Soundcheck

Kishi Bashi's 2012 debut 151a quickly earned him a devoted following thanks to infectious pop songs brimming with layers of dreamy violin melodies and rich orchestral scoring. The song "Bright Whites" was a runaway hit, featuring K. Ishibashi's soaring vocals -- often incorporating Japanese -- and delightful choruses. Ishibashi is a classically trained musician who later became a founding member of Jupiter One, and went on to be a touring member of Of Montreal before launching his solo career as Kishi Bashi.   Now, Kishi Bashi has put out his sophomore release, Lighght, a record that continues with the same lush, twinkling melodies of 151a, anchored by the buoyant single "Philosophize In It! Chemicalize With It!"  Watch Kishi Bashi and his band perform songs from Lighght, plus an older favorite from 151a, live in the Soundcheck studio.   For more photos, visit Soundcheck's Tumblr page. Set List: "Philosophize In It! Chemicalize With It!" "Carry On Phenomenon" "Atticus, In The Desert"  

"Hard-working" is applied frequently to Warren Haynes, but even that adjective cannot account for the particularly vigorous flurry of activity in the last 12 months. Last September, the guitarist and songwriter released a new record with his band, Gov't Mule, which was really two records in one. Shout! features a second disc containing the same songs as the first, but with vocals contributed by the likes of Elvis Costello, Dave Matthews, Steve Winwood, Jim James, Grace Potter, and other high-profile guests.  In January, Haynes announced that he would be leaving The Allman Brothers Band at the end of 2014, after 25 years of touring with the group. And he recently wrapped a string of shows of Grateful Dead material arranged for symphony orchestras, performing Jerry Garcia's songs in front of distinguished ensembles like the Boston Pops. Another hyphenated adjective that is appropriate here is "road-tested." Haynes has lived in a constant state of performance since he joined The Allman Brothers at the age of 28. His many musical collaborations with some of the finest improvisational blues and rock players in the country are in full evidence on Gov't Mule's new record -- before you even get to that guest-laden second disc. The truth is that Haynes' musical instincts are honed to such tightness that he's a one-man rock dynamo -- something he demonstrates in a live solo electric configuration in the Soundcheck studio. Set List: "Captured" "When The World Gets Small" "Forsaken Savior"

After 34 years at the New York Philharmonic, concertmaster Glenn Dicterow will play his final concert on June 28. Dicterow has had the longest tenure of any Phil concertmaster, and he's done everything from traveling with the orchestra to North Korea in 2008 to taking over when a conductor gets lost. "You have to do it from the chair and kind of conduct with the scroll of the violin," Dicterow says. After leaving the New York Philharmonic, Dicterow plans to move to his home state of California to teach at USC's Thornton School of Music. In a conversation with Soundcheck host John Schaefer, Dicterow talks about those future plans and reflects on his many years leading the venerated orchestra.

For a time -- long before Hobbits, before Flight of the Conchords, and before Lorde -- New Zealand's biggest pop culture export was Neil Finn, the singer-songwriter and frontman of Split Enz and Crowded House. In the time Crowded House was active (roughly 1985 to 1996), the Australian pop band found success in the U.S. with its self-titled debut, which reached No. 12 on the charts in 1987, and later scored international top ten hits like "Don't Dream It's Over" and "Something So Strong." And while the band parted ways for a time, Finn delved into a fine solo career, and put together the 7 Worlds Collide project -- before reforming Crowded House in 2006. Lately however, Finn has been going solo again, releasing his third album, Dizzy Heights, in February. But for Finn, this latest record is both a collaboration (Dave Fridmann produced), and truly a family affair: his wife Sharon plays bass, and his sons Liam and Elroy play guitar and drums. And the result is a collection of dreamy psychedelic pop and soulful, R&B-inflected jams. For an artist as decorated as Neil Finn, it's another welcome high-water mark in his discography.  

The ideal way to witness Perfect Pussy is in a cramped room mobbed with fans, collectively losing their minds to the ecstatic, pile-driving fury. On stage, the Syracuse hardcore band’s set is somehow both the shortest and longest 15 minutes of unforgettable punk music you’ll see right now; an assured barrage of scorching guitars, feedback squall -- and the powerful vocal assault of frontwoman Meredith Graves, who sings with an unfiltered and ecstatic rage.   Last year, the reputation of Perfect Pussy’s self-affirming live shows reached fever pitch after a string of now-storied early performances in DIY spaces -- including the now-shuttered 285 Kent. Now, following its self-released, four-song demo tape, I Have Lost All Desire For Feeling, and a flurry of buzz following showcases during CMJ and SXSW, Perfect Pussy attempts to document that jolting sound on its first true LP, Say Yes To Love. Blasting through an unrelenting eight songs and 23 minutes, Graves and the rest of Perfect Pussy -- Ray McAndrew (guitar), Garrett Koloski (drums), Greg Ambler (bass), and Shaun Sutkus (keyboards) -- sing with messy urgency about deeply personal topics, even when the words are largely indecipherable. From its themes of social injustice and censorship, gender politics and female empowerment, and battling the societal expectations of love and happiness, down to the name of the the band itself, Perfect Pussy is a confrontational and unapologetic band delving into some big ideas and stigmas. Yet, even amid the visceral noise and sludge, Perfect Pussy's fearless vibrancy and honest emotion always shines through. It's a sight to behold. Set List: "Advance Upon The Real" "IV" "Work"   For more photos, visit Soundcheck's Tumblr page. Watch Perfect Pussy's set at the NPR Music showcase at Stubb's during this year's South By Southwest.

One of pop music's most eclectic, shape-shifting artists is about to be inducted into The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.  Again. Peter Gabriel's art-rock pioneering band Genesis was added to the Hall in 2010. But he left that group long before its Phil Collins-fronted assault on stadiums in the 1980s.  "Peter Gabriel exploded out of Genesis and decided to try every idea he ever had," says Jon Pareles, The New York Times pop music critic. The year is 1977. Popular appetite for the progressive rock sound that Gabriel helped define with Genesis is waning. Gabriel's first self-titled record (of four) is released just shy of the punk explosion. So you might expect that an artist, recently set free from a band with a out-of-favor sound, would latch on to that popular sea change. And, as Pareles knows well, you would be wrong. "You gotta love a guy who starts his solo career with a song called 'Moribund The Burgermeister' -- it's about some kind of plague affecting some medieval town. This is not your big commercial move." Gabriel's defiance of commercial expectations will, ironically, be honored by The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame this week when he joins just a few other musicians who have been inducted to The Hall on multiple occasions. In a lengthy conversation with Soundcheck host John Schaefer, Pareles -- who's documented Gabriel's career for four decades -- talks about Gabriel's most creatively fertile period, the gap between Genesis and So, with notes on Gabriel's many extracurricular interests in interspecies communication, record label innovation, political activism, and more.   Peter Gabriel's off-beat approach to pop music began in the Genesis days -- the exotic costumes, oblique lyrics, and lavishly theatrical presentations. But the British singer, flautist, and keyboardist's solo iconoclasm became more and more about the inclusion of sounds and ideas from outside the traditional pop music format. In the early 1980s, Gabriel founded Real World Records, dedicated to the recording and distribution of music from the far corners of the non-Western world. He also held the first World Of Music And Dance (WOMAD) Festival which continues to this day.  Gabriel's many sonic ideas reached their apogee on his 1986 masterpiece So, which featured a raft of huge, MTV-ready hits like  "Sledgehammer," "Big Time," "In Your Eyes," and his duet with Kate Bush, "Don't Give Up." The record cemented Gabriel's status as a first-rate solo artist and performer.  In the years since So, Gabriel has continued to innovate and act as an international ambassador for music that is not yet part of "pop" culture. Well into his fifth decade of making music, his next move is still anyone's guess. Watch video for "Sledgehammer" from Peter Gabriel's 1986 masterpiece So; it is still regarded as a watershed moment in music video history:

Renowned jazz violinist Regina Carter's latest album, called Southern Comfort, started out as an exploration of her family tree -- an attempt to discover and interpret the folk songs that her grandfather, a coal miner in Alabama, perhaps would have heard during his lifetime.  What resulted, however, is a deep and expansive look at how the Appalachians' blend of Irish and Scottish settlers, Native Americans and slaves combined to create the music that we today know as traditional Americana -- and, how that music has continued to evolve and inspire artists throughout our nation's history.  After visiting the Library of Congress and listening to field recordings made by John Wesley Work III and Alan Lomax, Carter -- who has previously explored the jazz standards of her mother's youth and the music of the African diaspora -- narrowed down the pieces that caught her ear. The resulting album includes Cajun fiddle tunes like "Blues de Basile," gospel hymns like "I'm Going Home," and even a few more contemporary songs, like Hank Williams' "Honky Tonkin'." All performed, of course, in Carter's signature imaginative -- and always swinging -- style.    Set List: "See See Rider" "I'm Going Home" "Miner's Child"

Another storied New York concert venue is about to close its doors: Roseland Ballroom will cease operations on April 7, after a stylish sendoff/residency from Lady Gaga. Say goodbye to Roseland Ballroom by sharing a memory of a great concert, a great run-in or a legendary evening. Post your story below, tweet us @Soundcheck, or leave us a voicemail at 866-939-1612.  We've included your stories in our look back at Roseland Ballroom today, part of our occasional series Vanished Venues. We also talked with music writer Ira Robbins and New York Times writer Lori Holcomb-Holland, who compiled a timeline of Roseland's history. 

Orchestrated by our classical sister station, the WQXR Instrument Drive is collecting "gently used" instruments at various drop-off locations throughout New York, northern New Jersey and Long Island. The drive, a partnership with Sam Ash and Mr. Holland's Opus Foundation, runs through April 7. The thousands of trumpets, violins and other lonely instruments will be collected, repaired and donated to music education programs in New York City public schools. With the drive in full swing, Soundcheck’s John Schaefer and WQXR’s Jeff Spurgeon take a moment to find out the stories behind a few instruments that became part of the drive. They talk with our listeners Lee, a writer who found an electric guitar in Central Park when she was in high school, and Hal, who's donating a keyboard that has "been sitting in a corner of my bedroom forlorn and unplayed for a number of years."  Plus: Deborah L. Jacobs, author of Estate Planning Smarts, has made a career out of giving people advice about family heirlooms. But when she suggested that it was time to give her maternal grandfather's violin to the WQXR Instrument Drive, some of her family had a hard time letting go. At first. Jacobs blogged about the experience, and she joins John and Jeff to tell the story of the violin once owned by "Grandpa Oscar."

Dum Dum Girls burst onto the scene in 2008 on the strength of visceral, yet messy songs and the charisma of vocalist Dee Dee Penny. But as the one-woman project morphed into a full-fledged band, that primitive grit has been incrementally sanded down, revealing a new polished side to Penny's aesthetic. On the arresting and catchy new record, Too True, Dum Dum Girls once again turns to longtime collaborator Richard Gottehrer -- who wrote "My Boyfriend's Back," "I Want Candy," and many other hits -- to assist in capturing that sparkle of 1960's girl-groups and slick '80s pop hooks that resonate throughout. And on highlights like "Too True To Be Good" and "Are You Okay?" it's clear Penny and the band has dialed down the scuzz of those early recordings, and crafted a bed of chiming guitars and dreamy keyboards to better showcase Penny's sharp pop songwriting and gorgeous vocals. Lyrically, Penny unfurls some of her most personally emotional lyrics, in lines like "Why be good? / Be beautiful and sad / It's all you've ever had," in "Evil Blooms." For many artists, it can be tricky to shift fans' expectations with a dramatic tonal change. But with Too True, Penny and Dum Dum Girls find success by staying true to these songs and the sonic scope they aim for. As Penny sums up in the chorus of "Little Minx," "What a vivid sound."  Watch the eerie and unsettling music video and short film Are You Okay, written by Bret Easton Ellis, directed by Brewer and starring featuring Dum Dum Girls' Dee Dee Penny and actor Shiloh Fernandez.   Set List: "Are You Okay?" "In The Wake Of You" "Coming Down"

Nickel Creek almost immediately wowed audiences when they burst onto the circuit in the early '90s. A trio of precocious child prodigies -- Chris Thile on mandolin and banjo, Sara Watkins on fiddle, and her brother Sean Watkins on guitar -- Nickel Creek boasted adventurous songs that melded elements of progressive bluegrass and country, classical and jazz, traditional roots and rock, performed with ecstatic virtuosity and youthful liveliness.   But after three delightful and acclaimed albums in the early 2000s, Thile and the Watkins each went their separate ways, pursuing massively successful solo careers and accolades. Sara Watkins launched a solo career and toured with The Decemberists; Sean Watkins formed Fiction Family, and both became a staple at L.A.'s club Largo. Meanwhile, Thile has played with nearly everyone: he co-founded The Punch Brothers, performed with Michael Daves, recorded with Yo-Yo Ma, Bela Fleck, Stuart Duncan and Edgar Meyer on the Goat Rodeo Sessions, tackled Bach on the mandolin, and on and on. Oh yeah, and he became a MacArthur Fellow, too. So it's not like Nickel Creek needed to reform (they were doing just fine, thank you!) -- but it's a welcome return all the same. Now eight years after its last album, the trio has just released a new album, A Dotted Line. The concise 10-song record finds each member equally refreshed and wiser from those experiences. And remarkably, while each member's distinctive musical voice comes through, the chemistry between Thile and Sara and Sean Watkins when they play together has never felt stronger.     Listen as their vocal harmonies glide together, as Thile's dexterous mandolin melodies playfully intertwine with Watkin's warm violin, and as the genre-defying songs allow room for spontaneity and fun. The record -- which also features guest spots from master bassists Edgar Meyer and Mark Schatz and drummer extraordinaire, Matt Chamberlain -- collects originals and a handful of covers, like the Sam Phillips song "Where Is Love Now?" Ultimately, while A Dotted Line documents a more mature Nickel Creek than it once was, yet that joyfully rebellious spirit that so many of us fell for still shines through. Set List: "Rest Of My Life" "Destination" "21st Of May"

If you’d told us 20 years ago that The Jesus Lizard would someday put out a coffee table book, we would’ve had a hard time believing you. The explosive '90s alternative punk rock band was known for its aggressive onstage presence, virtuosic musicianship -- and a frontman, David Yow, who often spent more time crawling on top of his audience than standing on stage. However, the band members went their separate ways in 1999 -- reuniting briefly for a tour a decade later -- and now they've chronicled the band's story in a photo and essay-filled tome, simply titled Book. In a conversation with Soundcheck host John Schaefer, Jesus Lizard frontman David Yow, shares parts of that story firsthand. He fills us in on how the band got its start, where his commanding, often intimidating stage presence came from and why tight pants are better than loose ones when you're planning to light them on fire.    Interview Highlights: David Yow, on what inspired him to be a part of a more "dangerous" rock scene:  I saw a show by a band called The Huns in Austin, and I had heard of them because there was some sort of thing where they got in a lot of trouble and there was sort of a riot at the club, and the cops came and Phil Tolstead, the singer for The Huns, had kissed a cop while the cop was arresting him. And I just thought, this is so cool. I was into Brand X and Led Zeppelin and jazz fusion and stuff, but the idea of being intimidated by the band who's entertaining you blew my mind. I thought that was such a cool idea. It completely changed my life.  On why wearing tight pants when lighting them on fire is better than wearing loose ones:  If you spray butane all over your pants and then light it on fire -- because it's a lot of fun and it looks really neat -- if the pants are relatively tight then you're fine. But if they're loose, to where there's oxygen between your pants and your legs, then you're liable to burn yourself. On being physically injured during Jesus Lizard performances:  I never wanted to let anybody down. People spend their hard-earned money to come see some stupid singing group. I just wanted us to be... as good as we could be. Like the Marines or something like that. Don't they have sort of a motto like that? 'The Few, The Proud, The Many?' On his upcoming illustrated book of cat puns called Copycat: And A Litter of Other Cats: The idea is that anywhere "c-a-t" shows up in that order is fair game. Like "scatological" or "catastrophe" or "catatonic." I think the list got up to 94, and I think there are 74 in the book. Those remaining 20 were just too difficult to illustrate. 

Few jazz musicians have put together as varied a career as Roy Nathanson. The New York post-bop and avant garde saxophonist co-founded the Jazz Passengers with trombonist Curtis Fowlkes in 1987, and served as its primary composer. But there's much more: He's scored for TV and film and acted in several projects, including a film by Jim Jarmusch; several works were featured in Karole Armitage's adaptation of Sheherazade at the Florence Opera House; and written poetry. He's played and studied with jazz great Jimmy Heath, was a member of the Lounge Lizards and with the Passengers, he's performed or recorded many big name artists -- Blondie's Deborah Harry, Elvis Costello, Jeff Buckley, and Mavis Staples. Nathanson's most recent project has been Sotto Voce, an idiosyncratic free-jazz based band featuring Fowlkes, Tim Kiah (bass), Jerome Harris (guitar, banjolin), Napoleon Maddox (beatbox), Sam Bardfeld (violin), and everyone contributing vocals. Following 2009's Subway Moon, Nathanson returns to the Soundcheck studio to peform selections of the band's latest, Complicated Day. Showcasing more sonically interesting compositions and spoken word poetry, and even his son, Gabriel Nathanson on vocals and trumpet on the Johnny Nash cover "I Can See Clearly Now," it's yet another genre-defying, all-star record that reflects Nathanson's myriad skills and interests.  

As The Hold Steady staggers into its second decade year together, its sixth album, Teeth Dreams, does more than trade on the tropes that made them famous with 2004 debut Almost Killed Me. The Hold Steady is all roaring guitars and spitfire vocals now, and it's riding that massive wave of sound toward something probably larger than your local auditorium. But in a year where Daft Punk has reigned supreme, timing might seem questionable for an ascendant, guitar-heavy band like Hold Steady. While its straightforward yet exuberant bar rock may not be the currency of glitchy indie clubs, frontman Craig Finn, founding guitarist Tad Kubler and company have made a stage-eating monster with Teeth Dreams.  Four years in the waiting, the album was recorded over two years in Brooklyn and Franklin, Tenn., and involved some fiddling with the band’s core DNA. Multi-instrumentalist Franz Nicolay left the band in 2010 prior to the recordings that would become their last album, Heaven Is Whenever. During the tour that followed, ex-Lucero guitarist Steve Selvidge joined the group, giving them an additional guitar, and “a shot in the arm,” according to Finn. The dual guitar drive that Selvidge and Kubler developed on stage now characterizes Teeth Dreams’ more exhilarating moments.     And lyrically, Teeth Dreams is an extension of Finn’s famously erudite closing-time philosophizing and deeply-felt observations of authentic American characters; many of them residents or passers-through the Midwest, from which Finn and Kubler hailed before settling in Brooklyn. In songs like "Spinners," and the extra noisy "I Hope This Whole Thing Didn't Frighten You," Finn touches on many of the common thematic hallmarks that has endeared the band to its fans: from religion, addiction, and anxiety, to blood, auto body shops, seedy hotels, love and deceit, more blood -- and, of course, booze. Ultimately, Teeth Dreams is a record that both embraces The Hold Steady's beer-soaked history of blurry all-night benders, and opens a daring new chapter.    For more photos, visit Soundcheck's Tumblr page. Set List: "Spinners" "The Ambassador" "The Only Thing"

It's not surprising that Blue Swede's "Hooked On A Feeling" was a huge hit; after all, it's a great song. But, according to Chris Molanphy -- pop chart analyst and contributor to NPR Music, Pitchfork, Slate, and elsewhere -- the song's long-winding, evolving journey to the top of the charts in 1974 was so improbable, we made it the latest subject Soundcheck's ongoing series, That Was a Hit?!? As Molanphy explains in a conversation with Soundcheck host John Schaefer, a very different version of "Hooked On A Feeling" first made the charts in 1969. The tender, mid-tempo love song performed by B.J. Thomas hit No. 5 on the Hot 100.     Then, Jonathan King — a producer and novelty recording artist — released the next major version in 1971, which reached No. 23 in England. It was the first to include the “ooga-chaga” chant.     A Swedish producer heard King's version and had a Swedish group record it. When that became a hit in Scandinavia, the record label decided to go for an American release. They needed an English name for the band, so they took the literal translation of the band's Swedish name — Blue Denim — and changed it to Blue Swede. The pun is intentional, so it's not surprising that many, including Schaefer, always thought the band was called Blue Suede.     By becoming the first Swedish act to score a No. 1 hit in the U.S., Blue Swede paved the way for ABBA... for which you can either love them or hate them.