Peter, Bjorn, & John Reach Their Breakin' Point
It's been a whole decade since the Swedish trio known as Peter Bjorn and John burst on the scene with the indelibly catchy "Young Folks,” which featured the best use of whistling since Billy Joel’s...
View ArticleReuben Hollebon's Terminal Nostalgia
Since medieval times, British folk music has been filled with dark ballads and unsettling tales. The British singer and songwriter Reuben Hollebon isn’t a folk musician, but he’s certainly tapped into...
View ArticleHiss Golden Messenger, In the Studio
M.C. Taylor spent years trawling the countryside of North Carolina as a folklorist, identifying and recording regional musical genetic strands in the tradition of Alan Lomax. As he cataloged and, most...
View ArticleRegina Spektor Returns to Life
Songwriter Regina Spektor was born in the then-Soviet Union and moved to the States on the cusp of her teenage years. Her beautiful if oblique and surprising songs very often portray an outsider trying...
View ArticleJimmy Eat World, Sure and Certain
“The Middle,” was a massive hit for Arizona power-pop band Jimmy Eat World in 2001. Usually a song like that is one-and-done, but earlier this year the tech giant Apple released a commercial in which...
View ArticleRoosevelt's Feverish Dance Pop
As recording and performing technology has gotten cheaper, there's been a wholesale revisiting of the synthy sounds of the mid-80s. At its worst, this excavation has yielded plenty of soulless, robotic...
View ArticleBand of Skulls, In Studio
The British trio Band of Skulls released its fourth album, By Default, this spring, full of riff-laden rock that grows out of the same bluesy legacy that has spawned bands from Led Zeppelin to the...
View ArticleWatsky, To Infinity and Beyond
George Watsky first gained prominence via Russell Simmons' Def Poetry Jam, where he demonstrated his ability to combine thoughtful ideas at a wickedly fast clip. From there, it was on to a recording...
View ArticleGypsy Punks Gogol Bordello Turn Rage Into Joy
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,...
View ArticleKaren and The Sorrows: Reinventing Country Music For a New Age
Click on the 'Listen' button above to hear this interview. When you think about country music, what comes to mind? If you answered big hats, heartbreak, and Hank Williams you'd be right, but if you dig...
View ArticleWatch: Matthew Dear: 'Do the Right Thing' (Live in Studio)
Electronic musician and producer Matthew Dear has tried on a few different sonic identities over the years ranging from funky house music to malevolent soundscapes incorporating the polyrhythms of...
View ArticleIle: 'Te Quiero Con Bugalu' (Live in Studio)
Ileana Cabra Joglar performs these days as Ile. But for a long time she was known as PG-13, the sweet complement to her salty brothers in the Puerto Rican hip-hop group Calle 13.
View ArticleL.A. Salami: 'Day to Day' (Live in Studio)
L.A. Salami is a Londoner whose music blends folk, blues, indie rock and hip-hop with lyrics that can be both pointed and wry. He joined us to play songs from his record, Dancing With Bad Grammar.
View ArticleIron and Wine: 'Low Light Buddy Of Mine' (Live in Studio)
Iron and Wine's frontman Sam Beam first turned heads with 2002's The Creek Drank The Cradle, a compilation of bare acoustic demos. Since then, Beam's sound has increasingly expanded in musical scope....
View ArticlePublic Service Broadcasting: 'They Gave Me A Lamp' (Live in Studio)
The English outfit called Public Service Broadcasting builds its records around archival and documentary sounds, then layers in live drums, guitar, banjo, bass flugelhorn and electronics. Their current...
View ArticlePink Martini: 'Pata Pata' (Live in Studio)
The "little orchestra" of the Portland, Oregon-based Pink Martini takes over the studio to play their version of the Miriam Makeba classic "Pata Pata."
View ArticleShilpa Ray: 'My Love Shatters by the BQE' (Live in Studio)
Shilpa Ray's songs are full of acerbic observations on desperate people, some quite personal. Along with her band, the singer-songwriter joins us in the studio to play selections from her forthcoming...
View ArticleWatch: Helado Negro: 'Invisible Heartbeat' (Live in Studio)
Based in Brooklyn, New York, Roberto Lange – the experimental electronic musician known as Helado Negro – grew up in South Florida to Ecuadorian parents, and his graciously tumbling music pulls from...
View ArticleWatch: Gracie and Rachel Perform 'Don't Know' (Live in Studio)
Dark and light fuse, diverge and unite in Brooklyn violin-piano duo, Gracie and Rachel. Pizzicato violin from Rachel Ruggles and Gracie Coates' piano ebb and flow together in a rocking orchestral...
View ArticleWatch: 'Te Quiero Con Bugalu' by Ile (Live)
Ileana Cabra, who performs solo under the name Ile, made her very first solo performance in the US on Soundcheck. Watch her perform the smile inducing 'Te Quiero Con Bugalu' in studio.
View ArticleWatch: 'Offing' by Julianna Barwick (Live in Studio)
To listen to the hypnotic choral voices of Julianna Barwick is to be swept away, transported to a musical world out of time. Her songs are lush, yet minimally constructed, parsing out fragments of...
View ArticleWatch: 'Colossus' by Of Montreal (Live In Studio)
Since he founded the band over 15 years ago, Kevin Barnes has shaped Of Montreal into an exuberant indie pop powerhouse, incorporating psychedelia, funk, and electronic music into a quirky and...
View ArticleWatch: 'Destination' by Nickel Creek (Live In Studio)
Nickel Creek almost immediately wowed audiences when they burst onto the circuit in the early '90s. A trio of precocious child prodigies -- Chris Thile on mandolin and banjo, Sara Watkins on fiddle,...
View ArticleWatch: 'The Tower' by Wye Oak
The delight in Baltimore sourced Wye Oak's music has always been the interplay between Jenn Wasner's blustery voice, her glorious cyclone of guitar riffs and screaming feedback, and skillful...
View ArticleWatch: 'Joshua' performed by Bobby McFerrin (Live In Studio)
Best known for his solo performances, watch Bobby McFerrin interpret -- in his own endlessly joyous style -- the Americana songs he grew up with. This is 'Joshua' performed in studio.
View ArticleWatch: 'Alternate World' by Son Lux (Live In Studio)
Ryan Lott is a classically-trained musician and composer who has written for films, television ads, and dance companies in New York. But since his stunning 2008 debut as Son Lux, At War With Walls...
View ArticleWatch: 'Swimming Pool' by Emmy The Great (Live In Studio)
Emmy The Great has always had a way with words. Her big break came in 2009 when she contributed the song “Seattle” to the Brighton Port Authority, an album by famed producer Fatboy Slim that also...
View ArticleWatch: 'La Plata' by Chicha Libre (Live In Studio)
Brooklyn grooves meet South American folk dances in the music of Chicha Libre. This group of armchair travelers invade Manhattan to play live in our studio. Watch them perform "La Plata" live in studio.
View ArticleWatch: Randy Weston and Billy Harper perform 'Blues to Senegal' (Live in...
Randy Weston is one of jazz's most renowned and visionary pianists and composers. Over six decades' Weston has been a true innovator, crafting thoughtful works that seamlessly meld jazz and blues...
View ArticleWatch: 'Untitled Improvisation No. 1' by Reggie Watts (Live In Studio)
Part comedian, part vocalist, part beatboxer, Reggie Watts is versatile and unpredictable. But to watch him do his thing live, is even more extraordinary. He's masterful at looping layer upon layer of...
View ArticleWatch: 'While The People S.L.E.E.P.' by Ebony Bones (Live In Studio)
The U.K.-born daughter of Caribbean immigrants, Ebony Bones learned to love an eclectic amount of music from her youth. As a child, she helped her father sell music in a stall in Brixton Market. The...
View ArticleWatch: 'Amar Así' by Bomba Estéreo (Live In Studio)
Based in Bogota, Columbia, the band Bomba Estéreo continue to explore their South American roots, mixing up cumbia, vallenato, and champeta with reggaeton, hiphop, dubstep and Euro electronica. On...
View ArticleWatch: "Foulani Hiriza" by Innov Gnawa (Live In Studio)
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...
View ArticleWatch: "Yeleleu Hager Lidj (Sons of NO Country)" by Anbessa Orchestra (Live...
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...
View ArticleWatch: "Fenfo" by Fatoumata Diawara (Live In Studio)
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...
View ArticleWatch: "Jeano" by Anna & Elizabeth (Live In Studio)
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...
View ArticleWatch: "I Got No Strings" by Jenny Hval (Live In Studio)
The musically bold, experimental, beautiful, and abrasive songs of Jenny Hval blend calming ambient sounds and bursts of harsh noise. Watch her perform "I Got No Strings" in studio.
View ArticleWatch: Gleb Kanasevich performs "Exalté" by Olli Koskelin (In Studio)
One of the great champions of contemporary music, clarinetist Gleb Kanasevich presents some of the most visceral, committed and memorable performances you will ever see. He came to the New Sounds...
View ArticleWatch: "Snakes" by Deva Mahal (Live In Studio)
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...
View ArticleWatch: 'Bookmarks' by BODEGA (Live In Studio)
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,...
View ArticleNew Sounds Presents: Adam Rosenblatt
Adam Rosenblatt and the artful masochism of body percussion. This is French composer François Sarhan's piece "Home Work".
View ArticleWatch: "Pondjo Pondjo - Okafombolo" by Jupiter & Okwess (Live In Studio)
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”,...
View ArticleWatch: "Contrails" by TIGUE (Live In Studio)
For this first live broadcast of "Odd Theory" with host Lora-Faye, we present you with the percussion trio, TIGUE. Their music is mathematical yet danceable with elements of shapeshifting, amorphous...
View ArticleWatch: "Plastic Hamburgers" by Fantastic Negrito (Live In Studio)
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...
View ArticleWatch: "Calling" by Matthew Dear (Live In Studio)
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...
View ArticleHypnotic Brass Leads The Way
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...
View ArticlePop Songwriting Mastermind Skylar Grey, In-Studio
From pop and hiphop to love anthems, Grammy-nominated songwriter Skylar Grey has multiple hits to her credit. She's the co-writer on Eminem's 'Love The Way You Lie' featuring Rihanna, and featured...
View ArticleMetric: What Happens in Vegas... (From the Archives)
While writing the music for what would become Metric's 2015 record, Pagans in Vegas, front-woman Emily Haines traveled to Nicaragua and Spain, while guitarist Jimmy Shaw holed up at home in Toronto and...
View ArticleGypsy Punks Gogol Bordello Turn Rage Into Joy (Archives)
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,...
View ArticleRufus Wainwright Performs Live from His Forthcoming Album, 'Folkocracy'
Today, exactly 25 years after releasing his debut album, Rufus Wainwright surprised fans by dropping an anniversary reissue of the record. And in less than a month, on June 2, he will release a new...
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