Soundcheck

Singer, writer, pianist, and activist Amanda Palmer is also a listener, a “love-lover, rule-hater and co-founder of the Brechtian punk cabaret duo, The Dresden Dolls” (Bandcamp). She has a way of connecting with people and directly asking for what she needs, as well as giving back to her fans. Her latest record, There Will Be No Intermission, is a “five hanky” record, full of dark songs on abortion, miscarriages, cancer and grief, all the while in a way that hints at hope and delivers community. Amanda Palmer brings an abbreviated version of her TED talk, with accompanying piano and ukulele songs, to perform in our studio.  -Caryn Havlik

Watch the session here: 

Listen to one of the singles from the record:

Drowning In The Sound by Amanda Palmer

Composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist Emily Wells works in the space between art-pop and neoclassical chamber music using electronic and acoustic instruments: synths, strings, and hip-hop production in elegant layers to support her singular and dramatic vocals. For her latest, This World Is Too _____ For You she has expanded her sonic palate to include a string quintet and French horn for a collection of swirling and dramatic chamber-pop showpieces. 

Together with the Grammy-nominated chamber orchestra, the New York-based Metropolis Ensemble, and drummer Shayna Dunkleman (Xiu Xiu, Peptalk), she performs some of these new songs, in-studio. Emily Wells and Metropolis Ensemble perform at House of Yes on Thursday, Feb. 28. 

Watch the session here: 

New York-based drummer Allison Miller is also a composer, teacher, and the leader of the band Boom Tic Boom, a group featuring violinist Jenny Scheinman, cornetist Kirk Knuffke, clarinetist Ben Goldberg, bassist Todd Sickafoose and pianist Myra Melford, who celebrate ten years of working together this year.

Miller's experience in leading this specific group of improvising collaborators, along with the openness in her compositions, gives each member of the band space to shine. And shine they do - from the skilled interplay between cornetist Kirk Knuffke and clarinetist Ben Goldberg, dynamic rhythms and exploratory runs from pianist Myra Melford, the way that violinist Jenny Scheinman explores the frisky possibilities of the violin on "Malaga", Todd Sickafoose’s well-chosen melodic low-end, where he is sometimes joined by Goldberg on bass clarinet, along with Miller's own propulsive, playful grooves; there’s a healthy amount of what she calls “organized chaos” as well as cinematic beauty. Allison Miller and Boom Tic Boom join us in-studio to perform tunes from the 2019 release, Glitter Wolf. - Caryn Havlik

Here's a tune called "Malaga":

Nashville-based singer-songwriter, guitarist, and poet Adia Victoria crafts Southern Gothic pop deeply rooted in the blues. On her new record, Silences, produced by The National's Aaron Dessner, she clothes her plaintive melodies with a velvet-robed ferocity, like a self-dubbed “Dope Queen”; the fully fleshed, orchestral-pop arrangements of woodwinds, brass, strings, and electronics are simply majestic. Adia Victoria and her band perform these new songs, more “in touch with her Southernness”, and definitely in touch with the legacy of the blues, in-studio. - Caryn Havlik

J.S. Ondara is a Minneapolis-based singer-songwriter whose love for Bob Dylan spurred him to move to Minnesota from Nairobi, Kenya in 2013. Since he won a Green Card lottery that allowed the move, he learned to play guitar and has lived the so-called “American Dream.” He learned English both in school and because he wanted to understand the lyrics in music by Pearl Jam, Radiohead, Nirvana, Death Cab for Cutie Neil Young, and Dylan.  

Ondara, in an interview with Rolling Stone, describes his music as “old troubadour style,” that is “until I go electric and make everyone upset”, like his inspiration Bob Dylan. The DIY-musician, still in his 20’s, has just released his debut record, Tales of America and he joins us to play some of these songs, in-studio.

Set list: "Saying Goodbye", "Torch Song", "Days of Insanity"

British singer Jacob Banks was born in Nigeria before moving to Birmingham, England. There he has developed a large following for his remarkable voice and his equally impressive storytelling gifts – stories he tells in songs and in a series of videos – short films really. His debut LP, called Village, features electro-enhanced R&B with deep powerful grooves spread across a smartly-arranged full spectrum of sound. Jacob Banks is here with his band to play some songs for us today. 

Watch the session here: 

Los Angeles trio Cherry Glazerr, led by singer/guitarist/founder Clementine Creevy, is fierce, furious, but also weary. Creevy has found some inspiration by looking inward, and just hanging out with the demons of self-doubt instead of fighting in some of the songs from the new record, Stuffed & Ready. Creevy is self-deprecating, but at the same time, trying not to beat herself up, as she lets out her rage.

As Creevy looks outward, she's come into some world-weary wisdom too. “Being a feminist is exhausting”, she says to Paper Mag in an interview, about the ongoing struggle, which is full of punk aggression and some exasperation at unwanted sexualization. “I’m enraged because I feel like America’s mindset sees women as less capable beings, and that social mainframe feels impenetrable and that enrages me.” Cherry Glazerr joins us in-studio to get loud, rage a bit, and “make people feel less alone.” - Caryn Havlik

Watch the session here: 

Guitarist and songwriter Nilüfer Yanya writes songs that, while dark and a bit twisted, yet direct and elegant, ultimately embrace imperfection. Her music might easily flow between Nina Simone, pop punk, crisp jazzy chords, and the dynamic, sweaty explosiveness of The Pixes. Nilüfer deploys her impressive voice in all kinds of styles - falsetto crooning, growls and yelps, speak-sing indie, and smooth soul - as she spins out songs inspired by tube ads bombarding us with self-improvement or those born of dystopian science fiction questioning reality. Nilüfer Yanya joins us to perform some of these tunes from her forthcoming debut, Miss Universe, in-studio. - Caryn Havlik

Watch the session here: 

Mandolin Orange is the folk duo of North Carolinians Andrew Marlin and Emily Frantz, who blend traditional Americana roots music – folk, country, bluegrass – in their warm and intimate, bittersweet acoustic songs. They met at a bluegrass jam, and have been known to wield mandolin, guitar, banjo and violin between them, with Marlin mostly doing lead vocals and Frantz, who thinks of herself as a harmony singer. Mandolin Orange sometimes expands to five instrumentalists for the live shows, but still embrace their “songwriter pickin’ music” (their Twitter words.) The expanded tour version of Mandolin Orange joins us in-studio to play new tunes from Tides of a Teardrop. - Caryn Havlik

Watch the session here:(Set list: "Golden Embers", "The Wolves", "Late September")

The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble is a musically free-ranging band of seven brothers from the south side of Chicago. Their music draws from funk, funky jazz, Afrobeat, hip hop, rock, reggae, and R&B, and they’ve performed with Tony Allen, Wu Tang Clan, De La Soul, Prince, Femi Kuti, Gorillaz, Yasiin Bey (aka Mos Def), and the B52's, to name a few. Growing up, the members of HBE were raised with music as a constant, as they are the sons of the late jazz trumpeter Phil Cohran (Earth, Wind, and Fire, Sun Ra Arkestra). Now based between Brooklyn and Chicago, the full party of Hypnotic Brass Ensemble plays some tunes in-studio, in advance of their Blue Note residency (Jan. 31-Feb. 3). - Caryn Havlik

Set list: 

Watch the session here: