The Sessions at Midori House

Listen to our summer mixtape of some of our favourite sessions over the past few years on Monocle 24. Recline on your lounger to the sounds of Texan trio Khruangbin, Icelandic electro-poppers Vök, Canadian musician Bahamas and American party-starter Nick Waterhouse.

Hot Chip frontman Alexis Taylor joins us to play tracks from his new album ‘Piano’, which sees him take to the keys in what is perhaps his quietest and most poignant record to date.

Colvin & Earle consists of two acclaimed American musicians: Shawn Colvin and Steve Earle. The duo come to Midori House to discuss how they got together to release their eponymous debut album.

Jazz and R&B musician Jordan Rakei drops by to play from his debut album ‘Cloak’, the most summery release of 2016 so far.

Husband-and-wife duo Brett and Rennie Sparks are better known as The Handsome Family. You might know them from their 20-year-long career, which has turned out 10 albums, or from their theme tune to ‘True Detective’, which brought them a vast new audience. This September The Handsome Family will release a brand-new album called ‘Unseen’. We preview a couple of tracks in a live performance at Midori House.

We invite one of Australia’s greatest songwriters Paul Kelly into the studio to perform from his latest album ‘Seven Sonnets and a Song’ and talk about his relationship with Shakespeare and the musicality of his sonnets.

Acclaimed guitarist Teddy Thompson (son of Richard Thompson) and LA musician Kelly Jones have joined forces to produce ‘Little Windows’, an album of duets. The duo visit Midori House to play us a trio of tunes from it.

Australian singer Sarah Blasko has been making music under various guises since the 1990s. She has performed under her own name since 2002 and in late 2015 she released her fifth album as a solo artist, ‘Eternal Return’. The LP sees Blasko take on more of a synth-pop vibe – and so, armed with a keyboard, she comes to Midori House to treat us to a few tracks from it.

With album artwork as bright as his music, Oscar’s blend of scuzzy indie, dub basslines and ’90s beats has caught the attention of critics and crowds across Europe and the US. On today’s edition you can hear tracks from his debut album ‘Cut and Paste’.

In this week’s archive session we revisit our 2014 performance from Grammy award-winning American jazz singer, Gregory Porter.