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Tuesday, Feb 21 2023, 7AM
The title stands for New York’s Lower East Side.
“L.E.S. Artistes” was written after Santi White moved to New York City. The song “is playing on the fact that everyone tries to make things fancy and it’s really pretentious” and “about being accosted by the New York scene and the scenesters and hipsters, who are really not artists and are just pretending to be. They’re all about just being seen.”
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Here's the official video: www.youtube.com
For Ever was Jungle's final release for XL Recordings before the formation of their own label, Caiola Records, in 2021.
Jungle played Live in the KEXP Studio in November 2021, and was one of the first shows onsite since the pandemic began. Watch the performance here: youtu.be
junglejunglejungle.com
“Impossible” is the first time Röyksopp has worked with Alison Goldfrapp. In a statement, she teased further collaboration:
“It’s been great working with the wonderful Svein & Torbjørn from Röyksopp. I’ve been a fan of their music for years, and it was a fascinating joy creating ‘Impossible’ together. I truly hope everyone enjoys the track as there’s more to come.”
royksopp.com
Charlotte Gainsbourg and Dev Hynes (aka Blood Orange) play a couple in the official vid, whose lifelong romance plays our over the course of 6 minutes.
www.youtube.com
"We wanted to come back with something modern-sounding," explains Tracey Thorn of the first new track from Everything But the Girl in some 24 years. And, while "Nothing Left to Lose" is indebted to a strain of dance music that partly defined 1999's Temperamental.
n.pr
American singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger, and civil rights activist Nina Simone was born on this day in 1933.
Nina Simone was her stage name. The singer was born as Eunice Waymon, but by age 21, the North Carolina native was going by a different name at her nightly Atlantic City gig: Nina Simone. She hoped that adopting a different name would keep her mother from finding out about her performances. “Nina” was her boyfriend’s nickname for her at the time. “Simone” was inspired by Simone Signoret, an actress that the singer admired.
bit.ly
In an interview on KEXP's Sound & Vision podcast, Ambar Lucid talks about how a trip on magic mushrooms inspired the title track of her new EP, Get Lost in the Music. She also talks about a 20-minute documentary called Llegaron Las Flores (The Flowers Have Arrived) about being reunited with her dad years after he was deported to Mexico, and how she hopes to heal her own and others' generational trauma through her music. bit.ly
Lucid is completely self-taught; she learned piano, guitar, and ukulele on her own, and turned to YouTube once again to refine her vocal technique when she started writing original music at 15. She spent the ages of 5 to 7 moving between the Dominican Republic, where she lived with her grandmother, and New Jersey, where her mom resided. Eventually, Ambar moved to Jersey permanently, but her family was separated once again when she turned 8, when her father was deported. bit.ly
Watch the Live on KEXP performance here: bit.ly
Welcome back to the mornings, Troy!!! Can you possibly fire up some Wolf Alice this Tuesday? Planet Hunter, Formidable Cool, Bros.. whatever you like. Dealer's choice.
Thanks! Chad in Detroit
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Lead vocalist Ellie Rowsell said of the song: "I kind of wanted to make one of those head out the window on a long drive tunes. And I wanted to try my hand at like a hold-nothing-back love song. That was my thoughts. But other than that I just kinda let it go where it wanted to go… I just think if you hold back it will sound worse won't it?"
bit.ly
Wolf Alice performed "Don't Delete the Kisses" when they performed live in the KEXP studio in 2017: www.youtube.com
Local group Spirit Award is releasing their new album, The Fear, on May 19th! "Pushing Forward" is the first single. Pre-order the upcoming record: spiritaward.bandcamp.com
Check out Spirit Award's 2018 in studio performance : www.youtube.com
www.spiritawardmusic.com
The band said in a press release: "Mess On A Mission acknowledges some of the modern day issues of uncertainty, of being overwhelmed with possibilities, too many choices and it vocalises them. It's cathartic and a more positive spin on something our music has always dealt with: anxiety."
bit.ly
Check out Troy hosting Liars Live on KEXP in 2014: bit.ly
"True Entertainment" is the opening title track for Dutch Uncles' new album, coming out March 3rd!
Lead vocalist Duncan Wallis says of the album, "True Entertainment behaves like it knows it's been away for some time, and doesn’t apologise for that. Ultimately, it's written with the mindset that on our sixth album, we’re only in competition with ourselves when it comes to finding satisfaction in our craft."
bit.ly
True Entertainment arrives in March! Pre-order the new record here: dutchuncles.co.uk
Alexis Taylor said of the track: "It’s about the world smashing into you, waves crashing into you, all-encompassing pain, and how you have to walk through it. The verses are about separation when families are divided against their will. It’s about strong friends. It’s also about Samuel Beckett giving André The Giant lifts to school, and about how Beckett must have learned a lot from Andre’s wisdom." bit.ly
For a more detailed recounting of the Beckett/André story by none other than The Princess Bride's Cary Elwes, here you go: bit.ly
Michael McDonald recorded it with his sister Maureen McDonald providing background vocals. It was featured on If That's What It Takes, his first solo album away from The Doobie Brothers.
"I'm a big Kenny Loggins fan, and Michael McDonald," said Thundercat in a press release prior to the album's debut. "Those are kind of my heroes...I would even develop my own idea that it has to be honest, or be completely you, from listening to guys like them."
bit.ly
Watch the official video here: www.youtube.com
This funk classic was originally recorded for Parliament bass player Bootsy Collins' spin-off band, Bootsy's Rubber Band. It was intended for their first album, but ended up going to Parliament, where it became the group's first #1 R&B hit and one of their most popular tracks.
The track "Let Me Ride" on the Dr. Dre album "The Chronic" is heavily based on samples from this song.
The American power pop band, Big Star remains one of the most mythic and influential cult acts in all of rock & roll. Originally led by the singing and songwriting duo of Alex Chilton and Chris Bell, the Memphis-based group fused the strongest elements of the British Invasion era -- the melodic invention of the Beatles, the whiplash guitars of the Who, and the radiant harmonies of the Byrds -- into a ramshackle but poignantly beautiful sound that recaptured the spirit of pop's past even as it pointed the way toward the music's future.
This is also the theme song to "That 70s Show"
This song is part of Suicide Squeeze’s singles series, Pinks and Purples. “No one can remember when we started working on this song, but I remember it being a riff we always played a lot,” the band’s singer and guitar player, Jared Molyneux, said. “It took a long time to figure out what to do with this idea, and even longer after that to figure out how to put the various pieces of this song together."
The Shivas performed live in the KEXP studio in November of 2019: www.youtube.com
The group's lead singer Francis Rossi wrote this song - he was still a teenager and it was just the second tune he had ever composed.
The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are playing Marymoor Park with Perfume Genius on Wednesday, June 7th!
This was #2 KEXP Listeners' Best Albums of 2022! This is Yeah Yeah Yeahs trio’s fifth album (and first in nine years) with songs revolving around lyrics juxtaposing depictions of isolation and environmental devastation with glimmers of hope.
According to an interview with Q magazine. The band's Andrew VanWyngarden explained that the song's chorus was originally "Me and My Girl" before the duo decided that was too "boring and cheesy." He added that the pair developed the track "into this ambiguous story, and we really liked that – writing a catchy song that gets you pumped up, but you have no idea what the message is." - bit.ly
whoismgmt.com
"Goodbye Horses" is a song recorded by American singer Q Lazzarus. It was written by Q Lazzarus's bandmate, William Garvey, and released in 1988, with an extended version being released three years later. It became a cult hit after it was used in a scene of the film The Silence of the Lambs (1991), which was widely lauded for the usage.
The 2022 release from South African-raised, Belgian-born, Congolese musician singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer Petite Noir (aka Yannick Ilunga) features jazz musician Theo Croker on trumpet.
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petitenoir.bandcamp.com
Jasmine Rose Wilson (Baby Rose) was born in Washington, D.C. and grew up in Fayetteville, North Carolina. Raised on a wide variety of musical genres, she was both singing and writing poetry at a young age. A relative gifted her a piano for her ninth birthday, and by the age of 12, her voice had developed to the point where a family friend took notice and encouraged her to take her talent into the recording studio.
In collaboration Georgia Anne Muldrow, 'Fight Club' urges us to abandon comfortability and to take risks. n.pr
Ratatat, from Brooklyn, New York, is an electronic music duo: guitarist Mike Stroud and synthesizer driver and producer Evan Mast.
www.ratatatmusic.com
Hi all,
This is a love letter.
I want you all to know how much of an impact you make every day.
After living in Seattle for almost 20 years, I temporarily moved back to NJ to take care of my mother. I haven't been back to Seattle since September. My mom is having more bad days than good and will leave us soon.
I couldn't do this without KEXP and the streaming archive. The station is a major component of the glue holding me together. It's here for me when I need it the most despite the different time zones.
Soon I will make the long roadtrip back to Seattle. In the meantime I am keeping my head above water thanks to the station and the archive as my life vest.
If possible I would love to hear Interstellar Love by The Avalanches. It would mean a lot to me. I know I might not hear it live, but thanks to the archive, I'll be able to listen to it again and again.
Forever grateful
Love,
Lauren
Sending all our love right back to you, Lauren!
Hi Troy!
Hope you're having a good Tuesday so far. I was wondering if you can squeeze in a King Gizzard song into your show today (my girlfriend really loves "Work This Time") because of their decision to drop out of Australia's Bluesfest in protest against misogyny, transphobia, and racism. They were already my favorite band but now I love them even more :) It's amazing when people you love stand up against injustice (as a person of color myself it makes it even more special).
Thank you!
-Michael (from Brooklyn)
Sounds from Olympia, Washington.
wavescrashing.bandcamp.com
See them live March 2nd at Spanish Ballroom, McMenamins Elks Temple in Tacoma, WA!
Since it seems we are on a psych pop bend here...
Would love to hear Vanishing Girl by the Dukes of Stratosphere!
Thanks for filling in, Troy! Love the music.
-- Bryan in Philly
Led Zeppelin collaborative cover from Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeah's and Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross of Nine Inch Nails. You can find this one on "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" soundtrack.
And just a reminder.. Yeah Yeah Yeahs are playing at Marymoor Park with Perfume Genius on Wednesday, June 7th!
NiN sampled in Lil Nas X -> Lil Nas X covering Queen's "Get Down, Make Love"!
The original appears on the Queen album News Of The World. It has been played live by most incarnations of the band at one point. According to an interview Trent Reznor did with Melody Maker magazine, "Get Down, Make Love" was supposed to be a "tongue-in-cheek" cover.
Hatchie wrote this song "after we hit up an amazing goth megaclub in Denver on a weeknight. We were inspired to recreate the energy we felt there and experiment with a lyric-free chorus. There aren’t any other songs in our live show that are this punchy, so we wanted to write something angry and powerful." - bit.ly
Watch Hatchie Live on KEXP in here: bit.ly
Yves Tumor will be playing at Showbox SoDo in Seattle on May 20th.: bit.ly
Their new album comes out on March 17 - preorder physical and digital editions of "Praise A Lord Who Chews But Which Does Not Consume; (Or Simply, Hot Between Worlds)" - yves-tumor.bandcamp.com
Adi Oasis will be at Madam Lou's for a 21+ show on Saturday, April 1st.
French-Caribbean singer, bassist and producer Adi Oasis has teamed up w/ Memphis-born songwriter Kirby for her latest single, “Adonis”, a song about no-good boyfriends which Adi describes as “an intervention from your girlfriend.”
adioasis.bandcamp.com adioasis.com
Aloe Blacc (Egbert Nathaniel Dawkins III) got the idea for this song after listening to field recordings from the Smithsonian. Hearing these recordings of people singing their tales of woe, Blacc decided to write one of his own, and came up with the title "I Need A Dollar." To develop the lyrics, he asked friends to trade verses with him and then join him on the chorus. bit.ly
www.aloeblacc.com
This track was inspired by a Peter Tork vocal in The Monkees' song "Zilch", which began by repeating the name "Mr. Bob Dobalina". "I just kind of conceptualized who Mr. Dobalina would be," Del said, "which is basically somebody who thinks he know what hip, he think he cool, but he's really right off. Like he ain't right on — he right off."
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Check out the music video here: youtu.be
This song features a string sample from Moroccan pop singer Najat Aatabou's song "Just Tell Me The Truth" and vocals by former A Tribe Called Quest member, Q-Tip.
Tom Rowlands of The Chemical Brothers recalled: "Q-tip would only sing into a golden microphone. Not silver, not bronze. It practically came with its own security guard. But I'm sure it gave his Galvanize vocal that extra bit of punch."
www.thechemicalbrothers.com
