Soundcheck

New York-based drummer Allison Miller is also a composer, teacher, and the leader of the band Boom Tic Boom, a group featuring violinist Jenny Scheinman, cornetist Kirk Knuffke, clarinetist Ben Goldberg, bassist Todd Sickafoose and pianist Myra Melfo...Show More

Nashville-based singer-songwriter, guitarist, and poet Adia Victoria crafts Southern Gothic pop deeply rooted in the blues. On her new record, Silences, produced by The National's Aaron Dessner, she clothes her plaintive melodies with a velvet-robed ...Show More

J.S. Ondara is a Minneapolis-based singer-songwriter whose love for Bob Dylan spurred him to move to Minnesota from Nairobi, Kenya in 2013. Since he won a Green Card lottery that allowed the move, he learned to play guitar and has lived the so-called...Show More

British singer Jacob Banks was born in Nigeria before moving to Birmingham, England. There he has developed a large following for his remarkable voice and his equally impressive storytelling gifts – stories he tells in songs and in a series of videos...Show More

Los Angeles trio Cherry Glazerr, led by singer/guitarist/founder Clementine Creevy, is fierce, furious, but also weary. Creevy has found some inspiration by looking inward, and just hanging out with the demons of self-doubt instead of fighting in som...Show More

Guitarist and songwriter Nilüfer Yanya writes songs that, while dark and a bit twisted, yet direct and elegant, ultimately embrace imperfection. Her music might easily flow between Nina Simone, pop punk, crisp jazzy chords, and the dynamic, sweaty ex...Show More

Mandolin Orange is the folk duo of North Carolinians Andrew Marlin and Emily Frantz, who blend traditional Americana roots music – folk, country, bluegrass – in their warm and intimate, bittersweet acoustic songs. They met at a bluegrass jam, and hav...Show More

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 jazz, Afrobeat, hip hop, rock, reggae, and R&B, and they’ve performed with Tony Allen, Wu Tang Clan, De ...Show More

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 the instruments they’ve invented, a baritone ukulele and hybrid guitar-bass. Their songs are tasty slic...Show More

Dancey and dreamy, Brooklyn-based Rubblebucket makes psychedelic and jazz-conscious pop swimming in a strange and lovely mix of celebration and melancholy. Their latest record, Sun Machine, is a celebration of the connection between trumpeter Alex To...Show More

Grammy-winning singer/songwriter/producer India.Arie has returned to spread love and joy through music and words. Her latest album, due out in February, is a collection of enchanting and soulful electro-acoustic pop songs, full of smart observations,...Show More

Meet RaaDie, which is the latest musical project of Vienna-based trumpeter Lorenz Raab (Volksoper Vienna, XY-Band, Bleu) and the composer, bassoonist, and zither player Christof Dienz (Die Knoedel, Quadrat:sch, XY-Band). With a balance of composition...Show More

Mexican-American rock musician, songwriter, and singer Alejandro Escovedo draws from DIY punk, Tex-Mex country, and Americana rock for his latest record, The Crossing, a growly and crunchy guitar-filled, instrumentally cinematic, and in-your-face lou...Show More

London-based quintet Ezra Collective makes music with an irresistible blend of groove that includes Afrobeat, hip-hop, grime, reggae, and jazz. Led by drummer Femi Koleoso, and anchored by his brother TJ Koleoso on bass with keyboardist Joe Armon-Jon...Show More

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 harmony. With electronic augmentation beyond just guitar amps, Guster long ago dropped its acoustic guit...Show More

A New York–born Haitian-American living in New Orleans, the multi-instrumentalist Leyla McCalla draws from traditional Creole, Cajun, and Haitian music, as well as American jazz and folk. McCalla is a former member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, bu...Show More

Brooklyn band Dollshot crafts experimental dream pop that is a crazy-quilt of electro-art-rock, cabaret music of Schoenberg, chamber music by Poulenc, and futuristic noir soundscapes. They offer an unusual and often unsettling combination of sounds, ...Show More

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 pop songs for marching band, back-to-back. But Shara Nova of My Brightest Diamond can. The classically...Show More

New York/Canada-based songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, and poet Vera Sola, aka Danielle Aykroyd, crafts twangy-gothic-folk that might stem from horror punk as much as Patsy Cline and Brenda Lee. With a little wry and dark humor, a streak ...Show More

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 South African choir, along with music from My Brightest Diamond that came from our live performance ser...Show More

The once-bearded Jewish-American roots-reggae vocalist and beatboxer Matisyahu found success in both the Hasidic spiritual community and beyond, back in the mid-2000’s. He has continued to reflect on seeking the divine, despite the surprise of shavin...Show More

From the live in-studio performance series, we’ll be recapping our favorite sessions from 2018. Part 1 features the Norwegian band Wardruna, Chicago-based duo OHMME, the dance-jazz band Sons of Kemet, porch and mountain music duo Anna & Elizabeth, an...Show More

Michigan-born, Colorado-raised, but now Icelandic-based singer/songwriter John Grant crafts anguished, lush ballads and spacey electro-pop. He speaks five languages and is also a former member of The Czars, a Colorado-based band that split in the ear...Show More

Larkin Poe is Rebecca & Megan Lovell -two singer/songwriters and multi-instrumentalist sisters who are originally from Atlanta, but are now Nashville-based. Combining guitar, lap steel, minimal percussion, and sibling harmonies, they make roots-infus...Show More

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 & NYC. She recently completed an MFA in fiction writing (Hunter College) and her sharp story-songs qui...Show More

Algiers is a mesmerizing band of musicians born in Atlanta, Georgia and now splitting time between London and New York. Their urgent, genre-resistant, chill-inducing, and fist-shaking music taps into and channels the frustration of locally-informed g...Show More

Pianist, composer, engineer, and producer, Kelly Moran takes pride in trying to “obfuscate exactly what the piano sounds like. The whole point is to make it sound different.” (Tiny Mix Tapes) Moran, on her latest record, Ultraviolet (Warp Records), h...Show More

Canadian conductor and pianist Yannick Nézet-Séguin, the incoming Music Director of the Metropolitan Opera, is taking over two years earlier than initially planned. In this interview with John Schaefer for the Soundcheck Podcast, he outlines his plan...Show More

Grammy-nominated chanteuse Emily King went into the family business via a different route, that of an R&B-influenced singer-songwriter. (She’s the daughter of New York jazz vocalists who has moved to the Catskills.) Her latest record, Scenery, due in...Show More

With screaming and blistering guitars, power-chord-like vocal harmonies (both clean and processed through an array of guitar pedals), and a rock-solid pummeling of drums, Brooklyn trio Upper Wilds, [Dan Friel (Parts & Labor), Zach Lehroff (Ex Models)...Show More

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 psychedelic rock, with subversive strains of funk, synth-pop, falsetto, somehow both of the moment, and i...Show More

The cinematic Minnesota band Cloud Cult is a creative collective who continually celebrates life and love, and catharsis through music and multimedia performances, usually involving painting from stage, and lately, film. Cloud Cult’s emotive, melodic...Show More

Swiss pianist and composer Nik Bärtsch creates playful and carefully balanced works containing both space and riffs. There might be as much listening going on as there is playing, which points to a spiritual focus, trust, and discipline that comes fr...Show More

Arthur Moon is the moniker of composer/singer/multi-instrumentalist Lora-Faye Åshuvud. As Arthur Moon, she is the anchor who has gathered collaborators- including Cale Hawkins (Quincy Jones, Bilal, Wyclef Jean) and Martin D. Fowler (a composer for Th...Show More

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 American TV and radio, and films. He was also a bestselling author, radio game show panelist, and a talk sho...Show More

Newark-born composer, multi-instrumentalist, collaborator, and 2017 MacArthur Fellow Tyshawn Sorey, is also the Assistant Professor of Composition and Creative Music at Wesleyan University. A recent Instagram post (Sept. 2018) of the day’s listening ...Show More

Week of October 15: This week, music for Harry Potter, a musical spell from Esperanza Spalding, and a new immigrant song.   Imogen Heap To Release The Music of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child   The British singer/songwriter/producer Imogen Heap h...Show More

Vocalist and composer Meredith Monk is a multi-disciplinary artist, whose work involves music, dance, film, theatre, and now: biology meets anthropology. In her most recent large-scale work, Cellular Songs, musical forms evoke biological processes as...Show More

The composer, singer, and tinkerer, Matthew Dear, is a DJ, dance-music producer, experimental pop artist, and bandleader. He keeps four music-making aliases and has released five albums and two dozen EPs, along with multiple commissioned remixes. On ...Show More

Denver-born songwriter, guitarist, singer, activist, and performer Jill Sobule, is possibly best-known because of her breakthrough hit of “I Kissed a Girl” (pre-dating Katy Perry by more a decade), and “Supermodel,” the anthem from the film Clueless....Show More

Week of October 8: This week, border-busting music from Arturo O’Farrill, the new album from Cat Power, borderless music from OneBeat, and Van Morrison’s latest. Ana Tijoux and Arturo O’Farrill Do A Fandango On The Border   Pianist, composer and ba...Show More

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 be associated with the rock music of the 1960's, he’s had a much longer and more enduring relationship...Show More

Mountain Man, the Appalachian a cappella trio, features the timeless sound of three voices singing in harmony, with an occasional strum of the guitar. They released an album in 2010, a trio of college friends who’d gotten used to singing together, bu...Show More

Richard Reed Parry is perhaps best known as the really tall, really redheaded guy playing half a dozen instruments in the Grammy-winning band Arcade Fire. But he’s also a founder of the instrumental group Bell Orchestre, and a composer of contemporar...Show More

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 and Macie Stewart, the songwriters and multi-instrumentalists of Ohmme, are both trained classical pi...Show More

Week of October 1: This week, a long-awaited return for Lil Wayne, Bradley Cooper “discovers” Lady Gaga, and a musical farewell from Soft Cell. Lil Wayne’s Tha Carter V Is Finally Out Rapper Lil Wayne has been promising fans Tha Carter V since arou...Show More

Norwegian pianist Tord Gustavsen and his trio, featuring new bassist Sigurd Hole and long-time collaborator, drummer Jarle Vespestad, combine together folk influences and church music for unhurried embraces of melody. Expressive and reflective, Gusta...Show More

The Mercury Prize-nominated quartet Sons of Kemet is a super-group led by London-based Barbados-born saxophonist and composer Shabaka Hutchings, and propelled by tuba player Theon Cross, and two drummers - Tom Skinner and Eddie Hick. (Kemet - the bla...Show More

Week of Sept. 24: This week, surprise winners of the Mercury and Polaris Prizes, and more surprises from Joey Stylez and Macy Gray. Wolf Alice Is The Surprise Winner Of The 2018 Mercury Prize   UK's prestigious Mercury Prize, which is awarded to th...Show More

Boston-based Marissa Nadler writes intimate, sweeping dreamy and eerie songs, that shimmer with gothic melancholy. On her latest record, For My Crimes, she’s enlisted accomplished musicians: harpist Mary Lattimore, drummer Patty Schemel (Hole), exper...Show More

Week of Sept. 17: This week, Hozier pays tribute to Nina Simone, Al Green returns, and LA Witch buys a camera with actual film. Plus, the fuzzy guitar distortion of Upper Wilds.  Watch Hozier’s Moving Tribute To Nina Simone   “’Power’ has been cri...Show More

Mary Halvorson has established herself as one of the finest guitarists of her generation; Robbie Lee has established himself as a versatile flutist, sax player, and keyboardist. But if they’re not careful, they could wind up being known as the weird ...Show More

British singer, songwriter and guitarist Richard Thompson OBE was part of the groundbreaking folk rock band Fairport Convention in the 1960's, made records with his then-wife, Linda Thompson, and has many fan-favourite solo records as well. Rolling S...Show More

Havana pianist, composer and bandleader Harold López-Nussa delivers a range of drama and the irresistible rhythms of Cuban music, fully integrating his conservatory training and love of the jazz continuum with his Cuban roots and soul.   His wide mas...Show More

Week of September 10: This week, A “Blaze” of Glory, an old Dogg’s new trick, and a Mountain Goats surprise. Ethan Hawke’s Film Blaze Shines A Light On A Dark Genius   Singer/songwriter Blaze Foley was shot and killed at a friend’s house, by his fr...Show More

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 Haggard. Actually, several of his songs have been covered by John Prine, Willie Nelson, Nanci Griffith, ...Show More

Sax player and bandleader Donny McCaslin, who collaborated with David Bowie on Blackstar, freely mixes pop, jazz, electronica, and art-rock on his striking new album, Blow., which sees the band moving into sonic terrain that shows even more of Bowie’...Show More

German producer & multi-instrumentalist Aukai, aka Markus Sieber, grew up in the former East Germany, but his travels have taken him through Latin America, and he is now based in Colorado. "Aukai" is a Hawaiian term for a seafaring traveler, and on h...Show More

Canadian electronic outfit Bob Moses is actually two guys: Tom Howie and Jimmy Vallance, who are originally from Vancouver, British Columbia. Named after master builder and urban planner Robert Moses, their thinking went something like - choose a New...Show More

Week of September 3: This week, political punk and pop from IDLES and Neneh Cherry, and a musical remembrance of Paul Taylor IDLES Offers Punk For The Brexit/Trump Era IDLES is a punk band from Bristol, England, whose new album has a title that doub...Show More

Singer-songwriter, pianist, and composer Gabriel Kahane writes music between classical art song and pop song. His best-known work is probably Craigslistlieder (2006) – a song cycle of personal ads set to music -which made it clear that this songwrite...Show More

Week of August 27: This week, a Bill Withers Tribute, off-kilter pop from Tunde Olaniran, the debut of boygenius, Moses Sumney's EP, and world music orchestra, Bokanté. Jose James Covers Bill Withers – Lots of Bill Withers   Back in 2013, Jose Jame...Show More

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 tunes. Musically, they draw from the deep roots of Delta blues, folk, and rock, along with slow metal...Show More

Having made their way through Eastern European gypsy cabaret leanings, mariachi horns, and Bollywood string stylings, the multi-instrumentalist band DeVotchKa— Nick Urata (vocals, guitars, Theremin, trumpet, piano), Jeanie Schroder (acoustic bass, so...Show More

Week of August 20: This week, musical returns for Kristin Hersh, Matthew Dear, Yo-Yo Ma, and, improbably, Prince.  Kristin Hersh: No Longer Throwing Muses But Still Kicking Up Dust Clouds Possible Dust Clouds by Kristin Hersh Singer and guitarist Kr...Show More

Prolific Italian pianist and composer Ludovico Einaudi has been commissioned by prestigious orchestras and festivals, scored music for films and TV, and headlined festivals alongside Kendrick Lamar and Lady Gaga. He has also done collaborations with ...Show More

Brazilian musician Ava Rocha has quickly become a leading figure in Brazil’s post-Tropicalia movement and is blazing ahead making inventive Brazilian pop. Her new album Trança means Braid, and it weaves together strands of rock, funk, post-punk abras...Show More

Week of August 13: This week, protest songs from Marc Ribot, Ginkgoa, and possibly Aphex Twin. Marc Ribot and Meshell Ndegeocello Offer Song Of Resistance   Guitarist Marc Ribot is best known for his work with Tom Waits, Elvis Costello and many oth...Show More

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 - that fusion of soul music, Rhythm & Blues, and Afro-Caribbean rhythms that was born in New York City ...Show More

Hear the Belgian-born guitarist/songwriter Trixie Whitley, from the 2017 New York Guitar Festival, presented in The Greene Space. Her songs draw from her favorite styles – punk, electronica, R & B, and feel something like quietly watching the sun ris...Show More

Self-described “lifelong hustler,” Xavier Amin Dphrepaulezz, is better known by his stage name Fantastic Negrito, and makes “black roots music for everyone” - blues with a giant undercurrent of punkass. Fantastic Negrito’s songs tell of a hard life w...Show More

Week of Aug. 6: This week, long-awaited returns by Robyn and Cypress Hill, plus Urban Santeria from Okonkolo. The First Robyn of Summer, 8 Years On    The Swedish electropop star Robyn hasn’t put out a full album since 2010, but that’s about to chan...Show More

Bang’s Big Theoryby Lasse D. Hansen “Do not warm up in the bathroom, please.” It’s not hard to imagine the situation that made it necessary to put up the sign backstage at MASS MoCA’s Hunter Center. With 31 young musicians from the Bang on a Can Summ...Show More

Visual Art at the Bang on a Can Summer Music FestivalBy Sarah Lindmark Every morning during Bang on a Can’s week-long Media Workshop, the four Media Fellows would walk to seminar together through MASS MoCA’s extensive network of galleries, hallways, ...Show More

English singer-songwriter and folk-rocker Mike Rosenberg, formerly of the band Passenger, might be best known for his song “Let Her Go.” Originally from Brighton & Hove,  Rosenberg busked his way through England and Australia in the early 2000’s and ...Show More

Bang on a Can, Sing through a Vacuum TubeBy Maggie Molloy Mark Stewart hears the music in everyday objects. The world is his orchestra, and every pipe, tube, tabletop, and balloon is an untapped vessel just waiting to make beautiful music. At the Ban...Show More

Even An Avant-Garde Music Festival Values Some TraditionsBy Stan Tymorek If you had attended the Bang On a Can summer festival in 2008, you would have heard a piece by a young Composition Fellow named Andy Akiho at one of the MASS MoCA gallery recita...Show More

Week of July 30: This week, a bluesy take on the Rolling Stones, scores by Jlin and Dustin O’Halloran, new music from Brooklyn-based Arthur Moon, and ambient music by Masayoshi Fujita.  Jlin Releases Dizzying Excerpt From Dance Score Autobiography (...Show More

Profile of a Composer In Five Quotes and a LaughBy Stan Tymorek “Imagine me at Bang On a Can! They’re so cutting edge,” composer Joan Tower said to a MASS MoCA audience on Thursday night. “I’m elderly, but I guess I’m adventurous.”  Tower was being m...Show More

The Bang On A Can summer festival at Mass MOCA offers a chance to explore one of the country’s leading exhibitors of contemporary art - IF you can find the time. Yesterday I finally had a chance to wander around a bit. Of course there were still musi...Show More

It isn’t surprising that each day at the Bang on a Can Summer Festival at Mass MoCA thus far has felt like a marathon, given the new-music collective’s reputation for curating concerts of extreme durations. But despite the long hours of rehearsals an...Show More

The Bang On A Can collective, which has championed new music since 1987, decamps every summer to Mass MoCA, the vast complex of former industrial buildings in North Adams, Massachusetts that now houses one of the country's largest contemporary art mu...Show More

Week of July 23: This week, returns for Pussy Riot, Cat Power, The Hold Steady, and public radio host/musician Chris Thile, plus new music by producer L'Orange and rapper Solemn Brigham as Marlowe.  Pussy Riot’s “Policeman” Series Includes World Cup...Show More

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 range of influences, (please see their ethnomusicological, technological, punk, hardcore, and New Yo...Show More

From the Democratic Republic of the Congo comes Jupiter & Okwess, percussion-driven socially-conscious funky guitar-buoyed dance music. Led by “Jupiter” Bokondji, the self-dubbed “rebel general”, incites partying but with positive messaging for the l...Show More

Week of July 16: This week, summer sounds from Childish Gambino, Savoir Adore, and hot salsa from Eddie Palmieri. PREMIERE: Savoir Adore Return With A Dreamy Summer Song The Brooklyn-based indie pop outfit called Savoir Adore was founded by Paul Ha...Show More

Sávila is a cumbia-inspired music and visual art project by guitarist Fabiola (Fabi) Reyna, vocalist Brisa Gonzalez and percussionist Papi Fimbres which takes its name from a medicinal plant that grows wild in tropical climates all over the world. Gu...Show More

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 sparkling, blazing, soulful, and meticulously arranged and composed mambo originals. Together, singer Jo...Show More

Junun is a musical collaboration between India-based Israeli composer Shye Ben Tzur, a group of Indian musicians called The Rajasthan Express, and composer (and Radiohead’s guitarist) Jonny Greenwood. The music is in the ecstatic Sufi music style kno...Show More

Week of July 9: This week: rollicking Farsi funk, a melancholy Future, and Kate Bush looks to the past. PREMIERE: Farsi Funk From NY’s Mitra Sumara   Something wonderful happened in the 60s and 70s when young musicians around the world began incorp...Show More

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 mod...Show More

Portland, OR-based Marisa Anderson channels the history of the guitar and stretches the boundaries of tradition. From spacious melancholic laments to transcendent minimalism, Anderson is coming from a place between country, blues, and drone. On her l...Show More

Singer-songwriter and producer Ebony Bones is a powerhouse performer with seemingly no limits. She creates energetic and driving songs with twinges of pop, punk, afrobeat, and dance music, all wrapped up into a compelling display of raw emotion and s...Show More

The singer and pianist Henry Butler died yesterday at 68. Blind since infancy but blessed with charisma and a resonant voice, he was not someone you’d forget, once you’d met him. Butler was part of the lineage of great New Orleans pianists, along wit...Show More

Week of July 2: This week, Drake, Directors, and Dos Santos. Plus a new video from Meshell Ndegeocello. PREMIERE: The NY-centric Video By Directors, Featuring Sahr Ngaujah The New York band called Directors features the voice of Sahr Ngaujah; you m...Show More

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, the surf guitar and fuzzy vocal harmonies from singer/guitarist Shana Cleveland, drummer Marian Li Pino...Show More

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 in Bhangra music (Punjabi dance music), who bring a party with them wherever they go. On their lates...Show More

Meet the Ruen Brothers, Rupert and Henry, who are actually brothers from the Northern England town of Scunthorpe. Their sound conjures Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash, and music on the radio from a bygone era. They'll play some of this vintage pop with clas...Show More

Hear unpredictable and graceful melodic lines traded by sax and strings, as tenor sax superstar Joshua Redman and string quartet Brooklyn Rider, along with all-star rhythm section of Scott Colley (bass) and Satoshi Takeishi (percussion) take over the...Show More

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 personal commentaries on masculinity, consumerism, the hustle of capitalism, and female pleasure, thei...Show More

Resisting gender-specific compliments in print since 2014 (and probably before), producer, songwriter, badass, and musician Neko Case is about to unleash her latest record, Hell-On, into the world. She’s written songs that traverse a lot of ground: f...Show More

Richmond-based musician Natalie Prass is a fighter. Her forthcoming record, The Future And The Past, has transformed resistance and personal heartache into defiant, groove-laden romantic anthems. With a little dash of disco, and a little bit of soul,...Show More

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 influence in a lot of her early hits, topped the American charts with a new wave song in 1980, and ju...Show More

Hear unraveling minimalist electronica with restrained ambient feels from Rival Consoles, aka London-based producer Ryan Lee West, whose music combines warm and human analogue-heavy synthesizers, along with acoustic and electric instruments. On his l...Show More

Week of May 28: This week, returns for Jake Shears and Buddy Guy, a benefit song from Hurray For The Riff Raff for Puerto Rico, and an expansive hip-hop/orchestral collaboration.   Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Adrian Younge Present The Midnight Hour   ...Show More

Meet the impressive R&B songstress Deva Mahal, who claims her parents as inspiration: blues legend Taj Mahal and dancer/artist/teacher Inshirah Mahal. Her latest record, Run Deep is collection of modern and seductive, rich and rocking tunes that make...Show More

Part book club, part composer collective, Oracle Hysterical’s works occupy the fluid space between classically-inclined song-cycle and art-rock concept album. The group’s songs take on great literary with text sources from Grimms’ Fairy Tales to Gree...Show More

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's been releasing since the 00's. Her latest album, called Moonshine Freeze, has been nominated for th...Show More

Week of May 21: This week, Neko Case gets dark, Fantastic Negrito gets darker, and Nine Inch Nails… You get the idea.   Neko Case Takes a Long and Winding Road   In her solo songs, her long-term collaboration with indie rock supergroup The New Porn...Show More

Pianist, composer, MacArthur Fellow, and bandleader Vijay Iyer has done imaginative re-workings of pop songs, explored the connections between jazz and the music of India, and veered into the classical realm as well, with electronics. His most recent...Show More

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-instrumentalist Stephin Merritt, songwriter of The Magnetic Fields recorded 50 Song Memoir: a five-d...Show More

Week of May 14: shades of blue from the Ruen Brothers and from Kelsey Lu, and a message from Sioux sacred lands by Gang Gang Dance. The Ruen Brothers Evoke 60s TV Variety Shows in All My Shades of Blue Originally from the UK, Henry and Rupert Stans...Show More

Bombino, aka guitarist and songwriter Omara Moctar, comes from the nomadic Tuareg people of North Africa. On his latest record, Deran, recorded close to his native Niger in the southern Sahara, he extends best wishes for peace and celebrates his dese...Show More

The California Honeydrops play stripped-down rootsy music that might sound like country-blues, Southern soul, New Orleans second-line, and R&B - all at once old school and really old-school. Their origin story is inspirational – Polish-born Lech Wier...Show More

Week of May 7: This week, the lighter side of Dirty Projectors, Childish Gambino’s dark view of America, and Red Baraat’s color-coded dance music. Dirty Projectors’ New Single Is For The Birds   Singer/composer David Longstreth is preparing to rele...Show More

Eleanor Friedberger, best known as one half of the indie rock duo The Fiery Furnaces, has recently shifted her musical landscape, swapping out live instruments in favor of drum programming and synths for a sound that she can create mostly on her own....Show More

The latest music from American pop band Speedy Ortiz, ‘Twerp Verse,’ speaks smartly to political and social situations of the present from a feminist perspective of truth-telling and is designed, on purpose, to make us uncomfortable lyrically and mus...Show More

Week of April 30: This week, Van Morrison looks back at the '30s; Hatchie looks back at the '80s; and Lisa Gerrard looks to Bulgaria. Van Morrison’s Turn To Record An Album Of Standards   We’ve seen plenty of aging singers of the rock era dipping i...Show More

Okkervil River excels at wistful, melancholy, intimate songs, yet there’s possibly an undercurrent of happiness to these latest creations on the forthcoming record, In The Rainbow Rain. Somehow singer/songwriter Will Sheff both reflects on this new w...Show More

Some time ago, Malian singer, songwriter, guitarist and actress Fatoumata Diawara did a wonderful and daring thing – inspired by her friend Rokia Traore, she bought an acoustic guitar, and taught herself to play it. Since then, Fatoumata has put out ...Show More

Week of April 23: This week, a gem from the Prince archives, a throaty tale from Okkervil River, and guitar music from Botswana that has to be seen to be believed. From Prince’s Archives, A New/Old Version Of “Nothing Compares 2 U”    Saturday was t...Show More

Louisiana-based Lost Bayou Ramblers are a swinging punkass party band who mix Cajun melodies on fiddle, accordion, guitars, and some electric sounds. They just won a regional roots Grammy for their record, Kalenda, but they’ve also done an original s...Show More

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 mo...Show More

Week of April 16: This week, new works by Kamasi Washington and Jenny Hval; a new video from Brooklyn-via-San Juan group Balún, and some musical advice on Making America Great Again. Balún Offer Sunny Glimpse At Their New Record   I’ve become a fan...Show More

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 Ne...Show More

The folk-rock outfit The Lone Bellow crafts passionate, acoustic-based Americana that hints at elements of blues, country, and roots music. They’ve recently moved from Brooklyn to Nashville, (let that fact be read into, musically) and the band in the...Show More

Singer, songwriter and guitarist Mary Chapin Carpenter re-imagined and rearranged songs from her 30-year catalog, along with the brand-new title track, for her most recent record, Sometimes Just the Sky. That title comes from a speech given by Patti ...Show More

Week of April 9: This week, new/old music from Lithuania, psychedelia from France, and deep wonderful weirdness from wherever Sophie is from. PREMIERE: Ancient Lithuanian Folk Meets Modern Production, From Abraham Brody Although he’s American-born, ...Show More

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 of unique instruments — from the lute-like gimbri (sintir), to the metal qarqaba (castinets) with whic...Show More

Week of April 2: This week, new music from The Weeknd, Sons of Kemet, and Brazilian Girls. A Musical Manifesto From Sons Of Kemet   The London saxophonist/composer Shabaka Hutchings has become an important figure in British music. He leads several ...Show More

Toronto-based Charlotte Day Wilson is a singer, multi-instrumentalist (she plays piano, saxophone, bass, and guitar), and producer who draws on her classical background to make bedroom-intimate, yet intensely emotional tunes that are influenced by ev...Show More

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 broke through in the late 1990’s,with their platinum album Hot. Although they stopped recording aroun...Show More

Week of March 26: This week, Angelique Kidjo interprets Talking Heads; Bach meets Jookin’; and an ancient Celtic mystery revealed in a wheel of cheese. VIDEO PREMIERE: Anna & Elizabeth's New Look At An Old Folk Song   The duo team of Anna Roberts-G...Show More

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 on ritual blues with a dash of Ellington stride here and there a crashing note cluster of Thelonious M...Show More

Coming from a rock and funk place, Dominican singer-songwriter Vicente García has become something of a folk pop revivalist, incorporating his love of Afro-Caribbean rhythms, from acoustic bachata to reggae on his latest record, A La Mar. Formerly th...Show More

Week of March 19: This week, musical reactions to a troubled world from Pussy Riot, Roger Waters, and Yo La Tengo. Plus new videos from Tinariwen and Courtney Barnett. Russian Music Of Resistance From Pussy Riot   The Russian-based feminist art/pun...Show More

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 ...Show More

Formed in Texas, the sibling duo The Oh Hellos have embarked on making music for folks wherever the winds carry them. Seriously - their latest  string of EPs are named after one of the four Greek mythological wind deities that bring the seasons. With...Show More

Week of March 12: This week, a pair of musical returns: Sade (after 8 years) and Squirrel Nut Zippers (after 18), along with new music from Simian Mobile Disco, David Byrne and Jon Hopkins.   Sade Returns After Eight Years – Just A Wrinkle In Time ...Show More

Feminist icon and Mexican folklorist Lila Downs’ most recent 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 relatin...Show More

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 Dilla, and Detroit rappers like Danny Brown. Black Milk (Detroit-born and bred rapper, composer and pr...Show More

Week of March 5: This week, a moving Oscar performance, Malian rock, and Brooklyn punk. The Oscars: Best Song and Best Score Are Upstaged by Eddie Vedder   It was no surprise that the award for Best Original Song went to Kristen Anderson-Lopez and ...Show More

Musician, actor and doctor (otolaryngologist) Jorge Drexler grew up in Uruguay, and now lives in Spain. Listeners may be familiar with Drexler’s music because his theme song for The Motorcycle Diaries won an Academy Award (presented to him by Prince....Show More

Hear the eerie, arresting, co-composed electro-orchestral pop from Minneapolis electro band POLIÇA and Berlin new-music outfit stargaze, led by conductor André de Ridder. The two groups have worked together since the 2015-2016 season, in a “virtual r...Show More

Ten years ago today, the New York Philharmonic landed in North Korea ... along with a group of Western journalists, myself among them. This anniversary is well-timed, since we Americans have spent much of the past two weeks looking at Korea on our TV...Show More

Week of Feb. 26: This week, Janelle Monae and the Skull Eclipses release preview tracks, and a musical trip to Cuba. PREMIERE: Meklit’s “Memories of the Future” Remixed by Georgia Anne Muldrow The Ethiopian-American singer and songwriter Meklit Had...Show More

Somebody that we used to know, Wally de Backer, Belgian-born Australian multi-instrumentalist, self-admitted “tinkerer,” and singer-songwriter (aka GOTYE), digs unusual instruments – like the rare French electronic musical instrument, the ondioline (...Show More

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...Show More

This week, new music from Beach House to Beijing, Rafiq Bhatia and Punjab Tronix, plus a new Courtney Barnett record is coming. Courtney Barnett Wants to Know How You Really Feel Courtney Barnett, the Aussie singer, guitarist, and rock’s leading pu...Show More

Week of Dec. 25: This week, a new video from Southern Italy, another from Kendrick Lamar, & a holiday gift from vocal octet Roomful of Teeth.  PREMIERE: Beautiful New Video From Italy’s CGS In Southern Italy, the group known as Canzoniere Grecanico ...Show More

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...Show More

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 Freakout Mountain, Ryan Camenzuli -- the brain behind Zuli -layers intricate guitar and piano riffs t...Show More

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 soul music she heard on the block on hot summer nights music growing up on the corner of Nostrand and ...Show More

Week of Dec. 18: This week, the unexpected returns of Benjamin Franklin and J Dilla, collaborations between Jackson Browne and Mexican-American roots band Los Cenzontles, and Xenia Rubinos, Olga Bell, and MC Sammus. Lin-Manuel Miranda Presents: Ben ...Show More

Hear psychedelic future-pop from Cindy Wilson, co-founder of the party band, The B52's. Wilson returned to her roots to fashion a new Athens, GA-based band, and explore a different side of her vocal talents. She and her band have just released Change...Show More

Hana Elion and JJ Mitchell call themselves Overcoats and make songs that perhaps wear a shiny electronic coat, but underneath, they’re wearing a simple, often old-fashioned weave of vocal harmonies. To describe the music as a mix of folk, pop, & elec...Show More

Tei Shi, the New York-based Canadian singer, songwriter, and record producer was born Valerie Teicher in Buenos Aires and grew up between (Bogota,) Colombia and (Vancouver,) Canada. With synths and airy vocals, she crafts melodic, yet danceable layer...Show More

Week of December 11: Sufjan Stevens Sings About Tonya Harding; Songwriter Grace Carter at 20; the New York Phil at 175. Remember Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding? Guess Which One Sufjan Stevens Is Singing About.OK, I admit it. I find figure skating ...Show More

The Canadian singer/songwriter/guitarist/and actor Tamara Lindeman has been making records under the name The Weather Station for just over a decade. Her latest album, also called The Weather Station, is essentially a collection of very short stories...Show More

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...Show More

To hear Cindy Wilson's session live, click on the player below at 2 p.m. ET. Hear psychedelic future-pop from Cindy Wilson, co-founder of the party band, The B52's. Wilson returned to her roots to fashion a new Athens, GA-based band, and epxlore a d...Show More

Week of Dec. 4: This week, a peek back at Sharon Jones’ last recording sessions, a "Fight For Life" by El Perro Del Mar and a look ahead to The Hold Steady’s next album. The Hold Steady Return With First New Songs In Three Years Entitlement Crew b/w...Show More

See Luna's session live via Facebook: Hear guitar-drenched dream pop by Luna, the New-York-City-based band, now scattered around the country. Yes, that Luna. The one that was “formed in 1991 by Dean Wareham after the breakup of Galaxie 500, with Sta...Show More

To hear Tei Shi's session live, click on the player below at 2 p.m. ET. Tei shi, the New York-based Canadian singer, songwriter, and record producer was born Valerie Teicher in Buenos Aires and grew up between (Bogota,) Colombia and (Vancouver,) Can...Show More

To hear Zuli's session live, click on the player below at 2 p.m. ET. 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 Freakout Mountain, Ryan Camenzu...Show More

Watch Colleen's session via Facebook Live:  Colleen is the alias of French multi-instrumentalist Cécile Schott, who has been living and working in Spain for the past few years. Her musical ax of choice was a Baroque instrument - the viola da gamba (...Show More

To hear The Weather Station's session live, click on the player below at 2 p.m. ET. The Canadian singer/songwriter/guitarist/and actor Tamara Lindeman has been making records under the name The Weather Station for just over a decade. Her latest albu...Show More

Week of Nov. 27: This week, looking ahead to U2 and looking back at ECM Records. Now Streaming, Everything From ECM Records One of the biggest pieces of music news this past week involved streaming. Actually, two of the biggest pieces of news: first...Show More

Balmorhea (bal-mə-ray), the Austin-based instrumental minimalist ensemble, makes expansive layered spacious music. When they visited our studios in their six-piece formation, they played songs from their latest, Clear Language. Additionally, the band...Show More

Watch Balmorhea's live session: The Austin-based minimalist instrumental ensemble Balmorhea uses acoustic instruments to create atmospheric soundscapes. Comparisons to Explosions in the Sky or Godspeed You! Black Emperor might not be too far off, bu...Show More

Watch the full Facebook Live Session: Portland, OR collective Eyelids play "lopsided" rock with a great jangly-buzzy guitar sound – kind of a classic indie rock sound – and why not: the band’s members have also played in heavyweight bands like The D...Show More

Watch Xylouris White's session via Facebook Live: 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 Bon...Show More

Week of Nov. 20: This week, a new Björk song and an old murder ballad in a video premiere. Plus, an alternate Stranger Things soundtrack. PREMIERE: A Raw, Haunting Version Of An Old Murder Ballad The indie film Barracuda is about a young English wo...Show More

Watch via Facebook Live:  Beirut-based indie-rock band Mashrou’ Leila tackles taboo topics - political corruption, LGBT rights, religion, and Middle Eastern feminism. Their catchy and danceable Arabic pop songs are full of guitars, drum machines, sam...Show More

Watch Lilly Hiatt's instudio: Nashville-based songwriter Lilly Hiatt leans more garage-rock than saloon songstress, especially on her latest record, Trinity Lane, where she has summoned the crunchy guitars of 90’s bands like the Pixies, the Breeders...Show More

This week, new songs by Eminem and Kimbra; a song premiere from Mali via Louisiana, and a video premiere from a Brooklyn loft. PREMIERE: A Star Guitarist From Mali Comes To Louisiana In the early 60s, guitarist Boubacar Traoré became a national figu...Show More

Here's Jen Cloher's session live: Melbourne, Australia-based label boss and band-leader, the singer/songwriter Jen Cloher scrapes back some skin and exposes raw truths on her latest record, her third, a self-titled affair. In making music which she ...Show More

The rock band elbow (small "e") hails from greater Manchester and makes subtle, sensitive, anthemic, joyful music, sometimes augmented with the strings of the Hallé Orchestra, (which they did not bring with them.) Guy Garvey’s vocals and wordplay are...Show More

Week of Nov. 6: This week, life-affirming soul and death-haunted folk, plus Brian Eno’s latest collaboration. Did You Skip This Youtube Ad?  Here’s What You Missed Benjamin Booker’s album Witness came out this past summer and was full of classic ro...Show More

Combo Chimbita, a quartet of first-generation New Yorkers from Colombia, have tapped into the gritty rawness of New York punk as well as the Afro-futurism of Sun Ra, as they marry musical styles from Latin America and the Caribbean along the way with...Show More

Rolling Stone magazine set out to cover music, and the wider youth culture of the day some 50 years ago. It was where young people went to read about psychedelic rock, Vietnam, and Bob Dylan. 50 years later, the magazine had moved on to Taylor Swift,...Show More

Week of Oct. 30: This week, A Cuban/Jamaican collaboration, The Go! Team, Rhye, and a weird wish from Morrissey. Cuba And Jamaica Meet… In Australia The Australian pianist and reggae producer Mista Savona is about to release an album called Havana ...Show More

Hailing from Washington, D.C., the roots-reggae band SOJA believes that music should speak for people and uplift them. With that idea in mind, their latest, Poetry In Motion, blends reggae, go-go, D.C. hardcore, Latin, rock and hip-hop, and intends t...Show More

To hear Lean Year's session live, click on the player below at 2 p.m. ET. 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...Show More

The Norwegian band called Barokksolistene is out to give classical music a bad name. They’re trying to drag classical music – and especially Baroque music – down to the level of folk musicians fiddling in back of a pub. We here at WNYC fully support ...Show More

Week of Oct. 23: This week, Big K.R.I.T., Japanese Breakfast, and Pretty Lights. Plus, a surprise new Superchunk song! Big K.R.I.T.’s Striking Gospel Rap Video   Southern rapper Big K.R.I.T. is about to release a new album called 4Eva Is A Mighty L...Show More

The inventive and ever-evolving string quartet Brooklyn Rider proffers an omnivorous steady diet of new works, global collaborations, and interpretations of the standard quartet repertoire. On its latest, Spontaneous Symbols, the quartet presents rec...Show More

Los Angeles-based band Vintage Trouble is a powerfully fun time of old-school soul, southern rhythm & blues, sizzling dance moves, and catchy, crunchy guitar-driven rockenroll. When describing their own sound, the band uses the term “formatted reckle...Show More

Week of Oct. 16: This week, a final recording from Sharon Jones, and Erykah Badu curates Fela Kuti. Sharon Jones’ Last Album Coming In November The great soul singer Sharon Jones passed away last year after battling with pancreatic cancer – a battl...Show More

Trumpeter, singer, and composer Keyon Harrold has played with Beyoncé, Common, Erykah Badu, Rihanna, Eminem, D’Angelo and the Vanguard, LL Cool J, and Maxwell, to name a few. He was also the trumpet player behind Don Cheadle in the Miles Davis biopic...Show More

The Athens, Ga.-based group Drive-By Truckers has been writing about the Southern experience and its history for more than 20 years. Fronted by founding members Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley, the band's latest record, American Band, is a collection ...Show More

This week, the soul of Johnny Cash, and dispatches from Mar-A-Lago and Albania. Soul Of Cash Brings Johnny Cash And Soul Music Together Soul singer Brian Owens has just released an album called Soul Of Cash, wherein he joins the long list of musici...Show More

Kaki King brings a string quartet with her into the studio to perform some of her elegant arrangements in this chamber plus rock-folk-jazz setting. Watch: Guitarist, artist, songwriter and composer Kaki King writes in a variety of styles – finger-pi...Show More

Atlanta-based band, Manchester Orchestra, delivers gripping cinematic indie rock, and they recently impressed us in 2016 with their original film score for “Swiss Army Man.” That record saw music made unlike many film scores – without instruments. Si...Show More

This week, musical support for relief efforts in Texas and Puerto Rico; The Mountain Goats climb to the summit of podcasting. And RIP Tom Petty.   Remembering Tom Petty Tom Petty concert in 2010 (musicisentropy/Wikimedia Commons)  Of course, the...Show More

You probably know songwriter, producer and arranger Dan Wilson. He’s the songwriter who wrote massive hits with folks like Adele (“Someone Like You”) and The Dixie Chicks (“Not Ready to Make Nice”), and for his own band, Semisonic (“Closing Time.”) R...Show More

Producer and author Ian Brennan has worked with world music, folk music, traditional music, and has a feel for the DIY and lo-fi punk aesthetic. He produced Tinariwen’s Grammy-winning album, Tasili, but he has also recorded and amplified many voicele...Show More

This week, a film score premiere, a Balkan brass band collaborates with an underground rapper, and a report from Chicago’s South Side. PREMIERE: Music From Astonishing New Film “Loving Vincent” Clint Mansell has written the music for the first-of-i...Show More