Rahill - "I Smile for E" from the 2023 album Flowers At Your Feet on Big Dada. With today's Song of the Day, Iranian-American artist Rahill shares a sneak peek at her forthcoming debut album, Flowers At Your Feet , out May 12th via Ninja Tune imprint Big Dada. The track is a tribute to her late Aunt Elaheh. As Rahill writes on Instagram, "The rock of my fathers family. A beloved mother, daughter, sister, and wife. I wrote this song to celebrate and honor her, because the love shared and connecti...
Mar 08, 2023•3 min•Ep 4442•Transcript available on Metacast Nappy Nina - "Prayer Posture (feat. JusMoni)" from the 2023 album Mourning Due on LucidHaus. On her latest LP Mourning Due , Nappy Nina , as she puts it , "considers grief a currency and questions who is owed what." The Oakland-born/Brooklyn-based artist delivers vulnerable lyrics in her distinctive rapid-fire style, like a conversation with a friend who's had too many cups of coffee. Mourning Due features a plethora of guests, including Moor Mother, Mavi, lojii, maassai, Cavalier, Stas Thee Bos...
Mar 07, 2023•2 min•Ep 4441•Transcript available on Metacast Lavarr the Starr & Shabazz Palaces - "Glass Top Roof (The One)" from the 2023 album Illusions Ago on Glass Cane Records. Like many of Ishmael Butler 's projects, this collaboration between Lavarr the Starr & Shabazz Palaces is shrouded in mystery. Their Bandcamp tells us they're based in Lagos, Nigeria, and that today's Song of the Day features "Lavarr sings of blissing, riding around with 🧁 sun roof peeled tunes floating cuz Love Ain't Dead." Luxuriate in a backyard hang with the track...
Mar 06, 2023•3 min•Ep 4440•Transcript available on Metacast Zari Alexandria - (Gotta Get) Over You from the 2022 self-released Congratulations, I'm Angry EP. 19-year-old Zari Alexandria has been honing her vocal abilities since childhood, performing in choir and musical theater and delving into songwriting at fourteen. After spending the past five years sharpening her skills and finding her sound, she released her debut EP Congratulations, I’m Angry in 2021. Made up of six tracks of emotionally-charged R&B/pop tracks, it’s an excellent introduction t...
Mar 03, 2023•4 min•Ep 4439•Transcript available on Metacast Yves Tumor - Echolalia from the 2023 album Praise A Lord Who Chews But Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds) on Warp. Genre-bending visionary Yves Tumor is set to release their fourth full-length Praise A Lord Who Chews But Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds) on March 17th and the anticipation couldn’t be higher. After breaking through in a big way with their acclaimed 2020 record Heaven To A Tortured Mind , Tumor has been proving their rock god excellence t...
Mar 02, 2023•3 min•Ep 4438•Transcript available on Metacast Petite Noir - "Simple Things (feat. Theo Croker)" from the 2023 album MotherFather on Roya. Petite Noir (real name: Yannick Ilunga) shares a message of empowerment on today's Song of the Day. “’Simple Things’ is about taking back your power,” the Congolese artist states in a press release. “It’s a song for the people, to embrace harmony, reject division, and recognise that freedom comes from within.” The track features trumpet from Grammy-nominated, Floridian jazz musician Theo Croker, and will ...
Mar 01, 2023•3 min•Ep 4437•Transcript available on Metacast M83 - "Amnesia" from the 2023 album Fantasy on Mute. Earlier this month, M83 shared six songs from their forthcoming ninth LP Fantasy , due out March 17th via Mute. In a press release, primary songwriter/frontman Anthony Gonzalez claims it'll be his most intimate release yet. "I wanted to be more present lyrically and vocally even if that was daunting at first. I thought if I could achieve that, this album will be more personal than those that came before.” He adds, “I wanted this record to be v...
Feb 28, 2023•4 min•Ep 4436•Transcript available on Metacast June McDoom - "On My Way" from the 2022 June McDoom EP on Temporary Residence Ltd. Singer/songwriter June McDoom taps into her family history for her music: her parents relocated from Jamaica to New York City in the 1970s. As an adult, she began listening to folk artists from that era, like Joan Baez and Judee Sill, vintage soul from The Delfonics and The Supremes, and reggae artists her family listened to, like Alton Ellis and Phyllis Dillo. On her self-titled debut EP, she infuses these influe...
Feb 27, 2023•4 min•Ep 4435•Transcript available on Metacast Pilot Seat - Spinning Circles a 2022 self-released single. The Shoreline, WA-based band Pilot Seat only just started playing together in 2021 and released their first three singles in 2022 but have already made a name for themselves locally with a strong legion of loyal fans huddled closely to the stages they’ve played. The video for their second single “A Place Like Nowhere Else” has already racked up 2.7k views in the five months since its release which is nothing to scoff at for a band just a...
Feb 24, 2023•3 min•Ep 4434•Transcript available on Metacast Spirit Award - Pushing Forward from the 2023 album The Fear on Share It Music. Seattle’s Spirit Award , the project of Daniel Lyon and currently with Chris Jordan of Sunny Day Real Estate on bass, has been fine-tuning his brand of doom-filled psychedelic indie for over seven years now, with his upcoming fourth studio album The Fear destined to be one of his best. While they may only have one single out, it’s an incredibly strong one and shows that Spirit Award are only getting better. “Pushing F...
Feb 23, 2023•4 min•Ep 4433•Transcript available on Metacast Thrillhouse - "Fatal Flaw," a 2022 self-released single. Brighton duo Thrillhouse channel the '80s (Echo & the Bunnymen, in particular) on their latest single, "Fatal Flaw." ("Hopefully it’s not toooo similar. Eek," they joked to Analogue Trash .) "We’ve never really settled on a sound," they continued. "Will probably be the cause of our eventual demise down the road. But it’s nice to write different types of songs otherwise the whole thing gets a bit stale, I think." With today's Song of the...
Feb 22, 2023•4 min•Ep 4432•Transcript available on Metacast Screaming Females - "Brass Bell" from the 2023 album Desire Pathway on Don Giovanni Jersey trio Screaming Females continue to pave their own punk-rock path on their latest LP Desire Pathway , out now via Don Giovanni Records. Vocalist/guitarist Marissa Paternoster speaks to the album title, sharing, "Maybe there was one in your neighborhood growing up, a corner where everyone decided it took too long to go around, so they made their own pathway to cut through. There’s this cool unsaid group cons...
Feb 21, 2023•4 min•Ep 4431•Transcript available on Metacast Eyelids - "Colossal Waste of Light" from the 2023 album A Colossal Waste of Light on Jealous Butcher. Portland supergroup Eyelids have gotten even more powerful on their fourth LP, A Colossal Waste of Light , which will be released on March 10 via Jealous Butcher Records. Songwriters John Moen (of The Decemberists) and Chris Slusarenko (formerly of Guided by Voices) are now joined by Victor Krummenacher (of Camper Van Beethoven) alongside existing members Jonathan Drews (guitar) and Paulie Pulvi...
Feb 20, 2023•3 min•Ep 4430•Transcript available on Metacast King Zaae - Someplace Somewhere a 2022 self-released single. Seattle-based artist King Zaae may be young at only 17 but he already has a widespread discography of genre-fluid sounds in the six years he’s been making music when he started fiddling with making music on his iPhone at eleven years old. Since 2021, though, his music has really started to take shape, refining his production techniques for a fully formed yet ever-changing musical identity. His earlier mixtapes like I Hate This Town and...
Feb 17, 2023•4 min•Ep 4429•Transcript available on Metacast Oddisee - Try Again from the 2023 album To What End on Outer Note Label. In January, rapper/producer Oddisee dropped his twelfth studio album, To What End , which explores human ambition, posing the question: “How far are you willing to go, and why?” This idea is expressed in our Song of the Day and early single “Try Again.” Backed by a funky groove, the DC-based emcee waxes about growing from the trials and tribulations he previously endured. "Couple wins, couple L’s / Took a hit but I prevaile...
Feb 16, 2023•3 min•Ep 4428•Transcript available on Metacast Adrian Younge & Ali Shaheed Muhammad - "Fire In Detroit", a 2023 single on Jazz Is Dead. Launched in 2020, the Jazz is Dead series is an ongoing series from producers Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad , aiming to elevate some legends of the genre with original collaborations. For the latest edition, the guys team up with trombonist Phil Ranelin and saxophonist Wendell Harrison , founders of the '70s Detroit-based label and collective, Tribe Records. Tribe Records was more than just an i...
Feb 15, 2023•5 min•Ep 4427•Transcript available on Metacast Ivy Sole - "Don't Hide (feat. Kingsley Ibeneche)" a 2023 single on Ivy Sole LLC / Venice Music Candid , the latest album from Philly-based Pan-Africanist artist Ivy Sole , is presented as triptych, inspired by her parents' love story and how it shaped her own views on relationships. As she told Metal Magazine , "How the story unfolds in this album is not identical to how it transpired in the lives of my parents, or even in my life, but this much is true – Candid helped me love myself and love my...
Feb 14, 2023•3 min•Ep 4426•Transcript available on Metacast C.S. Armstrong - "MA EMILY (feat. Rapsody)" from the 2022 self-released album THE MAKINGS OF ME . During the three years of lockdown, Houston, Texas-based artist C.S. Armstrong didn't release any original music. But the period gave him time to reflect. "The pandemic allowed me to sit with myself" he continues. "God told me to began producing, with not much knowledge I started to learn how to produce. I used God and my ears, I followed both until I reached this project that I’m so happy to finall...
Feb 13, 2023•3 min•Ep 4425•Transcript available on Metacast Fight Milk - ICU from the 2022 self-released Fight Milk EP. Fight Milk is the project of Redmond, Washington-based project of Jackson Leavitt, who has been releasing singles and EPs since 2019 under the name. Influenced highly by campy ‘80’s new wave bands like Devo, Fight Milk’s shows are a multi-disciplinary audiovisual experience made to entertain. Our Song of the Day, “ICU,” comes off of 2022’s self-titled EP and is a high-energy bop led by tapping synth rhythms and a scorching guitar melody...
Feb 10, 2023•2 min•Ep 4424•Transcript available on Metacast Avalanche Kaito - Dabalomuni from the 2022 Dabalomuni EP on Glitterbeat Records. Avalanche Kaito is as their name suggests, an avalanche of disparate sounds, ideas, and ancestral odes. Made up of Burkinabe griot singer and multi-instrumentalist Kaito Winse and Brussels noise punk musicians Benjamin Chaval (drums, electronics) and Nico Glitter (guitar), the trio fuse West African oral traditions with pummeling post-punk for a sound so unique it defies categorization. Our Song of the Day, “Dabalom...
Feb 09, 2023•5 min•Ep 4423•Transcript available on Metacast Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Feb 08, 2023•5 min•Ep 4422•Transcript available on Metacast Tautumeitas - "Spodrē Manu Augumiņu" from the 2022 self-released album Skrejceļš . Latvian ensemble Tautumeitas take traditional folk songs and folklore from their homeland and update them with modern beats and production. Their latest album, Skrejceļš , was crafted with their long-time producer Reini Sējanus, as well as Swedish producer Povel Olsson. Today's Song of the Day is a celebration of the winter solstice, as captured in the accompanying video, directed by Dārta Apsīte. The clip w...
Feb 07, 2023•3 min•Ep 4421•Transcript available on Metacast Jembaa Groove - "Bassa Bassa" from the 2022 album Susuma on Agogo Records. The word “Jembaa” translates to “life,” and a "groove in life" is what Berlin-based Afro-Soul band Jembaa Groove aims to inspire with their music. Bassist/composer Yannick Nolting and vocalist/percussionist Eric Owusu happened to meet in late 2020 when they were each picking up their sons from kindergarten. Before too long, they'd assembled a seven-piece band to meld influences from traditional West African styles (like H...
Feb 06, 2023•5 min•Ep 4420•Transcript available on Metacast Noah Coinflip - Journey (feat. Porsche) from the 2022 self-released album God Is Love. Seattle-via-Alabama producer Noah Coinflip released his latest album God Is Love back in November. According to Bandcamp, the album is “an exploration of themes related to finding a transformative higher power through compassion and community” as well as “an exploration of the mystery behind the higher power” and “a prayer of surrender.” That’s expressed most clearly in our Song of the Day “Journey.” One of th...
Feb 03, 2023•7 min•Ep 4419•Transcript available on Metacast Christine and the Queens - la clairefontaine from the 2022 album Redcar les adorables étoiles (prologue) on Because Music. In November, Christine and the Queens dropped their latest album Redcar les adorables étoiles which also unveiled a new persona for frontperson Chris, Redcar (he/him). The record follows the 2020 EP La vita nuova and his sophomore album, Chris , released in September 2018. One of the lead singles and standout songs of Redcar les adorables étoiles is “la clairefontaine,” a me...
Feb 02, 2023•3 min•Ep 4418•Transcript available on Metacast Fievel Is Glauque - "My Rebel" from the 2022 album Flaming Swords on MATH Interactive. Taking their name from a diss on a 1986 cartoon character, Belgium-based vocalist Ma Clément and NY producer/musician Zach Phillips comprise the duo that is Fievel Is Glauque . ("Fievel" is a mouse who stars in the animated An American Tail film series; the internet says "glauque" translates from French to "sinister, ominous, worrying.") The jazzy-pop of their 2021 debut cassette God’s Trashmen Sent To Right T...
Feb 01, 2023•2 min•Ep 4417•Transcript available on Metacast MIKE - Stop Worry! (feat. Sister Nancy) from the 2022 album Beware of the Monkey on 10k London-via-the-Bronx artist Michael Jordan Bonema (better known as MIKE to us) has recruited the legendary Sister Nancy to help out on today's Song of the Day. Sister Nancy is the first ever female dancehall DJ, and her repeated refrain to "wake up" helps elevate this laid-back, synthesizer-laden song. The track can be found on his latest full-length Beware of the Monkey, titled after some advice he found in ...
Jan 31, 2023•2 min•Ep 4416•Transcript available on Metacast A party in the Bronx on August 11th, 1973 is widely considered to be the birthplace of hip-hop. The art form has since touched every corner of our world and evolved into one of the most significant cultural forces today. This year, on hip-hop's 50th anniversary, we’re giving it a proper tribute. 50 Years of Hip-Hop is KEXP’s newest podcast. Hosted by Larry Mizell Jr, the series highlights a different year of rap history each week. Jumping around the timeline from 1973 to today, expect personal r...
Jan 30, 2023•2 min•Transcript available on Metacast Liv.e - "Wild Animals" from the 2023 album Girl In The Half Pearl on In Real Life Music. Psychedelic soulstress Liv.e returns with her sophomore full-length Girl in the Half Pearl , out February 10 via In Real Life. The Dallas-born, Los Angeles-based singer/producer found inspiration while experimenting with live performance at her residency last year at London's Laylow. Today's Song of the Day was co-written and produced with John Carroll Kirby and Solomonphonic, and is accompanied by a video d...
Jan 30, 2023•4 min•Ep 4415•Transcript available on Metacast Hibou - Night Fell from the 2023 self-released Arc EP. Hibou , the solo project of former Seattlite Peter Michel, dropped his first body of music in three years earlier this month. The five-song EP Arc builds upon the dreamy atmospherics that have been his signature since releasing his debut self-titled back in 2015. Now living in Paris, Michel was inspired by “an electric arc between things, or arc lightning” when titling his new EP. Our Song of the Day “Night Fell” is a shimmering, nostalgic b...
Jan 27, 2023•5 min•Ep 4414•Transcript available on Metacast 
