Soundcheck

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 songs are laid-back, with tidy clean guitars and “unfussy” drums (The Quietus) that might evoke the sounds of R.E.M., Big Star or Teenage Fanclub, for some. There’s a new record coming in 2020, along with a tour, but this past June of 2019, Real Estate played a mighty set for New York Public Radio at Brooklyn Bowl. Here are some of their latest tunes, along with a few old favorites. – Caryn Havlik Set list:  Friday Saturday You November Talking Backwards

Grammy Award-winning drummer, producer, collaborator, and educator Terri Lyne Carrington is a drummer’s drummer whose laudable technique, creative choices, and tasteful flow speak to wide listening, and intense focus. Carrington is also the director of Berklee’s Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice, working towards a vision of “jazz without patriarchy.” (NY Times) She’s played with countless jazz luminaries over her career, and has gathered many more for her new band, Social Science; pianist Aaron Parks and guitarist Matthew Stevens, Morgan Guerin (bass & sax), Debo Ray (vocals) and Kassa Overall (MC/DJ.) Together, they confront a wide spectrum of social justice issues in original tunes on their double album, Waiting Game. Terri Lyne Carrington and Social Science play some of these new tunes in-studio. - Caryn Havlik Watch the session here: 

Composer, saxophonist, and mixed media artist Matana Roberts presents her latest in the multi-chapter work Coin Coin project which documents the African-American cultural and historical experience. “Memphis,” which is chapter four, mixes jazz, blues, traditional songs, free improv, and Afro-futurism into a heavy sonic quilt of “21st century liberation music.” (Matana Roberts calls her approach “panoramic sound quilting.”) She "speaks memory," and "sings an American survival" in this chapter of the coin coin bloodline (Tiny Mixtapes), set in Memphis - home of Roberts’s grandmother- and around a story of a "wo(e)man chile named Liddie." Matana Roberts and her new band featuring Hannah Marcus on guitars, fiddle, and accordion; Ryan Sawyer on percussion; and Matt Lavelle on trumpet and bass clarinet, perform in-studio. - Caryn Havlik Watch the session here: 

Detroit-born Nashville-based guitarist and songwriter Olivia Jean worked as a hairstylist and makeup artist before she was able to make music full-time (Mariana Timony, Bandcamp Daily.) She first cut her teeth as a Third Man Records studio musician, then with the garage-goth band, The Black Belles. She released her debut solo record of “bubblegum garage” Bathtub Love Killings in 2014, which had some heartache, revenge, and a bit of delightfully dark strangeness to it. Now with her latest, 2019's Night Owl, in which she had the controlling interest as producer, there are unavoidable undercurrents of surf rock dripping from nearly every song. The ‘weird girl …who cut class to play surf guitar alone in her room’ (Bandcamp Daily - and have you seen her ASMR Makeover video?), Olivia Jean, joins us with her mighty band to play songs from this latest record, in-studio. - Caryn Havlik Watch the session here: 

Brooklyn-based guitarist and composer Yasser Tejada & the group Palotré combine African-rooted Dominican traditional folk styles and fuse them with r&b, church gospel, funk, jazz, and rock into a celebration of Afro-Dominican culture. They play this roots and funk fusion from their brand-new record, Kijombo, in-studio.  Watch the session here: 

LA-based singer and songwriter Tom Goss is a romantic who tells overlooked stories through soulful vocals and lush pop soundscapes. A former Catholic seminarian turned guitar- and keyboard-toting troubadour, Tom is known for his songs about love (some inspired by his husband Mike, whom he married in October 2010), and all of its complexities. He's taken up the cause to raise awareness about same-sex domestic violence and partnered with Trevor Project and PFLAG, in an effort to give LGBTQ youth hope that no matter what, the future gets brighter.  Musician Tom Goss joins us in-studio for an intimate performance. - Caryn Havlik Watch the session here:

Sound artist, songwriter, pianist, and composer Benny Gebert is one-half of the Brooklyn-based pop group HAERTS. For his latest solo adventure, Triptych, he combined the sounds of nature through open windows and used three pianos to create zen-like sound sculptures. He joins us to perform some of his inviting and serene piano-based instrumentals.  

Brooklyn-based orchestral pop outfit San Fermin has a reputation for grand and enchanting music. Led by songwriter and composer Ellis Ludwig-Leone, and joined by new collaborators Attacca Quartet and harpist Lavinia Meijer, as well as talented vocalists and bandmates who play violin, trumpet, sax, percussion, and guitars, San Fermin's latest, ‘Cormorant I,’ is both a search for the profound and a dose of nostalgic reflection. Although the full record combines the elegance of chamber music and the immediacy of pop songs, they play some stripped-down versions of these tunes in-studio.  - Caryn Havlik Watch the session here:     

Haitian-American composer Nathalie Joachim is the co-artistic director and flutist of the Grammy-winning contemporary chamber ensemble Eighth Blackbird, and one half of the art-pop duo, Flutronix. She's worked with Bryce Dessner, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Richard Reed Parry, Miguel Zenón, and the International Contemporary Ensemble as well. Her latest, with Chicago-based string ensemble Spektral Quartet, is "Fanm d’Ayiti" (Women of Haiti), a joyous and magic-infused work celebrating Haitian song, and how women are "the driving force of life, of politics, and social change." (Joachim, in an interview with I Care If You Listen.) Joachim and the quartet play some of "Fanm d’Ayiti," in-studio. - Caryn Havlik Watch the session here:  

The English singer-songwriter Frank Turner who was once a vocalist for hardcore band Million Dead – has become a folk-punk troubadour, spinning jangly songs with punk intensity that often respond to social and political situations. Frank’s latest record, No Man’s Land, is a collection of songs about overlooked historical figures – Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Christa McAuliffe, "Nica" Rothschild - many of whom happen to women. He joins us to play a solo set in-studio. - Caryn Havlik Watch the session here:

British guitar band Bombay Bicycle Club cites New York bands like LCD Soundsystem, The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs as inspiration. But since they signed to Island as teenagers more than a decade ago, they’ve run the gamut from indie-jangly-folky, then electro-based, and now growly yet melancholy guitar-based pop. Now back together after some time away, there is new hope in their riff-driven hooky sound, which is about finding solace in music. Bombay Bicycle Club joins us in the studio to preview songs from their forthcoming new record, Everything Else Has Gone Wrong. - Caryn Havlik Watch the session here:     

New York-based Puerto Rican musician, songwriter, and activist Ani Cordero has toured as the drummer for the legendary Os Mutantes, and was a founding member of the celebrated Mexican rock band Pistolera. She's written love letters to a complicated world, addressing issues like immigration, Black Lives Matter, Feminism, and government corruption. Her latest record, El Machete, goes into subjects like colonialism, feminism, and the harsh reality of life in Puerto Rico after the devastation of Hurricane Maria. It's serious, but it’s also fun, as a lot of these political and issue-based songs ride along on a dance beat. Ani Cordero and her band play some of these songs, in-studio. Set list: Pan Pan Pa Poder Vivir Yo No Vine a Jugar  

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 hands with their partners in public, and railing against conservative Christian anti-gay policy), and searching for love and companionship. (The “queer” coming from the identities of all members, and the “core” from the band’s punkass and metal roaring tendencies.) Team Dresch's members also embody the punk DIY spirit - they ran their own record labels (zines and message boards), booked their own tours, and provided community and inspiration to many - both queers and straight punks alike. With the reissue of their entire catalogue back in May 2019 as well as a bonus of two surprise new songs, they are back on active duty; Team Dresch plays in-studio. - Caryn Havlik Set list:  Your Hands My Pockets Freewheel Uncle Phranc Personal Best by Team Dresch   Choices, Chances, Changes: Singles & Comptracks 1994-2000 by Team Dresch

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 their nation's capital, Kigali, (the area had for centuries been known as the region for producing poets for the Kings.) With vocalists trading melody and harmony lines seamlessly, these “worker songs from the streets” use one-of-a-kind instruments, often incorporating their own farming tools as percussion. Their forthcoming record, (due out in November 2019), Rwanda, You Should Be Loved, features collaborations with Wilco and TV on the Radio, as well as members of Sleater-Kinney, My Bloody Valentine, and Fugazi. They’re currently on their first North American tour, and the members of The Good Ones are here to play in-studio. - Caryn Havlik Set list: The Farmer Young People Are the Future Despite It All I Still Love You Dear Friend      

Both old and new, Austin-based band Black Pumas is centered around guitarist and producer Adrian Quesada and 27-year-old songwriter Eric Burton. Grammy Award-winning Quesada has played in Grupo Fantasma and Brownout, and accompanied artists from Prince to Daniel Johnston. Burton grew up in church and then got heavily involved in musical theater. He arrived in Austin in 2015 after busking his way across the country from Los Angeles, and connected with Quesada on the phone. From idea to session to self-titled debut album, they've been making music that is neither retro nor derivative, with influences ranging from Sam Cooke to Neil Young and Ghostface Killah. Now a touring machine, Black Pumas brings their skillful combination of folky strum, sticky funk, dusty psych, and old soul to an in-studio session. - Caryn Havlik Watch the session here: