Soundcheck

Braxton Cook first made a name for himself as a teenager gigging on the Washington DC jazz scene; toured extensively alongside Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah (formerly Christian Scott), and worked in New York where he’s played sax with Jon Batiste (as part of the Soul soundtrack), Christian McBride, and others. But all the time, there was another side of Braxton Cook: the smooth R&B crooner. His latest solo album, Who Are You When No One Is Watching mixes jazz, soul, R&B, and some elements of hip hop production. The material also addresses current issues around injustices and racism, while giving a journaling spin to personal experiences. Braxton Cook and his band play some of these new songs and a tune from his 2018 record, No Doubt, in-studio.

Set list: 1. No Doubt 2. The Same 3. MB

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Sprints is a garage-punk band from Dublin where they’re known for take-no-prisoners live shows and claim among their influences the likes of early Pixies, Bauhaus, Siouxsie Sioux, King Gizzard, Savages and LCD Soundsystem. Their first full-length album is called Letter To Self, and amidst the crashing, searing, seething guitars, there is “an exploration of pain, passion and perseverance”, (dedication for the album), and some inward-looking lyrics. Sprints throws down a mix of deadpan delivery and explosive emotion, playing new songs in-studio. - Caryn Havlik

Set list: 1. Adore Adore Adore 2. Up and Comer 3. Literary Mind

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Johan Lenox has one of the more unusual resumes in the music world. He’s probably best known as a producer, working with hip hop stars like Travis Scott and Big Sean. But he’s also a singer, pianist, and a composer of contemporary classical music. He’ll produce uncategorizable work with Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Ellen Reid, write music for the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, and cover a Nirvana song, all as part of his omnivorous musical diet. Lenox’s 2023 release is called Johan's Childhood Chamber Nostalgia Album, which leans toward ambient music with an unfocused childlike spirit. Johan Lenox and a small chamber music trio play in-studio. 

Set list: "Hopes and Dreams", "Boy With Blurry Eyes", "When I Was Your Age"

Web Extra: "Dumb" by Nirvana

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The Minneapolis trio Barbaro grows out of the American bluegrass tradition, but the key words there might be “out of”, as Barbaro doesn’t race through banjo breakdowns and flashy fiddle solos, although they can do those things. The band is something of progressive version of bluegrass – using traditional instrumentation like fiddle and banjo, but drawing inspiration from electronic music and writing songs that may sound pastoral and folky but which often carry a bit of a bite. Barbaro plays new songs from their rootsy chamber music album, About The Winter, and chats about horse racing, in-studio.

Set list: "Subtle Hints", "Gardens", "All My Friends"

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Mountain Man, the Appalachian a cappella trio, features the timeless sound of three voices singing in harmony, with an occasional strum of the guitar. They released an album in 2010, a trio of college friends who’d gotten used to singing together, but then went their separate ways after college. All three of them toured for a long time as Feist’s backup singers, and lately Amelia Meath, one third of the trio, has been keeping busy as half of Sylvan Esso. Meath, along with Alexandra Sauser-Monnig and Molly Sarle are back, with their first album in eight years, Magic Ship. 

As our colleague Justin Sergi writes, "their immaculate precision of timing and tuning and phrasing, comes from love and friendship and the elemental, historic 'fun' of singing three-part harmony with your friends." "It is a precision that can, perhaps, only be born from family. Which is what they are: family." The family of Mountain Man joins us to perform songs, chat about community in North Carolina, the internet, peace and joy, and Molly's cat, Magic Ship. 

Set list:

Watch "AGT":

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The musician known as No-No Boy is a Vietnamese-American singer and songwriter, real name Julian Saporiti, whose music incorporates the sounds of American folk but adds various Asian instruments and scales, as well as field recordings and found sound. Saporiti took the name No-No Boy from a post-war novel about the treatment of Japanese-Americans after the notorious internment camps set up during the second World War. And his songs often tell stories of marginalized Asian communities that are wrestling with their place in the American melting pot. No-No Boy’s latest album is Empire Electric, and it brings Julian and his band to our studio.

Set list: 1. Jakarta 2. Little Monk 3. Two Candles In the Dark

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New York-based drummer, composer, and educator Allison Miller has played with singer/songwriters like Brandi Carlile, Ani DiFranco, or Natalie Merchant, but she’s best known for her own bands, and her own music, which is usually labeled jazz, but you’ll hear elements of rock, funk and folk in there too. She’s the bandleader of the chamber jazz band Boom Tic Boom, and is part of the all-star jazz group Artemis along with many other collaborations. Allison Miller’s latest album, Rivers In Our Veins, features a new band, including several members of Boom Tic Boom but with tap dancers as well. 

Allison Miller presents the full multimedia Rivers In Our Veins on Nov. 25 at Roulette. 

Commissioned by Mid Atlantic Arts Organization and Lake Placid Center for the Arts, Rivers In Our Veins is inspired by five major rivers of the Northeast United States  – the James, Delaware, Potomac, Hudson and Susquehanna – their history, how they serve the communities around them, and how those communities need to better upkeep them. Allison Miller goes deep with research about rivers and social movement — migratory movement — along rivers, as well as what she learned from the River Keepers. [Much more about Rivers In Our Veins.]

Her top-shelf band, with violinist Jenny Scheinman, bassist Todd Sickafoose, clarinetist Ben Goldberg, trumpeter Jason Palmer, and pianist Carmen Staaf, along with two phenomenally talented tap dancers, perform selections from Rivers In Our Veins, in-studio.

Set list: 1. Hudson 2. Of Two Rivers (Part 2) 3. Fierce

Icelandic singer and songwriter Laufey Lín Jónsdóttir, known by the mononym Laufey (pronounced Lay-vay), is having a breakout year. Now based in L.A., the young singer with the timeless-sounding voice crafts songs which look to the great American songbook and the jazz-inflected pop of the mid-20th century. Her roots are in both classical music (she’s a trained cellist) and in jazz and her mission is connecting multiple generations, especially her own, to both jazz and classical music. She plays modern torch songs from her latest album, Bewitched, in-studio.  [P.S. Check out Laufey’s online book club.]

Set list: “Promise”, “California and Me”, “From the Start”

The songwriter, pianist, vocalist, and producer Raia Was has become known for her dark art- and alt-pop. She was raised here in New York, and some of the city’s darkness, risk-taking, and energy flow through her songs which may oscillate between brooding intensity and cathartic euphoria. [“You Are" was featured in HBO’s Euphoria.] Raia Was has just released her second record, called Captain Obvious, on a new cooperative record label called Switch Hit Records, and it brings her and her dream band of collaborators play in-studio.  

Set list: “What It Feels Like” “Any Evil” “So Close” "Easy To Force It”

Watch "What It Feels Like":  

Watch "Any Evil":

Watch "So Close":

Watch "Easy to Force It":

The 2018 release from American pop band Speedy Ortiz, Twerp Verse, speaks smartly to political and social situations of the present from a feminist perspective of truth-telling and is designed, on purpose, to make us uncomfortable lyrically and musically. With songs that airdrop aggressive, unpredictable chord progressions and disorienting rhythms behind enemy lines, this record is music for popping out from the cover of safety, armed with teeth and claws. Speedy Ortiz plays some of these tunes, in-studio. (From the Archives, 2018.)