Lil Silva - Still (feat. Sampha & Ghetts) from the 2022 album Yesterday Is Heavy on Nowhere Music Ltd. It may have taken Lil Silva over a decade to finally drop his debut full-length, but he proved it was worth the wait. Since 2010, the UK producer has been winning over fans as a beatmaker who could bring emotion to the dancefloor. Eventually, Silva started to incorporate his airy vocals into his work, expanding his tapestry of sounds. Yesterday Is Heavy is not only a tapestry of sounds but ...
Sep 22, 2022•4 min•Ep 4323•Transcript available on Metacast Son Little - "6 AM," a 2022 single on ANTI-. Philadelphia-based R&B artist Son Little (real name: Aaron Livingston) found inspiration from acclaimed sci-fi author Octavia Butler for today's Song of the Day. “ Dawn is my favorite Octavia Butler book,” he said in a press release. “It’s also my favorite time of the day— the time I have my clearest most exciting ideas and also the time when I sometimes spiral into emotional/mental chaos. Wrote a song about it.” "6 AM" is available on his latest ...
Sep 21, 2022•4 min•Ep 4322•Transcript available on Metacast Mystic - "Here, Alive (Spirits High)" from the 2022 album Dreaming In Cursive: The Girl Who Loved Sparklers on Beautifull Soundworks. As KEXP's Gabriel Teodros says, "Every Mystic album is an event, and something to come back to for years and years." The long-running Bay Area-based artist/activist (real name: Mandolyn Wind Ludlum) returns with her third full-length Dreaming In Cursive: The Girl Who Loved Sparklers , another release of "healed Black woman music," as she puts it . Her debut full-l...
Sep 20, 2022•5 min•Ep 4321•Transcript available on Metacast Kingsley Ibeneche - "Asked For Light" from the 2022 album Udo on Dirty Deity. Nigerian-American artist Kingsley Ibeneche truly opens his heart on his debut album Udo , which was released last Friday. In a press statement, the full-length is described as an "emotional experience of an empathic person who stays bound to their kin sometimes to the detriment of themselves, but who refuses to give up the quest for elation, personal peace and self-actualization in the process." Today's Song of the Day...
Sep 19, 2022•4 min•Ep 4320•Transcript available on Metacast Nada Rosa - "The Process of Dying" from the 2020 Personas EP on OTHERWORLDS. Brandi Diaz is a Seattle-based musician and first-generation Cuban/Dominican American making intimate surf-tinged cosmic soul under the moniker Nada Rosa. The name takes inspiration from the concept of infinite potential (everything comes from nothingness/nada) as well as the name of her maternal Grandmother Rosa, who represents authenticity, power, and strength. Our Song of the Day “The Process of Dying” is a gentle st...
Sep 16, 2022•3 min•Ep 4319•Transcript available on Metacast Meridian Brothers - "Metamorfosis (feat. Grupo El Renacimiento)" from the 2022 album Meridian Brothers & El Grupo Renacimiento on Ansonia Records. For Eblis Álvarez, frontman and figurehead behind Bogotá band Meridian Brothers , the imaginary is a primary source of inspiration. His latest record, and 11th since the band’s inception in 1998, is a collaboration with a fictional band called Grupo El Renacimiento. Creating an entire backstory for the band, Álvarez claims them to be a 1970s salsa...
Sep 15, 2022•5 min•Ep 4318•Transcript available on Metacast Omar Apollo - "Archetype" from the 2022 album Ivory (Marfil) on Warner. This week's Songs of the Day were selected by KEXP DJs Albina Cabrera and DJ Chilly , hosts of El Sonido , in honor of Aquí y Ahora: Without Borders . Join KEXP September 12 through October 14 for a month dedicated to amplifying the contributions, resilience, and music of Latinx, Hispanic and Latino-identified communities worldwide. More info here . Only four months after releasing his debut album, IVORY , Mexican-American a...
Sep 14, 2022•3 min•Ep 4317•Transcript available on Metacast Mediopicky - "quien te llamo" from the 2022 album mediopicky on Salsa Fegol. This week's Songs of the Day were selected by KEXP DJs Albina Cabrera and DJ Chilly , hosts of El Sonido , in honor of Aquí y Ahora: Without Borders . Join KEXP September 12 through October 14 for a month dedicated to amplifying the contributions, resilience, and music of Latinx, Hispanic and Latino-identified communities worldwide. More info here . "I was borned, i learned to pruduce, and now you are dancing." This is ...
Sep 13, 2022•3 min•Ep 4316•Transcript available on Metacast Doris Anahí - "Aprendiendo por las Malas" from the 2022 Aprendiendo por las Malas EP on Casa Mija. This week's Songs of the Day were selected by KEXP DJs Albina Cabrera and DJ Chilly , hosts of El Sonido , in honor of Aquí y Ahora: Without Borders . Join KEXP September 12 through October 14 for a month dedicated to amplifying the contributions, resilience, and music of Latinx, Hispanic and Latino-identified communities worldwide. More info here . Doris Anahí Muñoz was a long-time music manager, ...
Sep 12, 2022•3 min•Ep 4315•Transcript available on Metacast Beverly Crusher - "Vacuum" from the 2022 album Waste of Waves on Freakout. Seattle punk rock band Beverly Crusher has been chipping away and threatening a full album for about three years and finally have come to the point they can share said forthcoming new album Waste of Waves , out on Freakout Records. Said Cozell Wilson (guitar and vocals) of their brand new LP, "We had so many set backs, development, and growth working on this album that all we can be is ecstatic that it finally printed in ...
Sep 09, 2022•3 min•Ep 4314•Transcript available on Metacast Manny Noir & Psychedelic Ensemble - "Where Were You…" from the 2022 album Nocturne on Everything Is Perfect / LIVE AT THE CLINIC. Southeast London emcee Manny Noir recently teamed up with producer Psychedelic Ensemble to release the collaborative record Nocturne in June. True to the album’s name, Nocturne is ten tracks of vibey downtempo hip hop perfect for the late hours of the evening. The combination of Manny Noir’s silky flows with Psychedelic Ensemble’s smooth, softly grooving productio...
Sep 08, 2022•3 min•Ep 4313•Transcript available on Metacast Meskerem Mees - "Best Friend," from the 2022 Caesar EP on Mayway. Born in Ethiopia and raised in Belgium (where she still resides today), 23-year-old artist Meskerem Mees displays a maturity beyond her years in her beautiful compositions. She's won the Emerging Artists Award from Humo's Rock Rally, the Music Moves Europe 2022 Grand Jury Prize, as well as the Montreux Jazz Talent Award in 2021. On today's Song of the Day, she calls to mind Courtney Barnett with her speedy talk-singing style, but ...
Sep 07, 2022•3 min•Ep 4312•Transcript available on Metacast S H I R A N - "Habibi Inta حبيبي انت" from the 2022 album Fadaytak on Batov. Tel Aviv-based artist S H I R A N (real name: Shiran Avraham) uses her music to explore her Middle Eastern roots, combining the influences with hip-hop, Afrobeats, and more. Her production partner Ron Bakal returns on this latest LP to help her carry these songs to new heights, in a style they call “Electro Hafla,” a reference to "the large “'hafla' get-togethers full of music and dancing, common at family gatherings an...
Sep 06, 2022•3 min•Ep 4311•Transcript available on Metacast Jitwam - "The Get Down" from the 2022 album Third on Roya Records. As KEXP's DJ Alex mentioned in 2018 when Jitwam contributed a Midnight in a Perfect World mix to us, " Jitwam is a bit of an enigma. He was born in Northeast India, he's currently based in Brooklyn, he spent his formative years in New Zealand and Australia, and has lived in monasteries in Thailand, orphanages in South Africa, and washed out apartments in London." On his third album — helpfully titled Third — Jitwam focuses on nig...
Sep 05, 2022•3 min•Ep 4310•Transcript available on Metacast Franklin Gothic - Mr. Hangman from the 2022 album Into the Light on #veryjazzed. Franklin Gothic is the solo project of Portland-based artist Jay DiBartolo. In August, he released his debut record Into the Light via split release with Very Jazzed ad Pleasure Tapes. Made in collaboration with producer/local luminary Erik Blood (Shabazz Palaces, Tacocat, Pickwick), the album covers a variety of genres including ‘90s indie, Americana, and shoegaze for a dynamic and colorful listen. Our Song of the ...
Sep 02, 2022•3 min•Ep 4309•Transcript available on Metacast Brijean - Take A Trip from the 2022 album Angelo on Ghostly International. Vocalist/percussionist Brijean Murphy and producer/multi-instrumentalist Doug Stuart have been making sweltering groovy soundscapes as Brijean since 2019 and recently followed up their 2021 full-length Feelings with the EP Angelo . Named after their 1981 Toyota Celica, Angelo was born out of a period of immense grief, in which the duo leaned heavily on each other and music as a way to cope. Our Song of the Day “Take a Tri...
Sep 01, 2022•3 min•Ep 4308•Transcript available on Metacast Flying Lotus - "You Don’t Know (feat. Devin Tracy)" from the 2022 album The Room on Warp Records. DJ/producer Flying Lotus teams up with soul singer Devin Tracy for today's Song of the Day, a laid back summer-y groove perfect for these final days of the season. FlyLo's been busy this year: he wrote the theme song to the AppleTV+ Magic Johnson documentary series, They Call Me Magic, and wrote the score for Netflix's YASUKE anime series. He's currently working on his second film, titled Ash. The f...
Aug 31, 2022•2 min•Ep 4307•Transcript available on Metacast Yaya Bey - "alright" from the 2022 album Remember Your North Star on Big Dada. On her latest LP, Remember Your North Star , Brooklyn-based artist Yaya Bey explores the themes of Black womanhood against a mix of R&B, jazz, reggae, and hip-hop. "I saw a tweet that said, "Black women have never seen healthy love or have been loved in a healthy way." That's a deep wound for us," she stated in a press release. "Then I started to think about our responses to that as Black women. So this album is k...
Aug 30, 2022•3 min•Ep 4306•Transcript available on Metacast Santigold - "High Priestess" from the 2022 album Spirituals on Little Jerk. Santigold returns with a vengeance for Spirituals , her first new full-length in six years. She explains in a press release, "I loved the idea of calling it Spirituals because it touched on the idea of Negro spirituals, which were songs that served the purpose of getting Black people through the un-get-throughable. In the absence of physical freedom, spirituals have traditionally been music whose sound and physical perfo...
Aug 29, 2022•3 min•Ep 4305•Transcript available on Metacast Slang - Chipped Tooth from the 2022 album Cockroach In A Ghost Town on Kill Rock Stars. In one of the most ultimate Northwest powergroup collaborations to come in recent history, Slang seemingly appeared out of nowhere. In fact, Drew Grow and Janet Weiss (the latter needing no introduction and Grow being a IYKYK frontman of Modern Kin and the Pastors’ Wives and in-demand producer) have been slowly working on Slang for over a decade. Bringing with them a bevy of notable names for their first reco...
Aug 26, 2022•3 min•Ep 4304•Transcript available on Metacast The Beths - Silence is Golden from the 2022 album Expert in a Dying Field on Carpark. New Zealand indie pop outfit The Beths are on the verge of dropping their highly anticipated third record Expert in a Dying Field on September 16th via Carpark Records. The follow-up to 2020’s Jump Rope Gazers sees the band delve into character sketches of relationships and their aftermaths, with an emphasis on the aftermath. Our Song of the Day is the single “Silence Is Golden.” Frontwoman Elizabeth Stokes spe...
Aug 25, 2022•3 min•Ep 4303•Transcript available on Metacast Momma - "Lucky" from the 2022 album Household Name on Polyvinyl. On today's Song of the Day, Brooklyn duo Momma aimed to write "a sappy and sentimental love song." The track is a stand-out on their latest LP Household Name , which is a powerhouse of '90s influences and grunge-y guitars. “I wrote it after my significant other and I had to spend an unknown amount of time apart from each other on opposite sides of the country,” guitarist/vocalist Etta Friedman said in a press statement. “I wanted i...
Aug 24, 2022•4 min•Ep 4302•Transcript available on Metacast NoSo - "David" from the 2022 album Stay Proud of Me on Partisan. Singer-songwriter Baek Hwong named their musical project NoSo (as in North/South) after being asked one too many times, "which Korea are you from?". The Los Angeles-based artist channels the frustrations stemming from their Asian American heritage into their songs, as well as their experience as a queer non-binary person. Today's Song of the Day taps into that feeling, inspired by a dream Hwong had where they were trapped in the bo...
Aug 23, 2022•3 min•Ep 4301•Transcript available on Metacast Ambar Lucid - "La Torre" from the 2022 album La Torre on 300 Entertainment. In tarot, the "Tower" card is said to represent sudden upheaval and unexpected change. Today's Song of the Day is based on this Major Arcana card, which the Dominican-Mexican artist Ambar Lucid told Flaunt “reflects the phase of life that I'm currently in the process of trying to transition from. A lot of these songs were written during my tower moment. This song is a sonic manifestation of childhood PTSD.” “Since I star...
Aug 22, 2022•3 min•Ep 4300•Transcript available on Metacast Smokey Brights - “Ocean Shores,” a 2022 single on Freakout. Husband-and-wife duo and KEXP regulars, Smokey Brights, have been steadily churning out singles since their third record, 2020’s I Love You But Damn . Released in the midst of the pandemic, the album was a bright spot amidst the bleakness of the world in which it was birthed and a sign of perseverance. Their latest single continues the Seattle band’s streak of sunshiney optimism. Named after the sleepy seaside Washington town, “Ocean Sh...
Aug 19, 2022•3 min•Ep 4299•Transcript available on Metacast Young Fathers - “Geronimo,” a 2022 single on Ninja Tune. Scottish genre-benders, Mercury Prize-winners, and KEXP favorites Young Fathers released their third record Cocoa Sugar in what feels like a lifetime ago, 2018. At long last, they finally returned with the single “Geronimo.” In a world where we’re still stretching our legs and feeling out how to get back into the swing of “real life,” the trio - made up of Alloysious Massaquoi, Kayus Bankole and ‘G’ Hastings - are doing the same. In their ...
Aug 18, 2022•4 min•Ep 4298•Transcript available on Metacast Beach Bunny - “Entropy” from the 2022 album Emotional Creature on Mom + Pop. From TikTok buzzband to their sophomore album Emotional Creature , Chicago-based band Beach Bunny have earned a devoted following, including producer Butch Vig and actor Bob Odenkirk, who even appears in one of their music videos. A huge part of their appeal is the confessional and, ultimately, relatable lyrics from frontwoman Lili Trifilio. On today's Song of the Day, she tells Stereogum , she took inspiration from the...
Aug 17, 2022•4 min•Ep 4297•Transcript available on Metacast Hermanos Gutiérrez - “El Bueno Y El Malo” from the 2022 album El Bueno Y El Malo on Easy Eye Sound Swiss-Ecuadorian siblings Estevan and Alejandro Gutiérrez bring their love of '50s Latin American music to their musical project Hermanos Gutiérrez . In fact, their forthcoming full-length, El Bueno Y El Malo , takes its name from the 1966 Spaghetti Western film The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly . with its iconic score by Ennio Morricone. “We think that everybody has a good side and a bad side,” Este...
Aug 16, 2022•3 min•Ep 4296•Transcript available on Metacast High Vis - “Blending” from the 2022 album Blending on Dais. London-based band High Vis has its roots in the UK hardcore scene, but evolved into a less-shout-y post-punk vibe on their 2019 debut LP, No Sense No Feeling , and now explore a more new wave vibe on their sophomore album, Blending , which comes out September 9th via Dais Records. The album's title track has a softer sound, reminiscent of The Cult or late-era Ride. In a press release, frontman Graham Sayle explains the song's meaning. “...
Aug 15, 2022•4 min•Ep 4295•Transcript available on Metacast Sango - "Tongue Tied (feat. asante)" from the 2022 album Great Lakes Influence on Wright Music Group. Beloved former-Seattlite Sango recently returned with the mixtape Great Lake Influence in June, two years after the release of SHANGO . Described by the sought-after beatmaker as “A homage to where I’m from,” the collection of songs sees Sango dip his toes in techno-house which is very of the moment, as we’ve seen Drake and Beyonce also delve into this realm with their recent releases. Our Song ...
Aug 12, 2022•7 min•Ep 4294•Transcript available on Metacast 
