John Richards

John Richards

John Richards

The Morning Show
Last show: Wednesday, Oct 23 2024, 7AM
john@kexp.org
Thursday, Dec 2 2021, 7AM
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7:06 AM
117th spin
Don't you love Thom Yorke's voice here? PJ Harvey told an interviewer, "“I wrote this song with his voice in mind, hoping he’d say, ‘Yes, I’ll sing it,’ and that he’d find something in the lyrics. He said yes almost straight away.”: therumpus.net -- Want to see the great Polly Jean Harvey singing it solo live?: www.youtube.com
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7:10 AM
29th spin
MATT PINFIELD [former MTV VJ and host of “120 Minutes”]: When I was at MTV, the industry was trying to write off the band as a one-hit wonder with “Creep,” but I absolutely loved The Bends as well. We would get heat from other record companies, they would say to us, “Our record sold 20,000 more than Radiohead this week, why do you keep promoting their record?” And we said, “Because it’s great!” We stood our ground, and it was something that the band really appreciated. pitchfork.com
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Initially they released a demo tape under the name "Empty Set". Post-release, the band changed their name from Empty Set to Chewbacca Kaboom, upon realization that a band with the name Empty Set already existed. However, when another demo tape was released, the new name earned them little attention, and it was yet again subject to change, this time to 'One Day I Stopped Breathing'. The band eventually settled on the name Sunny Day Real Estate.
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7:19 AM
12th spin
Slint formed in Louisville, KY in 1986. This album turned 30 this year. bit.ly -- Slint's "Good Morning, Captain" is a song with "a dark history": www.treblezine.com
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New sounds from this London group. The new album, "Ants From Up There" is due out Feb 4th, 2022. Make sure to check out their February 2021 release "For The First Time" as well! blackcountrynewroad.bandcamp.com
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Here's Frightened Rabbit performing live at The Triple Door as part of KEXP's VIP Club Concert series in 2013: www.youtube.com
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Here's a review of this prolific band's fourth album in four years: guitar.com and check out IDLES' Live at KEXP at Home performance with IDLES sharing songs recorded exclusively for KEXP and talking with Kevin Cole. Recorded Thursday, October 1, 2020. bit.ly
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7:43 AM
107th spin
Howdy John, I would love to here some Dilly Dally. It’s just that kind of day! Gracias. Spencer in Texas =========== Dilly Dally performed live in the KEXP studio in 2018 and chatted with Troy Nelson. They opened with "I Feel Free", followed it up with "Marijuana", "Sober Motel" and closing with "Heaven". The set list almost forms a sentence. Watch it all here: youtu.be -- “I Feel Free,” the band exemplified this revivement of the band in an almost literal sense. The clip, directed by frontwoman Katie Monks, sees Monks exhume her dead and buried bandmates and attempts to bring them back to life. “This song is me asking my bandmates to let go of what’s been weighing us down,” says Monks. “We’re not going to let the past hold us back from our dreams. Let’s do this thing.” "I Feel Free" was a KEXP Song of the Day in 2018. Subscribe and download for free here: kexp.org
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In 2017 The Guardian put together their list of the 10 best Jesus and Mary Chain songs: www.theguardian.com
The Psychedelic Furs, The Jesus and Mary Chain, and Frankie Rose
Tuesday, Oct 29, 2024  
Event Info
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7:53 AM
14th spin
Chastity Belt will release "Fake" b/w "Fear" TOMORROW. The band's Lydia Lund wrote "Fear" about the ambient terror of trying to communicate with other people.: chastity-belt.bandcamp.com Pre-order the 7" on coke bottle green vinyl chastity-belt.bandcamp.com
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7:57 AM
91st spin
Karen O talking about "Despair": "It's a reassurance, and just what I needed when I was writing it. It was like a nurturing and reassuring letter to myself and to anyone else going through something hard."
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8:01 AM
43rd spin
Robert Alfons AKA TR/ST stopped by KEXP after the release of The Destroyer - Part 1 early in 2019 and spoke with KEXP DJ Abbie. Watch this dark, intimate session here: www.youtube.com
Provoker and TR/ST
Friday, Nov 15, 2024  
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Here is Telekinesis performing "Ghosts and Creatures" live on KEXP at Mellow Johnny's Bike Shop in Austin, TX, during SXSW in 2013: www.youtube.com and check out Michal Lerner performing it solo in West Seattle at our Hood to Hood Day in 2015: www.youtube.com
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8:08 AM
18th spin
John selected this song about '60s surfer/financial criminal Miklos "Miki" Dora as a KEXP Song of the Day: www.kexp.org --- Damon McMahon (Amen Dunes) performed live on The Morning Show in 2018. Check out "Miki Dora" from that set: www.youtube.com
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"All the Love in the World" features Dave Grohl on drums
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8:21 AM
3rd spin
Lonely Guest is a new project conceived and produced by Tricky. The self-titled debut album features the late Lee “Scratch” Perry, plus appearances from Idles’ Joe Talbot, Maxïmo Park’s Paul Smith, Marta, Oh Land, Breanna Barbara, and more. falseidols.bandcamp.com
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8:24 AM
328th spin
This track is built around a sample of the 1973 song (that you just heard), "Sometimes I Cry" by the jazz pianist Les McCann. It's taken from a vinyl record with lots of pops and scratches that are essential to the sound. When Massive Attack performed the song live in 2019, they replayed the sample from a reel-to-reel tape recorder to preserve the analog sound. -- The vocals are performed by Elizabeth Fraser, former lead singer of Cocteau Twins, who also wrote the lyrics. "Teardrop" was originally set to feature vocals from Madonna, whom Massive Attack turned down in favor of Fraser.
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8:30 AM
20th spin
The new album - dropping January 14, 2022 - features Jamila Woods, Joji, Kadhja Bonet, O’Flynn and Miguel Atwood-Ferguson. Playing Showbox SoDo on March 22nd. bonobomusic.bandcamp.com bonobomusic.com
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8:34 AM
68th spin
Glass Animals are playing WaMu Theater March 11, 2022. bit.ly Frontman Dave Bayley told The Quietus the story of the song: "'Gooey' started off as a beat I'd made for a hip hop artist," he said. "I was just going through some beats I had made for someone, choosing which to send off, and I got to this one and listened to it a couple times. At that point it was just the bass line, drums, percussion, and little glock riff. All of a sudden those chords popped into my head and I got the piano out and started tinkering and then the, 'Right, my little Pooh Bear' vocal line popped into my head, and then the rest. I ended up making this eight-minute groove track. Then I showed it to the guys and we took it to the studio where we shaved off a few minutes." bit.ly Enjoy this video for "Gooey": youtu.be
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8:41 AM
1st spin?!
The drums in the song are samples from "It's a New Day" by Skull Snaps, "Amen, Brother" by the Winstons, and "Heavy Soul Slinger" by Bernard Purdie.
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U.K. duo The Chemical Brothers released thier ninth studio album, titled 'No Geography' after a poem by Michael Brownstein. Vocals on this one are from Norwegian singer Aurora, who was with us at the KEXP Studio in 2019: www.youtube.com.
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8:52 AM
16th spin
"Never, Never, Land" contains samples from the movies The Prophecy, Jacob's Ladder, THX 1138 and The Thin Red Line.
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Producer Owen Morris says that despite the friction between the Gallagher brothers, "The sessions were the best, easiest, least fraught, most happily creative time I've ever had in a recording studio. I believe people can feel and hear when music is dishonest and motivated by the wrong reasons. Morning Glory, for all its imperfection and flaws, is dripping with love and happiness."
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10 things you didn't know about The Verve's Urban Hymns album: www.radiox.co.uk
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9:08 AM
14th spin
Loop, formed in London in 1986 by vocalist/guitarist Robert Hampson, have just announced Sonancy, their first album since 1990's A Gilded Eternity. The album will be out March 11 via Cooking Vinyl. Leader Hamson says "I also wanted to take a post-punk sound, spin it on its head and mix it with a psych influence. A total gumbo. Which has always been Loop, this mash-up of spicy rhythms.”
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9:12 AM
56th spin
Medicine are perhaps best known for their cameo appearance in The Crow, in which they performed "Time Baby II", although the soundtrack album included a different version titled "Time Baby III" which features guest vocals from the Cocteau Twins' Elizabeth Fraser.
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9:16 AM
73rd spin
Keyboard player Neil Codling commented to Uncut: "We've always drawn people who share that outsider culture. Outsiders is a simple statement of what we are, along the lines of 'Trash' and 'Beautiful Ones,' a rallying cry for the excluded." www.songfacts.com
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9:20 AM
3rd spin
On October 12th Geese shared a live performance recorded exclusively for KEXP and spoke with Cheryl Waters: bit.ly geesebandnyc.bandcamp.com
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9:24 AM
42nd spin
English post punk band Gang of Four enjoyed little commercial success but their blend of punk with funk has been influential on a number of 21st century bands including Bloc Party and Franz Ferdinand. This song was the lead track on their debut EP, which was an indie hit. They later included it on their first album, "Entertainment!" on the EMI record label.
Gang of Four
Tuesday, May 20, 2025  
Event Info
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9:27 AM
52nd spin
Wet Leg are playing at the Sunset Tavern on March 26, 2022! bit.ly Wet Leg swept KEXP by storm with their singles, “Wet Dream” and “Chaise Longue” this year. They dropped two new singles Monday and announced their self-titled debut album will be released in April 2022. DJ Larry Mizell Jr. sat down with British band Wet Leg for a recent KEXP Sound & Vision podcast and found out just how silly they really are. Check out the whole segment here: www.kexp.org
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9:30 AM
16th spin
The Linda Lindas are back with a new song that pays tribute to a very good cat, “Nino.” “Nino” also helped balance the scales and set things right in Salazar’s home after she paid tribute to her other cat, a Siamese named Monica, on the Linda Lindas’ 2020 self-titled EP. The band also added of the song in a statement, “If you listen carefully there is a real-life, remarkably talented cat named Lil Dude playing piano on it. www.rollingstone.com
The Linda Lindas with Be Your Own Pet
Wednesday, Mar 26, 2025  
Event Info
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Blondie's self-titled debut album was released *45* years ago today! The first single "X Offender" was originally titled "Sex Offender", but since radio stations would not play a song with such a provocative title, the band renamed the song.
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The news is so rough today, and we have lots of work to do. I'm thinking of Stacey Abrams - would you please play Turntables? Thanks! Larissa ============ “I’m simply watching, examining, and wanting to highlight all of the people who are on the frontlines fighting for our democracy, fighting against racial inequalities, fighting against white supremacy, fighting against systemic racism, and systemic oppression. So, this song is to keep us motivated. This song is to uplift us and keep us galvanized when we’re fatigued. And this song is really for the people," says Janelle Monáe. bit.ly.
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Shaina Shepherd will be participating in this year's SMooCH Benefit, on December 11th! smoochforkids.com Find out more about this Lee Fields cover from local artist Shaina Shepherd here: megamart.subpop.com
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New York-based trio Sunflower Bean explained the inspiration for this single in a statement: "So many things in our lives are disposable. Content and news is consumed and discarded leaving us unfulfilled. “Baby Don’t Cry” is about enjoying the real. The things right in front of us that give us meaning and how sometimes, even sad songs can give you that warm feeling of hope." bit.ly Cheryl Waters hosted Sunflower Bean Live in the KEXP studio in 2018: youtu.be sunflowerbean.bandcamp.com www.sunflowerbeanband.com
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9:47 AM
19th spin
Brooklyn's Bodega have announced their second full-length album, Broken Equipment, which will be out March 11th. "Sometime on tour near the end of 2019 I found myself reading and watching a plethora of self-help books and YouTube vids,” says the band's Ben Hozie, explaining the idea behind the lyric. “This started from a genuine desire for spiritual and physical improvement, but I soon started noticing how advertisements everywhere were utilising the language of self-help. I was being programmed. ‘You don’t have time to cook dinner tonight because you are too busy crushing it as a doer: You are creating next level content and don’t have time to hang out w/ friends or family this weekend so download this app and have ready-made food delivered to you for 29.99.’ This ideology of constant productivity forces you to treat your own body, mind, time, and friends as products to mine. As a result, the world becomes a smaller, duller place.” www.brooklynvegan.com
Freakout 2024
Thursday, Nov 7, 2024  
Event Info
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9:50 AM
4th spin
Joy Division cover from Seaweed's final album. The Stranger determined that "the power that shifts and surges underneath what seem at first to be gentle melodies makes Actions and Indications a handy cure for pop/punk-induced malaise."
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Unknown Pleasures is the only Joy Division album released during lead singer Ian Curtis's lifetime. Factory Records did not release any singles from Unknown Pleasures, and the album did not chart despite the relative success of the group's non-album debut single "Transmission." It has since received sustained critical acclaim as an influential post-punk album, and has been named as one of the best albums of all time by publications such as NME, AllMusic, Select, and Spin. bit.ly
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9:58 AM
2nd spin
The Killers with Johnny Marr will be next door at Climate Pledge Arena on August 20th, 2022. bit.ly The next EP, Fever Dreams Pt 2 is set to release on December 17th.
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This title track was recorded on the band's second attempt. James explained to UK newspaper The Sun that the song is about the circular nature of life. Originally conceived as a Muppets song for Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem, the song was to be performed by My Morning Jacket live with the Muppets on stage with the band behind a curtain, playing live. However, when the Muppets project was disbanded, the song was recorded for 'Circuital'. bit.ly
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