Soundcheck

The singer Sachal Vasandani has become known for his distinctive takes on jazz standards, and for his wide ranging covers, from Bob Dylan to Billie Eilish. But Sachal is also a songwriter himself, and his new album, Best Life Now, is largely a collection of original songs musing on stories of sensuality, heartbreak, and other love struggles. Sachal Vasandani and his band play some of those songs, imbued with warmth and soulful groove, in-studio. Set list: 1. Best Life Now 2. Don't Give up On Me 3. Call Me Best Life Now by Sachal Vasandani

Spanish singer and songwriter Victoria Canal mixes pop styles, from bangers to weighty tunes with thoughtful, often probing, occasionally flirty lyrics, which revolve around her own complicated identity. She won two of Britain’s prestigious Ivor Novello Awards, famously sang with Coldplay at last year’s Glastonbury Festival, and had released a pair of EPs that marked her as a distinctive songwriter.Her latest LP, Slowly It Dawns, sparkles with wisdom hard-learned and offers up vulnerability - all with a sense of light-hearted play. Victoria Canal plays some of these songs, in-studio. Set list: 1. Vauxhall 2. Black Swan 3. 15% 

The rapper and songwriter Brother Ali has been releasing his distinctive brand of hip hop since the turn of the century – music that combines pointed social commentary, nerdy music references, and the veteran producer Ant’s maximalist, often playful beats. Brother Ali’s brand new LP is called Satisfied Soul, and on it, there is wisdom, self-reflection and unflinching critique, rooted in hope and defiance. Brother Ali and Ant perform live, in-studio.  Set list: 1. D.R.U.M. 2. Name Of the One 3. Handwriting Satisified Soul by Brother Ali

The band Horsegirl is three best friends from Chicago who began playing together while still in high school. But their 2022 debut album, Versions of Modern Performance, showed a band that already had a distinctive sound that showed that DIY didn’t necessarily mean simple. With two of the three musicians now attending NYU, the band has moved here to New York. Taking a break from Antigone and Oedipus, they're here to play some songs from their new album, called Phonetics On And On. Horsegirl plays in-studio. Set list: 1. Where'd You Go 2. Switch Over 3. 2468 Phonetics On and On by Horsegirl

Sam Amidon is a folk fiddler, multi-instrumentalist, and singer from New England who now lives in Old England. He's become known for his inventive and often surprising arrangements of folk songs from both sides of the Atlantic. But he’s also someone who refuses to stay in his lane. So you could call his new album, Salt River, a collection of folk songs - if your definition of folk song is broad enough. Sam Amidon and multi-instrumentalist Chris Vatalaro expand folk tunes – shape note anthems, murder ballads, traditional songs - and play in-studio. Set list: 1. Three Five 2. Golden Willow Tree 3. I'm On My Journey Home

Amayo is the Nigerian-born, Atlanta-based singer and songwriter who was the longtime front-person for the band Antibalas. Now out on his own, Amayo continues to create his own distinctive take on the Afrobeat sound pioneered in the 1970s by the legendary Fela Kuti. But Amayo’s songwriting and his live performances are also deeply affected by his longtime Kung Fu practice - he is a senior master (Sifu) of the Jow Ga Kung Fu School of martial arts. AMAYO’s new solo album is called Lion Awakes, and he and his big band play some of the high-energy tunes, in-studio. Set list: 1. Lion Awakes 2. Black Magic Sister

The South African-born, UK-based cellist Abel Selaocoe doesn’t really cross musical boundaries – he ignores them entirely. He’ll play Bach cello suites, but he also writes music that draws on the throat singing and instinctive vocalizations of his South African heritage, as well as works with electronics, cello preparations, and site-specific sound installations. And sometimes, he’ll create a performance that seems to be all of them at once. He has a new album coming called Hymns of Bantu, due on February 21. Abel Selaocoe plays some of those pieces, solo, in-studio.  Abel Selaocoe appears courtesy of Warner Classics  Set list: 1.Ka Bohaleng 2. Les Voix Humaines/Tsohle Tsohle 3. Dinaka

The English band Wunderhorse now have two albums under that name, although the first of them, 2022’s Cub, was essentially a solo album by vocalist and songwriter Jacob Slater. Their latest, called Midas, came out this past fall to rave reviews and is very much a portrait of a band who can capture a visceral feeling in their recorded music that is "very imperfect, very live, very raw; no frills". Slater and the band take you where “Something is coming but you don’t know what it is and you can’t stop it,” (Black Arts PR). Wunderhorse plays in-studio.  Set list: 1. Midas 2. Rain 3. Teal

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 contemporary classical music. In 2018, he visited the studio with a new project called Quiet River of Dust, and it was at least partly inspired by the psychedelic folk/rock scene in Britain in the late 1960's. He and Quiet River of Dust perform some of the musical meditations, in-studio. (From the Archives.)  Set list: 1. Finally Home 2. Song of Wood 3. I Was in the World (Was the World In Me?)

South African guitar virtuoso Derek Gripper plays music originally meant for the 21 stringed lute-harp, the kora, on his 6-string Segovia-styled guitar and does it so well that the world’s leading guitarists and kora players keep wondering how one even does that. His original music is informed by kora master Toumani Diabaté, Malian singer-songwriter Salif Keita, Estonian minimalist composer Arvo Part, Brazilian guitarist Egberto Gismonti and German Baroque innovator, J.S. Bach. Watch out, because he’s about to collaborate with the Iraqi-American oud player and composer Rahim Alhaj. (Ed. note: just wait until the 11 or 13-strings of the oud and those maqams make it to the 6-string guitar in Gripper's hands!) For now, Gripper plays another unbelievable arrangement of a Malian kora song, as well as an original song informed by the cascading style of kora music, plus the Prelude of the second cello suite by J.S. Bach, in-studio. - Caryn HavlikSupplemental Reading: The Beauty of Everyday Things, In Search of Lost TimeSet list: 1. Alla L'a Ke 2. Moss on the Mountain 3. J.S. Bach: Prelude BWV 1008 (Second Cello Suite) BALLAKÉ SISSOKO AND DEREK GRIPPER by Ballaké Sissoko and Derek Gripper Everyday Things: Bach's Second Cello Suite BWV 1008 by Derek Gripper