Hiro Ama, born in Japan and based in London, plays drums in the indie pop band Teleman. In late 2024, he released his debut solo album, Music for Peace and Harmony, which leans heavily into the sounds of a 1980s Japanese synthesizer called Waraku, which literally means “peace and harmony” in Japanese. KEXP's Dusty Henry spoke with him shortly after the release. “I used to be quite a perfectionist,” Ama says in the interview. “Then again, when you l...
May 27, 2025•18 min•Ep. 64
In this bonus episode, we hear from Martin Oldgoth, cofounder of World Goth Day , in conversation with Sharlese, host of Mechanical Breakdown , about the holiday’s origin in 2009. What started as a sort of joke on BBC Radio 6 Music rapidly spread across the world as a celebration of goth culture, which is constantly evolving. And, no, you don’t have to wear black. “The goth scene is very inclusive,” Oldgoth says in the interview. “There are no rules. If someon...
May 22, 2025•20 min•Ep. 63
Seattle-based musician Rocky Votolato has formed a new band called Suzzallo, who put out their debut album The Quiet Year earlier this year on Thirty Something Records. Through loud guitars and cathartic screaming, Suzzallo offers an outlet to help him grieve the loss of his child, Kienan, who died in a car accident in 2021. “Without a way to express this pain, it probably would have killed me,” Votolato says in the interview. “Being able to turn it into this rock b...
May 20, 2025•40 min•Ep. 62
Denver-based punk group Dead Pioneers recently released their second album, PO$T AMERICAN , on Hassle Records. They’ve been opening for Pearl Jam on their U.S. tour this spring. KEXP’s Dusty Henry caught up with lead vocalist Gregg Deal to discuss the band’s rapid success, how their new album portrays disillusionment with modern America, and how the band reclaims and recontextualizes Indigenous representation seen in media – from Dances with Wolves through&nbs...
May 13, 2025•40 min•Ep. 61
Emily Fox, host of A Deeper Listen and Sound & Vision, is taking maternity leave form now until the fall. Before she left, shared an essay about why she went to Las Vegas sober and 8 months pregnant to see Pitbull in concert and why she thinks Pitbull deserves “a deeper listen.” Best wishes to Emily and her family! In the meantime, the A Deeper Listen feed will continue to stay active with stories from the editorial team and guest host Roddy Nikpour. Keep it tuned in here and tha...
May 06, 2025•9 min•Ep. 60
SASAMI has just released a new pop album called Blood on the Silver Screen . While her first record fell in the indie rock realm and her second album had a lot of metal influence, this album represents another left turn. SASAMI talks with Emily Fox about what draws her to make music from so many different genres, and how her family’s story of immigration and involvement in unconventional religious communities might have impacted her self-described identity as a “weirdo outsider...
Apr 29, 2025•18 min•Ep. 59
On this week’s episode, songwriter Ela Minus talks with KEXP's Albina Cabrera about her new album, DÍA —a fully nomadic project with songs written and recorded between Mexico, Seattle, and her native Colombia. With DÍA , she steps away from her analog era and embraces everything at hand: broken microphones, acoustic instruments, and digital synths. It’s a search for freedom that began the moment she left her comfort zone. The album is out now via Domin...
Apr 22, 2025•23 min•Ep. 58
Mike Hadreas of Perfume Genius talks with Emily Fox about how his inner fears, struggles with mental health, paranoid fantasies and reflections on gay lust and love show up on his latest album, Glory . “I think I was just really afraid and I felt really tender and mortal and the world felt really fragile and scary and I couldn't figure out how to move through it very well,” Hadreas says speaking writing through depression. "And I didn't really know how to hold all of these thin...
Apr 15, 2025•27 min•Ep. 57
Liz Pelly, author of Mood Machine: The Rise of Spotify and the Costs of the Perfect Playlist talks through the many practices at Spotify over the years that have impacted independent musicians-- from outsourcing stock music Spotify pays a lower royalty rate for and flooding Spotify's in-house playlists with that stock music, to paying artists a 30% lower royalty rate in exchange for promotion on Spotify. Then, guitarist and independent musician Lance Allen talks about how he was able to pay off ...
Apr 08, 2025•44 min•Ep. 56
Songwriter Lucy Dacus talks about her new album, Forever Is A Feeling. In conversation with Emily Fox, she discusses everything from love, lyricism, and making conscious decisions to step away from boygenius and her solo work to find balance and stillness. She also breaks down some of her favorite songs and lyrical moments on the new record. “I keep saying this, how you spend your time is how you spent your life. And that has been a really profound cliche to remember,” Da...
Apr 01, 2025•26 min•Ep. 55
Valerie and Veronica Tapacio left their corporate day jobs to dedicate their time to their Seattle band, La Fonda and their vintage clothing shop, Delusional Bird, which is named after one of their songs. Last year was the first year they made more money doing music and running their business than they did at their 8-5 desk jobs. The sisters talk about how their father’s detainment by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in 2008 forced them into corporate work early and how the pandemic hel...
Mar 25, 2025•20 min•Ep. 54
For years, Lupe Flores was primarily known as the drummer for a number of Seattle rock bands, including Wild Powwers. But as something to do to keep herself sane during pandemic lockdown, she reconnected with a childhood tradition. “I feel like a lot of musicians are like, 'Oh, I sang whatever in church' or 'My parents always had music,’” Flores says. “There was literally no music. There has always been food.” She started making tacos using her Lebanese-Mexican gran...
Mar 18, 2025•18 min•Ep. 53
Los Angeles-based DJ and producer, TOKiMONSTA is out with a new album called Eternal Reverie . The album was written while TOKiMONSTA’s best friend was diagnosed with cancer and ultimately passed away a few months later. TOKiMONSTA talks about how her friend informed this latest record, why it was important to delay this record and cancel her initial tour to be with her friend in her final months of life, and TOKiMONSTA shares the story of her own health crisis she faced 10 years tha...
Mar 11, 2025•28 min•Ep. 52
Montreal-based electronic artist Marie Davidson is concerned about the rise of big tech and intrusion of privacy. In this episode, host Emily Fox talks with Davidson about her latest album City of Clowns , how these themes show up on the record, and the inspiration it took from Shoshana Zuboff’s book The Age of Surveillance Capitalism . “ I would say that I don't believe yet that we are doomed,” Davidson says. “I believe we're in a very tricky position right n...
Mar 04, 2025•27 min•Ep. 51
Trevor Powers of Youth Lagoon talks about how rediscovering home videos inspired his latest album, Rarely Do I Dream. He also discusses songwriting, meditation, and about a health crisis that gave him new life. Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/sound/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Feb 25, 2025•22 min•Ep. 50
Neko Case recently put out a memoir called “The Harder I Fight the More I Love You.” It’s a story largely about neglect and abandonment. KEXP's Emily Fox reviews the book and shares her personal connection to Neko Case. Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/sound/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Feb 22, 2025•8 min•Ep. 50
Bartees Strange talks with Emily Fox about his album, Horror. He talks about how his parents raised him on scary stories to showcase the fear and issues of being black in America, what his opera singing mother taught him about being a black performer in mostly white spaces, and how he’s feeling more comfortable, more empowered and more himself than ever through the process of making this record. Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/sound/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informati...
Feb 18, 2025•30 min•Ep. 49
Flung is the moniker of Seattle-raised and Oakland-based multi-instrumentalist Kashika Kollaikal. Her 2024 album, 'All Heartbeat,' is the result of listening deeply to her surroundings, tuning into what she calls the “hum of the world.”Kollaikal joins KEXP’s Isabel Khalili to talk about her approach to the record and how she finds inspiration in her physical environment. They also discuss the field recordings that made it onto the record, the making of her own music box, and ho...
Feb 11, 2025•23 min•Ep. 48
This year’s Superbowl halftime show features Kendrick Lamar, who is in a long running beef with Drake. Seattle hip hop historian Daudi Abe talks with contributor Hans Anderson about the history of hip-hop beefs and how Kendrick Lamar’s beef made its way into the biggest music event of the year. Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/sound/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Feb 08, 2025•25 min•Ep. 47
The English electronic duo Maribou State released a new album, Hallucinating Love on January 31st. KEXP's Tia Ho talked with the band about the hardships they faced during the recording process, including getting diagnosed with a rare brain condition, and how it's all reflected in their most personal album to date. Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/sound/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Feb 04, 2025•19 min•Ep. 46
Matt Cameron is the drummer for Soundgarden and Pearl Jam. Before then he played in the influential Seattle bands Bam Bam, Skin Yard, and Temple of the Dog. Cameron talks about his career and how he’s been able to keep at it for more than 40 years. Learn more about Bam Bam: https://www.kexp.org/podcasts/sound-vision/2021/3/2/tina-bell-unsung-goddess-grunge/ Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/sound/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Jan 28, 2025•40 min•Ep. 45
Twin sisters Kehinde and Yeye Taiwo Lijadu performed as The Lijadu Sisters from the 1960s to the 1980s in Nigeria, but their influence is still felt globally today. Their hits include songs like "Come On Home" and "Life's Gone Down Low." The surviving sister of the duo, Yeye Taiwo Lijadu, joins A Deeper Listen to talk about being one of the only female groups making music in Nigeria in the late 1960s and into the 1970s, and how they addressed issues of government corruption in their music....
Jan 21, 2025•17 min•Ep. 44
OMBIIGIZI is a collaboration between Daniel Monkman (of the band Zoon) and Adam Sturgeon (of the band Status/Non-Status). They are Anishinaabe artists who explore their cultural histories through sound. Kevin Sur, co-host of KEXP's Sounds of Survivance, talks with OMBIIGIZI about their new album, 'SHAME,' which explores Indigenous shame and healing, and how they tap into ancestral traditions through music. We also get a history lesson on how Native American musicians helped form the genre of roc...
Jan 14, 2025•30 min•Ep. 43
Artificial Intelligence is making its way into the music industry — not just through production tools, but also on streaming platforms like Spotify. KEXP’s Roddy Nikpour tells us the story of a former Seattle band that was listed as a collaborator on an album they didn’t write. They claim it was A.I.-generated. Read the story here: https://www.kexp.org/read/2024/11/27/ai-generated-music-is-siphoning-streams-from-artists-in-seattle-and-beyond/ Support the show: https:...
Jan 07, 2025•25 min•Ep. 42
Larry Crane is a recording engineer, founder of Tape Op magazine, and official archivist for the Elliott Smith estate. In late 2024, Crane gave a new remaster to Smith’s final album, ' From a Basement on the Hill.' Smith died during the making of the album and the record was finished by his friends and released posthumously. In conversation with KEXP's Dusty Henry, Crane reflects on his friendship with Smith coming up together in Portland, the songwriter’s prowess, and the process of...
Dec 31, 2024•31 min•Ep. 41
As we wrap up the year, we highlight our interviews with some of the artists who have topped the KEXP charts in 2024. The top played songs on KEXP in 2024 were: "Starburster" by Fontaines D.C. "Like I Say (I runaway)" by Nilüfer Yanya "My Fun" by Suki Waterhouse "Favourite" by Fontaines D.C. "Sepricon" by Brittany Davis Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/sound/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Dec 24, 2024•16 min•Ep. 40
We hear from L’Rain, Hand Habits, Perfume Genius and Ahya Simone on their contributions to the compilation album called TRANSA that celebrates trans and LGBTQ lives. The compilation also features songs from Sade, Sam Smith, Adrianne Lenker, Jeff Tweedy, Julien Baker, Sharon Van Etten, Fleet Foxes and more. Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/sound/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Dec 17, 2024•20 min•Ep. 39
The Gits were an early 90s Seattle band. Seattle’s Sub Pop records has recently launched a campaign to rerelease remastered versions of The Gits’ catalogue. So much of the band’s story has been wrapped around the 1993 rape and murder of The Gits frontwoman Mia Zapata. In a conversation at KEXP’s Gathering Space, Emily Fox speaks with The Gits guitarist Andy Kessler and bassist Matt Dresdner about the band’s story, legacy and the life of Mia. Support the show: https:...
Dec 10, 2024•33 min•Ep. 38
Deep Sea Diver is a beloved band in Seattle and at KEXP. Deep Sea Diver’s most recent album, Impossible Weight was voted best album of 2020 by KEXP listeners. In a live event at KEXP, Emily Fox spoke with frontwoman Jessica Dobson about the fun and innovative things she and her band did during the COVID-19 pandemic to create and engage a loyal fanbase and put out an album without the help of a label. Dobson also shared wisdom on how to make it as an indie band in Seattle and make a name for your...
Dec 03, 2024•27 min•Ep. 37
Teresa Suydam was adopted by a white family at birth. It wasn’t until college that they were able to begin a journey to better understand their Filipino and Native American lineage. In an interview with Stephanie Wolf, Suydam shares how their upcoming album, 'Lost Bird,' is what helped them find their way back to these communities. Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/sound/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Nov 26, 2024•25 min•Ep. 36
