Black Belt Eagle Scout - Don't Give Up from the 2023 album The Land, The Water, The Sky on Saddle Creek. Three years after the release of her sophomore record At the Party Wtih My Brown Friends , Katherine Paul unveiled the new Black Belt Eagle Scout single "Don't Give Up." The song is a dreamy, emotive gift to her Indigenous Swinomish, WA community, where over a melancholic guitar melody she hushedly touches on mental health awareness and the importance of connection to the land in the healing ...
Jan 26, 2023•5 min•Ep 4413•Transcript available on Metacast Genesis Owusu – “Get Inspired,” a 2022 single on Ourness With his 2021 debut LP Smiling with No Teeth , Ghanaian-Australian artist Genesis Owusu swept the ARIA Music Awards (like the Australian Grammys) landing Album of the Year, Best Hip Hop Release, Best Independent Release, and even Best Cover Art. As we await another full-length, Owusu has shared some stand-alone singles, including today's Song of the Day, which brings a fun new wave-feel to his lightning-quick raps. The track is accompanied...
Jan 25, 2023•3 min•Ep 4412•Transcript available on Metacast Gladie - "Heaven, Someday" from the 2022 album Don’t Know What You’re in Until You’re Out on Plum Records Recorded in early 2022, Philadelphia band Gladie chose an appropriate name for their second LP: Don’t Know What You’re in Until You’re Out . The thoughtful title covers more than just the pandemic. As frontwoman Augusta Koch explained to Flood magazine , "We decided to name the record this because it deals a lot with the theme of shifting into a new mindset, and with that change you can obje...
Jan 24, 2023•3 min•Ep 4411•Transcript available on Metacast Deerhoof - My Lovely Cat! from the 2023 album Miracle-Level on Joyful Noise. Bay Area-based noise-pop group Deerhoof may not be savvy on internet-memes, but they did dedicate today's Song of the Day to the online feline sensation Lil Bub, and had the song produced by Mike Bridavsky, Lil Bub's owner. As the band explain in a press statement: If you were going to compose a song about a cute cat from the internet, then get it recorded and mixed and mastered by an outside producer known not only for...
Jan 23, 2023•4 min•Ep 4410•Transcript available on Metacast Quasi - Doomscrollers from the 2023 album Breaking the Balls of History on Sub Pop. "Doomscrollers" is a new single from the indie rock duo Quasi , the project of former partners Sam Coomes and Janet Weiss, off their upcoming album Breaking The Balls Of History which is set to be released in February and is their first full-length in a decade. The song is a commentary on the modern phenomenon of doomscrolling, where people compulsively consume negative news and social media, leading to feelings ...
Jan 20, 2023•4 min•Ep 4409•Transcript available on Metacast Death Valley Girls - What Are the Odds from the 2023 album Islands in the Sky on Suicide Squeeze. Los Angeles-based garage rockers Death Valley Girls are releasing their fifth record Islands in the Sky on February 24th via Suicide Squeeze. The follow-up to 2020’s Under the Spell Of Joy was recorded in a cabin in the California woods in early 2022 following a “mysterious illness” that left frontwoman Bonnie Bloomgarden bedridden from November 2020 to March 2021 which inspired much of the record. ...
Jan 19, 2023•3 min•Ep 4408•Transcript available on Metacast Moriah Bailey - "The Ocean Life" from the 2022 album i tried words on Keeled Scales. "i was hoping on the ocean life to pull through / turns out i’ll have to say goodbye real soon." On her sophomore full-length, i tried words, harpist/vocalist Moriah Bailey reflects on the end of a relationship, and the definitions and expectations of "femininity" that can play into not only romantic relationships, but friendships, jobs, or family. Not only is this reflected in her words, but also on the expande...
Jan 18, 2023•4 min•Ep 4407•Transcript available on Metacast Fan Girl - "react (react)" a 2022 self-released single. Australian quintet Fan Girl closed out 2022 with a bang, releasing their latest single "react (react)," a boisterous high-energy piece of early 2000's-influenced pop-punk. “We wrote this song during a particularly wintry week in our studio in Brunswick, Melbourne, channeling the energy and excitement of playing shows,” they told Australian website Pile Rats . You can witness that excitement in the song's accompanying video, filmed at one of...
Jan 17, 2023•2 min•Ep 4406•Transcript available on Metacast Dave Okumu & The 7 Generations - "Blood Ah Go Run (feat. Wesley Joseph & ESKA)" from the 2023 album I Came From Love on Transgressive. Mercury Prize-nominated artist Dave Okumu returns with his new project, Dave Okumu & The 7 Generations , a name he says honors "my actual ancestors, the ancestors of others, my musical ancestors, and my descendants." Their debut album, I Came From Love , will be released April 14th via Transgressive Records. In a press statement, the UK-based guitaris...
Jan 16, 2023•4 min•Ep 4405•Transcript available on Metacast Caleb Kunle - All In Your Head a 2022 single on Pony Recordings. While Caleb Kunle may only have a handful of EPs and singles under his belt, the soul-pop artist has been making a splash in the UK since the release of his debut EP Eden in 2017 which landed him the prize of Emerging Artist of the Year 2017 from Thatchers Haze x NME. Born in Lagos, Nigeria, Kunle immigrated to the Irish countryside of Laios at eight years old where his love of music was fostered through church choir and playing gu...
Jan 13, 2023•3 min•Ep 4404•Transcript available on Metacast Queralt Lahoz - "Blade," a 2022 single on Costa Futuro/Say It Loud. Queralt Lahoz is a rising star from Spain who has captivated audiences with her powerful live performances over the past handful of years. Ahead of not only her Eurosonic slot, but also her first stints at SXSW in Austin, Texas, she released the song “Blade.” Her most powerful, pop-centric track yet, the song sees her both sing and rap with equal dexterity about mystical forces at work. Vampires are no match for the katana she w...
Jan 12, 2023•3 min•Ep 4403•Transcript available on Metacast BILBAO - "Get Up!" from the 2022 album Shake Well on [PIAS]. Like the beautiful city in Spain where they derived their band name, Bilbao create sunny, summery songs, showcased on their debut LP Shake Well . It's hard to believe then that the quartet themselves actually hail from Germany. "There is the 'Bilbao' song by Yves Montand, a chanson that my parents used to play," bassist Jannes Eschrich shares about their moniker . "He tells of the place of longing Bilbao. Our band should also be a plac...
Jan 11, 2023•3 min•Ep 4402•Transcript available on Metacast Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jan 10, 2023•5 min•Ep 4401•Transcript available on Metacast OSKA - "Starstruck" from the 2022 album My world, My love, Paris on Nettwerk Music Group. Though paying tribute to the City of Lights on her debut album My world, My love, Paris , singer/songwriter OSKA (real name: Maria Burger) was born in a small village in Lower Austria, the youngest of eight kids. She moved to Vienna at the age of 18 to study music, busking on the streets, and sharing her debut EP, Honeymoon Phase , in 2020. The five-song release won her the XA Music Export Award at Waves Vi...
Jan 09, 2023•3 min•Ep 4400•Transcript available on Metacast Jarv Dee & WD4D - “Lets Work,” a 2022 single on MOOR LIFE. Today’s Song of the Day is a Seattle-centric bop that sees rapper Jarv Dee hook up with producer WD4D for a buoyant banger about the stressful nature of the “work hard, play hard” lifestyle. While the track is light and airy, Jarv Dee clearly isn’t. “Sometimes I wanna take a vacation just to clear my head and get my money right,” he exasperates on the hook while a scorching beat evokes the feeling of a summer evening with zero concer...
Jan 06, 2023•3 min•Ep 4399•Transcript available on Metacast Blinky Bill, M.anifest, Khaligraph Jones - “Inaweza Haiwezi,” a 2022 single on Rauka Music Ltd. You may know celebrated Kenyan producer/DJ Bill Sellanga, aka Blinky Bill , is one-fourth of the electronic collective Just A Band and has produced songs for notable names like Nneka, Goldlink, and Sampa The Great. The OneBeat Alum and TED Fellow is on the verge of releasing his anticipated sophomore record We Cut Keys 2 , which follows 2018’s Everyone’s Just Winging It and Other Fly Tales. Our Song o...
Jan 05, 2023•3 min•Ep 4398•Transcript available on Metacast Ukhoikhoi - “Abathembu” from the 2022 Nongqawuse EP on Next Movement More than just a musical duo, uKhoiKhoi call themselves a "a live looping, musical performance art showpiece." Hailing from Johannesburg, South Africa, the group is comprised of musician/composer Yogin Sullaphen and vocalist Anelisa Stuurman. Their band name pays tribute to their shared KhoiSan heritage, an indigenous tribe said to be the first inhabitants of southern Africa. By combining operatic elements with chanting and poe...
Jan 04, 2023•3 min•Ep 4397•Transcript available on Metacast Little Simz - “Angel” from the 2022 album NO THANK YOU on Forever Living Originals. With her latest single "Angel," London-based artist Little Simz continues to pay tribute to her friend Harry Uzoka, who was murdered in 2018. "Harry listenin’ from Heaven on repeat/ He was backin’ it when nobody believed" She previously wrote about Uzoka with her 2019 song "Wounds" off the album GREY Area . As she told The Guardian at the time, "“I remember waking up, Googling, trying to find out as many details ...
Jan 03, 2023•6 min•Ep 4396•Transcript available on Metacast Contour – “Hearing Voices” from the 2022 album Onwards! on Touching Bass Limited. Recording under the name Contour , Khari Lucas combines tradition and technology into his sophomore full-length Onwards!, using both archival material and atmospheric production to weave together influences of jazz, soul, psych, and hip-hop. In a press statement, he offers, "The record exists as a bridge in conversation between today’s artists and art of the past which offered potential ways to navigate the world t...
Jan 02, 2023•2 min•Ep 4395•Transcript available on Metacast Stas THEE Boss is no stranger to KEXP. The former host of our station’s beloved weekly hip-hop show, Street Sounds, Stas has been a fixture of Seattle since she emerged as part of the duo THEE Satisfaction. Though Stas has since moved away, her sound, influence, and ingenuity can still be felt reverberating in Seattle. The rapper and producer has been busy dropping singles the past couple of years following 2020’s immaculate On the Quarner . “Don’t Crash” finds Stas steeped in deep house, captur...
Dec 30, 2022•3 min•Ep 4394•Transcript available on Metacast Nick Hakim - “Vertigo” from the 2022 album COMETA on ATO / PIAS. Nick Hakim has been making amorphous psych-soul since 2014 that hones in on his gorgeous buttery smooth croons. Just since 2020, he’s released three projects, 2020’s WIl This Make Me Good , a collaborative record with jazz saxophonist Roy Nathanson, Small Things , in 2021, and, most recently, the intimately stunning COMETA . Featuring appearances by Alex G, Helado Negro, Arto Lindsay, and DJ Dahl, with co-production from indie’s go...
Dec 29, 2022•4 min•Ep 4393•Transcript available on Metacast Dina Ögon - "Oas," a 2022 single on Playground Music Scandinavia. Stockholm-based songwriter Dina Ögon captures the warmth of Laurel Canyon with her immaculate, soothing arrangements, and pristine vocals. After releasing her self-titled debut album in 2021, Ögon teases more of what’s to come with new single titled “Oas.” The title track from her forthcoming sophomore album on Feb. 3, 2023, the song is a breezy exhale as we reach the end of the year. Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donate ...
Dec 28, 2022•3 min•Ep 4392•Transcript available on Metacast SHIRT - "Dave Chappelle Is Wrong (Beef With God)" from the 2022 album I Turned Myself into Myself on Mello Music Group. Queens-based artist Shirt carries many titles – rapper, conceptual artist, experimentalist. These are all titles that are easy to call yourself and harder to live up to. Shirt, of course, rises to the occasion. On his Bandcamp page he describes his latest album, I Turned Myself Into Myself , as “an album that understands that the devil’s greatest trick is mobilizing our collect...
Dec 27, 2022•3 min•Ep 4391•Transcript available on Metacast SAULT - "Money" from the 2022 album Today & Tomorrow on Forever Living Originals. Ever-mysterious and always reliably great, SAULT capped off 2022 by dropping five albums simultaneously on Nov. 11. “Money” is a raucous standout from one of those album, Today & Tomorrow . While the whole album digs into the grittier side of the anonymous collective’s work, “Money” is the band at their most distorted and tenacious. It’s a punk rock squall to getting your due – mainly cold hard cash. Suppor...
Dec 26, 2022•3 min•Ep 4390•Transcript available on Metacast Zahara Elan - “Dear Santa…(NAUGHTY),” a 2022 self-released single. This week, we are continuing a long-held tradition of featuring Christmas-themed songs selected by Brian Foss , host of KEXP’s punk show Sonic Reducer . He will be hosting his 18th annual Punk Rock Xmess on Saturday, December 24th from 9pm -12am and then jump back on the mic Christmas day from noon - 9pm for his no standards, non-traditional Christmas broadcast, including a special holiday edition of Sunday Soul. Zahara Elan is a...
Dec 23, 2022•4 min•Ep 4389•Transcript available on Metacast We Are The Union - “Yr Always Alone (On Christmas)” from the 2022 album I Surrender Sleighs on I Surrender Records. This week, we are continuing a long-held tradition of featuring Christmas-themed songs selected by Brian Foss , host of KEXP’s punk show Sonic Reducer . He will be hosting his 18th annual Punk Rock Xmess on Saturday, December 24th from 9pm -12am and then jump back on the mic Christmas day from noon - 9pm for his no standards, non-traditional Christmas broadcast, including a special...
Dec 22, 2022•3 min•Ep 4388•Transcript available on Metacast BumbleWasps - "Ill Be at Work for Christmas" from the 2021 self-released album F U Xmas. UK-based BumbleWasps describe themselves as “cute like a bee, scary like a wasp.” It’s an apt description for the project with its bubbly aesthetics and biting lyricism. No more is that better exemplified with their yearly Christmas music, especially last year’s F U Christmas. Stand out track “I’ll Be At Work for Christmas” captures the dismal capitalist nightmare of working on the holidays. While you’re sma...
Dec 21, 2022•3 min•Ep 4387•Transcript available on Metacast Bat Hearse - “Coffin for Christmas,” a 2021 self-released single. This week, we are continuing a long-held tradition of featuring Christmas-themed songs selected by Brian Foss , host of KEXP’s punk show Sonic Reducer . He will be hosting his 18th annual Punk Rock Xmess on Saturday, December 24th from 9pm -12am and then jump back on the mic Christmas day from noon - 9pm for his no standards, non-traditional Christmas broadcast, including a special holiday edition of Sunday Soul. Detroit-based Got...
Dec 20, 2022•4 min•Ep 4386•Transcript available on Metacast James Kochalka Superstar – “Christmas Muffin,” a 2017 self-released single. This week, we are continuing a long-held tradition of featuring Christmas-themed songs selected by Brian Foss , host of KEXP’s punk show Sonic Reducer . He will be hosting his 18th annual Punk Rock Xmess on Saturday, December 24th from 9pm -12am and then jump back on the mic Christmas day from noon - 9pm for his no standards, non-traditional Christmas broadcast, including a special holiday edition of Sunday Soul. James K...
Dec 19, 2022•52 sec•Ep 4385•Transcript available on Metacast Kennebec - Tall Tales (feat. Hemlock Ernst and Sudan Archives) from the 2022 album Without Star or Compass on Night Time Stories. While Eric Phillips has only been releasing cinematic instrumental soundscapes under the name Kennebec since 2020, his enchanting works have garnered attention and led to a number of incredible collaborations. Our Song of the Day, “Tall Tales,” sees the Portland-based artist team up with Samuel T. Herring of Future Islands under his rap moniker Hemlock Ernst and Britt...
Dec 16, 2022•3 min•Ep 4384•Transcript available on Metacast 
