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KEXP Playlist
Darek Mazzone
Wo' Pop
Celebrating 33.3 yrs on air at KEXP/KCMU
Back from Riga music Week
Thanks for supporting KEXP
Karachi Pakistan:
Ustaad Saami Nasiruddin - Primary Vocals
Muhammad Rauf - Primary Vocals, Harmonium
Urooj Khan - Primary Vocals
Azeem Jawwad - Tabla, Vocals
Ahmed Ghani Naseeruddin - Primary Vocals, Harmonium
Pratyush Goberdhan - Sarangi
Mohiuddin Nizami - Chorus Vocals
Naseem Ahmed - Tabla, Dhol, Chorus Vocals
Muhammad Jawad - Chorus Vocals
Widely recognized as the "Shahanshah-e-Qawwali" (lit. 'the King of Kings of Qawwali')
Zamrock legends W.I.T.C.H. (We Intend To Cause Havoc) electrify Talking Heads’ existential classic with a searing reinterpretation. Once pioneers of Zambia’s psychedelic Afro-rock explosion in the 1970s, W.I.T.C.H. now channel their raw, hypnotic grooves and politically charged energy into a communal, heavy-hitting chant. Emmanuel “Jagari” Chanda leads the charge, transforming Byrne’s art-rock minimalism into a timeless, urgent anthem. Their version embodies the heartbeat of Naive Melodies: not mere imitation, but bold transformation—proof that “How did I get here?” still resonates across cultures and generations.
bbemusic.bandcamp.com
Amadou Bagayoko of Malian duo Amadou & Mariam passed away at the age of 70 in April 2025.
'L'Amour à la Folie' is a posthumous love letter from Mariam to Amadou.
www.youtube.com
Trīsas translates colloquially as “thrills”.
Per a review from Riga Music Week, after their performance they went immediately to Old Town's Doma Square to join the demonstration against Latvia’s proposed withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention. (The Istanbul Convention is a human rights treaty in Europe that aims to protect women from all forms of violence, including domestic violence)
trisas.bandcamp.com
Antibalas will be playing back-to-back nights at Hidden Hall in Fremont December 13 & 14!
Tickets here: tinyurl.com
More from the band here: antibalas.bandcamp.com
Hajda Banda / Гайда Банда is a Belarusian-Polish band performing traditional dances and songs from eastern Poland’s Podlasie region, the western parts of Belarus, and Polesye on the Polish-Ukrainian-Belarusian border.
hajdabanda.bandcamp.com
A Little Vertigo of Love
March 21 @ Rickshaw Stop in the Bay Area (Tickets: tinyurl.com)
March 25 @ Hidden Hall in Seattle (Tickets: tinyurl.com)
Berlin based Afro-Jazz group Jembaa Groove was founded by German producer and bassist Yannick Nolting and Ghanian percussion legend and vocalist Eric Owusu in late 2020. This is their debut album.
www.jembaamusic.com
Ashraf Sharif Khan and Viktor Marek are the Sufi Dub Brothers.
A new album, "Return of the Sufi Dub Brothers" is out November 28 on Fun in the Church.
Pre-order on their bandcamp here: tinyurl.com
Me and My Friends is off their newly released album Bring Summer. Check it out here: tinyurl.com
Antoine Villoutreix was born in Normandy, France, based in Berlin
Sampa the Great has dropped new single, "Can't Hold Us," the track is available via Loma Vista Recordings, and marks the beginning of a new direction for the musician and rapper.
The track will also be is included in EAFC 26 and will be dropped into in-game playlists.
"Zamrock is my sound," she says. "It’s my voice. Being Zambian, being loud, being defiant — that’s what Zamrock is.
"This is the declaration track. I’m saying: I’ve stepped into my power, into my sound, into my purpose. I’ve claimed this thing — Nu Zamrock — as something of my own, something I’m shaping in real time. And in this new form, with this much clarity and drive? You can’t hold us. You can’t stop us. Not anymore." tinyurl.com
P.M. Dawn was an American hip hop and R&B act that formed in 1988 by the brothers Attrell Cordes (known by his stage name Prince Be, sometimes credited as Prince Be the Nocturnal) and Jarrett Cordes (known as DJ Minutemix) in Jersey City, New Jersey. They earned significant crossover success in the early 1990s with music that merged hip hop, older soul, and more pop-oriented urban R&B.
bit.ly
Christian Berishaj, better known by his stage name JMSN (pronounced Jameson), is an Albanian American singer-songwriter and record producer from Eastpointe, Michigan. iamjmsn.com
Swedish band Dina Ögon back with another banger from their upcoming 4th album since debuting in 2021!
The guitarist in Dina Ögon (Daniel Ögren) was formerly the guitar player in Anna Von Hausswolff's band.
"Cyboogie" was the lead single from King Gizz's 14th studio album 'Fishing for Fishies' released in 2019.
Nicholas Galanin (aka Yéil Ya Tseen) is a Tlingit and Unangax̂ multi-disciplinary artist and musician from Alaska. His work often explores a dialogue of change and identity between Native and non-Native communities.
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On January 16, 2026, Ya Tseen (pronounced Yacht Seen) will return with their new album, "Stand on My Shoulders.""Taste on My Lips" is the debut single. Galanin shares of the track “Taste on my lips is a love note written for the dance floor, inspired by connections made possible on those floors for generations.”
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Here's the video: www.youtube.com
Rubberband Girl was the lead single off Kate Bush's seventh album, the Red Shoes in 1993.
Watch Kate sing, dance and yo-yo in the official music video: www.youtube.com
For Kyle in Brooklyn!
Cate Le Bon released her newest album, 'Michelangelo Dying' earlier this fall, and she's on tour now. See her:
1/27 at the Neptune Theatre in Seattle
1/28 at Revolution Hall in Portland
1/30 at the Fillmore in San Francisco
catelebon.bandcamp.com
"Kerosene!" comes from Yves Tumor's 2020 album, Heaven to a Tortured Mind.
yves-tumor.bandcamp.com
"Genre-bending is an inadequate rubric for describing what makes Tumor’s sound so enticing; with each new record, they seem to embody a genre—its history, its texture, its tropes. The mutations and evolutions across their work are something closer to method acting." Read more about the album here: tinyurl.com
Nightmares On Wax's newest album was just released on November 14th. KEXP's Music Director Chris Sanley reviews:
"Over three decades into his career as Nightmares on Wax, Leeds-based DJ and producer George Evelyn returns with his tenth studio album and a star-studded guest list including Yasiin Bey, Greentea Peng, Sadie Walker, Liam Bailey, and more. This new collection plays like a biopic, melding the past with the present while showcasing Evelyn’s captivating fusion of hip-hop, electronic, dub, and soul. The result is a sound that feels both fluid and structured, always anchored by a bona fide groove. Sit back and get lost, and found, in Echo45 Sound System."
www.kexp.org
French musician Melody Prochet, known as Melody’s Echo Chamber, has returned with "Daisy," created in collaboration with El Michels Affair, the project of Grammy-winning producer Leon Michels.
Melody's Echo Chamber is touring and will hit the west coast in May 2026. Dates include:
May 20: Bimbo's 365 Club in SF
May 22: Revolution Hall in Portland
May 23: The Crocodile in Seattle
melodysechochamber.bandcamp.com