Soundcheck

Morgan Nagler writes new songs every day, whether she’s in a room with the likes of Phoebe Bridgers and HAIM, or by herself playing an acoustic guitar in her bedroom. When she’s collaborating with other artists, there’s a lot of thought put into what each song is supposed to be about. But in private, Nagler refers to her tried and true “puke method”, eager to see what emerges, unfiltered. 

Then perhaps it shouldn’t come as a surprise that her debut album, which was born after a series of side projects, carries an intimate, conversational tone. Despite the layered electric guitar textures and thoroughly arranged instrumentals, Nagler sings as though she’s right there, sitting next to you. In her co-write sessions with other artists, she “shows up and there’s nothing, but by the end of the day, you’ve got a song with a nice demo recorded. And then, you can just wipe your hands of it.” Such is the privilege of a songwriter stepping into another artist’s universe. In her own universe though, Nagler assesses all her heartbreaks and existential crises, summing it all up with an appropriate album title: I’ve Got Nothing to Lose, and I’m Losing It

In the making of her album, Nagler had “the time of her life”, having so many of her collaborators show up for her passion project. But for this edition of Soundcheck, she’s accompanied by nothing but her own guitar, putting her story in front and center. (- Sırma Munyar)

Setlist: 1. Cradle the Pain 2. Hurt 3. Heartbreak City

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Alisa Weilerstein is more than just a virtuoso cellist; she is also a winner of the MacArthur Fellowship, the so-called “genius” award. There is a real genius in the way Alisa Weilerstein connects music in her solo concerts, combining core classical pieces and commissioning new works to expand the solo cello repertoire. Take, for example, her latest project called Fragments, which is a multimedia series that weaves 27 newly-commissioned pieces into all of the solo cello suites by J.S. Bach. She imagines anarc of listening, where one might hear Serbian-born, Quebec-based composer Ana Sokolović; American-born Joan Tower; cellist/composer Paul Wiancko; percussionist/composer Andy Akiho; American composer Jeffrey Mumford;J.S. Bach, and Argentinian Osvaldo Golijov all on the same bill and tied together. Alisa offers a sample of this exploration of sound and meaning, with a little bit of birdsong, in-studio.  

Set list: 1. Joan Tower - For Alisa, and  J.S. Bach - Cello Suite No. 1 in G major, Prelude, BWV 1007  

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Brooklyn-based folk-rock band The Lone Bellow have stuck through thick and thin for the past 15 years. Their creative output has been fairly consistent, only disrupted recently by a burglary on the road. Strangely, the thieves who broke into their tour van stole the hard drives containing the vocal takes for their latest record and left the precious instruments behind. Still, the financial burden was significant enough to delay the release of What a Time to Be Alive. After a successful crowdfunding campaign, the trio had their second shot at realizing their vision. 

Now back on the road after a short break to promote their new album across the US, The Lone Bellow is once again ready to welcome “the alchemy of everybody together in the room” on stage. But first, they share their rich vocal harmonies, backed with acoustic guitars and a mandolin, at our Manhattan studios for the latest installment of Soundcheck. (- Sırma Munyar)

Setlist: 1. I Did It for Love 2. You Were Leaving 3. No Getting Over You 

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Texas-born folk singer-songwriter Jana Horn lives in Brooklyn, NY now. Perhaps it was this lifestyle change that established the introspective and fragmented nature of her eponymous third album. The calm in her voice, guided by instruments that sound as though they follow their own communal continuous clock, softens the blow of her existential lyrics: “Seeing eternity as a quality of time / Done with my dying / I can breathe again”.

Drifting between melancholy and optimism, Horn writes and performs conversationally, blurring the line between speech and song. The core team of musicians she opens her heart to play a big part in weaving the delicate and gentle atmosphere around her vocals, both in the studio and on the road. Two of those musicians, bassist Jade Guterman and drummer Adam Jones join us for the latest edition of Soundcheck with Jana Horn. Hear their performance and the artist’s interview with our host, John Schaefer. (- Sırma Munyar)

Setlist: 1. Come on 2. It's alright 3. Designer

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The band Art Brut has been making excitable, eccentric indie rock since their debut LP Bang Bang Rock N Roll was released in the UK back in 2005. The music is catchy, hook-laden, guitar-based indie rock.  The lyrics are delivered in a kind of speech-song by Eddie Argos; they could be about falling in love or hitting the dance floor, but they’re just as likely to tell us a story of a double-crossing superhero or the joys of riding public transportation. Art Brut delivers a gleefully feral set of songs from their vast catalogue (including the recent second volume of a boxed set, Sorry, That It Doesn’t Seem Like It’s Planned! Battling Satan 2009-2020) to play in-studio. 

Set list: 1. Formed a Band 2. Emily Kane 3. She Kissed Me and It Felt Like A Hit

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Mike Doughty is many things; a solo artist, founding bandmember of Soul Coughing and Ghost of Vroom, and a published writer – who not only wrote two memoirs but also an oratorio based on the biblical Book of Revelation that was staged at WNYC’s Greene Space. 

Simply put, Doughty has built a long-lasting career since his days of working as a doorman at the New York club, The Knitting Factory. On his way up, he embraced all aspects of the art of writing good songs, from welcoming “cowboy chords” when they come, to opening his mind up to the universe of avant-garde jazz – or even German grammar-inspired lyrics. Today, he is a storyteller who is honest with himself and transparent with his audience, composing and sharing new songs weekly with his patrons on Patreon while continuing to pour his heart out on the road, as he’s about to do so on his Solo Tour ’26, playing all over the United States.

In the early days of this new adventure, Doughty joins our host, John Schaefer, with his collaborator, Andrew “Scrap” Livingston, for an intimate live performance and a warm chat for this edition of Soundcheck. (- Sırma Munyar)

Setlist: 1. White Lexus 2. Mr. Bitterness 3. Light Will Keep Your Heart Beating in the Future

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The Syrian-American rapper, poet, and peace activist Omar Offendum blends the sounds of hip hop and classical Arab music and literature into his stage works.  He has spent much of the past few years on a New York-themed work called The Little Syria Show, named after a historical neighborhood in Lower Manhattan. In a celebration of Arab-American cultural heritage, Omar Offendum shares insights on diasporic memory and performs some of the songs from The Little Syria Show, in-studio. – "Sinsyrianly"

Set list: 1. Peddling Dervish 2. Mojaddareh 3. Not Quite White

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American folk singer-songwriter Annahstasia’s music career blossomed since the day she got kicked out of her teenage choir. Her voice didn’t blend homogenously with others, as it always meant to stand out. Today, with her soulful contralto register, she often gets compared to the greats like Nina Simone, Tracy Chapman, and Sade. But the way she utilizes her voice and songwriting melds a distinct brand of her own. 

As a storyteller, Annahstasia doesn’t worry too much about predictable song structures with repeatable sections. Instead, she invites her collaborators and listeners into her safe space to participate as a communal sonic atmosphere begins to take shape. Like an “energy doula”, she approaches the dynamics in her music with the utmost care, birthing not only words and musical notes but also volumes of emotion. Sometimes, her melodies and harmonies are tethered so tightly to silence that you might miss them if you’re not listening closely. Then, they burst out again, like a thunderstorm that came out of nowhere to grasp your attention and never let go.

Offering an inimitable aural experience, Annahstasia performs a solo set at our Manhattan studios for this edition of Soundcheck, ahead of her sold-out four-night residency at Public Records in Brooklyn. Hear her latest anecdotes about her journey in the music industry and how she defends the art of live music recording in the age of bedroom pop productions. (- Sırma Munyar)

Setlist: 1. Be Kind 2. Take Care of Me 3. Slow

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Rapper, singer, and songwriter Dessa is a longtime member of Minneapolis’s influential Doomtree collective, has toured and recorded with orchestras, and been artist-in-residence at The Greene Space, our ground floor performance venue here in New York. But Dessa is also a writer, a poet, and a keen observer of the times. Her explicit commentary on the state of American politics, along with digressions on art, science, business, love, failure, and creativity fuel her latest songs, which she performs in-studio.

Set list: 1. Camelot 2. Tough Call 3. What if I'm Not Ready

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The duo called Dalava has put out three albums based on old Czech, specifically Moravian, folk songs, sourced from melodies transcribed over 100 years ago by the great- grandfather of Dálava's singer, Julia Úlehla. Their latest record, Understories, uses symbolic birds and stories to set a series of progressively darker, more experimental arrangements that seem to cast those songs adrift in both time and place. Julia Úlehla and guitarist Aram Bajakian (Lou Reed, John Zorn) explore magic and realism, harnessing the intense emotion in the body memory of ancestral connections as they perform in-studio. -Caryn Havlik

Set list: 1. Escape Velocity 2. Entanglement 3. Side Real Time

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