Soundcheck

M.C. Taylor spent years trawling the countryside of North Carolina as a folklorist, identifying and recording regional musical genetic strands in the tradition of Alan Lomax. As he cataloged and, most importantly, listened, he began to channel his own artistic impulses into the project known as Hiss Golden Messenger. His 2014 breakout "The Lateness of Dancers" came after a string of self- or limited-released recordings, and was a thesis statement of sorts, drawing together grand, stately folk and country sounds into a cohesive whole. It was successful enough that Taylor was able to quit his day job, and work and tour full-time as a performer and songwriter. However, this new-found freedom was coupled with an anxiety about the dutiful obligations of a burgeoning family. This tension was the lyrical source and inspiration for Hiss Golden Messenger's new record, "Heart Like a Levee," which retains the deeply-rooted song structures but adds sonic embellishments that name-check a different geologic layer of American music: the soulful sounds of Stax and Muscle Shoals. 

Since medieval times, British folk music has been filled with dark ballads and unsettling tales. The British singer and songwriter Reuben Hollebon isn’t a folk musician, but he’s certainly tapped into that dark brand of storytelling with a song like "Faces," which features the equally uncanny (in the sense of "spooky") video below. Probably says something about us that we can’t stop listening to it, but his tremulous vocal delivery, urgent acoustic guitar, and eerie, often undefinable other sounds makes for compelling music. His debut LP is called Terminal Nostalgia, and Reuben is here to play some of it for us. 

It's been a whole decade since the Swedish trio known as Peter Bjorn and John burst on the scene with the indelibly catchy "Young Folks,” which featured the best use of whistling since Billy Joel’s “The Stranger.” This year Peter Bjorn and John are marking the tenth anniversary of their breakout hit—and moving on with a new batch of songs, on a meticulously-produced new album called Breakin’ Point. Whether the title is a sly commentary on the pitfalls of landing a chart-topper, or a nod to a fresh start, the band visits the studio to play a few of the new tunes—well, almost the whole band. Peter & Bjorn (minus John) bring an interesting duo perspective to the new material, which bears all the hooks and flourishes that have become hallmarks of their career thus far.

When we promoted River Whyless' headline show at Rough Trade a few weeks ago, listener Jim commented on the Gig Alert page: "Fabulous. Just fabulous." We couldn't agree more. The group's razor-honed songwriting and thoughtful vocal harmonies steal the spotlight, but equally impressive is the nuanced musical arsenal they deploy. Of particular note is the Asheville, N.C., band's melding of hill folk with the syncopated rhythms and staccato guitars of the so-called "desert blues" tradition of Mali. Taken as a whole, the band's new record "We All the Light" is a triumph of emotional connection and musical alchemy. The group visits the studio to play from the album and talk about their many influences.

Plenty of bands stick around well (well) past their expiration date, touting each new release as a "reinvention" or a "reintroduction." But occasionally, a group really does kick into high gear after decades in the business. Witness: Nada Surf. They burst onto the scene in the mid-90s with a somewhat gimmicky (if mind-numbingly catchy) tune called "Popular." And then? Well, let no one argue that Nada Surf "disappeared," but they certainly didn't replicate that initial success right away. Thank goodness they stuck around; they've aged gracefully, and buoyantly. Their latest album is packed with some of the strongest, most melodic tunes of their career. It's called You Know Who You Are---and it certainly sounds like the band knows who it is. Plus, there's another, sweeping new record due out at the end of October, which sees the band playing in front of the Babelsberg (Germany) Film Orchestra. 

For two decades, Dar Williams has been writing some of the most trenchant and emotionally open songs in the folk-pop vein, and has achieved her considerable stature and recognition outside the formal workings of the mainstream record industry. Her first three albums, released independently, and an early national tour with the great Joan Baez, cemented her name in the ranks of top-tier songwriting and performing talent. This fall, Williams is revisiting that formative, fruitful period in her life by touring behind those first albums. Currently, she's performing her sophomore release in full in concerts throughout the country. Mortal City, released in 1996, is a funny, sad, political, personal, and beautiful collection of songs about and from Main Street America that, given current conversations about economic inequality, is perhaps as relevant as ever. 

If you have a three-legged stool, and you remove one of the legs, it’s pretty much a given that the stool will collapse. In the case of British rock trio Bear’s Den, when one of their members left earlier this year, the band only returned more triumphant than ever. Their new album, just released, is called Red Earth and Pouring Rain – an ominous image, but containing some of the group’s most cinematic work to date. Bear’s Den now has a muscular new lineup, but today the core duo visits our studio with just acoustic guitars in hand. 

If, as Lou Reed said, cymbals "eat" the sound of guitars on a recording, the band Cymbals Eat Guitars seems hell-bent on bashing through feelings like anger, fear, loneliness, and resentment with high-octane tunes. On the cover of their new record Pretty Years, out on Friday (and streaming at NPR First Listen now), there's a vacuum cleaner adjacent to an open casket: the heavy silence expected of a somber event juxtaposed with the high-pitched whine of a quotidian reality. The record is produced by John Congleton, who has recently helped artists like St. Vincent and War On Drugs achieve career highs by stretching their existing boundaries, and is working here to similar results. Hear the Staten Island band perform a live set of the new songs, and talk about their ever-expanding palette. 

The five-piece group Parsonsfield is based in western Massachusetts. Its music draws on both the string bands of Appalachia as well as anthemic rock. The band's new single, “Barbed Wire,” is about the closing of the prairie and, maybe, the closing of a few minds—with pleasant overtones about the destruction of the planet. Parsonsfield’s suggestively-titled new album Blooming Through the Black is just out, and the band joined us to play and talk about, among other things, why telephone "killed" the radio...or didn't.

The band Hockey Dad hails from one of the better place names: Windang, Australia. And they’ve released... a “dang winner” of an album this year. (Sorry, couldn't help ourselves.) It’s called Boronia and it’s filled with chunky summer jams of an impeccable quality. The band gives away its winning recipe on the song "I Need a Woman" when they suggest, “give it some mellow vibes; try not to make it dull.” Hear the duo talk about their burgeoning career and play some of their catchy, immediate-sounding tunes.