New York's La Banda Chuska Plays Cumbia-Surf, In-Studio
New York group La Banda Chuska combines the psychedelic takes on the sounds of 1970’s Peru and Colombia and brings them to the beach party resulting in an irresistible cumbia-surf mixture. They play in-studio. In Peru and Colombia in the early 70s, young musicians who’d grown up with South American folk sounds began picking up electric guitars and playing their own psychedelic take on the rhythms and styles of the region. Fifty years later and one hemisphere to the north, the New York group called La Banda Chuska takes those sounds and adds elements of 60s surf guitar and 80s dance rock to create a fun, international sort of party music. La Banda Chuska plays some songs from their 2025 album Basic Bichos.Set list: 1. Ratas y Mapaches 2. Barba Azul 3. La Selva Me Salvó
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The Wonder of Disiniblud (Rachika Nayar & Nina Keith): Electronic Fantasies at Play
When we last heard from Rachika Nayar, she was creating warped textures from her guitar and the software program called Ableton. Our introduction to Nina Keith came from her 2019 album Maranasati 19111, an eerie album of electroacoustic chamber music. After fan-girling each other’s music online, the two composer/musicians have now joined forces for a new project called Disiniblud. Their fantastical wordless conversations graze freely from post-rock, glitchy indie electronica, neo-classical, and pop – “all resulting in a work that suggests sweeping transformation can come from embracing old wounds with childlike wonder”, (album liner notes on Bandcamp.) Disiniblud plays new music from their 2025 self-titled debut album, in-studio.
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Singular Artist Shamir's Last Solo Act: Celebrating Community
The Philadelphia-via-Vegas artist, singer, and songwriter Shamir has had a decade long career as a musical shapeshifter. Shamir has marked his ten year career with his tenth album, and perhaps not surprisingly, it’s called Ten. What is surprising is that it features songs that Shamir didn’t write, but that were written by his friends and colleagues - in essence, a love letter to the community of people who shaped Shamir’s life. And the most surprising thing about Ten is that Shamir says it's his final album as a solo artist. He plays intimate arrangements of these songs, in-studio.Set list: 1.I love my friends 2. Neverwannago 3. 29
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Juneteenth 2025 Special Edition
Listen to a Juneteenth edition of the Soundcheck Podcast, with music celebrating African-American culture and history. Juneteenth marks the day that the enslaved people of Galveston, Texas learned that they were legally free - June 19, 1865. Hear music from Igmar Thomas' Revive Big Band – a blend of jazz, neo-soul, funk, blues, and hip hop – which showcases the deep roots of Black American Music; composer and electronic artist Jlin; the slide blues guitar of Jontavious Willis; American roots artist Valerie June; hip-hop production meets contemporary classical in music by W4RP Trio; and the country-soul of The War and Treaty.The War and Treaty – “Mr. Fun”Jontavious Willis – “Ghost Woman”Valerie June – “Endless Tree”Igmar Thomas' Revive Big Band - To Kinda Lounge Around ft. Raydar EllisJlin – “Precision of Infinity”W4RP Trio & LiKWUiD – "Here’s One"
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Another Side of Guitarist Marc Ribot: Intimate Songs With His Voice
Guitarist Marc Ribot has established himself as one of the most versatile , distinctive, in-demand guitarists anywhere. He’s played with Tom Waits, Marianne Faithfull, Elvis Costello, and dozens, maybe hundreds of others, and led his own bands that have touched on jazz, Cuban music, no wave, and more. But now, with his new album, "Map of a Blue City", we get another side of Marc Ribot: he sings. The album incorporates recordings made over nearly half of Ribot’s life. Some of the songs were decades in the making, going from demos and home recordings in the 1990s to at one point in 2014 recording with his friend, the legendary producer Hal Willner, who died in 2020. Ribot had shelved the project several times, but the songs just wouldn’t leave him alone. Finally working with producer and guitarist Ben Greenberg, they found was a way to reconcile the intimate recordings and previous choices – adding overdubs and taking things away. Ultimately, Ribot says “There are some hard truths and cold observations in these songs. I wanted the room to be small enough so that we couldn’t turn away: but warm enough to feel like you’re hearing it from a friend.” Ribot plays some of these tunes in-studio. Set list: 1. Elizabeth 2. Death of a Narcissist 3. Bella Ciao
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, The Replacements, and James Brown.
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