Soundcheck

Cigarettes After Sex is a sensual pop-noir band founded in El Paso, TX, but now based in Brooklyn. Frontman Greg Gonzalez’ dark androgynous voice wouldn’t be out of place in a David Lynch creation, or in "The Handmaid's Tale" (one of the songs WAS used in the TV series - "Nothing's Gonna Hurt You Baby") with its moody, dreamy, seductive and – a bit creepy - undertones. The spirit of arthouse cinema haunts these slow-burn romantic and very filmic songs, with transporting melodies and spaciously chiming guitars & keyboards. Cigarettes After Sex plays some of their autumnal dreamy tunes from the most recent first full length self-titled release, live in the studio.  

Hear music from one of the two Sonic Youth guitarists, Lee Ranaldo, along with the fingerstyle folk rocker Steve Gunn, recorded at the 2017 New York Guitar Festival in the Greene Space.

Ranaldo rhapsodizes about how he had been writing recently on acoustic guitar instead of electric, playing these “wooden” guitars, and even using standard tuning for most of the songs on his forthcoming record, Electric Trim (MUTE Records, due out September 15) . Jonathan Lethem helped out with the lyrics on many of the songs, and Lee plays one, “Thrown Over The Wall.”

Plus, hear a contemplative fingerpicked acoustic tune by Steve Gunn, once a sideman for Kurt Vile, and a member of psych-folk supergroup Black Dirt Oak. Listen to a song dedicated to the late fingerstyle guitarist Jack Rose, who is the reason that Gunn began to explore that playing style. 

Columbian band Bomba Estéreo explores their South American roots, mixing up cumbia, vallenato, & champeta with club & dub dance beats on their latest, "Ayo." Bomba Estéreo join us live.

The appealingly danceable music of Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark, or OMD, as the trailblazing synth-driven electronic band came to be known, has delighted and charmed listeners for decades. They formed in the late 1970's, greatly inspired by Kraftwerk, and with influences ranging from CAN to Barry White. OMD, is in the midst of a revival, with a brand new record due out September 1, and their founding members join us in the studio for a live performance. 

The turbo-charged New York band Gogol Bordello get wild with the riotous magic of Eastern European-rooted gypsy punk in the studio, anticipating their latest record, "Seekers & Finders."

Chicago-based soul singer Zeshan B looks to the classic Stax Records sound, with Memphis horns & all, yet he also wields a harmonium, & sings in Urdu & Punjabi. He joins us live. 

Philly bar rockers Low Cut Connie, led by pianist Adam Weiner & Shondra (Weiner’s upright piano, which he brings wherever he goes), join us in the studio to play some bluesy rockenroll. 

Folk artist Sam Amidon experiments with Appalachian music, improvisation, congas, sax, & beats on his latest solo record  'The Following Mountain.'  He'll play some these songs live. 

The rebel-country troubadour Steve Earle ranges from guitar growl & snarled songpoetry, to front porch balladry on his latest, "So You Wanna Be An Outlaw." He joins us in the studio.

From blasts of punk, to happy-jangly uplifting anthems, to dance music for the soul, hear some of the Mondo Cozmo pop sound in the studio. His record, "Plastic Soul," is out on Friday.