Soundcheck

The singer and songwriter Sheherazaad blends the rich tradition of poetry and music from South Asia with Western instruments and production techniques. Her new album, Qasr, was produced by Grammy-winning Pakistani-American singer Arooj Aftab, and it offers a subtly colored, moody collection of songs that, in the tradition of the old collection 1001 Nights, tell stories. Stories that conjure "real strains of displacement, the push and pull of diaspora, and the depravity of erasure and forgotten roots", (Erased Tapes). Sheherazaadand her ensemble performthe music of her origins, in-studio.

Set list:1. Dhund Lo Mujhe 2. Khatam 3. Koshish

Haitian-American composer, flutist, vocalist, and educatorNathalie Joachim is half of the duo Flutronix, whose music blends classical flute playing with electronic sounds. She also played for a spell in the Grammy-winning contemporary classical music ensemble Eighth Blackbird. But in 2019 Nathalie began exploring her family’s roots in Haiti with a striking album called Famn d’Ayiti, using flute, string quartet, electronics, field recordings and her own singing. Now, she’s continued that exploration with a new album called Ki moun ou ye, or Who Are You/ and the Kreyol meaning is Who Claims You? On it, herprecisely assembled originalsongs and compositions explore ideas about family, ancestry, and identity using recordedvoices of family members, along with her own flute riffs and voice, and percussive elements. Nathalie Joachimpresents music from herlatestalbum calledKi moun ou ye, or "Who Are You/ Who Claims You?", in-studio.

Set list:1. Kenbe m 2. Kouti Yo 3. Ki moun ou ye

Singer, songwriter, guitarist, and educator Mary Timony has been a hugely influential figure on the indie and alternative rock scenes for over 30 years.Starting with the band Autoclave in 1990, she went on to front the group Helium for much of the 1990s, was a member of the supergroup Wild Flag, and is a guitarist and singer of the band Ex Hex.Her latest album, Untame The Tiger, is a solo record – her first in at least 15 years – is full of tasty guitar licks and thoughtful lyrics. Mary Timony and her band play some of the new tunes, in-studio.

Set list:1. Summer 2. No Thirds 3. The Guest

Helado Negro is the avant pop project of Roberto Carlos Lange, born in Florida to Ecuadorian parents but for many years based in Brooklyn. In recent years he’s moved around a bit (Marfa, TX!) and is now based in Asheville NC, which is where he made his new dreamscapey bilingual avant-pop album called Phasor. While it definitely has the dreamy, warm sound of an Helado Negro album, it also feels different - the grooves are more prominent and there are new sonic textures we haven’t heard before, perhaps due to inspiration from Pauline Oliveros’ Deep Listening, Foley sound art, and many other sources – including what the sun feels like.

Set list:1. Echo Tricks Me 2. Out There 3. Best For You And Me

The American Patchwork Quartet is a group that reflects the American melting pot – the patchwork quilt of people who’ve come and madethe U.S.A. their home.APQ features two-time Grammy winner Clay Ross, of the bandRanky Tanky, drummer Clarence Penn, and two musicians who immigrated from Asia: the singerFalu(from India) and bassist Yasushi Nakamura (from Japan). Their debut, untitled album is just out, and includes fresh, often Indian-tinged arrangements of old fiddle tunes, folk hymns, and early blues.As the famed folksong collector and producer Alan Lomax said, “America has a patchwork culture made of the dreams and songs of all its people.” The American Patchwork Quartet performs their take on old folk songs in-studio.

Set list:1. Wayfaring Stranger 2. Lazy John 3. Shenandoah

Ethan Lipton writes plays, and songs, and sometimes, plays with songs. His musical No Place To Go won an Obie for its trenchant take on the decline of the American workspace, and in another musical, The Outer Space, a couple finds that they can flee planet earth but not its problems. Ethan Lipton & His Orchestra, according to their own biography,offer "modern lounge with a chewy singer-songwriter center"with songs that maypresenta melancholy wit and a cockeyed worldview. Ethan Lipton & His Orchestra, his longstanding four-piece band, have a new album out, called Did You Do The Thing We Talked About, andthey play some of these songs in-studio.

Set list:1. Mess That Summer 2. To Have Done It 3. Crazy for New York

Pianist and composer Vijay Iyer first got together with bassist and composer Linda May-Han Oh and drummer/composer Tyshawn Sorey in 2021, when they released their brilliant album Uneasy. But with all three musicians having such busy careers, it seemed like it might be a kind of musical summit – the sort of thing that only happens once. Now, those same threegifted playershave released a second album called Compassion, on which the trio's connected interplay can seem telepathic, as the musicians imagine future possibilities with warmth and clarity. The Vijay Iyer Trio playssome of these newer works,in-studio.

Set list:1. Tempest 2. Compassion 3. Ghostrumental

NYC-basedrock unitBodegamakes artful post-punk songs with brawny, catchy riffs and shouty gang vocals. Their lyrics contain politically-minded and perhaps cheeky commentaries onadvertising, technology, pop culture, high art - and how we consume it all; oh- and on gentrification as well. They playbracingnew tunesfrom the forthcoming album, Our Brand Could Be Yr Life, in-studio. -Caryn Havlik

Set list:1. Tarkovski 2. Shiny New Model 3. City Is Taken

Our Brand Could Be Yr Life by BODEGA

Guitarist and songwriter John Leventhal has spent almost a half century producing, playing for, and co-writing with some of the music world’s most familiar names – Elvis Costello, Shawn Colvin, Jim Lauderdale, Marc Cohn, Joan Osborne, Sarah Jarosz, The Blind Boys of Alabama,Willie Nelson, and of course, Rosanne Cash, to whom Leventhal is married. He’s won a fistful of Grammys, but the one thing he hasn’t done in all that time is a solo record. Until now. Rumble Strip is a collection of instrumentals, a few songs, and a surprising cover or two. John Leventhal plays some of these tunes in-studio.

1. Floyd Cramer's Dream 2. JL's Hymn No. 2 3. That's All I Know About Arkansas

Bobby Rush is in the Blues Hall of Fame, and he’s won threeGrammy awards. The first came when he was 83, the second four years later, and the third most recently this month. Now 90 years old, Bobby Rush still tours, dancing around the stage like a guy half – no, a quarter of his age, and not even COVID could stop him from writing and recording his latest album, calledAll My Love For You. Bobby Rush demonstrates how he put the funk into the blues,recountswhat it was like enduring within the music business (he owns all his own publishing), and tells tales while playing the blues, in-studio. -Caryn Havlik

Set list:1. Let Me In Your House 2. Chicken Heads 3. Garbage Man