Soundcheck

Folk-Rock Trio The Lone Bellow Plays Some Hard-Won Songs, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 04:00:00 +0000

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

Texas-Born Folk Artist Jana Horn Weaves a Gentle Atmosphere, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 04:00:00 +0000

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

English Post-Punk Outfit Art Brut Doesn’t Seem Like It’s Planned! (In-Studio)

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 04:00:00 +0000

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

Alternative Rock Artist Mike Doughty Reinterprets Musical Memories, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Mon, 13 Apr 2026 04:00:00 +0000

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

Omar Offendum Fuses Hip-Hop, Poetry, and Arab Heritage, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Thu, 9 Apr 2026 04:00:00 +0000

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

Soulful Folk Music Composer Annahstasia Embraces Dynamism, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Mon, 6 Apr 2026 04:00:00 +0000

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

Storyteller Dessa Calls Attention to Current Events, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Thu, 2 Apr 2026 04:00:00 +0000

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

Julia Úlehla and Dálava Forge Ancestral Connections Via Moravian Folk Songs, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Mon, 30 Mar 2026 04:00:00 +0000

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

Argentine Singer and Guitarist Marilina Bertoldi Rebrands Rock 'n' Roll, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 04:00:00 +0000

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

The New Pornographers Test New Grounds with New Songs, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Mon, 23 Mar 2026 04:00:00 +0000

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

Elori Saxl & Henry Solomon Fill the Gradients Between Notes, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 04:00:00 +0000

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

Fiddler Martin Hayes and Guitarist Kyle Sanna Keep Irish Traditional Music Ever New

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 04:00:00 +0000

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

American Songwriting Icon Steve Earle Enthralls With Stories and Songs, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Thu, 12 Mar 2026 04:00:00 +0000

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

Humbe Sings into the Space Between the Sky and the Ground, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Mon, 9 Mar 2026 04:00:00 +0000

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

Spanish Songwriter Guitarricadelafuente on Folk Music and Folklore, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Thu, 5 Mar 2026 05:00:00 +0000

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?

Goth Jazz Provocateur Niia Offers Vintage Elegance and Surprises, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Mon, 2 Mar 2026 05:00:00 +0000

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

Man of Styles Justin Hicks Breaks Down the Making of His Debut LP, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 05:00:00 +0000

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!

Captivating Chamber-Electro-Pop by Emily Wells with Metropolis Ensemble (From the Archives)

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Mon, 23 Feb 2026 05:00:00 +0000

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

Qawwali and Khayal Music By The Saami Brothers, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 05:00:00 +0000

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

Drummer Marcus Gilmore Creates Continuous Melodies (From the Archives)

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 05:00:00 +0000

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

Darian Donovan Thomas Processes and Makes Space, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 05:00:00 +0000

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

Samora Pinderhughes on Grief, Healing, and Community, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Mon, 9 Feb 2026 05:00:00 +0000

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

Rapper/Activist Heems on His Latest Album, 'A Hundred Alibis', In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Thu, 5 Feb 2026 16:18:29 +0000

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

Brooklyn-Based Latin X-Perimental Band Zemog El Gallo Bueno Hovers Together, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Mon, 2 Feb 2026 05:00:00 +0000

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)

Hannah Jadagu Carves Out Space For Her Sound, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Thu, 29 Jan 2026 05:00:00 +0000

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

The O'Farrill Family Band, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Mon, 26 Jan 2026 05:00:00 +0000

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)

South African Guitarist Derek Gripper With Iraqi Oud Player Rahim Al-Haj, From the 2025 New York Guitar Festival

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 05:00:00 +0000

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

South African Guitarist Derek Gripper, From the 2025 New York Guitar Festival

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Mon, 19 Jan 2026 05:00:00 +0000

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

Troubadour and Guitarist Steve Gunn Creates Sonic Landscapes, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Thu, 15 Jan 2026 05:00:00 +0000

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

Clarinetist Michael Winograd Infuses Klezmer Traditions With Jazz

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Mon, 12 Jan 2026 05:00:00 +0000

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.

1. Tipsy 2. Silkene Pajamas

British Band Public Service Broadcasting Teaches History Lessons With 'The Last Flight'

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Thu, 8 Jan 2026 05:00:00 +0000

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!

Cellist Rebecca Foon's Delicate Layers of Song on "Black Butterflies"

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Mon, 5 Jan 2026 05:00:00 +0000

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

Best of Soundcheck 2025, Part 2

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Thu, 1 Jan 2026 05:00:00 +0000

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

Best of the Soundcheck Podcast 2025, Part 1

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Mon, 29 Dec 2025 05:00:00 +0000

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.

Matt Wilson's Christmas Tree-O, In-Studio (Encore Edition)

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Thu, 25 Dec 2025 05:00:00 +0000

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

Jazz-Leaning Donny McCaslin Band Grooves With Crunch, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Mon, 22 Dec 2025 05:00:00 +0000

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

Composer and Producer Kelly Moran's Prepared Piano Meets Electronica, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Thu, 18 Dec 2025 05:00:00 +0000

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

Montreal's Psych-Art Rockers The Besnard Lakes, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Mon, 15 Dec 2025 05:00:00 +0000

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

Brooklyn Band Momma Plays Unplugged, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Thu, 11 Dec 2025 05:00:00 +0000

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

Icelandic Pianist Eydís Evenson Shares Elemental Lessons of LIfe and Nature

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Mon, 8 Dec 2025 05:00:00 +0000

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

Boyish Brings Walls of Guitars to the 'Gun' Show, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Thu, 4 Dec 2025 05:00:00 +0000

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

English Singer Patrick Wolf Plays Artful Baroque Pop, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Mon, 1 Dec 2025 05:00:00 +0000

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

Dusty Psych-Soul and Fiery Groove From Black Pumas (Archives)

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Thu, 27 Nov 2025 05:00:00 +0000

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

Soundcheck Special - American Musicians Ashley Jackson and Ken Pomeroy

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Wed, 26 Nov 2025 16:41:19 +0000

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

Irish Folk Duo Ye Vagabonds Go Backwards to Look Forwards

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Mon, 24 Nov 2025 05:00:00 +0000

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

Indigenous Latin-Jazz-Ambient-Soul From Cochemea, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 05:00:00 +0000

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

Polish Pianist and Composer Hania Rani Expands Her Sonic Palette with 'Non Fiction'

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Mon, 17 Nov 2025 05:00:00 +0000

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

Master Violinist, Vocalist, and Composer L. Shankar, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Thu, 13 Nov 2025 05:00:00 +0000

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

Tommy Emmanuel, C.G.P., Chases the Ecstatic Via Guitar Instrumentals, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 05:00:00 +0000

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

Guitarist and Songwriter Brad Barr Stretches Out In a Trio, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Thu, 6 Nov 2025 05:00:00 +0000

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

Portuguese Singer Carminho Distills the Fatal Romanticism of Fado

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Mon, 3 Nov 2025 05:00:00 +0000

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

Mexican Songwriter and Producer Silvana Estrada Shares Her Heart And Finds Joyful Melodies

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Thu, 30 Oct 2025 04:00:00 +0000

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

Singer-Songwriter Meklit Embeds Ethiopian Traditions and Connects Cultures, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Mon, 27 Oct 2025 04:00:00 +0000

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.

1. Ambassel 2. Tizita 3. Geefata

Canadian Singer and Composer Patrick Watson Features Other Voices, While Recovering His Own

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Thu, 23 Oct 2025 04:00:00 +0000

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

The Antlers Consider Nature Under Siege in New Song Cycle, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Mon, 20 Oct 2025 04:00:00 +0000

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

Bell Jazz Award Winner Sullivan Fortner's Joyful Piano Adventures, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Thu, 16 Oct 2025 04:00:00 +0000

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

Spanish-born Pablopablo, Bending Latin Music Traditions

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Mon, 13 Oct 2025 04:00:00 +0000

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

The Sensational Blues Guitarist Christone "Kingfish" Ingram, At Last, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Thu, 9 Oct 2025 04:00:00 +0000

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

47SOUL Brings the Shamstep Party With a Message (Archives)

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Mon, 6 Oct 2025 04:00:00 +0000

“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

Revisiting The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble (From the Archives, 2019)

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Thu, 2 Oct 2025 04:00:00 +0000

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 Crafts Argentinian Electro-Traditional Music, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Mon, 29 Sep 2025 04:00:00 +0000

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

Bill Frisell & Skúli Sverrisson Live at the 2025 New York Guitar Festival

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Thu, 25 Sep 2025 04:00:00 +0000

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

Homegrown Brooklyn Bluegrass From Cole Quest & The City Pickers

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Mon, 22 Sep 2025 04:00:00 +0000

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

Soundcheck Special – “Blues Is the Roots”

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Fri, 19 Sep 2025 19:51:03 +0000

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

Wry and Lyrical Balladeer Ron Sexsmith, Solo, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Thu, 18 Sep 2025 04:00:00 +0000

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

Songwriter Cass McCombs Addresses the Mundane and the Mythic

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Mon, 15 Sep 2025 04:00:00 +0000

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

Omar Sosa Trio Goes Outside the Box, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Thu, 11 Sep 2025 04:00:00 +0000

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

Plainspoken Texas Troubadour Rodney Crowell Lives for the Moment

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Mon, 8 Sep 2025 04:00:00 +0000

“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

Guitarist Mary Halvorson and Drummer Tomas Fujiwara, From the 2025 New York Guitar Festival

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Thu, 4 Sep 2025 04:00:00 +0000

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

A Kind of Nordic Blues From Tord Gustavsen Trio (Archives)

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Mon, 1 Sep 2025 04:00:00 +0000

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 Revives Dramatic Vintage Latin Pop, With Guest Vocalists

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Thu, 28 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

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

Anand Wilder's Sonic Adventures in Psych-Pop, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Mon, 25 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

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

Inuk Singer-Songwriter Elisapie Transforms Her Heritage

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Thu, 21 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

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

Guitar-Oriented Rock Band We Are Scientists' Twist on Nostalgia, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Mon, 18 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

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 Is (Goth) Dancing (Mostly) on Her Own (Archives)

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

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)

Rachael & Vilray Serve New Old-Timey Songs With a Sly Wink, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Mon, 11 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

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

The Expansive Textured Ambient Songs of Vines, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Thu, 7 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

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

Afrofuturist Hip Hop From Indianapolis Supergroup 81355, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Mon, 4 Aug 2025 04:00:00 +0000

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

The Bad Plus Keeps On Making Their Own Rules

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Thu, 31 Jul 2025 04:00:00 +0000

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

The Pop Precision of Cautious Clay, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 04:00:00 +0000

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

Adventurous Harpist Brandee Younger Finds Joy With Gadabout Season

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Thu, 24 Jul 2025 04:00:00 +0000

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's Venezuelan and Appalachian Folk Music Has No Borders

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Mon, 21 Jul 2025 04:00:00 +0000

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

Songwriter Laura Stevenson Rebuilds and Calls The Shots

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Thu, 17 Jul 2025 04:00:00 +0000

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

Australian-American Songwriter John Butler Soul-Searches and Sublimates

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Mon, 14 Jul 2025 04:00:00 +0000

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

Puerto Rico's Buscabulla and Their Ever-Evolving Dreamy Pop

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Thu, 10 Jul 2025 04:00:00 +0000

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.

Brooklyn Band Wet, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Mon, 7 Jul 2025 04:00:00 +0000

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

Senegalese Singer Cheikh Ibra Fam's Music as a Force for Good

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Thu, 3 Jul 2025 04:00:00 +0000

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's La Banda Chuska Plays Cumbia-Surf, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Mon, 30 Jun 2025 04:00:00 +0000

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

The Wonder of Disiniblud (Rachika Nayar & Nina Keith): Electronic Fantasies at Play

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Thu, 26 Jun 2025 04:00:00 +0000

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.

Singular Artist Shamir's Last Solo Act: Celebrating Community

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Mon, 23 Jun 2025 04:00:00 +0000

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

Juneteenth 2025 Special Edition

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Thu, 19 Jun 2025 04:00:00 +0000

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"

Another Side of Guitarist Marc Ribot: Intimate Songs With His Voice

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Mon, 16 Jun 2025 04:00:00 +0000

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

Alt-Pop Band OK Go Bubbles With Shifting Perspective

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Mon, 9 Jun 2025 04:00:00 +0000

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

Brooklyn Rider, Cross-Pollinating Chamber Music for 20 Years, and Counting

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Thu, 5 Jun 2025 04:00:00 +0000

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 Singer/Songwriter S.G. Goodman Passes Down Stories in Song

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Mon, 2 Jun 2025 04:00:00 +0000

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

Brooklyn Bhangra Party With Red Baraat, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Thu, 29 May 2025 04:00:00 +0000

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

Songwriter/Guitarist Jill Sobule Keeps Moving on 'Nostalgic' Record (From the Archives)

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Mon, 26 May 2025 04:00:00 +0000

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

The Haunted Atmospheric Guitar of WIlliam Tyler Unspools Time

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Thu, 22 May 2025 04:00:00 +0000

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

Jlin's Percussive-Driven, Math-Loving, Adventurous Electronic Music, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Mon, 19 May 2025 04:00:00 +0000

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

Chicago-Based Composer Macie Stewart Makes Music Out of the Spaces In-Between

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Thu, 15 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

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

A New York Evening with Anoushka Shankar

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Mon, 12 May 2025 00:00:00 +0000

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

Fiddlers Mark and Maggie O’Connor Connect Chamber Music and Bluegrass, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC Studios) — Thu, 8 May 2025 14:38:56 +0000

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

Revisiting Mike Peters of The Alarm, In-Studio (Archives)

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 5 May 2025 16:00:00 +0000

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's Fuzzy-Jangly Charged Romanticism, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 1 May 2025 15:58:15 +0000

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

Ancient-to-Future Hot Psychedelic Gnawa Blues from Bab L' Bluz, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 28 Apr 2025 16:00:00 +0000

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"

Marlon Williams Connects With His Maori Roots, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 24 Apr 2025 16:09:35 +0000

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 and SUSS: Rhythm and Synths Meet Ambient Country, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 21 Apr 2025 12:50:13 +0000

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

All the Flavors of the Rainbow of Cello by Peter Gregson, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 17 Apr 2025 21:59:02 +0000

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

Tabla Master Zakir Hussain and Santoor Player Rahul Sharma, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 14 Apr 2025 15:38:35 +0000

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.

Seun Kuti and Egypt 80 Ignite an Afrobeat Dance Party, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 10 Apr 2025 19:25:02 +0000

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

The Punchy Groove of Baroque Ensemble Ruckus, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 3 Apr 2025 16:00:00 +0000

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's Theatrical Baroque Electro-Pop, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 31 Mar 2025 19:45:37 +0000

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

The Quartet Sissoko-Segal-Parisien-Peirani Wanders Across Cultures and Genres

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 27 Mar 2025 13:31:37 +0000

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 Ashley Jackson Takes Us To The Water

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 24 Mar 2025 17:17:26 +0000

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

Rafiq Bhatia and Chris Pattishall Sculpt Electroacoustic Works, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 20 Mar 2025 16:54:03 +0000

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

Berlin-Based Techno/Electro-Musician Jan Blomqvist Considers Silence and Connectivity

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 17 Mar 2025 18:03:23 +0000

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

Aukai's Electroacoustic Music for a Timeless State (Archives)

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 13 Mar 2025 16:00:00 +0000

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:

Songs By Ken Pomeroy to Not Feel Alone, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 10 Mar 2025 16:00:00 +0000

Set list: 1. Stranger 2. Days Getting Darker 3. Flannel Cowboy

Kinan Azmeh and CityBand Mix East and West, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 6 Mar 2025 18:09:09 +0000

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 Blends Country, Soul, and the Blues, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 3 Mar 2025 19:57:14 +0000

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 Plays New Work by Zakir Hussain, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 27 Feb 2025 17:37:13 +0000

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 Warmth and Soulful Groove of Sachal Vasandani, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 24 Feb 2025 17:35:00 +0000

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

Singer-Songwriter Victoria Canal, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 20 Feb 2025 17:54:05 +0000

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 Resilience, Wisdom, and Hope in Brother Ali's Hip Hop, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 17 Feb 2025 12:51:08 +0000

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

Intertwining Melodies From American Rock Band, Horsegirl

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 13 Feb 2025 17:00:00 +0000

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 Recasts and Expands Folk Songs, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 10 Feb 2025 14:34:35 +0000

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

Afrobeat From Amayo Blends Nigerian Heritage and Kung Fu Teachings, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 6 Feb 2025 17:00:00 +0000

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

Cellist Abel Selaocoe On Finding Things That Bind Us Together

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 3 Feb 2025 19:20:49 +0000

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 Band Wunderhorse, Very Raw, No Frills, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 30 Jan 2025 16:22:25 +0000

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's 'Quiet River of Dust' (Archives)

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 27 Jan 2025 17:00:00 +0000

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 Guitarist Derek Gripper Translates Kora and J.S. Bach, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 23 Jan 2025 17:51:23 +0000

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

Enhanced Chamber Music by W4RP Trio and LIKWUID, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 20 Jan 2025 17:00:00 +0000

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 and Bandleader Jenny Scheinman Stretches Out At Play

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 16 Jan 2025 17:00:00 +0000

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 and Bandleader Lakecia Benjamin Imagines What's Possible

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 13 Jan 2025 18:12:36 +0000

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.

1. Trane 2. Let Go 3. Mercy

Phoenix Reimagined (Live) by Lakecia Benjamin

Igmar Thomas’ Revive Big Band, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 9 Jan 2025 16:22:54 +0000

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.

1. The Coming 2. R & P 3. To Kinda Lounge Around

Like A Tree It Grows by Igmar Thomas’ Revive Big Band

A Celebration of Folk and Indigenous Music From Jarana Beat

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 2 Jan 2025 17:00:00 +0000

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

Best of the Soundcheck Podcast 2024

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Tue, 31 Dec 2024 17:00:00 +0000

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: 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

Best of Soundcheck 2024, Part 2

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 30 Dec 2024 17:00:00 +0000

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/#/

Best of Soundcheck 2024, Part 1

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 26 Dec 2024 17:00:00 +0000

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: 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: 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/

Matt Wilson's Christmas Tree-O, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 23 Dec 2024 17:00:00 +0000

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

An Original Score From yMusic, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 19 Dec 2024 17:16:27 +0000

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

Musician, Artist, and Activist Samora Pinderhughes On Love, Grief, and Forgiveness, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 16 Dec 2024 15:05:05 +0000

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 Blends the Traditional and Modern in His Original Songs, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 12 Dec 2024 17:55:36 +0000

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

Transcendent Grooves By Jeff Parker ETA IVtet, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 9 Dec 2024 16:02:57 +0000

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 Blazes With Punk Attitude and Vulnerability

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 5 Dec 2024 19:06:18 +0000

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

Songwriter Laura Marling Muses on the Mystical, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 2 Dec 2024 17:00:00 +0000

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

Rodney Crowell Makes It Personal

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 28 Nov 2024 17:00:00 +0000

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.

The Timeless Original West Georgia Blues of Jontavious Willis

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 25 Nov 2024 14:36:32 +0000

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

José Junior Waxes Psychedelic and Fuzzes It Up, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 21 Nov 2024 16:05:47 +0000

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

Dorado Schmitt and Sons Bring the Hot Club Jazz Manouche, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 18 Nov 2024 13:38:27 +0000

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

Walk on the Quiet Wild Side With RY X, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 14 Nov 2024 17:43:30 +0000

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

Low Cut Connie Cheekily Serves Up Gritty RockenRoll, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 11 Nov 2024 16:19:24 +0000

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 Brings a Little Bit of Country, and a Little Bit of Soul, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 7 Nov 2024 18:58:40 +0000

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

Nick Lowe's 'Second Act' As a Tender Singer-Songwriter, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 4 Nov 2024 15:58:14 +0000

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 Amaro Freitas' Futuristic and Spellbinding Music

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 11:18:34 +0000

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

Songwriter and Musician Fantastic Negrito Turns Trauma Into Art

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 28 Oct 2024 16:59:10 +0000

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 Gutiérrez: Two Guitars Are Enough, Live, From National Sawdust

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 24 Oct 2024 16:00:00 +0000

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

Loup Barrow's Otherworldly Music For Cristal Baschet, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 21 Oct 2024 16:00:00 +0000

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's Naturally-Aged Ambient Classical, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 17 Oct 2024 16:00:00 +0000

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 Then 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 Then Be Content With Silence, in-studio.

Set list: 1. With Silence Mvt 3, part 2 2. Music For Growing Flowers (radio edit) 3. Shalder

Playful Trio Heavy MakeUp Makes Up Songs, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 14 Oct 2024 13:55:05 +0000

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

Kaizers Orchestra's Unholy Punk Cabaret, Straight From Norway, No Chaser, Live

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 10 Oct 2024 18:06:39 +0000

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 Fights For A Better Future In Song

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 7 Oct 2024 15:17:24 +0000

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 (of black midi) Shocks and Delights, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 3 Oct 2024 15:27:39 +0000

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 Creates Danceable Afrofuturist Pop, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 30 Sep 2024 16:00:00 +0000

Lollise is a musician, fashion designer, and visual artist from Botswana 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

Brighton's Vintage-Pop Band The Heavy Heavy, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 26 Sep 2024 15:54:21 +0000

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

Song Collector Moira Smiley Digs Deep and Celebrates Connection

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 23 Sep 2024 16:00:00 +0000

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. Oh, Watch the Stars

The Rhizome Project by Moira Smiley

Joan As Police Woman Celebrates Joy and Love, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 19 Sep 2024 16:47:14 +0000

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 Connects The Traditional And Modern With Swagger and Groove

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 16 Sep 2024 16:00:00 +0000

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

Cellist Mabe Fratti's Playful Approach to Electrified Chamber-Pop, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 12 Sep 2024 15:32:47 +0000

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

Midwestern Indie-Chamber Rock Band Cloud Cult, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 9 Sep 2024 16:00:00 +0000

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

Musical Polymath Conner Youngblood's Dreamy Bedroom-Pop

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 5 Sep 2024 16:07:53 +0000

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

Meredith Monk's 'Cellular Songs', In-Studio (Archives)

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 2 Sep 2024 16:00:00 +0000

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:

New York-Based Crumb Delivers Moody Psych-Pop, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 29 Aug 2024 15:26:58 +0000

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

Pianist Christopher O'Riley on the Life-Changing Music of J.S. Bach

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 26 Aug 2024 16:00:00 +0000

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 Traditional Persian Band, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 22 Aug 2024 16:41:02 +0000

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 and Educator Benjamin Verdery Plays Solo, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 19 Aug 2024 16:00:00 +0000

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 Designs a Musical Framework for Electro-Chamber Players

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 15 Aug 2024 16:00:00 +0000

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.

Watch "3BPM":

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

Bette Smith Marries Gospel Fervor With Soul Moxie, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 12 Aug 2024 19:26:31 +0000

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

LA LOM Reflects the Diverse Musical Diaspora of Angelenos

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 8 Aug 2024 19:52:26 +0000

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 Delivers Borderless Clublike Bangers, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 5 Aug 2024 16:18:18 +0000

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

The Experimental "Doom Folk" of Cinder Well, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 1 Aug 2024 14:31:32 +0000

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

STEFA* Reconsiders Origin Stories and Channels Their Ancestors

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 29 Jul 2024 16:00:00 +0000

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*

The Musical Ambition and Sharp Wit of Songwriter John Grant

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 25 Jul 2024 17:32:08 +0000

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

From the 2024 New York Guitar Festival: Marc Ribot and Leyla McCalla

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 22 Jul 2024 16:00:00 +0000

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.

Pulsing, Percussive, Layered Minimalism By Akusmi, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 18 Jul 2024 17:35:45 +0000

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

Deep and Fiery Cuban Mambo, Salsa, and Soul by Orquesta Akokán, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 15 Jul 2024 19:27:23 +0000

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 Miami, 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

Road-Tested Songs by Sō Percussion and Caroline Shaw, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 11 Jul 2024 16:00:00 +0000

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.

Bandleader and Timbalero Ivan Llanes Brings the Dance Moves, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 8 Jul 2024 16:00:44 +0000

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

Set list: 1. La Mejor Mujer 2. Cubahia 3. Respira y Siente

Marissa Nadler Sharpens Her Elegant and Eerie Dream-Folk (Archives)

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 4 Jul 2024 16:00:00 +0000

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

Indie/Prog-Leaning Post-Punk Band English Teacher, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 1 Jul 2024 16:00:00 +0000

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

Guitarist and Composer Paolo Angeli, An Innovator Like No Other

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 27 Jun 2024 18:21:23 +0000

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

Richard Thompson OBE Is Still the Shreddingest (From the Archives)

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 24 Jun 2024 16:00:00 +0000

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:

NYC's Zelenaya Sculpts Traditional Folk Into Doom Metal, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 20 Jun 2024 14:11:27 +0000

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)

Zelenaya plays a FREE show with Gamelan Yowana Sari, and Antinomie in Forest Park, Queens at the Seuffert Bandshell on June 23 at 4PM AND in Brooklyn on June 27 at Our Wicked Lady.

Set list: 1. Hora Za Horoyu (Ukrainian) (Mountain Beyond Mountains) 2. Okro Mch’edelo (Georgian) (Goldsmith) 3. Oy Letilo Kupailo (Ukrainian) (Oh, Kupalo Flew)

Tuareg Guitar Shredder Mdou Moctar Brings the Joy, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 17 Jun 2024 17:55:02 +0000

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.

1. Imouhar 2. Modern Slaves 3. Imajighen

Electronic Cinematic Pop From the Duo Ringdown, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 13 Jun 2024 10:44:14 +0000

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

Brooklyn-Via-Peru Combo Tipa Tipo Brings the Yacht Rock With Cowbells

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 10 Jun 2024 16:00:00 +0000

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 Artful Minimalism and Fluidity, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 6 Jun 2024 16:00:00 +0000

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

Guster Slings Hooks and Harmonies, With Bongos, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 3 Jun 2024 13:43:41 +0000

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 Channels Emotion Into Powerful Vocal Poetry

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 30 May 2024 15:26:28 +0000

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

Composer and Cornetist Graham Haynes Confounds Expectation

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 27 May 2024 16:00:00 +0000

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

The Jazz Passengers Cover Themselves, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 23 May 2024 14:58:41 +0000

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

Storyteller and Songwriter Alice Merton Plays In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 20 May 2024 15:55:33 +0000

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

Kiran Ahluwalia's Songs of Protest and Hope

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 16 May 2024 14:56:06 +0000

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's Latest Adventure: Connecting to Nature and Breath With Flutes

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 13 May 2024 16:00:00 +0000

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 century-old 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 Threads the Past Into Message-Music With Soul

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 9 May 2024 16:00:00 +0000

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)

Community-Fueled Chamber-Pop By San Fermin

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 6 May 2024 16:00:00 +0000

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 Brooklyn-based keyboardist 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

Cameroonian Composer Blick Bassy's Folk, Soul and Electro Songscapes

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 2 May 2024 21:01:41 +0000

France-based Cameroonian musician and composer Blick Bassy’s quiet and beautiful songs fall somewhere on the spectrum of R & B, pop, and folk, while the sounds of West and Central Africa have continued to resonate. His Bandcamp calls it "Africanity at the crossroads of soul, folk, and electro". 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. 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

Lizz Wright Transforms the Beauty of the Visual Into Song

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 29 Apr 2024 16:14:12 +0000

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's Spiritual Survival Songs

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 25 Apr 2024 17:55:27 +0000

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

Producer and Rapper Erick the Architect Smiles Through It

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 22 Apr 2024 13:56:06 +0000

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

Indie Fuzz-Rock Duo Deerlady's Shoegaze With Bite

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 18 Apr 2024 22:12:12 +0000

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

1. Masterpieces 2. Believer 3. There There

Greatest Hits by Deerlady, Mali Obomsawin, Magdalena Abrego,

London-Based Naturalist Cosmo Sheldrake's Marvelous Sound World

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 15 Apr 2024 16:00:00 +0000

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

Empress Of Explores Yin/Yang of Romance and Plays Intimate Songs, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 11 Apr 2024 17:55:56 +0000

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

Genre-Less British Rock Band Bombay Bicycle Club, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 4 Apr 2024 22:46:51 +0000

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

Singer and Producer Hatis Noit Connects Worlds With Her Voice

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 1 Apr 2024 20:00:02 +0000

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 María José Llergo's Flamenco Has Roots And Wings

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 28 Mar 2024 15:55:53 +0000

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 Slow Pastoral Beauty of Roger Eno's Shifting Chords

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 25 Mar 2024 21:28:15 +0000

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 Songs and Prayers of Tibetan Singer Yungchen Lhamo

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 21 Mar 2024 15:24:10 +0000

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 Infuses Spirituality and Pan-Caribbean Pop Into Afro-Cuban Jazz

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 18 Mar 2024 15:01:38 +0000

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

Sheherazaad's Insightful Blend of Poetry and Music, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 14 Mar 2024 16:00:00 +0000

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

Composer and Flutist Nathalie Joachim Explores Family and Identity in Song

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 11 Mar 2024 16:00:00 +0000

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

Mary Timony Recaptures Her Joy On 'Untame The Tiger"

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 7 Mar 2024 17:32:05 +0000

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

The American Patchwork Quartet Plays Songs of Enduring American Culture, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 29 Feb 2024 21:04:45 +0000

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 & His Orchestra Find Their Twisted Bliss

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 26 Feb 2024 17:00:00 +0000

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

Vijay Iyer Trio Forges Telepathic Connections on 'Compassion'

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 16:53:34 +0000

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

Good Time NYC Rock Unit Bodega Considers Consumerism

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 19 Feb 2024 17:00:00 +0000

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

A Rich Harvest of John Leventhal's Lyrical Guitar Work

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 15 Feb 2024 17:00:00 +0000

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.

1. Floyd Cramer's Dream 2. JL's Hymn No. 2 3. That's All I Know About Arkansas

Bluesman Bobby Rush on Funk, Chicken Heads, and the Music Business

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 12 Feb 2024 16:24:23 +0000

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/Songwriter Keyon Harrold Stretches and Expands Jazz

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 8 Feb 2024 17:00:00 +0000

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

Ute Lemper Singt Cabaret Songs of Weimar Berlin, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 5 Feb 2024 18:10:22 +0000

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's The Wandering Hearts Spin Folk Tales For Hard Times

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 1 Feb 2024 17:00:00 +0000

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

Singer Britti Embraces Retro Pop, Country, and Soul

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 29 Jan 2024 19:22:25 +0000

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

Sinkane Crafts Music For Community and For Shaking It

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 25 Jan 2024 17:00:00 +0000

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

Pianist Lara Downes Aims To Expand Classical Music

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 22 Jan 2024 17:00:00 +0000

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 OKAN Fuses Afro-Cuban Chants and Rhythms With Jazz and Pop

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 18 Jan 2024 12:03:25 +0000

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

Fantastic Negrito's Fiery Blues with a Punk Attitude (Archives)

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 15 Jan 2024 17:00:00 +0000

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 Unique Songcraft of Catalan Singer and Guitarist Lau Noah

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 11 Jan 2024 22:56:31 +0000

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

Americana Trio The Lone Bellow Celebrates 10th Anniversary, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 8 Jan 2024 17:00:00 +0000

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

The Surreal Electro-Cajun Dreams of Louis Michot

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 4 Jan 2024 19:25:34 +0000

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

Best of Soundcheck 2023, Part 2

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 1 Jan 2024 17:00:00 +0000

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

Best of Soundcheck 2023, Part 1

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 28 Dec 2023 17:00:00 +0000

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

Stewart Goodyear: A 'Nutcracker' for Flying Fingers (From the Archives)

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 25 Dec 2023 17:00:00 +0000

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 Plays Improvisations on Prayer-Inspired Longform Piano Work, 'Compline', In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 21 Dec 2023 17:00:00 +0000

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, Live From The Greene Space

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 18 Dec 2023 13:38:57 +0000

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

Songwriter/Guitarist Anjimile Explores New Sonic Territory on 'The King'

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 14 Dec 2023 17:00:00 +0000

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"

Indonesian Pianist Joey Alexander Stretches Out

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 11 Dec 2023 17:00:00 +0000

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

Intimate and Thoughtful Songs by Saxophonist and Singer Braxton Cook

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 7 Dec 2023 19:03:10 +0000

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

Dublin Band Sprints Throws Down Abrasive Authenticity

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 4 Dec 2023 22:29:37 +0000

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

Producer Johan Lenox Enhances Chamber Music With Pop and Nostalgia

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 30 Nov 2023 17:00:00 +0000

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

Minneapolis-Based Progressive Bluegrass Band Barbaro, In-Studio

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 27 Nov 2023 17:00:00 +0000

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 Looks for Peace and Joy Through Vocal Harmonies (Archives)

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Thu, 23 Nov 2023 17:00:00 +0000

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:

Boat Underwear AGT

Watch "AGT":

Storyteller, Songwriter, and Scholar No-No Boy Finds Place

wnycdigital@gmail.com (WNYC) — Mon, 20 Nov 2023 21:31:08 +0000

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