Soundcheck

Nashville-based artist Conner Youngblood is a singer, multi-instrumentalist and producer; his new record, called Cascades, Cascading, Cascadingly, is full of richly textured songs – in multiple languages (Spanish, Japanese, and Danish, in addition to his native English.) The music employs a wide array of effects without ever losing that organic, intimate feel; think of "sad Phil Spector meets shoegaze," (Schaefer). Conner plays some of these spacious, dreamy, and quietly curious maximalist bedroom-pop songs, in-studio. Set list: 1. From an Ocean, to a Lake 2. Solo yo y Tú 3. Blue Gatorade

Vocalist and composer Meredith Monk is a multi-disciplinary artist, whose work involves music, dance, film, theatre, and now: biology meets anthropology. In her recent large-scale work, Cellular Songs, musical forms evoke biological processes as layering, replication, division, and mutation in a “deeply affecting meditation on the nature of the biological cell as a metaphor for human society” (Financial Times). Through this work, Monk takes the microscopic unit of the cell, then projects and expands it as a proposal for “an alternative possibility of human behavior, where the values are cooperation, interdependence and kindness,” (much like how a cell functions, minus the kindness part.) Using their voices-as-instruments, Meredith Monk & Vocal Ensemble perform some of these Cellular Songs, along with violin, piano and keyboard, in-studio. [From the Archives, 2018.] -Caryn Havlik Meredith Monk & Vocal Ensemble perform "Indra's Net" at the Park Avenue Armory, Sept. 23-Oct. 6 Watch the session via YouTube:

The New York band Crumb creates playful and brooding swirls of sounds, somewhere at a crossroads of psychedelia, pop, jazz, and rock. Their latest album AMAMA (Grandmother) [self-released via their own label Crumb Records], experiments with textures and synthscapes: glitchy pitch-shifted vocals, cell phone recordings, nautical blips, sax mouthpiece solos, blasted drum samples, and piano strings dampened with Silly Putty. With lyrics whose meaning may emerge later, Crumb’s haunting music winds up being far from gentle or ‘chill’ and explores fraught encounters and transience, while striving to be carefree and searching for connection. Crumb plays a live set, in-studio. - Caryn Havlik Set list: 1. The Bug 2. Side by Side 3. Genie

American classical pianist and educator Christopher O’Riley has spent his career gleefully ignoring musical boundaries and playing whatever turned him on. In addition to playing Beethoven, Busoni, Ravel, Scriabin, and Liszt, he’s also arranged music by Nick Drake, Nirvana, Elliot Smith, and Radiohead; he leads masterclasses covering nearly every aspect of piano playing and repertoire from 1600 to 2020. Christopher O’Riley’s latest album is of J.S. Bach’s Well Tempered Clavier, done in a distinctly personal, even idiosyncratic style. He presents his years-long study of the Preludes & Fugues by Bach and a recent arrangement of a classic popular song, in-studio. Set list: 1. Bach: Prelude & Fugue #1 in C major, BWV 846 2. Bach: Prelude & Fugue #4 in C# minor, BWV 849 3."Over the Rainbow"

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 ensemble works that draw on both Eastern and Western musical traditions. She moved here from Iran in 2022 and formed the Mehrnam Rastegari Traditional Persian Band, a group of New York locals which features traditional Iranian instruments kamancheh, qanoun, daf, and vocals. Rastegari leads that band in music she’s written, along with traditional Persian, Arabic, and Kurdish music. The Mehrnam Rastegari Traditional Persian Band plays in-studio. - Caryn Havlik Set list: 1. Velveleh 2. Khosha Howraman 3. Show charay

Guitarist, composer, and teacher Benjamin Verdery seems to know everybody who’s ever picked up the instrument. Ben is a classical guitarist himself, but his musical friends include Andy Summers of the Police, the fingerpicking virtuoso Leo Kottke, flamenco legend Paco Pena, guitarist Bryce Dessner of the indie rock band The National – the list goes on and on. Lots of contemporary composers have written works for him, and Ben himself has written a wide range of works. He’s filled a 40 year career with a wild assortment of collaborations and collaborators. Recently, Ben emailed to say he was retiring next year, so it seemed high time that we invite him back here before he jets off to Hawaii. Benjamin Verdery plays some of his own pieces from his collection called Some Towns and Cities, and yes, at least one of those towns is in Hawaii. Set list: 1. Capitola, CA 2. Keanae, HI 3. Milwaukee, WI

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 band have played with Bjork, done live film scores to movie screenings, and embarked on a multiyear recording project of the long forgotten and now rediscovered music of Julius Eastman. But Christopher Rountree is also a composer, and his latest work is called 3 BPM. It seems like it might be his reply to the rise of AI in music, because he describes the piece as “a musical framework for being together.” In an open score that could be part map, and part game, the ensemble performs the entirety of 3 BPM in-studio. Watch "3BPM": The ensemble for this New York in-studio includes: Christopher Rountree, voice / synth Catherine Brookman, voice / synth Nadia Sirota, viola Adam Tendler, piano Phong Tran, electronics Taylor Levine, electric guitar Rachel Beetz, flute 3 BPM by Christopher Rountree with Wild Up | HOCKET | Nadia Sirota

Brooklyn native Bette Smith reconnects with her Memphis and Mississippi roots on her latest, "Goodthing", full of songs that show off her voice -rich and raspy- and her band’s vintage soul and blues-rock sound. But the album also speaks to Smith’s spiritual side, embracing the gospel music she heard in church and around the house every weekend – like Mahalia Jackson and Reverend James Cleveland. Bette Smith and her band play up that southern rock/soul sound, inspire determination, and offer a prayer, in-studio. Set list: 1. Whup 'Em Good 2. Darkest Hour 3. Eternal Blessings

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, drawing on the sounds of their city. The band got their start as a hotel band playing soul covers, and morphed into warm, vibe-heavy rock that blends Mexican, Cuban, and Peruvian traditions alongside classic jazz, rockabilly, and soul. LA LOM – Los Angeles League of Musicians - who are Zac Sokolow (Guitar), Jake Faulkner (Bass), and Nicholas Baker (Drums/Percussion), play music that may touch on Cumbia, Chicha, and Americana, from their full-length self-titled album, in-studio. - Caryn Havlik Set list: 1. Danza de LA LOM 2. San Fernando Rose 3. Angels Point

Angélica Garcia has been on a journey – a musical journey – from “gothic storytelling, and swampy, blues-inflected rock” (Schaefer, 2016) to dance-floor Latin pop bangers with moody electronics, sung mostly in Spanish on her latest release, Gemelo. It’s a record that “untangles the Mexican and Salvadoran roots of the Californian-born artist, dismantles the cycles which help and harm, and calls upon the spirits of her ancestors for its power”, (Line of Best Fit). From throbbing, industrial rock that sounds like a sci-fi magic ritual to clublike textures couching empowerment anthems, Angélica Garcia performs her latest tunes, in-studio. Set list: 1. Juanita 2. Gemini 3. Paloma

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 eventually moved to County Clare on Ireland’s west coast. Cinder Well’s music often has a haunted, nocturnal quality – her 2020 album No Summer was widely referred to as “doom folk” - where the drone, darkness, and space may overlap with that in the metal world. Her latest record, Cadence, is full of evocative, often elusive imagery and her quietly intense vocals. Set list: 1. Two Heads, Grey Mare 2. Overgrown 3. From Behind the Curtain

The artist STEFA* is a classically-trained vocalist who combines punk, experimental rage-pop, loops, and somatic jazz as they channel their ancestors. Based in Queens and born to Colombian immigrant parents, STEFA*’s latest is an album called Born With An Extra Rib, which was released alongside a ritual performance film that they created as Artist-In-Residence at The Kitchen. STEFA* shares their spirit and song, along with their talented band, in-studio. STEFA* plays at Industry City at 6PM on Aug. 8. Set list: 1. 3COSAS! 2. Costillas 3. How Do I Cope? Born With An Extra Rib by STEFA*

Although he’s based in Iceland, singer/songwriter John Grant is American, and his experience growing up gay in a conservative religious family in Colorado has colored his music since he began releasing solo records in 2010. A former member of the Denver-based alternative rock band The Czars, he’s recorded with the Texan folk rock group Midlake, collaborated with countless others, and is also a festival curator, noted polyglot, author, and translator. Grant’s own songs range from bangers to ballads, usually shot through with sharp streaks of mordant wit. That’s the case with his latest record The Art of the Lie which also features lots of electronics and some processing of the voice. John tells stories and performs unplugged versions of his tunes, in-studio. Set list: 1. Grey Tickles Black Pressure 2. Touch and Go 3. Zeitgeist

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 for his work with Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, his own avant-noise trio Ceramic Dog, and much more; McCalla writes songs that draw on the African-American string band tradition, Cajun music, and her own Haitian heritage. But Ribot was also a student of the Haitian classical guitarist/composer Frantz Casseus, and the two musicians share a strong genre-agnostic streak. Together they play a set at the 25th Annual New York Guitar Festival, recorded in June of 2024 at Kaufman Music Center and co-presented by the World Music Institute. Set list: Kamen Sa Ou Fe (trad Haitian); Petro (Frantz Casseus); City Called Heaven (trad American); Lavi Vye Neg (Gesner Henry); Sun Without The Heat (Leyla McCalla); Non Fon Bwa (Casseus); Peze Café (trad Haitian); Tree (Leyla McCalla) Marc Ribot has released over two dozen records on his own, ranging from Cuban dance music to free jazz, Haitian classical guitar to political avant-folk. His playing – elegant, edgy, and sometimes, somehow, both at once – has made him the go-to guitarist for artists like Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, Tom Waits, Laurie Anderson, McCoy Tyner, and so many others. He has been a regular part of the New York Guitar Festival over the years. Leyla McCalla was the cellist in the Grammy-winning string band Carolina Chocolate Drops, before moving on to writing her own songs. She is a member of Our Native Daughters, a quartet of Black women who all play the banjo (and other instruments), and has recorded four albums on which she also plays guitar. Her new record, Sun Without The Heat, came out in April.

Akusmi is the name of the recent project by the French-born London-based producer, composer, and multi-instrumentalist Pascal Bideau. His work blends the churning rhythms of minimalism with the sounds of jazz and, occasionally, the gamelan music of Indonesia. Mostly he plays sax and piano, but in a pinch he’ll play bass guitar, flute, synthesizer or percussion too. Some Akusmi songs can be ethereal and atmospheric, but more often they’re pulsating and almost danceable. In live performance, Akusmi becomes a band, in this case a trio with violinist/composer Christopher Tignor and trombonist Rick Parker. They play in-studio. Set list: 1. Divine Moments of Truth 2. Oblique 3. Concrescence

The vintage sounds and energy of Cuban dance music of the mid-20 century live on in the music of Orquesta Akokán, a group of Cuban and American musicians who made a big splash with their debut record just six years ago. The band’s name, Akokán, is from Africa; it’s a Yoruba word meaning “from the heart.” And this group’s collective heart beats to the rhythms of Havana (and Miami, and Brooklyn), which means salsa, rumba, and soul in addition to mambo. Orquesta Akokán has a brand new album called Caracoles, and it brings the band back to our studio to play some of these new songs. Set list: 1. Con Licencia 2. Pan con Tibiri 3. Caracoles 4. Suave Suave

Sample collaborative music by Pulitzer Prize-winning vocalist/composer Caroline Shaw and the versatile quartet Sō Percussion from their latest release, Rectangles and Circumstance, as played in-studio. Composer/vocalist/violinist Caroline Shaw, who has produced for Kanye West and Nas, won a Pulitzer Prize in 2013 for her Partita for 8 Voices, which was written for and performed with the vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth; she also teaches at NYU. Brooklyn-based Sō Percussion (Eric Cha-Beach, Adam Sliwinski, Josh Quillen, Jason Treuting) is a force of music and noise-making comprised of composer/percussionists/instrument builders/finders who beat, shake, bow, immerse, and rip all kinds of things – home goods and instruments - both acoustic and electric; they also compose. The members of Sō have worked with Shaw as a composer (Narrow Sea), and collaboratively as a band as on the latest, Rectangles and Circumstance. They’ve described their groups songwriting as lyrics via adaptations of poetry, or by a band member - and music which can morph - whether added to and/or sliced up; it’s a process where everyone contributes equally. Sō describes percussion as an ethos – a willingness to make any and all sounds as requested, by whatever means necessary - whether that is a keyboard, a crotale dipped in water, or ripping a roll of duct tape in time. Despite everything being counted off in four, there are “beats of deceit”, where the music surfs on the edge of some meter, and it carries you, (-Caroline Shaw.) Listen to some of these songs with contributions by Caroline Shaw, and with her band Ringdown, together with Sō Percussion, as played live, in-studio. - Caryn Havlik Set list: 1. Sing On 2. Slow Motion 3. The Parting Glass

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 reflection of Ivan’s musical interests, which begin with Cuban salsa and go on to include R&B, Brazilian music and more. He's fluent in Latin, Caribbean, and jazz traditions and is a prolific composer and sideman. Ivan’s band is similarly expansive, an 8-piece ensemble who perform new music from Ivan's debut record, in the round, in-studio. See Ivan Llanes and his band in Times Square on July 11 at 5PM Set list: 1. La Mejor Mujer 2. Cubahia 3. Respira y Siente

Boston-based Marissa Nadler writes intimate, sweeping dreamy and eerie songs, that shimmer with gothic melancholy. On her 2018 record, For My Crimes, she enlisted accomplished musicians: harpist Mary Lattimore, drummer Patty Schemel (Hole), experimental multi-instrumentalist Janel Leppin, and Eva Gardner plays additional bass. Guest vocals came from Angel Olsen, Kristin Kontrol (Dum Dum Girls), and Sharon Van Etten, plus saxophonist Dana Colley (Morphine) was also a collaborator. These bittersweet and sharp slow burning tunes have a piercing intensity, driven home by Nadler’s gripping voice. Marissa Nadler performs some of these songs in their stripped-down form, in-studio (from the Archives, 2018.) -Caryn Havlik Set list: 1. For My Crimes 2. Said Goodbye to That Car 3. I Can’t Listen to Gene Clark Anymore

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 much like another when it comes to how people treat each other, and themselves. One might expect a band with a name like English Teacher to be smart, and their songs are chock-full of literary and cultural references, as well as unexpected shifts in sound and mood. They play bright and crispy post-punk songs that combine a talky, angularity with indie-prog, rock, and folk electronica, in-studio. Set list: 1. Albatross 2.Nearly Daffodils 3. Albert Road