Soundcheck

Part art-rock, part post-punk, Porridge Radio is a band from Brighton, UK, led by singer and guitarist Dana Margolin. Her earliest songs were full of imagery of the sea and the seaside town where the band resides, and the latest collection of songs are intense, addressing joy, fear, and endlessness - and full of dry wit. Now that they’ve had a restful 2020, Margolin and bandmate Sam Yardley (keyboards, drums) play stripped-down versions of tunes from their new record, Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder to the Sky. The session was recorded live (with a real audience!) in The Greene Space, in early May. 

Set list: “Back to the Radio,” “Trying,” “Birthday Party,” “Jealousy”, “Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder to the Sky”, "Sweet"

Watch "Back to the Radio":

Watch "Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder to the Sky":

Watch "Sweet":

Watch the entire live set from May 2022 in The Greene Space:

Norwegian band Wardruna creates music born of Nordic history, Norse runes and nature - and is led by multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Einar Selvik, who composed music for the TV series Vikings. (He was formerly the drummer in the black metal band Gorgoroth under stage name Kvitrafn, for those keeping track.) 

Hear a captivating combination of old and recreated Norse historical instruments: Tagelharpa (bowed harp-lyre), birchbark lure (a trumpet), goat horns, Kraviklyra, instruments from nature: stones, bones, trees, fire and ice, along with sounds captured in nature, vocal techniques of many kinds, and ancient poetry. The 2018 record, Runaljod – Ragnarok, is the third of a trilogy of musical interpretations of each of the twenty-four old Nordic runes (the word rune can also mean magical song). Wardruna performs some of their unusual, spiritual, ancient sounding-modern ritual music in-studio. (From the Archives, 2018.)  -Caryn Havlik

Set list: "Wunjo," "Isa," "Helvegen"

Watch "Helvegen":

Bette Smith was born and raised in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn – but on her debut LP called Jetlagger she draws on the gospel she sang in the church and the soul music she heard on the block on hot summer nights music growing up on the corner of Nostrand and Fulton.

On the 2018 record Jetlagger, the tunes range from originals to covers of Staples Singers and Isaac Hayes classics, showcasing Smith’s deep, confident, and powerful voice. Amidst rugged, muscular arrangements that hearken to the timeless sounds of Mississippi and Memphis soul and funk, Bette Smith barely contains a New York aggressiveness and passion, and piles on the sexy. Smith and her band play some of these songs, in-studio. (From the Archives, 2018.)

The rock band elbow (small "e") hails from greater Manchester and makes subtle, sensitive, anthemic, joyful music, sometimes augmented with the strings of the Hallé Orchestra, (which they did not bring with them.) Guy Garvey’s vocals and wordplay are perched atop a well-orchestrated but never overwrought blend of melodic bass, guitar and piano riffs, and pulsing percussion, all the while squeezing out a wide range of bottled emotions onto expansive life paintings. They’ve referred to themselves as "prog without the solos" (AllMusic). elbow plays music from their 2017 album, "Little Fictions" in-studio. (From the Archives, 2017.)

The Norwegian band called Barokksolistene is out to give classical music a bad name. They’re trying to drag classical music – and especially Baroque music – down to the level of folk musicians fiddling in back of a pub. We here at WNYC fully support this sort of thing. Led by violinist Bjarte Eike, the band Barokksolistene has created a project they call The Alehouse Sessions, where they merrily blend together the sounds of Baroque music, drinking songs from the British Isles, and folk fiddling from various places in Northern Europe. See if you can figure out which is which. (From the Archives, 2017.)

"Hole In the Wall" (Henry Purcell - Abdelazer); "Johnny Faa/I Drew My Ship" (Scottish/Irish trad.); "Travel Set, medley" (Norway/Scotland/Norway/Denmark/Shetland Islands/America)

Philadelphia's The Districts have opened for Modest Mouse, and been compared to Sharon van Etten and the Killers. On their latest, 2022's Great American Painting, the songs take on the paradox of the state of the country, going from the big, tough ideas about gun violence, police brutality and oppressive structures to contemplating spiritual life in the remote and isolated pure landscapes and scenery in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, (Track by track, Flood Magazine.) The band’s aim is to process the heavy stuff cathartically, and dance forward in spite of fear and darkness.

Songwriter and vocalist Rob  Grote also reflects on the remote collaborative process, and admits that being in a room with friends making music can’t be replaced, and emphasizes how much the band lives for playing for rooms with people in them. The Districts play remotely for the Soundcheck Podcast. – Caryn Havlik

Set list: “Revival Psalm” “Long End,” “Cheap Regrets”

Watch "Revival Psalm":

Watch "Long End":

Watch "Cheap Regrets":

Composer, DJ, and techno pioneer Carl Craig joins us with the Carl Craig Synthesizer Ensemble. Lately, Carl Craig has been venturing beyond the usual techno venues through his work with chamber ensembles and orchestras, including the Chineke! Orchestra. Recently, the Carl Craig Synthesizer Ensemble played at Carnegie Hall, as part of its Afrofuturism series. The Carl Craig Synthesizer Ensemble recorded live tracks at Spot Lite in Detroit for today's podcast. Carl Craig - Max Fine

Set List: "At Les," "Desire," "Technology,"

Kae Tempest is a gifted wordsmith and performer; their two previous albums were both nominated for the Mercury Prize. Their 2022 album, The Line is a Curve, addresses struggles with mental health, as well as Kae’s own journey with their non-binary identity, and features collaborations with some of the South London creative community. Tempest offers live performances of music from the record, and spoke with host John Schaefer in London about the new album. - Caryn Havlik

Set list: “More Pressure” “Salt Coast”

Listen to the entire New Sounds Show with Kae Tempest, from London: 

The four members of Sō Percussion can turn nearly anything into a playable instrument – blocks, bells, drums, and other surfaces (as well as lumber, flower pots, garden tools – don’t set them loose in a hardware store.) Composer and So-founding member Jason Treuting has even turned the numbers 1-9, as in the Japanese puzzle game, sudoku, into an immense pattern-based work called Nine Numbers, which uses interlocking rhythms and melodies, as well as the plosives (some of the hard consonants in English) of speech. Together with strings of the Bergamot Quartet, Sō Percussion plays some of the cyclical and pattern-driven pieces of Treuting's Nine Numbers, live from The Greene Space. - Caryn Havlik

Watch Sō Percussion and Bergamot Quartet: “Nine Numbers VII”:

Watch Sō Percussion and Bergamot Quartet: “Nine Numbers VIII”:

Watch Sō Percussion: “Nine Numbers IV”:

Singer/songwriter/guitarist Lizzy McAlpine processes heartache, dreams, love, and breakups, with striking detail and sharp wit on her latest record, Five Seconds Flat. McAlpine is already a veteran songwriter who sets a tone with some chords on the guitar, and vividly describes vulnerable situations and tender feelings with a clever balance of wit and weirdness. She has lately been working at setting up her ideal balance of silence with big productions, some including guest artists Jacob Collier, Laura Elliot, and the Grammy-winning FINNEAS. McAlpine plays solo, unplugged versions of these new tunes for the Soundcheck Podcast. - Caryn Havlik

Set list: “erase me” “firearm” “weird”

Watch "erase me":

Watch "firearm":

Watch "weird":