Soundcheck - Podcast

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

Publication Date: 2024-10-03

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 foc...

Lollise Creates Danceable Afrofuturist Pop, In-Studio

Publication Date: 2024-09-30

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...

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

Publication Date: 2024-09-26

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 musicia...

Song Collector Moira Smiley Digs Deep and Celebrates Connection

Publication Date: 2024-09-23

Moira Smiley refers to herself as a song collector; she's also a singer, multi-instrumentalist (banjo, accordion, piano, and hand & body percussio...

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

Publication Date: 2024-09-19

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...

Yemen Blues Connects The Traditional And Modern With Swagger and Groove

Publication Date: 2024-09-16

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 Morocc...

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

Publication Date: 2024-09-12

Born in Guatemala but active in Mexico City’s bustling music scene, cellist, electronic music producer, and singer Mabe Fratti has been making music f...

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

Publication Date: 2024-09-09

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...

Musical Polymath Conner Youngblood's Dreamy Bedroom-Pop

Publication Date: 2024-09-05

Nashville-based artist Conner Youngblood is a singer, multi-instrumentalist and producer; his new record, called Cascades, Cascading, Cascadingly, is ...

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

Publication Date: 2024-09-02

Vocalist and composer Meredith Monk is a multi-disciplinary artist, whose work involves music, dance, film, theatre, and now: biology meets anthropolo...

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

Publication Date: 2024-08-29

The New York band Crumb creates playful and brooding swirls of sounds, somewhere at a crossroads of psychedelia, pop, jazz, and rock. Their latest alb...

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

Publication Date: 2024-08-26

American classical pianist and educator Christopher O’Riley has spent his career gleefully ignoring musical boundaries and playing whatever turned him...

Mehrnam Rastegari Traditional Persian Band, In-Studio

Publication Date: 2024-08-22

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 ...

Guitarist and Educator Benjamin Verdery Plays Solo, In-Studio

Publication Date: 2024-08-19

Guitarist, composer, and teacher Benjamin Verdery seems to know everybody who’s ever picked up the instrument. Ben is a classical guitarist himself, b...

Christopher Rountree Designs a Musical Framework for Electro-Chamber Players

Publication Date: 2024-08-15

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 b...

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

Publication Date: 2024-08-12

Brooklyn native Bette Smith reconnects with her Memphis and Mississippi roots on her latest, "Goodthing", full of songs that show off her voice -ric...

LA LOM Reflects the Diverse Musical Diaspora of Angelenos

Publication Date: 2024-08-08

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,...

Angélica Garcia Delivers Borderless Clublike Bangers, In-Studio

Publication Date: 2024-08-05

Angélica Garcia has been on a journey – a musical journey – from “gothic storytelling, and swampy, blues-inflected rock” (Schaefer, 2016) to dance-flo...

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

Publication Date: 2024-08-01

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 ...

STEFA* Reconsiders Origin Stories and Channels Their Ancestors

Publication Date: 2024-07-29

The artist STEFA* is a classically-trained vocalist who combines punk, experimental rage-pop, loops, and somatic jazz as they channel their ancestors....

The Musical Ambition and Sharp Wit of Songwriter John Grant

Publication Date: 2024-07-25

Although he’s based in Iceland, singer/songwriter John Grant is American, and his experience growing up gay in a conservative religious family in Colo...

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

Publication Date: 2024-07-22

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...

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

Publication Date: 2024-07-18

Akusmi is the name of the recent project by the French-born London-based producer, composer, and multi-instrumentalist Pascal Bideau. His work blends ...

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

Publication Date: 2024-07-15

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 musi...

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

Publication Date: 2024-07-11

Sample collaborative music by Pulitzer Prize-winning vocalist/composer Caroline Shaw and the versatile quartet Sō Percussion from their latest release...

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

Publication Date: 2024-07-08

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 reflectio...

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

Publication Date: 2024-07-04

Boston-based Marissa Nadler writes intimate, sweeping dreamy and eerie songs, that shimmer with gothic melancholy. On her 2018 record, For My Crimes, ...

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

Publication Date: 2024-07-01

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...

Guitarist and Composer Paolo Angeli, An Innovator Like No Other

Publication Date: 2024-06-27

Composer, guitarist, and instrument builder Paolo Angeli is from the Italian island of Sardinia, and his instrument began as a chiterra sarda, a large...

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

Publication Date: 2024-06-24

British singer, songwriter and guitarist Richard Thompson OBE was part of the groundbreaking folk rock band Fairport Convention in the 1960's, made re...

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

Publication Date: 2024-06-20

The NYC group Zelenaya mixes traditional folk music with heavy metal in ways that are both surprising and convincing. Haunting three part harmonies, d...

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

Publication Date: 2024-06-17

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...

Electronic Cinematic Pop From the Duo Ringdown, In-Studio

Publication Date: 2024-06-13

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 ...

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

Publication Date: 2024-06-10

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 ...

Julia Holter's Artful Minimalism and Fluidity, In-Studio

Publication Date: 2024-06-06

Julia Holter’s could be in the realm of contemporary classical music, experimental pop, and ambient music. Often dreamy and elusive, her songs defy ea...

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

Publication Date: 2024-06-03

The alternative rock band Guster, formed over bongos and acoustic guitars at Tufts University in 1991, has built its reputation on their striking voca...

Grace Cummings Channels Emotion Into Powerful Vocal Poetry

Publication Date: 2024-05-30

Grace Cummings, the Australian singer and songwriter from Melbourne, has a strikingly rich and commanding voice, the kind that can cut through a big p...

Composer and Cornetist Graham Haynes Confounds Expectation

Publication Date: 2024-05-27

Graham Haynes, the Bahia, Brazil-based composer, cornetist, and bandleader, “expands and confounds what we understand as jazz and electronic music.” H...

The Jazz Passengers Cover Themselves, In-Studio

Publication Date: 2024-05-23

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, t...

Storyteller and Songwriter Alice Merton Plays In-Studio

Publication Date: 2024-05-20

Alice Merton burst out of the starting gate with her 2016 single "No Roots", a song that celebrated her nomadic upbringing in four different countri...

Kiran Ahluwalia's Songs of Protest and Hope

Publication Date: 2024-05-16

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...

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

Publication Date: 2024-05-13

Shabaka Hutchings, now Shabaka, has been a crucial and connected London-based musician for years, leading arena dance-jazz band Sons of Kemet, cosmic ...

José James Threads the Past Into Message-Music With Soul

Publication Date: 2024-05-09

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 o...

Community-Fueled Chamber-Pop By San Fermin

Publication Date: 2024-05-06

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 b...

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

Publication Date: 2024-05-02

France-based Cameroonian musician and composer Blick Bassy’s quiet and beautiful songs fall somewhere on the spectrum of R & B, pop, and folk, whi...

Lizz Wright Transforms the Beauty of the Visual Into Song

Publication Date: 2024-04-29

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 als...

Reyna Tropical's Spiritual Survival Songs

Publication Date: 2024-04-25

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-...

Producer and Rapper Erick the Architect Smiles Through It

Publication Date: 2024-04-22

Brooklyn-born rapper, producer & founding member of Flatbush Zombies, Erick the Architect released his debut solo LP, I’ve Never Been Here Before,...

Indie Fuzz-Rock Duo Deerlady's Shoegaze With Bite

Publication Date: 2024-04-18

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 tr...

London-Based Naturalist Cosmo Sheldrake's Marvelous Sound World

Publication Date: 2024-04-15

London vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and producer Cosmo Sheldrake creates songs and sound worlds out of people, places, creatures, plants, fungi, an...

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

Publication Date: 2024-04-11

Honduran-American artist Lorely Rodriguez, known professionally as Empress Of, is a singer, songwriter, musician and record producer based in Los Ange...

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

Publication Date: 2024-04-04

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 exp...

Singer and Producer Hatis Noit Connects Worlds With Her Voice

Publication Date: 2024-04-01

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 ...

Spanish Singer María José Llergo's Flamenco Has Roots And Wings

Publication Date: 2024-03-28

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...

The Slow Pastoral Beauty of Roger Eno's Shifting Chords

Publication Date: 2024-03-25

The “distinctive style” of British composer and musician Roger Eno’s slowly unfolding sonic landscapes has “attracted a cult following” (Eno’s bio). A...

The Songs and Prayers of Tibetan Singer Yungchen Lhamo

Publication Date: 2024-03-21

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 a...

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

Publication Date: 2024-03-18

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 t...

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

Publication Date: 2024-03-14

The singer and songwriter Sheherazaad blends the rich tradition of poetry and music from South Asia with Western instruments and production techniques...

Composer and Flutist Nathalie Joachim Explores Family and Identity in Song

Publication Date: 2024-03-11

Haitian-American composer, flutist, vocalist, and educator Nathalie Joachim is half of the duo Flutronix, whose music blends classical flute playing w...

Mary Timony Recaptures Her Joy On 'Untame The Tiger"

Publication Date: 2024-03-07

Singer, songwriter, guitarist, and educator Mary Timony has been a hugely influential figure on the indie and alternative rock scenes for over 30 year...

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

Publication Date: 2024-02-29

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...

Ethan Lipton & His Orchestra Find Their Twisted Bliss

Publication Date: 2024-02-26

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 o...

Vijay Iyer Trio Forges Telepathic Connections on 'Compassion'

Publication Date: 2024-02-22

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 re...

Good Time NYC Rock Unit Bodega Considers Consumerism

Publication Date: 2024-02-19

NYC-based rock unit Bodega makes artful post-punk songs with brawny, catchy riffs and shouty gang vocals. Their lyrics contain politically-minded and ...

A Rich Harvest of John Leventhal's Lyrical Guitar Work

Publication Date: 2024-02-15

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 fam...

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

Publication Date: 2024-02-12

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 m...

Trumpeter/Songwriter Keyon Harrold Stretches and Expands Jazz

Publication Date: 2024-02-08

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 o...

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

Publication Date: 2024-02-05

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...

London's The Wandering Hearts Spin Folk Tales For Hard Times

Publication Date: 2024-02-01

London-based country-folk-pop outfit The Wandering Hearts are known for their deft fingerpicking, rousing choruses, dark-hued lyrics, and sweet, close...

Singer Britti Embraces Retro Pop, Country, and Soul

Publication Date: 2024-01-29

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 fee...

Sinkane Crafts Music For Community and For Shaking It

Publication Date: 2024-01-25

Sudanese-American bandleader Sinkane, aka Ahmed Gallab, weaves the sounds of Afrobeat, disco, soul, even krautrock into his irresistible, dance-ready ...

Pianist Lara Downes Aims To Expand Classical Music

Publication Date: 2024-01-22

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...

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

Publication Date: 2024-01-18

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 m...

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

Publication Date: 2024-01-15

Self-described “lifelong hustler,” Xavier Amin Dphrepaulezz, is better known by his stage name Fantastic Negrito, and makes “black roots music for eve...

Algiers Manipulates Sound Worlds in Furiously Exhilarating Fashion

Publication Date: 2023-04-24

The Atlanta-born quartet Algiers mixes post-punk guitars, gospel vocal harmonies, hip hop sampling, chopped and screwed production techniques, and poi...

Ezra Collective: 'You Have To Sound Like The Authentic You'

Publication Date: 2023-04-20

The London quintet known as Ezra Collective looks like a jazz band, with their dueling horns, keys, bass and drums. But their music reflects the live...

Harpist Brandee Younger Goes Beyond Musical Barriers

Publication Date: 2023-04-17

Harpist, collaborator, bandleader, educator, and improviser, Brandee Younger, has mastered the language of Debussy, Ravel, Alice Coltrane, R&B, hi...

Fenne Lily Considers Closeness, Attachment, and Loss

Publication Date: 2023-04-13

Fenne Lily is an English singer, guitarist and songwriter now based here in New York. The songs on her new album, Big Picture, were written as some ki...

Trombonist Kalia Vandever's Delicate Pattern Music

Publication Date: 2023-04-10

Brooklyn-based trombonist, composer, and bandleader Kalia Vandever weaves beautifully layered musical tapestries using layers of her horn, electronics...

Neo-Romance From Composer and Pianist Alexandra Stréliski

Publication Date: 2023-04-06

Alexandra Stréliski is a French-Canadian pianist who creates minimalist and cinematic music in the vein of composers Frédéric Chopin and Erik Satie as...

The New Pornographers Burn Bright, Ready For the Long Fade Out

Publication Date: 2023-04-03

The New Pornographers reliably bring the power pop; one can always count on big hooks, anthemic choruses, and impeccably arranged orchestrations. Then...

'Mutant Chamber Jazz' From Robbie Lee and Mary Halvorson (Archives)

Publication Date: 2023-03-30

Mary Halvorson has established herself as one of the finest guitarists of her generation; Robbie Lee has established himself as a versatile flutist, s...

Sonic Memoirs and Meditations From Pianist Eunbi Kim

Publication Date: 2023-03-27

Pianist, collaborator, and mentor Eunbi Kim presents sonic memoirs and meditations on life experiences through her latest batch of collaborative commi...

Sonic Postcards and Feeling Music By Nyokabi Kariũki

Publication Date: 2023-03-23

Composer and sound artist Nyokabi Kariuki makes music that somehow draws on experimental electronics, contemporary classical music, pop, and sound art...

Pianist Dan Tepfer Reinvents J.S. Bach With Unfiltered, Childlike Joy

Publication Date: 2023-03-20

New York-based composer, pianist, and coder Dan Tepfer, who has previously improvised a companion to the J.S. Bach's Goldberg Variations, has returned...

Lisel's Medieval Chamber Hyperpop Brings the Bass Drop

Publication Date: 2023-03-16

Taking as a starting point Renaissance and Medieval music, Lisel (aka Eliza Bagg – a member of vocal group Roomful of Teeth), creates hybrid music tha...

David Cieri Scores Silent Film The Passion of Joan of Arc

Publication Date: 2023-03-13

Hear new music for silent film by composer David Cieri with his music for Carl Th. Dreyer’s 1928 silent film La Passion de Jeanne d’Arc. Joan of Arc i...

The Phenomenal Ruthie Foster Uplifts With Feel-Good Blues

Publication Date: 2023-03-09

The singer, guitarist, and songwriter Ruthie Foster recently released her ninth studio album, called Healing Time, and it is a rich musical stew with ...

Intimate and Intricate Songs by English Guitarist and Songwriter Charlie Cunningham

Publication Date: 2023-03-06

English singer and songwriter Charlie Cunningham makes music that references earlier English singers like Nick Drake, as well as classic jazz, and eve...

Guitarist Yasmin Williams Scores Charlie Chaplin's 'The Kid'

Publication Date: 2023-03-02

When Yasmin Williams plays guitar, it looks like she’s trying to play something else. With the instrument laying on her lap, she attacks it from above...

Pearla Explores, Builds, Plays in a Folk-Pop Sound World Like No Other

Publication Date: 2023-02-27

Pearla (Brooklyn-based artist Nicole Rodriguez) makes off-kilter folk-pop that mixes reality and the surreal; in her songs, she builds a sound world t...

Jazz As Dance Music From Trumpeter Nabaté Isles

Publication Date: 2023-02-23

Grammy-winning trumpeter, composer, collaborator, and producer Nabaté Isles seeks to bring the groove and movement back to jazz, in order to get peopl...

Mary Lattimore & William Tyler Score 'Electric Appalachia'

Publication Date: 2023-02-20

The contemporary silent film, Electric Appalachia, is a surprising, and surprisingly poignant look at how the coming of electricity changed Tennessee....

Wally de Backer, aka Gotye, and the Ondioline (Archives)

Publication Date: 2023-02-16

Somebody that we used to know, Wally de Backer, Belgian-born Australian multi-instrumentalist, self-admitted “tinkerer,” and singer-songwriter (aka GO...

Tropical Electronica 'DreamBow' by Balún (Archives)

Publication Date: 2023-02-13

Brooklyn-based via San Juan band Balún came from DIY electrified bedroom pop that embraced punk on the island of Puerto Rico. Now, with an even wider ...

Enchanting Acoustic Chamber-Folk by Irish Songwriter Anna Mieke

Publication Date: 2023-02-09

The Irish singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Anna Mieke spent much of her youth traveling the world – from Spain to Bangladesh, Bulgaria to ...

Oddisee, True to Deep-Thinking Form, Questions Drive and Ambition

Publication Date: 2023-02-06

The Sudanese-American rapper Oddisee – born Amir Elkhalifa – has been making socially conscious hip hop since 2008, and in live performance he’s known...

Glam Rock Art Collective UNI and The Urchins Learns How to Speak Robot

Publication Date: 2023-02-01

New York -based UNI and The Urchins was started by “bassist/director/engineer/probably wizard” Charlotte Kemp Muhl (Bust Magazine), and in lead singer...

Punks Gogol Bordello, Doing the Work of Catharsis

Publication Date: 2023-01-30

The 8-piece multicultural gypsy punk band Gogol Bordello is based here in New York, but its founder, the vocalist, songwriter and all-around ringleade...

The Fantastic Playfulness in Kimbra’s Skewed Pop

Publication Date: 2023-01-26

New Zealand pop star Kimbra plays within the confines of pop music, bending and skewing and tone painting, according to her needs. Now based here in N...

Meridian Brothers Tweaks Traditions of Salsa and Cumbia

Publication Date: 2023-01-23

Meridian Brothers, founded by musician Eblis Álvarez, fuses a love of classic salsa with cumbia, vallenato, spacey psychedelia, and wacky samples for ...

Rachael & Vilray Slyly Extend the American Songbook Tradition

Publication Date: 2023-01-19

The duo of Rachael & Vilray courtesy of Rachael Price, lead singer of the popular band Lake Street Dive, and the New York-based singer and guitari...

Ranky Tanky Shares Uplift and Joy With Gullah-Rooted Soul

Publication Date: 2023-01-16

The band called Ranky Tanky won the Grammy for best Regional Roots Album back in 2020. The group is based in Charleston, SC, and their regional roots...

Saxman, Bandleader, Astronomy Buff Marcus Strickland's Twi-Life

Publication Date: 2023-01-12

Sax player Marcus Strickland has worked with many notable jazzers, including Roy Haynes, McCoy Tyner, Wynton Marsalis, Jeff "Tain" Watts, Dave Dougl...

Saxman, Bandleader, Astronomer Marcus Strickland's Twi-Life

Publication Date: 2023-01-12

Sax player Marcus Strickland has worked with many notable jazzers, including Roy Haynes, McCoy Tyner, Wynton Marsalis, Jeff "Tain" Watts, Dave Dougl...

Cambodian Psychedlic Pop Band Dengue Fever's Noir Romanticism

Publication Date: 2023-01-09

Los Angeles-based band Dengue Fever blends 60's Cambodian pop and psychedelic rock with danceable grooves and ghostly noir romanticism. Cambodian Chho...

Jazz-Looking Chamber Music by Joshua Redman and Brooklyn Rider (Archives)

Publication Date: 2023-01-05

Hear unpredictable and graceful melodic lines traded by sax and strings, as tenor sax superstar Joshua Redman and string quartet Brooklyn Rider, along...

Singer and Composer Alev Lenz's Continuing Adventures in Collaborations and Sync

Publication Date: 2023-01-02

Turkish-German singer and composer Alev Lenz, who splits time between London and Germany, has had something of a hit tune with “Fall Into Me”, a song ...

Best of Soundcheck 2022, Part 2

Publication Date: 2022-12-29

Listen to more highlights from this off-again-on-again year of live performances from the Soundcheck Podcast. These bright spots come by way of Mexica...

Poetic Balkan-Klezmer Balladry From Montréal's Black Ox Orkestar

Publication Date: 2022-12-22

Montréal’s Black Ox Orkestar has been making 'music of the Jewish diaspora not tied to any state' since the early 2000’s. Orkestar is a name you’ll se...

The Quiet Brilliance of Guitarist, Collaborator, and Troubadour Steve Gunn

Publication Date: 2022-12-19

One of the marks of a dedicated and accomplished artist is that they continue to level up, testing their own limits and working to break out of habits...

Combo Chimbita at Brooklyn Bowl, Celebrating New Sounds, Part 2

Publication Date: 2022-12-15

The four members of Combo Chimbita are from Colombia. But they met and formed their band here in New York. From their home base in Queens, Combo Chimb...

Brazilian Musician Rogê Brings the Spirit of Samba From Rio de Janeiro

Publication Date: 2022-12-12

The Brazilian singer and guitarist named Rogê made his mark playing his own brand of samba and samba funk in the clubs of Rio de Janeiro. [Samba in Br...

Barn-Burning Dance Tunes From Appalachian Road Show

Publication Date: 2022-12-08

Nashville-based Appalachian Road Show are veterans of the bluegrass, folk, and roots music scenes who polish the raw emotion in tunes inspired by the ...

Songwriter Jesse Harris Plays At Subverting and Bending Time

Publication Date: 2022-12-05

Songwriter Jesse Harris has been a standout musical figure since the 1990s in New York, as a singer and guitarist, and lately as a producer. When his ...

Timeless, Modern Soul by Thee Sacred Souls, In-Studio

Publication Date: 2022-12-01

Thee Sacred Souls is a group of 20-somethings who blend the sounds of Chicano soul with its Philadelphia, Memphis, and even Panama counterparts. Their...

Gentle Psychedelic Soul of Crooner Nick Hakim

Publication Date: 2022-11-28

New York singer/songwriter Nick Hakim has been producing records of gently psychedelic soul here for almost a decade. Occasionally, he drops the gent...

Arabic Poetry-Infused Chamber Jazz by Layale Chaker and Sarafand (Archives)

Publication Date: 2022-11-24

Violinist and composer Layale Chaker has done something exquisite in her music with the Ensemble Sarafand from the record, Inner Rhyme: she has gone a...

Robyn Hitchcock's Playful and Poignant Songs, In-Studio

Publication Date: 2022-11-21

Who wants to know what The Shuffle Man knows? The playful and surreal British musician and songwriter Robyn Hitchcock does. His latest batch of songs,...

British Singer-Songwriter Beth Orton Collaborates With Herself On 'Weather Alive'

Publication Date: 2022-11-17

British singer and songwriter Beth Orton has found distinctive ways to blend her folky acoustic guitar-playing with the sounds of the electronic music...

Discodelic Soul From Say She She

Publication Date: 2022-11-14

The three singers who lead the group Say She She all like different things: 70s style New York dance music, classic soul and R&B, the swirling psy...

U.K. Punk Trio Big Joanie Makes Space, Takes Space

Publication Date: 2022-11-10

Black Feminist Punk trio Big Joanie formed in London, but are now based over various cities in the U.K. Their sound is “punk” and… also looks to Riot ...

Puerto Rican Singer-Songwriter iLe Speaks to Strength and Power

Publication Date: 2022-11-07

As a solo artist, Grammy-winning Puerto Rican singer-songwriter iLe (Ileana Cabra) has explored the rich history of classic Latin American pop music, ...

The Ever-Shifting Sound World of London-Based caroline

Publication Date: 2022-10-17

With eight members, London-based caroline looks like a combination rock band and chamber music ensemble with their violins, cello, flute, guitars, bas...

London-Based Sons of Kemet Uses Poetry to Go 'Black to the Future'

Publication Date: 2021-07-08

British quartet Sons of Kemet blends jazz, Afrofuturism, electronic music, hip hop and Caribbean rhythms in their music and is composed of sax/clarin...

Swedish Quartet Dungen Scores 1926 Silent Film With Psych-Rock (Archives)

Publication Date: 2021-07-05

The Swedish psych-prog rock band Dungen has been making records since 2001, but 2016's Häxan, ("The Witch,") is their first all-instrumental record...

Public Service Broadcasting Samples the Past, Makes Music of the Future (Archives)

Publication Date: 2021-07-01

The English outfit called Public Service Broadcasting builds its records around archival and documentary sounds, then layering in live drums, guitar,...

Red Baraat Spreads Defiantly Joyful Bhangra Music (Archives)

Publication Date: 2021-06-28

On the face of it, Red Baraat is a dhol-driven big band full of brass instruments and drums (both the dhol and drumset keep the groove going), rooted...

Mischievous Electronic Pop from Argentine Singer & Producer Juana Molina (Archives)

Publication Date: 2021-06-24

The Argentine singer/songwriter and brilliant producer of experimental off-kilter folk-tronica, Juana Molina, has a former life as a well-known comic...

Xylouris White, Lute Meets Drums, In-Studio (Archives)

Publication Date: 2021-06-21

Lute-based and percussion driven, the rugged duo of Cretan lauto player George Xylouris (scion of one of Greece’s most revered musical families) and ...

Samora Pinderhughes Poetically Merges Art and Urgent Protest

Publication Date: 2021-06-17

Composer, pianist, and vocalist Samora Pinderhughes writes urgent, poetic and immersive music that responds to the times and fits neatly into no genr...

Blick Bassy Heals By Remembering The Stories (Archives)

Publication Date: 2021-06-14

France-based Cameroonian musician Blick Bassy’s quiet and beautiful songs fall somewhere on the spectrum of blues, folk-soul, and pop, and embody a d...

Indian Classical Singer Priya Darshini Incorporates a World of Influences

Publication Date: 2021-06-10

Mumbai-born singer, composer, bandleader, and ultra-marathoner Priya Darshini is based in Brooklyn. Her musical studies range from Indian Classical m...

Bachelor (Jay Som and Palehound): Mutual Fans and Collaborators

Publication Date: 2021-06-07

Poughkeepsie, New York-based Ellen Kempner (who performs as Palehound) and L.A.-based musician Melina Duterte (who performs as Jay Som), have joined ...

Gypsy Punks Gogol Bordello Turn Rage Into Joy (Archives)

Publication Date: 2021-06-03

New York’s own gypsy punks Gogol Bordello have roots in Eastern European folk and Brecht-ian cabaret, along with punk and dub. With a band that usual...

Singer Ala.Ni Captivates, Sets a Mood (Archives)

Publication Date: 2021-05-31

The singer Ala.Ni has a cosmopolitan background: born in Britain to parents from Granada and now based in Paris. So it perhaps shouldn't be a surpris...

Banjo Innovators Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn, In-Studio (Archives)

Publication Date: 2021-05-27

Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn have each – in their own separate ways during their separate careers – been reinventing the sound of the banjo. Bela ...

The Strength, Resilience, and Joy of Songwriter Allison Russell

Publication Date: 2021-05-24

Nashville-based Montreal-born Scottish-Grenadian-Canadian multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, poet, mother, and runner Allison Russell (Birds of Chica...

Pianist and Improviser Erika Dohi In Parallel, Solo, and With Friends

Publication Date: 2021-05-20

Japanese-born, NYC-based pianist and composer Erika Dohi, is also one half of Contemporary Music Duo RighteousGIRLS. Her new record I, Castorpollux (...

The Tender Heartfelt Indie Folk of Old Sea Brigade

Publication Date: 2021-05-17

Old Sea Brigade is the work of Nashville-based, Georgia-born musician Ben Cramer, who makes atmospheric Nashville-informed indie folk, infused with 8...

Manchester Orchestra: No Rules and No Ceiling

Publication Date: 2021-05-13

Atlanta-based Manchester Orchestra crafts cinematic, lush, long-form rock, with such detail about the characters, that it makes the stories even more...

The Soul of 'Sacred Steel' Virtuoso Robert Randolph and The Family Band (Archives)

Publication Date: 2021-05-10

Hear the pedal steel fireworks in the gospel-rooted soul-funk of Robert Randolph & the Family Band live in the studio. As a performer, Randolph i...

Helado Negro Refracts Music Through a Latinx Lense (Archives)

Publication Date: 2021-05-06

Since 2009, the Ecuadorian-American singer and songwriter Roberto Lange has been making records under the name Helado Negro (that’s “black ice cream”...

Gracie and Rachel: Intimate Orchestral Pop (Archives)

Publication Date: 2021-05-03

Dark and light constantly fuse, diverge, and unite in Brooklyn violin-piano duo, Gracie and Rachel. Their 2015 debut album Go, begins with a single h...

Adrian Crowley's Songs Are True Stories and Born of Another Place

Publication Date: 2021-04-29

Irish singer and songwriter Adrian Crowley is known for his often detailed but surreal storytelling, and for his rich baritone voice. Crowley says th...

The Steady Reinvention of Mexican Alt-Rockers Café Tacvba (Archives)

Publication Date: 2021-04-26

The rock band Café Tacvba, (who sing exclusively in Spanish) is constantly opening new creative doors. They first formed in Mexico City in the 1990’s...

Music Adrift From Time By Shakey Graves

Publication Date: 2021-04-22

Ten years ago, Alejandro Rose-Garcia released his debut album as Shakey Graves, featuring songs rooted in the haunted blues of the American South. Th...

Emile Mosseri's Music Is Made to Tell Stories

Publication Date: 2021-04-19

Emile Mosseri wrote the moving soundtrack to the family drama film Minari, (about a Korean-American family struggling to achieve the American dream i...

The Stretch Music of Trumpter Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah (Archives)

Publication Date: 2021-04-15

New Orleans trumpeter, composer, producer, and instrument designer Christian Scott, also known as Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah (in 2011, he de-Weste...

Angélique Kidjo From Live With Carnegie Hall (April 2020)

Publication Date: 2021-04-12

Angélique Kidjo is a force of nature. The globetrotting Beninese singer has won numerous Grammys, collaborated with Alicia Keys, David Byrne, Philip ...

Angelique Kidjo From Live With Carnegie Hall (April 2020)

Publication Date: 2021-04-12

Angélique Kidjo is a force of nature. The globetrotting Beninese singer has won numerous Grammys, collaborated with Alicia Keys, David Byrne, Philip ...

Pianist Neil Cowley Envelops Himself in Sound

Publication Date: 2021-04-08

“Noise gives me comfort,” says BBC Jazz Award-winning pianist Neil Cowley, whose long and varied career ranges from early classical training to stint...

Cellist Alisa Weilerstein Shares the Optimistic Wisdom of J.S. Bach

Publication Date: 2021-04-05

Bach’s unaccompanied cello suites are an essential rite of passage for all cellists, being "some of the most frequently performed and recognizable s...

Femi Kuti: Social Conscience with a Beat (Archives)

Publication Date: 2021-04-01

Nigerian musician Femi Kuti famously hasn’t listened to another artist’s music in over a decade. It’s tempting to think that’s because he’s the son o...

Guitarist/Singer Benjamin Booker's Potent Cocktail of Punk & Soul (Archives)

Publication Date: 2021-03-29

Full of buzzing energy and ready to burst, guitarist Benjamin Booker is a punk & grit-infused songwriter whose ecstatic and soulful sounds channe...

The Many Musical Paths of Guitarist Gary Lucas

Publication Date: 2021-03-25

Guitarist Gary Lucas has played with Captain Beefheart, written hit songs with Jeff Buckley and Joan Osborne, and covered everything from 1930s Chine...

Anais Mitchell: From Hadestown to Our Own Place and Time (From the Archives)

Publication Date: 2021-03-22

Singer/songwriter Anais Mitchell might be best known for her take on the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, Hadestown. In 2012, she came out with a record...

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

Publication Date: 2021-03-18

Both old and new, Austin-based band Black Pumas is centered around guitarist and producer Adrian Quesada and 27-year-old songwriter Eric Burton. Gram...

Lake Street Dive's Crafty Retro Pop-Soul

Publication Date: 2021-03-15

Lake Street Dive brings the retro 70’s pop with R&B groove, combining light with dark in a crafty way. Formed in school at the New England Conser...

Sanya N’Kanta On Precious Time With Family

Publication Date: 2021-03-11

Jamaican-born, North Carolina-based singer and songwriter Sanya N’Kanta has written songs about race and immigration, but his new EP is about the sim...

Oceanator, Heavy-Grunge-Pop DIY Superhero

Publication Date: 2021-03-08

Singer/songwriter/arranger/guitarist Elise Okusami, who records as Oceanator (supervillain or superhero?), came up in the DC punk scene, playing drum...

Elizabeth And The Catapult Takes on Connection and Loneliness

Publication Date: 2021-03-04

Elizabeth Ziman is a classically-trained pianist, singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist who leads the long-running indie band Elizabeth And Th...

LNZNDRF (members of The National and Beirut) Is All About The Musical Journey

Publication Date: 2021-03-01

LNZNDRF is a band composed of Scott and Bryan Devendorf of The National, and Ben Lanz and Aaron Arntz of Beirut. They improvise their CAN-influenced ...

The Altin Gün Experience: Turkish-Folk Meets Psych-Funk-Rock

Publication Date: 2021-02-25

Amsterdam-based Altin Gün plays songs rooted in traditional Turkish folk tunes and Anatolian rock that have fallen down the rabbit hole of psychedeli...

Rokia Traoré: The Malian Singer Showcases 'Beautiful Africa' (Archives)

Publication Date: 2021-02-22

It's impossible not to be transported by Rokia Traoré's voice and unique adaptation of rock. The daughter of a diplomat, Traoré spent her childhood t...

Regal and Moody Brass-Led Songs By CARM

Publication Date: 2021-02-18

CARM is the work of CJ Camerieri, trumpeter and French horn player of the band yMusic, and the result of a nickname earned in the midwest. On CARM’s ...

Grandbrothers, Messing Around With Grand Pianos Since 2012

Publication Date: 2021-02-15

Minimalism, classical music, and electronic dance music all come together in the pulsating music of the German-Swiss duo Grandbrothers. Using live pr...

Django Django's Hazy Art-Pop Is of a Modern Vintage

Publication Date: 2021-02-11

Django Django is a quartet of British art-psych rockers who make hazy jangly electro-art-pop that hearkens to earlier times – say the 1960’s 70’s, 80...

Las Palabras Finds The Words In Charming Minimalistic Tunes

Publication Date: 2021-02-08

Las Palabras is the plural-named solo project of Rafael Cohen, of the dance-punk band !!! (pronounced chk chk chk). Cohen, a Brooklyn-based musician ...

Aaron Lee Tasjan Is What Folk-Glam Might Sound Like

Publication Date: 2021-02-04

Ohio-born, now Nashville-based Aaron Lee Tasjan makes up songs and plays guitar, mixing up folk, glam rock, psychedelia, and trenchant social comment...

Songwriter Langhorne Slim Re-Discovers Creative Joy To Banish Anxiety, Addiction

Publication Date: 2021-02-01

After 15 years and 9 albums of roots-rockin’ goodness, the songs dried up for Langhorne Slim. But after dealing with addiction and an anxiety disorde...

The Quartet ETHEL Champions New Music, At a Distance

Publication Date: 2021-01-28

The New York string quartet ETHEL has been championing new music from often surprising corners of the music world for years. For this edition of the ...

Scottish Songwriter James Yorkston: Having Fun and Trying New Things

Publication Date: 2021-01-25

Scottish singer, songwriter, and occasional novelist James Yorkston is a natural storyteller and a member of the Yorkston/Thorne/Khan group, a power ...

Gary Clark Jr.: Reinvigorating The Blues (Archives)

Publication Date: 2021-01-21

Gary Clark Jr. got his first guitar for Christmas back when he was just 12 years old and the Austin, Texas native has been playing around his hometow...

Trumpeter Keyon Harrold's Vibrant Tunes Offer Strength & Courage (Archives)

Publication Date: 2021-01-18

Trumpeter, singer, and composer Keyon Harrold has played with Beyoncé, Common, Erykah Badu, Rihanna, Eminem, D’Angelo and the Vanguard, LL Cool J, an...

Metric: What Happens in Vegas... (From the Archives)

Publication Date: 2021-01-14

While writing the music for what would become Metric's 2015 record, Pagans in Vegas, front-woman Emily Haines traveled to Nicaragua and Spain, while ...

The Gothic Tales of Dark Carnival Band, Dust Bowl Faeries

Publication Date: 2021-01-11

Goth cabaret band Dust Bowl Faeries have kept making music through The 2020 Plague. On their latest record, The Plague Garden, the songs draw from Ne...

Surreal Art-Rock By Saxophonist Donny McCaslin (Archives)

Publication Date: 2021-01-07

Sax player and bandleader Donny McCaslin, who collaborated with David Bowie on Blackstar, freely mixes pop, jazz, electronica, and art-rock on his st...

Tony Visconti Talks Four Decades of Bowie and 'Blackstar' (Archives)

Publication Date: 2021-01-04

The following interview was conducted days before David Bowie's death at 69. David Bowie was 19 when he met producer Tony Visconti. In 2016, Bowie r...

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

Publication Date: 2020-12-24

The phenomenal pianist Stewart Goodyear, known as both an improviser and composer, famously played all 32 of Beethoven's sonatas in one sitting, when...

Celtic Harp Innovator Maeve Gilchrist Weav-Weav-Weaves Wonderful Things

Publication Date: 2020-12-21

Scottish-born Maeve Gilchrist writes and plays new music for an old instrument: the Celtic harp, or Lever harp. Gilchrist is a curious innovator who ...

Squarepusher: Upending Expectations Of Electronic Dance Music (Archives)

Publication Date: 2020-12-17

Squarepusher is the nom de disque of Tom Jenkinson, who makes electronic dance music. EDM is associated with a relentless four-on-the-floor dance bea...

Guitarist Gwenifer Raymond: Instrumental Tales of Old Weird Wales

Publication Date: 2020-11-12

Welsh guitarist Gwenifer Raymond tells tales without words with her fast and aggressive fingerpicking - adapting “American Primitive” style for "old...

Introspective Fuzzy Folk By This Is The Kit

Publication Date: 2020-11-09

This Is The Kit is British singer and songwriter Kate Stables (lately based in France) and whoever joins her. Her early albums were rooted in the lon...

Galya Bisengalieva’s Music Tells of Man-Made Catastrophe

Publication Date: 2020-11-05

Kazakh-British violinist and composer Galya Bisengalieva plays music from her debut album Aralkum (released on Björk’s One Little Independent record ...

Elvis Costello and Michael Leonhart on the Joy In Music-Making

Publication Date: 2020-11-02

Elvis Costello’s new album, Hey Clockface, veers through all kinds of musical territory: melancholy ballads, spoken word soundscapes, abrasive rocken...

Vijay Iyer: Transforming Veterans' Dreams Into Music (From the Archives)

Publication Date: 2020-10-29

For the 2.4 million veterans who’ve served in Iraq and Afghanistan, the experience of war isn’t necessarily ended by coming home. Memories -particula...

Juanita Stein Sublimates Grief Into Sonic Sunshine

Publication Date: 2020-10-26

Wrap yourself in the reverb-drenched guitar-driven songs from Brighton-based Juanita Stein, sometimes seen fronting the band Howling Bells (originall...

Sam Amidon Transforms Traditional Folk

Publication Date: 2020-10-22

London-based Sam Amidon has a reputation for having collected, re-imagined, and performed American traditional tunes or other folk music in unconvent...

Thao And The Get Down Stay Down: Playful And Reinvigorated (Archives)

Publication Date: 2020-10-19

Songwriter Thao Nguyen performs with one of the best band names in the business: Thao And The Get Down Stay Down. Their 2013 album We The Common, mar...

Naomi Shelton And The Gospel Queens: Fiery Spirit In A 'Cold World' (Archives)

Publication Date: 2020-10-15

In 1963, Alabama native Naomi Shelton came to Brooklyn as part of The Great Migration of African-Americans out of the South, and she brought along he...

Aldous Harding: Delicate, Gothic Folk (From the Archives)

Publication Date: 2020-10-12

Hailing from New Zealand’s Southern port town of Lyttelton, Aldous Harding digs deep into classic folk music with her acoustic-based brooding songs. ...

Folk-Baroque Pop From Singer-Guitarist Lomelda

Publication Date: 2020-10-08

Lomelda is the stage name of Texas-born singer and guitarist Hannah Read. The distinction between Lomelda and Hannah is one she wrestles with on her ...

Louisiana Legend Aaron Neville Sings Some Prayers (From the Archives)

Publication Date: 2020-10-05

New Orleans has produced plenty of remarkable singers, but few of those native sons and daughters sing quite like the legendary Aaron Neville. He joi...

The Weather Station's Intimate Folk (From the Archives)

Publication Date: 2020-07-06

The Weather Station's 2015 record Loyalty features eleven songs with that most laudable quality of sounding like they are being sung directly to the ...

John Cale's 'Shifty Adventures'

Publication Date: 2020-06-04

John Cale made rock history as a founding member of The Velvet Underground in the 1960s. He's also a composer, singer, songwriter, and record produce...

Composer and Producer Emily Wells Scales Back to Elemental

Publication Date: 2020-06-01

Violinist, singer, keyboardist and drummer Emily Wells is a producer and composer capable of producing a full band sound; her series of “symphonies” ...

Janka Nabay: Bubu Music With An Indie Rock Twist

Publication Date: 2020-05-28

The songs of singer Janka Nabay (aka "the Bubu King") mix a regional folk music from his native Sierra Leone called bubu with the high-octane sound...

Filmmaker Alex Gibney: 'Sinatra Grew Up With America' (From the Archives)

Publication Date: 2020-05-25

Ol' Blue Eyes. The Chairman of the Board. Frank Sinatra has been called a lot of things—not all of them flattering—but there's no denying his stature...

Overcoats Fight To Feel Excited for the Future

Publication Date: 2020-05-20

Overcoats And Friends Benefit on Tiltify (Live Stream) on May 21 Benefit for Association to Benefit Children 7PM EDT via Amazon-music's Twitch channe...

Courtney Barnett, In The Greene Space (From the Archives)

Publication Date: 2020-05-18

Courtney Barnett's songs are wild, shaggy and wordy, mixing witty, mundane, and sometimes heartbreaking observations with devastating self-assessment...

Bandleader, Comedian, and Beatboxer Reggie Watts (From the Archives)

Publication Date: 2020-05-14

Vocal artist, comedian, actor, beatboxer, musician, and bandleader Reggie Watts is versatile and unpredictable. But to watch him do his thing live, i...

Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers (From the Archives)

Publication Date: 2020-05-11

Actor, author, and comedian Steve Martin released his debut album as a banjo player in 2009, but he first picked up the instrument as a teenager and ...

Ed Helms, on Making Old-Timey Magic for The Whiskey Sour Happy Hour

Publication Date: 2020-05-07

Banjo player, comedian, actor, and musician Ed Helms has combined music and comedy in an online show for the pandemic era, The Whiskey Sour Happy Hou...

Legendary Drummer Tony Allen (From the Archives)

Publication Date: 2020-05-04

Pioneering drummer Tony Allen, who was called “perhaps the greatest drummer who has ever lived" by Brian Eno, has died in Paris, at the age of 79. A...

Soul Singer Charles Bradley (From the Archives)

Publication Date: 2020-04-30

The late funk and R&B singer Charles Bradley’s life story was one filled with poverty, struggle and unappreciated talent. But after catching the ...

Parquet Courts Thrashes With Elegance (From the Archives)

Publication Date: 2020-04-27

Parquet Courts exploded into New York music fans’ collective consciousness in early 2013, with the release of their blistering post-punk LP, Light Up...

Regina Spektor, In-Studio (From the Archives)

Publication Date: 2020-04-23

Songwriter, pianist, and singer Regina Spektor was born in the then-Soviet Union and moved to the States on the cusp of her teenage years. She began ...

Jon Batiste and Stay Human, In-Studio (From the Archives)

Publication Date: 2020-04-20

Pianist, composer, and bandleader Jon Batiste comes from a long line of New Orleans musicians, and got his start playing in his family’s band as a pe...

Robyn Hitchcock and the Venus 3, In-Studio (From the Archives)

Publication Date: 2020-04-16

In his four decades writing songs and playing them, English singer-songwriter Robyn Hitchcock has earned a devoted fan base (especially within the Ne...

Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, Live (From the Archives)

Publication Date: 2020-04-13

For many years, the late, great soul singer Sharon Jones played wedding gigs while working as a corrections officer. Then, in her forties, for her se...

English and German Punk Band, Art Brut, In-Studio (From the Archives)

Publication Date: 2020-04-09

In 2005, the band Art Brut burst upon the indie rock scene with an album of hilarious, half-spoken stories and manic, melodic punk. For this archival...

Bill Withers, on "Still Bill" (From the Archives)

Publication Date: 2020-04-06

One of the sweetest voices of soul’s golden era in the 1970s, Bill Withers is best known for hits like “Ain’t No Sunshine” and “Lean on Me,” about gr...

Kimbra: Making 'Vows,' In The Studio (From the Archives)

Publication Date: 2020-04-02

New Zealand singer-songwriter Kimbra joined us with her band and an impressive array of pedals, playing songs from her album Vows back in 2012. You m...

Oldies of the Future (From the Archives)

Publication Date: 2020-03-30

In recent years, oldies radio stations have inched further into the future - and have begun to focus on favorites from the '70s (and even '80s) rathe...

Cuban Pianist Roberto Fonseca Presents Music From His Latest Record

Publication Date: 2020-03-26

Grammy-nominated Cuban pianist Roberto Fonseca presents an infusion of rap, funk, reggaeton and electronic music, performing songs from his latest re...

Bartees Strange presents his heartfelt homage to The National, In Studio

Publication Date: 2020-03-23

Oklahoma-raised, Brooklyn- and DC-based artist Bartees Strange presents his re-imaginings of songs by The National in studio. Both a heartfelt homage...

Montreal Cellist Rebecca Foon Lifts Her Voice in Concern

Publication Date: 2020-03-19

Rebecca Foon, the cellist, producer, composer and climate activist, is a central part of the Montreal new music scene. She's a former member of Thee ...

The World/Inferno Friendship Society Pushes on Limits of Punk

Publication Date: 2020-03-10

The Brooklyn-based collective The World/Inferno Friendship Society is a righteous gumbo of dark cabaret, which might touch on punk, ska, blues, rocke...

Katie Gately's Spectral Electronic Songs, In-Studio

Publication Date: 2020-03-09

In her music, singer and producer Katie Gately delivers spectral singing, layers of electronics, and an array of unusual sampled sounds for an effect...

Jack Penate Seeks To Inspire, Comfort With 'After You'

Publication Date: 2020-03-05

British singer-songwriter Jack Penate gets spiritual with soul and mysticism, and throws down raw emotion with pop polish. He reflects about his deca...

Modern Malian Singer Fatoumata Diawara Respects Her Roots

Publication Date: 2020-03-02

Malian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor Fatoumata Diawara is a multiple Grammy Award nominee, currently living in Paris. "Fatou" Diawara has...

Pop and Protest Music by Puerto Rican singer-songwriter iLe

Publication Date: 2020-02-24

Grammy-winning singer and songwriter Ileana Mercedes Cabra Joglar – is better known as iLe - but for a long time she was known as PG-13, in the Puerto...

Bonny Light Horseman Takes New Look at Old Folk Songs

Publication Date: 2020-02-17

Bonny Light Horseman is a new trio consisting of Anais Mitchell, the songwriter behind the all-conquering Broadway musical Hadestown; Eric D Johnson,...

'Gregorian Country Music' By Guitarist-Songwriter Torres

Publication Date: 2020-01-29

Mackenzie Scott has made ever-evolving pop throughout the 2010’s as TORRES. Raised in Bible-belt Georgia, she learned to sing and play the guitar in ...

Les Amazones d’Afrique Team Up in Music and Power

Publication Date: 2020-01-12

Les Amazones d’Afrique is a creative collective of women from West and Central Africa, formed in Mali in 2014. At their strongest, they are 16 multi-...

Gypsy Jazz Guitarist Stephane Wrembel's Hot Django-Inspired String-Swing

Publication Date: 2020-01-09

French-born, NYC-based jazz guitarist Stephane Wrembel, a leading player and improviser in "gypsy jazz," has recorded with mandolin legend David Gr...

Attacca Quartet Plays Caroline Shaw in the Greene Space

Publication Date: 2020-01-06

The Attacca Quartet performs music by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw and chats about collaborating with a living composer, gardens, an...

Party Horns and Drums of Red Baraat, From Brooklyn Bowl

Publication Date: 2020-01-02

The group Red Baraat has become synonymous with a raucous good time, a celebratory mix of bhangra – the dance music of the Punjab region, New Orleans...

Best of Soundcheck 2019, Part 2

Publication Date: 2019-12-30

Hear some of the best performances from the Soundcheck Podcast series from 2019, including spacey folky confessional electro-pop by Helado Negro and ...

Best of Soundcheck 2019, Part 1

Publication Date: 2019-12-26

Hear some of the best performances from the Soundcheck Podcast series from 2019, like the tropical psych-rock from NYC-based quartet Combo Chimbita a...

Banjo Master Tony Trischka and Friends Celebrate the Winter Holidays

Publication Date: 2019-12-23

Banjo master Tony Trischka and sacred harp tunester and multi-instrumentalist Tim Eriksen, with fiddler Hannah Read, mandolinist Dominick Leslie, bas...

Black Violin Challenges Stereotypes With "Classical Boom" Sound

Publication Date: 2019-12-19

From J.S. Bach to Biggie Smalls, Shostakovich to Nas, and the odd Tchaikovsky or Imagine Dragons, the classical-meets-hip-hop duo Black Violin contin...

Black Belt Eagle Scout Shares Community With Songs

Publication Date: 2019-12-16

Black Belt Eagle Scout is the work of Oregon-based singer and multi-instrumentalist Katherine Paul, whose songs often draw on her Native American (sp...

Guitarist Thurston Moore's Spirit Counsel, In-Studio

Publication Date: 2019-12-12

During his four decades making music, Thurston Moore has been many things – guitarist, composer, improviser, collaborator, co-founder of the trailbla...

Vintage and Modern Philly Soul From Son Little

Publication Date: 2019-12-09

Son Little is a singer, songwriter, and multi instrumentalist based in Philadelphia, born Aaron Earl Livingston to a preacher and a teacher in Los An...

Gloria Gaynor Gives 'Testimony' With Gospel-Roots Groove Music

Publication Date: 2019-12-04

New Jersey-born and Grammy Award-winning superstar singer Gloria Gaynor might be best-known for her disco-era hits, but she has deep gospel roots and...

Robbie Robertson Leans In the Direction of Noir

Publication Date: 2019-12-02

Canadian musician, film composer, and songwriter Robbie Robertson is probably best known as the lead guitarist in The Band. He’s written written a wi...

Jangle Rockers Real Estate, From Brooklyn Bowl

Publication Date: 2019-11-28

Brooklyn rockers Real Estate (their home state is New Jersey) are a self-admitted “indie band that should become a jam band.” Their bright and jangly...

Drummer Terri Lyne Carrington and Social Science, In-Studio

Publication Date: 2019-11-25

Grammy Award-winning drummer, producer, collaborator, and educator Terri Lyne Carrington is a drummer’s drummer whose laudable technique, creative ch...

Saxophonist Matana Roberts Carves Out Her Own Musical Space

Publication Date: 2019-11-20

Composer, saxophonist, and mixed media artist Matana Roberts presents her latest in the multi-chapter work Coin Coin project which documents the Afri...

Olivia Jean's Unusual Mix of Surf-Infused 'Bubblegum Garage'

Publication Date: 2019-11-18

Detroit-born Nashville-based guitarist and songwriter Olivia Jean worked as a hairstylist and makeup artist before she was able to make music full-ti...

Yasser Tejeda y Palotré Celebrate Ancestral Dominican Traditions

Publication Date: 2019-11-13

Brooklyn-based guitarist and composer Yasser Tejada & the group Palotré combine African-rooted Dominican traditional folk styles and fuse them wi...

Singer and Songwriter Tom Goss Tells Stories That Need To Be Told

Publication Date: 2019-11-11

LA-based singer and songwriter Tom Goss is a romantic who tells overlooked stories through soulful vocals and lush pop soundscapes. A former Catholic...

Benny Gebert's Piano Music Holds Promise of Serenity

Publication Date: 2019-11-07

Sound artist, songwriter, pianist, and composer Benny Gebert is one-half of the Brooklyn-based pop group HAERTS. For his latest solo adventure, Tript...

Orchestral Pop Band San Fermin's Enchanting Grandeur

Publication Date: 2019-11-04

Brooklyn-based orchestral pop outfit San Fermin has a reputation for grand and enchanting music. Led by songwriter and composer Ellis Ludwig-Leone, a...

Nathalie Joachim and Spektral Quartet, In-Studio

Publication Date: 2019-10-31

Haitian-American composer Nathalie Joachim is the co-artistic director and flutist of the Grammy-winning contemporary chamber ensemble Eighth Blackbi...

Folk-Rocker Frank Turner Shares Lesser-Known Stories in Songs

Publication Date: 2019-10-28

The English singer-songwriter Frank Turner who was once a vocalist for hardcore band Million Dead – has become a folk-punk troubadour, spinning jangl...

Bombay Bicycle Club Finds Solace in Music

Publication Date: 2019-10-24

British guitar band Bombay Bicycle Club cites New York bands like LCD Soundsystem, The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs as inspiration. But since they signed...

Ani Cordero's Protest Music for Dancing

Publication Date: 2019-10-21

New York-based Puerto Rican musician, songwriter, and activist Ani Cordero has toured as the drummer for the legendary Os Mutantes, and was a foundin...

Queer Punk Pioneers Team Dresch Are Back on Active Duty

Publication Date: 2019-10-16

Formed in the 1990’s in the Northwest, queercore icons Team Dresch were one of the first “out” bands who wrote about homophobia (fearing holding hand...

Rwandan Band The Good Ones Offers Strength and Peace

Publication Date: 2019-10-14

The Good Ones are Rwandan genocide survivors who write acoustic folk songs. They’re often sung in the Kinyarwanda street dialect of the outskirts of ...

Dusty Psych-Soul and Fiery Groove From Black Pumas

Publication Date: 2019-10-10

Both old and new, Austin-based band Black Pumas is centered around guitarist and producer Adrian Quesada and 27-year-old songwriter Eric Burton. Gram...

L.A. Band La Santa Cecilia Sparks Joy With Salsa-Punk

Publication Date: 2019-10-07

Los Angeles-based band La Santa Cecilia named themselves after the patron saint of music when they formed in 2007. Their Grammy-winning sound embrace...

Splashy, Body-Moving Rubbery Dance Punk by !!!

Publication Date: 2019-10-02

New York-based band !!! (chk chk chk) has gone to the synth side, with their latest rubbery-funk dance punk. Their candyfloss melodies and beats conj...

Love Fame Tragedy Deals in Raw Synth-Rock Intimacy

Publication Date: 2019-09-29

Named for an exhibition in the Tate Modern, Love Fame Tragedy is how Matthew “Murph” Murphy, frontman of the indie-pop band The Wombats is scratching...

Chamber Soul-Pop by yMusic and Emily King, In-Studio

Publication Date: 2019-09-25

New York’s top-notch and prolific classical six-piece group yMusic "serves as a ready-made collaborative unit for bands and songwriters, and has len...

Nashville-based Lillie Mae's Countrified Americana-Pop

Publication Date: 2019-08-21

Nashville singer, songwriter, fiddler and guitarist Lillie Mae’s sound has a bit of dark twang, some psychedelia, and the intimacy of front-porch sin...

Quiet Reflection in Acoustic Songs by Daughter of Swords

Publication Date: 2019-08-19

North Carolina singer and guitarist Alexandra Sauser-Monnig records under the name Daughter of Swords, in which she "combines the eerie sound of old...

The Calm Spark of South African Jazz Master Abdullah Ibrahim Persists

Publication Date: 2019-08-14

The South African pianist and composer Abdullah Ibrahim (aka "Dollar Brand") has had a notable career, helped early on by Duke Ellington,and ackno...

Cosmo Sheldrake's Eccentric, Strangely Alluring Pop

Publication Date: 2019-08-12

London composer Cosmo Sheldrake is also a vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and producer. He’s got a knack for refreshingly playful and whimsical pop ...

The Slamming Wordplay of Poet and Rapper Kate Tempest

Publication Date: 2019-08-08

London-based Kate Tempest is a spoken word performer, poet, recording artist, novelist and playwright. Her visceral writing demands foreground-listen...

DOOMSQUAD's Personal and Political Outsider Dancefloor Jams

Publication Date: 2019-08-05

Toronto electro-psych dance-rock sibling trio DOOMSQUAD brings a mix of protest music, catharsis, and groove, plus banging flute solos to their outsi...

Sound Artist Lea Bertucci Transforms and Extends the Saxophone

Publication Date: 2019-08-01

NYC-based sound artist, sax player, and composer Lea Bertucci uses tape technology, resonant spaces, and sounds that occupy a gray area between music...

Anything Goes From Swedish Pop Trio Peter Bjorn & John

Publication Date: 2019-07-29

Hear songs about darker days through a largely upbeat pop lens from Swedish trio, Peter, Bjorn and John. The Swedish trio will “probably never live d...

Indian Tabla Master Zakir Hussain's Percussive Wizardry

Publication Date: 2019-07-25

Genius Indian tabla player Zakir Hussain, is one of the world’s exceptional percussionists. The son of Ustad Alla Rahka (who would have been 100 year...

The Big Sound of Bayonne's Experimental Electro-Pop

Publication Date: 2019-07-22

Bayonne is quite literally a one-man band. That one man is minimalist composer and experimental musician Roger Sellers, who’s based in Austin, TX, no...

Quantic's Dancefloor-Ready Jazzy Grooves

Publication Date: 2019-07-18

British producer, musician, and DJ Quantic (aka Will Holland) builds up jazzy, groovy, and dancefloor-ready music around funk guitar and bass riffs, ...

Pianist and Programmer Dan Tepfer - Man Vs. Machine

Publication Date: 2019-07-14

Dan Tepfer is a sought-after composer and pianist who also studied computer programming and physics. His album of improvisations on Bach’s Goldberg V...

A-WA's Timeless Yemeni-Jewish Traditional Songs Meet Arabic Pop

Publication Date: 2019-07-10

The Israeli band called A-WA had a huge hit on its very first attempt when their song "Habib Galbi" (“Love of My Heart”) – which blended traditiona...

Blick Bassy Heals By Remembering The Stories

Publication Date: 2019-07-08

France-based Cameroonian musician Blick Bassy’s quiet and beautiful songs fall somewhere on the spectrum of blues, folk-soul, and pop, and embody a d...

The Sweet, Slow Burn of Nakhane's 'Anti-Gospel' Pop

Publication Date: 2019-07-04

London-based Xhosa singer, actor, musician, and author Nakhane (born Toure) grew up on a musical diet of Mozart, Handel, and South African choral pie...

Sinkane's Funk Exploration of the Immigrant's Journey

Publication Date: 2019-07-01

The Sudan-born, Ohio-raised and Brooklyn-based singer and musician Ahmed Gallab records under the name Sinkane and the latest Sinkane record, Dépaysé...

Ambient Chamber Space Pop By Big Bend, In-Studio

Publication Date: 2019-06-27

Big Bend is a collaborative project led by pianist Nathan Phillips, who assembled a rotating cast of musicians, including ambient zither player Laraa...

Tamino's Intimate and Confessional Pop, In-studio

Publication Date: 2019-06-24

Belgian singer and songwriter Tamino is of Egyptian and Lebanese descent and has had recent success as a model. Comparisons to Jeff Buckley and Thom ...

Arabic Poetry-Infused Chamber Jazz by Layale Chaker and Sarafand

Publication Date: 2019-06-20

Violinist and composer Layale Chaker has done something exquisite in her music with the Ensemble Sarafand from the record, Inner Rhyme: she has gone ...

Australian Bass Virtuoso Tal Wilkenfeld Shines a Light

Publication Date: 2019-06-17

Australian-born Tal Wilkenfeld has made her sizable reputation by playing bass for some of the music world’s biggest stars – Prince, Mick Jagger, Jef...

Baroque-Pop and Folk-Leaning Songs From Henry Jamison

Publication Date: 2019-06-13

It would be easy to label the Vermont-based singer/songwriter Henry Jamison as a folk musician. After all, his voice sounds a little like Nick Drake,...

Saying What Must Be Said, The Oddysy Combines Funk, Bass, Beats, And Samples

Publication Date: 2019-06-10

The Oddysy is a funk/rock/hip hop duo comprised of KJ (Kevin Jacoby, formerly of the psychedelic salsa band La Mecanica Popular) and DJ Johnny Juice,...

The Playful Arty Post-Punk and Swirling Psych of Michelle Blades

Publication Date: 2019-06-06

Michelle Blades was born into a well-known family of salsa musicians in Panama – you may have heard of her Grammy-winning uncle Ruben Blades. But she...

Excruciatingly Beautiful Future-Soul Music From Jacob Banks

Publication Date: 2019-02-27

British singer Jacob Banks was born in Nigeria before moving to Birmingham, England. There he has developed a large following for his remarkable voic...

Cherry Glazerr’s Soft and Sharp Power Pop

Publication Date: 2019-02-25

Los Angeles trio Cherry Glazerr, led by singer/guitarist/founder Clementine Creevy, is fierce, furious, but also weary. Creevy has found some inspira...

Nilüfer Yanya's Twisted Pop Embraces Imperfection

Publication Date: 2019-02-21

Guitarist and songwriter Nilüfer Yanya writes songs that, while dark and a bit twisted, yet direct and elegant, ultimately embrace imperfection. Her ...

Mandolin Orange's Bittersweet Pickin' Tunes

Publication Date: 2019-02-18

Mandolin Orange is the folk duo of North Carolinians Andrew Marlin and Emily Frantz, who blend traditional Americana roots music – folk, country, blu...

Hypnotic Brass Leads The Way

Publication Date: 2019-02-14

The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble is a musically free-ranging band of seven brothers from the south side of Chicago. Their music draws from funk, funky jaz...

The Custom-Built Pop Experiments of Buke and Gase

Publication Date: 2019-02-11

Buke and Gase is an experimental pop duo that’s collaborated with everyone from The National to the Blue Man Group. The band is named after two of th...

Rubblebucket Parties Like Their Hearts Hurt

Publication Date: 2019-02-07

Dancey and dreamy, Brooklyn-based Rubblebucket makes psychedelic and jazz-conscious pop swimming in a strange and lovely mix of celebration and melan...

India.Arie Spreads Love and Music

Publication Date: 2019-02-04

Grammy-winning singer/songwriter/producer India.Arie has returned to spread love and joy through music and words. Her latest album, due out in Februa...

RaaDie's Trumpet and E-Zither Make Loops and Waves

Publication Date: 2019-01-31

Meet RaaDie, which is the latest musical project of Vienna-based trumpeter Lorenz Raab (Volksoper Vienna, XY-Band, Bleu) and the composer, bassoonist...

Alejandro Escovedo Searches for the American Dream

Publication Date: 2019-01-28

Mexican-American rock musician, songwriter, and singer Alejandro Escovedo draws from DIY punk, Tex-Mex country, and Americana rock for his latest rec...

London's Groove-Based Ezra Collective

Publication Date: 2019-01-24

London-based quintet Ezra Collective makes music with an irresistible blend of groove that includes Afrobeat, hip-hop, grime, reggae, and jazz. Led b...

Guster, More Alive Than Live

Publication Date: 2019-01-21

Coming from jangle-pop garage rock origins in the 1990’s in the Boston area, the band Guster is a group of talented songwriters, down to the last har...

Leyla McCalla Plays the 'Capitalist Blues'

Publication Date: 2019-01-14

A New York–born Haitian-American living in New Orleans, the multi-instrumentalist Leyla McCalla draws from traditional Creole, Cajun, and Haitian mus...

Dollshot's Experimental Dream-Pop

Publication Date: 2019-01-09

Brooklyn band Dollshot crafts experimental dream pop that is a crazy-quilt of electro-art-rock, cabaret music of Schoenberg, chamber music by Poulenc...

My Brightest Diamond Hits the Dance Floor

Publication Date: 2019-01-06

Not many people can front a rock band, sing Górecki’s Third Symphony, deliver heavy works on themes of social justice for youth chorus, and compose p...

Twangy-Gothic-Folk by Vera Sola, In-Studio

Publication Date: 2019-01-03

New York/Canada-based songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, and poet Vera Sola, aka Danielle Aykroyd, crafts twangy-gothic-folk that might ste...

Best of The Soundcheck Podcast 2018, Part 2

Publication Date: 2018-12-31

From the live in-studio performance series, here's part two of our favorite sessions from 2018. Hear everything from a Cuban orchestra to a famous So...

Matisyahu and Band Spiritually Summit the Jams

Publication Date: 2018-12-27

The once-bearded Jewish-American roots-reggae vocalist and beatboxer Matisyahu found success in both the Hasidic spiritual community and beyond, back...

Best of The Soundcheck Podcast 2018, Part 1

Publication Date: 2018-12-24

From the live in-studio performance series, we’ll be recapping our favorite sessions from 2018. Part 1 features the Norwegian band Wardruna, Chicago-...

John Grant's Electro-Brooding Dreamy Songs

Publication Date: 2018-12-20

Michigan-born, Colorado-raised, but now Icelandic-based singer/songwriter John Grant crafts anguished, lush ballads and spacey electro-pop. He speaks...

The Badass Blues-Rock of Larkin Poe

Publication Date: 2018-12-17

Larkin Poe is Rebecca & Megan Lovell -two singer/songwriters and multi-instrumentalist sisters who are originally from Atlanta, but are now Nashv...

Quiet and Sharp Story-Songs by Laura Gibson

Publication Date: 2018-12-13

Singer-songwriter and producer Laura Gibson was born and raised in the small Oregon logging town of Coquille but now splits her time between Oregon &...

Algiers' Postpunk Soul Music for Disrupting

Publication Date: 2018-12-10

Algiers is a mesmerizing band of musicians born in Atlanta, Georgia and now splitting time between London and New York. Their urgent, genre-resistant...

Piano Manipulator and Producer Kelly Moran

Publication Date: 2018-12-07

Pianist, composer, engineer, and producer, Kelly Moran takes pride in trying to “obfuscate exactly what the piano sounds like. The whole point is to m...

The Welcoming Intensity of Incoming Met Opera Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin

Publication Date: 2018-12-03

Canadian conductor and pianist Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the incoming Music Director of the Metropolitan Opera, is taking over two years earlier than ini...

Emily King Supplies Warmth Via Retro Disco-Soul

Publication Date: 2018-11-29

Grammy-nominated chanteuse Emily King went into the family business via a different route, that of an R&B-influenced singer-songwriter. (She’s th...

Noise-Fuzz-Pop from Upper Wilds

Publication Date: 2018-11-26

With screaming and blistering guitars, power-chord-like vocal harmonies (both clean and processed through an array of guitar pedals), and a rock-soli...

Exuberant Psych-Pop From Australia's Pond

Publication Date: 2018-11-19

The band Pond hails from Perth, the Western Australian city referred to “as the most remote city on earth.” They blend blissful and mind-bending psyc...

Art-Indie-Rock Band Cloud Cult, In-Studio

Publication Date: 2018-11-15

The cinematic Minnesota band Cloud Cult is a creative collective who continually celebrates life and love, and catharsis through music and multimedia...

Zen Ritual Groove Music by Nik Bärtsch's Ronin

Publication Date: 2018-11-12

Swiss pianist and composer Nik Bärtsch creates playful and carefully balanced works containing both space and riffs. There might be as much listening...

Glimmery Electro Art-Pop by Arthur Moon

Publication Date: 2018-11-08

Arthur Moon is the moniker of composer/singer/multi-instrumentalist Lora-Faye Åshuvud. As Arthur Moon, she is the anchor who has gathered collaborato...

Michael Feinstein on Oscar Levant

Publication Date: 2018-11-05

In the mid-20th century, pianist Oscar Levant (1906 –1972) was a pre-digital version of a social media star – a ubiquitous, witty presence on America...

Composer and Drummer Tyshawn Sorey Explores Time

Publication Date: 2018-11-01

Newark-born composer, multi-instrumentalist, collaborator, and 2017 MacArthur Fellow Tyshawn Sorey, is also the Assistant Professor of Composition an...

Richard Reed Parry's 'Quiet River of Dust'

Publication Date: 2018-10-29

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 ...

Guitarist Jorma Kaukonen Is In No Hurry

Publication Date: 2018-10-25

Jorma Kaukonen is a founding member of Jefferson Airplane, co-founder of Hot Tuna, a teacher, and a top-notch guitarist. But though he will always b...

Matthew Dear's Sticky and Decadent Electro-Thump

Publication Date: 2018-10-22

The composer, singer, and tinkerer, Matthew Dear, is a DJ, dance-music producer, experimental pop artist, and bandleader. He keeps four music-making ...

Songwriter/Guitarist Jill Sobule Keeps Moving on 'Nostalgic' New Record

Publication Date: 2018-10-18

Denver-born songwriter, guitarist, singer, activist, and performer Jill Sobule, is possibly best-known because of her breakthrough hit of “I Kissed a...

Meredith Monk's 'Cellular Songs'

Publication Date: 2018-10-15

Vocalist and composer Meredith Monk is a multi-disciplinary artist, whose work involves music, dance, film, theatre, and now: biology meets anthropol...

Inventive Art-Rock by Ohmme

Publication Date: 2018-10-11

Chicago-based duo OHMME serves up fuzz and melodies, along with vocal hockets and harmonies, oh - and lots of time and feel changes. Sima Cunningham ...

Sons of Kemet Make Jubiliant Magic

Publication Date: 2018-10-08

The Mercury Prize-nominated quartet Sons of Kemet is a super-group led by London-based Barbados-born saxophonist and composer Shabaka Hutchings, and ...

Mountain Man Looks for Peace and Joy Through Vocal Harmonies

Publication Date: 2018-10-04

Mountain Man, the Appalachian a cappella trio, features the timeless sound of three voices singing in harmony, with an occasional strum of the guitar...

Surreal Art-Rock By Saxophonist Donny McCaslin

Publication Date: 2018-10-01

Sax player and bandleader Donny McCaslin, who collaborated with David Bowie on Blackstar, freely mixes pop, jazz, electronica, and art-rock on his st...

A Kind of Nordic Blues From Tord Gustavsen Trio

Publication Date: 2018-09-27

Norwegian pianist Tord Gustavsen and his trio, featuring new bassist Sigurd Hole and long-time collaborator, drummer Jarle Vespestad, combine togethe...

Marissa Nadler Sharpens Her Elegant and Eerie Dream-Folk

Publication Date: 2018-09-24

Boston-based Marissa Nadler writes intimate, sweeping dreamy and eerie songs, that shimmer with gothic melancholy. On her latest record, For My Crime...

Havana Pianist Harold López-Nussa's Exciting Cuban Jazz

Publication Date: 2018-09-20

Havana pianist, composer and bandleader Harold López-Nussa delivers a range of drama and the irresistible rhythms of Cuban music, fully integrating h...

'Mutant Chamber Jazz' From Robbie Lee and Mary Halvorson

Publication Date: 2018-09-17

Mary Halvorson has established herself as one of the finest guitarists of her generation; Robbie Lee has established himself as a versatile flutist, ...

Richard Thompson OBE Is Still the Shreddingest

Publication Date: 2018-09-13

British singer, songwriter and guitarist Richard Thompson OBE was part of the groundbreaking folk rock band Fairport Convention in the 1960's, made r...

Singer/Songwriter Blaze Foley Burns Brightly From Beyond in Film

Publication Date: 2018-09-10

The Texas singer/songwriter/poet Blaze Foley never hit it big, although his song “If I Could Only Fly,” would later be covered by the great Merle Hag...

Aukai's Electroacoustic Music for a Timeless State

Publication Date: 2018-09-04

German producer & multi-instrumentalist Aukai, aka Markus Sieber, grew up in the former East Germany, but his travels have taken him through Lati...

Dark Dance-Pop Duo Bob Moses Confronts the Battles Within

Publication Date: 2018-09-03

Canadian electronic outfit Bob Moses is actually two guys: Tom Howie and Jimmy Vallance, who are originally from Vancouver, British Columbia. Named a...

Songwriter Gabriel Kahane Rides the Rails, Sings with Strangers

Publication Date: 2018-08-29

Singer-songwriter, pianist, and composer Gabriel Kahane writes music between classical art song and pop song. His best-known work is probably Craigsl...

Rule-Breaking Punchy Americana by String Band The Devil Makes Three

Publication Date: 2018-08-27

The trio The Devil Makes Three has always had a punk rock approach to string band music with their two guitars and upright bass and narrative-driven ...

Stirring, Epic, and Intimate Cinematic Songs of DeVotchKa

Publication Date: 2018-08-22

Having made their way through Eastern European gypsy cabaret leanings, mariachi horns, and Bollywood string stylings, the multi-instrumentalist band ...

Italian Pianist Ludovico Einaudi, In-Studio

Publication Date: 2018-08-20

Prolific Italian pianist and composer Ludovico Einaudi has been commissioned by prestigious orchestras and festivals, scored music for films and TV, ...

NYC-Based Spanglish Fly Leads the Boogaloo Revival

Publication Date: 2018-08-16

New York-based band Spanglish Fly are part band and part celebration with their brasstastic mix of Latin dance-funk and soul in homage to Boogaloo - ...

Ava Rocha's Forward-Looking Brazilian Pop

Publication Date: 2018-08-13

Brazilian musician Ava Rocha has quickly become a leading figure in Brazil’s post-Tropicalia movement and is blazing ahead making inventive Brazilian...

Trixie Whitley, with Marc Ribot, from the New York Guitar Festival

Publication Date: 2018-08-09

Hear the Belgian-born guitarist/songwriter Trixie Whitley, from the 2017 New York Guitar Festival, presented in The Greene Space. Her songs draw from...

Fantastic Negrito's Fiery Blues with a Punk Attitude

Publication Date: 2018-08-06

Self-described “lifelong hustler,” Xavier Amin Dphrepaulezz, is better known by his stage name Fantastic Negrito, and makes “black roots music for ev...

The Folk-Rock of Passenger, From Busking to 'Runaway" Hit-Maker

Publication Date: 2018-08-02

English singer-songwriter and folk-rocker Mike Rosenberg, formerly of the band Passenger, might be best known for his song “Let Her Go.” Originally f...

The Folk-Rock of Passenger, from Busking to 'Runaway" Hit-Maker

Publication Date: 2018-08-02

English singer-songwriter and folk-rocker Mike Rosenberg, formerly of the band Passenger, might be best known for his song “Let Her Go.” Originally f...

Tropical Electronica 'DreamBow' by Balún

Publication Date: 2018-07-30

Brooklyn-based via San Juan band Balún came from DIY electrified bedroom pop that embraced punk on the island of Puerto Rico. Now, with an even wider...

Jupiter & Okwess Spread Positivity Via Funk and Dance Grooves

Publication Date: 2018-07-26

From the Democratic Republic of the Congo comes Jupiter & Okwess, percussion-driven socially-conscious funky guitar-buoyed dance music. Led by “J...

Junun Featuring Shye Ben Tzur and The Rajasthan Express

Publication Date: 2018-07-23

Junun is a musical collaboration between India-based Israeli composer Shye Ben Tzur, a group of Indian musicians called The Rajasthan Express, and co...

Fluid, Borderless Solo Guitar by Marisa Anderson

Publication Date: 2018-07-19

Portland, Oregon-based Marisa Anderson channels the history of the guitar and stretches the boundaries of tradition. From spacious melancholic lament...

Orquesta Akokán Channels Golden Era of Cuban Mambo

Publication Date: 2018-07-16

Orquesta Akokán bursts and flows with the spirit of dance orchestras of the 1940’s and 1950’s of Havana on their debut record of nine tunes - all spa...

Monsieur Periné Blends Afro-Colombian Styles with Vintage Swing, Live In-Studio

Publication Date: 2018-07-09

The Bogotá-based Monsieur Periné has taken the the Latin music world by storm since their start in 2008. The eight piece band takes the music of thei...

Powerhouse Singer-Producer Ebony Bones Live In-Studio

Publication Date: 2018-07-05

Singer-songwriter and producer Ebony Bones is a powerhouse performer with seemingly no limits. She creates energetic and driving songs with twinges o...

La Luz Dreams a Floating World of Surreal Surf-Noir

Publication Date: 2018-07-02

The now L.A.-based band La Luz recently moved to California from Seattle and their surf-noir refracts that weird golden paradise. Awash in reverb, th...

Art-Rock for a Good Time with the Band Bodega

Publication Date: 2018-06-28

NYC-based art rock quintet Bodega (previously known as Bodega Bay) are the model of modern tongue-in-cheeky post-punk band. With politically-minded p...

Natalie Prass Serves Up Groove, Romance and Sparkle

Publication Date: 2018-06-23

Richmond-based musician Natalie Prass is a fighter. Her forthcoming record, The Future And The Past, has transformed resistance and personal heartach...

Red Baraat Spreads Defiantly Joyful Bhangra Music

Publication Date: 2018-06-21

On the face of it, Red Baraat is a dhol-driven big band full of brass instruments and drums (both the dhol and drumset keep the groove going), rooted...

Single-Minded and Direct Songs by Joan Armatrading

Publication Date: 2018-06-16

The British guitarist and singer, Joan Armatrading, has had a long and award-winning relationship with the British folk scene, has had a strong jazz ...

Vintage Pop by England's Ruen Brothers

Publication Date: 2018-06-13

Meet the Ruen Brothers, Rupert and Henry, who are actually brothers from the Northern England town of Scunthorpe. Their sound conjures Roy Orbison, J...

The Powerful, Deep Soul of Singer Deva Mahal

Publication Date: 2018-06-11

Meet the impressive R&B songstress Deva Mahal, who claims her parents as inspiration: blues legend Taj Mahal and dancer/artist/teacher Inshirah M...

This Is The Kit: Fuzzed-Out Psych-Folk With Sexy Sax, In-Studio

Publication Date: 2018-06-07

This Is The Kit is English singer and songwriter Kate Stables (lately based in Paris or Bristol) and whoever joins her. Under that nom de plume, she'...

Jazz-Looking Chamber Music by Joshua Redman and Brooklyn Rider

Publication Date: 2018-06-04

Hear unpredictable and graceful melodic lines traded by sax and strings, as tenor sax superstar Joshua Redman and string quartet Brooklyn Rider, alon...

Producer and Songwriter Neko Case Unleashes 'Hell-On'

Publication Date: 2018-05-31

Resisting gender-specific compliments in print since 2014 (and probably before), producer, songwriter, badass, and musician Neko Case is about to unl...

Rival Consoles' Thoughtful and 'Humanised' Electronica

Publication Date: 2018-05-28

Hear unraveling minimalist electronica with restrained ambient feels from Rival Consoles, aka London-based producer Ryan Lee West, whose music combin...

Literary Chamber Rock Quintet Oracle Hysterical Adapts Greek Tragedy

Publication Date: 2018-05-24

Part book club, part composer collective, Oracle Hysterical’s works occupy the fluid space between classically-inclined song-cycle and art-rock conce...

Vijay Iyer Sextet's Hard-Driving Chamber-Funk

Publication Date: 2018-05-21

Pianist, composer, MacArthur Fellow, and bandleader Vijay Iyer has done imaginative re-workings of pop songs, explored the connections between jazz a...

Daring Ambition of The Magnetic Fields: One Song For Every Year of a Life

Publication Date: 2018-05-17

Watch Live via Facebook: Some folks get a fast car, a tattoo, or a drum set for their mid-life crisis. However, New York singer-songwriter and multi-...

Tuareg Guitarist Bombino's Irresistible Grooves Bring Folks Together

Publication Date: 2018-05-14

Bombino, aka guitarist and songwriter Omara Moctar, comes from the nomadic Tuareg people of North Africa. On his latest record, Deran, recorded close...

The California Honeydrops Kick It Old School

Publication Date: 2018-05-10

The California Honeydrops play stripped-down rootsy music that might sound like country-blues, Southern soul, New Orleans second-line, and R&B - ...

Eleanor Friedberger Is (Goth) Dancing (Mostly) on Her Own

Publication Date: 2018-05-07

Eleanor Friedberger, best known as one half of the indie rock duo The Fiery Furnaces, has recently shifted her musical landscape, swapping out live i...

Speedy Ortiz Delivers Pop Stingers For the Times

Publication Date: 2018-05-03

The latest music from American pop band Speedy Ortiz, ‘Twerp Verse,’ speaks smartly to political and social situations of the present from a feminist...

Okkervil River's Will Sheff Previews Songs From ‘In The Rainbow Rain’

Publication Date: 2018-04-30

Okkervil River excels at wistful, melancholy, intimate songs, yet there’s possibly an undercurrent of happiness to these latest creations on the fort...

Fatoumata Diawara: A Traditionalist Who Needs to Experiment

Publication Date: 2018-04-26

Some time ago, Malian singer, songwriter, guitarist and actress Fatoumata Diawara did a wonderful and daring thing – inspired by her friend Rokia Tra...

Party With The Lost Bayou Ramblers, Swinging Cajun-Style

Publication Date: 2018-04-23

Louisiana-based Lost Bayou Ramblers are a swinging punkass party band who mix Cajun melodies on fiddle, accordion, guitars, and some electric sounds....

Anna & Elizabeth Transform Old Traditions of Mountain Music

Publication Date: 2018-04-19

As bands go, Anna & Elizabeth have quite the origin story. Anna & Elizabeth began thanks to a broke down car and a shared desire to explore t...

Anbessa Orchestra Plays Music of Ethiopia Straight Outta Brooklyn

Publication Date: 2018-04-16

In the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, during the 1960’s and ‘70s, the sounds of American jazz and James Brown-style funk rocketed through the clubs ...

The Lone Bellow Pushes Forward Into Nashville

Publication Date: 2018-04-12

The folk-rock outfit The Lone Bellow crafts passionate, acoustic-based Americana that hints at elements of blues, country, and roots music. They’ve r...

Mary Chapin Carpenter Re-imagines Her Musical Travels

Publication Date: 2018-04-09

Singer, songwriter and guitarist Mary Chapin Carpenter re-imagined and rearranged songs from her 30-year catalog, along with the brand-new title trac...

Get into the Spiritual Trance Music by Innov Gnawa

Publication Date: 2018-04-05

The New York-based band Innov Gnawa performs the traditional healing music of Morocco: Gnawa - a trancey, rhythmic music that is played on an array o...

Singer/Producer/Songwriter Charlotte Day Wilson Taps Into Cold Strength And Intimate Beauty

Publication Date: 2018-04-02

Toronto-based Charlotte Day Wilson is a singer, multi-instrumentalist (she plays piano, saxophone, bass, and guitar), and producer who draws on her c...

Squirrel Nut Zippers Sling Some Hot Swing

Publication Date: 2018-03-29

The big band jazz and hot swing revivalists Squirrel Nut Zippers from Chapel Hill, North Carolina have always been a guaranteed good time since they ...

Randy Weston Distills Music's Spiritual Essence

Publication Date: 2018-03-26

The American pianist, composer, innovator, and "Legend of Jazz," Randy Weston, joins us to play some of his solo piano works - many of which border...

Vicente García's Immersive Collision of Bachata, Merengue, Funk, and Rock

Publication Date: 2018-03-22

Coming from a rock and funk place, Dominican singer-songwriter Vicente García has become something of a folk pop revivalist, incorporating his love o...

South African Choir Ladysmith Black Mambazo Sings of Peace and Harmony

Publication Date: 2018-03-18

The great South African a cappella choir Ladysmith Black Mambazo are a global phenomenon. With their uplifting vocal harmonies and signature dance mo...

The Oh Hellos Throw a Folk Rock Party for Everyone

Publication Date: 2018-03-15

Formed in Texas, the sibling duo The Oh Hellos have embarked on making music for folks wherever the winds carry them. Seriously - their latest strin...

Singer, Actress, and Activist Lila Downs Works To Break Down Walls

Publication Date: 2018-03-12

Feminist icon and Mexican folklorist Lila Downs’ most recent album Salón, Lágrimas y Deseo (Dancehall, Tears, and Desire), is dedicated to strong wom...

Detroit Rapper/Producer Black Milk, In-Studio

Publication Date: 2018-03-08

The rapper and producer Black Milk is based in LA these days, but he’ll always be associated with Detroit... with Detroit producers like the late J D...

Jorge Drexler Captivates With Heartfelt Guitar-Based Electrified Songs

Publication Date: 2018-03-04

Musician, actor and doctor (otolaryngologist) Jorge Drexler grew up in Uruguay, and now lives in Spain. Listeners may be familiar with Drexler’s musi...

Arresting Chamber-Rock Songs by POLIÇA and s t a r g a z e

Publication Date: 2018-02-28

Hear the eerie, arresting, co-composed electro-orchestral pop from Minneapolis electro band POLIÇA and Berlin new-music outfit stargaze, led by condu...

Wally de Backer, aka Gotye, and the Ondioline

Publication Date: 2018-02-25

Somebody that we used to know, Wally de Backer, Belgian-born Australian multi-instrumentalist, self-admitted “tinkerer,” and singer-songwriter (aka G...

New Zealand Artist Marlon Williams Makes Beauty Out of Agony

Publication Date: 2018-02-21

New Zealand singer/songwriter Marlon Williams has a voice like butter which can be charming and flirty as in the timeless crooner soon-to-be-classic,...

Rhiannon Giddens and Dirk Powell Explore Reconstruction-Era Music

Publication Date: 2018-02-18

African-American string band tradition meets Cajun/Creole and Appalachian music in a collaboration between singer, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, ...

Palm, A Band's Unexpected Experiments in Pop

Publication Date: 2018-02-14

Somewhere on the spectrum of art music and prog rock, is the band Palm. Underneath airy vocal melodies, they build out an architecturally precise com...

Wardruna: Nordic Folk Music of the Ancients, Rooted in Nature

Publication Date: 2018-02-11

Norwegian band Wardruna creates music born of Nordic history, Norse runes and nature - and is led by multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Einar Selvi...

Sirintip's Adventurous Insider/Outsider Pop Limns Dance and Jazz

Publication Date: 2018-02-07

The singer and songwriter known as Sirintip lives here in New York, but like many musicians who are here in New York, she came from somewhere else. S...

Blues Is The Roots For Big Head Todd and the Monsters

Publication Date: 2018-02-04

Hear some straight-up rock 'n' roll with big crunchy guitars and solid grooves from the decidedly un-noodley Big Head Todd and the Monsters. Not cont...

Gloomy Southern Folk of Songwriter and Guitarist John Paul White (ex-Civil Wars)

Publication Date: 2018-01-31

Muscle Shoals, Alabama, singer-songwriter John Paul White (Ex-Civil Wars) brings his lyrical Southern gothic songs of heartbreak to the studio. Expec...

The Shacks' Timeless, Airy Psychedelic Pop

Publication Date: 2018-01-28

New York-based band The Shacks play catchy music that has strong echoes of '60s pop and psychedelia, and touches of '70s soul too. Their nod to vinta...

The Band Umphrey's McGee: Musicianship For The Masses

Publication Date: 2018-01-24

The band Umphrey’s McGee spans a wide range of rock, prog, and pop, yet sometimes dips into jazz and/or improvisation by way of Zappa-inspired hand s...

Calexico Makes Mariachi-Laced Music for The End Times

Publication Date: 2018-01-21

For the better part of two decades, the Tuscon-based desert-noir band Calexico has been making Mariachi- and Cumbia-laced expansive Americana. For th...

The Wombats and Their Guitar-Drenched Pop Take Wing

Publication Date: 2018-01-17

The Liverpool-born trio known as The Wombats make catchy, guitar-saturated pop with riffs on twisted love songs, or detail-rich bad choices. With all...

String Quintet Sybarite5, In-Studio

Publication Date: 2018-01-14

Since their inception over a decade ago, the string quintet Sybarite5 has built a global audience, from Lincoln Center to The Cutting Room and the Mu...

Richmond Duo Lean Year's Slowcore Minimalist Folk, In-Studio

Publication Date: 2018-01-10

Dreamy slow-core folk duo Lean Year is Virginia-based singer Emilie Rex and filmmaker/musician Rick Alverson, along with contributions from Chicago m...

Bette Smith: Muscular Soul at a Fever Pitch

Publication Date: 2018-01-07

Bette Smith was born and raised in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn – but on her debut LP called Jetlagger she draws on the gospel she sang in the church and the s...

Electro Soul-Folk Duo Overcoats, Live In-Studio

Publication Date: 2018-01-03

Hana Elion and JJ Mitchell call themselves Overcoats and make songs that perhaps wear a shiny electronic coat, but underneath, they’re wearing a simp...

LNZNDRF: Krautrock Meets Psych Fuzz, Live in the Greene Space

Publication Date: 2017-12-31

LNZNDRF is a band composed of Scott and Bryan Devendorf (The National), and Ben Lanz (Beirut, The National, Sufjan Stevens). Their CAN-influenced dro...

John Doe (Frontman of X): An L.A. Punk Plays Tough Folk

Publication Date: 2017-12-27

John Doe is a musician, actor, and author, and one of the founding fathers of the L.A. punk scene with his band X, which continues to this day. He ha...

Banjo Innovators Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn, In-Studio

Publication Date: 2017-12-24

Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn have each – in their own separate ways during their separate careers – been reinventing the sound of the banjo. Bela ...

Surf-Crooner-Pop Band Zuli Plays Sunny Songs, In-Studio

Publication Date: 2017-12-20

New York-based band Zuli deals in fizzy-lifting crooner-pop that swerves madly between surf-, psych-, and indie-rock. On the latest record, On Human ...