A three-piece band can be a wonderful exercise in musical democracy. Everybody has a job, nobody has much room to hide, and if the drummer decides to get adventurous, the other two musicians had better be paying attention. Thai trio Makara bring that small-group dynamic to KEXP for a four-song studio session recorded March 6, 2026, and released on May 4, offering an introduction to a band whose musical identity begins with three musicians working closely together.
The performance features guitarist and vocalist Makara Dolsuklert, known as Q, bassist and vocalist Yanaphon Wiboonwitayanan, known as Of, and drummer and vocalist Thakorn Aunyaphanon, known as Max.
All three members contribute vocals, an arrangement that immediately distinguishes the group from the familiar setup of one singer accompanied by two instrumentalists. With guitar, bass and drums forming the foundation, each musician has an opportunity to contribute to the band’s overall musical character.
The session includes four songs: “Yong Song,” “COCO,” “Samare” and “Strawberry Mind.”
Recorded in KEXP’s studio and hosted by Diana Ratsamee, the performance places Makara within a long-running series that has introduced listeners to musicians from around the world. KEXP’s live sessions have become an important discovery platform, particularly for artists whose work doesn’t fit neatly into the categories that traditionally determine commercial radio programming.
A band can arrive from Bangkok, Berlin, Bogotá or Brooklyn and receive the same basic opportunity: perform its music in a room designed to capture what the musicians actually do.
That approach has helped KEXP develop an international audience of listeners interested in finding music beyond their usual recommendations.
For Makara, the session provides an opportunity to introduce four recordings through a format that emphasizes the relationship between the musicians.
The performance begins with “Yong Song,” followed by “COCO” approximately seven minutes into the video. “Samare” arrives next, with “Strawberry Mind” closing the musical portion of the session.
The sequence gives viewers a chance to experience several sides of the band’s repertoire without the distractions of a large concert production.
The intimacy of a studio performance is especially interesting for a trio. With only three instruments forming the core arrangement, the interaction between guitar, bass and drums becomes particularly important.
The guitarist has to consider how much musical space to occupy. The bassist can support the harmony while also contributing melodic ideas. The drummer shapes the pace, accents and transitions that give the performance its character.
And when all three musicians sing, those roles become even more flexible.
That kind of musical coordination develops through rehearsal, performance and the countless small decisions musicians make while learning to work together.
It’s also part of what makes watching a band in a studio different from simply hearing a finished recording.
On an album, listeners encounter the final arrangement, often assembled through multiple takes, overdubs and production decisions. A live session offers a different perspective, showing how the musicians organize the material for a performance happening in real time.
KEXP has built its reputation around presenting those performances with particular attention to sound quality.
For Makara’s session, Julian Martlew handled audio engineering, with Matt Ogaz responsible for mastering. The video was filmed by Jim Beckmann, Carlos Cruz, Luke Knecht and Tela Moss, with Knecht also serving as editor.
Those technical contributions help make the recording accessible to an audience far beyond the room where it was performed.
The finished video allows listeners to focus on the music while also observing the small interactions that are part of playing in a band.
Makara’s appearance also reflects the increasingly international nature of music discovery.
For decades, reaching audiences outside an artist’s home country generally required considerable support from record labels, distributors and touring networks. Television and radio exposure were often controlled by a relatively small number of institutions.
Online performance series have created additional opportunities for musicians to reach listeners who might never encounter their work through conventional channels.
A KEXP session can introduce a band to an audience that arrives knowing nothing about its history, language or local music scene.
That first encounter can be particularly rewarding because it encourages listeners to pay attention to the music before developing expectations about what the artist should sound like.
Makara’s four-song performance offers exactly that kind of introduction.
The group doesn’t need a lengthy explanation of its influences or an elaborate promotional campaign to make the session accessible. The musicians, their instruments and the songs provide the starting point.
Listeners who want to explore further can find the band’s music through its Bandcamp page, where the recordings can be approached outside the context of the studio performance.
For KEXP, presenting artists like Makara is part of the station’s broader commitment to musical discovery. Its community-supported model allows the organization to showcase musicians across different genres and geographic backgrounds, often giving emerging artists valuable international visibility.
And for a trio, that visibility comes with an appealing simplicity.
Three musicians walk into a studio, plug in their instruments and perform four songs.
The resulting recording becomes available to listeners around the world, including people who might never have encountered Makara otherwise.
That’s a pretty impressive journey for a guitar, a bass, a drum kit and three voices.
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Eric Alper is a 6-time nominee for Publicist of the Year during Canadian Music Week and has overseen the publicity campaigns for over 183 JUNO Award-nominated albums (and 16 in 2025), 45 Grammy-nominated albums, including 47 JUNO Award, 58 Canadian Folk Music Award, 126 Maple Blues Award-winning albums and is also truly honoured to work with some of the biggest and most important artists of our time.
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