John Richards

Want to see Wilco? They're playing in Bend, OR on the 20th. Make the trek! A Ghost Is Born is Wilco's fifth studio album, released on June 22, 2004.

The War on Drugs' "Lost in the Dream" was the consensus choice of critics for best album of 2014. Check out their 2014 in-studio performance - bit.ly

Brand new Death Cab from their new album, out on September 16. They're playing two nights at The Paramount, October 26th & 27th "'Foxglove' is by far the most personal song on the record," reveals Ben Gibbard. "While I was writing it, I thought I was merely the narrator. But the longer I sat with it, I realized I was both the protagonist and the narrator." Watch Ben Gibbard's KEXP in-studio here: www.youtube.com

Kevin Morby is playing Showbox at the Market on November 11th! Morby said about this song, "In “A Random Act Of Kindness” I set out to write a song where each line could be interpreted in two completely different ways. For example; when I sing the words “out of trust…” it could be heard as either I have lost my sense of trust in something or that I am committing an act with trust as my motive. It’s a song about the menacing nature of the sun rising during a dark time in one’s life only to further illuminate their pain and suffering — and how during these periods it is often the selfless acts of strangers that keeps a person going." kevinmorby.bandcamp.com

First Aid Kit says of the new single, "We wrote this song last year together with songwriter and producer Björn Yttling. It was the first time we wrote for First Aid Kit with someone else and it was very inspiring. The song was written in the spur of the moment, almost like a stream of consciousness. It's about feeling stuck inside your own thoughts and desperately wanting to escape." bit.ly First Aid Kit were in the KEXP studios back in 2014: bit.ly

Travis's frontman Fran Healy told Yahoo!: "'Sing' - You could replace that word with 'Dance' or 'Cry' or 'Laugh' or just 'Let Go.' 'Cause as an expression, when you're a child, you sing all the time. And then when you get older, you don't - you just go, 'I don't want to, my voice is crap.' But when you're a kid, you don't care! And I think that's what you should always have - a little bit of that still in you. People look at people in the street that sing like they're mad, like, 'What are you singing for?' But it's about having fun and feeling good and all that stuff." bit.ly

Debut album from the Seattle band!

Moving through today with a heavy heart. If Just Breathe makes it on the playlist... thank you for today, sending love and hugs to all of the morning crew💛 Andie in Seattle =========== Consequence of Sound's Matthew Taub wrote a retrospective of this album for the magazine's special @ the band's 30th anniversary. Check out "Making The Case for Pearl Jam's 'Backspacer': bit.ly

Low is scheduled for the Neptune on March 28th, 2023 but has had to cancel some shows this fall due to Mimi Parker undergoing treatment for ovarian cancer: www.rollingstone.com lowtheband.bandcamp.com

The album title refers to the song "Grace Under Pressure", whose refrain was recorded live at the Glastonbury Festival in 2002, as sung by the audience during the band's set. Participants were then invited to register their names at the Elbow website, with all responders gaining a 'credit' on the album sleeve.

Found out yesterday that the Bauhaus show I was supposed to see in two weeks time has been canceled due to Peter Murphy checking into rehab. Any chance you could play some Bauhaus? Let’s hope he has a speedy recovery. Thanks. Paul from CT ============ Our Bauhaus concert in Philly was cancelled which is a huge bummer. Can you please play Peter Murphy's Cuts You Up, dedicated to Ron & Kyle in Baltimore? Thanks, and Happy Baby Friday! –Lynde in Baltimore =========== Hoping for a full and speedy recovery for Peter Murphy. It's a long road.

Interpol will be at the Paramount with Spoon on the 16th! In a 2018 interview with Vice, lead singer Paul Banks listed Antics as his favorite of the band's albums, saying: "I really put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears onto this record" and that "it felt like a very righteous pursuit"

Please play 'September Again' by Nation of Language, my new favorite band thanks to KEXP. Thanks, Brad in Twinsburg Ohio ============== 2020 release from Nation of Language. In a statement about this single, frontman Ian Devaney noted: “September Again is about struggling with the feeling that with each passing year you’re only becoming a worse version of yourself—less capable of wonder or grand ambition, less sure of your footing in your own life." - bit.ly

Hey John! Could play Cinnamon by The Long Winters for my wife Leslee on Vashon Island from her husband Jude in San Jose. I'm missing her more than I have words to express. Thank you and appreciate what you do, especially the Peter Murphy right now! Jude ========= In 2017, The Long Winters' John Roderick performed "Cinnamon" live for KEXP listeners at Little London Plane during Upstream Music Fest. Roderick was joined by Sean Nelson (KEXP, Harvey Danger), former Long Winters drummer (and 4AD head) Nabil Ayers, and musician, engineer, and longtime Long Winters member Eric Corson (Perfume Genius, Los Campesinos).: www.youtube.com

Built to Spill mastermind Doug Martsch recorded When the Wind Forgets Your Name alongside two members of the Brazilian psychedelic jazz-rock band Oruã: lo-fi punk artist and producer Le Almeida, and his long-time collaborator João Luiz. Oruã will support Built to Spill in the fall, performing separately, while Built to Spill’s latest lineup—Martsch, bassist Melanie Radford and drummer Teresa Esguerra—will play the band’s new material live.

Enumclaw is playing in Eugene on November 16th and Portland on November 17th. Speaking about the song, lead singer Aramis Johnson shares, "Something I've been trying to figure out these past two years is the idea of change and what that can look like and mean. At its core, change is what this song is about. If you could choose, what would you change? "There's this line in the movie Mid 90’s' and it's like 'at the end of the day you wouldn’t trade your shit for anyone else.' That's what this song is about. At the end of the day the grass is never greener on the other side." bit.ly enumclaw6.bandcamp.com

Found on the third album from Concrete Blonde, this hit single from the L.A. band is not actually about a Joey, but Marc Moreland from Wall of Voodoo.

On “Easy On Your Own?” Molly Rankin sings about feeling disaffected and worrying about the future. Out this fall, Alvvays' long-awaited third album, Blue Rev, is arriving five years after their 2017 sophomore release. Alvvays will be at The Moore on Saturday, October 22, 2022, an all ages event! bit.ly

Find this EP at Turntable Kitchen! www.turntablekitchen.com www.karategunsandtanning.com karategunsandtanning.bandcamp.com

This third album from the British group features Hope Sandoval, Liam Gallagher, Nicola Kuperus, and Paul Weller on a few tracks. "Girls" is featured on the soundtrack to the 2003 film Lost in Translation and 2004 film D.E.B.S..

London's Dean Garcia and Toni Halliday formed Curve in 1990, and disbanded in 2005 after making five albums together. 'Doppelgänger' is their debut full-length album, released in 1992

Learn more about this Orange County band: www.newportbeachindy.com --

This song was written in 1992, and its original title was "Four Month Media Blackout". Kurt described this song as a throw-away; a bunch of random lines of poetry thrown together. The title was a reference to ("Smells Like Teen Spirit" and its slick, radio-friendly sound. -- Watch Nirvana perform it live in Seattle in 1993: www.youtube.com

Speaking about Unison Life, singer Stefanie Mannaerts says: “I wanted every song to feel like the last song we’ll ever write. It killed me inside because it’s almost an impossibly high standard, but that was my personal goal for this album. It was a two-year quest of trying to do better.” The Beligian trio's new album, Unison Life is out October 21st. wearebrutus.bandcamp.com

The Joy Formidable are playing in Spokane on the 30th! The Joy Formidable performed "Whirring" in KEXP's Bumbershoot Music Lounge in 2013. Watch that entire performance: www.kexp.org

"Love Will Tear Us Apart" was a cynical and tongue in cheek retort to the Neil Sedaka song “Love Will Keep Us Together” made famous by Captain and Tennille. The inspiration for the track surely was the fact that Joy Division recorded in the same studio the Sedeka song was recorded in—Strawberry Studios in Stockport, England. The song’s lyrics, in retrospect, were an obvious reference to singer Ian Curtis’ failing marriage. -- Here's the story behind the song: www.loudersound.com

Nine Inch Nails are playing two shows in Oregon this month. Troutdale on the 7th and Bend on the 9th! "Terrible Lie" is the second track on the 1989 release Pretty Hate Machine and begins directly at the end of "Head Like A Hole." Reznor refused to record the album with a conventional band, recording Pretty Hate Machine mostly by himself. "A lot of it sounds immature to me now," he stated in 1991 of the recordings that were then two years old. "At first it totally sucked. I became completely withdrawn. I couldn't function in society very well. And the LP became a product of that. It's quite small scale, introverted, claustrophobic – that's the feel I went for."

Prior to the official release of the song, "Call the Police" was first performed live during one of the band's sets at the then-recently opened Brooklyn Steel venue in New York. The band had made a plea to those in attendance at the show, asking them not to film their performance so they could officially release the track the way they wished to do so.

NEW MUSIC from South London trio PVA! It's the latest track from their upcoming debut album ‘BLUSH’, which arrives on October 14. “We wanted to surprise people and do something more than just get across how we sound at a gig,” said drummer Louis Satchell of ‘Blush’. “It’s quite an anxious record sometimes that is relating to mental health issues and carries within it the anxiety of making an album. It’s been a rocky ride but we always pick ourselves up.” -- tinyurl.com pvaareok.bandcamp.com

After Bauhaus broke up in 1983, lead singer Peter Murphy launched a solo career, and the other three members formed Love and Rockets.. 1989's "So Alive" was the second single from their self-titled fourth album. Love And Rockets didn't typically use backup singers, but they wanted a "Walk On The Wild Side" vibe for "So Alive," so they brought in the trio of Lorna Wright, Sylvia Mason-James, Ruby James to "do do" the backing vocals.

ELO's fifth studio album, Face the Music, was released 47 years ago today! Did you know that Jeff Lynne wrote "Evil Woman" in just 30 minutes? The song became the band’s ticket to worldwide stardom as it conquered the charts in Italy, Netherlands, Canada, Ireland and other countries.: myrockmixtapes.com

J Mascis recalled the story behind "Start Choppin" in an interview with Rolling Stone: "I remember the title came about because we cut the tape to put some different versions together. I think I just said, "Start chopping," or something. All the stops and starts is just how the song was written. I think the edits were just, like, maybe the verse sounded better on one take, so we could end the whole thing. It wasn't very big edits on tape; it was little things. It was just like one verse or another." www.dinosaurjr.com

Bandleader Greg Katz explaining "Yo Guy": Yo Guy was, and possibly still is, a real person. One time when I was in New York City, I crashed at my friend Paige’s apartment on Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. I couldn’t sleep because someone was yelling ‘Yo!’ all night outside, over and over. When I woke up, Paige was like, ‘How did you sleep?’ And I was like, ‘I’m not sure if I dreamt this, but I think there was someone yelling something over and over outside.’ And she was like, ‘Oh, was the Yo Guy out there? The only thing worse than him yelling YO! all night is when my neighbor yells SHUT THE FUCK UP! every time he says yo.’ I guess it kind of blew my mind that this was a regular thing, so regular that the person had gotten a nickname, and the nickname was Yo Guy. So that was the genesis of this song idea. My friend Paige passed away a couple years ago. Me and Mandy wrote this song last year over Zoom. Most of last year I’d rather forget, but at least we got this song out of it. Paige, and Yo Guy, will live forever in my heart, and I guess now in this song too. cheekface.bandcamp.com

In an interview circa 1992, frontman John Hall explained his inspiration for the song: ...when I really, really feel very bad, what I want to do is make myself feel better, so I'll write something happier. 'My Heart Is a Flower' is really a funny song. I was very, very sad when I wrote that one and a lot of people find that surprising. But I felt really, really trampled on, like a flower that's been thrown down in the dirt, when I wrote that.

Learn how to play the cowbell: cowbellsongs.com

The 1st single off the French duo's 3rd album of 2004. They reached international success with their release of "Sexy Boy" from their first album "Moon Safari" in 1998.