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Thursday, Feb 25 2021, 7AM
Yes, this is two Kurt Vile related songs in a row. He's fine. We checked.
"'Gold Sky' bridges folksy spoken word from Kurt Vile with a walking, gospel-influenced track that feels like it belongs in the sky." Read a review of The Avalanches' recently released "We Will Always Love You": www.magneticmag.com
Former Strand of Oaks member Carter Tanton has a new self-titled album out May 7th. You can preorder and hear the first single here: cartertanton.bandcamp.com
Tim Showalter (Strand of Oaks) performed "Weird Ways" during a live session in the KEXP studio in 2019. See that whole wonderful performance: www.youtube.com
In 1991, Nirvana released its seminal album Nevermind, which was in part responsible for bringing alternative rock and grunge to mainstream popularity. The popularity of Nevermind and its grunge sound had a profound impact on Mould. In an interview with NPR, Mould said: "When Nevermind came out, that album changed the way people listen to music. A lot of the songs that I had been writing in 1991 led up to my next group, Sugar — and had it not been for Nevermind, I don't know if Sugar's Copper Blue would have stood a chance in '92. But people were now receptive to this sound."
bit.ly
“This album is for other people,” said frontwoman Ellie Rowsell. “Sometimes you hear a song and it makes you feel better, or you hear a song and it makes you feel seen. I remember feeling blue about something, and thinking, ‘I wonder what songs I can listen to that will be about what I’m feeling right now’.
It was almost as if I was desperate to feel better about something, and I would go down any path to feel not alone in something, or to understand it more. And I’ve never really done that before intentionally, I’d never really sought it out.”
Preorder the new album, out June 11th, here: wolfalice.co.uk
Ellie Taylor shared a statement about "The Last Man on Earth":
"It’s about the arrogance of humans. I’d just read Kurt Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle and I had written the line “Peculiar travel suggestions are dancing lessons from god” in my notes. But then I thought: “Uh, your peculiar travel suggestion isn’t a dancing lesson from god, it’s just a travel suggestion! Why does everything need to mean something more?”
“‘Heatwave’ is really just about being confronted with how much time I spend worrying about things that are trivial,” Baker said in a statement. “I was stuck in traffic because a car had randomly combusted, and it made me feel so stupid for being concerned with the things I had been anxious about earlier that day. It was just such a poignant thing, an event that communicated a lot of complex things in a single image. So I wrote a song about it.”
The new album, Little Oblivions is out tomorrow!
Buffalo Tom performed live on the Morning Show March 1, 2018: www.youtube.com
Recorded, as usual, at Amherst's Biquiteen, the sessions for Sweep It Into Space began in the late Autumn of 2019, following a West Coast/South East tour. The only extra musician used this time was Kurt Vile, who co-produced the album and played the lead 12 string on the upbeat “I Ran Away.” J Mascis’ voice is immediately catchy over soaring, electrifying guitar lines.
After recording with Kurt got disrupted, J Mascis “ended up just mimicking a few things he'd done. I was listening to a lot of Thin Lizzy, so I was trying to get some of that dueling twin lead sound. But the recording session was pretty well finished by the time things really hit the fan. When the lockdown happened in March, that meant I was on my own. But it was cool.”
Hi John--
hoping you could play bitter sweet symphony for me.. just got news that i have stage 4 cancer and that song always put me at peace with earth or the heavens.
Thanks, D
Seattle
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For you D. You are not alone.
Shawn Smith performed "Suffering" live during KEXP's Soul Day broadcast, May 13, 2016. Just Shawn and his keyboard in the Gathering Space. Wonderful. www.youtube.com
Morning, john! I woke up w/the postal service's "this place is a prison" as I looked outside today. I don't know if it's the vibe you're looking for this morning lol but maybe you could play that or a more cheerful postal service song? Excited for the new dinosaur Jr! I'm carving out a block for printing right now and trying to get myself in a space for a good day 🦝👍🎶💕
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Jimmy Tamborello of Dntel and formerly of The Postal Service has a new album, 'The Seas Trees See', out March 26th linktr.ee
Today is George Harrison's birthday! He would have been 78 today.
This cover of Vic Chesnutt’s “Flirted With You All My Life” was originally the B-side to the 7" “Persona Non Grata” but hasn’t been officially available online until now.
“I had the pleasure of seeing Vic perform many times over the years and from a young age,” Conor Oberst said in a statement. “I can truly say he deeply changed my worldview and what it meant to write a really unique and thought provoking song. One of the greatest ever. Always missed. Here is our humble version of one of his best.”
At the Cut is a 2009 album by Vic Chesnutt. It was his penultimate album release before his death on December 25, 2009, from an overdose of muscle relaxants. The song "Flirted with You All My Life" alludes to Chesnutt's own attitude toward suicide, including his previous attempts to take his own life.
Here you can find resources and help if you need it. You are not alone. www.kexp.org.
Death Cab originally shared the Georgia E.P. via Bandcamp for a 24-hour period on December 24, with proceeds going towards the Georgia-based voters’ rights organization Fair Fight. The EP contains covers of Georgia artists TLC (‘Waterfalls’), Neutral Milk Hotel (‘The King of Carrot Flowers, Pt. 1’), R.E.M. (‘Fall On Me’), Vic Chesnutt (‘Flirted With You All My Life’) and Cat Power (‘Metal Heart’).
Deerhunter front man Bradford Cox has cited American novelist Dennis Cooper as an important lyrical influence. Cox explained to Q magazine November 2010 what draws him to Dennis Cooper's work: "When my dad heard Helicopter and I told him about the story that inspired it, he said it kept him up at night. I think most people can relate to the hopelessness of that song. Dennis Cooper's writings tend to haunt you most not when they are shocking or intense but when they have these moments of pastoral sadness that just radiate.
Lord Huron performed this song on Tuesday's Jimmy Kimmel Live. See it here:
www.youtube.com
Menomena performed live on KEXP from the Doug Fir Lounge during MusicfestNW back in 2012: www.youtube.com
Pitchfork ranked There's Nothing Wrong with Love No. 24 on its Top 100 Albums of the 90s list.
At 2665 miles from Seattle and assuming a 70mph speed limit, the bridge from Seattle to Hawaii would be a 38+ hour drive.
A wistful song for all of us dreaming of travel. Here's Tacocat performing LIVE on KEXP in 2019: www.youtube.com
Hannah Jadagu, an 18 year-old singer/songwriter from Mesquite, Texas.
“‘Think Too Much’ is the only song that I’d written with the intent of putting it on an EP,” Jadagu says. “Sonically, I was challenging myself to make a song that was high energy, fun, and a ‘bop,’ as I like to call it. At the time, I remember listening to a lot of Dayglow, Jean Dawson, and Winnetka Bowling League, and thinking to myself, ‘These people are making such catchy and fun songs without even trying.’ Then I thought to myself, ‘You’re really thinking too much.’ I asked all my friends what they thought about ‘too much,’ compiled their responses, chose some fun chords and rhythms inspired by Snail Mail and Phoenix, and went to work.”
The new album, Polydans, is out tomorrow! Find it here: iamroosevelt.bandcamp.com
20 Things You Didn’t Know About Blur’s ‘Parklife’: www.nme.com
Hello KEXP,
Thanks for all that you are doing to keep us sane this past year - you are so appreciated.
I am a high school physics teacher in Shoreline WA (and supporter/listener of your station). Every day when students enter my Zoom class, I have KEXP playing in the background. It's a really nice intro. :-)
Could you please tomorrow (Thurs 2/25), play "She Blinded me with Science" by Thomas Dolby, at either 8:51AM, 11:16AM or 1:31PM (that's when class starts and the radio is on) and give a shout out to Mr. Bagley's amazing physics students?
Anything to bring a smile to a teenager's faces these days - they need all the positive encouragement they can get...]
Keep on dishing!
Andrew Bagley
Physics Teacher
Shorewood HS
Seattle native Rudy Willingham is a DJ and producer who's also made a splash in the global arts community as a designer, copywriter, street artist, photographer, and product designer who's collaborated with the Seattle Seahawks, Seattle Sounders, and some of the world's biggest brands. Originally coming up in the Seattle music scene as one-half of the rap duo Slow Dance, Rudy's solo debut full-length album titled Dunk Reactions quickly become a KEXP favorite, recently being hailed as the #10 album of the year in our listener-voted countdown of the best albums of 2019.
The unconventional MC and the unconventional producer started working together a few years ago, in fact, and as laid out in a recent New York Times feature about the album, it was Four Tet’s Kieran Hebden who pushed Madlib to make what is being billed as his first proper solo album and compiled everything that the rapper sent him into a cohesive project. “I wasn’t looking at it being like I want to stamp my sound onto his in any way,” Hebden told the Times. “It was more, I want to take the things I like the most and make them as good as I possibly can.”
www.nytimes.com
These two lovely voices covered Radiohead's "Fake Plastic Trees" from 1995's " The Bends." It was recorded in a London church for BBC Radio 1’s Piano Sessions.: liveforlivemusic.com
You can also hear the duo perform 'Kyoto' as part of the same session:
www.youtube.com
Wow. Today is the 4 year anniversary of my husband David’s death. He succumbed to cancer as well. Music always soothed us. I finally had the strength to turn on KEXP this morning and the “Flirted with you all my life song” was playing. Thank you. Would you please play a song celebrating David a long time KEXP fan and supporter? Any song you choose will be wonderful.
-Maddie
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Maddie, this is for you and for David. You are not alone.
"Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns" tells the story of Mother Love Bone frontman Andrew Wood, his heroin addiction, and his fiancé, Xana La Fuente. La Fuente danced in a strip club to support the pair as Wood tried to break through in the music industry, hence the "dancer" in the title. She only lasted one hour before deciding it wasn't for her.
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Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard, who later formed Pearl Jam, were in Mother Love Bone along with Wood, Bruce Fairweather and Greg Gilmore. The entire band is credited as writers on this track. Pearl Jam has played this song live many times over their career.
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See a hand-held film of a live performance at Bumbershoot in 1989: www.youtube.com
Cornell spoke to Rock Power in March of 1992 about his lyrical goals and processes. "A lot of times, there's no particular intent to my songs lyrically," he said. "A lot of times, like on 'Searching With My Good Eye Closed,' I'll sort of let the music write the lyric. What I enjoy doing is making paintings with lyrics - creating colorful images. I think that's more entertaining and what music should be."
He continued, "My favorite thing to do is create a situation, a story, a circumstance, that doesn't exist. I'm not the type of writer who can say, 'Here's my sex song'; 'Here's my love song'; 'Here's my political song.'"
Watch Brandi Carlile with Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil, bassist Ben Shepherd and drummer Matt Cameron (and Peter Frampton on guitar) as part of a Chris Cornell Tribute Concert in 2019: bit.ly
You can watch Brandi's amazing performance of "Mad World" here: twitter.com
Songs From The Big Chair released on this day in 1985. This was used in the 1985 movie Real Genius, about a group of teen geniuses, led by Val Kilmer, who try to foil their professor's plot to sell their high-powered laser to the military. It's a tale as old as time...
Remembering Mark David Hollis, co-founder, lead singer and principal songwriter of the band Talk Talk who passed away two years ago at only 64.
www.kexp.org
Happy 62nd bday to Mike Peters of The Alarm!
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"Rain In The Summertime" was the last song they wrote for the album, and they did it as a band. "We had a huge battle and it tore us apart," Peters told Songfacts. "To get to the end of the record and have that song, it felt like we'd weathered a massive storm. We'd come through the eye of the hurricane, and here was the rain at the end of this intense period just to wash away all the ill feeling and bad experiences that we had, to bring us together."
www.songfacts.com
Blue Sky Mine was released on this day back in 1990. Midnight Oil are playing an intimate show tonight - if you're lucky enough to be in Australia. www.midnightoil.com
Miss Grit is the solo project of Margaret Sohn. “Grow Up To” opens with a heavily distorted guitar as the singer muses, “When I fall dead I’ll still crave the next place all the same / And in the morning I will wait till it’s late for my fate, resuscitate.” Sohn said in a statement about the song’s ending chant, “Grow up to, grow up to, grow up to is my ongoing obsession with what’s next. The lack of content with the present leads to the chaos and collapse of this song.”
Sohn’s 'Impostor' EP centers around the singer’s experience growing up half-Korean in the Michigan suburbs, and the impostor syndrome that followed as she came of age while studying music technology at New York University. This latest project is self-produced by Sohn, and aims to work through these feelings of self-doubt.
www.pastemagazine.com
missgrit.bandcamp.com