Soundcheck

Rogue Wave has a number of associations with water: they’re from Oakland, California, for starters. There’s that "wave" right there in their name. One of their most identifiable tunes is a love song to Lake Michigan. And their new record Delusions of Grand Fur features the song, “Ocean,” which features all the hallmarks of this now-veteran indie band – angular, surprising instrumental elements, and melancholy lyrics that surf on sunny, nostalgic melodies. Click the player to hear the group play some of the new tunes live in the Soundcheck studio.

"Porcelain" is the name of one of Moby's most recognizable songs. It's also the name of the musician's new autobiography which, in suitably idiosyncratic fashion, chronicles the years before his ascent to global fame. So it begins with Moby returning in 1989 to the New York City of his birth as an aspiring DJ, and ends with the process of writing Play, the 1999 record that launched him to stardom. To mark the book's release, the bald-headed beats master sat down with Soundcheck's John Schaefer at the Union Square Barnes and Noble to talk about how a "distrust of joy" impacted the development of dance music, the virtues of Bob Seger, and to reveal how much he paid for his first NYC apartment.

It took Aoife O’Donovan a decade to record her debut as a solo artist, the 2013 album Fossils. But it’s not like she was sitting around twiddling her thumbs prior to that. She was busy playing with the high energy bluegrass band Crooked Still, or collaborating with Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, Chris Thile, and other stars of the strings. O’Donovan’s gorgeous follow-up record is called In the Magic Hour, and it fully delivers on that stellar pedigree, tying together elements of pop, folk, and bluegrass in a cohesive, emotive package. Click the player above to hear O'Donovan's return to the Soundcheck studio. 

BONUS: You can also watch an archive of Aoife performing solo in our studio here.

Cellist Yo-Yo Ma has long been one of the country's most celebrated interpreters of classical music, and for the last two decades his Silk Road Ensemble has used music to build bridges across cultures. The latest recording from the always-rotating cast of master musicians is Sing Me Home, the companion album to a new documentary about the group called The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and The Silk Road Ensemble. The record is tinctured with sounds from Ireland, The Balkan Peninsula, East Asia, the American South, India, Mali, and beyond. Click the player above to hear Yo-Yo Ma, banjo star Abigail Washburn (singing in Mandarin!), and members of The Silk Road Ensemble perform in the Soundcheck studio.

Sam Cohen was the guiding force behind the psych-pop bands Yellowbirds and Apollo Sunshine. He self-released a solo album called Cool It in 2015, which caught the ear of producer Danger Mouse (the man behind The Gray Album, Gnarls Barkley, and so much more). Danger Mouse said, “Cool It is one of my favorite albums of the last few years.” So he signed Sam Cohen to his new 30th Century label and is now giving the album its first wider release. Cohen and his band play some of their sunny, summery psychedelia for us, live in the studio. 

Martin Creed is an artist. And a musician. And the two don't really have a distinction, in his mind. His work is serious, his work is whimsical, and, again, there is no distinction. Stand under the slowly rotating "Understanding" sign in Brooklyn Bridge park — his doing — and you slowly become aware: this is ridiculous, I'm standing under Understanding. But then it takes on a new significance, as you stand there Understanding, staring at Lower Manhattan, a place not known for its humane-ness. Creed's music allows for the same dichotomy: "Understanding" is also a pop song, with a jangly, shaggy lope and a simple -- serious -- message. Creed's having a major New York moment: his work is on display at the Park Avenue Armory from June 8 to August 7. His art is not bound by genre or medium – he uses paint, sculpture, film, dance, and music. We get at least some of the music part during our live set with him; scroll down to see some of the art on display, and click the player above to hear the performance and conversation.

Creed and his band are also performing at National Sawdust on June 14.

Young Magic's new album Still Life opens and closes with a track called "Valhalla," a reference to the mythic citadel of the souls of dead Norse warriors. It's a kind of invocation, though a somewhat strange one, since singer Melati Malay wrote the song in a small shack in Indonesia, sifting through memories of her late father and parsing her complicated feelings about an alien homeland. The spirit of wanderlust and musical curiosity is also successfully conjured on Still Life, with compelling touches of various genres and native instruments blending seamlessly with the band's polished, synth-y sheen. Click the player above to hear Malay and collaborator Isaac Emmanuel talk about what went into their spiritual but danceable new record.

In the 1960s, Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass sold more albums than anyone except The Beatles and Elvis. For most musicians, that would be enough. But Alpert went on to co-found A&M Records, which launched the burgeoning careers of other superstars like Cat Stevens, The Carpenters, Janet Jackson, and The Police. And Alpert also found the time to write a few songs for others that eventually became smash successes in their own right (Sam Cooke’s “Wonderful World,” Jan and Dean’s “Baby Talk”). AND he's a renowned sculptor, as Soundcheck found out when we went to visit him at one of his installations a few years back. Now, Alpert and his wife and co-creator, acclaimed vocalist Lani Hall, are tackling another challenge: a multi-night residency at the Cafe Carlyle. Click the player above to hear Alpert talk about his storied career.

At the beginning of the video for Steve Gunn's latest single "Ancient Jules," we see the singer/guitarist straddle a motorcycle and race off on a country road, an image overlaid with the song's classic, crunchy sound. It's the quintessential picture of rock'n'roll wanderlust — appropriate, since Gunn has been blazing his own trail through expansive musical territory for more than a decade, taking in such diverse scenery as Moroccan Gnawa rhythms, Indian classical modes, the avant garde-ism of La Monte Young, the folk pastorals of Michael Chapman (who co-stars in the new video) and the indie swagger of Kurt Vile. Gunn's new album Eyes on the Lines (out June 3) is his most straightforward offering yet: a river enriched by many tributaries, and delivered by crack band The Outliners, featuring James Elkington, Nathan Bowles, and Jason Meagher. Click the player to hear the group play some of the summer-ready new tunes.

There’s something about the band name “Into It. Over It.” that seems perfect for the digital age, when we rush to crown the Next Big Thing one week and abandon it for the new Next Big Thing a week later. But Chicago singer and songwriter Evan Weiss has managed to keep an even keel through five years and three full-length albums, keeping Into It. Over It. as both a touring band and as an occasional solo project. The band’s new album is called Standards (no, he doesn’t sing Gershwin or Cole Porter), and Evan Weiss joins us to perform a live solo set.