Cherry Glazerr - "Rabbit Hole," a 2020 single on Secretly Canadian. “‘Tried too hard not to be distasteful but it led me down a rabbit hole’ That line sums it up.” On her latest single “Rabbit Hole,” Cherry Glazerr frontwoman Clementine Creevy reflects on her tendency to be someone she's not. “‘Rabbit Hole’ is about clawing back my identity,” Creevy says in a press release. “I often find myself acting a certain way to get someone else’s approval. Then it’s hard for me to find myself again. I hav...
Feb 10, 2021•3 min•Ep. 3907
Sevdaliza - "Wallflower" from the 2020 album Shabrang on Twisted Elegance. Iranian-born, Dutch-based artist and producer Sevdaliza began her career as a professional basketball player before turning her discipline and talent to music, combining Persian mythology with trip-hop, crafting sensual soundscapes with hypnotic vocals. She describes her second full-length, Shabrang, as "kind of like a letter that I wrote to myself." She continues to French fashion magazine L'Officiel , "It is my own holy...
Feb 09, 2021•3 min•Ep. 3906
Claud - "Soft Spot" from the 2021 album Super Monster on Saddest Factory. This Friday, February 12th, singer/songwriter Claud Mintz (who records as Claud ) will release their debut album Super Monster via Phoebe Bridgers’ Saddest Factory Records, and what could be a better endorsement than being the first album released by Bridgers’ new imprint for Dead Oceans? Today's Song of the Day is a dreamy rumination on a relationship gone. Claud confirms in a press release, stating “‘… Sigh. I have a sof...
Feb 08, 2021•3 min•Ep. 3905
Gibraltar - "O, Devilish Sailor" from the 2021 self-released album Modern Mischief. It's been a few years since we last heard from Seattle post-rockers Gibraltar , but the trio return this March with the new full-length Modern Mischief . The album's first single features guest horn players Sari Breznau on trumpet, and Nate Henry on tenor sax, adding a soulful touch to the angular guitar and punchy percussion. In a statement to the Big Takeover , frontman and founding member Aaron Starkey shares ...
Feb 05, 2021•3 min•Ep. 3904
Mogwai - " Ritchie Sacramento" from the 2021 album As the Love Continues on Temporary Residence Ltd. Today's Song of the Day gets its title from someone's mispronunciation of the name Ryuchi Sakamoto, famed Japanese composer. Scottish post-rock band Mogwai transformed the flub into a tribute for David Berman, the musician behind the Silver Jews who passed away in 2019. “I was inspired by a story that Bob Nastanovich put online on the anniversary of the death of Dave Berman from Silver Jews,” fro...
Feb 04, 2021•4 min•Ep. 3903
Barbarossa - "Iris2Iris" from the 2021 album Love Here Listen on Memphis Industries. Barbarossa – aka UK-based musician/producer James Mathé – returns this March with his sixth album, Love Here Listen . Today's Song of the Day gives a first listen to the forthcoming full-length. In a statement, Mathé explains the track: "I was thinking about how I have moments of clarity more and more as I get older of what is really meaningful in my life and how I can best use my time in this life. The moments ...
Feb 03, 2021•4 min•Ep. 3902
El Michels Affair - "Murkit Gem" from the 2021 album Yeti Season on Big Crown Records. Multi-instrumentalist, writer, and producer Leon Michels has a long history in the Brooklyn music scene, with too many credits to list, but a few include being a touring member of Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings and The Black Keys, a co-founder of the The Menahan Street Band, a co-producer on Aloe Blacc’s album Good Things , and he was even a credited writer on Adele’s blockbuster album, 19 . With his current...
Feb 02, 2021•3 min•Ep. 3901
Nation of Language - "Deliver Me From Wondering Why," a 2021 self-released single. Brooklyn synth-pop duo Nation Of Language sent us swooning with last year's debut full-length, titled Introduction, Presence . Earlier this month, they returned with the new single "Deliver Me From Wondering Why," another new wave-inspired track that sounds straight from a '80s film soundtrack. The band layer video game-esque sounds against the programmed beats, adding soaring out-of-this-world effects. In a press...
Feb 01, 2021•4 min•Ep. 3900
Toni Banx - "Chanel No. 5" from the 2020 album I Like It Here on Fifth House Media. And you know I get down on myself / I ain’t better that nobody else / But I’m better than what I done been through / Too late to say that I miss you Seattle's Fifth House is both a media outlet, and a duo (as featured in KEXP's October 2020 edition of In Our Headphones ). Half of that duo — the richly-voiced Toni Banx — has emerged with the solo EP I Like It Here . Today's Song of the Day is a soulful ode to the ...
Jan 29, 2021•3 min•Ep. 3899
Ciscero - "Beautiful Mind (feat. Oddisee)," a 2021 single on We Are Not The Same. They don't give a fuck about us / They're not feeling what we say / “They don’t give no fuck about us / 'cause we come from 'round the way” On "Beautiful Mind," two emcees from Prince George's County, Maryland team up to reflect on where they're from and how they rise above. The soulful, sun-drenched single features production by Tee-WaTT, Latrell James, J.Robb, with guest violinist April George adding a melancholy...
Jan 28, 2021•3 min•Ep. 3898
KAMAUU - "MANGO (feat. Adeline)," a 2021 single on Atlantic Records. Born in D.C. and raised in Maryland, the parents of Kamau Mbonisi Kwame Agyeman sought to introduce him and his brother to African music, history, and culture at a young age. Now based in Brooklyn, rapper/artist KAMAUU incorporates those lessons into his genre-defying music. (His brother also grew up to pursue music, recording under the name Nkō Khélí.) On one of his most recent singles, "MANGO," he teams up with vocalist Adeli...
Jan 27, 2021•4 min•Ep. 3897
Mumu Fresh - "A Healing," a 2021 self-released single. Maimouna Youssef (aka Mumu Fresh ) is a GRAMMY-Nominated singer, songwriter, and activist, who mines her rich heritage for inspiration. She grew up singing gospel and jazz in an African-American Muslim household in Baltimore, and learned traditional songs from her Choctaw and Muscogee grandparents. Lately, she has been collaborating with "everyone from Salaam Remi to Tobe Nwigwe" as DJ Gabriel Teodros reports, and today's featured track is "...
Jan 26, 2021•4 min•Ep. 3896
I Self Devine - "The Disruptor Suite," a 2021 single on Improvised Weaponry. Born Chaka Mkali in Minneapolis, I Self Devine has been called "one of the most influential voices in Minnesota hip hop" by alt-weekly City Pages . In addition to being a talented musician and MC, he is also a "community organizer, racial justice trainer, graffiti artist, muralist, program coordinator and director of organizing and community building at Hope Community Center in Minneapolis," as detailed in his artist bi...
Jan 25, 2021•8 min•Ep. 3895
Erik Blood - "Rent is Due (feat. Gary V)," a 2020 self-released single. Currently based in Los Angeles, but forever a local artist in KEXP's heart, Erik Blood teams up with Anti- Records recording artist Gary V for today's Song of the Day. (Born Garett van der Spek in Durban, South Africa, Gary V is also a former Seattleite residing in the City of Angels.) Using an original instrumental track that Blood created for The Stranger 's SPLIFF film festival trailer, Gary V implores the listener to "Ta...
Jan 22, 2021•6 min•Ep. 3894
SHYGIRL - "SLIME" from the 2020 ALIAS EP on Because Music. London-based artist SHYGIRL is anything but. Born Blane Muise, she avoided using her real name – “which would come with its own set of implications and prejudices,” she explained to London in Stereo – and adopted the new moniker, explaining "like Picasso had his blue period, this is my Shygirl period." Her latest release – a 7-song EP appropriately titled ALIAS – she continues to explore her other identities, crafting four sub-personalit...
Jan 21, 2021•3 min•Ep. 3893
Blu & Exile - "The American Dream" from the 2020 album Miles on Dirty Science Records. Rapper Blu and hip hop producer Exile returned last year for their first new full-length in eight years: Miles: From An Interlude Called Life (or just Miles for short), an expansive 20-track double LP. “We planted the seeds of creativity and grew about 40 plants,” Exile said in a press release. “We picked the ones that we thought were the best for an album, but that didn’t mean that the other flowers weren...
Jan 20, 2021•5 min•Ep. 3892
Romero - "Troublemaker," a 2020 self-released single. Australian power-pop group Romero follow up last year's debut “Honey / Neapolitan” 7" single with the new track "Troublemaker," a fun, upbeat, '80s-style sing-a-long about a frenemy making eyes at your man. The band's frontwoman Alanna Oliver explained to NME : “Troublemaker” was born after a conversation I was having with my mum about a girl I knew… we both came to the conclusion that she was in love with my boyfriend and my mother called he...
Jan 19, 2021•4 min•Ep. 3891
Sen Morimoto - "Love, Money Pt. 2" from the 2020 album Sen Morimoto on Sooper Records. Chicago-based artist Sen Morimoto 's sophomore self-titled release is a genre-blending mix of hip-hop, pop, R&B, and jazz (Morimoto is also a classically-trained saxophonist). Today's Song of the Day is a sequel to a track off his 2017 EP It’s Late, a follow-up he explained to KEXP's Dusty Henry in this 2020 interview . “The reason there can be a part two is because that thought never goes away,” Morimoto ...
Jan 18, 2021•3 min•Ep. 3890
Melenas - "No puedo pensar" from the 2020 album Dias Raros on Trouble in Mind Records. Hailing from Pamplona, Spain, indiepop quartet Melenas released their second album Dias Raros last year, their first to be released outside of their homeland. Today's Song of the Day combines garage rock with jangle-pop for a melodic, melancholy track. “Waking up with an idea that has been looping around your brain since you went to sleep and stays there all day long, day by day. Who hasn’t been in that situat...
Jan 15, 2021•3 min•Ep. 3889
SASSY 009 - "Maybe In The Summer" from the 2019 album KILL SASSY 009 EP on Luft Recordings. Once a trio, SASSY 009 is the solo project of 23-year-old Norwegian artist Sunniva Lindgård. Her latest EP KILL SASSY 009 is her first released alone. “I must say working by myself feels very natural,” she says in a press release. “For the past few years I've learnt to live with a lot of unexpected wavy stuff turning me upside down emotionally, while also seeing my musical career blossom. This two-sided l...
Jan 14, 2021•3 min•Ep. 3888
Lina & Raül Refree - "Destino" from the 2020 album Lina_Raül Refree on Glitterbeat Records. In a career spanning over five decades, Amália Rodrigues established herself as the "Queen of Fado," a genre of music in Portugal. On their debut album Lina_Raül Refree , classically-trained Portuguese vocalist Lina and European producer Raül Refree team up to reinterpret songs from Rodrigues' expansive catalog. Together, they abandon the traditional acoustic guitars and substitute soaring synths to h...
Jan 13, 2021•3 min•Ep. 3887
alyona alyona - "Дикі танці" from the 2019 album В ХАТІ МА on Hitwonder. It's impressive enough that Alyona Alyona was nominated for the 2021 Music Moves Europe Talent Awards, but what's even more notable is, it's the very first time a Ukrainian artist has appeared on their list of nominees. The rapper, whose real name is Alyona Savranenko, became a break-out star in Europe since leaving behind her job as an elementary school teacher to follow her pre-teen dreams of performing hip-hop. Her lyric...
Jan 12, 2021•3 min•Ep. 3886
Julia Bardo - "I Wanna Feel Love" from the 2020 Phase EP on Wichita Recordings. From singing between shifts at her father's bar in Northern Italy, to joining the post-punk band Working Men’s Club in Manchester, England, songwriter Julia Bardo now emerges on her own with her debut solo EP Phase , co-produced by Henry Carlyle Wade of The Orielles. Today's Song of the Day is an exuberant, '60s-girl-group-inspired track, with lyrics that draw from Bardo's personal experience with love. “I was in a r...
Jan 11, 2021•4 min•Ep. 3885
Hi Crime - "World's Fair," a 2020 self-released single. Seattle's Hi Crime was formed in the summer of 2015 when songwriters Brielle Rutledge and Mitch Etter met. Their debut EP, Foreign Hours , was written, recorded, and mixed entirely from their bedrooms, with Rutledge commuting back-and-forth every few weeks while she finished college. They expanded into a full band with the addition of Cody McCann and Jesse Botello, and their 2018 full-length debut album, The Kids Still Got It , found them e...
Jan 08, 2021•4 min•Ep. 3884
Maxband - "Cut It Loose," a 2020 single on Maximum Band Recordings. With his side project Maxband , Max Savage of Parquet Courts steps out from behind the drum kit and grabs a guitar. He shares vocal duties with co-founder and bassist Patrick Smith of A Beacon School. Their first release was a limited-run cassette EP titled Perfect Strangers in 2018, but they reemerged in late 2020 with a new EP titled Top of the Stairs . Today's featured track follows the Parquet path of lo-fi post-punk. Maxban...
Jan 07, 2021•3 min•Ep. 3883
Knox Fortune - "Come Over" from the 2020 album Stock Child Wonder on Nice Work. Chicago-bred artist Knox Fortune (real name: Kevin Rhomberg) broke out of the Windy City's hip-hop scene after guest appearances on tracks by Chance the Rapper and Kami. Now based in Brooklyn, Knox returns with his genre-jumping sophomore release Stock Child Wonder . In an interview with Document , he explains the genesis of the album title and how it reflects his approach to songwriting: It came from a song I wrote ...
Jan 06, 2021•3 min•Ep. 3882
Oneohtrix Point Never - "Long Road Home" from the 2020 album Magic Oneohtrix Point Never on Warp. After scoring the soundtrack to the 2019 Adam Sandler film Uncut Gems , Oneohtrix Point Never (real name: Daniel Lopatin) returns to his roots with his ninth full length, Magic Oneohtrix Point Never , a nod to the Boston-based FM radio station Magic 106.7 that inspired his own band name. “I wanted to make a cohesive, punchy, 50-minute record that was very personal, but pulled from FM palettes that I...
Jan 05, 2021•4 min•Ep. 3881
Yung - "Such A Man" from the 2021 album Ongoing Dispute on PNKSLM. Danish indie rock quartet Yung return later this month with their sophomore full-length Ongoing Dispute , the highly anticipated follow-up to 2016's A Youthful Dream . The band describe today's featured track as "a songwriting potluck of sorts, written in roughly an hour whilst Mikkel [Holm Silkjær, frontman] frantically roamed the corridors outside our rehearsal space working out the lyrics." Silkjær describes the results, via a...
Jan 04, 2021•3 min•Ep. 3880
Despite the perils of 2020, Seattle’s Tomo Nakayama had a momentous musical year. Alongside his excellent synth-pop turn with his third solo LP, Melonday, Nakayama released some stirring singles, including a December release of “Paper Snowflakes.” The song finds Nakayama back in the familiar territory of the acoustic guitar, providing the perfect foundation for his pristine, effortless vocals. It’s a winter song of longing, wishing the best for someone far away and detached. While the song refer...
Jan 01, 2021•4 min•Ep. 3879
It’s the last day of 2020 and a new year is ahead of us. To bring on the transition, we get a little bit of something familiar and something new with The Hold Steady’s “Family Farm.” The indie rock legends make a momentous return with the first single from their upcoming album ‘Open Door Policy.’ A barrage of guitars and horns underscore Craig Finn’s impassioned, talk-singing vocals. It’s a triumphant last call for the year, feeling like the concussion of fireworks in the sky while we ride out i...
Dec 31, 2020•4 min•Ep. 3878
