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Monday, Jun 14 2021, 10AM
Laetitia Tamako performs under the stage name Vagabon. Born in Cameroon, her family immigrated to the United States when she was 13 so her mother could attend law school. Her excellent self-titled second album represents a shift in her sound beyond indie rock, as a rejection of being pigeonholed.
Vagabon performed "Water Me Down" live in the KEXP studio. Watch the full session here:
youtu.be
vagabon.bandcamp.com
"Hold On" was recorded at the band’s home studio in Gothenburg, Sweden. Their 2020 album, "New Me, Same Us," is the band's sixth. “This album has been the most collaborative for us yet,” they said in a press release. “[which] might sound weird considering we’ve been making music together for all these years. But we’ve worked hard at being honest, finding the courage to let go of our egos and be pieces of something bigger.”
"Nicholas Galanin is one of the most vital voices in contemporary art. Born in Sheet’ka (Sitka, Alaska), Galanin is Tlingit and Unangax̂ and creates from his perspective as an Indigenous man. Alongside bandmates Zak D. Wass and Otis Calvin III (OC Notes), Galanin brings this experience to bear as Ya Tseen."
yatseen.bandcamp.com
San Francisco indie-pop outfit Imperial Teen are known for all four members switching off on instruments throughout their records and live performances.
Eleanor Friedberger performed this song live for KEXP during CMJ in 2013. Watch that performance here: www.youtube.com
Durand Jones & The Indications have two dates in Seattle, October 1st and 2nd at the Paramount with My Morning Jacket.
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The band is anchored by the high-low harmonies of Aaron Frazer (drums/vocals) and Durand Jones (vocals), and rounded out by Blake Rhein (guitar), Steve Okonski (keys), and Mike Montgomery (bass). The new album, "Private Space," will be out on July 30th.: bit.ly
This new album was reportedly inspired by the majesty of outer space, the light from celestial bodies, and the romance between starry-eyed scientists Ann Druyan and Carl Sagan, who attempted to encapsulate the human experience on a pair of golden records blasted into space in 1977 — mixtapes of a sort that included everything from Beethoven to Navajo chants to a recording of Druyan’s brain waves while she thought about “the wonder of love, of being in love.”
(The album art is a photo of Druyan run through a spectograph, turned into sound, then processed back into an image.)
Spanning 25 tracks over 72 minutes, the resulting album mimics the beautiful, mysterious sprawl of the nighttime horizon as it explores questions about death, the afterlife, and the stars. Though tinged with a similar awe, the emotions it conjures aren’t always as warm and fuzzy as Druyan’s lovestruck elation. bit.ly
Baltimore-born, DC-raised Maimouna Youssef aka "Mumu Fresh" is a Grammy nominated seasoned singer, emcee, songwriter and producer.
maimounayoussef.bandcamp.com
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"Work" is the first single from 'Vintage Babies II: Queen of Culture'. maimounayoussef.com
Watch Pure Bathing Culture perform live in the KEXP Studios in 2016 here: www.youtube.com
Middle Kids will be playing the Crocodile on Saturday, Oct. 9. (21+event).
Middle Kids performed live, recorded exclusively for KEXP on March 25, 2021, watch it here...
www.youtube.com
London-based trio Girl Ray's recent groovy single is their first release since their 2019 album Girl. The music video is a queer take on Midsommar, without any of the horror
KEXP is celebrating Teacher's Appreciation Week! Through all of the challenges that this past year presented, the frontline workers of our education system went above and beyond for our community, navigating unknown territory while adapting their curriculums to meet the needs of every student and family. Their patience, creativity and dedication have inspired us and KEXP wants to recognize and appreciate the teachers we know, work with, live with, hear from, as well as the entire education industry as a whole. Join us Monday, June 14th through Friday, June 18th, and tune in as we celebrate by hearing messages from teachers in the KEXP community, and reminding everyone to thank teachers for all of their hard work this past year.
“‘Please’ is full of optimism and ready to be played in a place where we can all be together and flirt, dance, touch, and kiss,” Jessie Ware said.
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It's the lead single from the just-released deluxe edition of Jessie Ware's 2020 album, 'What’s Your Pleasure?'.
www.jessieware.com
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Watch the video at youtu.be
“‘Murphy’s Law’ is our crack at a straight up, straightforward, no-frills, disco standard,” Róisín Murphy said in a statement. “Oh and it’s the story of my life..." - bit.ly
Swedish indie band I Break Horses took it's name from a Bill Callahan song
Sending this out in appreciation to all the Teachers & Educators who've worked tirelessly throughout the pandemic!
Gil Scott-Heron was born on April 1, 1949 in Chicago, Illinois. "Scott-Heron is frequently called the “godfather of rap,” which is an epithet he doesn’t really care for.... Scott-Heron calls himself a bluesologist."
"The song Scott-Heron wrote, “New York Is Killing Me,” is a blues sung against a spare background of syncopated handclaps and looped fragments. His voice is weary and raw. 'The doctors don’t know, but New York is killing me,' he sings. 'Bunch of doctors come around, they don’t know, that New York is killing me / I need to go home and take it slow down in Jackson, Tennessee.'"
www.newyorker.com
Released in May 1996, this was the eighth album from UK duo Everything But the Girl. Pitchfork revisited and took an in-depth look at this significant album: bit.ly
The title track from The Roots 8th studio album, exploring police corruption, poverty and the social and environmental climate.
Curtis Harding is back with his first new music in three years. "Hopeful" is a protest anthem that, as the title suggest, is sprinkled with optimism. "I wrote [Hopeful] some time ago but in theory it goes far beyond a time and place,” Harding says. "I've always tried to carry [hope] wherever I am. Darkness find us all, hope allows us the fortitude to seek out the light." Produced by Harding and Sam Cohen (who worked on 2017's Face Your Fear), "Hopeful" still finds him working in that updated psychedelic soul style which sounds great here.
curtisharding.bandcamp.com
Nirvana cover! Watch Charles' full Gathering Space performance from 2016 right over here: www.youtube.com
Sharon Van Etten and Angel Olsen are used to being compared to one another, and they don’t mind. In fact, they see it as the highest form of compliment. In this conversation, Van Etten speaks with Olsen about emerging from a year of solitude to create and collaborate.: www.interviewmagazine.com
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Oh, don't miss the video for this new anthem: www.youtube.com
Listen to a conversation between Thao Nguyen and KEXP's Emily Fox about how the latest Thao & The Get Down Stay Down album is about coming out to her Vietnamese family and processing her family’s story of war: www.kexp.org
Jenn Champion + Oyster Kids are sharing “Love Nobody,” a new lyric video for the title track from their forthcoming collaborative EP. The three-song, Love Nobody EP (Hardly Art) to be released June 29th, 2021, is packed with as many sexy synth lines and longing looks, much like an 80s teen movie. The project was born when Champion met Andrew Eapen (Oyster Kids) at a party shortly after she moved to LA. They became fast friends once they realized they shared a passion for sad pop songs. The two started writing music together only a few weeks later, and the song “Love Nobody” materialized in their very first session.
Champion says, “‘Love Nobody’ is about the fear of falling so hard for someone when you know it’s destined to crash and burn. Those crushes where it feels like your heart is cannibalizing your brain. We’ve all been there when you look into someone’s eyes and know they will destroy you, and yet, nothing can pull you away. You are all in. You hate it and have never wanted anything more.”
bit.ly
youtu.be
jennchampion.bandcamp.com
Chromatics is an American electronic music band from Portland, Oregon, formed in 2001
The band consists of Ruth Radelet (vocals, guitar, synthesizer), Adam Miller (guitar, vocoder), Nat Walker (drums, synthesizer), and Johnny Jewel (producer, multi-instrumentalist).
This track comes from their fourth LP "Kill for Love" and features a dreamy array of instruments.
The Chromatics' Johnny Jewel was working his synth-chill magic on this remix for The Weeknd's global hit. Chromatics' vocalist Ruth Radelet also appears on this re-work. Remix music video: youtu.be
Oakland surf rockers Shannon & the Clams are back with a new lead single titled "Midnight Wine."" Guitarist Cody Blanchard explained the song's inspiration as coming from watching friends die from drug addiction, and the feeling of desperation that drives one to seek shelter from reality in drugs.
In addition to showcasing a love for 1960s and 1970s soul, Shawn Lee also steers his 2010 album 'Sing a Song' into psychedelic and cinematic territory
The London-based electronica duo Jungle are playing the Moore Theatre on Friday, October 22nd!
bit.ly
Also, enjoy the band's 2019 KEXP In-Studio, hosted by Cheryl Waters here: youtu.be
'Loving in Stereo' comes out August 13th!
www.junglejunglejungle.com
Simian Mobile Disco originally formed as a DJ duo, on the side of their early four-piece band Simian. Formed in 2003 by James Ford and Jas Shaw.
Released in 2018, 'Murmurations' was their sixth album. The album was recorded in collaboration with The Deep Throat Choir, who were to join the band for the initial tour dates. In a statement announcing the album, Shaw comments: "Listening to them moving their voices around a tone, altering the timbre, making chords, was like working with an incredible new synthesiser."
bit.ly
Singer and lead songwriter Jim James of My Morning Jacket said that the band wanted to get away from "normal rock and roll sounds" and emulate more of the band's live sound on their 2008 album 'Evil Urges'
José González is releasing his first new album in over six years, Local Valley, on September 17 via Mute. Now he has shared another song from it, “Head On,” via a video for the song.
“I wrote ‘Head On’ as a combat song or a list of instructions…a manual. I mean both ‘straight ahead’ and head ON—as in switching on your mind,” says González in a press release. “It was inspired by Fela Kuti’s ‘Zombie’ and the way I used to write lyrics for my hardcore band. It’s also in the vein of my song ‘What Will’ from 2015. That one and this one are both anti-dogma, pro reason songs. Some of the terms I use like ‘rent seeker’ or ‘value extractor,’ are from books on economics that I’ve been reading, like The Value of Everything by Mariana Mazzucato.”
Read more and find the video here: www.undertheradarmag.com
Valerie June plays her version of T. Rex’s 1971 classic "Cosmic Dancer", off 'their album 'Electric Warrior' -- the ballad has also been covered by Agents of Oblivion, and by Morrissey as a duet with David Bowie!
Pond frontman and songwriter Nick Allbrook relates, "I dunno if it’s got anything to do with COVID stuff, but I’ve really been craving collaboration and immediacy, and that’s definitely been a part of writing."
"I’m loving the feeling of things being created in the moment, instead of laboured over in solitude with a furrowed brow. We ended up working on everything really fucking hard and long, but the initial sessions and ideas were done recklessly. I’ve loved the fun and spontaneity, watching something grow without knowing the end point, like a vine flowing in the sun." ab.co
Josh Kolenik (keys, vocals), Ryan Heyner (guitar, keys, vocals), Juan Pieczanski (bass, guitar) and Jeff Curtin (drums) have been recording, writing, and often living together, throughout the 10 years of Small Black, establishing a closeness that has allowed them to achieve easy creativity and deep collaboration. Their new record 'Cheap Dreams' jut came out earlier this month.
smallblack.bandcamp.com
This song with the distinctively Latin soul sound is the longest on the album, clocking in at 7:31. Here are the lyrics: genius.com