A legal battle over the name "Lady A" has brought up questions around white privilege and racism in the music industry. Amid global protests against police brutality and systemic racism, the country group Lady Antebellum said they would change their name to Lady A. That’s because the word Antebellum, which in Latin translates to “before the war,’ is associated with the US Civil War and the Confederacy. However, there’s already a Lady A. She’s a Black blues singer ba...
Jul 21, 2020•21 min•Ep 77•Transcript available on Metacast Billboard announced this week that artists can no longer bundle album sales. Bundling is where an artist adds on, or “bundles” an album to a sale of a concert ticket or merch. For example, a fan would buy a ticket to a concert or an artist T-shirt and the artist adds in an album to that purchase. The idea was to game the billboard chart and count that sale of a ticket or sweatshirt as an album sale. The more album sales, the better your chances are of charting on billboar...
Jul 17, 2020•17 min•Ep 76•Transcript available on Metacast Seattle hip hop artist Draze released a single called " Building Black Wealth ." The message was simple—build Black wealth by buying from Black-owned businesses. Draze discusses the single and its message. To understand the landscape of being a Black business owner in Seattle, Arif Gursel of the workspace, The Union , as well as Frank Ulwenya, the owner of Rumba Notes Lounge , talk about their experiences. Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/sound/ See omnystudio.com/lis...
Jul 16, 2020•33 min•Ep 75•Transcript available on Metacast In light of the news that Kanye West said he would run for president, we talk with another musician who went into politics. It’s Martha Reeves of Motown’s Martha Reeves and the Vandellas who had the hits, “Heat Wave” and “Dancing in the Streets”. She talks about her time as a Detroit City Councilwoman as well as Motown’s sound and how it united people when racial tensions were high in America. Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/sound/ See omnys...
Jul 14, 2020•17 min•Ep 74•Transcript available on Metacast Independent music venues say they need help from the government or else they’ll have to close their doors completely. Guest Steven Severin is the co-owner of Neumos in Seattle, and is part of the Washington Nightlife Music Association (WANMA) and the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA). He discusses the state of independent music venues right now and how they are asking folks to get in contact with their congressmembers to pass the RESTART Act to help save venues and other small ...
Jul 09, 2020•14 min•Ep 73•Transcript available on Metacast Aisha Fukushima calls herself a RAPtivist. She says the mission of RAPtivism is to “challenge oppression with expression all around the globe.” About 10 years ago, Fukushima traveled to seven different countries as part of a fellowship program and recorded with musicians along the way. The final product ended up becoming her debut album, RAPtivism. Her latest single is called “Pandemic." Guest host Gabriel Teodros asks Fukushima about the lyric in the song, "th...
Jul 07, 2020•12 min•Ep 72•Transcript available on Metacast Khruangbin’s unique brand of psychedelic funk draws influences from their hometown of Houston, Texas, as well as from around the globe, starting with their appreciation of Thai funk tapes from the 60s. This has helped the band gain popularity with audiences across cultures who can all find elements in their music to relate to. Drummer Donald “DJ” Johnson and bassist Laura Lee discuss how they developed such diverse influences, singing in 16 different languages, and their ...
Jul 02, 2020•12 min•Ep 71•Transcript available on Metacast Jackie Shane, a Black transgender soul singer, gained prominence in the 1960s with her captivating stage presence and voice. Then, in 1971, she quit her career and faded from the public eye and into a reclusive life at home. New York Times writer Reggie Ugwu was able to track her down in 2017 and spoke to her on the phone from her home in Nashville. She passed away last year at the age of 78. Ugwu says many people see Jackie Shane as being way ahead of her time, but that she had alw...
Jun 30, 2020•10 min•Ep 70•Transcript available on Metacast Australia’s Gordi is out with a new album, ‘Our Two Skins.' It addresses her queer identity, something she didn't come to terms with until recently. Gordi was supposed to tour the album on a bill with Of Monsters and Men but the tour was cancelled due to COVID-19. Having just wrapped up her medical degree in January, Gordi says she’s on call to put her medical degree to work if COVID-19 cases in Australia start to spike. Gordi also discusses how the Bandcamp proceeds from her s...
Jun 26, 2020•19 min•Ep 69•Transcript available on Metacast Dua Saleh is a non-binary multidisciplinary artist from Minneapolis who released a single this month, “body cast,” in response to the murders of Black people at the hands of police. From their experience fleeing war and genocide in Sudan to the realities of institutional violence in the United States, Saleh expresses that there isn’t a place of safety for Black people. Saleh also discusses their new EP, ‘Rosetta,' named after “the godmother of Rock & Roll,&rdquo...
Jun 25, 2020•18 min•Ep 68•Transcript available on Metacast CHOP, or the Capitol Hill Occupied or Organized Protest, formerly known as CHAZ, has been in the headlines lately. On June 8th, Seattle Police officers boarded up the East Precinct on Capitol Hill after more than a week of sustained protests by residents following the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis. Since then, a police-free community has spread out to Seattle’s Cal Anderson Park and between Broadway and 12th on Pine. While there were two shootings there over the weekend ...
Jun 23, 2020•9 min•Ep 67•Transcript available on Metacast I Self Devine is a musician and community organizer from Minneapolis. In 2018 he released a collaborative album called 'Dismembered & Unarmed,’ meant to accompany the book, ‘My Grandmother’s Hands,’ by therapist and trauma specialist Resmaa Menakem. The book and music explore how white supremacy and racism affect Black bodies. “He would tell me things like race very rarely stays in the body. And I just couldn't grasp that concept,” I Self Devine says of Me...
Jun 19, 2020•11 min•Ep 66•Transcript available on Metacast Most people in Seattle know Nikkita Oliver from her historic mayoral run in 2017. She lost the primary election by less than 2,000 votes. But Oliver is also a musician, a poet, an attorney, and the co-director of an incredible organization called Creative Justice, which works with youth most affected by the school-to-prison pipeline. She’s also been an active organizer in Seattle’s protests and advancing the demands to defund and demilitarize the police. A few weeks ag...
Jun 18, 2020•18 min•Ep 65•Transcript available on Metacast Toki Wright is a musician, MC, producer, writer, radio DJ and community organizer from Minneapolis. He recently moved to Boston and is now chair of Berklee’s Professional Music Department. He’s been making music that addresses systemic racism, oppression and police violence for years. “I don’t sit around all day thinking about race,” Wright says. “I have a lot of things I really love to do. The problem is that race impacts all of them.” Wright tells the ...
Jun 16, 2020•35 min•Ep 64•Transcript available on Metacast The Grammy Awards, as well as Republic Records, have announced they will no longer use the term “urban” in their award categories and music departments. Writer Jeremy Helligar discusses this welcome shift in language as a first step. He wrote a column in Variety titled, Down with Urban: It’s Time to Stop Categorizing Music by Race . “How does ‘urban' equal Black?” Helligar says. “I think [the word] has been most harmful because it’s really corporat...
Jun 11, 2020•9 min•Ep 63•Transcript available on Metacast Today’s podcast is co-hosted by musician, community organizer and KEXP DJ, Gabriel Teodros. It celebrates the music of Black artists, some of whom are on the frontlines of the protests against police brutality, calling for long overdue systemic change. We hear from Minneapolis musician, Nikki Jean, who’s been volunteering as a medic during the Minneapolis protests. She recounts seeing police fire rubber bullets and more into medic tents. Teodros then shares some song...
Jun 09, 2020•27 min•Ep 62•Transcript available on Metacast Following the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police, Seattle has seen night after night of protests and KEXP DJs have responded by playing music by Black artists—music with a message. One of those DJs is Larry Mizell, Jr., host of Friday night’s "Street Sounds." He reflects on yet another death in the Black community, discusses the power of music to spread a message and shares the songs he turns to during these times. “I think there’s nothing older, more central to...
Jun 05, 2020•18 min•Ep 61•Transcript available on Metacast This month marks the 40th anniversary of the death of Joy Division frontman, Ian Curtis. In just two years, Joy Division recorded three albums worth of material and performed 120 shows. Curtis tragically died by suicide at the age of 23, the night before Joy Division's U.S. tour, leaving behind a wife and a child. Curtis had struggled with epilepsy and depression. KEXP DJ Kevin Cole says Joy Division pioneered the post punk genre. In today’s episode, he discusses Joy Division’s legac...
May 28, 2020•16 min•Ep 60•Transcript available on Metacast Seattle Filmmaker, Lynn Shelton died May 16th at the age of 54 from a previously undiagnosed blood disorder. Her breakout movie, 'Humpday' won an award at Sundance Film Festival. She also directed for TV on the shows 'Mad Men,' 'New Girl' and 'Fresh Off the Boat' among others. Even after national acclaim, Shelton stayed in Seattle. Tomo Nakayama is a Seattle musician who appeared in Shelton’s 2013 film 'Touchy Feely.' “Her images are so expressive and so distinctively Northwest. The ...
May 26, 2020•6 min•Ep 59•Transcript available on Metacast Moses Sumney is out with the second part of his album, ‘græ.' Sumney, a Ghanaian American, was born in Southern California but spent portions of his childhood in Ghana. He spent the early half of his career in Los Angeles before moving to quiet solitude in Asheville, North Carolina. With different experiences and lives lived across the world, he is not a product of any of these places, but instead a product of a space not bound by geography. Like Sumney, ‘græ' doesn&rsquo...
May 21, 2020•24 min•Ep 58•Transcript available on Metacast Thao & The Get Down Stay Down released their fifth full length album, ‘Temple,' on May 15th. Frontwoman Thao Nguyen talks about how her latest album is about coming out to her Vietnamese family and processing her family’s story of war. “It’s about the idea of existing as my full self and that full self is also acknowledging my heritage and who I come from and my culture,” Nguyen says. Nguyen’s family fled the Vietnam war and came to the US in the 70s. Thei...
May 19, 2020•25 min•Ep 57•Transcript available on Metacast Allen Stone is a soul singer and an actual son of a preacher. He started his music career in Seattle, but now with a wife and child in tow, he’s re-located to eastern Washington. His latest record, 'Building Balance,' was written in his family cabin in his tiny, one-stoplight hometown of Chewelah. KEXP caught up with Stone to talk about his karaoke music tour, having to cancel his album tour on his birthday due to COVID-19, how some of his songs have new meaning while under social isolatio...
May 14, 2020•15 min•Ep 56•Transcript available on Metacast Seattle’s 30-year-old Re-bar venue announced on May 9th that it will permanently close its location on Howell street in Seattle. The plans are to reopen in the fall of 2021 at a new space in South Seattle, where it’s more affordable. Re-bar owner, Dane Garfield Wilson says Re-bar has been at risk of closure because his building has been for sale for months. He’s also been having to pay $10,000 a month in rent and operation fees with no income for two months because of COVID-19....
May 12, 2020•33 min•Ep 55•Transcript available on Metacast Seattle’s Parisalexa is out with her first full-length album, '2 REAL.' She’s in her early 20s and is already cowriting songs for other artists in LA and has appeared in NBC’s songwriter show, ‘Songland.' Parisalexa reflects on the lessons she’s learned from the music industry, talks about staying genuine in her songwriting and on social media and about the representation and body positivity reflected in her songs, "Chocolate" and "Slimthick." “Hearing all the...
May 08, 2020•15 min•Ep 54•Transcript available on Metacast Rufus Wainwright was scheduled to release a new album on April 24th, but because of COVID-19, that album release has been moved to July. Part of the reason for the delay is that physical copies of the album couldn’t be pushed out in time. “All the hard copies, the vinyl and the CDs are all locked up in a warehouse,” Wainwright says. He also talks about his recent “Robe Recitals,” or “Quarantunes," where he performs songs from his repertoire for fans online dai...
May 07, 2020•14 min•Ep 53•Transcript available on Metacast The Library of Congress is launching a tool this summer that will make its massive audio collection of free to use and reuse works available to DJs, hip hop artists, and others to sample in their music for free. The project is called "Citizen DJ." It’s led by the Library of Congress’ “innovator in residence,” Brian Foo. Foo talks about how the project works and the music he’s already been able to make from the library’s archive. Attorney Damien Riehl and coder...
May 05, 2020•24 min•Ep 52•Transcript available on Metacast Damien Jurado released his 19th (!) album today, titled 'What’s New, Tomboy?' Jurado talks about his songwriting process. He describes songwriting as reading stories from a teleprompter– they just show up in front of him without him fully knowing what they're about. “I just answer the call of the songs that show up in my life,” Jurado says. Jurado also discusses how his struggles with addiction have led him to remove smartphones, computers and technology from his lif...
May 01, 2020•19 min•Ep 51•Transcript available on Metacast Seattle-based band, Deep Sea Diver has been getting creative with their weekly live stream performances on Instagram Live. Each week they give fans a “stem”—a drum beat or guitar riff to play with and create a song out of. The best songs get featured in Deep Sea Diver’s entertaining live stream sessions. Deep Sea Diver even used their own stems from the project to create their single, “Stop Pretending.” We also hear from a Seattle Opera tenor who is spending h...
Apr 30, 2020•46 min•Ep 50•Transcript available on Metacast Laura Marling has been releasing albums since she was 18. Now at the age of 30, she has released her seventh studio album, 'Song For Our Daughter.' Despite the title of the record, Marling admits she isn’t a mother herself. “The title, ‘Song for our Daughter,’ was clearly a figurative consideration about what it would be like to raise a daughter given the experience of being a woman that I’ve had and what culture is going through at the moment, this kind ...
Apr 28, 2020•19 min•Ep 49•Transcript available on Metacast Lido Pimienta is a Toronto-based, Colombian-born musician who won Canada’s biggest music prize, the Polaris Prize, in 2017. Her latest album, ‘Miss Colombia,' combines cumbia, reggaeton and latin folk with orchestral production and electronic beats. In this interview, Lido talks about the inspiration for the album, from pageant culture’s racist and nationalist undertones to being teased about her hair in school. She also discusses her experience being of Indigenous Wayuu ...
Apr 23, 2020•16 min•Ep 48•Transcript available on Metacast 
