Troy Nelson

"A Real Hero" is a song by French electronica artist College in collaboration with Electric Youth, released in 2010, and featured in the movie Drive. Electric Youth frontman Austin Garrick, along with David Grellier, who performs as College, have cited separate inspirations for producing the song. Garrick was inspired to write the song by a quote from his grandfather, who spoke of airline captain Chesley Sullenberger after the US Airways Flight 1549 water landing incident. Grellier, on the other hand, took inspiration from cinema, in particular the character Max Rockatansky of the Mad Max franchise. www.instagram.com

You must see "Cowboy" Troy Nelson hosting Mitski in the KEXP studio for an extraordinary live session that included this song: www.youtube.com --- Mitski talked with NPR about this song. Listen to the interview and see the video for "Geyser": www.npr.org

Le Noise, Neil Young's 30th studio album, was recorded in Los Angeles and produced by Daniel Lanois - hence the titular pun

According to Q magazine April 2008, this is about a crisis point in Thom Yorke's life. The singer's troubles were partly caused by the baggage of past relationships and coincided with an incident when Yorke was strolling on a beach, looked back, and spotted an apparition in his house. www.songfacts.com

Say She She, the soulful female-led band from Brooklyn & London, will perform at Neumos on Friday, February 2nd, 2024. - www.saysheshe.com --- Here's Say She She performing live in the KEXP studio in 2022 - www.youtube.com

Menahan Street Band is a Brooklyn-based collaboration containing members of the Dap-Kings, Antibalas, El Michels Affair, and Budos Band. (Menahan Street is located in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn.)

Watch a Live on KEXP performance by Portland musicians Ripley Johnson and Sanae Yamada (Moon Duo) back in 2017: www.youtube.com You can download "Stars Are The Light," a KEXP Song of the Day, for free: www.kexp.org

The vocals on this track are the vocals of Gladys Knight from the 1972 song "Neither One of Us". "Koze has long said that he aims for the combination of euphoria and melancholy in all his music, and here he nails it. Despite Knight’s sorrowful tone, the rolling disco groove has the giddy uplift of vintage Daft Punk. Heard loud, “Pick Up” reveals itself to be a low-key anthem, a perfect picture of bittersweet simplicity." pitchfork.com Check out this extended disco version of 'Pick Up' on Beatport: bit.ly

Out of Gothenburg, Sweden, Shitkid is the punk-induced project of Asa Söderqvist. The Rejected Fish LP is her first project since 2021you can buy it on Bandcamp and support independent artists directly via the link below shitkid.bandcamp.com

Sheer Mag's new album comes out on March 1st, 2024. They'll play in Seattle on April 18th at The Vera Project! Get your tickets now! www.sheer-mag.com

From the debut 1978 album of English punk rock band X-Ray Spex. --- A biracial woman in a predominantly white, male scene, X-Ray Spex frontwoman Poly Styrene brought fresh perspectives and sounds to punk. Read about a new documentary that explores her powerful impact: www.nytimes.com

In an exclusive set recorded for Live on KEXP at Home, Songhoy Blues performed from a riverbank in Bamako, Mali. The performance included "Worry.": youtu.be John Richards selected "Worry" as the KEXP Song of the Day in 2020. Download it for free here: www.kexp.org

Shabazz Palaces will perform this Saturday, December 2nd at The Paramount, opening for Jenny Lewis. Featuring Ishmael Butler's son Lil Tracy. shabazzpalaces.bandcamp.com A two-part interview with Ishmael Butler of Shabazz Palaces helped kick off KEXP's 2022 podcast, Fresh Off the Spaceship, which tells the story of the Seattle local artist collective, the Black Constellation. Listen here: www.kexp.org.

Along with "Low Tide," Aesop Rock was also featured on "Sink or Swim" on DJ Signify's 2009 Of Cities album.

Hot Chip are an English synth-pop band formed in London in 2000. The group consists of multi-instrumentalists Alexis Taylor, Joe Goddard, Al Doyle, Owen Clarke, and Felix Martin. "Freakout/Release" was Hot Chip's eighth studio album. Here's a glowing review: www.popmatters.com

This song was initially released from lead singer/songwriter Tobacco's SoundCloud in 2012. Pittsburgh's BMSR is currently composed of frontman, singer, and songwriter Tobacco whose vocals are altered via a vocoder; keybordist The Seven Fields of Aphelion, who often performs with a classic monosynth; drummer Iffernaut; guitarist Ryan Graveface; and bassist Pony Driver. -- Gird your loins before you watch the rather creepy video for "Windshield Smasher": www.youtube.com

L'Rain will perform at Madame Lou's on Wednesday, December 6th! Her new record, I Killed Your Dog, came out last month. lrain.bandcamp.com Check out L'Rain's Live on KEXP at Home performance, including an interview with Larry Mizell, Jr. www.youtube.com

Y La Bamba will perform at Neumos on Thursday, January 18th, 2024. -- They were live in our studio in April of this year: www.youtube.com

This song from LA psych artist Morgan Delt was selected as a KEXP Song of the Day back when it was first released: www.kexp.org ---morgandelt.bandcamp.com

"Your Love/Legends," along with "Babe Ruth" and "Bubblegum" comprise Dawn Richard's new EP ( or epoch, as she calls it), "The Architect." Richard had this to say about "The Architect" in a press release: “I’ve always had a fascination with the concept of a ‘traditional single release.’ How the industry tells you, in order to have a successful single, it has to be a certain amount of minutes to be played on radio, or streamed, or on a chart. I say f**k that. I never agreed with that construct. I wanted to create a single that was similar to a conceptual album. If you take away the idea that it has to be for radio, that it has to be a clean edit, that it has to be a specific thing in order to be successful, what would be the outcome? Epoch 1.”

Our full in studio with Teenage Sequence, was uploaded to YouTube this week! www.youtube.com

This is a cover. It was originally released by 13th Floor Elevators on their 1967 album "Easter Everywhere." For comparison's sake, here's a link to the original: www.youtube.com

Jamila Woods will be here in Seattle, performing at Neumos on Thursday, February 1st, 2024. -- In a statement about “Boomerang,” Woods said the song is “about that kind of relationship that keeps popping back up throughout your life, that magnetic attachment you have to someone and the excitement and anxiety that comes with wondering ‘will we or won't we?’”

Brand new from Marika Hackman! Hackman referred to the album as the "hardest album" she's written. -- marikahackman.com

This was the first Stones song to make a powerful political statement, although with an air of resignation. Jagger opens the song declaring "the time is right for fighting in the street," but goes on to sing, "But what can a poor boy do, 'cept sing in a rock and roll band." - www.songfacts.com

he hard-driving, Yardbirds-style number features the twin guitar attack of John "Mouse" Michalski and Sean Byrne, distortion-laden production and the memorable line: “And it feels like this!” The song was equal parts rave-up, low-fi garage rock, and a blast of proto-punk attitude. Read about this one-hit wonder here: www.culturesonar.com

The Shivas performed Live on KEXP in November 2019: www.youtube.com They released this track as a single in 2022. theshivas.bandcamp.com Stay tuned for our punk show, Sonic Reducer, with the rad Jenn as your host!

What has Brittany Howard been up to since her last solo album came out in 2019 and what can we expect from the new one? Read about that and her post-Alabama Shakes life in this NPR interview: www.npr.org presave.umusic.com

Deap Vally just played an all-ages show at Neptune Theatre on Sunday, Nov. 19, as part of their last-ever tour! www.stgpresents.org

Impeach My Bush is the fourth studio album by Canadian singer Peaches. The album includes guest appearances by Joan Jett, Beth Ditto, Josh Homme, Samantha Maloney, Mocky and her one-time roommate Feist. - www.teachesofpeaches.com --- Celebrating International Women's Day! - www.kexp.org

Weaves is a Canadian indie pop band from Toronto, Ontario, consisting of vocalist Jasmyn Burke, guitarist Morgan Waters, drummer Spencer Cole and bassist Zach Bines. This album was a shortlisted finalist for the 2018 Polaris Music Prize. tinyurl.com Weaves performed live in the KEXP studio in 2016: youtu.be

"Electricity" is the 1979 debut single of the English group Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark. It focused on society's wasteful usage of energy sources: bit.ly

Takudzwa Victoria Rosa Maidza, known by her stage name Tkay Maidza is an Australian singer and rapper, born in Zimbabwe. Sweet Justice is her second studio album released last month.

This dark vaporwave track was produced by Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo (Daft Punk), and mixed by SebastiAn -- it features vocals by the lead singer of Brazilian group CSS (Cansei de Ser Sexy), Lovefoxxx. It featured prominently in the soundtrack from the thrilled 'Drive' by Nicolas Winding Refn, and starring Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan. kavinsky.bandcamp.com

Producer Emile said of "These Worries," “He definitely wanted Mary on the album, and this was the first song he wanted to get Mary on. When we got her in the studio, the song was done and he played it for her. Cudi was like, ’You know, when I originally wrote this song I kind of envisioned you on the chorus,’ and she was like, ’Man, I’ll jump on that right now.’ They kind of sang this duet together, which I just thought was incredible, and his post-chorus after the hook with him and Mary is just powerful. It’s one of my favorite moments on the album. It really is a song that captures him, and the year that he’s had and some of the darker places that he’s been in. It’s just a scary record which I love.”: bit.ly

The new song is a relatively straightforward critique of gentrification. But Brown’s shrewd delivery and Kassa Overall’s production — full of spliced jazz drums, organ stabs, and well-placed needle drops of the iconic keys from Goodie Mobb’s “Cell Therapy” (variously pitch- and tempo-shifted to fit “Jenn’s” curvature) — create an effectively chilling atmosphere. “Who’s that peepin’ in my window? / I don’t really know what they hear for,” Brown begins, sounding a little panicked. “On the corner just put the Starbucks / I was just lookin’ for a come-up.” www.youtube.com --- Seattle's own Kassa Overall will be performing at Nectar Lounge in Seattle, on February 28th, 2024!! --- dannybrown.warp.net www.kassaoverall.com

New music from Samantha Pulter, aka Logic1000! Her highly anticipated debut album titled ‘Mother’, is set to be released on March 22nd via Therapy / Because Music. “I felt so much love and inspiration entering into motherhood that I just needed to create. I never thought I would be capable of something so powerful” logic1000.bandcamp.com

London, Ontario rapper Shad sampled The Breeders' 1993 breakout hit "Cannonball."

Sound familiar? The beat for this song heavily samples "The Big Beat" by Billy Squier. -- In July, 2003, Dylan Kwabena Mills, better known by his stage name Dizzee Rasca, released "Boy in da Corner" in the UK. It would be released the following year in the United States. Here, he tells the story of the album that put UK grime on the map: www.okayplayer.com

Car Seat Headrest have shared their rendition of Death Cab for Cutie’s Transatlanticism song “We Looked Like Giants.” The cover appears on a new split 7" single with the Beths, who contributed a version of the Postal Service’s Give Up track “Brand New Colony.” The vinyl single will be available January 12 via Sub Pop. pitchfork.com