Beverly Glenn-Copeland - "Africa Calling" from the 2023 album The Ones Ahead on Transgressive Records Late last month, celebrated vocalist/composer Beverly Glenn-Copeland returned with his first new album in 20 years, titled The Ones Ahead . “As the old world crumbles, a new world is waiting to be born," he shared in a press release. "All of our various strengths are needed. The generations of those yet to come are calling us forward.” Today's Song of the Day finds Glenn-Copeland exploring his h...
Aug 15, 2023•6 min•Ep. 4556
MJ Lenderman - "Rudolph," a 2023 single on ANTI- When not playing guitar in the band Wednesday , Asheville, North Carolina-based singer/songwriter MJ Lenderman has a solo project on the side. Last year, ANTI- Records released his solo LP, Boat Songs . Today's Song of the Day is the first track he's shared since the release of that album. "I had been sitting on the guitar part for a long time and slowly worked out the song whenever I could in between tours in 2022," the busy musician explained in...
Aug 14, 2023•4 min•Ep. 4555
Tomo Nakayama - "Contigo," a 2023 single on Ricebelly Music Long-running Seattle singer/songwriter Tomo Nakayama continues to capture the hearts of his listeners, this time with the swoon-worthy single "Contigo." As he sings in Spanish, "Quiero estar contigo," which translates to "I want to be with you." As Nakayama shares in a Spotify playlist, the song draws inspiration from The Cure to PM Dawn to Caetano Veloso and more. Read the full story at KEXP.org Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/d...
Aug 11, 2023•4 min•Ep. 4554
Ghost of Vroom - "Still Getting It Done" from the 2023 album Ghost of Vroom 3 on Mod y Vi Ghost of Vroom — a project of former Soul Coughing-frontman Mike Doughty and his longtime collaborator Andrew “Scrap” Livingston — return with Ghost of Vroom 3 , out September 1st via Mod y Vi Records. The LP was produced and mixed by Beastie Boys collaborator Mario Caldado, Jr., who worked with the duo on previous releases. “It’s a dream, and a groove, and its language is an object,” writes author Rick Moo...
Aug 10, 2023•2 min•Ep. 4553
Upper Wilds - "Short Centuries" from the 2023 album Jupiter on Thrill Jockey Brooklyn trio Upper Wilds continue their exploration of their solar system, following up 2018's Mars and 2020's Venus with their latest LP, Jupiter . Fronted by Dan Friel (formerly of Parts & Labor), the band celebrates the largest planet with a sound just as mighty. Today's Song of the Day brings us back to Earth with a tribute to Ecuadorian couple Julio Mora and Waldramina Quinteros, declared the world's oldest ma...
Aug 09, 2023•4 min•Ep. 4552
Film School - "Tape Rewind" from the 2023 album Field on felte Long-running west coast shoegazers Film School share a sneak peek at their forthcoming full-length, Field , out August 25th via felte Records. Against their signature sonic waves of guitar, frontman Greg Bertens reflects on regret and internal struggles. The new LP takes its title from the Rumi poem, "A Great Wagon," which states: "Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field / I’ll meet you there." Bertens tells u...
Aug 08, 2023•4 min•Ep. 4551
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Aug 07, 2023•4 min•Ep. 4550
The newest jam from the Vancouver-based multihyphenate comes with a light touch. Its slowly mutating beat starts with the melancholy peace of its ukelele lick and ends up floating through space carried by the vibrating low end of bass. Kimmortal's gently rapped lyrics about the wall between them and a person they love renders the sadness almost dreamlike on "Get Better," marking a new depth of vulnerability for the often-satirical artist, first explored on their single "K I'M MORTAL." - Martin D...
Aug 04, 2023•2 min•Ep. 4549
By your powers combined, Captain Planet has ignited crowds across the world. The ever-world-traveling DJ has picked up steam touring constantly since shows opened up again in the wake of the pandemic. But Captain Planet never slows down. Right after finishing his 2022 tour, he jumped back into the studio to create his latest record Sounds Like Home . For Captain Planet, the goal was to make a record like the ones he reaches for while relaxing or entertaining at home. What results is the perfect ...
Aug 03, 2023•4 min•Ep. 4548
After spending the last four years finding new approaches to recording, NAVVI's first new music in four years displays the Seattle duo functioning in a new gear. The sleek aesthetic is still there, vocalist Kristin Henry still sounds like she's singing from a different spiritual realm. But the 2023 issue of NAVVI is even more atmospheric than they were when we last heard them. Henry and producer Brad Boettger give "Clemency" more room to breathe. "I wanted to lean into tenderness,” Henry recentl...
Aug 02, 2023•5 min•Ep. 4547
Jamaican singer Jah9 has built a remarkable career bridging dub music with jazz vocals. Taking inspiration from Nina Simone and Billie Holiday with the dancehall aesthetics of her native Kingston, Jah9 creates a sonic palette uniquely her own. “Open Heart” is a feel-good anthem, or rather an anthem in the pursuit of feeling good. Crossing over with her other career as a yoga teacher, she preaches mindfulness ideas of focusing your mind, embracing the beauty around you, and finding the moments of...
Aug 01, 2023•4 min•Ep. 4546
South London’s Yussef Dayes has made a name for himself as one of the most exciting jazz drummers and composers to emerge in recent years. Anticipation has been mounting for a full-length album from Dayes and we’ll finally see it come to fruition with his debut solo album, Black Classical Music , out Sept. 8. Alongside the album’s announcement, Dayes shared this statement: “What is jazz? Where did the word derive from? Birthed in New Orleans, born in the belly of the Mississippi River, rooted in...
Jul 31, 2023•4 min•Ep. 4545
Love & Pain - “Deep Space (Soft Faith remix),” a 2023 self-released single. Seattle duo Love & Pain — Natalia Czajkiewicz and Brad Clifford — team up with New York City synth-pop duo Soft Faith for today's Song of the Day. The track commemorates the one year anniversary of the release of It Comes In Waves, their second full-length. As they write on Instagram , "Maybe it will make you dance or cry or do both at the same time." Read the full story at KEXP.org Support the show: https://www....
Jul 28, 2023•3 min•Ep. 4544
Code Industry - “Crimes Against The People” from the 2023 self-released album Structure . Formed in 1989 after changing their name from Code Assault, Code Industry were among the few Black artists in the EBM genre during that era. On Juneteenth 2023, they resissued their 1991 EP Structure with lyrics and liner notes by band member Pen Jackson aka E.N. Sevy. Their lyrics calling out racism and hypocrisy still ring true today. On today's Song of the Day, they deliver seething lyrics against an int...
Jul 27, 2023•5 min•Ep. 4543
Neu-Romancer - “Superposition” from the 2023 EP Neue Romantika on Fleisch. Neu-Romancer is the solo venture of Australian musician Laura Bailey, currently residing in Berlin, Germany. (She's also the bassist for VV & the Void, Ciern, and in the live line-up for Zanias.) Her debut EP Neue Romantika features four tracks of Italo-disco-infused coldwave. "Neue Romantika" translates to "New Romantics" in German, a nod to the '70s/'80s music genre that included bands like Orchestral Manoeuvres in ...
Jul 26, 2023•7 min•Ep. 4542
Carlo Onda - “Kette (feat. Blanche Biau)” from the 2023 self-released album EURO89 . Swiss darkwave artist Carlo Rainolter composes music as both Carlo Onda and Karl Kave. Both are synth-based, '80s-inspired projects influenced by post-punk and minimal wave. His latest album, Euro89 , is described as both "digital and organic," with today's Song of the Day featuring guest vocals and lyrics from Zurich-based artist Blanche Biau . Read the full story at KEXP.org Support the show: https://www.kexp....
Jul 25, 2023•4 min•Ep. 4541
Escuela de Aviación- “Escalera infinita” from the 2023 album Fabrica de uniformes on Flexidiscos Escuela de Aviación (translated to English: "Aviation School") is the solo project of Jerónimo Martín, formerly the drummer of the krautrock-inspired band Sei Still which relocated from Mexico City to Berlin, Germany. Still embracing the minimal synth sound of his previous band, Escuela de Aviación's latest LP, Fabrica de uniformes , is an introspective meditation on the world, set to an icy darkwave...
Jul 24, 2023•4 min•Ep. 4540
Roosevelt - "Luna," a 2023 single from Counter Records. Marius Lauber — the German-based producer who records as Roosevelt — shares a funky summertime groove for today's Song of the Day. The track definitely nods to his recent collaborations with artists like Nile Rodgers and Classixx. “'Luna' started as a jam with a bass line two years ago — it was laying on my hard drive already when doing my last album Polydans and it never really developed into a song," he explains in a press statement. "I’v...
Jul 20, 2023•4 min•Ep. 4538
Nina Kohout - "Little Butterfly," a 2023 single on Deadred Records. Slovakian artist Nina Kohout lands her second KEXP Song of the Day pick with this powerful synth-pop single. Having now graduated from the BRIT School in London, she has been playing live around Europe, with more dates planned for the Fall. "'Little Butterfly' is a song about those who do not understand what ‘no’ means, automatically mistaking it for the words of consent," she writes on her Bandcamp page, adding "'Little Butterf...
Jul 18, 2023•4 min•Ep. 4536
Pahua - "Porque Yo (feat. Eva de Marce)," a 2023 single from Nacional Records. As half of the duo Sotomayor, Mexico-based artist Pahua has a rich discography fusing Latin rhythms with electronic music. With her debut solo album, Habita , she spotlights collaborators from across Latin America, like Paz Court, La Perla, and on today's Song of the Day, Eva De Marce . "Well, one of my first interests with this album was to talk about the errancy, about the roots that are connecting us with the Latin...
Jul 17, 2023•3 min•Ep. 4535
Who Is She? - “Thursday,” a 2023 single from Father/Daughter Records Seattle supergroup Who Is She? — Robin Edwards (aka Lisa Prank ), Bree Mckenna ( Tacocat ), and Julia Shapiro ( Chastity Belt ) — have become even more super with the addition of Tacocat’s Emily Nokes. Their sophomore full-length, Goddess Energy , will be out August 25th via Father/Daughter Records, and was produced by Jenn Champion. With today's Song of the Day, the quartet add themselves to the list of bands who've written so...
Jul 14, 2023•3 min•Ep. 4534
The Southern University Jazz Ensemble - “Clean Air” from the 1973 album Goes To Africa With Love from Now-Again Records What was once an incredibly rare record is now re-issued, thanks to Eothen “Egon” Alapatt’s Now-Again Records label. Recorded in 1971, the student-performed album, The Southern University Jazz Ensemble 's Goes to Africa With Love, was originally given away as souvenirs at Southern University in Baton Rouge, LA. This reissue marks the first time it has been made available commer...
Jul 13, 2023•5 min•Ep. 4533
Girl Ray - “Everybody's Saying That” from the 2023 album Prestige on Moshi Moshi London trio Girl Ray turn the beat around on today's Song of the Day with a dance-inspired track produced by Ben H. Allen, who's previously worked with Animal Collective, Gnarls Barkley, and Cut Copy, to name a very few. “The lyrics on this single were inspired by the straight-to-the-heart simplicity of the disco greats," vocalist/guitarist Poppy Hankin shared in a press release. "I wrote it while missing my partner...
Jul 12, 2023•3 min•Ep. 4532
Fishbone and NOFX - “Estranged Fruit,” a 2023 single from Bottles To The Ground. Today's Song of the Day commemorates the 30-year friendship between ska legends Fishbone and punk group NOFX . The single features NOFX's El Hefe on trumpet and Fat Mike on guest vocals. Fat Mike also produced the band's latest EP — their first new release in nearly a decade — and is releasing it via his new label Bottles to the Ground. “Fishbone is the one band I’ve always wanted to produce ever since NOFX toured w...
Jul 11, 2023•4 min•Ep. 4531
L'Rain - “New Years UnResolution,” a 2023 single from Mexican Summer Records. Brooklyn-based artist Taja Cheek — who records as L'Rain — reflects on a relationship in this atmospheric electronic track. The single was co-produced by Cheek's longtime collaborators Andrew Lappin and Ben Chapoteau-Katz, and marks her first new music since her outstanding 2021 full-length Fatigue . “The words of this song were written at different periods of time to give a sense of what it’s like to think through the...
Jul 10, 2023•5 min•Ep. 4530
Ollella - "Head in the Clouds" from the 2023 self-released album Back Back Back Seattle musician Ellie Barber has trained as a classical cellist since the age of nine. She integrates these studies into her project Ollella (pronounced oh-lel-uh ), crafting a jazzy, folktronica style that calls to mind Beth Orton. “As someone who grew up playing classical cello but listening to indie music, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what direction I want to take my music as a new solo artist," she te...
Jul 07, 2023•3 min•Ep. 4529
RVG - "Squid" from the 2023 album Brain Worms from Fire Records Travel back in time with Melbourne-quartet RVG on today's Song of the Day. “'Squid' is a song about going back in time and stepping on a Tiktaalik and then going back to the present but you have the same job, the same problems you had before except you’re a squid,” vocalist Romy Vager explained to Rolling Stone Australia . “We jammed it on a whim and it ended up coming out really well. I left a large chunk of the lyrics till the las...
Jul 06, 2023•5 min•Ep. 4528
Yeule - "sulky baby" a 2023 single from Ninja Tune For today's Song of the Day, Singapore-born, London-based artist Yeule turns to the pages of their journals, or "scars," as they call their collection of writings. They describe the track as "a conversation with a younger version of themselves." "'sulky baby' was like a 2000s alt-rock shoegaze hybrid tinted in sad satire," they share in a press statement. "I felt like I was talking to a younger version of me, stopping her from crying, looking ba...
Jul 05, 2023•5 min•Ep. 4527
Kara Jackson - "pawnshop" from the 2023 album Why Does The Earth Give People To Love? from September Recordings. As the 2019 National Youth Poet Laureate, Chicago-based singer/songwriter Kara Jackson has a demonstrated command of words, showcased on her debut full-length album, Why Does The Earth Give Us People To Love? . “There’s so many words on this project," Kara says via a press statement, "it’s important for me that people know I can write things, maybe in ways they aren’t used to seeing.”...
Jul 04, 2023•3 min•Ep. 4526
Blondes - "Beautiful World" from the 2023 EP In Separation from Lab Records. For today's Song of the Day, Nottingham-based quartet Blondes share an early listen to their forthcoming EP, titled In Separation , with the dreamy pop track "Beautiful World." "'Beautiful World' feels like our first proper pop song," shares guitarist Alex Davison. "It’s my favourite that we’ve written so far. It’s about our relationship with our environment and each other. We wrote it to speak not just for ourselves bu...
Jul 03, 2023•4 min•Ep. 4525
