John Schaefer

John Schaefer really wanted his MTV.  Or so he thought...

It could be a tense orchestral crash of instruments ("Thus Sprach Zarathustra"), or held in just a few feverish notes on a piano ("Halloween"). Whatever it is, the music from movies we think of as spooky plays a big part in raising those hairs on our neck and getting us to reach out for a (hopefully live) hand to hold. John Schaefer, host of New York Public Radio’s "Soundcheck" joins us with a playlist of some of the scariest music ever recorded.

5 artists who should not get lost in the CMJ crowd

On Saturday, Oct. 22 at 7 pm, the concluding night of the American Composers Orchestra's SONiC Festival, the Winter Garden at the World Financial Center played palatial host to the world premiere of composer-performer Bryce Dessner's double guitar concerto, St. Carolyn by the Sea. Featuring Bryce Dessner on guitar along with his twin brother Aaron Dessner, the SONiC-commissioned piece was led by American Composer Orchestra conductor George Manahan and hosted by John Schaefer from WNYC's New Sounds Live. 

Neither of this week's big stories was a happy one.

On October 12 at 7 pm, Q2 Music presents a live audio Webcast of the Brooklyn Philharmonic from the World Financial Center performing music by Mos Def, Frederic Rzewski, Lev Zhurbin, ...

John Schaefer says Detroit is capable of springing an upset.  But where?

5 songs for your end-of-summer road trip

In the days immediately after 9/11, our regular programming on WNYC 93.9 FM was suspended and we were doing wall-to-wall news coverage from NPR’s New York studio in midtown. I had been on the scene that Tuesday morning and was badly shaken by the events; and staying at home with nothing to do was definitely not helping me. So when NPR called to ask if I’d cover a live performance of the Requiem by Gabriel Fauré, and gather some sound from people at the church, I was relieved and grateful.

John Schaefer wishes he didn't have to listen to the start of today's show.

Steve Jobs is not a musician, or a record producer, or a composer. But he has profoundly changed the way we hear music, the way music is produced, the way music is marketed. The pro...

Everything John Schaefer knows about music he learned through cartoons.  Almost. 

Disney films often centered around music - to great effect.

Cartoon music is some of the earliest music we hear.

Stephen Coates really got into this Last Werewolf project.  Maybe a little too into it.  Taking Glen Duncan’s novel of the same name as his inspiration, he’s created not only one of my favorite records this year but also a playlist of werewolf songs.  Now, Soundcheck listeners may remember that we did a “Soundcheck Smackdown” on who has the better songs, vampires or zombies.  Read the listener comments, still posted on the webpage, to see some of the great and not-so-great songs inspired by the various flavors of Undead.  Note too, that even though they were not part of the debate, werewolves got a little love occasionally.  Now, with the full moon having just passed, it seems safe to unveil Stephen Coates’s list of 30 great werewolf songs, plus 1 poem. 

Amy Winehouse's death leaves us with a legacy of music that is tragically incomplete, and a legacy of self-destructive behavior that is now both tragically complete, and all too fam...

John Schaefer on the pitfalls of Bowie biographers