs, called Nowhere Now Here, which focuses on the continued connection between the two. Gracie and Rachel play some of these new songs, in-studio.
Gracie and Rachel play at Public Records on July 21.
Set list: "Middle Ground", "Sidelines", "Call Away"
Watch "Middle Ground":
Watch "Sidelines":
Watch "Call Away":
Goldfeather is the work of vocalist and composer Sarah Goldfeather and guitarist/producer Mike Tierney. Sarah Goldfeather is also a founding member of the ensemble Excpetet, a group modeled on the instrumentation of Stravinksy's "L'Histoire du Soldat" and created to commission new works by living composers. In fact, all of the band members are classically trained, with experience and interests from bluegrass to experimental pop.
Goldfeather’s new album, Change, is a head-spinning blend of hyperpop filtered through the lens of contemporary classical and electronic music. With its processed voices, sudden shifts in rhythm and harmony, and catchy pop hooks, the new songs are off-kilter fun, even as they tell a serious tale of "uncomfortable self-reflection" The band plays some of these tunes in-studio.
Set list: "Who Am I When I Am All Alone", "The Animal", "Beautiful Tree"
Watch "Who Am I When I Am All Alone":
Watch "Animal":
Watch "Beautiful Tree":
Singer and songwriter Ondara's story is that of a young person in Kenya falling in love with Bob Dylan songs and winning a green card lottery that let him follow his dream of moving to America. Now Ondara has released his third LP, Spanish Villager #3, and while it has a more produced, electric sound, he’s touring around doing solo acoustic performances. He plays solo acoustic songs in-studio.
Set list: "A Shakedown in Berlin", "A Nocturnal Heresy", "A Seminar in Tokyo"
Watch "A Shakedown in Berlin":
Watch "A Nocturnal Heresy":
Watch "A Seminar in Tokyo":
Sax player, composer and author Phillip Johnston lives in Sydney, Australia, but for many years he was a familiar figure on New York’s downtown jazz and new music scene. He cofounded the Microscopic Septet – the band that did the theme song for the NPR show Fresh Air, led the bands Big Trouble, and the Transparent Quartet, and was an early pioneer in writing new music for old silent films. In fact, his book Silent Films/Loud Music, has just come out in paperback, and it brings Phillip and his New York gang to the studio to play some special trio arrangements of his film music.
Set list: "The Unknown. Part 1: 'Men’s Hands'", "The Mermaid", "Hydrothérapie Fantastique"
Producer, songwriter, and eclectic multi-instrumentalist Louis Cato is the bandleader for the newly renamed “The Late Show Band.” He has worked with has worked with many artists, including Bobby McFerrin, Snarky Puppy, Jon Batiste, Q-Tip and A Tribe Called Quest. Together with drummer Joe Saylor, he plays original and traditional tunes that draw on gospel, pop, rock, and FUN, from his headlining set at the 2023 New York Guitar Festival in The Greene Space. - Caryn Havlik
Set list:
- Down in the River to Pray
- In My Reach
- Look Within
- Anymore
- You Got To Walk That Lonesome Valley
- Back and Forth
Steve Gunn’s solo far-out fingerstyle acoustic work may be influenced by the drones of Eastern music and the Western avant-garde; or his work with psych- and traditional folk artists, and/or collaborations with Mdou Moctar and Joshua Abrams’ Natural Information Society. Then, there’s the unbridled improvising freedom of his duo work with drummer John Truscinski; or his work with psych-folk band Hiss Golden Messenger or indie rocker Kurt Vile. Steve Gunn’s appearance at the 2023 Big Ears Festival playing trad folk songs with Jake Xerxes Fussell was just one side of this multifaceted guitarslinger. His most recent record is with David Moore, who records as Bing & Ruth. Steve Gunn plays original songs in The Greene Space, as part of the 2023 New York Guitar Festival.
Set list: "Way Out Weather", "On The Way", "Morning Is Mended"
Watch "On the Way":
Songwriter and musician Crys Matthews uses the sounds of folk, gospel, folk rock, and country, to tackle some of the thorniest social justice issues facing our country today: migrant rights, LGBTQ rights, the Black Lives Matter movement, and more. She’s based in Nashville, but New York’s been a good place for her: in 2017 she was the grand prize winner at the New Song Music and Performance Competition in Lincoln Center. More recently, her song “Changemakers” was named Song Of The Year by the International Folk Music Awards for 2021. She plays some of her songs, with bonus foot percussion, in our New York studio.
Set list: "Cancel Culture", "Like Jesus Would", "Written in the Stars"
Watch "Cancel Culture":
Watch "Like Jesus Would":
Watch "Written in the Stars":
The band called Bayonne is basically the work of American minimalist composer and electronic musician Roger Sellers, who is from Austin TX, not Bayonne NJ. Along with guitars and keyboards, his looping station, which can give hints of both Steve Reich and Owen Pallett, is a treasure trove of tiny melodies that stretch and expand over time. His latest album as Bayonne, is called Temporary Time, and it might be his most personal record yet - perhaps almost "emo", coming as it did after the death of Sellers’ dad. Roger Sellers with drummer Matt Toman play these new songs in-studio.
Set list: "Right Thing", "Perfect", "Words"
Watch "Right Thing":
With influences from Bob Marley to Blind Willie Johnson to Bob Dylan, guitarist, singer, and songwriter Ben Harper sees songs in colors and can taste them when they’re ready. His Grammy wins have come in the categories of Blues, Traditional Soul/Gospel, and Instrumental Pop. His musical range is indeed that varied, one can expect anything from alt-folk to reggae to indie rock to an operatic tenor hidden in a cabaret song. His latest, Wide Open Light, is a spare, largely acoustic set of songs, raw, and mostly solo. Ben Harper plays some of these pieces in-studio.
Set list: "Masterpiece", "Giving Ghosts", "Love After Love", "Trying Not To Fall In Love With You"
Watch "Masterpiece":
Watch "Giving Ghosts":
Watch "Love After Love":
Watch "Trying Not To Fall In Love With You":
NYC-raised songwriter, musician, and arranger Emily King makes sophisticated pop with strong elements of R&B, funk, and soul. But her discography also includes songs with a more electronic texture and a whole project with the chamber ensemble known as yMusic. Her latest album is called Special Occasion and it might contain some heartbreak and complicated feelings, a few shoo-be-doos coupled with synth string sounds a la Paisley Park, and a country waltz dressed up as a pop ballad. Emily King plays some of these new songs in-studio as an intimate trio.
Set list: “False Start”, “Medal”, “Special Occasion”
Watch "False Start":
Watch "Medal":
Watch "Special Occasion":
The singer and multi-instrumentalist Ani Cordero is a Puerto Rican musician living here in New York. She is bilingual, singing in both English and Spanish, as is her latest record, Anamores, a concept album rooted in many kinds of love – Platonic Love, Love of a Child, Love for our Ancestors.) Her music draws on her years of playing rock with bands like Pistolera, new wave synth influences, and the rhythms of the Caribbean – Clave and Bomba patterns. AND COWBELL.
Ani Cordero and her band play some of these new songs, in-studio.
Venezuelan legend of Llanera music Larry Bellorín and GRAMMY-nominated bluegrass and oldtime musician Joe Troop play as Larry & Joe. Larry was forced into exile and is an asylum seeker in North Carolina, and worked construction to make ends meet, although he has been a musician and educator all his life. Troop, a socially conscious “Latingrass” musician with Che Apalache, has written songs about migration, and works with asylum seekers; he relocated to North Carolina to be in this duo with Larry.
Venezuelan and Appalachian folk music come together on Larry’s custom-built Joropo folk harp and Joe’s fiddle and banjo, as they blend their musical inheritances and traditions as well as storytelling on their record, Nuevo South Train. The duo performs remotely from the 2023 Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, TN. The duo plays at 6PM on June 15 at Rockwood Music Hall.
Set list: “Gabanjo”, “Caballo Viejo”
Dominican guitarist, vocalist, composer, and producer Yasser Tejeda explores the African roots of Dominican music, and combines the folkloric with jazz, rock and Caribbean influences. Lately, he has turned to Congolese guitar, and Haitian rhythms (Hispaniola), New Orleans and Afrobeaty funk to highlight the way that music has crisscrossed the Atlantic. Tejada and his band tear it up in the studio with music from his latest, La Madruga, (Dawn/Dusk). Yasser Tejada plays at TV Eye on June 15.
Set list: 1. "El Sol De La Madruga" 2. "En El Naranjo" 3. "Todo Va A Marchar"
Watch "El Sol De La Madruga":
Atlanta-based indie rock band Manchester Orchestra has long had a decidedly cinematic approach to songwriting, with tunes that grow in the telling and explode into grand, almost orchestral choruses. Now, they’ve released The Valley Of Vision, a stirring, emotional journey of healing inspired by a 1975 book of old Puritan prayers found in a suitcase. In these six songs and a VR film, Manchester Orchestra digs deep to find the peaceful floating zen of resolve and try on what it might mean to feel all right again. Songwriter Andy Hull and guitarist Robert McDowell play some of these tunes remotely in intimate arrangements.
Set list: “Capital Karma”, “Quietly”, “Rear View”
Watch "Quietly":
Since 1981, Welsh musician Mike Peters has been the voice of the hit-making British band The Alarm. After the band split up in 1991, Peters wrote and released solo work, before reconstituting The Alarm in 2000, (Wikipedia.) Since being diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia in 2005 (he is also co-founder of the Love Hope Strength Foundation), Mike Peter’s career has been largely determined by the cycle of remission and relapse. But to listen to The Alarm’s upcoming album, pointedly called Forwards, and you’ll hear a man whose songwriting is as anthemic as ever, and, yes, determinedly forward looking. Mike Peters plays some of these new songs, as well as one of the band’s old hits, on acoustic baritone guitar, in-studio. (-John Schaefer)
Set list: "Forwards", "Next", "The Stand"
Orquesta Akokán bursts and flows with the spirit of dance orchestras of the 1940’s and 1950’s of Havana on their debut record of nine tunes - all sparkling, blazing, soulful, and meticulously arranged and composed mambo originals. Together, singer José "Pepito" Gómez, producer Jacob Plasse, and arranger Michael Eckroth, along with Cuba’s finest players, young and old, recorded the record live to tape in a three-day session at the legendary and revered Estudios Areito in Cuba – where percussion and piano absolutely pop, and the brilliance of brass is magnified. The recording is the first Spanish-language venture for Daptone Records, (the folks who brought you Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, Charles Bradley, and other timeless artists) whose old-school techniques and attention to sonic detail ensure a living, breathing warmth.
The big band collective Orquesta Akokán joins us to play some of these Cuban Mambo (and rumba, cha-cha and jazzy) tunes in-studio. -Caryn Havlik
Dom Flemons is a Grammy-winning singer, guitarist, banjo player, and all-around scholar of old Americana who was part of the Carolina Chocolate Drops. Flemons has dubbed himself “The American Songster,” and has performed songs rooted in blues, early gospel, ragtime, proto-country, and other forms of old-time folk music. His new album, Traveling Wildfire, includes a couple of his unerring arrangements of older tunes, but it’s largely comprised of original songs. Dom Flemons, the preservationist, storyteller, and instrumentalist, brings his one-man Americana road show to the live studio.
Set list: "Traveling Wildfire", "Slow Dance With You", "It's Cold Inside"
Watch "Traveling Wildfire":
Watch "Slow Dance With You" :
Watch "It's Cold Inside":
Curtis Stewart is a violinist, composer and arranger, and the current Artistic Director of the American Composers Orchestra. He is also the son of two professional jazz musicians, and when, at some point, he was offered the choice between composition and improvisation, he said “yes please” and took both. So on his own and with the improvising string quartet known as PubliQuartet, along with The Mighty Third Rail, Curtis Stewart plays a huge variety of music. Stewart and several musical friends: (Aaron Diehl, Eleanor Oppenheim, students from the Kaufman Music Center, Special Music School, and PubliQuartet) give just a hint of his range, performing in-studio. (-John Schaefer)
Set list: Trad.: "Thalassaki Mou" Stewart: "Call, Response" with PubliQuartetTrad.: "Deep River", with PubliQuartet, with Eleanor Oppenheim, students from the Kaufman Music Center, Special Music School
of Love. by Curtis Stewart
This is the Kit is the alias of British singer and guitarist Kate Stables, as well as the band she fronts. Her early albums were rooted in the long British folk/rock tradition, with later work perhaps more under the influence of indie rock. In June, she releases a new album called Careful of Your Keepers produced by Gruff Rhys (Super Furry Animals), full of big ideas and big arrangements, but it’s also a very intimate, honest, and introspective set of songs. Kate plays some of them in a solo performance, in-studio. - John Schaefer
Set list: “More Change”, “Stuck in a Room”, “Inside Outside”
Watch “More Change”:
Watch “Stuck in a Room”:
Watch “Inside Outside”:
The Heavy is a band from Bath, England – an unlikely place for a group whose sound has been rooted in the kind of swampy, sweaty mix of gospel, R&B, funk and rock that we associate with the American south. Their latest, Amen, is "an exhilarating maelstrom of ‘60s R&B riffs, horns, and gospel harmonies" (Bandcamp), which "writhes with seditious blues drama, soul and gospel passion, the crunch of prime hip-hop and garage punk’s visceral electricity", (ShoreFire.) The full band joins us in-studio on a rare day off on their American tour.
Set list: "Hurricane Coming", "I Feel the Love", "Feels Like Rain", "Bad Muthafucker"
Watch: "Hurricane Coming":
Watch "I Feel the Love":
Watch "Feels Like Rain":
Watch "Bad Muthafucker":
Gotopo is a Venezuelan singer and musician currently based in Berlin. Her music explores her own Afro-Indigenous roots through a mix of ancient folkloric sounds and modern electronic dance music. She is a "digger", and has thrown herself into researching source material, as in an Afro-Venezuelan hymn intended for slaves to give a spiritual farewell to their relatives who died at the hands of the enslaver which informed her song, "Malembe". Her debut release, called Sacudete, comes out on May 19, and Gotopo performs her indigenous and ancestral futurism, in-studio.
Set list: "Piña Pa La Niña", "Cucu", "Sacudete"
Watch "Piña Pa La Niña":
Watch "Cucu":
Watch "Sacudete":
Serbian quartet EYOT draws on traditional Balkan folk music, jazz, classical piano, punk, and art-rock, and fits neatly into none of these categories. Their music - partly composed, and partly improvised - never loses its groove, even as it frequently makes use of the odd rhythm patterns (5/8, 7/8, 9/8) that are part of the turbulent history of the region. EYOT celebrates their 15th anniversary of making music together by playing some of the tunes from their most recent album, 557799, (yep, because of said odd meters contained therein), in-studio. - Caryn Havlik
Set list: "557799", "Linen", "Horizon"
Watch "557799":
Watch "Linen":
Watch "Horizon":
This year marks the centennial of legendary North Carolina folk musician Doc Watson, one of the giants of the folk revival of the 50s and 60s. There’s a new album paying homage to pays homage to Watson's lasting legacy and influence on American music, which features a stellar cast of contemporary musicians playing some of the songs Watson had championed; it’s called I Am A Pilgrim – Doc Watson at 100. The producer of the collection is Grammy Award winning guitarist, songwriter, and producer Matthew Stevens, who gathered a few of the album’s featured musicians and collaborators - singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Valerie June, Brooklyn-born teen banjo wunderkind Nora Brown, fiddler Stephanie Coleman, and musician James Shipp - to play some of these songs in-studio. Plus, hear a bonus original tune, "Man Done Wrong", by Valerie June. -Caryn Havlik
Watch Valerie June and Matthew Stevens play "Handsome Molly":
Watch Nora Brown, Stephanie Coleman, James Shipp: "Am I Born to Die":
Watch Nora Brown, Stephanie Coleman, James Shipp: "Your Long Journey":
Watch Matthew Stevens play "Alberta":
Watch Valerie June play "Man Done Wrong":
Catalan folk duo Tarta Relena's vocal-based music limns centuries and borders, ranges from the sacred to the secular, and often uses electronics. Their body of work so far reimagines Mediterranean folk, Georgian laments, and the 12th century mystic Hildegard von Bingen. Then, there's their setting of verse from Afghan Pashto women singing about “controversial subjects such as envy, broken hearts, hatred or lust”, and adapted sacred music (they met as members of a religious music choir), (Songlines, 2022). Singing in Catalan, Spanish, Greek, Latin, English and Ladino, they treat each language as a tool, a color to bring up an emotion.
Tarta Relena’s arrangements and performances traffic in the intense spirituality and human connection of the music, which lands with joy and poignancy, enhanced by dramatic use of electronics: percussion, drone, some bass synth, and vocal effects. For this edition of the Soundcheck Podcast, Tarta Relena sings a cappella, just like they started the duo back in 2016. They perform on location from the 2023 Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, TN. - Caryn Havlik
P.S. “Tarta relena” means “stuffed pie” in Spanish.
Set list: "Esta Montagne d’enfrente", "Tuta Pulchra"
Watch "Esta Montagne d’enfrente":
Watch "Tuta Pulchra":
Louisiana-based Lost Bayou Ramblers are a swinging punkass party band who mix Cajun melodies on fiddle, accordion, guitars, and some electric sounds. They've won a regional roots Grammy for their record, Kalenda, but they’ve also done an original score for ROUS, a film about Nutria Rats and Louisiana’s coastal land loss, and contributed to the score for Beasts of the Southern Wild. Fresh off the French Quarter Festival in New Orleans, the Lost Bayou Ramblers join us in the studio (from the Archives, 2018.)
The Atlanta-born quartet Algiers mixes post-punk guitars, gospel vocal harmonies, hip hop sampling, chopped and screwed production techniques, and pointed social commentary in a revolutionary way that is dark, urgent, angry, and utterly exhilarating. Their most recent record, Shook, has Algiers’ signature fury and weight, features a multiplicity of voices, and is the result of the creative energy released into the space and time generated by the enforced pause on touring. As Frankie Fisher says in a Bandcamp interview, "Algiers’s ethos, philosophy, and politics are about inclusivity and people generally on the margins", and in keeping with that, multiple guest artists from within the community contributed to this rich and complex sound, and the collaborative conversation even took on a new New York feel after the Shook stems were shared and manipulated into a separate companion soundworld. Algiers plays music from Shook, as a trio, in-studio. - Caryn Havlik
Set list: “Irreversible Damage”, “Bite Back”, “Green Iris”
The London quintet known as Ezra Collective looks like a jazz band, with their dueling horns, keys, bass and drums. But their music reflects the lively artistic ferment happening now in South London, where the sounds of Caribbean music, hip hop, and especially the Nigerian style known as Afrobeat have all become part of the scene. Ezra Collective’s drummer and bandleader Femi Koleoso studied with the late, great Nigerian drummer Tony Allen, and with his brother TJ on bass, the two Koleosos form a propulsive rhythm section, but one that’s full of surprises. Add in keyboardist Joe Armon-Jones, trumpeter Ife Ogunjobi, and tenor saxophonist James Mollison, and the quintet brings audiences a hybrid jazz with killah beats for dancing. - John Schaefer
Set list: "Ego Killah", "No Confusion", "Belonging"
Harpist, collaborator, bandleader, educator, and improviser, Brandee Younger, has mastered the language of Debussy, Ravel, Alice Coltrane, R&B, hip hop, mid 20th century pop, funk, reggae, the blues, and hymns, to name merely a few genres. In her work, she weaves in ALL the sounds of the day- and is not locked into any one genre, just like the great pioneering harpist Dorothy Ashby – who was “way ahead of her time”. Younger’s latest effort, Brand New Life, covers and re-imagines some of Dorothy Ashby’s unreleased music, recruiting players like bassist/vocalist Meshell Ndegeocello, singer/songwriter/MC Mumu Fresh, guitarist Jeff Parker, drummer Makaya McCraven, vibraphonist Joel Ross, and the great hip hop producer Pete Rock.
Brandee Younger brings the killer bass lines, hang time, wide expressive range, and the delicate chords, trills, and sweeps - and demonstrates different extended harp techniques (pedal slide, prepared harp, playing near the board) - playing solo, in-studio. - Caryn Havlik
Set list: “Lift Every Voice and Sing”, “Essence of Ruby”, “Unrest I”
Watch "Lift Every Voice and Sing":
Watch "Essence of Ruby":
Watch "Unrest I":
Fenne Lily is an English singer, guitarist and songwriter now based here in New York. The songs on her new album, Big Picture, were written as some kind of way to bring order to some of the most vulnerable points of 2020. She explores her ever-changing view of love as a process, brightly framing worry, doubt, closeness, and letting go. Fenne Lily and her band play in-studio.
Set list: "Pick", "Lights Light Up", "Dawncolored Horse"
Watch "Pick":
Watch "Lights Light Up":
Watch "Dawncolored Horse":
Brooklyn-based trombonist, composer, and bandleader Kalia Vandever weaves beautifully layered musical tapestries using layers of her horn, electronics, and occasional wordless vocals, creating works that sound dramatically different from the music she plays with her jazz quartet, or the work she’s done with Harry Stiles, Lizzo, indie rock’s Japanese Breakfast, and many others. Kalia Vandever's latest, We Fell In Turn, is inspired by Hawaiian mythology, dreamscapes, and ancestry. She plays some of these compositions for solo trombone and electronics, in-studio.
Set list: "Held In / Stillness In Hand", "Recollections From Shore"
Watch "Held In / Stillness In Hand":
Watch "Recollections From Shore":
We Fell In Turn by Kalia Vandever
Alexandra Stréliski is a French-Canadian pianist who creates minimalist and cinematic music in the vein of composers Frédéric Chopin and Erik Satie as well as film music composers like Zimmer, Glass and Nyman - heavy on romance and with enough space to linger on the emotions in her work. Stréliski’s music was heard in HBO’s Sharp Objects and Big Little Lies Season 2 round-table, and in the Jean-Marc Vallée’s film Dallas Buyers Club (2013). Her latest release, Néo-Romance, conjures longing and hope, dream and imagination - inspired by the great themes of the romantic era, nostalgia, nature and spontaneity. Alexandra Stréliski performs some of these melancholic and beautiful tunes, in-studio.
Set list: "In the Air / The Hills", "The Breach", "Borders"
Watch "In the Air / The Hills":
Watch "The Breach":
Watch "Borders":
The New Pornographers reliably bring the power pop; one can always count on big hooks, anthemic choruses, and impeccably arranged orchestrations. Then there are the sweet vocal harmonies, a few additional beats to make things far from simple, and unexpected lyrical twists like a plan for “a long fade out,” "we burst through the Overton window”, and "You made this hell yourself?/Well, it's real nice". Songwriter & vocalist Carl Newman has never settled for a simple narrative or a beautiful landscape in song lyrics that seem halfway in the real world, but not quite right; or sometimes in images that are non-representational, maybe like modern art.
From glittering arpeggiators to a well-placed sampled yelp, along with saxophones and meaty synths, the songs seem to be born of a playful approach – “trying out ideas as if no one is listening”, describes Newman, and perhaps hinting that he also uses another delicate method in his songcraft of ‘mess around and find out’. Some of the members of The New Pornographers play stripped-down arrangements of songs from their latest, Continue as a Guest, in-studio. - Caryn Havlik
Set list: “Really Really Light”, “Angelcover”, “Firework in the Falling Snow”
Mary Halvorson has established herself as one of the finest guitarists of her generation; Robbie Lee has established himself as a versatile flutist, sax player, and keyboardist. Their 2018 album together sports such oddities as a 19th-century harp guitar with 18 strings, the world’s smallest saxophone, and a Renaissance reed instrument called the chalumeau. The music of edited improvisations covers a lot of sonic ground, floating between folk and jazz and world music. Robbie Lee and Mary Halvorson are in the studio for an improvised set of "mutant chamber jazz" (via @robbielee.) [From the Archives, 2018.]
Pianist, collaborator, and mentor Eunbi Kim presents sonic memoirs and meditations on life experiences through her latest batch of collaborative commissioned works. The dreamy soundworld features new pieces by living composers, plus electronics, strings, taped voices and found sounds. Eunbi Kim plays works by Pauchi Sasaki, Angélica Negrón, and Sophia Jani, in-studio.
Set list: "Mother's Hand, Healing Hand (엄마손은 약손)" by Pauchi Sasaki (2021), "Saturn Years" by Sophia Jani (2021), "Disco giratorio de palabras" (Rotating Record of Words) by Angélica Negrón (2020)
Kim holds a Master of Music degree from the Manhattan School of Music, where she also held a fellowship in the institution’s Center for Music Entrepreneurship. She currently serves on the Board of Trustees for New York Foundation for the Arts and is co-founder of bespoken, a mentorship program for women in music.
Watch "Mother's Hand, Healing Hand (엄마손은 약손)" by Pauchi Sasaki:
Watch "Saturn Years" by Sophia Jani:
Watch "Disco giratorio de palabras" by Angélica Negrón:
Composer and sound artist Nyokabi Kariuki makes music that somehow draws on experimental electronics, contemporary classical music, pop, and sound art without settling into any one of them. She divides her time between New York, Maryland and Nairobi, Kenya and works with piano, voice, electronics, and several instruments from the African continent, including the kalimba and djembe, and sometimes arranges her work for strings, and/or percussion. Her new LP is called Feeling Body, and it sort of tells the story of Kariuki’s experience living with long COVID, although not in a conventional narrative way. Nyokabi Kariũki performs music from both her EP peace places: kenyan memories and the LP, Feeling Body, in-studio.
Set list: “Folds”, “Galu”, “Nazama”
Watch "Folds":
Watch "Galu":
Watch "Nazama":
New York-based composer, pianist, and coder Dan Tepfer, who has previously improvised a companion to the J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations, has returned to using the animating idea in music by Bach as a starting point for his riffing, on his latest album, called Inventions/Reinventions. On this record, Tepfer takes Bach's 15 Two-Part Inventions as written (which he describes as “something deep happening under this simple surface”), and taps into what J.S. Bach was most famous for – his improvising genius, but in music that sounds like Dan Tepfer, in the remaining 9 keys of the complete cycle.
Tepfer feels that the idea of joy is omnipresent in Bach’s music, and in his own play as he riffs on Bach, he finds a visceral joy in creation. In doing so, Tepfer tells his own story - his love of Bach from childhood, his appreciation of Brazilian music, his admiration of Lee Konitz, - and not only improvises within a framework, but also creates an entirely new structure for the frame. He also sings what he plays to make sure that he means it, which brings to mind another improviser, American jazz pianist Keith Jarrett. Dan Tepfer performs both J.S. Bach’s Two-Part Inventions, and his own unique reinventions, in-studio. - Caryn Havlik
Set list: “J.S. Bach: Invention in C major / Tepfer: Improvisation in Db major”, “J.S. Bach: Invention in Eb major / Tepfer: Improvisation in Eb minor”, “J.S. Bach: Invention in A minor / Tepfer: Improvisation in Bb minor”
Taking as a starting point Renaissance and Medieval music, Lisel (aka Eliza Bagg – a member of vocal group Roomful of Teeth), creates hybrid music that blends her classical vocal training with electronic production techniques found in hyperpop (like the ‘bass drop’ and frequent use of Auto-Tune.) Lisel has absorbed the capabilities of technology into her own music through experiments with Ableton, adding ambient electric sounds and aesthetics, and goes for maximalist sound on Patterns for Auto-Tuned Voices and Delay. Running Ableton, and a Novation Launch Pad for the processing effects, Eliza Bagg, as Lisel, performs some of these studio creations, live on New Sounds. -Caryn Havlik
Hear new music for silent film by composer David Cieri with his music for Carl Th. Dreyer’s 1928 silent film La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc. Joan of Arc is said to have heard voices – strange, unearthly voices. So Cieri’s score, by turns visceral and transcendent, includes Sardinian vocal quartet Tenores de Aterúe in the ensemble of musicians. Best known for his music for various Ken Burns films, among his many film scores, Cieri recently completed a major new work for carillon bells. The podcast was recorded remotely at Brookfield Place in early 2023.
The singer, guitarist, and songwriter Ruthie Foster recently released her ninth studio album, called Healing Time, and it is a rich musical stew with flavors from gospel, soul, folk, and of course, the blues. Growing up in Texas, Foster was surrounded by southern blues and gospel, and she also grooves toward Motown-influenced soul and R&B, as she continues to avoid categorization, despite having earned multiple Blues Awards. “You can’t put me in a box, and I think that says a lot about not just who I am, but who we all are,” as she was quoted on Bluegrass Situation. She's also been an enthusiastic collaborator with the Allman Brothers, the Blind Boys of Alabama, pedal steel master Robert Randolph, and others. Ruthie Foster and her longtime bandmates play some of their feel-good and hopeful blues in-studio.
Set list: "Healing Time", "Feels Like Freedom", "Phenomenal Woman"
Watch "Healing Time":
Watch "Feels Like Freedom":
Watch "Phenomenal Woman":
English singer and songwriter Charlie Cunningham makes music that references earlier English singers like Nick Drake, as well as classic jazz, and even flamenco, which he studied in Spain. He has written a body of intimate, largely acoustic songs, quiet and melodic, which carve out space in time. Add in his intricate finger-picked guitar, and the results are arresting. Cunningham plays in-studio.
Set list: “Downpour”, “Bird’s Eye View”, “Don’t Go Far”
When Yasmin Williams plays guitar, it looks like she’s trying to play something else. With the instrument laying on her lap, she attacks it from above with both hands, producing a kaleidoscopic array of sounds. Williams is also a fan of Earth Wind & Fire, and inspired by them she’s added the kalimba, or thumb piano, to her music. By taping the kalimba to the body of her guitar, she’s able to play both instruments at once; her distinct style also leaves her tap shoe-wearing feet available for her to make beats. Yasmin Williams performs her new soundtrack to Charlie Chaplin’s silent film The Kid remotely, for the Soundcheck Podcast, from Brookfield Place.
Pearla (Brooklyn-based artist Nicole Rodriguez) makes off-kilter folk-pop that mixes reality and the surreal; in her songs, she builds a sound world through play and exploration. She's written a record about noticing things in the world and questioning her place in it, turning to music to attempt to figure it out. She and her band play new music from their strange and lovely record, 'Oh Glistening Onion, the Nighttime Is Coming', in-studio.
Grammy-winning trumpeter, composer, producer, and sports talk show host Nabaté Isles seeks to bring the groove and movement back to jazz, in order to get people to dance, just like at a block party. Isles, who was born and raised in New York City (Queens), takes an eclectic approach in his music which might incorporate funk, disco, and R&B, but also reflects the sounds he grew up with: new jack swing, hip hop, and Caribbean music - all in sophisticated arrangements and with improvisation. Nabaté Isles plays new music from his latest record, En Motion, in-studio.
Set list: "The Jump Off", "Perfect Cadence", "Harlem Shake"
The contemporary silent film, Electric Appalachia, is a surprising, and surprisingly poignant look at how the coming of electricity changed Tennessee. Using archival footage, the film was put together by Eric Dawson, the director at TAMIS (the Tennessee Archive of Moving Image and Sound) and offers “a meditation on electricity and modernity in East Tennessee”. This silent film was created with two musicians in mind – guitarist William Tyler and harpist and synthesist Mary Lattimore, who add a moving, occasionally cosmic score. Listen to selections from their collaborative live soundtrack toElectric Appalachia, recorded at Brookfield Place.
Somebody that we used to know, Wally de Backer, Belgian-born Australian multi-instrumentalist, self-admitted “tinkerer,” and singer-songwriter (aka GOTYE), digs unusual instruments – like the rare French electronic musical instrument, the ondioline (invented in 1941.) He’ll perform tunes from the 1960's ondioline repertoire, created by the late Jean-Jacques Perrey, the instrument’s first and only virtuoso.
Brooklyn-based via San Juan band Balún came from DIY electrified bedroom pop that embraced punk on the island of Puerto Rico. Now, with an even wider range of influences, (please see their ethnomusicological, technological, punk, hardcore, and New York Philharmonic credentials) their "dreambow" tropical electronica harnesses Caribbean rhythms, grime/jungle/IDM, Puerto Rican folk music, shoegaze and is a playfully-informed take on global pop music. Balún joins us in the studio to play music from their 2018 record, Prisma Tropical. (From the Archives.)Balún contributed music to the first season of La Brega, and to the new season of La Brega.
Watch the individual songs below:
Watch the full session here:
Irish multi-instrumentalist Anna Mieke writes songs that conjure expansive places and moving through those places- touching on change, death, dreaming, memory, family, and perhaps an alternate reality on her latest album "Theatre". Anna Mieke and her band play in-studio for the Soundcheck Podcast.
The Sudanese-American rapper Oddisee – born Amir Elkhalifa – has been making socially conscious hip hop since 2008, and in live performance he’s known for playing not with a DJ or recorded samples but with a live band, called Good Company. Oddisee has just released the 2023 album called To What End, tackling big ideas of home, race, family, and human ambition. Oddisee, and the high-caliber musicians of the band Good Company, play these tunes in-studio.
Set list: “Race”, “Already Knew”, “How Far”
Watch "Race":
Watch "Already Knew":
Watch "How Far":
New York -based UNI and The Urchins was started by “bassist/director/engineer/probably wizard” Charlotte Kemp Muhl (Bust Magazine), and in lead singer Jack James Busa, they have an androgynous alien who brings a glorious glam rock sensibility to the band’s mix of psychedelia and post punk. The band has just released their debut LP, called Simulator, full of catchy, dance-y, sometimes cheeky songs about a world made dizzy by media and technology.
The conversation ranges from using AI – a neural network to generate lyrics, a love of David Bowie, their favorite Japanese food (the sticky, slimy kind), high school Latin, ASMR, waiting rooms, observations about the disappearing middle class, the New York music scene, growing up in the South, to tuba sound effects and more. Also, the band plays live in-studio. They play at Elsewhere in New York on March 3, and will be in Austin at South by Southwest.
Set list: “Subhuman Suburbia”, “Popstar Supernova”, “Simulator”
Watch "Subhuman Suburbia":
Watch "Popstar Supernova":
Watch "Simulator":
The 8-piece multicultural gypsy punk band Gogol Bordello is based here in New York, but its founder, the vocalist, songwriter and all-around ringleader Eugene Hutz, was born in Ukraine. At the best of times, Gogol Bordello wants you to dance, and party, but also to think. Now, for Ukraine and the Ukrainian diaspora, these are not the best of times, so Gogol Bordello still wants you to dance and party and think, but also to act. Hutz and company have done several benefit shows, and he even did a secret show for the troops at the front line last summer. Members of Gogol Bordello play scaled-down punk from their most recent LP Solidaritine, in-studio. - John Schaefer
Set list: "Focus Coin", "My Companjera", "Fire on Ice Floe"
Watch "Focus Coin":
Watch "My Companjera":
Watch "Fire on Ice Floe":
New Zealand pop star Kimbra plays within the confines of pop music, bending and skewing and tone painting, according to her needs. Now based here in New York, Kimbra first made waves in 2011 when she teamed up with Gotye on his international hit “Somebody That I Used to Know.” We know her now as a Grammy winning creator of arty and experimental pop, unafraid to take risks and address macro issues from the world around, as well as more introspective internal reckonings.
On how she crafts this skewed pop, Kimbra says that “Improvisation is crucial to my process. It keeps me on the ledge. If I feel danger, if I feel a sense of the possible stumble, there’s something really powerful in that. Then watching yourself triumph.” Using her voice and a voice modulator, Kimbra wrestles with her inner demons over piano lines and carefully-chosen chords, as she plays some new songs from 'A Reckoning', in intimate arrangements, in-studio. - Caryn Havlik
Set list: "Save Me", "Foolish Thinking", "The Way We Were"
Watch "Save Me":
Watch "Foolish Thinking":
Watch "The Way We Were":
Meridian Brothers, founded by musician Eblis Álvarez, fuses a love of classic salsa with cumbia, vallenato, spacey psychedelia, and wacky samples for a playful dance party. With a body of songs containing some poignant social commentary about our obsession with technology, fear of war, police brutality, and other issues, the music hearkens to the salsa dura era (think Fania All-Stars); even the legendary Ansonia label took note and invited Meridian Brothers to be their first new signing in more than 30 years. With an interplay of sax, guitar, plenty of percussion, spoken/sung cartoon vocals (pitch-shifted and processed), and sound effects, Meridian Brothers plays their fantasy salsa-cumbia fusion, in-studio. - Caryn Havlik
Set list: “Salsa Caliente” “Puya Del Emprasario”, “Metamorfosis”
Watch "Salsa Caliente":
Watch "Puya Del Emprasari":
Watch "Metamorfosis":
The duo of Rachael & Vilray courtesy of Rachael Price, lead singer of the popular band Lake Street Dive, and the New York-based singer and guitarist Vilray may sound like classic guitar jazz right out of the 1920s-1940s; Vilray’s guitar chops dip into the style of the great “gypsy-jazz” guitarist Django Reinhardt; and Rachael Price croons into an old RCA ribbon mic, up close, warm and intimate, with no reverb. Rachael & Vilray’s new originals are equal helpings of literate and populist, with cutting observations and character studies that might be operatic and humorous, allowing for the way that people contain multitudes. Their latest record, I Love A Love Song, continues to draw on, and in their own sly way, extends the tradition of the Great American Songbook. The duo joins us in-studio to play some of their new, old-sounding songs (with one even featuring a lyric about narwhals.) - Caryn Havlik
Set list: “Is A Good Man Real?” “Hate Is The Basis (of Love)” “Join Me In A Dream”
Watch “Is A Good Man Real?”:
Watch “Hate Is The Basis (of Love)”:
Watch “Join Me In A Dream”:
The band called Ranky Tanky won the Grammy for best Regional Roots Album back in 2020. The group is based in Charleston, SC, and their regional roots are in the Gullah music of the coastal southeastern states, the Sea Island music; their name comes from a Gullah phrase for “get funky”. Gullah culture comes from the descendants of Africans captured along Africa’s rice coast [in West Africa], and while Gullah people today speak English, traditionally they’ve also spoken an African-American creole also called Gullah.
Ranky Tanky’s music is a kind of creole – a mix of jazz, American gospel, and soul, all with the through line of the original Gullah rhythms, game songs, praise songs, ring shouts, and songs of gratitude kept alive from slavery into the present day. Ranky Tanky has been nominated for another Grammy for their latest album, Live at the 2022 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. They play in-studio for us, with all the joy they can bring.
Set list: "Down in my Heart", "Beat 'Em Down", "Lift Me Up"
Watch "Down in my Heart":
Watch "Beat 'Em Down":
Watch "Lift Me Up":
Sax player Marcus Strickland has worked with many notable jazzers, including Roy Haynes, McCoy Tyner, Wynton Marsalis, Jeff "Tain" Watts, Dave Douglas, and Keyon Harrold. He also leads his own band Twi-Life, which inhabits an Afro-futuristic space at the crossroads of Hip Hop, Soul, and Jazz. Twi-Life's album, The Universe's Wildest Dream, conceptualized into being during the lockdown times, urges an awareness of how precious and miraculous and random and delicate our existence is here on Planet Earth, the vast universe, (and everything.)
On the album, Marcus Strickland & Charles Haynes stretch out into beat-makers and producers, fleshing out layered studio creations with found sound, guest artists, overdubs and electronics, and ultimately extend the Afro-Futurist tradition to far-out places. Strickland and Twi-Life bring a Hammond B-3 organ with hypnotic Leslie speakers into the studio to play some of the tunes, ahead of the record release, and shows in New York at the Blue Note on Jan. 17 & 18.
Set list: “Dust Ball Fantasy” “Bird Call” “You and I, an Anomaly”
Los Angeles-based band Dengue Fever blends 60's Cambodian pop and psychedelic rock with danceable grooves and ghostly noir romanticism. Cambodian Chhom Nimol fronts the band and sings mostly in her native language, she's basically from "a family best considered as a Cambodia pop music dynasty-- a not unlike a Cambodian version of the Jacksons", (Bandcamp.) She's backed by American rockers who play guitar, farfisa (a small, Italian-made organ), bass, drums, and saxophone. Dengue Fever joins us remotely, as they are about to play globalFest 2023 on Jan. 15 at David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center.
Set list: “Silver Fish”, “Uku”, ”One Thousand Tears of a Tarantula”
Hear unpredictable and graceful melodic lines traded by sax and strings, as tenor sax superstar Joshua Redman and string quartet Brooklyn Rider, along with all-star rhythm section of Scott Colley (bass) and Satoshi Takeishi (percussion) take over the studio. It's chamber music with swoops, dives, groove and bite in original and newly-arranged music with one foot in the jazz world where sharps are optional. (This session is from the Archives, 2018.) -Caryn Havlik
Watch the full session here:
Turkish-German singer and composer Alev Lenz has been something of a serial collaborator, working with sitarist and composer Anoushka Shankar, Lisel (Eliza Bagg), Sand Dunes, synthesist and producer Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith, French-Cuban vocal duo Ibeyi, and Roomful of Teeth, to name a few. During the interview, Lenz describes her creative process, and when the words might come in, and shares her experiences in the world of “sync”, when composers license their music to film and streaming series. Plus, hear Alev Lenz and pianist Vana Gierig, recorded in the studio.
Listen to more highlights from this off-again-on-again year of live performances from the Soundcheck Podcast. These bright spots come by way of Mexican singer-songwriter and arranger Silvana Estrada, London-based tuba player Theon Cross, and the psychedelic cumbia of Combo Chimbita, recorded live at Brooklyn Bowl. Also, listen to music by Cuban-born pianist Omar Sosa and sax player Peter Apfelbaum, of the band Quarteto Americanos. Plus, playful and surreal British musician and songwriter Robyn Hitchcock riffs on an unrealized Raymond Chandler title.
ARTIST: Theon Cross WORK: We Go Again [5:49] RECORDING: Live for the Soundcheck Podcast, Mar. 2022 SOURCE: This performance not commercially available. INFO: A version appears on Theon Cross’ album, Intra I
ARTIST: Omar Sosa and Peter Apfelbaum WORK: umbo kondo [5:47] RECORDING: Live for the Soundcheck Podcast, Sept. 2022 SOURCE: This performance not commercially available. INFO: https://omarsosa.com/
ARTIST: Robyn Hitchcock WORK: The Man Who Loves the Rain [3:58] RECORDING: Live for the Soundcheck Podcast, Nov. 2022 SOURCE: This performance not commercially available. INFO: The song appears on his 2022 record, Shufflemania!
ARTIST: Silvana Estrada WORK: Marchita [4:35] RECORDING: Live for the Soundcheck Podcast, Jan. 2022 SOURCE: This performance not commercially available. INFO: The tune appears on her 2022 album, Marchita
ARTIST: Combo Chimbita WORK: La Perla [4:35] RECORDING: Live for the Soundcheck Podcast, Sept. 2022 SOURCE: This performance not commercially available. INFO: The song appears on the 2022 release, Ire.
Montréal’s Black Ox Orkestar has been making 'music of the Jewish diaspora not tied to any state' since the early 2000’s. Orkestar is a name you’ll see a lot in Balkan music; it’s simply Serbo-Croatian for orchestra or ensemble. But the musicians were also in much-admired post-rock bands like Silver Mt Zion, and Godspeed You Black Emperor, so after a while they went their separate ways, but came back together in 2021.
Their new album, called Everything Returns, "connects key current issues—from refugees forced to leave their homes, to the return of fascism and exclusionary nationalism—with the legacy of modernist Yiddish poetry and song", (Bandcamp liner notes.) The songs are a melancholic twist on traditional Jewish klezmer music, with vocals mainly sung in Yiddish – with piano, violin, upright bass, clarinet and cymbalom (a stringed instrument of the dulcimer family) – taking on hues of indie rock, experimental folk and avant-jazz. Black Ox Orkestar plays both traditional and original songs for us, in-studio. - Caryn Havlik
Set list: “Tish Nign” “Body Keeps the Score”, “Mizrakh Mi Ma’arav”
Watch "Tish Nign":
Watch "Body Keeps the Score":
Watch “Mizrakh Mi Ma’arav”:
One of the marks of a dedicated and accomplished artist is that they continue to level up, testing their own limits and working to break out of habits and patterns. New York-based guitarist, singer/songwriter, and collaborator Steve Gunn is such a one; he can tap into Indian classical modes, inhabit the drone of minimalist founding father La Monte Young, pick like fingerstyle players Jack Rose and John Fahey, and coax the reclusive Japanese folk legend, guitarist and songwriter Sachiko Kanenobu, back to playing (NY Times.)
In Gunn’s songs -which float between the worlds of Philadelphia soul, British folk, DC punk, and the cosmic jazz of Sun Ra with ease- one finds unexpected chromatic lyricism, and keen lyric observations. He’s also done several challenging collaborations with a head-spinningly wide range of musical colleagues (Mary Lattimore, John Trusinski, Bridget St John, Mdou Moctar, Bing &Ruth, Kim Gordon, Kurt Vile) and continues to step outside of music into the worlds of film, line drawings, sculpture, or podcasts, in order to prevent tunnel vision (gathered from ToneGlow.substack.com.)
The ace guitarist and fingerstyle folk rocker Steve Gunn plays recent songs from Other You and its companion EP, Nakama, in-studio. - Caryn Havlik
Set list: “Fulton”, “Morning River”, “On the Way”
Watch "Fulton":
Watch "Morning River":
Watch "On The Way":
The four members of Combo Chimbita are from Colombia. But they met and formed their band here in New York. From their home base in Queens, Combo Chimbita plays a kind of tropical futurist pop that combines elements of Afro-Colombian spirituality, razor-sharp social commentary, and booty-shaking dance rhythms. Hear their set, live from the New Sounds 40th Anniversary Party from Brooklyn Bowl, and an interview with bass/synth player Prince of Queens.
Set list:
CandelaEsto Es RealBabalawo Download or Listen to Part 1:
IRE by Combo Chimbita
The Brazilian singer and guitarist named Rogê made his mark playing his own brand of samba and samba funk in the clubs of Rio de Janeiro. [Samba in Brazil is rather like the Blues in America, a statement and sound born of the forced migration of Africans, and in both styles, these musical roots grew up and out into many more kinds of popular music.] Now, L.A.-based, Rogê is preparing to release his first album outside Brazil in early 2023, in partnership with producer/guitarist Thomas Brenneck (Menahan Street Band, producer/guitarist for Charles Bradley, Sharon Jones and The Budos Band.) It’ll be called Curyman, (his given name is Roger José Cury), and even though the record has a big, almost orchestral sound at time, thanks to string arrangements by fellow Brazilian Arthur Verocai, it all starts with the voice and guitar. Samba star Rogê performs these new tunes with percussionist Stephane San Juan, in-studio.
Set list: “A Voz Que Não Se Cala”- (by Stephane San Juan), “Existe Uma Voz”, “Pra Vida”
Watch “A Voz Que Não Se Cala” - (by Stephane San Juan):
Watch “Existe Uma Voz":
Watch "Pra Vida":
Nashville-based Appalachian Road Show are veterans of the bluegrass, folk, and roots music scenes who polish the raw emotion in tunes inspired by the Civil War and America’s barn dance eras. The American roots music supergroup features Todd Phillips (bass, bowed bass, vibraslap, vocals), Zeb Snyder (guitars, slide guitar, vocals), Jim VanCleve (fiddle, vocals) and Darrell Webb (mandolin, octave mandolin, banjo, vocals.) They play for us remotely from Blackbird Studios in Nashville, and banjo player, vocalist, and whistler Barry Abernathy chats about their spirit-lifting 2022 release, Jubilation.
Set list: Gallows Pole, The Ballad of Kidder Cole
Watch "Gallows Pole":
Watch "The Ballad of Kidder Cole":
Songwriter Jesse Harris has been a standout musical figure since the 1990s in New York, as a singer and guitarist, and lately as a producer. When his friend Norah Jones swept up all the Grammys back in 2003, it was for an album featuring five of Jesse’s songs, including his Grammy winning song of the year “Don’t Know Why”; other interpreters of his songs include Willie Nelson, Smokey Robinson, and Emmylou Harris. Jesse Harris and percussionist/producer Kenny Wolleson have just birthed an unusual collection of songs called Silver Balloon, where they aimed to experiment with (and subvert) song form, play with an imaginative sound world, and maybe bend time to suit their play as they embrace unexpected chaos.
Jesse Harris and percussionist Kenny Wolleson, along with the band, play some of these new songs in-studio, and tease the forthcoming instrumental record, Cosmo, of songs without words.
Set list: “The Hanged Man” “Hummingbird” “New Year’s Day”
Watch "The Hanged Man":
Watch "Hummingbird":
Watch "New Year's Day":
Thee Sacred Souls is a group of 20-somethings who blend the sounds of Chicano soul with its Philadelphia, Memphis, and even Panama counterparts. Their debut self-titled LP, on Daptone Records, is a smooth and sultry type of timeless soul, featuring Josh Lane’s effortless crooning vocals. Their 'retro' sound is inspired by everything from trailblazing East LA Chicano band Thee Midniters to Italian library music. The band plays in-studio.
Set list: "Future Lover", "Easier Said Than Done", "Can I Call You Rose"
Thee Sacred Souls by Thee Sacred Souls
New York singer/songwriter Nick Hakim has been producing records of gently psychedelic soul here for almost a decade. Occasionally, he drops the gentle psychedelia in favor of something more obviously trippy – it happens several times on his newest album, Cometa. (The title is Spanish for “kite,” although the American-born Hakim sings in English.) He is one of those singers whose voice rarely seems to rise above a whisper – and though he’s probably sick of being compared to the ill-starred but still-mythic English folkie Nick Drake, Hakim’s songs can sound a little like Nick Drake fronting a psychedelic soul band from the early 70s. Nick Hakim and his band perform these songs in-studio. (-John Schaefer)
Set list: Vertigo, Happen, Feeling Myself
Violinist and composer Layale Chaker has done something exquisite in her music with the Ensemble Sarafand from the record, Inner Rhyme: she has gone about capturing the “shape and essence of epic testimonials on life, death, war and love that make the heart of Arabic poetry,” (Layale Chaker.) It’s an alchemical wedding of music derived from the form, rhythm and structure of Arabic sung poetry using chamber music instruments: her violin, along with piano, cello, double-bass, and hand percussion. Chaker and Sarafand perform some of these Arabic-poetry inspired, jazz-embracing chamber music works, in-studio. (From the Archives, 2019.)
Watch the session here:
Who wants to know what The Shuffle Man knows? The playful and surreal British musician and songwriter Robyn Hitchcock does. His latest batch of songs, 'Shufflemania!', is primed for the sub-personalities within - feathery serpent god, the shuffle man, vampire, scorpio tv detective. Robyn’s love of trams and Raymond Chandler are steady, as is his ability to balance the inane and the poignant in lyrics musing about inner lives, vegan casserole, crawling fish, hemlock-drinking, and the inevitability of death. Robyn Hitchcock plays songs from his latest, and a tune from his vast back catalogue, in-studio. - Caryn Havlik
Set: "The Shuffle Man", "Noirer than Noir", "The Man Who Loves the Rain", "Glass Hotel"
Watch "The Shuffle Man":
Watch "Noirer Then Noir":
Watch "The Man Who Loves the Rain":
Watch "Glass Hotel":
British singer and songwriter Beth Orton has found distinctive ways to blend her folky acoustic guitar-playing with the sounds of the electronic music world. But her latest record, Weather Alive, settles in a distinctly personal space where genres don’t so much collide as fade away, and the basis for the album wasn't guitar, but tracks she recorded on a beat-up, questionably-tuned upright piano she bought at a street market. Orton also says that she got to collaborate with herself - as she produced the record - and with that old piano, which "really spoke to me," (Pitchfork.) Additionally, in keeping with her wide ranging musical circle (she's worked with Chemical Brothers, William Orbit, Nick Cave, Emmylou Harris, Four Tet, to drop a few names), she collaborated remotely on Weather Alive with multi-instrumentalist Shahzad Ismaily, the Smile drummer Tom Skinner (Sons of Kemet), and guitarist Grey McMurray, and other folks during lockdown.
Beth Orton and her band play some of these tunes in-studio.
Set list: "Friday Night", "Fractals", "Arms Around a Memory"
The three singers who lead the group Say She She all like different things: 70s style New York dance music, classic soul and R&B, the swirling psychedelia of Turkish pop or Hindi film music. The resulting global pop is something close to ‘discodelic soul’ and revolves around the sweet harmonies of the three singers. Say She She has just put out a debut album called Prism, a post-disco confection built around the eclectic and thrilling harmonies of their three singers, Piya Malik, Nya Gazelle Brown, and Sabrina Cunningham. The full 7-piece band plays in-studio.
Set list: "Fortune Teller", "Blow My Mind", "Prism", "Forget Me Not"
Bonus Dance Moves in this operatic song, "Forget Me Not":
Black Feminist Punk trio Big Joanie formed in London, but are now based over various cities in the U.K. Their sound is “punk” and… also looks to Riot Grrrl jaggedness and DIY sensibilities, The Jesus and Mary Chain, and girl group harmonies. Their 2022 album, Back Home, sees the band ruminating on the ideas of home, whether that’s in the U.K., back in Africa or the Caribbean, and considering how second and third generation communities of Black & Brown folks define themselves as British people.
Borne of guitarist/vocalist Stephanie Phillips’s desire for a space “where I could be Black and be into punk and it wouldn’t be seen as a conflict”, Big Joanie began as a post on social media, (Kerry Cardoza, Bandcamp), and is named for Phillips’ mom. Stephanie Phillips of Big Joanie talks DIY and making one’s own culture, and the band plays remotely from their London recording studio.
On a literary note, Phillips is also a writer and journalist, whose own book Why Solange Matters is out now, via University of Texas Press. Drummer/vocalist Chardine Taylor-Stone’s book, Sold Out: How Black Feminism Lost Its Soul, via Cassava Republic Press, is due out in late November of 2022. - Caryn Havlik
Set list: “Your Words”, “Cactus Tree”, “Today”
Watch "Your Words":
As a solo artist, Grammy-winning Puerto Rican singer-songwriter iLe (Ileana Cabra) has explored the rich history of classic Latin American pop music, and she contributed vocals in the popular hip hop band, Calle13, with her brothers. Her new 2022 album, Nacarile sees her mixing boleros and ballads with reggaeton and synth pop for a collection of politically- and socially-conscious art-rock tinged with some psychedelia, whose intent is to sound more like the present, despite looking to the classic styles. There are also some unusual sounds on Nacarile: the eerie and expressive theremin; the all-female Mariachi band Flor de Toloache, and other collaborators like Natalia Lafourcade and Mon Laferte, as well as background vocal arrangements with textures that are lush and airy.
The material takes on the elections in Puerto Rico as well as in the U.S., as well as that colonial legacy and its abuse of power. Also, there is a focus on the strength and power in femininity, especially in response to the patriarchy. The pioneering reggaeton star Ivy Queen makes an appearance on a protest song that speaks to the loss of women’s reproductive rights worldwide. In an interview with NPR, iLe says: “Something pretty for me is that we have our own rights, and that we should be treated respectfully and that no one can say anything about what we can or can't do with our own bodies.”
iLe and her band play some of these tunes, in-studio. - Caryn Havlik
Set list: “Donde Nadie Más Respira”, “(Escapándome) De Mí”, “Traguito”
Oregon-based songwriter Laura Veirs re-discovers her “self-sovereignty” as she calls it, on a new record, Found Light. For this album, Veirs made her first foray into producing on her own, making choices about out-of-sync guitars to create waves, adding saxophone, or calling on friends to be guest artists, and co-produce with her. Mostly, it's about keeping choices mostly simple and direct, and harnessing the power of her dad’s nylon string guitar to sublimate her raw emotions from personal upheaval. She plays these intimate songs of artistic independence, remotely. - Caryn Havlik
Set list: “Ring Song”, “Naked Hymn”, “Sword Song”, “Time Will Show You”
Watch "Ring Song":
"Naked Hymn":
"Sword Song":
"Time Will Show You":
The four members of Combo Chimbita are from Colombia. But they met and formed their band here in New York. From their home base in Queens, Combo Chimbita plays a kind of tropical futurist pop that combines elements of Afro-Colombian spirituality, razor-sharp social commentary, and booty-shaking dance rhythms. Hear their set, live from the New Sounds 40th Anniversary Party from Brooklyn Bowl, and an interview with bass/synth player Prince of Queens.
Set list: "El Camino", "Testigo", "La Perla", "Sin Tiempo", "Ahomale", "Oya"
Guitarist, composer, ethnomusicologist, and instrument builder Paolo Angeli plays a custom prepared Sardinian guitar, a hybrid electro-acoustic instrument that looks like a guitar crossed with a cello. Angeli’s build has been fitted cross-wise and lengthwise with additional strings: cello strings and drone strings, and has numerous other inventions attached to it, including hammers, pedals, bicycle cables, and some propellers at variable speed. Then, there’s his array of electronics and treatments...
Paolo Angeli demonstrates some of these sounds, which include percussion, organ, kora, sitar, slide guitar, cello, hammered dulcimer, fretless bass, and drone (and teases a new custom prototype in the works!) He also performs music from his latest release – a concept album about the wider Mediterranean - Rade, on his custom instrument, complete with plastic bag percussion, in-studio. - Caryn Havlik
Set list: "Baklawa", "Mare Lungo", "Rade"
Watch "Baklawa":
Watch: "Mare Lungo":
Watch "Rade":
Watch the entire session:
Banjo player, fiddler, singer, and scholar Jake Blount’s latest feat is an Afro-futurist concept album called The New Faith, where instead of shiny interstellar travel, man-made climate crises reach their logical end points, and a small community survives, staying lifted by the sacred songs of the past. Blount presents the music of this imagined community as a religious service in three sections, captured as a future field recording - one with a direct through-line to folk, gospel, the blues, and spirituals. The tie-in with Octavia Butler’s visionary 1993 work of climate/science fiction, Parable of the Sower, is explicit, says Blount, as this album may well be the first musical Afro-futurist cautionary tale (some might say dystopia, but that would imply that there was a utopia to begin with.)
The collected and re-cast songs on The New Faith have been deeply researched (just as they were on his excellent 2020 record, Spider Tales) and show profound respect invoking and honoring the ancestors: Bessie Jones of the Sea Island Singers, civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer, bluesman Skip James, and the legendary gospel singer Mahalia Jackson. There’s a full-throated electric guitar on “Didn’t It Rain” summoning guitar hero Sister Rosetta Tharpe; songs sourced from fingerstyle and Delta blues players Blind Willie McTell and Skip James, respectively; and a pervasive bass thump throughout extending from the Gullah-Geechee Ring Shout tradition of groove-keeping. Together with cleverly deployed fiddle and banjo, (please see his explainer on the banjo, and Black String Band history(!)), lots of hand claps, and call and response vocals, gospel choruses, and rapped verse from Demeanor, Blount seamlessly and instructively links up past, present, and potential future, in ways that will undoubtedly resonate. Jake Blount and his band play some of these tunes, in-studio. – Caryn Havlik
Set list: "Once There Was No Sun" "City of Heaven" "Didn't It Rain"
Watch "Once There Was No Sun":
Watch "City of Heaven":
Watch "Didn't It Rain":
Classically-trained Belgian-Egyptian singer/songwriter Tamino has a voice that covers three octaves; his sultry croon and rich falsetto envelop a listener and draw inevitable comparisons to Thom Yorke and Jeff Buckley. Tamino's vocal lines and riffs sometimes incorporate Arabic quarter notes, and he now writes on the Arab oud, not unlike his grandfather, the Egyptian singer and movie star Muharram Fouad. His latest album, Sahar, “just before dawn” – suggests an in-between time, full of reflection and moments of mystery. He performs these latest baroque pop / Arab-gothic songs, in-studio. (Thanks, GQ Middle East for the hybrid term.) - Caryn Havlik
Set list: “A Drop of Blood” “The Longing” “The First Disciple”
With eight members, London-based caroline looks like a combination rock band and chamber music ensemble with their violins, cello, flute, guitars, bass, percussion, and drums. Their songs are a study in the balance of restraint and release, as they journey through what could sound like Appalachian folk, Midwestern emo, minimalist classical, electronic music, and post rock music. caroline writes their songs improvisationally, as a core trio, then they develop them further as the full 8-piece band. Phrases are chanted, intermittently, drones are established and then carefully moved, as the songs stretch out to suites. In live performance the band has a tendency to play in the round, as if in the middle of some private ceremony – the better to play off of one another. caroline plays in-studio. - John Schaefer/Caryn Havlik
Set list: "Dark Blue", "Skydiving onto the library roof", "BRJ"
Cover of claire rousay's "Peak Chroma":peak chroma by caroline
The singer/songwriter Dentitia first attracted notice here in New York as a kind of alternative R&B singer. Her songs, either as half of Denitia & Sene or as a solo artist, often had subtle, but expansive production. But her new album, Highways, takes a turn to a more intimate, largely acoustic sound, with songs that draw on folk and even country music. Now based in the Hudson Valley, Denitia has traveled down to our studio to do some solo versions of these new songs.
Set list: "Highways", "My Weakness", "All the Sweet Tea"
Watch: "All the Sweet Tea":
The Heavy Heavy is a band out of Brighton, England – but they sound like a band that’s been time-shifted straight out of 1975. The couple at the heart of the band, Will Turner and Georgie Fuller, decided on their name after hearing an interview with David Bowie. They describe their sunny, trippy sound as “primal, yet extra,” and enjoy an expanse of sound with reverb and layered vocals, along with organ and guitars. The Heavy Heavy plays some of their psychedelic pop remotely.
Set list: “Miles and Miles”, “Go Down River”, “All My Dreams”
Watch Set list: “Go Down River”:
The party band, Red Baraat, is from Brooklyn, but their music grows out of the hard-partying tradition of Punjabi wedding bands. They're a big band full of brass instruments and drums, rock guitar, jazzy improvisations, occasionally some rap, (both the dhol and drumset keep the groove going), who bring the festivities with them wherever they go.
Hear their set, live from the New Sounds 40th Anniversary Party from Brooklyn Bowl, and an interview with drummer and composer Sunny Jain, who leads the band on dhol, the double-sided drum, one which is definitely an “outside” instrument. Hear Jain play his new, bigger, responsive Sufi dhol from Lahore, Pakistan, which suffered a strap malfunction during their set, and the band barely missed a beat. - Caryn Havlik
Set list: “Chaal Baby” “Kala Mukra” “Zindabad” “Gaadi of Truth” “Shruggy Ji” “Ishq Tera Tadpave” “Thumbs Up”
Portland, Oregon-based Marisa Anderson channels the history of the guitar and stretches the boundaries of tradition. From spacious melancholic laments to transcendent minimalism, Anderson is coming from a place between country, blues, and drone. On her 2018 record, Cloud Corner, she touches on Tuareg scales from "desert blues," the finger-style picking of so-called “American Primitive,” and chiming sad cowboy chords, while continuously moving and traveling on her guitar. She joins us in-studio.
Marisa Anderson's new 2022 record is Still, Here:
Still, Here by Marisa Anderson
Watch the individual songs below:
Lebanese-born Paris-based trumpet superstar Ibrahim Maalouf plays a custom four-valve trumpet that can not only play western music, but also accesses the quarter tones in Arab classical music. He’s played jazz, worked with rappers, global pop stars, and has collaborated with everyone from Angelique Kidjo to Wynton Marsalis, New Orleans’ Tank and the Bangas, Cuban funk-rapper Cimafunk, and actress Sharon Stone. On his latest record, called Capacity to Love, due Nov. 4, he has opened the doors to and between all kinds of music: classical Arab music, Western classical music, sacred music, rap, jazz, and pop music. He and his band play an intimate acoustic set in-studio ahead of a North American tour (Sept. 29-Oct. 6). -Caryn Havlik
Set list: "Feeling Good", "True Sorry", "Right Time"
Cuban-born Omar Sosa has made beautiful records with musicians from West Africa, from all over East Africa, from Spain, where he's lived for many years, and now, with American friends, including sax player Peter Apfelbaum, whom we've heard over the years playing with the Kamikaze Ground Crew, the Millennial Territory Orchestra, and the Hieroglyphics Ensemble, among others. They play duo versions of music from the Quarteto Americanos project, including recorded sounds fired from a sampler pad, that Sosa has put together, in-studio.
Set list: "umbo kondo", "Move in D", "Mis Tres Notas"
From the 2022 New York Guitar Festival at The Greene Space, listen to cosmic inventions from guitarist and composer Vernon Reid together with Laraaji on zither and electronics.
Adept at metal, funk and jazz, Vernon Reid gained fame as the main songwriter for the rock band Living Colour, and as a founder of the Black Rock Coalition. Crashing this year’s guitar festival to join Vernon is the innovative ambient zither player and electronic musician Laraaji, who was also part of Brian Eno’s groundbreaking Ambient Music series back in 1981. Vernon Reid and Laraaji, together with an arsenal of electronics, in addition to their instruments, with occasional vocalizing, improvise a breathtaking longform set (perhaps taking inspiration from the Oblique Strategies card Ghost Echoes).
Watch their improvisations here:
Lean Year is Virginia-based singer Emilie Rex and filmmaker/musician Rick Alverson, along with Erik Hall, who lives in rural Michigan, where he records and co-produces the band’s records with Alverson. The band’s latest, Sides, is heavy on dreamlike and beautiful melodies, yet the material is also meditation on grief and the processing of personal tragedy. Using mellotron, keyboards of many colors, guitar, and a tapestry of synth pads of sampled woodwinds, together with Rex’s distinctive voice, the music is “a balancing act between pathos and pop” (Bandcamp), which feels haunted and cinematic, while celebrating memories and embracing calm amidst the sorrow. Lean Year plays in-studio.
Set list: "Nitetime", "Marriage of Heaven and Hell", "Trouble with Being Warm"
Watch "Nitetime":
Watch "Marriage of Heaven and Hell":
Watch "Trouble with Being Warm":
Mafer Bandola, aka Maria Fernanda González, is originally from Venezuela, and is one of the few women who plays bandola and electric bandola professionally. The Bandola is a traditional 4-stringed instrument found in both Colombia and Venezuela; it is avacado-shaped, and related to the bandurria and mandolin (thanks, Wikipedia.)
In her music, she is constantly stretching and innovating within her tradition by incorporating jazz, blues, Brazilian influences, as she experiments with genres, sounds, and cross-cultural collaboration. González is also an educator, self-taught composer, journalist, and a co-founder of LADAMA, a multinational band of four women from four countries. She joins us remotely to perform original works, ahead of her appearance at Flushing Town Hall on Sept. 18 at 1PM.
Set list: “Zumba que Zumba”, “Agreste”, “Pajarillo”
Watch "Zumba que Zumba":
Watch “Agreste”:
Watch "“Pajarillo”:
Wikipedia says Bill Frisell “is an American jazz guitarist.” Well they got “American” and “guitarist” right. Frisell has indeed played jazz, but also country, rock, folk, West African, classical, and lots of less easily defined styles of music. Widely considered to be one of the great guitarists of our time, he is the subject of a new biography called Bill Frisell: Beautiful Dreamer. He plays solo acoustic in The Greene Space as part of the 2022 New York Guitar Festival. - John Schaefer
Set list: Look Out for Hope, Blues from Before, Strange Meeting, Waltz For Hal Willner
Watch the set:
Colleen is the alias of French multi-instrumentalist Cécile Schott, who has been living and working in Spain for the past few years. Her musical ax of choice was a Baroque instrument - the viola da gamba (as well as modified music boxes, melodica, classical guitar, clarinet, toy gamelan frame drum, piano, and wind chimes) electronically looped and layered; on later records, she added her voice. But on her 2017 release, she’s completely put away the viola da gamba in favor of electronic devices like the Pocket Piano and the Moogerfooger. In fact, this album, A flame my love, a frequency, is her first fully electronics-based record - 100% electronics and voice. Colleen and her synth armada are here in the studio to play these unconventional avant-pop creations in their live versions today. (From the Archives, 2017.)
From his beginnings in his father’s band, Terry Riley and The All Stars,Gyan Riley has branched out into classical music (both his own and that of composers like John Zorn), spacey electric guitar excursions, and Eastern-influenced collaborations with a wide range of artists, including recent Grammy winner Arooj Aftab. Gyan Riley plays and improvises original pieces. From the 2022 New York Guitar Festival at The Greene Space, hear guitarist and composer Gyan Riley's post-minimalist jazz-limning new music. - John Schaefer
Set list: And then… (improvisation), Sparkling Pines, Sometimes You Go Back for More, Toucher les Nuages/Appa-tango
Watch "And then... (improvisation)":
Watch "Sparkling Pines":
Watch "Sometimes You Go Back for More":
Watch "Toucher les Nuages/Appa-tango":
Watch the entire show from Night 2 of the 2022 New York Guitar Festival:
Hear the eerie, arresting, co-composed electro-orchestral pop from Minneapolis electro band POLIÇA and Berlin new-music outfit stargaze, led by conductor André de Ridder. The two groups have worked together since the 2015-2016 season, in a “virtual residence,” commissioned by Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra’s Liquid Music series. They have arranged and adapted Steve Reich’s Music for Pieces of Wood as well as co-creating their latest, a long-form work inspired by ideas and themes in James Kunstler's book The Long Emergency.
On their 2018 record Music For the Long Emergency, sweeps of strings, French horn, flute and oboe, along with synth bass, industrial electro-percussion, and jarring electronic textures are arrayed in support of often electronically-altered vocal lines. Hear some of this music, in-studio, which Poliça frontwoman Channy Leaneagh describes in National Sawdust Log as “not a pill to swallow that calms us down.” (From the Archives, 2018.)
Read more about the long-distance collaborative romance via this interview in the National Sawdust Log.
Watch the 2018 session:
Although he has a background in rock and experimental music, fingerstyle guitarist Glenn Jones is best known as a keeper of the flame of “American Primitive,” the folk-based style associated with the 20th century guitarist John Fahey. With a variety of tunings, capos, and even specially-made half-capos, Jones’s country-blues music is full of unexpected textures. He plays new works from his 2022 record, Vade Mecum, in The Greene Space for the 2022 New York Guitar Festival. - John Schaefer
Set list: Vade Mecum, Black & White and Gray, Each Crystal Pane of Glass, Ruthie's Farewell, John Jackson of Fairfax, Virginia
Watch "Vade Mecum":
Watch "Black & White and Gray":
Watch "Each Crystal Pane of Glass":
Watch "Ruthie's Farewell":
Watch "John Jackson of Fairfax, Virginia"
Watch the whole show from Night 1 of the New York Guitar Festival:
The Austin-based minimalist instrumental ensemble Balmorhea uses acoustic instruments to create atmospheric soundscapes. Comparisons to Explosions in the Sky or Godspeed You! Black Emperor might not be too far off, but where those bands tend to build, swell and fade, Balmorhea maintains a “relaxed, clear-eyed sense of reflection” throughout their 2017 album, Clear Language.
With strings, keyboards, guitars, vibraphone, & the occasional muted trumpet, the multi-instrumentalist core of Balmorhea has crafted a record of expansive layered spacious music, painting in broad brush strokes a feeling of wide-open Americana. Balmorhea joins us in their six-piece formation to play songs from 2017's Clear Language.
RIYL: Explosions in the Sky, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, This Will Destroy Us, Friday Night Lights.
From the 2022 New York Guitar Festival, listen to the space-Americana and pastoral country stylings of guitarist William Tyler, whose music pulls in folk, country, indie, and electronic music. His latest record is Lost Futures (2021), with the experimental guitarist Marisa Anderson for Thrill Jockey, and he’s collaborated with electric harpist Mary Lattimore, pedal steel guitarist Luke Schneider, and the ambient drone project Six Organs of Admittance. He plays solo in The Greene Space for the Soundcheck Podcast.
Set list: "Waltz of the Circassian Beauties", "Missionary Ridge", "Gone Clear", "Not In Our Stars", "We Can’t Go Home Again"
Watch "Waltz of the Circassian Beauties":
Watch "Missionary Ridge":
Watch "Gone Clear":
Watch "Not in Our Stars":
Watch: "We Can't Go Home Again":
Watch the whole show from night 4 of the 2022 New York Guitar Festival:
Somewhere on the spectrum of art music and prog rock, is the band Palm. Underneath airy vocal melodies, they build out an architecturally precise combination of guitars and percussion, plus extra electronic triggered effects like steel drums, backwards samples, and other hard-to-identify noises. With strange and unusual combinations of ever-shifting meter (fives, thirteens, threes, and many other grooves that are really hard to dance to), the Bard-College born, Philadelphia-based outfit trips gaily through fun, smart, and weird pop experiments. They perform music from 2018's Rock Island in-studio. Their 2022 record, Nicks and Grazes, comes out in October.
Set list:
- "Parly"
- "Composite"
- "Dog Milk"
The guitarra Portuguesa, or Portuguese guitar, looks a bit like a mandolin on steroids, and has a long history of great performers – all of them men. Until Marta Pereira da Costa showed up. She plays the double six-stringed, teardrop-shaped instrument in its traditional setting – Portuguese fado music – but has also written her own music and collaborated with artists like Iranian singer Tara Tiba and Cameroonian bass player Richard Bona.
Hear works by master player of the guitarra Portuguesa, Marta Pereira da Costa, together with pianist Alexandre Diniz, performed live in The Greene Space, for the 2022 New York Guitar Festival. - John Schaefer
Watch "Terra":
Watch "Verde Anos/Summertime":
Watch "Encontro":
Watch "Minha Alma":
Watch "Meditando /Fado Lopes" :
Watch "Alfonsina y el Mar”, “Dia de Feira":
Watch the entire concert from Night 4 of 2022's New York Guitar Festival from The Greene Space:
The singer and songwriter known as Sirintip lives here in New York, but like many musicians who are here in New York, she came from somewhere else. She was raised in Thailand, and spent her teenage years in her mother’s homeland of Sweden, before making her way to the city. Her debut LP called Tribus (due out Feb. 9) also seems to come from several places at once. There are jazz harmonies, Thai drums, electronics and singable pop all mixed together to often startling effect. Sirintip and her band play some of these songs live.
Set list:
- In My Garden
- Nothing in the Room/Pretend
- Shut it Up
From the 2022 New York Guitar Festival at The Greene Space, hear Malian guitar virtuoso Vieux Farka Touré. The Malian singer and guitarist's career began with collaborations with two of West Africa’s most celebrated musicians: the kora player Toumani Diabate and Vieux’s own dad, the famous guitarist Ali Farka Touré. Since then he has worked with American singer Julia Easterlin and popular Israeli musician Idan Raichel, in addition to releasing five solo studio albums rooted in the sounds and rhythms of West African blues. His latest record, Les Racines (2022), addresses unrest in his home country, and marks a return to his roots – the style of his father’s playing. He and percussionist Adama Kone perform in The Greene Space. (-John Schaefer)
Set list: "Philipa", "Fafa", "Ali", "Tamala", "Ngala Kaourene", "Djaraby"
Watch "Philipa":
Watch "Fafa", "Ali", "Tamala":
Watch "Ngala Kaourene":
Watch "Djaraby":
Some time ago, Malian singer, songwriter, guitarist and actress Fatoumata Diawara did a wonderful and daring thing – inspired by her friend Rokia Traoré, she bought an acoustic guitar, and taught herself to play it. Since then, Fatoumata has put out her debut record, Fatou, collaborated with Damon Albarn's Africa Express, and contributed vocals to albums by Cheikh Lô, AfroCubism, and Orchestra Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou. Her 2018 record, Fenfo translates as “Something to Say”, and she plays some of those songs, in-studio. (Archives.)
Watch Fatoumata Diawara perform "Fenfo" in-studio:
Fatoumata Diawara: "Don do" | In Studio:
This video for the album’s first single “Nterini,” was directed by Ethiopian photographer and contemporary artistAïda Muluneh, and filmed in the remote Afar region of Ethiopia, to which archaeologists have traced the origin of humanity.
The New York-based band Innov Gnawa performs the traditional healing music of Morocco: Gnawa - a trancey, rhythmic music that is played on an array of unique instruments — from the lute-like gimbri (sintir), to the metal qarqaba (castinets) with which the kouyos (chorus) keep time and pound out clattering, hypnotic rhythms. One of Innov Gnawa's innovations is to collaborate with modern electronic acts like Bonobo, and continue to update “The Moroccan Blues”. Innov Gnawa performs music from their 2018 record, Aicha, in-studio. (From the Archives.)
Watch the individual songs below:
Los Angeles-based band Vintage Trouble is a powerfully fun time of old-school soul, southern rhythm & blues, sizzling dance moves, and catchy, crunchy guitar-driven rockenroll.
When describing their own sound, the band uses the term “formatted recklessness.” Yes, and that almost puts words to their timeless and appealing concoction of old-school soul, powerful riffs and high energy showmanship. Vintage Trouble joined us live in the studio in 2018 to shake the walls with their “live-wired, straight-shootin, dirty-mouth'd juke music,” at once spirited and thunderous, possessed and powerful, full of party and good-times.
Singer, songwriter, violinist, guitarist, whistler, glockenspielist, and actor (on Fargo), Andrew Bird, continues “his subversion of indie rock”, (-Schaefer) by including classical, folk, expansive violin solos, and old-time jazz; and has made a remarkable document of tilting at the windmills of his inner demons during these last few years of isolation and insularity. This latest record, 2022’s Inside Problems, sees Bird once again as an entertaining thinker who can couch dark cultural commentary in joyfully buoyant pop songs, (he prefers this exercise in contrasts.) Especially entertaining is a counting/numbers song (in the vein of Schoolhouse Rock), “Eight”, which, he says, is his favorite number - and both this live version, and the album version of this song feature a pretty epic classic rock-length violin solo. As The Thinker, he invites us into getting literary with references to the late novelist and essayist Joan Didion (and related work by Irish poet William Butler Yeats), Greek mythology (Icarus and Orpheus), The Velvet Underground, and Beethoven.
Interestingly, Bird says that rather than compartmentalizing the various musical genres and conservatory training experiences (“I spent…four years trying not to let them educate me”, Pitchfork), he says that he approaches melodies like folk music in the oral tradition, whether they are classical riffs of Ravel or Beethoven, old time music, Irish tunes, jazz standards, or Lou Reed/John Cale. So it makes perfect sense that when his internal jukebox kept spinning a piano reduction of Beethoven’s Allegretto from the 7th Symphony, which he’d heard in the movie, Howard’s End, he turned that theme into a bridge in his own song “Atomized.”
Over the past few years, Andrew Bird has also taken up acting (Fargo), scored a Judd Apatow film, earned a Grammy nomination for My Finest Work Yet (2019), and continued his wide-ranging musical collaborations. Additionally, his work, “Hover”, was performed at the most recent 2022 Ojai Festival, in an early music instrument arrangement by Emi Ferguson (Artist Propulsion Lab Class of 2022). All this to say, we are excited and honored (ok, I am BEYOND EXCITED) that Andrew Bird plays remotely and chats about his new album for the Soundcheck Podcast. – Caryn Havlik
Set list:
“Eight”, “Atomized” “Make a Picture”
Watch "Eight":
Watch "Make a Picture":
Coming from a rock and funk place, Dominican singer-songwriter Vicente García has become something of a folk pop revivalist, incorporating his love of Afro-Caribbean rhythms, from acoustic bachata to reggae on his latest record, A La Mar. Formerly the lead singer of the band Calor Urbano, the winner of Best New Artist at the 2018 Latin Grammys has been digging into Dominican folklore, despite his having relocated to Bogotá, Colombia. (He was also up for Best Tropical Song for "Bachata In Kingston," according to alt.latino.) Vicente García joins us for an acoustic set to play some of these eclectic love songs. (From the Archives, 2018.)
Set list:
- Te Soñe
- Dulcito e coco
- Juana Mecho
Musician, actor and doctor (otolaryngologist) Jorge Drexler grew up in Uruguay, and now lives in Spain. Listeners may be familiar with Drexler’s music because his theme song for The Motorcycle Diaries won an Academy Award (presented to him by Prince.) His 2018 album of songs, Salvavidas de Hielo, is guitar-based, but augmented by a wide sonic palette of effects – samples, loops and beats created by different parts of guitars, dobros, and banjos. There is a song that touches on the loss of the planet’s glaciers, there’s one about how people have been migrating throughout time to stay alive – “Movimiento”, and yet another celebrating the elegance of silence. Jorge Drexler and his band play arrangements of these songs in-studio.
Set list:
- "Movimiento"
- "Asilo"
- "Telefonía"
Pianist and composer BLKBOK, (pronounced “Black Bach”) has played with some of the biggest pop names: Rihanna, Justin Timberlake, Demi Lovato, and John Mayer. Born Charles Wilson III, he grew up in Detroit with a traditional classical foundation and pursued more musical interests including jazz, Motown, hip-hop and the blues. While he’s not conservatory-trained, he creates by channeling his thoughts and reflections, and running them through his fingers onto the piano, creating musical poems in the process.
Despite the absence of touring during the pandemic, it was a productive time for BLKBOK, who finalized the instrumental compositions that would become Black Book, a continuation of the legacy of (and inspired by) the movie Green Book, which told the story of trailblazing black classical pianist/composer Don Shirley. BLKBOK plays some of these works remotely for the Soundcheck Podcast.
Set list: “The Hustle Is Real”, “November 7, 2020”, “Amalia’s Ocean”
Watch: "The Hustle Is Real":
Watch: “November 7, 2020”:
Watch: “Amalia’s Ocean”:
The Bogotá-based Monsieur Periné has taken the the Latin music world by storm since their start in 2008. The eight piece band takes the music of their native Columbia, and infuses it with sweet swing sensibilities of the 1920's and a good dash of modern pop styles. Their upbeat and lively arrangements are engaging, detailed, and above all such a joy to move to. Their excellent musicianship and energy has not gone unnoticed; they were given a Latin Grammy award as 2015's best new artist. They have not slowed down since then and recently released the wildly popular Bailar Contigo. They perform live in-studio.
Watch the individual songs below:
The great South African a cappella choir Ladysmith Black Mambazo are a global phenomenon. With their uplifting vocal harmonies and signature dance moves, they’ve been anointed “cultural ambassadors to the world” by no less than Nelson Mandela. (Some listeners might recall them appearing on Paul Simon’s Graceland album back in 1986.) The group was formed in 1960 by Joseph Shabalala, has recorded more than 50 albums, and won five Grammys. Joseph Shabalala retired from the group in 2014, and died in February of 2020, but his sons and other family members carry on the tradition. During their 2018 world tour, Ladysmith Black Mambazo returned to perform songs in our studio. (From the Archives, 2018.)
Feminist icon and Mexican folklorist Lila Downs’ 2018 album Salón, Lágrimas y Deseo (Dancehall, Tears, and Desire), is dedicated to strong women everywhere. Her lyrics, inviting all “dangerous” women to join her, often highlight issues relating to social justice, while spanning blues to cumbia, folk and ranchera music. Inspired by Frida Kahlo, Downs says in an interview with Remezcla that she finds being Mexican has “a lot of value, even if the world that surrounds one doesn’t believe it.” She’s joined by her band, and special guest Chilean emcee Ana Tijoux, in-studio. (From the Archives, 2018.)
New Zealand singer/songwriter Marlon Williams has a voice like butter which can be charming and flirty as in the timeless crooner soon-to-be-classic, “Vampire Again,” or which can convey despair and longing, see his duet with Aldous Harding - "Nobody Gets What They Want Anymore." After his breakup from musician Aldous Harding, complicated torrents of feeling poured out in song, all delivered in a honey-smooth voice that accepts heartbreak and cultivates its beauty. Marlon Williams' 2018 record was called Make Way For Love; he plays some of those songs, in-studio. (From the Archives, 2018.)
For the better part of two decades, the Tuscon-based desert-noir band Calexico has been making Mariachi- and Cumbia-laced expansive Americana. For their 2018 record, The Thread That Keeps Us, they explore the dual nature of anxiety and hope in these volatile times with some romance and gritty dread. The band joins us to play some of these songs in our studio. (From the Archives.)
Their 2022 album, El Mirador, just out this past April, is "a hopeful, kaleidoscopic beacon of rock, bluesy ruminations and Latin American sounds" (YouTube.)
Set List:
- The End of the World With You
- Voices in the Field
- Under the Wheels
African-American string band tradition meets Cajun/Creole and Appalachian music in a collaboration between singer, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, actor and MacArthur Fellow Rhiannon Giddens and Dirk Powell, a multi-instrumentalist, singer, arranger, songwriter, and actor himself. Together, with banjos and fiddles, they play each other's original songs, music that takes on the slave condition of pre-Civil War times, and chat about their recent project, songs tied to the Reconstruction era culture of the Wilmington, North Carolina Massacre of 1898. (From the Archives, 2018.)
Set list:
- I’m Gonna Write Me A Letter
- Say Old Playmate
- At the Purchaser’s Option
For the guitarist, vocalist, and bandleader of the London-based Curse of Lono, Felix Bechtolsheimer, these past few years have been steeped with loss: his father, uncle, ex-partner, and his band – whose lineup was completely overhauled to the pandemic. The band’s name comes from Hunter S. Thompson’s 1983 book of the same name, and their cinematic southern gothic country songs land somewhere between The Rolling Stones, Wilco, Lou Reed, the Doors, Leonard Cohen and Lee Hazelwood. Bechtolsheimer’s baritone guitars and baritone vocals are “a key part of the Lono sound”, which might be good for “a late-night desert drive” (GuitarWorld.com).
Curse of Lono’s new record, People In Cars – an album named for a 2017 photo book by Mike Mandel – is introspective and at times steeped in memories of darkness and despair, and “is themed around the many roads he’s travelled and those who’ve shared the journey” (folkradio.co.uk). Curse of Lono performs some of these songs for us remotely. - Caryn Havlik
Set list: In Your Arms, London Rain, Way to Mars
Watch "In Your Arms":
Watch "London Rain":
Watch "Way to Mars":
Dreamy slow-core folk duo Lean Year is Virginia-based singer Emilie Rex and filmmaker/musician Rick Alverson, along with contributions from Chicago musician/engineer Erik Hall and guest artists. Their musical palette is one of soft-spoken but direct vocals, a Telecaster guitar dredging through peaceful waters, baritone saxophone and clarinet parts, Rhodes, tape-warps, and waves of strings. Lean Year joins us in-studio to play some of these cutting and quiet minimalist folk tunes. (From the Archives, 2018.)
Since their inception over a decade ago, the string quintet Sybarite5 has built a global audience, from Lincoln Center to The Cutting Room and the Museum of Sex; from the Apple Store to the Library of Congress, and a music salon-like residency at NYC’s the cell, along with multiple international and national tours, residencies, and festivals.
The five players (Sami Merdinian and Sarah Whitney, violins; Angela Pickett, viola; Laura Metcalf, cello; and Louis Levitt, bass) have made it their quest to champion new music by American composers along with other tunes that excite them: arrangements of Radiohead, Taraf de Haidouks, Led Zeppelin, and Astor Piazzolla. Their 2018 record, OUTLIERS, is a collection of new works composed just for them. The quintet plays some of these tunes in-studio. (Archives, 2018.)
Set List:
- Black Bend by Dan Visconti
- Yann's Light by Shawn Conley
- Getting Home (I must be...) by Jessica Meyer
Pow Wow singer Joe Rainey, of the Ojibwe community in Minneapolis. fuses traditional melodies and “vocables” (Philip Sherburne, Pitchfork) with the producer Andrew Broder in something of an avant-hip hop partnership, although in addition to beats, there are field recordings, industrial-sounding processed drums, string arrangements, and vocal processing. He describes his music as being on the same river, but a different boat from other pow wow singers and groups.
Rainey’s album Niineta—the title means “Just Me” in Ojibwe, and which he further explains is “my contribution to contemporary indigenous music” – was released on Justin Vernon and the Dessner brothers’ 37d03d label, to which Rainey is signed. The music is rooted in traditional drum and dance music, where for years Rainey always had a hand-held recorder or voice memo rolling, even recording calls from incarcerated family members singing. These field recordings became part of the whole album’s unique woven fabric of voice-as-instrument pieces, combined with samples and sometimes with altered by electronic processing, all layered with Rainey’s own singing, which can celebrate or console, and “conveys a clear message: We’re still here. We were here before you were, and we never left”, (Bandcamp.) Joe Rainey and Andrew Broder perform remotely. - Caryn Havlik
Set list: “Bezhigo”, “Can Key”, “No Chants”
Watch "Bezhigo":
Watch "Can Key":
Watch "No Chants":
Niineta by Joe Rainey:
In the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, during the 1960’s and ‘70s, the sounds of American jazz and James Brown-style funk rocketed through the clubs there, combining with Ethiopia’s own exotic scales to produce the golden age of Ethiopian pop. The New York-based 7-piece band Anbessa Orchestra draws from this era and aims to take the listener on a musical journey from Addis Ababa to Brooklyn, with the loping grooves, buoyant brass lines, moody organ, crisp guitars, and solid percussion. Their 2018 album is called Negastat, which means “Kings,” and it is full of Ethiopian-style, horn-heavy funk. And the Anbessa Orchestra is here to play some of it in-studio. (From the Archives, 2018.)
Watch "Gurage":
Watch an Ethiopian scales demo:
Watch "Yeleleu Hager Lidl" (Son of No Country):
As bands go, Anna & Elizabeth have quite the origin story. Anna & Elizabeth began thanks to a broke down car and a shared desire to explore the traditions of Appalachian roots music. The immersive, intimate combination of Elizabeth LaPrelle’s deep mountain voice (from Virginia), Anna Roberts-Gevalt’s modern one (from Vermont), their sweet harmonies, and minimalist arrangements is striking. The duo’s latest record, The Invisible Comes to Us, co-produced by Anna and Benjamin Lazar Davis (avant-pop outfit Cuddle Magic), draws on old-time traditions of home, porch, and kitchen music, and incorporates experimental pedal steel player Susan Alcorn and drummer Jim White (The Dirty Three), along with electronic elements. It brings Anna & Elizabeth to play some of these sparse, haunting ballads, stories, and lullabies for us, in-studio.
Watch "Black Eyed Susan":
Watch "Jeano" :
Watch "Odd Kimball":
Canadian indie-pop band Stars makes almost orchestral pop that has the bonus quality of being danceable. They’ve also got a knack for vividly descriptive storytelling, built around the dueling vocals of singers Torquil Campbell and Amy Millan. Formed in the early 2000’s, Stars has been “remarkably stable” over the years; they enjoy making one another laugh, they've written a play, and even fiction about themselves.
Their ninth studio album, From Capelton Hill, covers pandemic shock, explores memory – perhaps with a sepia tinge, and has a strong sense of place. Stars plays remotely for the Soundcheck Podcast.
Stars plays a Bandcamp Live-streaming set at 5PM on May 27.
Set list: “Build a Fire”, “Capelton Hill”, "Patterns"
Watch "Build a Fire":
Singer, songwriter, guitarist, and bandleader Jose Conde (of the tropical Latin dance band Ola Fresca) draws on the musical melting pot of Miami for his latest solo effort, Souls Alive in the 305. With some music inspired by cicadas and frogs, and George Clinton’s “Atomic Dog,” he combines funk, breakbeat, disco rap, rock n roll, Cuban music and salsa into songs that sound like “the Miami musical landscape of my youth.” Jose Conde and his band perform remotely for the Soundcheck Podcast. - Caryn Havlik
Set list: “Fallen From Eternity”, “Poetry in Motion”
Watch "Fallen From Eternity":
Watch "Poetry In Motion":
Part art-rock, part post-punk, Porridge Radio is a band from Brighton, UK, led by singer and guitarist Dana Margolin. Her earliest songs were full of imagery of the sea and the seaside town where the band resides, and the latest collection of songs are intense, addressing joy, fear, and endlessness - and full of dry wit. Now that they’ve had a restful 2020, Margolin and bandmate Sam Yardley (keyboards, drums) play stripped-down versions of tunes from their new record, Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder to the Sky. The session was recorded live (with a real audience!) in The Greene Space, in early May.
Set list: “Back to the Radio,” “Trying,” “Birthday Party,” “Jealousy”, “Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder to the Sky”, "Sweet"
Watch "Back to the Radio":
Watch "Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder to the Sky":
Watch "Sweet":
Watch the entire live set from May 2022 in The Greene Space:
Norwegian band Wardruna creates music born of Nordic history, Norse runes and nature - and is led by multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Einar Selvik,who composed music for the TV series Vikings. (He was formerly the drummer in the black metal band Gorgoroth under stage name Kvitrafn, for those keeping track.)
Hear a captivating combination of old and recreated Norse historical instruments: Tagelharpa (bowed harp-lyre), birchbark lure (a trumpet), goat horns, Kraviklyra, instruments from nature: stones, bones, trees, fire and ice, along with sounds captured in nature, vocal techniques of many kinds, and ancient poetry. The 2018 record, Runaljod – Ragnarok, is the third of a trilogy of musical interpretations of each of the twenty-four old Nordic runes (the word rune can also mean magical song). Wardruna performs some of their unusual, spiritual, ancient sounding-modern ritual music in-studio. (From the Archives, 2018.) -Caryn Havlik
Set list: "Wunjo," "Isa," "Helvegen"
Watch "Helvegen":
Bette Smith was born and raised in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn – but on her debut LP called Jetlagger she draws on the gospel she sang in the church and the soul music she heard on the block on hot summer nights music growing up on the corner of Nostrand and Fulton.
On the 2018 record Jetlagger, the tunes range from originals to covers of Staples Singers and Isaac Hayes classics, showcasing Smith’s deep, confident, and powerful voice. Amidst rugged, muscular arrangements that hearken to the timeless sounds of Mississippi and Memphis soul and funk, Bette Smith barely contains a New York aggressiveness and passion, and piles on the sexy. Smith and her band play some of these songs, in-studio. (From the Archives, 2018.)
The rock band elbow (small "e") hails from greater Manchester and makes subtle, sensitive, anthemic, joyful music, sometimes augmented with the strings of the Hallé Orchestra, (which they did not bring with them.) Guy Garvey’s vocals and wordplay are perched atop a well-orchestrated but never overwrought blend of melodic bass, guitar and piano riffs, and pulsing percussion, all the while squeezing out a wide range of bottled emotions onto expansive life paintings. They’ve referred to themselves as "prog without the solos" (AllMusic). elbow plays music from their 2017 album, "Little Fictions" in-studio. (From the Archives, 2017.)
The Norwegian band called Barokksolistene is out to give classical music a bad name. They’re trying to drag classical music – and especially Baroque music – down to the level of folk musicians fiddling in back of a pub. We here at WNYC fully support this sort of thing. Led by violinist Bjarte Eike, the band Barokksolistene has created a project they call The Alehouse Sessions, where they merrily blend together the sounds of Baroque music, drinking songs from the British Isles, and folk fiddling from various places in Northern Europe. See if you can figure out which is which. (From the Archives, 2017.)
- "Hole In the Wall" (Henry Purcell - Abdelazer)
- "Johnny Faa/I Drew My Ship" (Scottish/Irish trad.)
- "Travel Set, medley" (Norway/Scotland/Norway/Denmark/Shetland Islands/America)
They also performed live on Facebook for our sister station, WQXR:
Philadelphia's The Districts have opened for Modest Mouse, and been compared to Sharon van Etten and the Killers. On their latest, 2022's Great American Painting, the songs take on the paradox of the state of the country, going from the big, tough ideas about gun violence, police brutality and oppressive structures to contemplating spiritual life in the remote and isolated pure landscapes and scenery in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, (Track by track, Flood Magazine.) The band’s aim is to process the heavy stuff cathartically, and dance forward in spite of fear and darkness.
Songwriter and vocalist Rob Grote also reflects on the remote collaborative process, and admits that being in a room with friends making music can’t be replaced, and emphasizes how much the band lives for playing for rooms with people in them. The Districts play remotely for the Soundcheck Podcast. – Caryn Havlik
Set list: “Revival Psalm” “Long End,” “Cheap Regrets”
Watch "Revival Psalm":
Watch "Long End":
Watch "Cheap Regrets":
Composer, DJ, and techno pioneer Carl Craig joins us with the Carl Craig Synthesizer Ensemble. Lately, Carl Craig has been venturing beyond the usual techno venues through his work with chamber ensembles and orchestras, including the Chineke! Orchestra. Recently, the Carl Craig Synthesizer Ensemble played at Carnegie Hall, as part of its Afrofuturism series. The Carl Craig Synthesizer Ensemble recorded live tracks at Spot Lite in Detroit for today's podcast. Carl Craig - Max Fine
Set List: "At Les," "Desire," "Technology,"
Kae Tempest is a gifted wordsmith and performer; their two previous albums were both nominated for the Mercury Prize. Their 2022 album, The Line is a Curve, addresses struggles with mental health, as well as Kae’s own journey with their non-binary identity, and features collaborations with some of the South London creative community. Tempest offers live performances of music from the record, and spoke with host John Schaefer in London about the new album. - Caryn Havlik
Set list: “More Pressure” “Salt Coast”
Listen to the entire New Sounds Show with Kae Tempest, from London:
The four members of Sō Percussion can turn nearly anything into a playable instrument – blocks, bells, drums, and other surfaces (as well as lumber, flower pots, garden tools – don’t set them loose in a hardware store.) Composer and So-founding member Jason Treuting has even turned the numbers 1-9, as in the Japanese puzzle game, sudoku, into an immense pattern-based work called Nine Numbers, which uses interlocking rhythms and melodies, as well as the plosives (some of the hard consonants in English) of speech. Together with strings of the Bergamot Quartet, Sō Percussion plays some of the cyclical and pattern-driven pieces of Treuting's Nine Numbers, live from The Greene Space. - Caryn Havlik
Watch Sō Percussion and Bergamot Quartet: “Nine Numbers VII”:
Watch Sō Percussion and Bergamot Quartet: “Nine Numbers VIII”:
Watch Sō Percussion: “Nine Numbers IV”:
Singer/songwriter/guitarist Lizzy McAlpine processes heartache, dreams, love, and breakups, with striking detail and sharp wit on her latest record, Five Seconds Flat. McAlpine is already a veteran songwriter who sets a tone with some chords on the guitar, and vividly describes vulnerable situations and tender feelings with a clever balance of wit and weirdness. She has lately been working at setting up her ideal balance of silence with big productions, some including guest artists Jacob Collier, Laura Elliot, and the Grammy-winning FINNEAS. McAlpine plays solo, unplugged versions of these new tunes for the Soundcheck Podcast. - Caryn Havlik
Set list: “erase me” “firearm” “weird”
Watch "erase me":
Watch "firearm":
Watch "weird":
Gabriel Kahane writes classical music and what he called “deranged pop”; his new 2022 album, Magnificent Bird, was written after spending a year off the internet. The results are deeply personal but also a celebration of his musical community. He plays most of the new album as well as songs from his previous album, Book of Travelers, which documented an 8,980-mile railway journey in the aftermath of the 2016 election. Gabriel Kahane and a special guest string quartet perform in an intimate setting in The Greene Space.
Set list: We Are The Saints, Hazelnut Tree/Chemex/To Be American,
Baedeker/Baltimore/Little Love (this set from Book of Travelers), Linda & Stuart, Sit Shiva
Watch "We Are the Saints":
Watch songs from Magnificent Bird, part 1:
Watch songs from Book of Travelers:
Watch songs from Magnificent Bird, part 2:
Watch 'Sit Shiva":
Hear music from the Montreal-based one-woman band, Saltland, aka cellist Rebecca Foon, from her2017 album, A Common Truth. She layers multiple loops of her cello, atop a rich set of drones, live in-studio. (From the Archives, 2017.)
Anand Wilder has released his debut solo album after the breakup of the band Yeasayer. I Don’t Know My Words (written and recorded throughout lockdown) is full of great, wide-angled pop, which may look to 1970s hippie music and Indian popular cinema. In his quest to go back to songs that were “light on electronics and experimentation,” and “heavy on acoustics and vocals,” Wilder has said he was inspired by The Beatles, Cat Stevens, and Fairport Convention, (interview with NME.)
On the record, I Don’t Know My Words, Wilder plays all instruments, including mountain dulcimer a la Joni Mitchell, twelve-string guitars, plucked cello, bowed acoustic guitars, and tumbling, song-serving drums. For the Soundcheck Podcast, Anand Wilder and his band play some of these songs from his studio, in arrangements including mountain dulcimer and steamy EWI (electronic wind instrument.) – Caryn Havlik
Set List: “Fever Seizure,” “Get More Than My Share,” “Half Brother”
Watch "Fever Seizure":
Watch "Get More Than My Share":
Watch: "Half-Brother":
Theon Cross is a stunning tuba player, a member of Mercury-nominated group Sons Of Kemet, and a central figure on London’s new music scene. He’s also just released a solo album full of inventive ways of processing and extending the tuba’s sound, while drawing on Caribbean music, grime, jazz, and the city’s spoken word scene. He and his quartet offer live, instrumental versions of some of those songs for the Soundcheck Podcast.
On his latest album, Intra I, there are TWO tubists, his teacher Oren Marshall, and himself, along with guest vocalists Remi Graves, Shumba Maasai, Afronaut Zu, Ahnansé, Consensus. Theon Cross speaks to how he pushes his sound with processed tuba, exploiting all the technological tools that he can get his hands on, in addition to beat displacement for more unpredictable rhythms. Also, Cross clears up the marching band’s sousaphone versus the tuba, and how they were developed (yes, he has classical training in his background.) - Caryn Havlik
Set List: “We Go Again,” “Forward Progression II,” “Play To Win”
Watch videos of these songs, as filmed and edited by Nathan Webber:
Watch "We Go Again":
Watch "Forward Progression II":
Watch "Play To Win":
North Carolina-based traditional musician Jake Xerxes Fussell approaches ostensibly antique songs of the American south as a folklorist and as a creative musician, pulling out the relatable bits and going for the unexpected arrangements, including pedal steel, horns, and strings. He’s a lifelong student and researcher of folk and roots and blues music – second generation, actually, since his father was also a folklorist – and can hold forth on murder ballads, disaster songs, Choctaw fiddlers, sea shanties, and blues and gospel songs. He plays some of these elegantly- arranged and composed story-songs from his latest album, Good and Green Again, for the Soundcheck Podcast. - Caryn Havlik
Set list: “Love Farewell,” “The Golden Willow Tree”
Watch "Love Farewell":
Watch “The Golden Willow Tree”:
The orchestral-folk-rock Minnesota band Cloud Cult is a creative collective who continually celebrates catharsis, change, and comfort through music and multimedia performances. [They’re also hailed as one of the Top 10 Green Bands by Rolling Stone with environmentally-sound packaging, a geothermal-powered studio, and touring with net zero greenhouse gases.] The latest record, Metamorphosis, is “all about inner change... from the kind that's marinated in joy to the kind that hurts like hell but somehow makes room for a better you. Life is a rabbit hole of wonder, mystery, chaos, pain, and love, and these songs are here to help you hum your way through it.” (Cloud Cult’s Facebook).
From the woods of Wisconsin, on a balmy 30 degree day, Cloud Cult’s founder and main songwriter Craig Minowa plays in the snow with an acoustic guitar, featuring the rest of the band on backing tracks. - Caryn Havlik
Set list: “Back Into My Arms” “Victor” “Song From Oblivion”
Watch: "Back Into My Arms":
Watch "Victor":
Watch "Song from Oblivion":
The New York-based Haitian singer and songwriter Emeline Michel combines traditional Haitian kompa, rasyn, and twoubadou music with jazz, R & B, and her gospel choir roots. She is a Red Cross Ambassador, and some of her lyrics deal with social issues, especially those affecting women and children. Emeline Michel and her band play moving and joyful tunes, both old and new, for the Soundcheck Podcast.
Emeline Michel plays at Chelsea Table + Stage on Friday, March 18.
Set list: Pé Leténel, Que Tonne Reigne Vienne, Ban'm La Jwa (Give me joy)
Watch "Pé Leténel":
Watch: "Que Tonne Reigne Vienne":
Watch "Ban'm La Jwa":
Guitarist and songwriter Brad Barr of the Montreal-based indie-folk band The Barr Brothers has just released an unusual solo record of instrumentals, The Winter Mission - “a kaleidoscope of sound” (Schaefer), featuring many different members of the guitar family, loops, and the shruti box (used to provide the drone in Indian classical music.) Over the 12 songs of the album (and perhaps 216 notes), there is “a gorgeous unsettledness that resists the drift into background music," (Missing Piece Group.)
The conversation flows around the fixed numbers of baseball, the numerology of 216, the creative use of loops and delay, and the sounds of the Blues in other traditional music around the world. Brad Barr plays remotely for the Soundcheck Podcast, and there’s even a gong.
Set list: “Ancient Calendars,” “Baseball,” “Your Dad’s Awake”
Watch "Ancient Calendars":
Watch "Baseball":
Watch "Your Dad's Awake":
Finnish composers Tapani Rinne (tenor sax, clarinet) and Juha Maki-Patola (keyboards and electronics) skate between jazz, neo-classical, and ambient music, leaning heavily on improvisation and electronic processing for their collaborative album, Open. These two veteran musicians – saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer Tapani Rinne has been releasing records since the 1980’s while Juha Maki-Patola is a producer, musician, and engineer – connected online via Instagram during the pandemic, and began to share files. They talk about reverb, ice-swimming for health, and share some of the Nordic-seeming, spacious, immersive, and stunning results of their music-making, remotely. – Caryn Havlik
Set list: “Brevity,” “Still”
Watch "Brevity":
Watch "Still":
Bluegrass quintet Yonder Mountain String Band dips into rock, prog, and improvisational music for their latest record, Get Yourself Outside. The band - founding members guitarist Adam Aijala, bassist Ben Kaufmann and banjoist Dave Johnston, plus fiddle player Allie Kral (who joined in 2015) along with new multi-instrumentalist Nick Piccininn - began writing the album remotely during the pandemic, collaborating virtually across time zones. The sound is entirely acoustic (and without drums) with foot-stomping sections of shred and solo-trading. Additionally, all five members sing, trading leads, and the vocal harmonies are rich and varied. Yonder Mountain String Band plays remotely from a permanent installation called Meow Wolf, in Colorado. - Caryn Havlik
Set list: “I Just Can’t” “No Leg Left” “Into the Fire”
Watch "I Just Can't:
Watch "No Leg Left":
Watch "Into the Fire":
Guitarist Shane Parish of the avant instrumental jazz-mathpunk band Ahleuchatistas, is also an educator, arranger, composer, and podcaster. Lately, as a solo artist, he has mined the world of folk music – specifically “weird old Americana” and “traditional music filtered through one guitarist’s non-traditional subjectivity,” (Bandcamp)
Shane Parish's most recent musical adventures on a new record calledLiverpool are based around spacious, moody, unexpected arrangements of sea shanties for electric guitar and looping station. As he explains, the sea shanties happened to be a tangent of his podcast covering the Liverpudlian band, Echo & the Bunnymen. Now based in Athens, Georgia, Parish treats us to some remote performances of these tunes.
Set List: “Black-Eyed Susan” “Haul Away Joe” “Rio Grande”
Watch "Blackeyed Susan":
Watch "Haul Away Joe":
Watch "Rio Grande":
Watch "Randy Dandy O":
The appealingly danceable music of Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, or OMD, as the trailblazing synth-driven electronic band came to be known, has delighted and charmed listeners for decades. They formed in the late 1970's, greatly inspired by Kraftwerk, and with influences ranging from CAN to Barry White. Their string of breakout hits stretched through the 1980's, like "Electricity," "Tesla Girls," & "So In Love," while their song, "If You Leave," written specifically for the John Hughes film, Pretty In Pink, was also a huge hit. The unusual OMD blend is one of melody and melancholia, created with keyboards, synths, sexy saxophone, and drums, while never straying too far from the dance club and pop radio. The band reformed in 2006, and with the 2017 release of their third album, The Punishment of Luxury, Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys - OMD - performed in-studio. (From the Archives, 2017.)
Polymathic composer, producer, and video artist Emily Wells plays new works off her latest album Regards to the End. On it she explores the AIDS crisis, climate change, and her lived experience—as a queer musician from a long line of preachers, watching the world burn—in immaculately layered yet spare songs that impel the listener to be attuned, acting like a magnet on our attention. Wells, a multi-instrumentalist who comes from a classical background in violin, builds the songs by sampling her own vocals, synths, drums, piano, string instruments (violin, cello, bass), and wind instruments (clarinet, flute, French horn).
Set list: "I'm Numbers," "Come On Kiki," "David's Got a Problem," "Two Dogs Tethered Inside"
Watch "I'm Numbers":
Watch "Come On Kiki" & "David's Got a Problem":
Watch "Two Dogs Tethered Inside":
Portland, Oregon-based Pink Martini whisks listeners away on globetrotting musical journeys, singing in Armenian, Portuguese, Arabic, French & Xhosa, among many other languages - and that's just their latest record, Je Dis Oui!. Their founder, pianist Thomas Lauderdale, recently described the group this way: "If the United Nations had a house band in 1962, we aspire to be that band." The 'little orchestra'- some 12-members strong, takes over our studio.
The wonderfully twisted, self-possessed, wry, leather jacket-armored dark humored queen of the downtown night, Shilpa Ray, survived working the door at the Lower East Side / New York City bar Pianos. And she’s turned that harsh reality into an album of cutting commentary.
On the 2017 record Door Girl, Shilpa Ray plays with throwback “girl group” sounds – except she’s got backing guy vocals and crisp production. Her songs are full of acerbic observations on desperate people, some quite personal - "Manhattanoid Creepazoids," "Revelations of a Stamp Monkey," and "Rockaway Blues"; the portraits are far from pretty, and definitely no longer glittering, with a blaze-of-lights-at-closing-time-feel delivered in her singular brassy croon and growl. Shilpa Ray joins us, (sans harmonium), in the studio to play some of these songs. (Archives, 2017.)
The musician, songwriter, and producer, Cate Le Bon, offers new music from her latest album, Pompeii, composed in the “uninterrupted vacuum,” of the current times –global pandemic plus climate emergency’s colliding eco-traumas. Le Bon plays every instrument (except drums and saxophones) on hazy, opulent, and sometimes sonically minimal songs, which are of the moment, playful, satirical, and surreal. Unhinged opulence rests in sonic deconstruction that finds coherence in pop structures, when Cate Le Bon plays these new songs. - Caryn Havlik
Set list: "Moderation", "French Boys", "Pompeii"
Watch "Moderation":
Watch "French Boys":
Watch "Pompeii":
This session was recorded in The Greene Space. Many thanks to their crew, and our Senior Concert Engineer, Ed Haber.
FPA, aka Frances Priya Anczarski, the Minnesotan songwriter, producer, artist, and daydreamer, works with a slow and romantic beauty in her music. She loves the ellipsis of possibility, and on her 2021 release, Princess Wiko, fuses bedroom pop, folk traditions, spoken word, hip hop, and chamber orchestration (aided by producer/musician Andrew Broder, a mainstay of the 37d03d collective) for a melancholic, medieval-era princess on a journey of love and self-discovery. FPA performs a few of these songs remotely. - Caryn Havlik
Set list: "Princess Wiko," "The Loved One"
Watch "Princess Wiko":
Watch "The Loved One":
Shamir is a musician, songwriter, producer, painter, chef, actor, and filmmaker, and on his new album, Heterosexuality, uses the sounds of rock, R&B, and industrial synth - all within a pop framework - to challenge perceptions about gender and to explore his own queer identity. As he croons on his song “Cisgender” that “I don’t want to be a girl / I don’t want to be a man / I’m just existing on this god forsaken land /And you can take it or leave it / Or you can just stay back”, he reaches heights with his self-trained voice that one would expect of Swedish pop star Robyn.
“Having multiple skills and talents in a world of side hustles and late stage capitalism,” Shamir has released a book of mixed media – essays about paintings he has made, But I’m a Painter (from his statement published on Pitchfork), also runs his own record label, and pursues gluten-free cooking. For this remote session, (recorded while on tour), Shamir performs intimate, stripped-down versions of his intense but catchy music in a live trio setting. - Caryn Havlik
Watch "Nuclear":
Folk collective Spell Songs was born as a musical companion to the two books of meditations on nature by writer Robert MacFarlane and artist and naturalist Jackie Morris. The recordings are tender naturalist-chamber-folk spell-poems of wildness, beauty, loss, and hope, inspired by the creatures, art and language in The Lost Words and The Lost Spells books. Each spell is a summoning of sorts, conjuring an animal, bird, tree or flower - from Barn Owl to Red Fox, Oak to Bramble, Jay to Jackdaw - with which we share our lives and landscapes.
The musicians wrote together on their “open plan” of musical ideas for Spell Songs II: Let The Light In, combining their guitar, harp, cello, keyboard, woodwind, kora, percussion and vocal harmonies. Spoken voice, whispers, accents, dialects, native languages, birdsong, the bark of foxes, the soft sound of a moth’s wing, the sound of a children’s climate strike; all increase the intimacy and power of the musical world conjured by Spell Songs II. Spell Songs performs excerpts from the new album; and Scottish singer Julie Fowlis and Senegalese-born kora virtuoso Seckou Keita chat about the project from London. - Caryn Havlik
Set list: "Heron," "Daisy," "Thrift"
Watch "Heron":
Watch "Daisy":
Watch "Thrift":
"Oak":
"Bramble":
British singer, producer, and composer Anna Meredith is a musical chameleon, fusing contemporary chamber with electronics and dance music on her record, Varmints. Actually, classical, rock, electronica, and minimalism are all part of Anna Meredith’s sonic palette, and in addition to a stint as composer in residence with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, she is also a singer/songwriter who leads her own unusually constructed band - wielding keys, laptop, bells, & clarinet alongside a band of musicians playing tuba, cello, drums and guitar. This creative and unusual band plays in-studio. (From the Archives, 2017.)
The British singer/songwriter Laura Marling returns with a refined sixth record Semper Femina, whose Latin title implies a more gender-specific note. The album is a gripping collection of poetic takes on womanhood- complete with seductive and ravishing arrangements. Unexpected deployments of strings – all kinds - and electronics create graceful swooping textures to augment her poised and polished songs. Laura Marling and her band play some of these intimate literary musings in-studio. (From the Archives, 2017.)
The London-based Vermont-born singer/fiddler/banjoist/guitarist and scion of a family of shape-note singers, Sam Amidon, has a reputation for having collected, re-imagined, and performed American traditional tunes or other folk music, in addition to collaborations with Kronos Quartet and composer Nico Muhly. In spring of 2017, Amidon released his first album of original music, which is an experiment in trying out the Appalachian music he loves, as well as "improvisation, beats, Don Cherry, Vermont, London." Sam Amidon joins us live to play songs from that record, The Following Mountain. (From the Archives, 2017.)
Songwriter Aimee Mann left her successful major label band Til Tuesday back in the early 1990's and never looked back. Her stunning recording resume includes classic songs from "Magnolia," include the Oscar-nominated "Save Me", as well as numerous records, released on her own label. Many of her slow, bruising, crafty, and catchy songs may shine with sadness on the outside, but as ever, they bristle with smart observations and intriguing perspectives. Aimee Mann and her trio play songs from her 2017 record, Mental Illness, in-studio. (From the Archives, 2017.)
Beirut-based indie-rock band Mashrou’ Leila tackles taboo topics - political corruption, same-sex love, religion (inter-religious marriage), and Middle Eastern feminism. Their catchy and danceable Arabic pop songs are full of guitars, drum machines, samples, violin and frontman Hamed Sinno’s sensual voice. In the years since they first formed in 2008, they’ve become both enormously popular and enormously controversial, even banned in some countries. Mashrou’ Leila’s 2015 record, Ibn el Leil - means ‘son of the night.’ They play music from it live in-studio. (From the Archives, 2017.)
The Mexican singer-songwriter and arranger Silvana Estrada offers poeticism and a fresh take on traditional folk music resulting in a deeply heartfelt and lyrical sound which may tug at the heartstrings. A multi-instrumentalist raised in a musical home in the mountain town of Veracruz, she plays the Venezuelan cuatro (a four-stringed guitar) in many of her songs. The tangled roots of her musical influences mix the folk stylings of son jarocho (from the Gulf Coast of Mexico), Portuguese fado, jazz torch songstresses, and the classical influence (she performed baroque choir music in her youth.) Silvana Estrada plays haunting songs of love and loss on the cuatro, as a preview of her new album, Marchita ("withered"), onstage at The Greene Space. - Caryn Havlik
Set list: "Tristeza," "Marchita," "Te Guardo"
Watch "Marchita":
Watch "Tristeza":
Watch "Te Guardo":
Guitarist and singer Margaret Glaspy released her album Emotions and Math in 2016, and promptly found herself on a whole bunch of year-end lists of the best albums of the year, including those of the New York Times and NPR. It’s not hard to hear why – at times Glaspy snarls her way through love’s trials and travails, while her guitar snarls and thunders right along with her. At others, she offers something a little more subdued, even melancholy. Glaspy and her trio join us to play songs from Emotions and Math, in-studio. (From the Archives, 2017.)
John Doe is a musician, actor, and author, and one of the founding fathers of the L.A. punk scene with his band X, which continues to this day. He has co-authored and collected first-hand accounts of L.A. punk experiences in the book, Under the Big Black Sun. John Doe has also done country and folk music with his other band The Knitters, and released ten solo albums. The last is called The Westerner, which came out in 2016, and John Doe returned to play some of his solo songs in-studio in 2017. (Archives.)
The west coast-based sound-maker and experimenter Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith weaves melodic patterns and pulses, using various analogue synthesizers – like the rare EMS Synthi 100 synthesizer, a vintage Buchla modular synthesizer, earning her a fun title as a composer and producer – “synthesist.”
On Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith's 2017 album, The Kid, she crafts a playfully strange expression of human awareness via these synthesized sound designs that falls neither in the pop world nor the avant/classical one. Synthesist, producer and composer Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith joins us in the studio to perform some of her recent creations.
RIYL: the films of Hayao Miyazaki/Studio Ghibli, Suzanne Ciani, Joshua Light Show, Euclidean geometry, Anna Meredith, and s t a r g a z e.
Listen to London’s Afrofuturist jazz masters Sons of Kemet, New York-based poet, composer, and stutterer JJJJJerome Ellis, and the custom baritone guitar of South African Guy Buttery. AND you must see and hear the prepared guitar of Sardinian composer, ethnomusicologist, and instrument builder Paolo Angeli, who filmed a beautiful remote session on the shores of Sardinia. Grammy-winning diva Angélique Kidjo brings a super-charged performance to The Greene Space and puts an exclamation point on 2021. - Caryn HavlikSet list:
Sons of Kemet – "Hustle"
JJJJJerome Ellis – "Bend Back The Bow and Let the Hymn Fly," excerpt
Paolo Angeli – "Jar'a Suite," excerpt
Guy Buttery – "Kya Baat"
Angelique Kidjo – "Mother Nature"
Watch the Best of 2021 performances for the Soundcheck Podcast:
Hear/Watch some of the 2021 highlights for the Soundcheck Podcast by Amsterdam-based Turkish psych band Altin Gün, London pianist and soundscape artist Neil Cowley, composer/vocalist/pianist Samora Pinderhughes’ art/protest songs, and Guatemalan cellist Mabe Fratti. Plus, singer and guitarist Torres and her band, live from The Greene Space. - Caryn Havlik
Altin Gün – “Ordunun Dereleri”
Neil Cowley – “String Think”
Samora Pinderhughes – “Stare Straight Ahead”
Mabe Fratti – “Nadie Sabe”
Torres – “Thirstier”
Watch the Best of 2021 performances for the Soundcheck Podcast:
Los Angeles-born, Virginia-based singer-songwriter Angelica Garcia harnesses some country-blues twang, playing songs from her debut full-length, "Medicine for Birds," live, with her full band, in the studio. She taps into the magnolia trees, starry skies, and the ghosts of gothic Americana, written in her newfound isolation of a dusty old parish house in Accomac, Virginia.
Sam Lee is much more than a musician - he's a storyteller. In "Blackbird," from his album The Fade In Time, his deep croons and intricate vocals breathe life into forgotten stories, drawing you into a colorful and heart-wrenching world. The album title is appropriate, since he collects traditional English songs and repurposes them for a new place and time.
Not many traditional English folk singers came from North London, studied at Chelsea School of Art and worked as a forager and wilderness expert during the day and burlesque dancer by night. Lee however is not in the majority - his charisma and talents spurred an apprenticeship with the great Scottish Traveller singer Stanley Robertson along with a Mercury Prize nomination. Lee has blazed a trail for burgeoning song collectors and inspired a new generation to tap into the storytelling of present and past minstrels. He performs in-studio in this 2015 session from the Archives.
Setlist * "Over Yonder's Hill" * "Blackbird" * "Lovely Molly"
Lou Reed. Dr. John. Bruce Springsteen. John Cale. Levon Helm. Garland Jeffreys has collaborated with all of them, and his gravelly voice, roots-rock DNA, and trenchant writing has always channeled the best bits of each of them.
A recording artist since the 1960s, Brooklyn native Jeffreys has had more career ups (and downs) than most artists can dream of today, but he's riding yet another wave of creativity and energy. His loose and rollicking 2013 album Truth Serum was lauded by critics and fans. He was a 2015 inductee into the New York Blues Hall of Fame, recognizing just one facet of his kaleidoscopic musical persona. All the late-period vigor and recognition has him revisiting one of his earliest successes, 1977's Ghost Writer. A frothing cauldron of, yes, blues, but also soul, funk, Exile-era Stones rock—and an inspired dose of reggae—Ghost Writer revealed a burgeoning, observant poet of the streets as well as a sharp-eared pop chameleon.
Garland Jeffreys visits the studio to talk to host John Schaefer about the NYC that inspired Ghost Writer, and to play a handful of the album's standout tracks.
London-based dance music artist, classically trained pianist/composer, and Chicago native Kate Simko, along with the London Electronic Orchestra, combine harp, violin, cello & laptop, live in the studio. Layers of clubby electronics and keyboards support delicate harp, violin and cello melodies. Altogether, the result is a buoyant, airy, and uplifting hybrid dance music - something like a film score for a documentary about a days-long party in Ibiza. (From the Archives, 2017.)
Singer, guitarist, songwriter, and label owner, Jennifer O’Connor has gone from acoustic guitar to plugged-in rockenroll band and now to crafting nostalgic-sounding Logic-based songs in her 20-year career. Her latest album is the perhaps misleadingly-titled Born at the Disco, recorded in large part by O’Connor herself at home, upending her usual process by using drum machines and synths to play and create, with touchstones like the Jesus and Mary Chain and maybe the Swedish pop artist, Robyn. Jennifer O'Connor plays her emotional and intimate indie pop songs remotely from her home. - Caryn Havlik
Set list: "Born at the Disco," "Less and Less," "Who Can You Kiss"
Watch "Less and Less":
Watch "Who Can You Kiss":
Since forming back around the turn of this century, the New Pornographers have consistently been one of indie rock’s top attractions - reliable purveyors of big hooks, anthemic choruses, and Technicolor orchestrations. The band is a supergroup of sorts, with a mutable lineup of singers and instrumentalists, but the first among equals has always been vocalist and songwriter Carl Newman. He joins John Schaefer to talk about the band’s 2017 album, called Whiteout Conditions. AND, some of the band plays live in this session from the Archives.
The Reverend Osagyefo Sekou draws from a deep well of American music on his new album, called In Times Like These. Blues and gospel traditions, but specifically also "North Mississippi Hill Country Music, Arkansas Delta Blues, 1960s Rock and Roll, Memphis Soul, Chuck Berry St Louis vibes, and Pentecostal steel guitar." Now if you’re thinking that those are musical holdovers from another time, the activist, author, documentary filmmaker and theologian Reverend Sekou wants you to know that that music has become powerful and relevant again, in times like these. The album features Luther and Cody Dickinson of the North Mississippi All-Stars, and Rev Sekou toured with them back in 2017. He and The Sealbreakers play some of the tunes, in-studio. (Archives, 2017.)
There’s something about the band name Into It. Over It. that seems perfect for the digital age, when we rush to crown the Next Big Thing one week and abandon it for the new Next Big Thing a week later. But Chicago singer and songwriter Evan Thomas Weiss has managed to keep an even keel through nearly a decade and several full-length albums, keeping Into It. Over It. as both a touring band and as an occasional solo project. The band’s 2016 album was called Standards (no, he doesn’t sing Gershwin or Cole Porter), and Evan Weiss joined us to perform a live solo set.
In film, they call it the "meet cute" - the moment when two strangers lock eyes and ignite a cinematic classic. In music there isn't necessarily a name for a band's formation or meeting, but that instance can inform the group's music just as deeply. For Brooklyn's Sharkmuffin, their "meet cute" occurred July 4, 2012 at a beach house that was later destroyed by Hurricane Sandy - a possible reason why the band's music is visceral, explosive, sharp and a little dangerous. Tarra Thiessen (guitar, vocals, theremin, pocket piano) and Natalie Kirch (bass, vocals, claps) make up the core of the band, with frequently-rotating drummers. [Counting from their album artwork, an illustration of themselves and all of the drummers to have played with the group, they've employed 13.] One of these drummers was Death Valley Girls and Hole's Patty Schemel who recorded on their latest and first full-length LP, Chartreuse.
The album has the punk attitude of the riot grrrl movement and the musicality of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. It covers gritty and very real subjects: first dates, favorite colors, violent emotions felt on Mondays and even feminine products. Some songs might provoke laughter just from their titles, like "Tampons Are For Sluts" and "Mermaid Sex Slave," but Sharkmuffin is dead serious. Hear them perform their short slap-in-the-face songs live in-studio.
Setlist * "Chartreuse" * "Mondays" * "First Date"
For longtime indie rock fans, it's kinda hard to believe that Mac McCaughan has been making music for more than 25 years. Soon after leaving Columbia University in 1987, the Durham, North Carolina native both formed Superchunk and co-founded Merge Records - alongside bassist and savvy financial manager Laura Ballance - in 1989. And since then, Superchunk has released ten albums and countless singles -- and several more records with his on-again/off-again project Portastatic. And Merge has grown to become one of the most respected independent labels, with bands like Arcade Fire, Mountain Goats, and Magnetic Fields among the names on its impressive roster.
With 2015's Non-Believers, the songwriter and guitarist eschewed his trademark punk-ed up pop and blistering guitar lines, and debuted an electro-rock and synth-infused sound that's more minimalist than Superchunk, yet more polished than Portistatic. That said, McCaughan's fearless ambition remains intact. His songs are still built around that same boyish-turned-gravelly voice and those same biting, smartly-crafted lyrics. On Non-Believers, McCaughan's music sounds more personal, intimately reflecting on his life as a husband and father. Yet no matter the setting, McCaughan proves he's got a way with hook, and a simple, yet affecting turn of phrase. (From the Archives, 2015.)
Set List: * "Lost Again" * "Come Upstairs" * "Hello Hawk"
Torres, aka singer and guitarist Mackenzie Scott, unleashes the exuberant energy of a post-plague celebration with her latest album, Thirstier. She writes about passion and desire and “bringing my girlfriend lunch so she can keep painting.” Adding to these romantic sentiments are the overt power pop crunch of muscular and hooky guitars, Moog-enhanced melodies and Torres’ expressive voice, which goes from hug to howl. Torres and her band declare their arena rock intentions live in The Greene Space. - Caryn Havlik
Set List: "Don't Go Puttin Wishes In My Head," "Hug from a Dinosaur," "Thirstier"
Watch "Don't Go Puttin Wishes In My Head":
Watch "Hug From a Dinosaur":
Watch "Thirstier":
Little May is an Australian trio whose signature sounds include dark and poetic lyrics, urgent guitar strumming and, above all, beautiful 3-part vocal harmonies. Their 2015 album, For The Company, was produced by The National’s Aaron Dessner and may have a bit of New York in its musical DNA. The band has toured with Mumford and Sons, Alabama Shakes, and others, and in 2015, they stopped by our studio for a live set. (Archives.)
Listen to Little May's 2014 in-studio appearance:
Efterklang is a Danish band consisting of the 3 childhood friends Mads Brauer, Casper Clausen & Rasmus Stolberg, although the band often expands when playing live. For over twenty years, they have been collaborating and experimenting to arrive at a sound that evades easy labeling, so we’ll call it art-rock-indie-folk-chamber-pop.
The ritual of making music together is the most gratifying thing for the band and its core members, whether just amongst the trio, or when they rope in their audience to expand the collaboration, in a hall or via an app, or that one beautiful time when they asked members of the cleaning staff of a concert hall in Hamburg to sing with them onstage.
Their latest album, Windflowers, looks to nature for the hope and change that comes with spring, and was written collaboratively during lockdown, both apart and together. They play these new songs remotely for the Soundcheck Podcast and look forward to playing at the Big Ears Festival in March of 2022. – Caryn Havlik
Set List: “Living Other Lives,” “Alien Arms,” “Hold Me Close When You Can”
Watch "Living Other Lives":
Watch "Alien Arms":
Watch: "Hold Me Close":
Poet, sax player, electronic music producer, storyteller, and composer JJJJJerome Ellis is a stutterer. On his 2021 album The Clearing, he takes speech disfluency and considers how it affects one’s experience of time. He explains “The Clearing” as that sense of unknowing in the moments where he is stuttering. It’s a space, a pause of suspension that opens up unexpectedly – "like when you’re hiking and suddenly you come to a clearing. You see the sun and take it all in, the light conditions, the plants, and how you might lose your path."
The music on The Clearing uses hip hop drum sounds, deep bass, and experimental electronics, setting his 2020 essay, “The Clearing: Music, dysfluency, Blackness and time.” JJJJJerome Ellis’ extraordinary achievement is in using the involuntary nature of The Stutter and then shaping his music to how “The Stutter presents him with a score.”
In conversation, Ellis contrasts this 2021 release, The Clearing, with his series of sound installations, his “Fountains” – where he creates his own alternate time world in which there is a sense of relief, a respite from the interruption of flow. JJJJJerome Ellis offers live performances of works from his new album The Clearing, and shares how to say “I stutter” in Portuguese. – Caryn Havlik
Set List: “Loops of Retreat,” “Bend Back the Bow and Let the Hymn Fly”
Watch "Loops of Retreat":
Watch "Bend Back The Bow & Let The Hymn Fly":
The guitarist, composer, ethnomusicologist, and instrument builder Paolo Angeli is associated with traditional Sardinian music and has co-organized an international arts festival in Palau since 1996. He has collaborated with Pat Metheny (who uses Angeli's guitar in Orchestrion), Fred Frith, Hamid Drake, Iva Bittova, Zeena Parkins, and Derek Gripper.
Paolo Angeli plays the prepared Sardinian guitar, a hybrid electro-acoustic instrument that looks like a guitar crossed with a cello, and has virtually orchestral capabilities. Angeli’s custom creation has been fitted cross-wise and lengthwise with additional strings: cello strings and drone strings, and has numerous other inventions attached to it, including hammers, pedals, and some propellers at variable speed. Then there’s his array of effects, controlled by both his feet and hands. These custom modifications enable him to become a crazy-awesome one-man band, as he draws on Sardinian folk music, jazz, flamenco, Arabic suggestions, post-folk and contemporary classical music in his compositions.
Paolo Angeli strums, bows, and hammers the instrument, and adds traditional Sardinian vocalizing, in a stunning performance of music from his latest, JAR’A, for this remote session, filmed on the island’s northern shore. - Caryn Havlik
Watch Paolo Angeli on the Sardinian shore:
Multiple Grammy-winner and longtime UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Angélique Kidjo pulls together multiple generations, collaborating with global pop stars Burna Boy and Yemi Alade among others, in addition to focusing on our connection to the natural world for her latest album, Mother Nature. Through a signature combination of West African music, jazz, and funk, and using her incredible voice as instrument, Kidjo asks us to honor Mother Nature, and hopes that one lesson that people might learn from the pandemic is how to better care for one another.
As she and host John Schaefer chat, Kidjo gives props to her collaborators, many of them from younger generations, and also speaks to being the vocalist in Philip Glass’ Symphony No. 12, (Lodger) based on David Bowie’s album. Even with no audience, Angélique Kidjo’s larger-than-life stage presence captivates as she talks about having the luxury of living out her passion. She performs live with her band, from The Greene Space in advance of a Mother Nature concert event at Carnegie Hall on Friday, Nov. 5. - Caryn Havlik
Watch "Africa -One of a Kind”:
Watch "Take It Or Leave It":
Watch "Mother Nature":
Brooklyn trio Upper Wilds features Dan Friel (ex-Parts & Labor) on guitar, vocals, and effects, bassist Jason Binnick, and drummer Jeff Ottenbacher and is really exceptional at making fuzzy-noisy songs with big pop riffs, usually concealed within explosive sonic textures. They’ve now released the third in a series of albums about the planets, Venus, and the band is continuing their way further out as they go, planning to release a seven inch when they get to Pluto.
Friel confides that he’s still learning how to be a singer-songwriter after starting with interesting and possibly noisy textures. He prefers using the open tunings of Glenn Branca, tremolo picking, and effects that can ring and chime forever. Friel says that the lyrics just write themselves, themed around the planet named for the god of love, which also happens to be a “backwards-spinning hellscape that melts every camera we send there…”
Hear through the noise to the melodies as Upper Wilds plays very fast love songs from Venus, remotely from their practice space. - Caryn Havlik
Set List: “Love Song #5,” “Love Song #3,” “Love Song #1”
Watch "Love Song #5":
Watch "Love Song #3":
Watch "Love Song #1":
Guitar innovator and part-time sound technician Guy Buttery discusses the spontaneous recording session with two master musicians, Mohd. Amjad Khan (tabla) & Mudassir Khan (sarangi), called One Morning In Gurgaon. He plays Indian classical music-inspired tunes remotely from South Africa on a custom baritone guitar and improvises on Raag Yaman playing the surbahar (bass sitar).
Watch "Kya Baat":
Watch "Surbahar the Mule":
Austin-based guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist Carl “Buffalo” Nichols wants to remind folks of the value of the blues as a cultural art form. “Listening to this record, I want more Black people to hear themselves in this music that is truly theirs.” The self-described music nerd considers Delta blues, Chicago blues, West African Malian guitar rhythms, and the African ancestry of the clawhammer banjo in his sonic experimentation and ongoing study of chords and riffs.
Nichols, who lived in Milwaukee for most of his life save for his overseas travels, is Fat Possum Records’ first blues signing in nearly 20 years and “is grateful to be part of the label’s legacy of blues music that also includes Junior Kimbrough and R.L. Burnside,” (Austin Monthly). For his remote performances, Buffalo Nichols wields both a hollow body Fender guitar and a resonator-style guitar, as he plays tunes from his self-titled record. - Caryn Havlik
Set list: “These Things”, “How to Love,” “Lost and Lonesome”
“These Things”:
“How to Love”:
“Lost and Lonesome”:
Puerto Rican composer/performer/educator Angélica Negrón, who writes tiny and big sounds for chamber ensembles, orchestras, films, plants, robots and drag queens, joins us for the Soundcheck Podcast. She is also The Greene Space Artist-In-Residence who hosted/curated El Living Room, a funhouse variety show involving plant and robot instruments, comedy, and mixed-media sets.
Angélica takes us into her sensory world, and explains how her overlapping creative adventures feed into each other – say writing for the Dallas Symphony or for drag queens, or for the dreambow band, Balún. She offers a live performance - triggering sounds via plant art, programmed surface poppers, and hidden computers into a sonic dreamscape.
Set list: “Sembrar,” “Pasajero”:
Hang out in the sonic playground of El Living Room, with the first episode out Oct. 14 from The Greene Space:
Musical ghosts haunt the Memphis band Lucero. The late Warren Zevon is evoked in one song, and the spirit of the late Alex Chilton’s groundbreaking Memphis group Big Star can be felt throughout the record. (Their 2015 album title, All A Man Should Do, is a line from a Big Star song.) Songwriter Ben Nichols uses a stirring blend of classic rock and Memphis soul, but maintains a distinctive voice. Lucero plays songs from All A Man Should Do, in-studio. (From the Archives, 2015.)
The Brooklyn-based band Wet first turned heads in 2013 with an EP packed with 90s-style synth-pop goodness. New Yorker magazine critic Sasha Frere Jones referred to their song “Don’t Wanna Be Your Girl” as “completely perfect” and made it one of his songs of the year. In 2016, after a major label bidding war, they released their full-length debut, called Don’t You. Wet (as a trio) joins us to play some of those songs, in-studio. (From the Archives, 2016.)
It's no small thing to command the attention of billions of people with nothing but the sound of your voice and an acoustic guitar. Ask British singer/songwriter Mike Rosenberg, aka Passenger, whose song "Let Her Go" became a legit worldwide phenomenon after its release in 2012. The song snowballed in slow motion, no instant smash, and wormed its way into ears and hearts one play at a time. Rosenberg brings his thoughtful and subtle songwriting to bear, playing songs from his 2016 record, Young As The Morning, Old As The Sea. in-studio.
Pianist Vijay Iyer, bassist Linda May Han Oh, and drummer Tyshawn Sorey, wear their composer and collaborator hats simultaneously in new music by Vijay Iyer, who reminds us that “the most turbulent music may contain stillness, coolness, even wisdom,” (Uneasy liner notes.) They share the joy in hearing each other together in a room creating something collaboratively based on something put on the page.
The members of the trio talk about optimism and hope - in spite of it all, their decades of shared connections, and some of their separate creative projects. Vijay also speaks to his perceived reputation for making art about subjects no one wants to talk about, and believing in the craft of making an album – the shape of it and the journey. Vijay and the trio play music from Vijay Iyer’s 2021 record, Uneasy, for the first in-studio since early 2020, in The Greene Space. - Caryn Havlik
Set list: “Combat Breathing,” “Children of Flint,” “Uneasy”
Watch "Combat Breathing":
Watch "Children of Flint":
Watch "Uneasy":
In Hayden Pedigo’s acoustic guitar playing one might hear the “loneliness and the space” of the Texas panhandle. The musician, composer, and former city-council candidate cites inspiration by guitarists from previous generations like Anthony Phillips (original Genesis guitarist), John Fahey, and Leo Kottke to sound very much like kickass fingerstyle guitarists of now, like Gwenifer Raymond and Toby Hay. Guitar nerds take note: Segovia is invoked, as are variations on multiple non-standard tunings, fingerpicks, and Leo Kottke’s masterful banter stories.
Hayden Pedigo’s latest record, Letting Go, combines ambient electronics, English pastoralism, pedal steel, and fingerstyle guitar on both 6 and 12-strings for really melodic pieces in hard-to-replicate tunings. Pedigo plays remotely from Lubbock, TX. - Caryn Havlik
Set List “Carthage,” “Some Kind of Shepherd” “Letting Go”
Watch "Carthage":
Watch "Some Kind of Shepherd":
Watch "Letting Go":
Singer-songwriter Rosanne Cash curates a program exploring the importance of protest music as part of our shared cultural history. She talks of how the rich oral tradition of roots music embraces migration stories, loss, resistance, and how we are moving to something better, but that it might be painful. And ultimately, protest songs can show us a path to get there. (Originally from Live With Carnegie Hall from June 2020.)
Set list: Rosanne Cash and Leventhal plays Bob Dylan's "License to Kill"
Lizz Wright plays "Blessed the Brave"
Elvis Costello sings both "Big Stars Have Tumbled"
Rosanne Cash and John Paul White sing "We're All In This Together Now"
Watch the entire Live With Carnegie Hall program
Rosanne Cash - Present Perfect: Songs of Protest and Memory:
The Norwegian-born, London-based singer Kari Jahnsen records under the name Farao. Her 2015 debut album is called Till It's All Forgotten, and prompted comparisons with Tune-Yards, countrywoman Jenny Hval, and a few other musical outliers. But Farao’s blend of arty pop and unusual arrangements might actually fool listeners into believing they’re hearing something like conventional pop. They are not. Farao uses stately synthesized strings, big grooves with anxious bursts of drumming, and her own implacable vocals in songs that often take unexpected twists and turns. She and her band play, in-studio. (From the Archives, 2015.)
Some songs you love because they communicate deep thoughts or powerful emotions. And sometimes you just want a ridiculously catchy hook. BRONCHO is certainly capable of the former, but in the case of its song "Class Historian," it wouldn’t matter if the band was singing about filing taxes, you might still be bouncing in our seats with that infectious melody stuck in your head all day.
While the Oklahoma band has been banging out classic fuzzed-out sounds for awhile, the band got a spike of attention when the HBO series Girls used the song "It's On." That song, along with "Class Historian," ended up on BRONCHO's 2014 album, Just Enough Hip To Be Woman, which draws on garage pop and glam rock in exciting ways. BRONCHO plays some these songs in-studio. Apologies in advance if you've still got that tune in your brain the rest of the week. (From the Archives, 2015.)
Set List: * "Stay Loose" * "Stop Tricking" * "Class Historian"
Tennessee-based songwriter Amythyst Kiah loves both roots and alternative music; and her songs often clothe dark subjects - suicide of a loved one, a descent into alcoholism - in bluesy stomps and ecstatic rock. The singer, guitarist, banjo player, and scholar (she holds a degree in Bluegrass, Old-Time, and Country Music Studies), has made records on her own and is a member of the formidable quartet called Our Native Daughters. On her 2021 solo album Wary + Strange, Amythyst Kiah sings of loss, grief, death, and hangovers and dealing with them all; she and her band play some of these tunes remotely. - Caryn Havlik
Set list: "Black Myself," "Firewater," "Hangover Blues"
Watch "Black Myself":
Watch "Firewater":
Watch "Hangover Blues":
In 2020, she also contributed a tribute to the Reverend Gary Davis for the online New York Guitar Festival:
The Brooklyn band Golden Suits is led by singer and guitarist Fred Nicolaus. You may know him from his earlier band Department of Eagles, or perhaps his duo with Grizzly Bear’s Daniel Rossen. Fred released the first Golden Suits album in 2013 and has just put out the band’s followup effort, called Kubla Khan. It’s full of catchy, often literate, occasionally eccentric songs, which the band plays in-studio. (From the Archives, 2015.)
Here's the dancey "Gold Feeling," where Nicolaus is out to prove that he has all of the right moves to his imaginary middle school dream girl.
Guitarist and singer Becca Steven's resume includes stints with the adventurous jazz bassist Esperanza Spalding, electrifying trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, and hip-hop inflected jazz vocalist José James. She’s part of New York’s new music scene, and has contributed to a compilation of Laura Nyro covers. So you might guess that The Becca Stevens Band would not be your typical indie rock group. And you’d be right.
The band’s 2015 debut record is called Perfect Animal, and it’s full of shimmering, strangely augmented chords; angular melodic swoops and dives; and rhythms that catch the ear but don’t settle where you expect. There are also breathtaking forays into pop and even R&B, including covers of songs by Frank Ocean and Usher. The result is a pulsing, personal experience, guided by Stevens' singular voice and vision, that is the most exciting entry on her resume yet. Becca Stevens and her band perform in-studio. (From the Archives, 2015.)
The late American pianist, composer, and “Legend of Jazz,” Randy Weston, stretched across history to forge connections to an African past, as he had done for decades.
On his 2017 recording, The African Nubian Suite, Weston took as his subject matter the very origins of humanity – the fossilized skeletal remains of “Ardi,” a hominid who lived around 4.5 million years ago in what is now Ethiopia. This "planetary music," as Weston called it stretches across millennia, looking to the Nubian empire (now northern Sudan/southern Egypt), African folk traditions, Sufi music, blues, and jazz. Randy Weston joined us in-studio in 2017. (From the Archives.)
Genius Indian tabla player Zakir Hussain, is one of the world’s exceptional percussionists. The son of Ustad Alla Rahka, Zakir is also a composer, improviser, and a great communicator in Persian, Gujarati, German, English, as well as in jazz, Afro-Cuban rhythms, Nigerian talking drums, or Indonesian gamelan. One of the most exciting ways that Zakir Hussain shares this deep and vast knowledge in performance is by way of the Masters of Percussion Tour – which is exactly as stunning as a music fan (especially a drum nerd) might ever imagine.
For the 2019 tour (in the before times), the ensemble included the sitar virtuoso and instrument inventor Niladri Kumar, and the extraordinary jazzer Eric Harland (Charles Lloyd, Dave Holland's Prism) on Western drums.
Zakir Hussain, Niladri Kumar, and Eric Harland join us in-studio for a sample of this astounding musical magic. - (NSAPA and drum nerd Caryn Havlik)
Watch the session here:
Pom Pom Squad is more than a punk band. Led by singer and songwriter Mia Berrin, their music is a romp through many musical styles: a seemingly disparate collection of punk and grunge, Motown, crooner jazz, and wall-of-sound 60’s pop all built on feelings - heartbreak and injustice and intimacy, and navigating the way through treacherous waters. Their 2021 album Death of a Cheerleader takes a knowing, ironic look at pop culture through a queer lens, focusing on the romance and glamour of 20th century film stars, and the iconic figure of the cheerleader from teen movies past, especially the 1999 film, But I'm a Cheerleader. The full lineup of Pom Pom Squad (Mari Alé Figeman, Bass: Shelby Keller, Drums and Percussion, Alex Mercuri, Lead Guitar, and Mia Berrin) plays remotely.
Berrin is working on "re-training the muscle" of playing live shows for when the band is scheduled to go on tour later in the fall.
Set list: "Lux," "Drunk Voicemail"
Watch "Lux":
Watch "Drunk Voicemail":
Since his 2007 breakthrough album, Spiderman Of The Rings, Dan Deacon has assumed numerous roles. He’s a staple of Baltimore's Wham City art collective - and a classically-trained composer and film scorer. On stage, he’s a mad scientist tinkering with colorful electronics - and a ringleader encouraging his wild fans in absurdist dance-offs. Likewise, his music delivers both exquisite bliss and full-on beat-heavy cacophony. But no matter the setting, Deacon's unfettered sense of humor and his masterful ear for sonic textures unify his various music sides in endlessly exciting ways.
Now, after several records written for larger ensembles, Deacon has gone solo with his 2015 album, Gliss Riffer. In some ways, it's a return to what he’s best known for: exuberant and densely-stuffed electronic dance music. And while singing has always played some part Deacon's songs, Gliss Riffer showcases his voice more fully. You can hear that immediately in the lead single, "Feel The Lightning," and in "Learning To Relax" - where Deacon changes the pitch or timbre of his voice to sometimes sound female - like a duet with himself. It's a big pop-infused sound that will easily get fans flailing with awkward abandon on the dance floor.
Deacon plays those two new songs -- plus a completely improvised piece -- and talks about his writing process and more for this in-studio session.
Set List: * "Learning To Relax" * "Untitled Improvisation" * "Feel The Lightning"
Interview Highlights Dan Deacon, on why Gliss RIffer showcases more of his voice:
I think the reason I focused on the voice is because I permanently destroyed it. There [was] a venue in New York called 285 Kent. I was sick. I had a sore throat and I did the show anyway. I didn’t warm up and people were smoking inside. It was the perfect storm for a terrible worsening of the throat. I went to a throat doctor and was like, "Well, you didn’t do permanent, permanent damage, but you have to realize you can’t treat your voice like your shoes. You have to treat it well and you have to know how to use it." I was like, "What?!? I have no idea how to use my voice! That’s insane!" I’m not going to have the same voice in 2040, 2020. I kept thinking that I should utilize this expiring instrument before it's expired.
On the vocal techniques in "Feel The Lightning":
This is the first record where I wanted to use a different technique to augment the pitch in my voice. I use an old Les Paul technique that The Beatles used a lot too called Varispeed: You change the speed of the music. And you sing regularly and then speed it up and slow it down and then it augments the sound of your voice.
After years of pitch shifting, I have a different way of thinking about it: I don’t hear sounds as gendered. I’m not doing a female voice, I’m just doing a higher pitched voice. Just like how the left hand on the piano isn’t a boy and the right hand on the piano isn’t a girl.
On his exploration of synthesizers:
After I made America, I was like, "Why aren’t I thinking about the orchestration of the synthesizer? Why don’t I try to realize these synth parts, not with soft synths but with hardware synths?" So when I was down for Moogfest, doing a demo for something we were making, I [thought] it would be really fun to come down here and record for a few days. And they gave us full access to their facilities. They let me use a new synth called the Sub 37 that wasn’t out yet; didn’t have a manual, it was still in beta testing. It felt really good, and it was exciting to use an instrument that hasn’t really existed yet. I’m often fascinated with the history of musical instruments and how people are like, "Electronic music, what is it?"
On the writing process:
When I’m writing anything, I wonder where it will it go. What it’s future will be? Will I play live? Will it be something that exists on an album? Will it be something that I play in a seated area, like in a concert hall, or in a venue? Would it be something I play to be paired to image, like for film or video? Once I sort of figure out where it’s going to go, it start to grow into that mold.
On the shift in music listening habits:
I also don’t like thinking of music as a commodity. It’s only existed as a commodity for like a 120 years max? I don’t know the exact date but it didn’t use to be something like, "You want to hear a song? Give me five dollars, I’ll sing it for you. And I’ll sing it for you whenever you see me." [laughs]
Any paradigm shift, there’s going to be a fall out and a quote-unquote Dark Age surrounding it. I just feel like, music is constantly changed. The way you heard it, the way you made it, the way it interacts with society, the way you interact with it, so I don’t think there are wrong turns.
Rachika Nayar is a composer and producer who uses her electric guitar as a sound source, creating rich layers of sound in real time. She then "mutilates" and "contorts" these sounds, processing them, arranging them into the finished pieces on her 2021 LP Our Hands Against The Dusk and its companion record, the 2021 EP Fragments, which could be considered as a collection of Etudes; none of the works on Fragments were translated into larger pieces.
Nayar's guitar playing is informed by math rock, post rock, jazz, EDM - "the 4AM warehouse rave", and lately – exploring open tunings. She talks us through and demonstrates her process, starting with solo electric guitar loops, which are processed, pulled apart, and rebuilt, shifted, stretched, and arranged with other electronic instruments. Rachika Nayar improvises guitar loop-based pieces and transforms them for this remote session. - Caryn Havlik
Set list: "Memory as Miniatures," Untitled Guitar Piece
Watch "Memory as Miniatures":
Watch: Untitled Guitar Piece:
It took Aoife O’Donovan a decade to record her debut as a solo artist, the 2013 album Fossils. But it’s not like she was sitting around twiddling her thumbs prior to that. She was busy playing with the high energy bluegrass band Crooked Still, or collaborating with Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, Chris Thile, and other stars of the strings. O’Donovan’s gorgeous 2016 record In the Magic Hour ties together elements of pop, folk, and bluegrass in a cohesive, emotive package. She plays songs in-studio (from the Archives, 2016)
BONUS: You can also watch an archive of Aoife performing solo in our studio here.
Natalia Lafourcade had writer's block. Her 2009 album Hu Hu Hu had been a critical and commercial triumph, nominated for Grammy awards and hailed as one of the best records of the decade by tastemakers in the Latin music world. How to move forward? She returned to her roots to find inspiration, mining her home country of Mexico for fresh ideas and deep connections, and responding to Latin American songwriters like Simón Díaz and Caetano Veloso. In fact, she called the 2015 record Hasta la Raíz -- "Down to the Roots." The result? Grammy Awards and heaps more critical praise, not to mention, beautiful music. Natalia Lafourcade plays a special acoustic session in-studio, (from the Archives, 2016.)
"Warm and melodic" aren't exactly words the members of Publicist UK are used to hearing. Each of them has worked in some heavy, aggressive bands on the metal and hardcore scenes. But together, in this new underground supergroup, they have created urgent and moody music that revels in melody and massive, insistent choruses. And if it's not all warm and fuzzy, it is at least supportive: Publicist UK's debut album is called Forgive Yourself.
The band began as a long-distance experiment by underground rock all-stars Dave Witte (Municipal Waste, ex-Burnt by the Sun, Discordance Axis, Melt-Banana),Zachary Lipez (ex-Freshkills), Brett Bamberger (Revocation, ex-East of the Wall), andDavid Obuchowski (Goes Cube, Distant Correspondent). The group started recording in their homes in Virginia, New York, New Jersey, and Colorado then landed a record deal with Relapse Records, recording the full-length in New Hampshire. Hear the band perform a few of their new songs live in our studio.
Setlist * "Levitate the Pentagon" * "Slow Dancing To This Bitter Earth" * "Away"
Singer-songwriter Laura Stevenson documents the turbulent and heavy stuff of life with warmth and fierce intensity. The multi-instrumentalist offers an album, “written as a sort of purge and a prayer,” of dynamic contrasts, clasping hands with blistering rage and working out how to deal with fear and pain. Laura Stevenson plays tunes remotely with her band from her self-titled 2021 record.
Set list: “State,” “Don’t Think About Me,” “Sky Blue, Bad News”
Watch "State":
The jazz drummer Jaimeo Brown formed his trio Transcendence back in 2013 – their first album, also called Transcendence, was built around samples of old southern singing married to an inventive mix of blues, jazz, and distant echoes of hip hop. Jaimeo Brown’s Transcendence released Work Songs in 2016, which takes more sampled sounds from America’s past and uses them as the template for a new series of songs. Actually, the samples extend well beyond the States this time, but the song “For Mama Lucy” has a clearly American sound: it’s built around a 1959 recording of an inmate at the Parchman Farm Prison in Mississippi, surrounded by some classic blues guitar from trio member Chris Sholar (Grammy-winning producer of Kanye West, Jay Z, and many others). It's a creative re-appropriation of a complicated cultural back-catalog, and the group stops performed in-studio for a taste of its insightful historical remixing. (From the Archives, 2016.)
Forró In The Dark's music is meant to be played under the cover of night. The band is named after forró, a type of Northeastern Brazil dance music. The New York based Brazilian ex-pats give traditional music an update with jazz, rock, psychedelia, folk and charismatic and attentive rhythms.
Since their formation in 2002 (beginning as a birthday entertainment for lead singer, Mauro Refosco), Forró In The Dark has worked with musicians like the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Thom Yorke's Atoms For Peace and David Byrne among others. Their cross-cultural sound takes on new elements on their 2015 album, Forro Zinho: Forro in the Dark Plays Zorn, where the group takes on American avant-garde sax player/composer John Zorn's works with a Brazilian twist. They perform in-studio.
Setlist: * "Forro Zinho" * "Novato" * "Life is only real then when I am"
For more pictures from the session visit our Tumblr.
Olivia Chaney is part of the latest wave of British folk music, although her definition of “folk” is as likely to include Baroque music, Norwegian jazz, and original songs as it is old murder ballads or sea shanties. Chaney plays an assortment of instruments, including guitar and piano, and has a strikingly pure vocal tone.
Her debut full-length, The Longest River, is on Nonesuch Records, and while performing a brief set at a Nonesuch 50th anniversary event in 2014, she so impressed her label-mate Robert Plant that he asked her to open for him during his 2015 run of shows at BAM. Olivia Chaney performs three of her own songs, in-studio, in this session from the archives.
In Appalachia, a "holler" is a colloquialism for a valley or "hollow." So not only is the band name Quiet Hollers a fun oxymoron, it's also a sly shout-out to the band's roots in Kentucky. The group says it makes "weird, sad music for weirdos like you." But they named one of the standout songs from their 2015 self-titled record "Aviator Shades," which might just mean they're going for something cool and even sexy. They share their tunes in live setting, in-studio.
Guatemalan-born, Mexico City-based cellist, singer, producer, and songwriter Mabe Fratti creates music using electronics, voice, and cello, and the sounds of nature. Fratti has a mighty array of effects, turning the cello into sound source capable of drone, full feedback squeals, percussive plucky samples, and talks about how she is "addicted to improvisation." Her latest soundscapey, outer-worldly album is called Será Que Ahora Podremos Entendernos? (Will We be Able to Understand Each Other Now?) and deeply considers the structure and arranging of words and sounds. Mabe Fratti and her trio, sometimes with amps to 11, play remotely from Mexico City.
Set list: “Nadie Sabe,” “Hacia el Vacio,” and “Inicio Vinculo Final”
Watch "Nadie Sabe":
The Brooklyn-based orchestral collective known as The Knights began as an informal gathering of friends to play late night chamber music. Founded by brothers Colin and Eric Jacobsen, the Knights have grown into a variable ensemble that brings the element of surprise back into orchestral concerts. Sometimes that’s in the way they present the music, and sometimes it’s in the music itself, like their collaboration with composer Andy Akiho. Andy’s main instrument in the steel pan, something usually associated with calypso music and almost nothing else. Members of the Knights present a new recording of an Akiho septet, and they’ll also play live in-studio. (From the Archives, 2017.)
Pulling from soul and funk, psychedelic rock and punk, New Orleans brass bands and "Gypsy-reggaeton," Mucca Pazza's repertoire is can be a bit proggy (Yes, Weather Report, Rush) and perhaps hard to march to. Chicago’s “interdisciplinary instrumental music and performance ensemble” – or circus-spectacle alt marching band joins us in-studio. (From the Archives, 2015.)
British quartet Sons of Kemet blends jazz, Afrofuturism, electronic music, hip hop and Caribbean rhythms in their music and is composed of sax/clarinet player and composer Shabaka Hutchings, tuba player Theon Cross, and two drummers - Tom Skinner and Eddie Hick. Their latest album Black to the Future comes packed with urgent social commentary, and Sons of Kemet artfully brings the fiery hot dance-jazz party to bear. They offer these remote performances from London.
Set list: "Hustle," "Pick Up Your Burning Cross," "For the Culture"
Swedish psychedelic rock outfit Dungen plays instrumentals from their recent score to the silent film The Adventures of Prince Achmed, and other tunes. (From the Archives, 2017.)
The English outfit called Public Service Broadcasting builds its records around archival and documentary sounds, then layering in live drums, guitar, banjo, bass flugelhorn, and electronics. Their 2015 album The Race For Space was full of voices from the Apollo moon missions; and their 2017 album, Every Valley, is built around documentary sounds of the mining communities of southern Wales – the boom and its subsequent collapse.
Public Service Broadcasting performs live in our studio with a dance-able, yet intentional history lesson, or two. (From the Archives, 2017.)
On the face of it, Red Baraat is a dhol-driven big band full of brass instruments and drums (both the dhol and drumset keep the groove going), rooted in Bhangra music (Punjabi dance music), who bring a party with them wherever they go. On their l2018 record, Sound the People, they combine the sounds of South Asian diaspora, along with jazz, hip-hop, psychedelia, and a bit of Caribbean music, to draw attention to issues of migration, colonialism, and our current political climate. The record blends instruments, cultures, and offers an aural tribute to "the way diversity makes, and has always made, America great.” With songs that make a joyfully and defiantly disruptive ruckus for dancing, the band Red Baraat plays in-studio (Archives, 2018).
Watch the full session here:
Watch the individual songs below:
The Argentine singer/songwriter and brilliant producer of experimental off-kilter folk-tronica, Juana Molina, has a former life as a well-known comic actress. She embraces that playful humor and explores ancient folk legends involving bone on her latest record, Halo. The ever-changing electronic textures feel mysterious, and are full of shadows, but with a sense of devious fun, even at the risk of being morbid. Juana Molina joins us to play some of these fantastical (and fantastic!) tunes live in the studio.
Lute-based and percussion driven, the rugged duo of Cretan lauto player George Xylouris (scion of one of Greece’s most revered musical families) and Australian drummer Jim White (he’s played with Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, PJ Harvey, Nina Nastasia, Cat Power, and Dirty Three) perform groove-based, improvisatory music that is both grounded in Cretan tradition- the island has a great history of singers, lyra players, and other folk musicians – and fused with the rugged vitality of raw rockenroll. The duo gives us a preview of their latest record, Mother, due out early next year, in-studio.
Watch Xylouris White's session via Facebook Live:
Composer, pianist, and vocalist Samora Pinderhughes writes urgent, poetic and immersive music that responds to the times and fits neatly into no genre, all while putting his heart right on the table. Samora Pinderhughes plays some of these intimate and revolutionary songs remotely: recent work from his Black Spring EP, along with new work from his song cycle “Grief.”
France-based Cameroonian musician Blick Bassy’s quiet and beautiful songs fall somewhere on the spectrum of blues, folk-soul, and pop, and embody a deep reverence for the traditional music of Cameroon and other parts of Africa. On his latest record, 1958, dedicated to the memory of Ruben Um Nyobé, Felix Moumié and the other heroes of Cameroonian independence, Bassy embraces a listener (mostly in his ancestral language of Basaa) over minimal cello, trumpet, trombone, keyboards, and electronic production. Bassy performs some of these songs acoustically, in an intimate setting in-studio. (From the Archives, 2017) - Caryn Havlik
Watch the session here:
Mumbai-born singer, composer, bandleader, and ultra-marathoner Priya Darshini is based in Brooklyn. Her musical studies range from Indian Classical music and ghazals (devotional songs) to jazz, and she has experience in Mumbai indie rock bands and on Bollywood film soundtracks besides. Darshini takes a cross-cultural approach to song for her original compositions from her Grammy-nominated debut record, Periphery. She joins us with a band that includes hammered dulcimer, bass, and drums, performing music remotely from the Brooklyn venue Wild Birds.
Set list: “Jahaan,” “Loneliest Star,” Bonus video: "Home"
"Jahaan":
"Loneliest Star":
"Home":
Brooklyn-based Ellen Kempner (who performs as Palehound) and L.A.-based musician Melina Duterte (who performs as Jay Som), have joined forces as Bachelor – a friendship, not just a band. They play songs from their collaborative debut album, Doomin’ Sun, which combines vivid imagery, adventures in production, and an intimate sense of comfort.
On June 10, the duo will present and perform at their first concert, Doomin’ Sun Fest, a livestream whose line-up includes Tegan & Sara, Adrianne Lenker (Big Thief), Jeff Tweedy, Courtney Barnett, Vagabon, Tune-Yards, Black Belt Eagle Scout, Japanese Breakfast, Soccer Mommy, and more.
Set list: “Stay in the Car,” “Sick of Spiraling,” “Went Out Without You”
“Stay in the Car”:
"Sick of Spiraling":
"Went out Without You":
Here's Doomin’ Sun:
Doomin' Sun by Bachelor
New York’s own gypsy punks Gogol Bordello have roots in Eastern European folk and Brecht-ian cabaret, along with punk and dub. With a band that usually includes accordion, fiddle, horns, percussion, jangly and electric guitars, Gogol frontman Eugene Hutz leads the turbo-charged “avalanche of rage-turned-joy,” whipping up frenzied crowds all over the world in every savage live performance. Their latest record, Seekers & Finders is coming for us all, and even features Regina Spektor as a guest. It brings some of the band and their playful magical riot to the studio in this 2017 session from the archives.
The singer Ala.Ni has a cosmopolitan background: born in Britain to parents from Granada and now based in Paris. So it perhaps shouldn't be a surprise that her music is varied too. And yet, Ala.Ni’s forthcoming debut album, called You And I, is nothing but surprises. Often sounding like a long lost artifact of the mid-20th century, her striking voice goes from torchy jazz to intimate pop to atmospheric vocalise. Ala.Ni made her American radio debut, with guitarist Marvin Dolly in our studios, in early 2017. (From the Archives.)
Here she is on Jools Holland, with "Cherry Blossom":
Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn have each – in their own separate ways during their separate careers – been reinventing the sound of the banjo. Bela has drawn on jazz, classical, rock, folk, and world music; Abigail is fluent in Mandarin and has used her voice and banjo to draw connections between Chinese and Appalachian music. Together, though, this husband and wife team has released a couple of albums that really go for the old fashioned front porch sound. Their 2017 record is Echo In The Valley, and they'll play some of it in-studio. (From the archives.)
Set List:
Over the Divide Bloomin' Rose Come All You Coal Miners
Nashville-based Montreal-born Scottish-Grenadian-Canadian multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, poet, mother, and runner Allison Russell (Birds of Chicago, Our Native Daughters, Po’ Girl) presents her autobiographical record, Outside Child, which sees her breaking the cycles of abuse and violence and celebrating having found her chosen community and chosen family. Allison Russell and her band - some of the members of her musical community- play some of these songs from Outside Childremotely.
Japanese-born, NYC-based pianist and composer Erika Dohi, is also one half of Contemporary Music Duo RighteousGIRLS. Her new record I, Castorpollux (37d03d) deals with duality, the idea of a “split self”–in works that float between composed and improvised music, as well as Dohi’s exploration of her Japanese-American identity, as well as pondering the idea of the multiverse, where there are alternate selves in parallel universes [as in Haruki Murakami’s novel 1Q84, or Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.]
On this solo album, named for the twin deities of Castor and Pollux, there are some guests from the worlds of jazz and improvised music as well as classical music circles, like trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire and composer William Brittelle. Erika Dohi plays partially prepared piano remotely, both solo, and together with sax player and improviser Immanuel Wilkins. - Caryn Havlik
Set list: "Replicant," "Dioscuri," "PoE"
Watch "Replicant" :
Watch "Dioscuri":
Watch "PoE":
Old Sea Brigade is the work of Nashville-based, Georgia-born musician Ben Cramer, who makes atmospheric Nashville-informed indie folk, infused with 80s synthpop and jangly guitars. "Cramer’s feathery vocals dovetail nicely with the guitars’ indie-rock-in-the-aughts sound," and the melodies are enhanced with warm synths and hazy production (John Schaefer). Old Sea Brigade plays songs from his new album Motivational Speaking, remotely.
"Mirror Moon":
"How It Works":
"Day by Day":
Atlanta-based Manchester Orchestra crafts cinematic, lush, long-form rock, with such detail about the characters, that it makes the stories even more believable on the songs from their latest record, The Million Masks of God. The band’s songwriting duo of Andy Hull and Robert McDowell, invokes the poem that inspired the album’s title, “Gold Leaves” by G.K. Chesterton, and talks about trying to find connections to the divine or the things that are in the way when searching. Hull and McDowell of Manchester Orchestra play some stripped-down and intimate arrangements remotely, for the podcast.
Set list: “Bed Head” “Keel Timing” “The Gold”
Watch "Bed Head":
Watch "Keel Timing":
Wathc “The Gold”:
As a performer, Robert Randolph is nothing like the guys who play pedal steel in country music. He sets off pedal steel fireworks with his gospel-rooted soul-funk; he'll dance around the instrument, wrestle it, push it off its four legs, moved by the spirit - an ecstatic spectacle. Randolph, on his 2017 record Got Soul, continues to take the pedal steel where it has seldom been heard before – recruiting special guests like Hootie and the Blowfish singer Darius Rucker, R&B crooner Anthony Hamilton and Snarky Puppy's Cory Henry – and exploring those other musics: rock, funk, soul, jazz, and jam band music. On Fessender pedal steel, Robert Randolph and The Family Band play in-studio. (From the Archives, 2017.)
Since 2009, the Ecuadorian-American singer and songwriter Roberto Lange has been making records under the name Helado Negro (that’s “black ice cream” in Spanish.) His music has been literally bilingual, in the sense that he sings in both Spanish and English, but it’s also been metaphorically bilingual, with its mix of art and pop. 2016's Helado Negro album, Private Energy, responds to the Black Lives Matter movement, and contains some explicitly political material. They play some of those songs, in-studio. (From the Archives, 2017.)
Here's "Young, Latin & Proud," in 360:
Dark and light constantly fuse, diverge, and unite in Brooklyn violin-piano duo, Gracie and Rachel. Their 2015 debut album Go, begins with a single haunting note. Pizzicato violin from Rachel Ruggles and Gracie Coates' piano ebb and flow together in a rocking orchestral rhythm, while Gracie's milky vocals add a delicate layer of gothic pop on top. Gracie usually wears white, Rachel wears black. Together they make a kind of orchestral indie pop music that plays with light and dark, and they’ve been doing it since they were in high school, a seasoned partnership that is apparent in their music. The duo plays in-studio in this 2015 session from the archives.
Setlist:
"Sing Song" "Go" "Upside Down" "Don't Know"