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Thursday, Dec 9 2021, 7AM
Six years ago today we moved into our new home! This was the very first song we played.
www.thestranger.com
In the "Self Interview" on the DVD of the concert film Stop Making Sense, David Byrne states that this is a love song, a topic he tends to avoid because it is "kinda big":
That's a love song made up almost completely of non sequiturs, phrases that may have a strong emotional resonance but don't have any narrative qualities. It's a real honest kind of love song. I don't think I've ever done a real love song before. Mine always had a sort of reservation, or a twist. I tried to write one that wasn't corny, that didn't sound stupid or lame the way many do. I think I succeeded; I was pretty happy with that.
Steve Bronski, a founding member of the trailblazing British synth-pop trio Bronski Beat, has died, a source close to the group has confirmed. The BBC reported his age as 61. No cause of death was given.
His bandmate Jimmy Somerville described him as a “talented and very melodic man. Working with him on songs and the one song that changed our lives and touched so many other lives, was a fun and exciting time. Thanks for the melody, Steve.”
www.bbc.com
Khruangbin and Leon Bridges have announced their second collaborative EP. Texas Moon follows last year’s Texas Sun EP. The new record is out February 18 via Dead Oceans.
“Without joy, there can be no real perspective on sorrow,” Khruangbin said of the new EP in press materials. “Without sunlight, all this rain keeps things from growing. How can you have the sun without the moon?” The band’s Laura Lee added: “It’s like a short story. And it leaves room to continue having these stories together. It’s not Khruangbin, it’s not Leon, it’s this world we created together.”
khruangbin.bandcamp.com
Jon Batiste has been nominated 11 times in this year's Grammys - (a tally exceeded only twice, by Michael Jackson in 1984 and Babyface in 1997), including for album of the year and record of the year.
For top Grammy nominee Jon Batiste, music is both birthright and calling. So is protest: www.latimes.com
In addition to Pat Banton, Burning London: The Clash Tribute includes covers by No Doubt, Ice Cube, Indigo Girls, Moby, The Mighty Bosstones, and more! en.wikipedia.org
Ranking Roger is one of the frontmen of The Beat, who toured with The Clash. He recorded an alternative version of the song in 1981 with Clash members Strummer and Mick Jones. It was finally released in 2014 to raise money for Joe Strummer’s charity, Strummerville.
Great to see so many people supporting them via bandcamp. Their limited orange vinyl edition of "Everything" sold out its 150 copies in a minute! If you didn't get one, they're planning on a second pressing in spring 2022
blankenberge.bandcamp.com
This song was released in 1992 as the band's debut single, later appearing on the studio album "Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We"?
An Ireland-only version of the track was originally released in 1990. Here's the official video - bit.ly
For Brian from Rhode Island
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This song samples Irish folk artist Mary O'Hara. Angelakos explained to Ireland's State Magazine: "I'm big fan of '70s singer/songwriters and just general folk artists. Mary O'Hara was part of the revival over seas and also in the American '70s folk scene. When I came across her traditional folk stuff and I was absolutely blown away."
New Order and Pet Shop Boys with Paul Oakenfold are playing at Climate Pledge Arena October 14th, 2022!
Find more info and all their tour dates here: bit.ly
Placebo have a new studio album, "Never Let Me Go" out on March 25th. It is Placebo's first studio album in over eight years and their first album to be recorded as a duo, following the departure of drummer Steve Forrest in 2015.
Find the album here: www.placeboworld.co.uk
The New Pornographers performed "The Surprise Knock" live in the KEXP studio back on January 30, 2020.
See it here: www.youtube.com
The Georgia EP is a five-track project that raised over $100,000 for Fair Fight Action, the Stacey Abrams-founded organization that combats voter suppression. In celebration of the Georgia results, it's been re-released: deathcabforcutie.bandcamp.com
They were joined by R.E.M.'s Peter Buck and Mike Mills for this cover at the Todos Santos Music Festival. Watch the fan-held video: bit.ly
"Bigmouth Strikes Again" was about Morrissey's frustration with the music industry, specifically Morrissey's negative experiences with the music press. When asked by the NME about the song, Morrissey replied, "I can't think of one sentence [I regret saying]. We're still at that stage where if I rescued a kitten from drowning, they'd say: 'Morrissey Mauls Kitten's Body'. So what can you do?"
Bikini Kill have a bunch of local shows in the fall of 2022! Go to them all!
bit.ly
Material Issue's cover of The Green Pajamas' "Kim the Waitress" Kim was a waitress at an all night diner called Mr. Ed's Coffee Shop in West Seattle where the Green Pajamas used to hang out back in the summer of 1984.
Read the whole story: www.angelfire.com
This is a cover of the Len classic- Stereogum says, "In 1999, a group of Canadian rap heads called Len sampled an Andrea True Connection disco hit and made a dizzy, shambling, glorious one-off. The song went top-10 in a whole lot of countries, including the US, and Len, who seemed utterly bemused by the experience, never made another hit."
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That's Cherry Glazerr's frontwoman Clementine Creevy assisting with vocals on the song.
Electronic were an English supergroup formed by singer/guitarist Bernard Sumner (of New Order) and guitarist Johnny Marr (of The Smiths). Neil Tennant of Pet Shop Boys, is singing on this track.
New Order and Pet Shop Boys with Paul Oakenfold are playing at Climate Pledge Arena October 14th, 2022!
This title translates from French as "Tell Me A Story," but here at KEXP we all know it as "The Frog Song."
"As adults hardened by the years of experience, it is hard to envision the world detailed in the lyrics, but through the sincerity of her voice – yes, just her voice alone – but also the sincerity in how she recites the narrative, with such genuine BELIEF in this narrative, it is truly a moving thing to behold. And by the power of empathy and the connection with this girl, through her voice and vocals, you can now transport to her openness, to her imagination, and believe the narrative as well. And thus, you shall become a frog." bit.ly
Known for pointing a finger at the bummers of the season, Harvey Danger's "Sometimes You Have To Work on Christmas" was immortalized in this music video that showed off many classic '90s U-District haunts: www.youtube.com
Tom Petty explained: "That was a song that took a long time to write. Roger McGuinn swears he told me the line - about the waiting being the hardest part - but I think I got the idea from something Janis Joplin said on television. I had the chorus very quickly, but I had a very difficult time piecing together the rest of the song. It's about waiting for your dreams and not knowing if they will come true. I've always felt it was an optimistic song."
Read the story of Tacoma band Seaweed, "the punk band that made a career on the outskirts of Seattle’s city limits -- and its success.": www.revolutioncomeandgone.com
KARP were from Tumwater, WA, formed in 1990 and lasted until 1998. The band was started by Chris Smith a.k.a. Chris "Slayer", Jared Warren and Scott Jernigan. They released three full-length albums titled Mustaches Wild, Suplex, and Self Titled LP. They also released several EPs and 7" records.
karp1.bandcamp.com
"I Want Candy" is a song written and originally recorded by the Strangeloves in 1965. The Strangeloves were a group of producers who'd had a big hit with “My Boyfriend’s Back” by The Angels. They were inspired to write "I Want Candy" in 1965 after they took a trip to the 1964 World’s Fair in Flushing, Queens, New York. While at the World’s Fair the producers saw a performance by Candy Johnson, a dancer known as “Miss Perpetual Motion.”
groovyhistory.com
Film director Jim Jarmusch used to consider music videos as a movie in miniature until he got into a fight with Tom Waits over the making of the one for this song.
"We had a big fight in which I dropped him in an enclosed parking lot behind a metal door in LA in the middle of the night," Jarmush added. "He was pounding on the door. I vividly remember the insult, which no one has ever said to me again. He yelled through the door, 'God dammit, Jim, I'm going to glue your hair to the wall.' At which point I let him back in. It was a fight between friends. We reconciled."
The KEXP Song of the day on September 24th as chosen by John!
www.kexp.org
Contrary to popular myth, the album was not entirely recorded in one day. In the hustle of the first recording session, the band did not have time to record Timmins' a cappella chanting on "Mining for Gold". She and Moore recorded the song a few days later during the Toronto Symphony Orchestra's lunch break.
en.wikipedia.org
In the band's 2005 autobiography, U2 by U2, Bono calls the song "a little disturbed." He explained: "'There's a silence that comes to a house when no one can sleep' is a great line, and I can say that with all modesty because I stole it from [fiction writer] Raymond Carver. My apologies. It is an epic U2 song but again the key of it left my voice in a conversational place and allowed a different kind of lyric writing. It has almost a Motown chorus: 'Baby, baby, baby, light my way.' This was the peak, the mountain top of babies. But it disguises very dark content: 'Your love is a secret that's been passed around.' Jealousy. Infidelity. Love rears its ugly head again."
This is actually two songs in one (the clue's in the title!). "Fly Boy Blue" is a stream of consciousness images of travel and coming home. "Lunette" is not only a first draft lyric, but also a one-take vocal too. "It's a love song to three things," Garvey said. "Smoking, drinking and a woman. If it just had pasta in there it would be complete! Though, actually," he added, very seriously, "I have an aversion to food in songs. I just do." : www.youtube.com
The song was first recorded by Doye O'Dell in 1948, and was popularized the following year in three separate recordings: one by country artist Ernest Tubb, one by musical conductor and arranger Hugo Winterhalter and his orchestra and chorus, and one by bandleader Russ Morgan and his orchestra. Elvis first recorded his version in 1957
An Erin Austin original!
Find the Ladies' solo projects:
www.oksweetheart.com
www.lydiaramseymusic.com
www.kuinkatheband.com
Hi John & CO
I vividly remember last year streaming the Ladies performance from your lawn. I am out in Missouri, it was cold & dreary. I had just gone to one of my first OB appointments & heard my daughters heartbeat for the first time. I had to go alone and masked (thanks pandemic), it was such a surreal experience & there was just so much uncertainty. Then I streamed your show & sang along with Ladies on the way home and was able to let that go and just focus in on the cheer & hope that this season can bring.
Today I’m singing along with my 5 month old. Thanks for the memories
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Megan
Beach House is playing The Paramount Theatre on Sunday, April 3.
bit.ly
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Ahead of the arrival of 'Once Twice Melody' in February, Beach House with the second batch of songs - “Runaway,” “ESP,” “New Romance,” and “Over And Over”.
Together, the tracks help to add a few more pieces to the puzzle that is Once Twice Melody all while leaving fans waiting for more.
In an interview back in January, Victoria Legrand spoke about her and bandmate Alex Scally’s songwriting process. “I’ve always said music is very personal to Alex and I, but it’s not just that I got my heart broken by this guy or girl, it’s I got my heart broken by the whole world,” she said. “Or all the things I ever heard about somebody’s heartbreak, it’s in me somehow. It’s like this stain and it’s coming out because I hear these tones and these chords and these notes, and they make me feel like crying or they make me completely euphoric. That’s the thing that hasn’t changed, but I think it’s become amplified. And that is why I don’t think we’re done making records.”
Chapter 2: youtu.be
bit.ly