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Monday, May 16 2022, 7AM
Good morning and welcome to the Monday edition of the Morning Show with John!
"Strange Fruit" is a song written and composed by Abel Meeropol and recorded by Billie Holiday in 1939. The lyrics were drawn from a poem by Meeropol published in 1937. The song protests the lynching of Black Americans with lyrics that compare the victims to the fruit of trees. Such lynchings had reached a peak in the Southern United States at the turn of the 20th century, and the great majority of victims were black. The song has been called "a declaration" and "the beginning of the civil rights movement"
Read ‘Strange Fruit’: The Timely Return of One of America’s Most Powerful Protest Songs on Rolling Stone, about this powerful cover and other versions of the important song over the years: www.rollingstone.com
When Paul McCartney wrote “Let It Be,” he sent a demo to Aretha in the hopes she’d record it, knowing full well she’d outsing him on it. (Needless to say, she did.) (via Roling Stone)
Another sad Monday morning following the horrible events in Buffalo this past weekend.
www.michaelkiwanuka.com
As requested by the AMAZING Gabriel Teodros!
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"How the hell are y'all going to heal, be made whole?"
Minneapolis rap veteran Brother Ali has earned wide critical acclaim for his deeply personal, socially conscious, and inspiring brand of hip-hop.
"This Is America" is a song by American rapper Donald Glover, under his musical stage name Childish Gambino. Written by Glover, Ludwig Göransson, and Jeffery Lamar Williams, and produced by Glover and Göransson, it was released on May 5, 2018, at the same time that Gambino was hosting an episode of Saturday Night Live.
The song features background vocals by American rappers Young Thug (who also has writing credit as Williams), Slim Jxmmi of Rae Sremmurd, BlocBoy JB, Quavo of Migos, and 21 Savage.
The song addresses the wider issue of gun violence in the United States, the high rate of mass shootings in the United States, along with other social issues that are presumed to be aftereffects of historically prevalent systemic racism and discrimination. bit.ly
Writing the Hendrix biography Jimi Hendrix: Electric Gypsy, commentators Harry Shapiro and Caesar Glebbeek summarise "Castles Made of Sand" as "a sharply observed reflection on life's bitter ironies". Addressing the lyrics of the song, Shapiro and Glebbeek go on to discuss the significance of sand within the track as a metaphor "for the temporary nature of existence, of time slipping away, how nothing can be taken for granted – love, loyalty, family bonds, [and] friendship"
Music from Questlove's fantastic documentary about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival series in New York's Mount Morris Park. SUMMER OF SOUL premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won both the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award. -www.searchlightpictures.com
"Good morning, I'd love to hear like a ship by Leon Bridges if you can fit it in.
Mindy"
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Leon Bridges is playing two nights at Marymoor Park, Tuesday & Wednesday, August 30-31, with Little Dragon.
bit.ly
This is Leon Bridges' cover of the 1971 Pastor T. L. Barrett And The Youth For Christ Choir tune. Bridges recorded this track as part of the Truth To Power Project, a Texas-based initiative and creative endeavor to encourage people to get involved in their community.
bit.ly
Leon Bridges is playing two nights at Marymoor Park, Tuesday & Wednesday, August 30-31, with Little Dragon.
bit.ly
This is Leon Bridges' cover of the 1971 Pastor T. L. Barrett And The Youth For Christ Choir tune. Bridges recorded this track as part of the Truth To Power Project, a Texas-based initiative and creative endeavor to encourage people to get involved in their community.
bit.ly
Charles Bradley played a powerful Gathering Space performance in 2016, and we miss him every day! youtu.be
This is the theme song for Barry on HBO, and if you haven't watched that... you should.
SOAK have just shard a new single, called “Swear Jar.” It deals with depression and the breakdown of a relationship. “I felt so disconnected from myself and life that I was starting to question if I’d ever truly been present or if I’d always been on autopilot,” Bridie Monds-Watson, aka SOAK explains.
If I Never… will be released by Rough Trade Records on May 20, and is the follow up to 2019’s Grim Town and SOAK’s Mercury-nominated 2015 debut Before We Forgot How to Dream.
Ethel Cain's newest song “American Teenager,” which is her latest from her debut album Preacher’s Daughter, out now.
www.daughtersofcain.com
That's Where I Am is Maggie Rogers' first single from her sophomore album, Surrender. The new record will be out July 29th.
“For a long time I fought it. Resisted. Held up my fists, wanted it on my terms, in my way,” Rogers says in the album's trailer. “This is the story of what happened when I finally gave in. When I felt it all. When I finally let go… I found peace in distortion. A chaos I could control.”
www.maggierogers.com
Good morning! Heather from West Seattle here. I'm getting ready to head out for radiation, and am thinking about how grateful I am for community, both far and near, and especially my husband Greg who has been my vital support. Today is his birthday! And if it fits the show, I'd love to hear Queen's your my best friend for him. Take good care!
Heather in West Seattle
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A Night at the Opera is the fourth studio album by Queen, released in 1975.
Bassist John Deacon wrote this track about his wife, Veronica Tetzlaff -- the track was played live multiple times in the late 1970s through 1980, and was not played live again until after Freddie Mercury's death: tinyurl.com.
www.queenonline.com
"Good morning John and Owen -
Quick live music update:
Three shows this weekend DLO3 (funk), Rezz (rave/bass music) and Fontaines DC (punk). Again Jimmy James stole the show delivering the absolute best of the three events. Love that man!
Today my daughter Zoe turns 11. She loves Wet Leg. Could you play her a song and give her a birthday wish?
- Peter from Seattle"
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Wet Leg is in the lineup for THING August 26-28 at historic Fort Worden in Port Townsend, WA.
thingnw.org
This British duo’s debut album is a fun, sharply crafted set of playful post-punk with bursts of angular guitars, driving rhythms, occasional keyboards, deadpan vocals and often-sardonic lyrics depicting the absurdities and annoyances of love and life as a young adult during these tumultuous times.
www.kexp.org
wetleg.bandcamp.com
"Morning John,
Wondering if you can fit in In Liverpool by Suzanne Vega this morning? Thanks so much!
- Michele"
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99.9F° (Ninety-Nine Point Nine Fahrenheit Degrees) is the fourth album by American singer and songwriter Suzanne Vega. Released in 1992, the album marked a departure for Vega, as she embraced a more electronic, experimental sound.
Florence + the Machine's fifth studio album, "Dance Fever," was just released.
Florence + the Machine with Wet Leg will be in Seattle at Climate Pledge Arena on October 6th, 2022.
bit.ly
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This latest single was first written as an acoustic “sad little poem” in the singer-songwriter’s kitchen before being transformed into a floor-filling anthem reminiscent of “Nick Cave at the club”. Welch explained: “Sometimes the biggest dance songs, I think, have a really sad core to them.”
florenceandthemachine.net
Afro-Cuban, French twins Lisa-Kaindé and Naomi Díaz had never heard the Black Flag original "Rise Above" when they decided to record their own version, they told NME last month. bit.ly
Ibeyi will be live at The Neptune on Wednesday, September 21!
More tour dates, info and music:
ibeyimusic.com
Enjoy Live video from Ibeyi's 2017 KEXP In-Studio:
youtu.be
ibeyi.bandcamp.com
Blending the sounds of Los Angeles and Chicago, Dinner Party is comprised of genre icons from top to bottom, including saxophonist/keyboardist Terrace Martin, pianist Robert Glasper, producer 9th Wonder, saxophonist Kamasi Washington, and recurring vocalist Phoelix, who is also involved with Glasper and Martin's R+R=Now project.
Brand new music from Kendrick Lamar. He's coming to Seattle on his tour, August 27th at Climate Pledge: www.ticketmaster.com
The Smile just released their debut album, A Light For Attracting Attention, just about a year after Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, and Sons Of Kemet drummer Tom Skinner unveiled the project live for the first time at Glastonbury.
www.thesmiletheband.com
New album out July 22nd!
ODESZA will be playing 3 sold out shows in Seattle at Climate Pledge Arena on July 29, 30, and 31st. - odesza.com
Watch the official video: www.youtube.com
Go here to purchase this extraordinary album from June, 2020: saultglobal.bandcamp.com
"Sampa Tembo, known professionally as Sampa the Great, is a Zambian-born Australia-based rapper and songwriter. At the ARIA Music Awards of 2019, she won Best Hip Hop Release for her single, "Final Form"."
Filmed in Zambia, the video for "Final Form" bridges the gap between the traditional and contemporary in her native country, featuring both indigenous Nyau dancers and aspects of modern Zambian youth culture.: www.youtube.com
Ajudha shared, "Abortion is still illegal in many countries around the world and is shamed in even more. I wrote this song when a group of men tried to pass an anti abortion bill in the state of Alabama, America. I was angry at how in every corner of culture and society across every inch of the earth, men try to play God, again and again. But I am amazed at how humans are built with so much resistance and resilience for good when we know something is wrong and will always fight against it. This song is an act of resistance to those who try to control that which is not theirs to be in control of." bit.ly
Catch her accompanying video here: bit.ly
"Tricky" was voted #3 song on the listeners' countdown of 1995.
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In the years leading up to the album, Tricky had grown frustrated with his role in Massive Attack and wanted to pursue an independent project. On the way to the studio one day, he and producer Mark Saunders saw Martina Topley-Bird waiting at a bus stop, and asked her if she could sing... beginning a partnership that included this cover of Public Enemy tinyurl.com
London afro-funk band Ibibio Sound Machine's new album, Electricity, was produced by Hot Chip. - ibibiosoundmachine.bandcamp.com
Melt Yourself Down have never been fully attached to a particular scene or sound, but this ability to stand out has allowed them to survive.
As musician Pete Wareham puts it: “We don’t fit the archetype. For too long this has felt like a problem, now we have the opportunity to say: We don’t fit in, we’re in the cracks, we’re ourselves.”
Of the single, Gaya adds: “In everything I create there is a tension between wanting to fit in, to feel included and the fear of losing my culture or forgetting where I am from. The refusal to fit in whatever narrative an African man of Asian appearance should play in western society. I started not really caring so much, not second-guessing myself or my vocals so much, which was a huge hurdle to overcome.” www.clashmusic.com
Born in a Brooklyn warehouse in 1997, 12-piece ensemble Antibalas is credited with introducing Afrobeat to a wider global audience, influencing countless musicians and developing a live show that is the stuff of legend.
antibalas.bandcamp.com
On this day in 1966, Bob Dylan released Blonde On Blonde. Blonde on Blonde has been described as rock's first studio double LP by a major artist.
Fontaines D.C. was live on Morgan's show this past weekend. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to be notified when the video is live: www.youtube.com
Here is Fontaines D.C. Live on KEXP at Home session from November 2020: youtu.be.
fontainesdc.com
Toro y Moi will be at this year's Capitol Hill Block Party www.capitolhillblockparty.com
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NME calls the artist's just-released seventh studio album (which took over five years to make) a "divine demonstration of genre-blending, psychedelic electronic music": www.nme.com
Pet Sounds was released on this day in 1966.
Pet Sounds revolutionized the field of music production and the role of producers within the music industry, introduced novel approaches to orchestration, chord voicings, and structural harmonies, and furthered the cultural legitimization of popular music, a greater public appreciation for albums, the use of synthesizers, the recording studio as an instrument, and the development of psychedelic music and progressive/art rock. It has topped several critics' and musicians' polls for the best album of all time, including those published by NME, Mojo, Uncut, and The Times. In 2004, it was inducted into the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress. It has been certified platinum by the RIAA, indicating over one million units sold.
We Started Nothing released on this day in 2008. www.thetingtings.com
"Hi,
I'd like to say Happy Birthday to Andy in Tacoma, from his wife Aisha and his dog George, he's a long time listener and supporter of KEXP so if you could play any song by The Beastie Boys that would make his morning!
Thank you!"
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"The electro-funk of “Intergalactic” had a false start in 1993, according to [Adam] Horovitz, when it didn’t make the cut for Ill Communication: “We had this beat off of a Bo Diddley record called “Another Dimension,” and we made this song all space doodoo rhymes. Like about Carl Sagan, Lieutenant Uhura, dilithium crystals, shit like that. And the break was ‘intergalactic planetary intergalactic.’ The cornball space song—which Horovitz called “just bad stupid and not even good stupid”—would have been little more than a gimmick. But when revisited a few years later...it’s a classic. And it still has a Uranus joke.": whalebonemag.com
New music from Xavier Amin Dphrepaulezz, better known by his stage name Fantastic Negrito. He is an American singer-songwriter whose music spans blues, R&B, and roots music. His 2016 album The Last Days of Oakland won a Grammy award for Best Contemporary Blues Album at the 59th Grammy Awards
www.fantasticnegrito.com
The Resistance Revival Chorus (RRC) is a collective of more than 60 women, and non-binary singers, founded in the wake of the 2017 Women’s March. Since then, they’ve backed Kesha during her chill-inducing Grammy performance, sung Spanish lullabies to detained migrant children outside a New York holding facility, and been shouted-out by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
This one was KEXP listeners #2 fave record of the year last year! www.kexp.org
Here's Kae Tempest's ELECTRIC/PERFECT performance of "Perfect Coffee" live in the KEXP studio in 2017: www.youtube.com
Stromae is only playing a handful of shows in North America but one is in Vancouver B.C. on October 21!
www.stromae.com
"Mornin john :) Would love to hear something from the new spiritualized LP if you can fit it in
valerie, norcal"
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J. Spaceman (aka Jason Pierce) plays 16 different instruments on this album -- recorded at 11 different studios, including his home! This track was inspired by J. Spaceman’s (aka Jason Pierce) experiences in lockdown, with the frontman saying: “I felt like I’d been in training for this my whole life.”
www.spiritualized.com
New Death Cab out in September: deathcabforcutie.bandcamp.com
Freedom of Choice, released on this day in 1980.
“Freedom of Choice” was a timely critique of the brand consumerism and false dichotomies of the emerging Reagan years in the United States. “We loved that song very much when we were creating it,” said Jerry Casale in 2003.
bit.ly
www.clubdevo.com
You're not alone!
Mavis Staples will appear as a special guest on Boniee Ratt's performance at Chateau Ste. Michelle, Woodinville, on August 19-20. seattlerefined.com (H/t to Matt!)
Jeff Tweedy produced the album. He told the story of this song to Mojo magazine:
"That came out of a conversation with Mavis, where I told her my theory that all music basically says the same thing, which is: you're not alone. Even a kid in his room listening to the most abrasive punk rock or heavy metal, what they're really getting out of it is, 'We're in this with you.' Somewhere down deep there's a communication happening that's sustaining. So after we talked, I thought that'd be a good song to try and write for this record."
www.songfacts.com