Ora the Molecule - "Creator," a 2021 single on Mute Records. Oslo, Norway-born artist Nora Schjelderup (otherwise known as Ora The Molecule ) releases her debut album Human Safari this summer on July 23rd. Today's Song of the Day is the first single from the release, an ebullient anthem for youth, as reflected in the accompanying music video, directed by Tanmay Chowdhary. “The song is all about empowerment in the individual,” Schjelderup says in a press release. “You have to love the creator tha...
Mar 24, 2021•4 min•Ep. 3937
Anushka Chkheidze - "Move, Move" from the 2021 album Move 20-21 on CES Records. With last year's debut LP Halfie , Anushka Chkheidze landed a nomination for IMPALA’s European Independent Album of The Year Award. Less than a year later, the 23-year-old electronic music artist returns with her second full-length, Move 20 – 21, an album she describes as "a mind journey through space and time without any physical activity." The LP was recorded during lockdown in her hometown of Kharagauli, a village...
Mar 23, 2021•5 min•Ep. 3936
Altin Gün - "Maçka Yollari" from the 2021 album Yol on ATO Records. Amsterdam-based, but globally influenced with Turkish, Indonesian, and Dutch band members, Grammy-nominated band Altin Gün continue to add a psych-touch to traditional Turkish folk songs on their third album, Yol . Today's Song of the Day hails from the Trabzon region near the Black Sea coast, with Altin Gün giving it their usual funk infusion. Like many recent releases, Yol was created during quarantine. "We couldn’t get togeth...
Mar 22, 2021•4 min•Ep. 3935
Echo of the Low Light - "Afterlife," a 2021 single on Independent. Echo of the Low Light is more than just a band; it's a collective of Pacific Northwest artists taking an experimental approach to song construction. At its core is guitarist/vocalist Kerri Holland and bassist Pam Drago. After years in bands, they wanted to push the boundaries. They explain on their Instagram , "We began to explore more digital elements and effects, blending them with the traditional guitar/bass/drums we’d been us...
Mar 19, 2021•4 min•Ep. 3934
Squid - "Narrator (feat. Martha Skye Murphy)" from the 2021 album Bright Green Field on Warp. After a series of stand-alone singles and an EP, Brighton, England-based band Squid have announced their debut album, Bright Green Field , out May 7th via Warp. Today's Song of the Day features guest vocals from Martha Skye Murphy , to help make "the point that the unreliable narrator is, more often than not, a male who wishes to portray women as submissive characters in their story." The band continue ...
Mar 18, 2021•5 min•Ep. 3933
Jupiter & Okwess - "You Sold Me a Dream (feat. Ana Tijoux)" from the 2021 album Na Kozonga on Everloving Records. Congolese band Jupiter & Okwess team up with Chilean artist Ana Tijoux for an infectious track with a powerful message, a song Jupiter declared an "anthem of resistance." Against an electronic tribal rhythm, Tijoux states: [Google translated] From Congo to the world From Congo to Latin America and Africa complete Against all racism the music is heard loud, loud, hear it Today...
Mar 17, 2021•3 min•Ep. 3932
Team Dreams - "Imaginary Love," a 2021 self-released single. One of the (many) highlights of our 2018 Iceland Airwaves Music Festival broadcast was the appearance of Icelandic supergroup Team Dreams , a project of longtime friends Sin Fang (aka Sindri Már Sigfússon), Sóley , and Örvar Smárason . (We're going to assume they landed on the band name "Team Dreams," even though a couple of years ago they claimed it was just the title of their debut LP, joking they were "too old to come up with a new ...
Mar 16, 2021•4 min•Ep. 3931
serpentwithfeet - "Fellowship (feat. Sampha & Lil Silva)" from the 2021 album DEACON on Secretly Canadian. Earlier this year , Los Angeles-via-Baltimore artist serpentwithfeet announced his sophomore album, DEACON , out March 26 via Secretly Canadian. In a press release, he explains that the new LP is "not only imagining but exploring a world wherein Black love is paramount." On today's Song of the Day, he examines the world of friendship, teaming up with guest artists Sampha and Lil Silva ,...
Mar 15, 2021•4 min•Ep. 3930
Corvair - "Sailor Down" from the 2021 album Corvair on Where It’s At Is Where You Are. KEXP is a listener-funded nonprofit, and we need your help to keep creating podcasts like this one. Donate to our Spring Drive today ! Portland duo Corvair made the most of quarantine by turning out their self-titled debut while on lockdown. The two had recorded plenty of times with their previous bands — Ruston Mire, Tube Top, Pop Sickle, The Service Providers for Brian Naubert and Eux Autres for Heather Lari...
Mar 12, 2021•4 min•Ep. 3929
GHLOW - "Not Fit For This" from the 2021 album Slash and Burn on PNKSLM. KEXP is a listener-funded nonprofit, and we need your help to keep creating podcasts like this one. Donate to our Spring Drive today ! When electro-punk project GHLOW named their debut album Slash and Burn , they meant it. The Russian-Swedish duo sought to capture the intensity of their live performances on the new LP. “After the [first] EP, we realised we wanted the album to be harder,” vocalist and bassist Emille de Blanc...
Mar 11, 2021•3 min•Ep. 3928
The Antlers - "Solstice" from the 2021 album Green to Gold on ANTI-. KEXP is a listener-funded nonprofit, and we need your help to keep creating podcasts like this one. Donate to our Spring Drive today ! Brooklyn duo The Antlers return later this month with their first new album in seven years, titled Green to Gold . Frontman Peter Silberman describes the LP in a press release as "Sunday morning music," adding that today's Song of the Day "is a flashback to the infinite days of peak childhood su...
Mar 10, 2021•4 min•Ep. 3927
春ねむり (Haru Nemuri) - "bang," a 2021 single on TO3S. KEXP is a listener-funded nonprofit, and we need your help to keep creating podcasts like this one. Donate to our Spring Drive today ! Japanese artist Haru Nemuri (春 ねむり) (real name: Haruna Kimishima) is an alchemist, combining J-Pop with hip-hop, electronica, and noise. She calls today's Song of the Day a "prayer," inspired after the election of Donald Trump four years ago. In a beautifully-written statement on her website , she writes: ...we ...
Mar 09, 2021•3 min•Ep. 3926
Bicep - "Sundial" from the 2021 album Isles on Ninja Tune. KEXP is a listener-funded nonprofit, and we need your help to keep creating podcasts like this one. Donate to our Spring Drive today ! London-based electronic duo Bicep dig into their Northern Ireland childhoods on their latest LP Isles, and today's Song of the Day takes us from Ireland to India. Belfast-born producers Matt McBriar and Andy Ferguson used a snippet of the song "Jab Andhera Hota Hai" from the 1973 Bollywood film Raja Rani....
Mar 08, 2021•5 min•Ep. 3925
Jessica Manning - "Safe Another Day" from the 2021 self-released You Are Here EP. Raised by a father who loved singing soul, Minneapolis-based R&B artist Jessica Manning grew up with a love for music and would sing Broadway show tunes in the privacy of her childhood bedroom. By the age of 15, she began playing guitar, posting covers (and sometimes an original!) on YouTube. She's come a long way since then, beginning with the 2013 release of her self-titled EP. On her most recent release, Jan...
Mar 05, 2021•4 min•Ep. 3924
Khingz (Over The World) x Ujjy - "Rainy Morning," a 2021 self-released single. Seattle hip-hop veteran Khingz teams up with Canadian artist Ujjy on this touching track, written during a dark time. Khingz states on his Bandcamp , he "wrote this when I did not know when I would see my son again and the world was heavy on my shoulders." Khingz broke out as a battle emcee in the early 2000s, named "Best MC Of The Year" in 2009 by the Seattle Weekly readers poll. In 2001, he formed Abyssinian Creole ...
Mar 04, 2021•2 min•Ep. 3923
Felicia Douglass - "Continuation," a 2021 self-released single. Felicia Douglass 's voice is all around us: not only is she a solo artist, she's also a member of Ava Luna, Gemma, and Dirty Projectors; and she has lent her gorgeous vocals to Lushlife, BAILE, Toro y Moi, Helado Negro, and others. "There was a point a few years ago where I was like, 'Okay, I feel like I'm in too many bands,'" the Brooklyn-based artist jokingly told GARAGE last year. Thanks to her home studio set-up, Douglass has be...
Mar 03, 2021•3 min•Ep. 3922
King Khazm - "Superpowerz (feat. Kane Smego & Jessica Care Moore)" from the 2021 album Pangea: Hip Hop Heals on MADK Productions. King Khazm has a long history as an emcee, artist, and community organizer in Seattle's underground hip-hop scene, and with the compilation Pangea: Hip Hop Heals , he gathers 50 emcees, producers, DJs, and artists representing 17 countries to share their perspectives on the coronavirus pandemic. Today's Song of the Day features National Poetry Slam finalist Kane S...
Mar 02, 2021•4 min•Ep. 3921
Farhot - "Yak Sher" from the 2021 album Kabul Fire Vol. 2 on Kabul Fire Records. “This is one of my goals,” hip-hop producer Farhot (real name: Farhad Samadzada) told Acclaim , “to help make Afghanistan a little bit more seen.” It's been seven years since the release of Kabul Fire Vol. 1 , and with the follow-up, he wanted to continue to celebrate his birthplace. "When it was time for Vol 2, I had to do some homework. I was thinking of the title Kabul Fire , and I thought, ‘I need to make a conn...
Mar 01, 2021•3 min•Ep. 3920
Bad Colours - “Feelin' Like (feat. Jarv Dee)” from the 2021 album Pink on Bastard Jazz Recordings. London-born, Maryland-raised, Brooklyn-based DJ, songwriter, producer, and instrumentalist Ibe Soliman (aka Bad Colours ) was inspired by lockdown to record a debut album, using rough ideas and samples that friends sent him to spur on new ideas. One of the samples he used was from Seattle's own Jarv Dee . Today's Song of the Day began with a sampled vocal hook, and then after the first draft, Jarv ...
Feb 26, 2021•3 min•Ep. 3919
Jeff Parker - "Build a Nest (feat. Ruby Parker)" from the 2020 album Suite for Max Brown on International Anthem. With his 2016 album The New Breed , guitarist Jeff Parker paid tribute to his Dad, who passed away while he was recording it. With his latest release, Suite For Max Brown , he wanted to dedicate something to his Mom while she was still alive to hear it. "Maxine Brown is her maiden name and everybody calls her Max," Parker explained in a press statement. "The picture on the cover is h...
Feb 25, 2021•2 min•Ep. 3918
Madison McFerrin - "Hindsight," a 2020 single on Mexican Summer. Brooklyn-based artist Madison McFerrin says she wrote today's Song of the Day as “a love letter to Bernie Sanders.” She explained the inspiration for the track to Afropunk.com : It was back in May when it was clear that both A) this pandemic wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon, and B) Bernie Sanders, the only Democratic Presidential candidate advocating for Medicare for All (something that seems beyond important in the middle of a g...
Feb 24, 2021•4 min•Ep. 3917
Navy Blue - "224" from the 2020 album Song of Sage: Post Panic! on Freedom Sounds. Skateboarder/graphic designer/streetwear model Sage Elsesser explores his musical side under the alias Navy Blue . Last year's full-length, Àdá Irin , was a confident debut (read KEXP's Martin Douglas' review here ), and less than a year later, he returned with his sophomore album, Song of Sage: Post Panic!, another collection of introspective hip-hop. As Martin describes it in the February edition of In Our Headp...
Feb 23, 2021•3 min•Ep. 3916
Gary Bartz, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Adrian Younge - "Spiritual Ideation" from the 2020 album Gary Bartz JID006 on Jazz is Dead. Last year, Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad (of A Tribe Called Quest) launched the label and series Jazz Is Dead, where the duo pair up with a legendary jazz musician, recording new music using the vintage studio equipment that artist originally used in their discography. So far, they've collaborated with Roy Ayers, Marcos Valle, Azymuth, and several others, and for...
Feb 22, 2021•4 min•Ep. 3915
Dark Time Sunshine - "Familiars" from the 2021 album LORE on Fake Four Inc. Dark Time Sunshine combines the talents of Seattle's own Onry Ozzborn (of Grayskul and Oldominion) and Chicago producer Zavala. It's been nine years since their last album, ANX , but they return this month with Lore. While the lyrics on the new album mostly reflect on trauma and recovery, today's Song of the Day looks at resilience. In a track-by-track with Flood Magazine , the duo describe the meaning behind today's Son...
Feb 19, 2021•5 min•Ep. 3914
Yazmin Lacey & Congi - "Follow Me" from the 2020 self-released Two Takes EP. Nottingham-based duo Congi have teamed up again with vocalist Yazmin Lacey for another soulful set of R&B jams. Their latest EP, titled Two Takes , is the result of just that: the artists did everything from home — "production and songwriting to the recording and mixing." Then, they kept things minimal in the studio, explaining, "by finishing each song in 'two takes' we kept the process as raw and organic as pos...
Feb 18, 2021•4 min•Ep. 3913
Grove - "Ur Boyfriend's Wack," a 2021 single on Memorials of Distinction x Spinny Nights. Bristol-based producer Grove celebrates their "queerness" in today's Song of the Day. In a press release, they claim the song is “part satire about wack boyfriends who do The Bare Minimum, part informed by the experience of rejecting my own sexuality when younger. It is a steezy reclaiming of pride in that queerness, and departing the space where shame was part and parcel of my lived experience.” Grove will...
Feb 17, 2021•3 min•Ep. 3912
Jasik - "Black Sands" from the 2021 album Forest of Spirit on Preference Records. Pianist/producer Jamael Dean is only in his early 20s, but he already boasts a lengthy discography, both as Jira >< and, for his rap/spoken word material, as Jasik , a combination of "jah", the creator, and "seek," as in, a disciple or student. He uses this alias "for writing," he explains, "to pay homage to the students of creation seeking to leave something of service in their wake." The grandson of legenda...
Feb 16, 2021•3 min•Ep. 3911
SPELLLING - "Secret Thread" from the 2019 album Mazy Fly on Sacred Bones Records. Oakland-based artist Tia Cabral, who records under the name Spellling , found inspiration for today's Song of the Day in both a children's book and her dog. She told Culture Collide : I remember reading this book called Brown Angels . It’s a little book of poetry, and it has these old photos of black kids just being joyful. There’s a poem in there called "Secret Thread," about the unspoken bond between people and i...
Feb 15, 2021•5 min•Ep. 3910
Jason McCue - "First Time," a 2021 single on Fluff and Gravy Records. Back in 2017, Seattle singer/songwriter Jason McCue won the annual Sound Off! competition at MoPop, stunning audiences with his solo performance on acoustic guitar. Since then, he's grown as an artist, evidenced by his most recent releases WASTELAND and PANGAEA . Today, our Song of the Day is his latest single "First Time," his first new music since last year's Apocalypse EP. Read the full post on KEXP.org Support the show: ht...
Feb 12, 2021•3 min•Ep. 3909
The Lounge Society - "Burn the Heather," a 2020 single on Speedy Wunderground. Last year, Yorkshire-based band The Lounge Society released their debut single, which ended up being the fastest-selling 7” on their label Speedy Wunderground. The teenage quartet returned back in November with today's Song of the Day. “‘Burn the Heather’ is a song deeply rooted in where we come from,” they say in a press release. “The lyrics are our interpretation of some of the darker aspects of where we live, and o...
Feb 11, 2021•4 min•Ep. 3908
