Soundcheck show

Soundcheck

Summary: WNYC, New York Public Radio, brings you Soundcheck, the arts and culture program hosted by John Schaefer, who engages guests and listeners in lively, inquisitive conversations with established and rising figures in New York City's creative arts scene. Guests come from all disciplines, including pop, indie rock, jazz, urban, world and classical music, technology, cultural affairs, TV and film. Recent episodes have included features on Michael Jackson,Crosby Stills & Nash, the Assad Brothers, Rackett, The Replacements, and James Brown.

Join Now to Subscribe to this Podcast

Podcasts:

 Monsieur Periné Blends Afro-Colombian Styles with Vintage Swing (Archives) | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 29:53

The Bogotá-based Monsieur Periné has taken the the Latin music world by storm since their start in 2008. The eight piece band takes the music of their native Columbia, and infuses it with sweet swing sensibilities of the 1920's and a good dash of modern pop styles. Their upbeat and lively arrangements are engaging, detailed, and above all such a joy to move to. Their excellent musicianship and energy has not gone unnoticed; they were given a Latin Grammy award as 2015's best new artist. They have not slowed down since then and recently released the wildly popular Bailar Contigo. They perform live in-studio. Watch the individual songs below:

 South African Choir Ladysmith Black Mambazo Sings of Peace and Harmony (Archives) | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 30:08

The great South African a cappella choir Ladysmith Black Mambazo are a global phenomenon. With their uplifting vocal harmonies and signature dance moves, they’ve been anointed “cultural ambassadors to the world” by no less than Nelson Mandela. (Some listeners might recall them appearing on Paul Simon’s Graceland album back in 1986.) The group was formed in 1960 by Joseph Shabalala, has recorded more than 50 albums, and won five Grammys. Joseph Shabalala retired from the group in 2014, and died in February of 2020, but his sons and other family members carry on the tradition. During their 2018 world tour, Ladysmith Black Mambazo returned to perform songs in our studio. (From the Archives, 2018.)

 Singer, Actress, and Activist Lila Downs Works To Break Down Walls (Archives) | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 29:54

Feminist icon and Mexican folklorist Lila Downs’ 2018 album Salón, Lágrimas y Deseo (Dancehall, Tears, and Desire), is dedicated to strong women everywhere. Her lyrics, inviting all “dangerous” women to join her, often highlight issues relating to social justice, while spanning blues to cumbia, folk and ranchera music. Inspired by Frida Kahlo, Downs says in an interview with Remezcla that she finds being Mexican has “a lot of value, even if the world that surrounds one doesn’t believe it.” She’s joined by her band, and special guest Chilean emcee Ana Tijoux, in-studio. (From the Archives, 2018.)

 New Zealand Artist Marlon Williams Makes Beauty Out of Agony (Archives) | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 25:33

New Zealand singer/songwriter Marlon Williams has a voice like butter which can be charming and flirty as in the timeless crooner soon-to-be-classic, “Vampire Again,” or which can convey despair and longing, see his duet with Aldous Harding - "Nobody Gets What They Want Anymore." After his breakup from musician Aldous Harding, complicated torrents of feeling poured out in song, all delivered in a honey-smooth voice that accepts heartbreak and cultivates its beauty. Marlon Williams' 2018 record was called Make Way For Love; he plays some of those songs, in-studio. (From the Archives, 2018.) 

 Calexico Makes Mariachi-Laced Music for The End Times (Archives) | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 29:20

For the better part of two decades, the Tuscon-based desert-noir band Calexico has been making Mariachi- and Cumbia-laced expansive Americana. For their 2018 record, The Thread That Keeps Us, they explore the dual nature of anxiety and hope in these volatile times with some romance and gritty dread. The band joins us to play some of these songs in our studio. (From the Archives.) Their 2022 album, El Mirador, just out this past April, is "a hopeful, kaleidoscopic beacon of rock, bluesy ruminations and Latin American sounds" (YouTube.) Set List: The End of the World With You Voices in the Field Under the Wheels

 Rhiannon Giddens and Dirk Powell Explore Reconstruction-Era Music (Archives) | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 38:54

African-American string band tradition meets Cajun/Creole and Appalachian music in a collaboration between singer, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, actor and MacArthur Fellow Rhiannon Giddens and Dirk Powell, a multi-instrumentalist, singer, arranger, songwriter, and actor himself. Together, with banjos and fiddles, they play each other's original songs, music that takes on the slave condition of pre-Civil War times, and chat about their recent project, songs tied to the Reconstruction era culture of the Wilmington, North Carolina Massacre of 1898. (From the Archives, 2018.) Set list:  I’m Gonna Write Me A Letter  Say Old Playmate  At the Purchaser’s Option 

 Curse of Lono's Gothic Rock for a Late-Night Drive | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 34:54

For the guitarist, vocalist, and bandleader of the London-based Curse of Lono, Felix Bechtolsheimer, these past few years have been steeped with loss: his father, uncle, ex-partner, and his band – whose lineup was completely overhauled to the pandemic. The band’s name comes from Hunter S. Thompson’s 1983 book of the same name, and their cinematic southern gothic country songs land somewhere between The Rolling Stones, Wilco, Lou Reed, the Doors, Leonard Cohen and Lee Hazelwood. Bechtolsheimer’s baritone guitars and baritone vocals are “a key part of the Lono sound”, which might be good for “a late-night desert drive” (GuitarWorld.com). Curse of Lono’s new record, People In Cars – an album named for a 2017 photo book by Mike Mandel – is introspective and at times steeped in memories of darkness and despair, and “is themed around the many roads he’s travelled and those who’ve shared the journey” (folkradio.co.uk). Curse of Lono performs some of these songs for us remotely. - Caryn Havlik Set list: In Your Arms, London Rain, Way to Mars Watch "In Your Arms": Watch "London Rain":  Watch "Way to Mars":

 Richmond Duo Lean Year's Slowcore Minimalist Folk, In-Studio (Archives) | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 28:30

Dreamy slow-core folk duo Lean Year is Virginia-based singer Emilie Rex and filmmaker/musician Rick Alverson, along with contributions from Chicago musician/engineer Erik Hall and guest artists. Their musical palette is one of soft-spoken but direct vocals, a Telecaster guitar dredging through peaceful waters, baritone saxophone and clarinet parts, Rhodes, tape-warps, and waves of strings. Lean Year joins us in-studio to play some of these cutting and quiet minimalist folk tunes. (From the Archives, 2018.)

 String Quintet Sybarite5, In-Studio (Archives) | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 31:53

Since their inception over a decade ago, the string quintet Sybarite5 has built a global audience, from Lincoln Center to The Cutting Room and the Museum of Sex; from the Apple Store to the Library of Congress, and a music salon-like residency at NYC’s the cell, along with multiple international and national tours, residencies, and festivals. The five players (Sami Merdinian and Sarah Whitney, violins; Angela Pickett, viola; Laura Metcalf, cello; and Louis Levitt, bass) have made it their quest to champion new music by American composers along with other tunes that excite them: arrangements of Radiohead, Taraf de Haidouks, Led Zeppelin, and Astor Piazzolla. Their 2018 record, OUTLIERS, is a collection of new works composed just for them. The quintet plays some of these tunes in-studio. (Archives, 2018.) Set List: Black Bend by Dan Visconti Yann's Light by Shawn Conley Getting Home (I must be...) by Jessica Meyer

 Pow Wow Singer Joe Rainey's Voice and Beats: Same River, Different Boat | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 39:50

Pow Wow singer Joe Rainey, of the Ojibwe community in Minneapolis, fuses traditional melodies and “vocables” (Philip Sherburne, Pitchfork) with the producer Andrew Broder in something of an avant-hip hop partnership, although in addition to beats, there are field recordings, industrial-sounding processed drums, string arrangements, and vocal processing. He describes his music as being on the same river, but a different boat from other pow wow singers and groups. Rainey’s album Niineta—the title means “Just Me” in Ojibwe, and which he further explains is “my contribution to contemporary indigenous music” – was released on Justin Vernon and the Dessner brothers’ 37d03d label, to which Rainey is signed. The music is rooted in traditional drum and dance music, where for years Rainey always had a hand-held recorder or voice memo rolling, even recording calls from incarcerated family members singing. These field recordings became part of the whole album’s unique woven fabric of voice-as-instrument pieces, combined with samples and sometimes with altered by electronic processing, all layered with Rainey’s own singing, which can celebrate or console, and “conveys a clear message: We’re still here. We were here before you were, and we never left”, (Bandcamp.) Joe Rainey and Andrew Broder perform remotely. - Caryn Havlik Set list: “Bezhigo”, “Can Key”, “No Chants” Watch "Bezhigo": Watch "Can Key": Watch "No Chants": Niineta by Joe Rainey: Niineta by Joe Rainey

 Anbessa Orchestra Plays Music of Ethiopia Straight Outta Brooklyn (Archives) | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 33:54

In the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, during the 1960’s and ‘70s, the sounds of American jazz and James Brown-style funk rocketed through the clubs there, combining with Ethiopia’s own exotic scales to produce the golden age of Ethiopian pop. The New York-based 7-piece band Anbessa Orchestra draws from this era and aims to take the listener on a musical journey from Addis Ababa to Brooklyn, with the loping grooves, buoyant brass lines, moody organ, crisp guitars, and solid percussion. Their 2018 album is called Negastat, which means “Kings,” and it is full of Ethiopian-style, horn-heavy funk. And the Anbessa Orchestra is here to play some of it in-studio. (From the Archives, 2018.) Watch "Gurage": Watch an Ethiopian scales demo: Watch "Yeleleu Hager Lidl" (Son of No Country):

 Anna & Elizabeth Transform Old Traditions of Mountain Music (Archives) | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 38:36

As bands go, Anna & Elizabeth have quite the origin story. Anna & Elizabeth began thanks to a broke down car and a shared desire to explore the traditions of Appalachian roots music. The immersive, intimate combination of Elizabeth LaPrelle’s deep mountain voice (from Virginia), Anna Roberts-Gevalt’s modern one (from Vermont), their sweet harmonies, and minimalist arrangements is striking. The duo’s latest record, The Invisible Comes to Us, co-produced by Anna and Benjamin Lazar Davis (avant-pop outfit Cuddle Magic), draws on old-time traditions of home, porch, and kitchen music, and incorporates experimental pedal steel player Susan Alcorn and drummer Jim White (The Dirty Three), along with electronic elements. It brings Anna & Elizabeth to play some of these sparse, haunting ballads, stories, and lullabies for us, in-studio. Watch "Black Eyed Susan": Watch "Jeano" : Watch "Odd Kimball":  

 Canadian Indie-Pop Band Stars Suggests Nostalgia With Love | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 36:31

Canadian indie-pop band Stars makes almost orchestral pop that has the bonus quality of being danceable. They’ve also got a knack for vividly descriptive storytelling, built around the dueling vocals of singers Torquil Campbell and Amy Millan. Formed in the early 2000’s, Stars has been “remarkably stable” over the years; they enjoy making one another laugh, they've written a play, and even fiction about themselves.  Their ninth studio album, From Capelton Hill, covers pandemic shock, explores memory – perhaps with a sepia tinge, and has a strong sense of place. Stars plays remotely for the Soundcheck Podcast. Stars plays a Bandcamp Live-streaming set at 5PM on May 27. Set list: “Build a Fire”, “Capelton Hill”, "Patterns" Watch "Build a Fire":

 Jose Conde's Funk-Tropical Pop Refracts Miami's Musical Landscape | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 28:32

Singer, songwriter, guitarist, and bandleader Jose Conde (of the tropical Latin dance band Ola Fresca) draws on the musical melting pot of Miami for his latest solo effort, Souls Alive in the 305. With some music inspired by cicadas and frogs, and George Clinton’s “Atomic Dog,” he combines funk, breakbeat, disco rap, rock n roll, Cuban music and salsa into songs that sound like “the Miami musical landscape of my youth.” Jose Conde and his band perform remotely for the Soundcheck Podcast. - Caryn Havlik Set list: “Fallen From Eternity”, “Poetry in Motion” Watch "Fallen From Eternity": Watch "Poetry In Motion":

 Members of British Band Porridge Radio, Live From The Greene Space | File Type: audio/mpeg | Duration: 43:31

Part art-rock, part post-punk, Porridge Radio is a band from Brighton, UK, led by singer and guitarist Dana Margolin. Her earliest songs were full of imagery of the sea and the seaside town where the band resides, and the latest collection of songs are intense, addressing joy, fear, and endlessness - and full of dry wit. Now that they’ve had a restful 2020, Margolin and bandmate Sam Yardley (keyboards, drums) play stripped-down versions of tunes from their new record, Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder to the Sky. The session was recorded live (with a real audience!) in The Greene Space, in early May.  Set list: “Back to the Radio,” “Trying,” “Birthday Party,” “Jealousy”, “Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder to the Sky”, "Sweet" Watch "Back to the Radio": Watch "Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder to the Sky": Watch "Sweet": Watch the entire live set from May 2022 in The Greene Space:

Comments

Login or signup comment.