Soundcheck

Whether it's interpreting Edgar Allan Poe or channeling Leonard Cohen, musing on the death of Virginia Woolf or imagining cities being dragged into the sea, Marissa Nadler's music finds beauty in starkly gothic terrain. Her new record is called Strangers, a title that refers to the spectral characters who appear and disappear throughout the songs. Oblique approaches to songwriting, including cut-and-paste techniques made famous by Bowie and Burroughs, are underscored by the singer's hypnotic, incantatory delivery. Hear solo versions of the new songs, and the stories behind the "strangers," by clicking on the player above. You can also watch a behind-the-control-room-glass video of Marissa's performance here.

When Austin's White Denim was last in the Soundcheck studio, one of our listeners commented, simply, "This is music. Wow." At the time, the band was touring behind the Jeff Tweedy-produced Corsicana Lemonade, which found the then-quartet indulging in a few baroque flourishes on top of their well-established brand of 1970s-inspired rock'n'roll. But apparently singer James Petralli and company felt they had drifted too far off their own map, because the band's new record, Stiff, is a self-described return to basics: Stones licks and the stink of spilt beer, steeped also in the classic sounds of Curtis Mayfield-era R&B. A beefed-up lineup and a renewed sense of vigor — click the player to hear a driving set from and conversation with the Soundcheck favorites.

Natalia Lafourcade had writer's block. Her 2009 album Hu Hu Hu had been a critical and commercial triumph, nominated for Grammy awards and hailed as one of the best records of the decade by tastemakers in the Latin music world. How to move forward? She returned to her roots to find inspiration, mining her home country of Mexico for fresh ideas and deep connections, and responding to Latin American songwriters like Simón Díaz and Caetano Veloso. In fact, she called the 2015 record Hasta la Raíz -- "Down to the Roots." The result? Grammy Awards and heaps more critical praise. Not to mention, beautiful music. Click the player above to hear Natalia Lafourcade play a special acoustic session live in the Soundcheck studio.

When Julianna Barwick last visited the studio, she was teasing songs from the forthcoming release of 2013's protean, beautifully hazy Nepenthe, to which Sigur Rós's producer Alex Somers lent some of his trademark Icelandic sheen. Barwick's new record, Will, preserves that ethereality, but adds sonic jags, peaks, and valleys that may be something new to her repertoire. “I knew I’d be playing these songs live," she says, "so I wanted some movement. Something that had rhythm and low-end.” (No word yet on whether her collaboration with Dogfish Head brewery had any influence on this ...woozier... sound.) Click the player above to hear Barwick play songs from Will and talk about her latest chapter.

Kawehi exploded into pop consciousness after a single-take video of her performing the 1993 Nirvana classic "Heart-Shaped Box" went viral; it's racked up more than 2 million views since it was published 2 years ago. Her vocal performances are precise and melodic, but it's what she does when she's not singing that has most enthused on- and offline audiences: she's perfected the ability to perform as a one-woman band, looping various vocal and instrumental samples into rich, hypnotic patterns. Since her rocket-powered ascent to fame, she's crowd-funded several well-received records, and is the very definition of the self-sufficient modern musician. Click the player to hear Kawehi talk about the power of the crowd, and play songs from her latest release, Interaktiv.

Since its debut All Hour Cymbals in 2007, Yeasayer has used album releases to reintroduce and reinvent itself. From the baroque electro-pop of 2010's Odd Blood, to the breezy straightforwardness of 2012's Fragrant World, the band displays a churning musical curiosity and search for sounds. The band's latest, Amen & Goodbye, continues in this discontinuous vein, occasionally confounding fans and providing no shortage of experimental cul-de-sacs (hey, they're called Yeasayer — they say "yea" to everything). But Amen & Goodbye is ultimately a bricolage of the band's greatest strengths: thoughtful writing, synthesized global sounds, and delightful psychedelic confusion. Yeasayer recorded hours of material to tape in analog fashion, then had drummer and producer Joey Waronker reassemble that material into the jumpy, kaleidoscopic final product. Hear the band perform some of it live, and talk about its latest phase shift. 

For the last decade, the string band known as The Carolina Chocolate Drops has been unique for a number of reasons, most notably as an all-black ensemble reinterpreting and expanding the musical legacy of the American South, augmenting the sounds with classical instruments or beatboxing as their whims have guided them, and winning a Grammy in the process. It's also been a launching pad for several excellent musicians, including Rhiannon Giddens, Dom Flemons — and the cellist Leyla McCalla. McCalla’s first solo record was a tribute to the poet Langston Hughes; she's now returned with a record called A Day for the Hunter, A Day for the Prey. Click the player above to hear a heady stew of songs from the Cajun, Creole, Haitian, and American folk realms.

Violinist Sarah Neufeld is best known for invigorating Arcade Fire's cinematic rock with her kinetic, slashing strings. But she's also an accomplished and daring solo musician, whose 2013 debut Hero Brother explored minimalist classical impulses, featuring vocalizations over the repetitive driving patterns of Steve Reich and more traditional, folky cadences. Neufeld has returned with The Ridge, which retains the purposeful minimalism of her first record, but shifts its subtle focus to pop song structures — and even features a drum beat here and there. Hear Neufeld talk about and play songs from the new record, accompanied by frequent collaborator Colin Stetson (Arcade Fire, Lou Reed, Bon Iver) on lyricon.

Glenn Jones belongs to the lineage of so-called "American primitive" style guitar players, the chief apostle of which was the late, great John Fahey. Jones had a close relationship with Fahey, and the latter's emotional fingerprints are all over Jones's new record, Fleeting. Even more evident is the influence of another guitar stylist, Robbie Basho: Fleeting contains a song called "Portrait of Basho as a Young Dragon." Jones may be a an artist of many influences, but his sound is all his own. Listen to Glenn Jones' oblique, inventive, and evocative fingerpicked guitar live on Soundcheck — and, if you like what you hear, you can see Glenn live at The Greene Space on May 12 as part of The New York Guitar Festival.

It's always been possible to describe the music of Minnesota band Cloud Cult as "cinematic." That's because their songs are frequently meditations on life, love, and the deeper impulses of being human, with sweeping sounds and emotional crescendos. This cinematic bent is re-established from the first string flourishes on the opening track of Cloud Cult's newest album, The Seeker. Singer Craig Minowa and company again mine the heavy stuff and come up with melodic gold. But they also have another cinematic project in the works — one that is more literally deserving of the term. They've written and scored a new feature film, starring How I Met Your Mother's Josh Radnor. They play songs from the new record and talk about their wide-angle aspirations with host John Schaefer; just click the player above to listen.