Soundcheck

Some songwriters take their inspiration from fiction, summarizing the journeys of compelling characters in music. Others find such characters in real life and tell their stories from a surreal lens. Texas aficionado Ryan Bingham is a singer-songwriter who gained wide recognition by earning both an Oscar and a Grammy Award for “The Weary Kind,” which he co-wrote and recorded for the film, Crazy Heart. He then went on to play the character called Walker on the hit neo-Western television series, Yellowstone, and it’s safe to say that both as an actor and a musician, Bingham has always been involved with the art of fiction. London-based art rock trio Mary in the Junkyard acquire their sung heroes from all sorts of places, both real and imagined, and create a musical form of dream state where the mood is oddly otherworldly. Their critically acclaimed sophomore record Role Model Hermit turned heads in North America, and the band has just been announced to make their Coachella debut in April 2027. Hear both their and Ryan Bingham’s exclusive live performances from our studios on this episode of Soundcheck.

Mary in the Junkyard's Setlist: 1.New Muscles  2.Myrtle  3.Blood

Ryan Bingham's Setlist: 1.Let the Big Dog Eat  2.Relevance  3.Blue Skies

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Not all bands stay together after college, but Huntertones did. The funk jazz sextet got their start at The Ohio State University where they soaked in the football culture and house parties on Hunter Avenue in Columbus. They no longer play those parties, having moved to Brooklyn over a decade ago, but the spirit and joy of those times live on in their music.

Now, the brass band is back with a new album called Transmission, in which they transmit human-made music, recorded in a single room without isolation, to their listeners. Most songs are originals with a couple of renditions of familiar classics thrown in. But not a single track is overproduced. Microphone bleeds are fully embraced. As a result, hearing the band perform live feels quite akin to listening to their record.

For this episode of Soundcheck, Huntertones play a few of their new originals at our studio, with awe-inspiring cohesion. - Sırma Munyar

Setlist: 1.Valley Bee 2.Melodian 3.Messenger

(Photo by Karston Tannis)

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There are many folk singer-songwriters out there, but not all concern themselves with folklore. Dom Flemons does. A modern-day troubadour, Flemons breathes new life into old-time music, often accompanying himself with a banjo or guitar. Listening to him perform feels like an auditory journey back in time, and if that illusion wasn’t already cemented, it certainly will be when his upcoming record, Making American Music: The Smithsonian Sessions, releases in January 2027.

The inception of the project dates back to 2018, when Flemons became the first Artist in Residence at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. Being around countless legendary instruments, including the 140-year-old Emory guitar that once belonged to Mississippi John Hurt, Flemons felt deeply inspired to revive history through music. Fortunately, he was invited to record with some of those precious instruments that are ordinarily safely guarded at the museum’s vault.

The sessions resulted in Flemons’ third studio album on Smithsonian Folkways, which is the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution. And though there’s only one single available so far, Flemons performs a few of his unreleased songs from the album to give a taste of what’s coming for the listeners of Soundcheck. - Sırma Munyar

Setlist: 1.Lost River Blues  2.Night And Day  3.Take Me Back to Bronzeville

(Dom Flemons photographed by Emily Cummings)

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Grace Cummings is a contemporary Australian musician whose songs often have the big, technicolor sound of the 1960’s. But the featured sound is always her striking voice – as we’ll hear when she plays solo in our studio. Her latest album, Bloodhorse!, wrestles with darkness and doubt, Shakespeare and spirituality. And speaking of spirituality, sax player Isaiah Collier has spent much of this year marking the centennial of John Coltrane’s so-called spiritual jazz by playing Coltrane’s classic A Love Supreme around the country. But at the same time, Collier has also been singing his own brand of spiritual R&B. He brings his band to our studio to play some of his latest tunes from his EP, Joy.

Grace Cummings set list: 1.John Lennon 2.I'm Not Crazy 3.FAKE

Isaiah Collier set list: 1. Where I'm Loved 2. Joy

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New York-based Rasputina, the steampunk cello-rock outfit led by Melora Creager, draws lyrical inspiration from history and the headlines. What began as an ad seeking women for an electric cello choir became a touring electro-chamber outfit known for original songs with unsettling perspectives and inventive arrangements of rock classics, all with an eye for retro fashion of the 19th century.

Grigori Rasputin, the Russian mystic and faith healer, is the figure after whom the band is named - although their lyrics may look further back in history to the 1590’s with the Shakespearean authorship controversy (The Oxford theory that the actual author was Edward de Vere), show music of Elizabethan times (the first) by Thomas Weelkes, and madrigals. (During their interview, Creager seemed open to the suggestion to adapt the J.S. Bach Cello Suites with pedals, and invoked My Ladye Nevells Booke, a collection of works for keyboard by English Renaissance composer William Byrd.) Even as inspiration may also come from macabre events – mutiny, disease, war, and/or news headlines over the centuries, the storytelling is always front and center.

Rasputina’s trajectory from major label to indie cello rockers happened early on in the 1990’s (despite the origin myth of having formed in the 1890’s), when after having toured with Nirvana, Creager made a choice to opt out of fame and world domination. Recently though, Rasputina has been offering some music online, yet some things are still kept old school and in limited runs; their latest release, Daddy Likes Bread, is a three-song seven inch vinyl record, available only in person, at “recitals” where the band does public performances. Rasputina, the “Traveling Ladies’ Cello Society” (Bandcamp), is once again coming to a music hall near you after a years-long break; they play live, in-studio. - Caryn Havlik

Watch the video performances on the New Sounds YouTube channel:
Set list: 1. Draconian Crackdown 2. Hunter’s Kiss 

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Juana Molina began her professional career not as a musician, but as an actress – and a fairly successful one at that. In her home country of Argentina, she gained popularity as a sketch comedy star, even getting her own television show in the 90s. Feeling more drawn to music rather than acting, Molina began writing and singing songs at the peak of her success and never looked back. Now, she has eight studio albums under her belt, with her latest, Doga, receiving praise from critics all over the world.

The record proves that Molina has an insatiable thirst for creating sophisticated music with unpredictable yet thoughtful sound design; a product of endless hours of experimenting with her collaborators. It was years in the making, with some songs dating back to 2019, but Molina’s perception of the process shows how symbiotic her relationship with music is: “When you get into it, and you just let you go, and you don’t think anymore, then sounds get awakened, and they start talking to you and tell you what to do with them. It’s easy.”

Now, almost a year after the release of Doga, Molina visits our studios to play a few of her new songs amid her world tour, for this episode of Soundcheck. - Sırma Munyar

(Photo of Juana Molina by Verena Algranti)

Setlist: 1.Uno es árbol  2.Caravanas  3.La paradoja 

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We perceive loneliness as a human emotion. Dive into any decade and you’ll find countless songs written on the subject. But it’s not only humans who sing about being lonely – birds do it, too. On this episode of Soundcheck, you’ll get to hear one of those birdsongs, recorded in 1987, when the now extinct, last Moho braccatus bird of Hawaii called for a mate that no longer existed. Argentine composer Osvaldo Golijov’s piece inspired by that birdsong, “The Last Moho Braccatus”, is performed live in our studio by acclaimed cellist Alisa Weilerstein, alongside her renditions of a couple of familiar Bach pieces. The chamber pop duo, Gracie & Rachel, who are equally moved by themes of loneliness and dealing with absence, also share their introspective songs from their latest album with an exclusive full band performance.

Gracie & Rachel's Setlist: 1.Leaving Home Is Going Home  2.Green Light  3.Caroline  4.Myself Again

Alisa Weilerstein's Setlist: 1.Bach: Cello Suite No. 1 in G major, Prelude, BWV 1007  2.The Last Moho Braccatus / J.S. Bach Cello Suite no. 5 in C minor, Courante, BWV 1011

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Montreal-born Americana/Folk singer Allison Russell is a multi-instrumentalist who spent nearly two decades performing with music groups like Po’ Girl and Birds of Chicago, before launching her solo career in 2021 with her monumental debut record, Outside Child. A survivor of abuse, Russell poured her emotions into her songs not to revisit her darkest memories, but to celebrate her resilience and eagerness to live a fulfilling life, surrounded by the people she loved. In “Nightflyer”, she sang, “I’m the wounded bird, I’m the screaming hawk, I’m the one who can’t be counted out,” elegantly summarizing the journey it took her to get to a place she’s immensely proud of — and rightfully so. Now back with her latest and third album, In the Hour of Chaos, Russell readily shares her joy and unyielding hope, celebrating humanity and her community, one collaborative song at a time.

The record is filled with a wide range of guest artists including Brittney Spencer and Norah Jones. And though they’re not present for Russell’s exclusive live performance for Soundcheck, The Rainbow Coalition is, with Caoi de Barra on drums, Caoimhe Hopkinson on guitar, and Ganessa James on bass. All band members also join Russell on vocals, sometimes even singing the lead parts, as Russell also plays the clarinet. - Sırma Munyar

(Photo of Allison Russell by Mason Poole)

Setlist: 1.No Springtime  2.Black Lavender  3.Really Real

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Ruthie Foster was born into music, grew up with music, and it was only natural that music would follow her wherever she’d go. The now Grammy-winning singer-songwriter was a soloist in a local choir in her hometown of Gause, Texas, soaking in the soulful melodies of gospel music. After high school, Foster majored (much expectedly) in music – and broadcast journalism. She joined the Navy shortly thereafter, where she often took the stage to sing. Soon, she’d be in New York City, developing her unique brand of blues and folk music as a regular at local clubs where she’d end up on the radar of Atlantic Records.

Her label and Foster had different ideas about the kind of artist she could be at the time. But Foster still walked into every session with an open heart where she often felt the urge to write about being back at home in Texas. So, she went back home, leaving her record deal behind, to be with her family and live a simpler life, which would eventually lead to the creation of her aptly titled record, Full Circle.

In the following three decades, Foster never stopped making and releasing music. Having become highly comfortable playing her guitar, she actively toured, sometimes with a band and other times solo. Now back with her fourteenth album, Just Say Yes, Foster brings her skillful guitar playing and powerful vocals to our studio for a solo performance to share some of her new songs for this episode of Soundcheck. - Sırma Munyar

(Photo by Jody Domingue)

Setlist: 1.Yes  2.Thank You  3.Tangled

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The artist known as Everlast was the lead rapper in the group House of Pain, whose single “Jump Around” remains one of hip hop’s most familiar songs. But in the 1990s he began adding bluesy guitars to his songs - which continues with his latest, Embers To Ashes. Everlast plays his B-boy country punk rock blues in-studio. Then, Ghost Hounds is a Pittsburgh-based blues-rock band with a sound that may remind you of classic early 70s bands like The Rolling Stones. In fact, they’ve opened for the Stones and do a cover of that band’s song “Gimme Shelter” on the new Ghost Hounds album. But most of their music is original and their latest record, called Justified, is full of apocalyptic imagery and songs that swagger their way through the End Of Days. Ghost Hounds brings a rootsy, intimate version of the band to play these new songs, in-studio. in-studio for this episode of Soundcheck.

Everlast set list: 1. Losing Man's Game 2. Stones

Ghost Hounds set list: 1. Something Wicked 2. Pale Horse

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