John Richards

This single was released, not on New Years Day, but instead on Jan 10, 1983. The album, February 28th of 1983. -- The lyric had its origins in a love song from Bono to his wife, but was subsequently reshaped and inspired by the Polish Solidarity movement. The bassline stemmed from bassist Adam Clayton trying to figure out the chords to the Visage song "Fade to Grey" during a soundcheck.

Aeon Station is a new project from Kevin Whelan of Wrens. Discussing the new single, Whelan said: This song was inspired by one of my all-time favorite songs, "The Winner Takes it All" by ABBA. It’s about betting on the real you. Like a game of high-stakes poker, you push all your chips to the center of the table and aren’t afraid to go “all in.” bit.ly aeonstation.bandcamp.com

Remember that time The War on Drugs did this song live on KEXP? THAT WAS AWESOME. www.youtube.com

Do you know where you're going Do you know where you've been Is it simple is it simple The chances seemed so slim

Blankenberge is KEXP's official Saint Petersburg, Russia based shoegaze band. It's true. Checked the manual and there it is on page 3,218, sub section 38, paragraph A. blankenberge.bandcamp.com

Makthaverskan is KEXP's official Swedish post-punk band. Like a highlander, there can only be one. Unless there's more, then there can be more. :) makthaverskan.bandcamp.com

Although it was the Sundays' biggest hit internationally, topping the U.S. Modern Rock Tracks chart for one week, the track was never released as a single in the group's native United Kingdom due to the collapse of the Rough Trade Records label. Nonetheless it achieved no. 36 placing in John Peel's Festive Fifty for 1990.

For Andrew in Sacramento...and you. == Prior to the forming his own project, Ian Broudie had been a member of the 1970s post-punk band Big in Japan and the new wave bands Original Mirrors and Care. By the late 1980s, Broudie was better known as a producer than as a musician, and had produced albums for new wave and alternative rock artists such as Echo & the Bunnymen, Wall of Voodoo and the Fall. In 1989, Broudie began recording alone under the name "Lightning Seeds". The name derives from a misheard lyric from Prince's 1985 hit single "Raspberry Beret", in which Prince sings the line "thunder drowns out what the lightning sees". This was the debut UK hit for The Lightning Seeds and the band's only Top 40 hit in the US.

A request from Rob, who is holding down the KEXP satellite office in Tacoma. -- Swedish pop band consisting of Andrew Wyatt and collab producting team Bloodshy & Avant perform as Miike Snow -- a name influenced by Japanese horror master Takashi Miike. Check out this video of Miike Snow performing their song "Burial" live on KEXP back in 2009: bit.ly

Hi John, Today is my brother Rob's birthday - the first he's had since our oldest brother Chris passed away in May. Rob and Chris were incredibly close, and I know he's going to be struggling today. Could you please play Pink Floyd's "Wish you Were Here"? We live on opposite sides of the country, and I wish more than anything that we could be together today. Thank you, -Cathy

From their forthcoming ninth album. J. Spaceman plays 16 different instruments on Everything Was Beautiful which was put down at 11 different studios, as well as at his home. www.spiritualized.com --- Playing Neptune on April 7th, 2022: bit.ly

Happy New Year! -- Ben Gibbard explained that it's not about him or even a specific person, but the girl in the song is an amalgamation of various women he's encountered. In the band's 2011 Storytellers special, Gibbard said that he often gets visions of familiar character types and places them in different settings when he writes songs. He said: "This song is about a person who came to me one day and said she wanted to be written about. So it's not really my story as much as it is hers. The song started out as a folk song, but it had to be ramped up a bit.": www.youtube.com -- Ben Gibbard was live in the KEXP Studio back on September 12, 2018: youtu.be

Hey John Happy New Year! Would you play something by The Sugarcubes? This song by The Sundays is putting me in a 1980s/1990s college radio mood. 😊 Thank you, Brian

Big Thief has officially announced their new 20-song double album "Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You" will be out on February 11th, 2022. Big Thief plays The Paramount Theatre on Monday, May 2nd, 2022. Tickets: www.ticketsqueeze.com

Vega said that the clanging percussion in this song was meant to recreate the sounds the "blood makes" in someone's head when someone's afraid, when their life is threatened, when they are provoked.: www.baltimoresun.com

The Walkmen performed "In the New Year" live for KEXP VIP Club members at Seattle's Triple Door in 2009: youtu.be

Spoon has announced a new album called "Lucifer on the Sofa." The group's tenth studio effort will arrive February 11, 2022. As frontman Britt Daniel explains, "Lucifer"will be a more straight-rock record compared to the last Spoon album, 2017's dance and electronic-oriented "Hot Thoughts." -- KEXP premiered the first single "The Hardest Cut," described to KEXP by co-founder and frontman Britt Daniel as "kind-of a highway rock, boogie kind of song, which we've never done before." www.kexp.org

The Parrots follow up to their 2016 debut album "Los Niños Sin Miedo" featuring production from The Horrors' Tom Furse.

New year.. I am holding out on happy and new as well we said this before and that turned out well... But in that vein of surprise I went for my third time to America Utopia on NY Day. I knew as I had an email that things were not the same in the show and it was due to half the cast and crew out with Covid. So like many Broadway shows that have taken a hiatus or gone on with understudies so did Byrne but he did it differently. He reworked the show over Christmas and with a skeleton crew they did Storyteller meets Unplugged. It was joy. They did Talking Heads and some of Byrne's own songs. He would talk about the history and then out from the little silver curtains a survivor would emerge and they fucked up and they improvised and I wept with joy. I danced as well the last time I went I was sitting with three seats alongside empty and this time the same and so it was amazing. In fact this was the first time many in the audience danced... But it was ONCE IN A LIFETIME And that is my hint to ask if you would play that for all of us who survived a pandemic we hope once in a lifetime Tanya - Jersey City but always from Seattle…

Tatiana in SF writes: It's my birthday! Can you please play some Bowie for me? Any Bowie, all the Bowie!! -- According to author Nicholas Pegg, "The Jean Genie" originated as an impromptu jam, at this point titled "Bussin'," on the tour bus between the first two concerts in Cleveland and Memphis, when Mick Ronson began playing the Bo Diddley-inspired guitar riff on his new Les Paul. It subsequently became the first song Bowie composed for Aladdin Sane.

Goodmorning! I would like to to request Run Away With Me by Deep Sea Diver. My girlfriend Danika is finally leaving for college after being delayed by Covid , And want to wish her the best. This year we were lucky enough to see Deep Sea live , and was one of our best memories of the year , also lucky again meeting them at Courtney Barnet concert. They gave us both so many smiles so this would be a great send off and thank you Dan in Edmonds

Chelsey and wife is Carrie writing to say our daughter Remy James turns 3 today and we wanted to kindly request Fisherman's Blues by the Waterboys. We love you so much and appreciate everything you do. Thank you!!. We're in Seattle (currently driving to daycare and jamming out to KEXP. Morning ritual.) Thank you!!! You and your show are the positivity and hope and realness we need in the world right now. Thank you for bringing that into our lives - with and through powerful and brilliant music selections, every day.

American-bred garage band Acid Tongue's 3rd full length album "Arboretum" was just released! www.acidtonguemusic.com

Second collaborative EP from these acts -"Texas Moon" is the follow-up to their previous collaboration, "Texas Sun." "Texas Moon" will be out February 18th, 2022. Watch the video: www.youtube.com

Before Eric Burdon of The Animals joined, the group was known as Nightshift and was playing backup for Deacon Jones, of the NFL's Los Angeles Rams famed "Fearsome Foursome" defensive front line (also featuring Rosy "It's Alright to Cry" Grier, AND Merlin "Father Murphy" Olsen of Little House on the Prairie), who was trying to become a soul singer. The group was re-named War and played with Burdon for two albums, both credited to "Eric Burdon and War.": www.allmusic.com == Joe writes: "This summer my wife and I got drunk in Woodinville winery district and wandered over to Chateau St Michelle where War was playing and just danced outside the front gates like weirdos, while they were playing a super extended version of this song. It was super awesome."

FUTURENOT is Jason Cressey and Peter Daniel of Seattle’s funk, soul, and jazz scene. “Be the Change” is the first song that Cressey and Daniel wrote together. Inspired by hanging out at the park, it draws musical inspiration from the sounds, vibrations, and attitude of the Nat & Cannonball Adderley Quintet. “It’s our attempt at a jazz standard." tinyurl.com The album came out on November 19th.

This track backs Jamiroquai's best known music video. At the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards, it earned ten nominations, and won four awards, including "Breakthrough Video" and the "Best Video of the Year". www.youtube.com

The Budos Band stopped by the KEXP studio back in April 2019. Watch their full performance here: www.youtube.com

1965 hit single by the Animals. It has become an iconic song of its type and was immensely popular with United States Armed Forces G.I.s during the Vietnam War.

Released on this day in 1980, the debut album by The Jim Carroll Band, led by Jim Carroll, who is notable for publishing the 1978 memoir The Basketball Diaries

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” last year. They dropped two new singles 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

Stockholm-based trio VERO have shared their latest single ‘Beg!’. Released via PNKSLM Recordings and one half of an upcoming 7″ single that’s set for release on 14th January, the track is saturated with brooding bass lines, swirling riffs and stinging vocals. getinherears.com --- smarturl.it

I am the sun I am the new year I am the rain I am the sun I am the new year I'm the way home

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

For Samuel in Baton Rouge! ===== Folk supergroup Bonny Light Horseman comprised of Anais Mitchell, Josh Kaufman and Eric D. Johnson of the Fruitbats, share their first record together. Pitchfork review comments that, “on their self-titled debut, the trio reimagines centuries of standards for our fractious political climate, making old chestnuts feel new.” You can check out the review right here: thankfolkforthat.com

"Hi John, long time listener! I love the station and everything you guys stand for. Keep it up! Song request: REM – strange currencies Big hugs! Cheers - Pat." ====== Stipe has said that the song is about "when somebody actually thinks that, through words, they're going to be able to convince somebody that they are their one and only."

Erik Walters is an American song writer based out of Seattle, Washington. His album releases on January 21, 2022 erikwalters.com

Devo was founded by Jerry Casale and Mark Mothersbaugh, who were both at Kent State University when four unarmed students were shot to death by the US National Guard. This had a profound effect on Jerry and Mark, who developed the idea of "De-evolution," meaning that humans were devolving rather than evolving. Don't let this one fool you. Most of this song is about how wonderful the world is, a "sweet romantic plac with beautiful people everywhere." But at the end, it turns around with the line, "But not for me." Jerry Casale of Devo told Songfacts: "We wanted to get everybody into a mood where people thought Devo was saying the world was really nice and saying the world was beautiful, then it turns out to be one man's opinion, which is mine, which is, while the world could be beautiful, it's not for me because of what I'm seeing." "Beautiful World" - official video: youtu.be "Beautiful World" - live at The Observatory in Los Angeles: youtu.be

'A Way Forward" was voted #4 by KEXP Listeners in KEXP's Top 90.3 Albums of 2021, and it was #1 on John's list! If you missed their Seattle performance in October, don't despair! They'll be back in town at The Crocodile on Thursday, March 24th, 2022!: bit.ly Watch Nation of Language perform LIVE on KEXP here: www.youtube.com

"I Feel You" demonstrates a more rock-oriented sound, using more non-electronic instruments than ever before. For example, Alan Wilder plays drums, and Martin Gore plays the guitar, but with electronic sounds still included, like the synthesized tyre screeching intro.

"Acclaimed by KEXP as “one of the most exciting and joyous acts to emerge in recent years,” the band features frontman Tom Eddy’s compelling vocals over an effortlessly deep pocket and energetic melodies from the three-piece Honeynut Horns. " thedip.bandcamp.com The Dip will be playing at The Showbox on Friday March 4. 2022!