Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio - “Inner City Blues,” a 2020 single on Colemine Records. Back in June, Colemine Records launched the Brighter Days Ahead singles series, a response to the stay-at-home orders and the subsequent loss of income from canceling tours, postponing release dates, and ceasing the manufacturing for LPs and 45s. "We wanted to come up with some way to give our fans and our artist's fans something to look forward to," explained label owner Terry Cole. Starting on May 22nd and runnin...
Jul 22, 2020•4 min•Ep. 3762
IDLES - “Grounds” from the 2020 album Ultra Mono on Partisan Records. Bristol-based post-punk band IDLES return this fall with their third LP, titled Ultra Mono , out September 25th via Partisan. They've previously shared the singles " A Hymn " and “ Mr. Motivator ,” and for today's Song of the Day, we're sharing the single "Grounds." Frontman Joe Talbot explained in a press release: “We wanted to write a song that embodied self-belief, and gave us self-belief — a counter-punch to all the doubt ...
Jul 21, 2020•3 min•Ep. 3761
SAULT - “Wildfires” from the 2020 album Untitled (Black Is) on Forever Living Originals. "The bloodshed on your hands Another man Take off your badge We all know it was murder" As we reported last year, not much is known about the mysterious London-based band SAULT , but their feelings on police brutality and systemic racism couldn't be clearer on their third LP titled Untitled (Black Is) . On today's powerful Song of the Day, vocalist Cleo Sol somberly sings, "We are dying / it's the reason we ...
Jul 20, 2020•3 min•Ep. 3760
Akasha System - "Warped Shadow" from the 2019 album Echo Earth on 100% Silk. With his project Akasha System , Portland-based producer Hunter P. Thompson brings the lush nature of the Northwest to his electronic beats. On his Bandcamp page, he says the new album, Echo Earth , was inspired by “days and nights spent in the forests,” “long stretches of back road trails,” and “sitting alone under moss-covered trees,” calling it "club music for misty mornings, towering redwood canopies, and overcast s...
Jul 17, 2020•5 min•Ep. 3759
India Jordan - "For You" from the 2020 album For You on Local Action Records. London-based producer and DJ India Jordan recently released a six-track EP titled For You , a release they call their “largest and most personal” release to date. The album photography was shot in the bathroom of London’s Dalston Superstore venue, a legendary LGBTQ+ venue. In a press release, they explain: I’ve always been really into toilets, I did a photography project at college writing messages in toilets for peopl...
Jul 16, 2020•6 min•Ep. 3758
Land of Talk - "Weight of That Weekend" from the 2020 album Indistinct Conversations on Saddle Creek. Montreal-based singer-songwriter Elizabeth Powell revived her Land Of Talk project, releasing the new album Indistinct Conversations earlier this year. As hinted in its title, today's Song of the Day does, indeed, look at heavier topics. In a press release, Powell explained: “Weight of That Weekend” is a recognition of having been on the receiving end of a lifetime of sexual coercion, assault, b...
Jul 15, 2020•4 min•Ep. 3757
Mourn - "Call You Back," a 2020 single on Captured Tracks. Barcelona-based trio Mourn returned this Spring with their first new music since last year's full-length Sorpresa Familia . Today's Song of the Day was appropriately, but unintentionally, released in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic. “Parts of the song talk about the anxiety of phone calls and the emotions around them,” Carla Pérez Vas explained to Billboard . “It’s pretty ironic that now we are looking at the phone all day, and ev...
Jul 14, 2020•2 min•Ep. 3756
Petite Noir & Kingdom - "Alive" from the 2020 single CoeurWorld on Roya Records. South African artist Petite Noir [real name: Yannick Ilunga] has teamed up with Los Angeles-based producer Kingdom for the new double A-side single CoeurWorld . In a press release, Ilunga declared, “I have been a huge fan of Kingdom since the early Fade to Mind days and I was very excited for this collaboration as it sparked new ideas for the future. CoeurWorld is an EP dedicated to sending love out to the world...
Jul 13, 2020•2 min•Ep. 3755
Gabriel Teodros - "If They Come for Me in the Morning... (feat. Aisha Fukushima)" from the 2020 self-released album What We Leave Behind. Seattle artist (and KEXP DJ) Gabriel Teodros celebrates the 20th anniversary of his first solo show at Rainier Valley Cultural Center with this new collection of previously unreleased tracks, "with a few new songs recorded specifically for this project," he adds, continuing, "Wanted to give y'all something special for all the love you've given me these past fe...
Jul 10, 2020•3 min•Ep. 3754
The Beths - "I'm Not Getting Excited" from the 2020 album Jump Rope Gazers on Carpark Records. New Zealand pop band The Beths return this month with their sophomore album Jump Rope Gazers , out July 10th via Carpark Records. But frontwoman Elizabeth Stokes is keeping her cool about it. In a press release, she states: “People always ask ‘are you excited!?’ and it’s a fair question, because exciting things do happen to us sometimes. Support slots, overseas tours, music releases. Stuff we’ve dreame...
Jul 09, 2020•3 min•Ep. 3753
Fontaines D.C. - "A Hero's Death" from the 2020 album A Hero's Death on Partisan Records. Don't ask Fontaines D.C. frontman Grian Chatten about the meaning behind today's KEXP Song of the Day. "I'm not sure myself," he confesses to the BBC . "I purposefully keep the things I write open to interpretation, even to myself." But the track also serves as the title of the Irish post-punk band's forthcoming full-length, out July 31st via Partisan Records. "I found the idea quite funny — because I'm hal...
Jul 08, 2020•4 min•Ep. 3752
Gordi - "Sandwiches" from the 2020 album Our Two Skins on Jagjaguwar. On her latest LP Our Two Skins , Australian folktronica artist Gordi (real name: Sophie Payten) mourns the passing of her beloved grandmother, Alisa, whose spirit fills the gorgeous new album. It was even recorded in her hometown. "Her whole life was in Canowindra, and that's why I wanted to make the record there," Payten explains via a press release. "We made it in a house that's a hundred meters from her house." The title of...
Jul 07, 2020•4 min•Ep. 3751
Phoebe Bridgers - "Kyoto" from the 2020 album Punisher on Dead Oceans. Singer/songwriter Phoebe Bridgers has always brought a vulnerability and candidness to her lyrics, but especially on her highly-anticipated sophomore album Punisher , where she tackles themes of loneliness, disappointment, and feeling like an outsider. And on today's featured track, in particular, Bridgers works through her complicated feelings about her father. Bridgers has written about her complicated feelings for her dad ...
Jul 06, 2020•3 min•Ep. 3750
Deep Sea Diver - "Stop Pretending," a 2020 self-released single. Seattle's Deep Sea Diver has managed to adapt creatively to the stay-at-home orders. As we reported via our Sound & Vision series in April (listen here ), band members Jessica Dobson and Peter Mansen have been doling out "stems" — a drum beat or guitar riff to play with and create a song out of — and then featuring the best songs every weekend via Instagram Live. The project even resulted in today's featured track, “Stop Preten...
Jul 03, 2020•4 min•Ep. 3749
Liv.e - “SirLadyMakemFall “ from the 2020 Bout These Pipedreams / Lessons from My Mistakes.. but I Lost Your Number EP on In Real Life Music / AWAL. Following a tour with Earl Sweatshirt and appearances on both his and Pink Siifu’s recent albums, Dallas-bred, Los Angeles-based artist Liv.e (pronounced "liv") somehow found time for a forthcoming full-length, titled Couldn't Wait To Tell You , out later this year via In Real Life Records. Today's featured track is a sneak peek at the upcoming rele...
Jul 02, 2020•2 min•Ep. 3748
Sibille Attar - “Hurt Me,” a 2020 single on PNKSLM Recordings. Swedish singer/songwriter Sibille Attar shares a first listen of her forthcoming full-length out this fall via PNKSLM Recordings, a follow-up to her 2013 debut album Sleepyhead . Formerly a member of bands like The Tourettes and Speedmarket Avenue, Sleepyhead was the Scandinavian songstress's first solo effort, and her first on a major label. “ Sleepyhead was my first attempt [at going solo] and I got signed to a big label and it was...
Jul 01, 2020•4 min•Ep. 3747
Jake Blount - “Where Did You Sleep Last Night?” covered by Jake Blount from the 2020 album Spider Tales on Free Dirt Records. The song "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?" has been covered hundreds of times before — the track is often associated with blues musician Lead Belly, but the Nirvana version from their 1993 MTV Unplugged performance is perhaps the best known rendition. And now, banjo player and fiddler Jake Blount has added his own interpretation, influenced by his research into Black and ...
Jun 30, 2020•4 min•Ep. 3746
SPECSWIZARD - “Floyd,” a 2020 self-released single. Michael Hall is a long-time fixture of Seattle's hip-hop scene, recording under the names Specs One and Specs Wizard . (Seattle's bi-weekly alt-paper The Stranger dubbed him "the Holy Ghost of Northwest Hiphop.") He began rapping and making beats while growing up in the High Point neighborhood of West Seattle in 1979, began releasing albums in the late '80s, and made waves with his crew The Elevators throughout the '90s. Today's Song of the Day...
Jun 29, 2020•3 min•Ep. 3745
Danny Denial - "I'm Not Your Type (feat. DoNormaal)" from the 2020 album fuck danny denial on Cruisin' Records. On his third solo album, "goth-punk auteur" Danny Denial teams up with The Black Tones’ Eva Walker, Rat Queen, Razor Clam, and, on today's Song of the Day, DoNormaal. When KEXP premiered this track late last year, Denial told our writer Martin Douglas: "I approached this solo record mainly wanting to experiment with genre and work with artists and bands I admire, and 'I'm not your type...
Jun 26, 2020•4 min•Ep. 3744
Baronhawk Poitier - "Temperado Tornado" from the 2020 Temperado Tornado EP on Honey Soundsystem. Baronhawk Poitier is a busy man: not only is he a long-running DJ/producer, but he's also a professional dancer and co-founder of the NeedlExchange crew and club night in his hometown of Washington, D.C. When Honey Soundsystem Records asked Baronhawk Poitier to make them an EP "he would want to dance to", he replied, "Oh Honey, I have never made any that I didn’t." Check out the title track from his ...
Jun 25, 2020•5 min•Ep. 3743
Princess Nokia - "Gemini" from the 2020 self-released album Everything Is Beautiful. Earlier this year, New York-born Puerto Rican MC Princess Nokia (real name: Destiny Nicole Frasqueri) released not one, but two albums: the perfectly-titled Everything Sucks and Everything is Beautiful . In a press release, Everything Sucks is described as “a brash, ruthless and insistent collection,” and Everything is Beautiful as “a representation of the sensitive, feminine side of the gender fluid artist.” To...
Jun 24, 2020•3 min•Ep. 3742
Zebra Katz - IN IN IN - from the 2020 album LESS IS MOOR on ZFK Records. Following a worldwide tour with Gorillaz in support of their 2017 album Humanz , Jamaican-American artist Zebra Katz returns in a big way with his long-awaited debut solo album Less Is Moor . In an interview with PAPER , Katz talks about KEXP's featured track: "This single is very much a re-introduction to the music sphere. 'IN IN IN' is a sonic reflection to how I see the world. I'm taking ownership of my narrative. While ...
Jun 23, 2020•3 min•Ep. 3741
Shamir - "On My Own," a 2020 self-released single. I don't mind to live all on my own and I never did... I don't care to feel like I belong But you always did… Following the release of his sixth full-length album Cataclysm , Shamir returns with the appropriately-titled stand-alone single "On My Own," where the Philadelphia-based artist asserts his independence against a '90s-influenced guitar-pop melody. It's a sneak peek at another forthcoming full-length slated to come out this Fall. The song ...
Jun 22, 2020•4 min•Ep. 3740
Shabazz Palaces - "Chocolate Souffle" from the 2020 album The Don of Diamond Dreams on Sub Pop. With each new Shabazz Palaces release, it feels like we’re given a glimpse into a distant future, or maybe a far off galaxy, or possibly a parallel universe similar but maybe just a bit better than our own. Whichever theory you subscribe to, it goes without saying that the Seattle group’s music exists within a world of its own. Their latest album, The Don of Diamond Dreams , is another mind-bending tr...
Jun 19, 2020•5 min•Ep. 3739
Bee Bee Sea - "Daily Jobs," a 2020 single on Wild Honey Records. Italian garage punk act Bee Bee Sea abide by a succinct mantra: “When there's no good shit around, you better form a band.” That spirit exudes through the ramshackle, PA system shaking riffs the band has been churning out since releasing their self-titled debut in 2015. Their latest single, “Daily Jobs,” shrieks and howls like a sugar-rushed younger sibling demanding you give up the controller and give them their turn on the Super ...
Jun 18, 2020•3 min•Ep. 3738
Tropea - "Technicolor" from the 2020 self-released Might Delete Later EP. Tropea describes their music as "pajama music for pajama people," a fitting description for their dreamy '80s-inspired synth-pop sound. Formed in Milan, Italy in 2017, the band self-produced their forthcoming EP, Might Delete Later , while on lockdown during the COVID-19 crisis. "This song is loud and fun to play. In our live shows people go insane, dancing '80s or 2010s style or whatever they like," the band said via a pr...
Jun 17, 2020•3 min•Ep. 3737
Joensuu 1685 - "Light in the Heart of Our Town" from the 2020 album ÖB on Gems Records. Formed in 2007 in Helsinki, Finland, Joensuu 1685 — a project of brothers Markus and Mikko Joensuu and non-related bassist Risto Joensuu — have been dormant for over a decade, but a 2018 reunion performance at the Flow Festival ignited the spark for them to complete an unfinished album. Today's featured track was inspired by "an image of a dying town," Mikko explained. “About a person in front of a gas statio...
Jun 16, 2020•4 min•Ep. 3736
Orion Sun - "Ne Me Quitte Pas (Don't Leave Me)" from the 2020 album Hold Space For Me on Mom + Pop Records. Philadelphia’s Orion Sun – aka songwriter Tiffany Majette – made her official full-length debut earlier this year with Hold Space For Me, but she’s been honing her craft for years with multi-instrumentalist expertise. Bringing in sounds of R&B, soul, and pop together, she tells her story with enthralling prose and dazzling production. Her single “Ne Me Quitte Passe (Don’t Leave Me)” ta...
Jun 15, 2020•3 min•Ep. 3735
A message from Kevin Cole, Afternoon Show host and Chief Content Officer, on behalf of KEXP. We urge anyone who is looking to learn more about and support ongoing racial justice to visit our page with Anti-Racist and Social Justice Resources . There you will find organizations and funds for donations, online petitions, and resources for education and allyship. Thank you. Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Jun 05, 2020•3 min
Chicano Batman - "I know It" from the 2020 album Invisible People on ATO. On their fourth LP Invisible People , Los Angeles-based band Chicano Batman return with their unique fusion of funk, psych-pop, R&B, and more, fine-tuned by GRAMMY-award winning engineer Shawn Everett (Alabama Shakes, The War on Drugs) and producer Leon Michels (Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Lee Fields & The Expressions). “This album is an evolution from our last one in that we put much more thought in our appr...
Jun 01, 2020•3 min•Ep. 3734
