Soundcheck

Nashville-based Montreal-born Scottish-Grenadian-Canadian multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, poet, mother, and runner Allison Russell (Birds of Chicago, Our Native Daughters, Po’ Girl) presents her autobiographical record, Outside Child, which sees her  breaking the cycles of abuse and violence and celebrating having found her chosen community and chosen family. Allison Russell and her band - some of the members of her musical community- play some of these songs from Outside Child remotely.

Japanese-born, NYC-based pianist and composer Erika Dohi, is also one half of Contemporary Music Duo RighteousGIRLS. Her new record I, Castorpollux (37d03d) deals with duality, the idea of a “split self”–in works that float between composed and improvised music, as well as Dohi’s exploration of her Japanese-American identity, as well as pondering the idea of the multiverse, where there are alternate selves in parallel universes [as in Haruki Murakami’s novel 1Q84, or Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.]

On this solo album, named for the twin deities of Castor and Pollux, there are some guests from the worlds of jazz and improvised music as well as classical music circles, like trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire and composer William Brittelle. Erika Dohi plays partially prepared piano remotely, both solo, and together with sax player and improviser Immanuel Wilkins. - Caryn Havlik

Set list: "Replicant," "Dioscuri," "PoE"

Watch "Replicant" :

Watch "Dioscuri":

Watch "PoE":

Old Sea Brigade is the work of Nashville-based, Georgia-born musician Ben Cramer, who makes atmospheric Nashville-informed indie folk, infused with 80s synthpop and jangly guitars. "Cramer’s feathery vocals dovetail nicely with the guitars’ indie-rock-in-the-aughts sound," and the melodies are enhanced with warm synths and hazy production (John Schaefer). Old Sea Brigade plays songs from his new album Motivational Speaking, remotely.  

"Mirror Moon": 

"How It Works": 

"Day by Day": 

Atlanta-based Manchester Orchestra crafts cinematic, lush, long-form rock, with such detail about the characters, that it makes the stories even more believable on the songs from their latest record, The Million Masks of God. The band’s songwriting duo of Andy Hull and Robert McDowell, invokes the poem that inspired the album’s title, “Gold Leaves” by G.K. Chesterton, and talks about trying to find connections to the divine or the things that are in the way when searching. Hull and McDowell of Manchester Orchestra play some stripped-down and intimate arrangements remotely, for the podcast. 

Set list: “Bed Head” “Keel Timing” “The Gold”

Watch "Bed Head":

Watch "Keel Timing":

Wathc “The Gold”:

As a performer, Robert Randolph is nothing like the guys who play pedal steel in country music. He sets off pedal steel fireworks with his gospel-rooted soul-funk; he'll dance around the instrument, wrestle it, push it off its four legs, moved by the spirit - an ecstatic spectacle. Randolph, on his 2017 record Got Soul, continues to take the pedal steel where it has seldom been heard before – recruiting special guests like Hootie and the Blowfish singer Darius Rucker, R&B crooner Anthony Hamilton and Snarky Puppy's Cory Henry – and exploring those other musics: rock, funk, soul, jazz, and jam band music. On Fessender pedal steel, Robert Randolph and The Family Band play in-studio. (From the Archives, 2017.)

Since 2009, the Ecuadorian-American singer and songwriter Roberto Lange has been making records under the name Helado Negro (that’s “black ice cream” in Spanish.) His music has been literally bilingual, in the sense that he sings in both Spanish and English, but it’s also been metaphorically bilingual, with its mix of art and pop. 2016's Helado Negro album, Private Energy, responds to the Black Lives Matter movement, and contains some explicitly political material. They play some of those songs, in-studio. (From the Archives, 2017.)

Here's "Young, Latin & Proud," in 360: 

Dark and light constantly fuse, diverge, and unite in Brooklyn violin-piano duo, Gracie and Rachel. Their 2015 debut album Go, begins with a single haunting note. Pizzicato violin from Rachel Ruggles and Gracie Coates' piano ebb and flow together in a rocking orchestral rhythm, while Gracie's milky vocals add a delicate layer of gothic pop on top. Gracie usually wears white, Rachel wears black. Together they make a kind of orchestral indie pop music that plays with light and dark, and they’ve been doing it since they were in high school, a seasoned partnership that is apparent in their music. The duo plays in-studio in this 2015 session from the archives. 

Setlist:

Irish singer and songwriter Adrian Crowley is known for his often detailed but surreal storytelling, and for his rich baritone voice. Crowley says that his latest batch of songs “straddle the conscious and subconscious world and some are even psychedelic in my mind, but to me they are all at once true stories and born of another place.” Produced by John Parish (Aldous Harding, PJ Harvey) and featuring members of Portishead and Crash Ensemble, these tunes were initially composed on a “charity shop ¾ size  nylon string guitar” or Mellotron (Bandcamp). Crowley plays songs from his latest album, The Watchful Eye Of The Stars remotely from Dublin and dances around Sprechstimme (speak-singing), water and ships, and isolation – whether chosen or imposed upon a person.

Set list: “The Singalong” “Shut-in’s Lament” “Take Me Driving”

"The Singalong":

"A Shut-in's Lament":

“Take Me Driving”:

The rock band Café Tacvba, (who sing exclusively in Spanish) is constantly opening new creative doors. They first formed in Mexico City in the 1990’s and consistently, over eight albums, they’ve shown themselves to be masters of reinvention and experimentation. They’ve played it all: techno-folk garage rock, pop, ambient electronica, instrumental music, even collaborated with Kronos Quartet, which brings us to their latest - Jei Beibi, which was recorded in Los Angeles in 2016 with their longtime collaborator, the Argentine producer, Gustavo Santaolalla. This latest record ranges from spacey psychedelic rock, tropical rhythms, folk-funk, arena rock, and even a lullaby. Café Tacvba plays in-studio. (From the Archives, 2017.)

Watch the session via Facebook Live:

Ten years ago, Alejandro Rose-Garcia released his debut album as Shakey Graves, featuring songs rooted in the haunted blues of the American South. The Texas Americana and roots-rock musician holds forth on learning fingerpicking from a song by Kansas, the legendary Dr. John, sports metaphors, and the making of music not of this time. Rose-Garcia has reissued a deluxe edition of that album, Roll The Bones X, and Shakey Graves plays some of those songs remotely. 

Set list: “Built to Roam,” “Georgia Moon,” “Proper Fence”

"Built to Roam": 

“Georgia Moon”: 

“Proper Fence”: