Soundcheck

The Argentine singer/songwriter and brilliant producer of experimental off-kilter folk-tronica, Juana Molina, has a former life as a well-known comic actress. She embraces that playful humor and explores ancient folk legends involving bone on her latest record, Halo. The ever-changing electronic textures feel mysterious, and are full of shadows, but with a sense of devious fun, even at the risk of being morbid. Juana Molina joins us to play some of these fantastical (and fantastic!) tunes live in the studio.   

Lute-based and percussion driven, the rugged duo of Cretan lauto player George Xylouris (scion of one of Greece’s most revered musical families) and Australian drummer Jim White (he’s played with Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, PJ Harvey, Nina Nastasia, Cat Power, and Dirty Three) perform groove-based, improvisatory music that is both grounded in Cretan tradition- the island has a great history of singers, lyra players, and other folk musicians – and fused with the rugged vitality of raw rockenroll. The duo gives us a preview of their latest record, Mother, due out early next year, in-studio.  Watch Xylouris White's session via Facebook Live:

Composer, pianist, and vocalist Samora Pinderhughes writes urgent, poetic and immersive music that responds to the times and fits neatly into no genre, all while putting his heart right on the table. Samora Pinderhughes plays some of these intimate and revolutionary songs remotely: recent work from his Black Spring EP, along with new work from his song cycle “Grief.”

France-based Cameroonian musician Blick Bassy’s quiet and beautiful songs fall somewhere on the spectrum of blues, folk-soul, and pop, and embody a deep reverence for the traditional music of Cameroon and other parts of Africa. On his latest record, 1958, dedicated to the memory of Ruben Um Nyobé, Felix Moumié and the other heroes of Cameroonian independence, Bassy embraces a listener (mostly in his ancestral language of Basaa) over minimal cello, trumpet, trombone, keyboards, and electronic production. Bassy performs some of these songs acoustically, in an intimate setting in-studio. (From the Archives, 2017) - Caryn Havlik Watch the session here:    

Mumbai-born singer, composer, bandleader, and ultra-marathoner Priya Darshini is based in Brooklyn. Her musical studies range from Indian Classical music and ghazals (devotional songs) to jazz, and she has experience in Mumbai indie rock bands and on Bollywood film soundtracks besides. Darshini takes a cross-cultural approach to song for her original compositions from her Grammy-nominated debut record, Periphery. She joins us with a band that includes hammered dulcimer, bass, and drums, performing music remotely from the Brooklyn venue Wild Birds. Set list: “Jahaan,” “Loneliest Star,” Bonus video: "Home"  "Jahaan":  "Loneliest Star": "Home": 

Brooklyn-based Ellen Kempner (who performs as Palehound) and L.A.-based musician Melina Duterte (who performs as Jay Som), have joined forces as Bachelor – a friendship, not just a band. They play songs from their collaborative debut album, Doomin’ Sun, which combines vivid imagery, adventures in production, and an intimate sense of comfort. On June 10, the duo will present and perform at their first concert, Doomin’ Sun Fest, a livestream whose line-up includes Tegan & Sara, Adrianne Lenker (Big Thief), Jeff Tweedy, Courtney Barnett, Vagabon, Tune-Yards, Black Belt Eagle Scout, Japanese Breakfast, Soccer Mommy, and more. Set list: “Stay in the Car,” “Sick of Spiraling,” “Went Out Without You”  “Stay in the Car”: "Sick of Spiraling": "Went out Without You":  Here's Doomin’ Sun: Doomin' Sun by Bachelor

New York’s own gypsy punks Gogol Bordello have roots in Eastern European folk and Brecht-ian cabaret, along with punk and dub. With a band that usually includes accordion, fiddle, horns, percussion, jangly and electric guitars, Gogol frontman Eugene Hutz leads the turbo-charged “avalanche of rage-turned-joy,” whipping up frenzied crowds all over the world in every savage live performance. Their latest record, Seekers & Finders is coming for us all, and even features Regina Spektor as a guest. It brings some of the band and their playful magical riot to the studio in this 2017 session from the archives.     

The singer Ala.Ni has a cosmopolitan background: born in Britain to parents from Granada and now based in Paris. So it perhaps shouldn't be a surprise that her music is varied too. And yet, Ala.Ni’s forthcoming debut album, called You And I, is nothing but surprises. Often sounding like a long lost artifact of the mid-20th century, her striking voice goes from torchy jazz to intimate pop to atmospheric vocalise. Ala.Ni made her American radio debut, with guitarist Marvin Dolly in our studios, in early 2017. (From the Archives.) Here she is on Jools Holland, with "Cherry Blossom":    

Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn have each – in their own separate ways during their separate careers – been reinventing the sound of the banjo. Bela has drawn on jazz, classical, rock, folk, and world music; Abigail is fluent in Mandarin and has used her voice and banjo to draw connections between Chinese and Appalachian music. Together, though, this husband and wife team has released a couple of albums that really go for the old fashioned front porch sound. Their 2017 record is Echo In The Valley, and they'll play some of it in-studio. (From the archives.) Set List: Over the Divide Bloomin' Rose Come All You Coal Miners

Nashville-based Montreal-born Scottish-Grenadian-Canadian multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, poet, mother, and runner Allison Russell (Birds of Chicago, Our Native Daughters, Po’ Girl) presents her autobiographical record, Outside Child, which sees her  breaking the cycles of abuse and violence and celebrating having found her chosen community and chosen family. Allison Russell and her band - some of the members of her musical community- play some of these songs from Outside Child remotely.

Japanese-born, NYC-based pianist and composer Erika Dohi, is also one half of Contemporary Music Duo RighteousGIRLS. Her new record I, Castorpollux (37d03d) deals with duality, the idea of a “split self”–in works that float between composed and improvised music, as well as Dohi’s exploration of her Japanese-American identity, as well as pondering the idea of the multiverse, where there are alternate selves in parallel universes [as in Haruki Murakami’s novel 1Q84, or Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.] On this solo album, named for the twin deities of Castor and Pollux, there are some guests from the worlds of jazz and improvised music as well as classical music circles, like trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire and composer William Brittelle. Erika Dohi plays partially prepared piano remotely, both solo, and together with sax player and improviser Immanuel Wilkins. - Caryn Havlik Set list: "Replicant," "Dioscuri," "PoE" Watch "Replicant" : Watch "Dioscuri": Watch "PoE":

Old Sea Brigade is the work of Nashville-based, Georgia-born musician Ben Cramer, who makes atmospheric Nashville-informed indie folk, infused with 80s synthpop and jangly guitars. "Cramer’s feathery vocals dovetail nicely with the guitars’ indie-rock-in-the-aughts sound," and the melodies are enhanced with warm synths and hazy production (John Schaefer). Old Sea Brigade plays songs from his new album Motivational Speaking, remotely.   "Mirror Moon":  "How It Works":  "Day by Day": 

Atlanta-based Manchester Orchestra crafts cinematic, lush, long-form rock, with such detail about the characters, that it makes the stories even more believable on the songs from their latest record, The Million Masks of God. The band’s songwriting duo of Andy Hull and Robert McDowell, invokes the poem that inspired the album’s title, “Gold Leaves” by G.K. Chesterton, and talks about trying to find connections to the divine or the things that are in the way when searching. Hull and McDowell of Manchester Orchestra play some stripped-down and intimate arrangements remotely, for the podcast.  Set list: “Bed Head” “Keel Timing” “The Gold” Watch "Bed Head": Watch "Keel Timing": Wathc “The Gold”:

As a performer, Robert Randolph is nothing like the guys who play pedal steel in country music. He sets off pedal steel fireworks with his gospel-rooted soul-funk; he'll dance around the instrument, wrestle it, push it off its four legs, moved by the spirit - an ecstatic spectacle. Randolph, on his 2017 record Got Soul, continues to take the pedal steel where it has seldom been heard before – recruiting special guests like Hootie and the Blowfish singer Darius Rucker, R&B crooner Anthony Hamilton and Snarky Puppy's Cory Henry – and exploring those other musics: rock, funk, soul, jazz, and jam band music. On Fessender pedal steel, Robert Randolph and The Family Band play in-studio. (From the Archives, 2017.)

Since 2009, the Ecuadorian-American singer and songwriter Roberto Lange has been making records under the name Helado Negro (that’s “black ice cream” in Spanish.) His music has been literally bilingual, in the sense that he sings in both Spanish and English, but it’s also been metaphorically bilingual, with its mix of art and pop. 2016's Helado Negro album, Private Energy, responds to the Black Lives Matter movement, and contains some explicitly political material. They play some of those songs, in-studio. (From the Archives, 2017.) Here's "Young, Latin & Proud," in 360: