Singer, songwriter and musician José González made his way back to WFUV to play a live set and talked to FUV host Alisa Ali about his latest album, Against The Dying Of The Light, how his background in scientific research influences his musical exploration, the nuances of AI and where it can be most useful, and how he navigates songwriting in Swedish, Spanish and English.

Songs: Against The Dying Of The Light, Joy (Can’t Help But Sing) and Etyd

Young The Giant sat down with WFUV host Sam Sumpter after playing a live set in Studio-A to talk about their latest album, Victory Garden, how the band has evolved and taken on more production responsibilities over the past 15 years, the value of writing retreats to flesh out ideas as a group, and how the title for this album originated during an intimate conversation under the stars right before the band finished the record.

Song: Ships Passing, Different Kind Of Love and Mind Over Matter

Ben Gibbard of both Death Cab for Cutie and The Postal Service talked to WFUV host Alisa Ali about Death Cab’s latest album, I Built You A Tower, what it was like to pull off a combined Death Cab-Postal Service tour post-pandemic, how his songwriting process has evolved as recording technology has changed, and how the band whittled down 90 potential songs into what you hear on this new album.

The live songs you heard in this episode were performed by Death Cab for Cutie at Studio Litho in Seattle, mixed by Jason McGerr, and engineered by Jon Roberts. Photo by Ryan Thrower.

Songs: Full of Stars, Pep Talk and Stone Over Water

Chicago-based band, Ratboys, joined midday host Alisa Ali at WFUV to talk about their latest album, Singin’ to an Empty Chair, how they fashioned both a genre-fluid and cohesive record from this collection of songs, their mission to dispel any negative myths about Ringo Starr, and how a therapy session inspired the title for this album.

Songs: Anywhere, Penny in the Lake and What’s Right?

Australian singer, songwriter and musician Courtney Barnett played an exclusive show for WFUV at The Bitter End in New York City and sat down with FUV host Alisa Ali after the show to talk about her latest album, Creature of Habit, her songwriting process, what it was like to be the subject of a documentary, and how a picture of a praying mantis helped her finish the song that pulled the entire project together.

Songs: Site Unseen, Mantis and One Thing At A Time

Stephen Sanchez returned to Studio-A in the Bronx to perform a live set from his latest album, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, and to talk to WFUV’s Alisa Ali about how Martin Luther King Jr. inspired the title track on this album, how he got his grandparents involved in the music videos, and what’s on the horizon for his inevitable third album.

Songs: LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, SWEET LOVE and High

Langhorne Slim joined WFUV host Emma Philippas in Studio-A to talk about his 2026 album, The Dreamin' Kind, how his songwriting has evolved since starting a family, his Nashville-based network that he collaborated with to bring the songs and music videos from this project to life, and how being a creative person is like being an octopus with many tentacles to pull inspiration from.

Songs: Rock N Roll, On Fire and Dance On Thru

Gypsy post-punk rock international collective Gogol Bordello joined Cavalcade host Paul Cavalconte in Studio-A to play a live set from their new album We Mean it, Man! and to talk about how this group of musicians came together in New York from all over the world, how the mantra of this album – that life is possible again – comes at the perfect time given global catastrophes and how this album embraced electronics to honor the Balkan techno that has influenced the band from the very beginning.

Songs: Life Is Possible Again, Ignition and We Mean it, Man!

In a special episode of FUV Live Sessions in front of a studio audience at Racket NYC, Jack Antonoff played an acoustic set featuring a few stripped down songs from Bleachers’ new album, everyone for ten minutes, and talked to WFUV host Alisa Ali about how the title of the album was born from a moment of accidental poetry with his iPhone, why he’s still optimistic about art even in the midst of AI and how we can better support artists by debunking the myth that there aren’t enough jobs for creatives.

Songs: the van, Isimo, i can’t believe you’re gone, All My Heroes, 45 and i wanna get better

WFUV favorite, Fantastic Cat, joined host Alisa Ali in Studio-A to talk about their new album, Cat Out of Hell, how this album gave the band an opportunity to record live in the studio together as opposed to building the layers apart, how they decide which individually written songs become full band songs, and the value in doing the things that feel “too dumb” or “too silly” because you never know who it might connect with.

Songs: Donnie Takes the Bus, Don’t Let Go, Elevator and L U C Y