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PODCAST

Soundcheck

WNYC, New York Public Radio, brings you Soundcheck, the arts and culture program hosted by John Schaefer, who engages guests and listeners in lively, inquisitive conversations with established and rising figures in New York City"s creative arts scene. Guests come from all disciplines, including pop, indie rock, jazz, urban, world and classical music, technology, cultural affairs, TV and film. Recent episodes have included features on Michael Jackson,Crosby Stills & Nash, the Assad Brothers, Rackett,

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All Episodes

00:31:52

Flamenco Guitar Pyrotechnicians Rodrigo y Gabriela...

Soundcheck ·

2026/08/20

The Mexican guitar duo Rodrigo y Gabriela first made a name for themselves busking in Dublin, Ireland, even though they spoke no English at the time. With roots in flamenco, classical, and thrash metal, they perform technical feats of wonder in both originals and incredible covers. The 2019 album, Mettavolution contains driving numbers, some incredibly fleet-fingered virtuosity, and a mind-altering psychedelic cover of a Pink Floyd tune. Rodrigo y Gabriela joined us for some stunning guitar

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00:42:38

Dan Deacon's Joyous Electro-Acoustic Orchestra...

Soundcheck ·

2026/08/17

Baltimore-based Dan Deacon has been a mad scientist of electronic music since releasing his debut album Spiderman Of The Rings in 2007. He built a reputation for wild, dance-oriented live shows, but Dan is also classically trained and in recent years has been doing a lot of film music, along with scoring music for dance. His latest album is the score for a National Geographic documentary called Time and Water, and Dan Deacon, along with an electro-acoustic chamber orchestra -which includes the

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00:51:00

Best of Soundcheck: Orquesta Akokán, Hannah Jadagu

Soundcheck ·

2026/08/16

Sometimes music takes us back or far into the future. Other times, time and travel are at the very core of the music we listen to. On this edition of Soundcheck, the (mostly) Havana-based band Orquesta Akokán takes us on a musical time travel through the classic Cuban dance sounds of the mid-20th century, live from our studio. After a substantial dose of mambo, cha-cha-chá, rumba, salsa, and more, Dallas-born and now New York-based singer-songwriter Hannah Jadagu studies the themes of time and

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00:32:29

Dominican-Italian Singer-Songwriter YENDRY Weaves...

Soundcheck ·

2026/08/13

Dominican-Italian singer-songwriter YEИDRY has been around for over a decade, and in the span of her rich music career that’s lived many lives, she compiled highly personal songs, some of which would eventually end up on her debut album coming out this Fall. She called it “Como Agua”, which translates to “Like Water”, aptly summarizing not only YEИDRY’s way of making music, but also her way of life. In the process, she learned to go with the flow, taking her notebook filled with scribbled lyrics

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00:36:12

Jazz / R&B Ensemble Terri Lyne Carrington + Social...

Soundcheck ·

2026/08/10

Grammy-nominated jazz and R&B ensemble, Terri Lyne Carrington + Social Science, are back with their sophomore album, Trip the Night Fantastic, after a seven-year-long break. In line with their debut record, Waiting Game, the group has a new batch of songs dealing with a wide range of social justice issues, voiced in melodies and spoken words.“Once you open your eyes to any social issue, so many others go hand in hand, because they overlap. There are all these intersections, so I can’t really do

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00:51:00

Best of Soundcheck: We Are Scientists, Art Brut

Soundcheck ·

2026/08/09

Welcome to the WASABI edition of Soundcheck! No, not the spicy green paste that comes with your sushi order. We’re talking about the collaborative project formed by the London-born indie rock band Art Brut and their New York counterpart, We Are Scientists, known as We Are Scientists Art Brut International. Though they released a collaborative record in 2019, each band visited our studios at separate moments in time. But how could we not combine their sessions into one when they all spoke so fondly

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00:29:28

Yasser Tejeda y Palotré Celebrate Ancestral Dominican...

Soundcheck ·

2026/08/06

Brooklyn-based guitarist and composer Yasser Tejada & the group Palotré combine African-rooted Dominican traditional folk styles and fuse them with R&B, church gospel, funk, jazz, and rock into a celebration of Afro-Dominican culture. On this edition of Soundcheck from 2019, they play some songs from their record, Kijombo, in-studio. Watch the video of the session here. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for

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00:22:50

The Calm Spark of South African Jazz Master Abdullah...

Soundcheck ·

2026/08/03

The late South African pianist and composer Abdullah Ibrahim (aka "Dollar Brand") had a notable career, helped early on by Duke Ellington, and acknowledged later by Nelson Mandela, who called Ibrahim “our Mozart.” In 2019, Abdullah Ibrahim became a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master, and he released an album titled The Balance, (which was his 70th or 71st LP, and that's not including his work as a sideman, which might push the total album credits to over 100!). The Balance is full of "lush

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00:51:00

Best of Soundcheck: Meklit, The Bad Plus

Soundcheck ·

2026/08/02

On this episode of Soundcheck, a great band bids farewell after a monumental career that lasted more than a quarter of a century. American avant-garde group The Bad Plus spent long years fusing instrumental jazz with rock music, with each member playing their seemingly traditional instruments to their fullest extent in unexpected ways. They perform some tunes from their final record, “Complex Emotions” and reflect on their creative journey. Also, Ethiopia-born, California-based singer Meklit joins

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00:35:52

Alt-Country Artist Tift Merritt Shares Her New...

Soundcheck ·

2026/07/30

After almost a decade-long wait, the Grammy-nominated alt-country artist Tift Merritt returns with her new record Sugar, in which she sings, “I didn’t really want to be here tonight / I don’t need you looking at me / I don’t like the light bright.” Is a romantic love story the inspiration behind these words? Or is it the music industry itself, which is, as Merritt puts it, the ultimate “bad boyfriend”.“This was a little song that was negotiating how I could come back and stay grounded in my own

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00:38:14

Chamber Pop Duo Gracie and Rachel Sing New...

Soundcheck ·

2026/07/27

Chamber pop duo Gracie and Rachel, formed by keyboardist Gracie Coates and violinist Rachel Ruggles, spent many years playing music together, living together, and even growing up together during their high school years. But when time came to work on their new album, they couldn’t write in the same room. Instead, they each turned their attention inward, reflecting on their emotions separately. The result was two batches of songs that undeniably belonged together, in their fourth record titled If We

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00:50:59

Best of Soundcheck: Marilina Bertoldi, Julieta Venegas

Soundcheck ·

2026/07/26

Latin music culture has produced countless artists who amplify decades of traditions and stories through their unique point of view. Two of those artists are Julieta Venegas and Marilina Bertoldi, who have both earned numerous Latin Grammy nominations in recent years. Singer-songwriter Julieta Venegas, who collaborated with superstar Bad Bunny on “Lo Siento BB:/,” is a multi-instrumentalist whose artistry encapsulates pop, rock, and regional Mexican music. And Argentine rock 'n' roll icon Marilina

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00:36:08

Experimental Jazz Artist Zoh Amba Presents Their...

Soundcheck ·

2026/07/23

Multi-instrumentalist Zoh Amba is widely known in the avant-garde jazz world for their remarkable talent as a saxophonist. Having cemented their reputation as a natural improviser, they now turn their attention to seemingly new territory that is really a homecoming: gritty, Appalachian folk-rock music.In their debut singer-songwriter record, titled Eyes Full, Zoh Amba studies the culture of their hometown of Kingsport, Tennessee, picking up the guitar as a main instrument for the first time. With

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00:36:02

Helado Tropical Feels Like 'Summer's Warmth on a...

Soundcheck ·

2026/07/20

Helado Tropical ("tropical ice cream") is a collaboration between Helado Negro, the experimental pop project of Ecuadorian-American singer/songwriter Roberto Carlos Lange, and Reyna Tropical, which is the work of the Mexican-American musician Fabi Reyna (also of the cumbia band Savila). Created out of openness and spontaneity, and nearly “telepathic communication” in the studio. there is a tenderness and intimacy that feels like “summer's warmth on a Sunday” to their debut record. Helado Tropical

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00:51:33

Best of Soundcheck: O'Farrill Family Band; Michael...

Soundcheck ·

2026/07/18

New York’s history as a city of immigrants has had a huge impact on music. Six-time Grammy-winning pianist Arturo O’Farrill follows in the footsteps of his father, Chico O’Farrill, a pioneer of the Afro-Cuban jazz that developed in NY in the 1940s. Now, Arturo O’Farrill often collaborates with his own sons, trumpeter Adam O’Farrill and drummer Zack O’Farrill, in both Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra and The O'Farrill Family Band. The latter group comes together to play music from all three generations in

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00:31:26

Funky Afrobeat Brass Band EMEFE Rekindles Old Songs,...

Soundcheck ·

2026/07/16

Jazz-funk brass band EMEFE didn’t plan on getting back together after their indefinite hiatus in 2016. Everyone involved with the project at the time, including founding member and drummer Miles Francis, went on to pursue other musical endeavors, until one of their 2015 album tracks, titled “Sun Spat,” began to gain some traction online years later. “We never heard from anybody from Spotify or any of these companies. It truly felt like people listening,” says Francis, highlighting this rare

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00:33:22

Tunisian-American Artist and Activist Emel, In-Studio

Soundcheck ·

2026/07/13

The Tunisian-born, American-based singer and activist Emel Mathlouthi, who records simply as Emel, became famous when her song "Kelmti Horra" became the anthem of the Arab Spring uprising some fifteen years ago. Since coming to the States, Emel has released a series of albums united by the themes of freedom, struggle, and community. Sonically, though, her songs have varied from dark electronica to North African-inflected pop to haunting and artful ballads. Her 2024 album, MRA, lifts up women and

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00:51:03

Best of Soundcheck: The New Pornographers; Carminho

Soundcheck ·

2026/07/12

What makes certain musical moments memorable? In the case of the Canadian indie rock band The New Pornographers, it’s a quarter of a century filled with inventive arrangements, power pop melodies, and striking lyrics that feel both abstract and relatable. And in the case of Portuguese fado singer Carminho, it’s a single, show-stopping moment in the film “Poor Things,” where all the action stops as she sings an aching song from atop a balcony. On this edition of Soundcheck, The New Pornographers play

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00:27:52

Folktronica Songwriter Ásgeir Channels His Vocal...

Soundcheck ·

2026/07/09

Folktronica songwriter Ásgeir didn’t plan on becoming a singer. When he was younger, all he wanted to do was to make music with his garage band. He only found himself singing in front of a microphone because “somebody had to do it.” As he grew into his musical identity, Ásgeir immersed himself in the music of his vocal heroes, including Jeff Buckley, Jónsi of Sigur Rós, and Justin Vernon of Bon Iver. Their ethereal falsetto tones influenced his own approach to singing and a new Icelandic star was

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00:39:41

Multi-instrumentalist Isaiah Collier Discovers New...

Soundcheck ·

2026/07/06

Saxophonist Isaiah Collier spent most of his lifetime playing his instrument religiously. He looked up to his idol John Coltrane so much that he performed several tribute concerts in his name. But the young jazz composer is ready to take on new creative challenges with his upcoming EP, JOY. What kind of new challenges? Well, he showed up at our studio without his saxophone, for one. On this episode of Soundcheck, Collier plays our piano and sings his soulful new songs with his band: with Davis

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