Soundcheck

Guitarist Steve Gunn has established himself as a singer/songwriter and as an ace collaborator with artists like Hiss Golden Messenger and Kurt Vile. With over 20 albums to his credit, you might think he’s done it all, but until 2025, Gunn had never done an album of solo instrumentals. In August 2025 he released Music For Writers, a collection of sonic landscapes, and in very short order he was back behind the mic this past November with a new album of songs called Daylight Daylight. Steve Gunn performs, in-studio. 

(See him on a US West Coast tour 

Set list: 1. Nearly There 2. Morning On K Road 3. Another Fade

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Klezmer music may have its roots in the Jewish communities of Eastern Europe, but it found a home here in NY in the 1920s and 30s, and the klezmer revival that began almost a half century ago was also centered in New York. Clarinetist Michael Winograd has been a major figure on the klezmer music scene for a couple of decades now, both as a composer and as a kind of music historian. His current project is a remake of a 1955 album that flopped at the time and is now considered a classic meeting of klezmer and jazz. That album was called Tanz!, Yiddish for dance, and Michael Winograd leads a stellar lineup of musicians to play some of the tunes, in-studio. 

1. Tipsy 2. Silkene Pajamas

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The British band Public Service Broadcasting describes their work as "Teaching the lessons of the past through the music of the future", (Bandcamp). Their songs are often built on sampled speech, layers of melodies, and propulsive grooves. Public Service Broadcasting plays music from their latest project, The Last Flight, based on the enduring story of Amelia Earhart, (plus an older banger from their album sampling the space race), in-studio.

Set list: 1. Electra 2. Arabian Flight 3. Go!

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Rebecca Foon is best known as a cellist – she’s been a pivotal figure on the Montreal scene, playing with bands like Thee Silver Mt Zion and her world music/chamber ensemble Esmerine. But Foon has also been making solo records, often including her vocals as well, and her latest, Black Butterflies, is a collection of songs that blends dream pop, minimalism, and ambient music. Rebecca Foon plays live, in-studio. 

Set list: 1. If I Could Only See the Distant Sky 2. in a time of truth 3. Flood of Eternity

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Listen to music from South African-born, UK-based cellist and vocalist Abel Selaocoe; Hot Psychedelic Gnawa Blues By French-Moroccan band Bab L’ Bluz; guitarist, producer, bandleader Adrian Quesada of Black Pumas and his dramatic Latin pop 'Boleros Psicodélicos', featuring Grammy-winning Puerto Rican singer-songwriter iLe. Plus, composer and harpist Brandee Younger and her trio; and the Dublin-based brothers Ye Vagabonds with a preview of new songs for 2026.

Set list: 

ARTIST: Adrian Quesada, with iLe
WORK: Mentiras con Cariño [2:02]
RECORDING: Live for the Soundcheck Podcast, Aug. 2025
SOURCE: This performance not commercially available. 
INFO: The tune appears on Boleros Psicodélicos

ARTIST: Ye Vagabonds
WORK: The Flood [3:05]
RECORDING:  Live for the Soundcheck Podcast Nov. 2025
SOURCE: This performance not commercially available. 
INFO: The album All Tied Together, comes out Jan. 30, 2026 | https://yevagabonds.bandcamp.com/album/all-tied-together

ARTIST: Bab L' Bluz
WORK: Imazighen [4:13]
RECORDING: Live for the Soundcheck Podcast, April 2025
SOURCE: This performance not commercially available. 
INFO:  The tune appears on Swaken

ARTIST: Abel Selaocoe
WORK: Ka Bohaleng  [3:13]
RECORDING:  Live for the Soundcheck Podcast, Feb. 2025
SOURCE: This performance not commercially available. 
INFO: The tune appears Hymns of Bantu 

ARTIST: Adrian Quesada, with iLe
WORK: Mentiras con Cariño [4:01]
RECORDING: Live for the Soundcheck Podcast, Aug. 2025
SOURCE: This performance not commercially available. 
INFO: The tune appears on Boleros Psicodélicos

ARTIST: Brandee Younger Trio 
WORK: BBL  [5:26]
RECORDING: Live for the Soundcheck Podcast, July 2025
SOURCE: This performance not commercially available. 
INFO: The tune appears on Gadabout Season

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Hear music by Portuguese fado singer Carminho; Grammy-winning classical quartet Third Coast Percussion performing music written for them by the late Indian tabla master Zakir Hussain; and Ethiopian-born singer and bandleader Meklit’s blend of jazz, pop, and soul. Also, music from Chicago-formed, New York-based American rock band Horsegirl; and the quartet Les Égarés, who are Ballaké Sissoko (kora) and Vincent Segal (cello) and Vincent Peirani (accordion) and Émile Parisien (sax). They combine chamber music, French chanson, West African folk, and jazz in a fluid and “wandering” mix of styles.

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New York-based drummer and educator Matt Wilson has performed with and/or played on many recordings by other musicians - Joe Lovano, John Scofield, Charlie Haden, Lee Konitz, among others - and leads ensembles of his own, but at this time of year, the thing he might be best known for is his Christmas Tree-O. And yes, he went there – putting a pun right in the band’s name. The trio, featuring multi-reed player Jeff Lederer and bassist Paul Sikivie, takes holiday tunes as a whimsical jumping off point for a variety of jazz styles, from swing to free improv. Their recent album is called Tree Jazz – The Shape Of Christmas To Come, and they’re here to play their gleeful, irreverent, and sometimes nerdy takes on music of the season, in-studio.

Set list: 1. Up on the Rooftop 2. Good King Wenceslas 3. Shine Your Light

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Saxophonist and composer Donny McCaslin has been playing with jazz luminaries like Maria Schneider and Dave Douglas, and leading his own band, for a couple of decades. But he’s best known for his work with David Bowie, who basically hired Donny’s whole ensemble to be the band on his final album Blackstar. His latest, Lullaby for the Lost, is a  guitar-driven, rock-influenced, groove-laden beast (in the best way). Donny McCaslin and his band play some of the tunes live, in-studio. 

Set List: 1. KID 2. Solace 3. Mercy

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New York-based classically trained composer and musician Kelly Moran’s music draws on everything from classical to dance to metal, but ends up sounding like none of those. She has become known for her music for prepared piano – a regular piano whose strings have things like metal or wood placed on the strings to alter the sound. Moran has also worked with electronic keyboards, and has recorded music for unaltered, completely acoustic piano. (She has also composed for classical musician Margaret Leng Tan, toured with Oneohtrix Point Never and FKA Twigs, and worked with other visionary contemporaries like Kelsey Lu and Yves Tumor.) Her 2025 record, Don’t Trust Mirrors (Warp Records), combines all three kinds of keyboards. Kelly Moran has brought her audio interface, her tools, and her bags of screws and bolts. She has prepared our piano, and plays in-studio. 

Set list: 1. Don't Trust Mirrors 2. Prism Drift 3. Vesela

Kelly Moran on sampling her own instrument and production techniques

Kelly Moran's Track by Track notes on Don't Trust Mirrors

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The Besnard Lakes Are The Dark Horse. The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night. The Besnard Lakes Are The Last Of The Great Thunderstorm Warnings. The Besnard Lakes are a rock band from Montreal with a knack for intriguing album titles. Their latest is The Besnard Lakes Are The Ghostly Nation, a collection of arty, often psychedelic songs about a society in crisis. The Besnard Lakes play live in our studio for the latest edition of Soundcheck Podcast.

Set list: 1. Chemin de la Baie 2. Give Us Our Dominion 3. In Hollywood

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