Soundcheck

The melodic power pop band OK Go, as much a visual art ensemble as they are a rock band, has just released its first new album in over a decade. It’s called And The Adjacent Possible, and it’s full of relatively small songs with some really big ideas.  It also means there are some new entries into the catalog of how-did-they-do-that videos that OK Go has become famous for. The band plays new songs and an oldie in-studio for the Soundcheck Podcast - sans treadmills. Set list: 1. A Stone Only Rolls Downhill 2.This Too Shall Pass 3.Love

The string quartet known as Brooklyn Rider features the usual two violins, viola and cello.  And that’s about all that’s usual with this band. Over the past two decades they have played with Yo Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble, Mexican singer Magos Herrera, Irish fiddler Martin Hayes, and banjo wiz Bela Fleck.  They’ve commissioned a bunch of new pieces, and now, to celebrate their 20th anniversary, they’ve released a new record called The Four Elements - a wide range of music from the past and the present which is representative of, or directly inspired by Earth, Air, Fire, Water. And in parallel, the record is also designed to raise the alarm and bring “attention to the powerful forces of climate change which represent the single greatest challenge of our time”, (Bandcamp). Brooklyn Rider plays new works and an older piece, in-studio.Set list: 1. Colin Jacobsen - A Short While To Be Here... - I. Whoa, Mule!  2-3 Colin Jacobsen - A Short While To Be Here... - IV.- The Old Cow Died-V. Little Birdie," 4.Osvaldo Golijov: Tenebrae

Kentucky-based singer and songwriter S. G. Goodman blends a deeply-rooted Americana sound with indie rock and sharply observed tales of life, love and loss. Her songs acknowledge the poverty, violence, and homophobia of the region while celebrating its beauty and the strength to be found in family, friends, and storytelling. Her new album, Planting By The Signs, (due out June 20), is named for an ancient farming tradition that still exists in parts of the South, where the position of the moon as it moves through the signs of the zodiac determines when it’s a good time to plant crops. Goodman previews some of these new songs, in-studio.Set list: 1. I'm in Love 2. Fire Sign 3. Heat Lightning

The brass and dhol-led party band Red Baraat began as a Punjabi wedding band here in New York, but for the past 15 years they’ve brought their raucous energetic dance sound to everyone through a series of well-received albums and their memorable live shows. Drummer and bandleader Sunny Jain, infused the band with the sounds of his upbringing: music of the South Asian diaspora (Bollywood soundtracks, Jain Bhajans (devotional songs), and Bhangra ) injected with go-go, jazz, and rock. Red Baraat plays in-studio to celebrate their 15 year anniversary and the release of their new album, Bhangra Rangeela. Set list: 1. Bhangra Rangeela 2. Thums Up 3. Zindabad

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. In her over seven albums, the troubadour has "mused on topics such as the death penalty, anorexia, shoplifting, reproduction, the French resistance movement, adolescence and the Christian right." She has also written music for TV and theater, been active in numerous social and political causes, and been a pioneer in the art of crowdfunding.On her 2018 album, Nostalgia Kills, released on her own Pinko Records, the songwriter/composer tackles adult topics, and looks back without sentimentality to “exorcise some junior high school demons.” The late Jill Sobule and her band joined us to perform some of these songs in-studio in 2018. (From the Archives.) - Caryn HavlikSet list: 1. Where Do I Begin 2. Island of Lost Things 3. I Don’t Wanna Wake Up

Since releasing his first solo album in 2010, William Tyler has become associated with the so-called cosmic country style – his music has tended to be expansive, atmospheric, clearly rooted in Americana but with an experimental edge. Now comes Tyler’s new record, Time Indefinite – an album that might, paradoxically, be his most modern or avant-garde sounding. “Crafted by razor blade and chainsaw, it’s destructive and hopeful, a mirror and a dream, internal and external, unsettled and peaceful, non linear and all at once, analogue and digital, broken and repaired then broken again, surprising and nostalgic, but it’s a product of its time, definitely”, (Jake Davis, via Instagram.) William Tyler, along with producer, engineer, and synthesist Jake Davis play some of the songs, in-studio. Set list: 1. Star of Hope 2. Anima Hotel 3. Concern 

The artist, producer, and educator Jlin, born Jerrilynn Patton, first came out of the electronic dance music scene – specifically, the Chicago style of house music known as footwork. But she’s also become a sought-after composer, and one of her works was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Her collaborators include Icelandic pop star Bjork, composer Philip Glass, experimental electronic musician Holly Herndon, dance companies, and lots more. Jlin’s unsettled rhythms, unexpected samples, and surprising sonic effects are layered, and played live (!) when she performs. Jlin joins us to play a set of pieces that draw on her typically bewildering array of sound sources, including a piece in six, “Iris”.Set list: 1. B12 2. Iris 3. The Precision of Infinity

Macie Stewart is a multi-instrumentalist, singer, and composer who’s been a key player in the Chicago music scene, and a go-to collaborator for her string arrangements for pop stars like SZA, or playing with leading improvisers like Makaya McCraven or touring with Japanese Breakfast. Her current project is an album called When Distance Is Blue, full of atmospheric and cinematic works, soundscapes really, that feature prepared piano, field recordings, strings and more. These soundscapes make music out of the places in-between, inviting a careful listen to one's surroundings, and allowing space for the silence and boredom. Macie Stewart, along with violinist gabby fluke-mogul, play some of these works, in-studio.Set list: 1. I Forget How to Remember My Dreams/Tsukiji 2. Mouthful of Glass 3. Murmuration/Memorization

Because she is the daughter of Ravi Shankar, perhaps the most famous Indian classical musician of the past century, Anoushka Shankar is associated with that style of music. But though she plays the sitar, and does indeed play Indian ragas in the style of her illustrious dad, she has also drawn on jazz, flamenco, various world and electronic music traditions, and more. Her new record, We Return To Love, is the conclusion of a trilogy of EPs. The masterful sitarist, film composer, and impassioned activist Anoushka Shankar presents the third chapter in her current trilogy of mini-albums, which explores her fascination with Goa Trance. She and her band perform live at National Sawdust, as part of the Grammy Museum's series, "A New York Evening With".Set list: Stolen Moments, New Dawn, Hiraeth, We Burn So Brightly, Amrita, Daybreak

The fiddler Mark O’Connor is probably best known for his million-selling Appalachian Waltz project – a kind of chamber/folk album with famed cellist Yo Yo Ma and bassist Edgar Meyer. Mark has also written string quartets, concertos, and orchestral pieces – and they all come from the same place as his solo fiddle sets – everything is rooted in the sounds of American music, especially bluegrass. Maggie O’Connor is also a fiddler, and singer, who moves easily between those two worlds, and together, this husband-and-wife team have been touring with a program called Beethoven and Bluegrass. There’s no Beethoven today for this session, but hear some O’Connor classics, old and new, in-studio.Set list: 1. Limerock 2. We Just Happened To Fly 3. Appalachia Waltz