Wendy Eisenberg is a Brooklyn-based guitarist, improviser, and songwriter who uses guitar, pedals, the tenor banjo, the computer, the synthesizer and the voice. They are also a professor of songwriting, and a constant collaborator in many different circles: with the improvising trio Squanderers, an art rock band called Editrix, and the minimalism-inspired guitar quartet led by Bill Orcutt, to name a few. Their latest album, also called Wendy Eisenberg, is full of tracks that almost present as conventional songs, but which actually dance around form and genre. Some of them may be indebted to jazz, and also inhabit the in-between space where folk, pop, outsider country music, and math rock all hang out.

OH. And the riffs! Their masterful fingers climb through odd rhythms, spidery melodies, and unexpected progressions, taking sudden swerves and turns while still creating a sense of spaciousness. On the record, the songs also feature contributions from friends and collaborators on pedal steel, strings, synth, bass, drums. Over this all, Eisenberg’s clear voice conversationally addresses time – reflecting on memories, embracing change, growing - while they describe “moving through this new world right now,” (Bandcamp). Wendy Eisenberg plays some of their songs in a solo set, in-studio. – Caryn Havlik

Photo of Wendy Eisenberg by Eleanor Petry

Set list: 1. Meaning Business 2. Vanity Paradox 3. Will You Dare

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The artist known as Everlast was the lead rapper in the group House of Pain, whose single “Jump Around” remains one of hip hop’s most familiar songs. But in the 1990s he began adding bluesy guitars to his songs, creating enormous hits like “Put Your Lights On,” his collaboration with Santana, and the plea for empathy called “What It’s Like.” Everlast is still writing songs, and his latest album – his first in eight years, Embers To Ashes, was produced by Yelawolf and recorded in Nashville. It’s a collection of unflinching and moving songs that tell tales of glory grasped and lost, along with hard-earned wisdom and warnings. Everlast plays a stripped-down set in-studio.

Photo of Everlast by Lisa Franchot

Set list: 1. Losing Man's Game 2. Happy You Can Cry 3. Stones

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

It’s common for songwriting artists to process their emotions through composing music. LA-based folk singer Annahstasia spent many years crafting her debut album, Tether, doing just that, without a metronome guiding her: “We’re human beings in a room following our heartbeats and the natural rhythm that we feel together… My production style is essentially like energy doula-ing,” she says. As for English baroque pop experimentalist Patrick Wolf, the making of his latest album, Crying the Neck, as well as other batches of new songs he’s been releasing that ended his decade-long hiatus, was a way to acknowledge that he was “a damaged vehicle”, after losing his mother to cancer and struggling to recover from a hit and run. Both artists are known for their big, often orchestral songs, but on this edition of Soundcheck, they each put on a solo performance, revealing the raw side of their lyrics and melodies.

Annahstasia's Setlist: 1.Be Kind 2.Slow

Patrick Wolf's Setlist: 1.Enter the Day 2.The Last of England

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Norwegian singer-songwriter Sondre Lerche defines himself as a “chord progression artist”: “You establish a pattern, and then of course, you have to break it,” he says. This line of thinking is likely what drives him to disrupt the normal sequence of his daily life too, by staying out all night before a recording session, just to tap into the right emotion for a song the next day. Some artists don’t respond well to structure while creating and Sondre Lerche is definitely one of them. Whether he’s exploring acrobatic melodies that push his lungs to their limits or jumping from one genre to another, he seems to put the art first and figure out where he fits in it as a vessel later.

Sondre Lerche’s latest album, aptly titled Acrobats, contains a big, cinematic sound, while blending elements of folk, jazz, pop, and rock. But his background in musical theatre becomes more apparent when it’s just him and his guitar, as he addresses the subjects of his songs as though they’re right by his side with unmistakable realism, for this episode of Soundcheck. - Sırma Munyar

PS – Sondre Lerche is on tour in North America and Europe this Fall: https://www.sondrelerche.com/tour

(Photo of Sondre Lerche by Hilde Solli)

Setlist: 1.Little Kids 2.Acrobats 3.How Much of This Was Planned

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Shearwater is the project of singer, songwriter, and ornithologist, Jonathan Meiburg, who recently took a trip to the Antarctica to study the “the bizarre life of the polar seafloor” and wrote a book called A Most Remarkable Creature : The Hidden Life of the World’s Smartest Birds of Prey. As he made significant attempts at understanding his natural surroundings, Meiburg also had several collaborators in Shearwater. Now, he’s back with a new album titled, The New World, joined by pianist Emily Lee and multi-instrumentalist Dan Duszynski.

On the album, the band is also joined by a wide array of other respected musicians, from Firaz Zriek on qanun to Shahzad Ismaily on drums, bass, synthesizers, and more. But they bring a couple of other contributors to our studio: legendary avant-garde artist Laurie Anderson on vocals and violin, and Doug Wieselman on clarinet. Together, they perform skeletal, subdued, and sophisticated renditions of some of their cerebral new songs.

Jonathan Meiburg of Shearwater will be at Rough Trade Below on Thursday, September 17th, in New York, for a live acoustic performance and signing. - Sırma Munyar

Setlist:1.Daydream Unbeliever 2.More and More 3.You and Your Dog

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Folk music is known to be the music of the people, but it can sound vastly different from region to region. There are also songs that take inspiration from folk music but fall under a different genre altogether. For American singer-songwriter Mike Doughty, who is a founding member of the cult 90s band Soul Coughing, the art of storytelling found a home in alternative rock music. As for the Argentine recording artist and educator Sofia Rei, using electronics to blur the lines between traditional South American, Caribbean, and contemporary dance music is a natural practice. On this episode of Soundcheck, you get to hear both of their live performances and stories, recorded at WNYC studios.

Mike Doughty's Setlist: 1.White Lexus 2.Mr. Bitterness 3.Light Will Keep Your Heart Beating in the Future

Sofia Rei's Setlist: 1.El Mundo Es Redondo 2.Si Una Cae 3.Marciana

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Saul Williams is many things. A poet, a musician, an actor, and a writer, embodying multiple forms of art in his existence. He’s the preacher in the Oscar-winning 2025 film, Sinners. He’s the conceiver of several books, including his latest title, Songs My Mother Taught Me: Why the Artist Must Take Sides. And now, after seven long years, Williams is back with a new album called Leap Year, in which he uses his voice in more ways than one. He sings and speaks his contemplative words, often relying on his vocal samples to enrich the production. But in our studio, his solo performance is thoughtful yet subdued, putting his lyricism front and center. Hear those words, and a few others, as Williams shares his inner world with host, John Schaefer. - Sırma Munyar

Setlist: 1.Friends That I Ain't Met Yet 2.Vengeful Spirit 3.Robot Slave

(Photo of Saul Williams by Sam Lee)

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

North Carolina singer and guitarist Alex Sauser-Monnig records under the name Daughter of Swords, in which they "combine the eerie sound of old Appalachian folk music with elegant guitar playing and touches of lo-fi pop." (John Schaefer) They're also part of the alternative folk trio Mountain Man, a group of singers whose precise harmonies offer songs of warmth, belonging, and community. Sauser-Monnig’s record, Dawnbreaker, a homespun country-pop offering of vulnerability, brings liberation to the "breakup record" and hope for the next phase of life. Daughter of Swords joins us to perform in-studio on this episode of Soundcheck from August 2019. - Caryn Havlik

(Photo of Daughter of Swords by Kendall Bailey Atwater)

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.