John Richards

Laid's sound, which is "stripped-down" as compared to their prior releases, was inspired by their recent experience touring as supporting act to Neil Young. Enlisting Brian Eno as producer, James recorded for six weeks at The Windings in Wrexham, Wales, and Real World Studios in Box, Wiltshire. The sessions also resulted in the experimental sixth studio album Wah Wah (1994).

Single from the band's second album that Thom Yorke said they were pressured into including on the release, even though he personally hated the song. Thom was wrong.

Rolling Stone says: The Smile have unearthed the unreleased Radiohead gem “Skrting on the Surface” for the latest single from the Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood side project. The track dates back to Radiohead’s In Rainbows sessions and was performed live a handful of times by both that band and Yorke’s Atoms for Peace side project before disappearing for a decade. With the Smile, “Skrting on the Surface” gets a technicolor makeover thanks to Greenwood’s arpeggios, Tom Skinner’s drum work and a bath of synths and subtle brass that accompany Yorke in the closing minutes. They've shared a video for the song, watch it here: youtu.be

The Head and The Heart will be at Marymoor Park in Redmond, WA on Friday, August 12th AND Saturday August 13th! bit.ly -- Their new album, "Every Shade of Blue," is set to be released on April 29th! The band says, “Every Shade Of Blue conveys a spectrum of emotions and how we live with them. The closer we get the more shades we see. The more shades we see the more responsibility we hold. We all want to feel loved and protected. The question is will we be supported and seen by the ones we love In Every Shade Of Blue.”

Good morning, John and crew. So my parents evacuated from their home because there is a fire in their neighborhood. They live in a cabin in the smoky mountains in Tennessee. Update from my mom this morning that homes on their street are still there. But the fire is zero contained. Could you please play Waxahatchee cover light of a clear blue morning? Sending out to Wears Valley, Sevier County, Dolly Parton's TN home 💗 Looking fwd to your 6 degrees of Dolly. (ugh) keep looking for the light and feeling grateful. Grateful my parents are safe. Glad you're back on air too Chris ---------- You can check out Dolly's original from her 1977 album 'New Harvest... First Gathering': www.youtube.com

Watch Kacey Musgraves performing this one live on SNL in 2018 here... it'll likely give you chills: youtu.be The New York Times had a video feature on Kacey Musgraves and her psychedelic path to "Golden Hour" -- tinyurl.com

Known best for the 1999 hit song "Babylon," this one from the English singer is the opening track from his debut album, 'A Century Ends,' released in 1993. www.davidgray.com

#86 of KEXP Listeners Favorite Songs from the Last 50 Years! Mike Scott began writing the songs for This Is the Sea in the spring of 1984. Scott recalls that in December 1984, "during The Waterboys' first American tour, he bought two huge hard-bound books... in which to assemble his new songs." For the following two months Scott worked on the songs in his apartment, writing the lyrics, and working on guitar and piano arrangements. Scott wrote between 35 and 40 songs, but felt that the nine songs that made it onto the album "were the ones that were intended to be there." Read an interview with Mike Scott about this song and this classic album: bit.ly The Waterboys came to KEXP and played an inspiring set in 2013; catch it here: bit.ly

U2 lead singer Bono listed this song on his "60 Songs That Saved My Life" playlist. “These are some of the songs that saved my life,’ Bono wrote of the playlist. “The ones I couldn’t have lived without… the ones that got me from there to here, zero to 60… through all the scrapes, all manner of nuisance, from the serious to the silly… and the joy, mostly joy.'” bit.ly

Despite having a number of singles originate from it, 'Loaded' failed to chart. It was the final album recorded featuring founding member and main songwriter Lou Reed, who left shortly before its release. Other founding members Sterling Morrison and Maureen Tucker would leave in 1971. For these reasons, it is often considered by fans to be the "last" Velvet Underground album.

The song is featured in the 2000 movie High Fidelity starring John Cusack and Jack Black, and is included on its soundtrack. --- American Songwriter wrote, "Love is certainly one of the pet topics on Talking Book, and the album features the masterful closing ballad '“I Believe (When I Fall In Love It Will Be Forever.)' As romantic testaments go, it’s hard to top, in part because Wonder understands that the bright side of love looks all the more luminous when compared to the unfathomable darkness of loneliness." americansongwriter.com

After the departure of their vocalist Shara Nelson, the Massive Attack trio concluded they could never replace her, so they chose to bring a new diversity to their sound with a selection of rotating guest vocalists. For their sophomore album's title track and lead single they recruited Everything but the Girl's Tracey Thorn, who penned the haunting love song's lyrics. Tracy Thorn had competing feelings after she received the tape of this song's backing track. She recalled to Mojo in 2016 her thinking at the time: "'On their one hand, 'I don't understand this at all.' On the other hand, 'I understand this completely. This is minimalism. I do minimalism. I get it.' And yet, it was being done in such a different format. I had to listen to it maybe ten times with complete bewilderment before I suddenly went, 'I know how to do this.'" bit.ly www.massiveattack.co.uk

LA indie rock act Warpaint's fourth studio album (their first in nearly six years) will be out on May 6th. You can pre-order 'Radiate Like This' here: www.warpaintwarpaint.com. The first single "Champion" is about “being a champion to oneself and for others,” the band said in a press release. “We are all in this together, life is too short not to strive for excellence in all that we do.” bit.ly Here's Live Video from Warpaint's 2016 KEXP In-Studio, hosted by Cheryl Waters: youtu.be.

Hatchie will be playing Neumos with Caroline Loveglow on May 21st! bit.ly You can check out Hatchie's 2019 KEXP in-studio here: bit.ly

Off the debut album from School of Seven Bells, originally formed by Benjamin Curtis, and twin sisters Claudia and Alejandra Deheza. Claudia left the group after touring for their second album, and Curtis passed away from lymphoma in 2013. Watch School of Seven Bells performing this one live at KEXP in 2009 here: youtu.be

Listen to Thurston Moore's 2019 haunting cover of New Order's "Leave Me Alone." Moore explained that he chose “Leave Me Alone” because he was amazed that New Order released such a “life-affirming song” after dealing with the suicide of Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis.: www.youtube.com

Nocturama is the twelfth studio album by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. It was recorded in one week during an Australian tour in March 2002, and reunited Nick Cave and guitarist Mick Harvey with producer Nick Launay, who had worked with their previous band The Birthday Party twenty-one years earlier. Launay noted: "I'll never forget the first day recording Nocturama... As soon as Nick walks in and sits at the piano, you're recording. The intensity is unlike any other band."

It's his life indeed. Talk Talk was fronted by Mark Hollis and signed to EMI in 1981. The label sent them on tour with another one of their acts, Duran Duran, and commissioned a slick video for their single "Talk Talk." Both bands had a new-wave synthesizer sound, but that was about all they had in common. Hollis did the required promotion but didn't enjoy it - interviews were clearly a work obligation. Musically, he was not going to be swayed by popular taste or record company pressure, and for the second Talk Talk album, which didn't appear until two years later, he included "It's My Life," a manifesto of sorts where he asserts his independence. www.songfacts.com

Good morning, John! We love you and thank you for continued motivation! In 2016 I shared my wife Heidi's cancer journey with you, and you graciously shared our story on the air. In recent months her cancer has returned more aggressively, disrupting her mobility, but never her spirit. Always a fighter, even in the face of difficult news. Heidi passed Wednesday of last week. She was an amazing, strong, intelligent woman who always faced problems head on. She loved life and loved her family with everything she had! She was also slightly addicted to the Seahawks, and being a mom to our 15 year old daughter. If you have time, can you please throw on *The Luckiest* by Ben Folds. It was our wedding song, and will likely play again at her memorial. I truly consider myself the Luckiest. We built an amazing life together, and although I'm more than heartbroken and hurting, I'm so thankful for the time we had. Mike in Shoreline =========== You are not alone Mike.

Great to have you back John - glad you are feeling better 👍 And as ever, thanks for talking about these things, because no-one does on the radio We'd love to hear some Bonny Light Horseman - if you fancied it. No worries if not Have a great day Dave & Helen in London ==========

Kurt Cobain listed She Hangs Brightly in his top fifty albums of all time. Here is the entire handwritten list: bit.ly

Good morning, Your set is so great and it would have been note perfect for my late friend Alicia. I remember messaging with you when she died and you were so supportive. Her struggle to be seen as who she was and not who everyone else needed her to be was likely also impacted by being a bit older. She LOVED the FOO like crazy, so I hope she's hanging with Taylor. Could you play Born This Way by Orville Peck. She didn't live long enough to hear Orville but I know we would have been enjoying that music together too. She closed every communication with I am now and always shall be your friend and she will forever be mine. Thanks and much love and peace to you!! -- -Thank you, Christine ============ Thank you Christine. ----- Orville Peck is playing Showbox SoDo Sunday June 12. bit.ly

In 2020, Dusty In Memphis was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". In its official press release, the library stated that despite its modest sales when first released, "over time, Dusty in Memphis grew in stature to become widely recognized as an important album by a woman in the rock era."

Beach House will be at The Paramount Theatre on Sunday, April 3. bit.ly . beachhouse.bandcamp.com www.beachhousebaltimore.com

This song was written by Ted Ottaviano (No relation to frontwoman Susan Ottaviano) about feeling excluded from a popular gay bar in the East Village. He said, " all of the sudden, there were these new places that were coming up that were identifying their clubgoers by their sexual politics… In our world, that was a big deal. We basically lived the life of art students and at night, we would go out to our favorite clubs. Now, all of the sudden, if you were a girl, you couldn’t go to this place.” Read the story behind this song: daily.redbullmusicacademy.com

That transition from Boy to If You Leave just made me stand up at my desk and pump my fist in the air!! Thanks for getting my lonnnng workday off to a great start, John. Love from Reno from Devon and two huge cats. 🤘😸 == "If You Leave" was recorded for the soundtrack to the film Pretty in Pink. A defining track of the 1980s, it was described by Interview as "one of the most influential, zeitgeist-capturing songs ever to be written"

@djjohnrichards if you place space age love song next I'll be ded - @ophelea23 Done.

WORDS FROM KRISTIN: - "On tour, my youngest son, Wyatt, found a cherry cough drop on the back seat of the car and asked, "is this a ruby?" I figure he'll be doing that for most of his life, but all I could think to tell him was that cough drops are more valuable than rubies when you have a cold." hersh-head.tripod.com

The band's 2001 album Rock Action gave them their highest UK album chart placing, reaching No. 23. The album was less guitar-led than previously, featuring more electronics; a larger than usual number of tracks also featured vocals, guest vocalists included David Pajo of Slint, Gruff Rhys of Super Furry Animals and Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol. Shortly afterwards the band released "My Father My King", a cacophonous 20-minute song which closed their Rock Action-period shows, and was billed as a companion piece to the album. en.wikipedia.org

The group noted in Bandcamp about recording 'The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place': "One night we decided to take a break and we drove out to the Monahans Sand Dunes, a few miles outside of Midland. This place is hard to describe. You're just surrounded by weird, untouched desert. And you can see all the stars in the sky... We brought a boom box with us and we laid down on the sand and listened to music. For some reason this made us feel better about things. The next night we were back in the basement practice space working on new songs. We can't remember if it got any easier or any less frustrating but somehow everything started to fall into place."

Lea Porcelain shared a Live on KEXP at Home performance with John in May of last year. They closed the set with "I Am OK" Find the performance and interview here: bit.ly "The song describes a time in everybody’s life that make you lose faith in yourself, in someone else, or in life itself and you just need to hear from someone that one day everything will be OK again. That no matter what, with time and patience we all will be OK.” - bit.ly