John Richards

Sinéad O'Connor wrote some intensely personal songs for her debut album, The Lion And The Cobra, but this wasn't one of them. She told Record Mirror the song is "simply about shagging." --

Frankie Rose is releasing her first new album in six years, Love As Projection, on March 10th. -- Watch the video for this single, which was choreographed by Neil Schwartz and features dancers Dainique Jones, Misato Obana, Youlmae Kim, and Shion Uesaka. Rose says that this is a "video that feels like a fever dream in the black lodge complete with my very own machine elves.”: www.youtube.com

“For some of us he’s just the voice of our souls. And I’m sure he doesn’t need everyone’s love. He is just himself. As it should be for all of us.” --A fan Previously, you heard "Sixteen Ways"....Well, here are "6 different ways that Robert Smith won our hearts": post-punk.com

Tourist Activities began as a two-piece composing winsome pop songs. Accompanied only by a drum machine,songwriter/guitarist Bailey Melton and guitarist Kell Jacobson recorded a lo-fi demo in their apartment before seeking out other members. Joined by Chris Hansche on bass and Chris Glaser on drums, Tourist Activities started playing shows as a four-piece and released their debut EP ‘Off My Mind.': touristactivities.bandcamp.com -- Go here to purchase this new single, released on January 19th: dentapes.bandcamp.com

Enjoy John's interview with Roderick Wolgamott of Sky Cries Mary about the 90's Seattle Scene: www.kexp.org

"Hit" is Björk's attempt to write a love song, but her vision of love is not what you typically find in love songs. Speaking with Melody Maker in 1992, she said: "I tried. I really did. But with a sense of humour. I wanted it to be gross and powerful. Because it's contrary to what people think of when they fall in love." -- "I lie in my bed, totally still My eyes wide open I’m in rapture..." See the video for "Hit": www.youtube.com

Hey KEXP! Love everything you do and you honestly have done a tremendous job of improving the music community and expanding my own music library. It's a daily listen for me. :) I wanted to send in a request for Jessie Ware - Remember Where You Are if you can fit it in. The song is super nostalgic sounding for me and honestly has a great morning vibe. --Derek The short film for this song depicts actress Gemma Arterton, also regarded as Ware’s lookalike, walking the empty streets of London on Valentine’s Day in 2021. The "film was executively produced by Ware and beautifully captures the relatable feelings of isolation and loneliness, while radiating hope for a future of togetherness.": www.youtube.com

It was named the best song of the 2010s by NME, Rolling Stone and Stereogum. -- “it combines heartache and joy in a really succinct way that taps into something deep inside people,...especially queer people who often have to deal with heartbreak in a concealed way, not unlike the song’s protagonist.”: bit.ly

This is the first hit song to use the word "frenemies" in the lyric: "Frenemies, who when you're down ain't your friend." -- Here are all the lyrics to this hit song: genius.com

Bassist Mick Quinn identified this as a hit from the moment the band recorded the instrumentation. He recalled, "I knew the backing track for 'Alright' was bulletproof. I've got a distinct memory of staring at the two-inch turning around while that backing track was playing and thinking, that's a bulletproof backing track, that's gonna be enormous. That's gonna light people up. Even when we had it as a demo, there was something about it. It was so simplistic and stuck in your head." - The video, which featured the band larking about on bicycles and a giant flying bed attracted Stephen Spielberg's interest so much, he offered the group a Monkees type TV show. They turned him down.: www.youtube.com

This new song from London duo deary is "a dream pop delight." The song began as a letter to a loved one from singer and guitarist Dottie. She explains… "As a kid, I found fairgrounds incredibly overwhelming, an entanglement of anxiety and perplexity. This is how London feels to me now. The excitement of the lights and the noise can sometimes leave you pondering the meaning of it all. I am constantly astounded by the vibrancy, community and creativity that surrounds me every day. At the same time, the corruption in our society is inescapable. The letter now is a reminder to be cautious of going too fast and missing the important things." : www.youtube.com

Chapterhouse were a five-piece from Reading, England that were led by Andrew Sherrif and Stephen Patman. 1991's "Whirlpool" was their debut studio album. -- That's Slowdive's Rachel Goswell on backing vocals on this song.

Ride and Charlatans come to the Showbox Tuesday, February 14th! We loved it when Ride graced the KEXP studio for a live performance in 2017! That session included "Vapour Trail": www.youtube.com

Steve Kilbey, the band's frontman, co-wrote this song with bassist and then-girlfriend Karin Jansson. The pair was visiting Kilbey's mother in New South Wales when an after-dinner smoke (a "special musicians' jazz cigarette") under a blanket of stars inspired the ethereal tune. As for the song's meaning, "It's not about anything," Kilbey told the Guardian Australia. "Like all my songs, it's a portal into your own mind where I give you a guided meditation. It's a blank, abstract canvas for people to lose themselves in."

Ahhh....the Friday song. (Thanks, Henry, Your father, John, was "born ready.") KEXP celebrates Black History Month with "Black History Is Now!": www.kexp.org

Baby Dayliner (Ethan Marunas) was born and raised in New York City, and went to LaGuardia High School of Music and Art, and the Performing Arts. After varying roles in various bands, Marunas decided to take the stage as a solo act. He became deft at synths, samplers, and recording, and began crafting songs that would come to life as the Baby Dayliner stage show. -- "She may or may not be looking at you but that’s OK ‘cos you’re having a drink and you’re feeling alright and you’re kinda sober even though you’re high at the same time..." Do you know that you can go right here to purchase this beloved song?: babydayliner.bandcamp.com

Good morning John! Could you please play a song for my little sister who would have been 52 today. She passed away unexpectedly a year and a half ago. She loved John Bon Jovi, Depeche Mode, The Cure, Grateful Dead and Rod Stewart. Eclectic as we all are I suppose. I've not fully processed our loss yet, if ever, but I'd like to send the song out to her in the ether world if it might fit today. I'm sadly smiling as I'm writing, and so it goes. Thank you and with much gratitude to you and KEXP always. With love, Sharon in New Hampshire -- Here's Depeche Mode, performing "Never Let Me Down Again," live in Paris in 2016 as part of the Exciter Tour: www.youtube.com

HI John! Morning to you! My husband Scott slipped and fell on ice on boxing day while walking our dog – broke his femur in 3 places and was in the hospital for 16 days. It is a nightmare. Please play some BRMC for Scott. I love him and can’t wait till he’s walking the dog again. Listeners since 2000 !!! you are not alone!!! ---Karen (in Colorado) -- This one's for you, Scott! Let the healing begin! -- This live performance by BRMC in the KEXP studio in 2013 began with "Let the Day Begin": www.youtube.com

Brooklyn man mailed ashes of person he's never met in bizarre mishap...and that man is Hamilton Leithauser. abc7ny.com == Released on this day in 2004! == Singer Hamilton Leithauser told Rolling Stone magazine that this song originated when the band were "just screwin' around." Then the band's drummer Matt Barrick kicked off a breakneck groove, and the others joined in. He concluded: "We threw some chords on it, I wrote the words in five minutes, and then we all started slammin'!" -- Watch The Walkmen perform in the video for "The Rat": www.youtube.com

Happy birthday Lee Renaldo!!! ======= This song was dedicated to Joe Cole, a roadie for Black Flag and Rollins Band. He was shot and killed in a robbery on December 19, 1991, as he and his roommate, Henry Rollins, returned home from a video rental store. Singer and guitarist Thurston Moore called it an "LA story. One of limitless violence; the hopeless and the hopeful." -- The song's music video, which was directed by Tamra Davis and Spike Jonze, also alludes to the shooting of Cole. The bass guitar played by Kim Gordon in the clip, was loaned to her by the actor Keanu Reeves.: www.youtube.com

For Samantha yesterday and Joni today!!! ==== The alternative title for this song is "“2 + 2 = 5 (The Lukewarm). " It was taken from Dante’s "Inferno." Thom Yorke explained that, according to Dante, the lukewarm are… The people who don’t give a f**k … The lukewarm are on the edge of the Inferno, cruising around near the gates but they can’t actually get out. They’re like, ‘What are we doing here? We didn’t do anything at all.’ And in Dante’s eyes it’s, ‘That’s exactly why you’re here. You did f**k all. You just let it happen.’"

See a live performance of "Destroyer" by Robert Alfons (TR/ST) in the KEXP studio in 2019: www.youtube.com -- Then, be moved as you see dancer Ryan Heffington in the video for "Destroyer": www.youtube.com

Speaking of live in-studio performances...here's Bombay Bicycle Club performing "Carry Me" in 2014: www.youtube.com --- This was written during a stay that Bombay Bicycle Club frontman Jack Steadman made in a Dutch place called Nijkerkerveen. He said: "I'd only been to the big cities in the Netherlands before, so I wanted to avoid that. I set up a studio and I wrote 'Carry Me' and 'It's All Right Now' there." "I like travelling alone, I stayed with families so they'd invite me for dinner," he added. "The dad of one family was a real hi-fi enthusiast with hundreds of speakers and played me all sorts of records. I was inspired by the 70s prog – like Traffic – he played. Listening to it made me want to make everything sound perfect when I got to the studio."

Vocalist and lyricist Damon Albarn found his inspiration for the song whilst on holiday in Magaluf on the Spanish island of Majorca. "I just love the whole idea of it, to be honest. I love herds," he recalled. "All these blokes and all these girls meeting at the watering hole and then just copulating. There's no morality involved, I'm not saying it should or shouldn't happen." -- In 2003, Radiohead singer Thom Yorke was asked if there were any songs he wished he had written. He replied that he wished he'd written this song.

The band took its name from lead vocalist Harry Wayne Casey's last name ('KC') and the 'Sunshine Band' from KC's home state of Florida, the Sunshine State. Their website says that they've been "shaking bootys since 1973": www.heykcsb.com -- They're a little older than they were when they released this song in 1975. Watch a live performance from 2016: www.youtube.com

Ritmo Machine is a project of Mixmaster Latin Bitman and Cypress Hill's Eric Bobo.

"Banners of gold shine In the cold, in the cold, in the cold Footprints of snow, blind from the road Hail!..." Want to know what Anthony Gonzalez and guest vocalist Zola Jesus are singing here?: genius.com

The live video for this song, from a downtown L.A. rooftop, was inspired by the Beatles’ final rooftop performance from "Let It Be," at the time reportedly leading Bono to quip, "It's not the first time we’ve ripped off the Beatles." "Where the Streets Have No Name" ultimately won the Grammy for Best Performance Music Video, beating out David Bowie's Glass Spider and Stevie Nicks: Live at Red Rocks, among others.: www.youtube.com

"Lost Souls" was the debut studio album from Jimi Goodwin, and twin brothers Jez and Andy Williams. Here's a retrospective from 2020: www.stereogum.com

Whew, is it warm in here? -- Owen and Jackie's wedding song: "There's nothing wrong with me Loving you, baby no no And giving yourself to me can never be wrong If the love is true, oh baby..." -- Here's Marvin singing it live in 1974: www.youtube.com

John and Amy's wedding song.... --- Georg Holm explained the meaning of "Hoppipolla": "We like to play with words a lot, put two words together for example, and make a new word out of it. It means jumping into puddles. It should be two words but it's almost like a name now. The lyrics describe an atmosphere, a memory or something, like being a kid jumping into puddles, falling down and getting a nosebleed, getting back up... It doesn't really matter when you're a kid." -- Watch the official video for this lovely song: www.youtube.com

This could be YOUR wedding song, newly engaged folks... -- Vocalis-guitarist Greg Katz said of this new single: Me and Mandy [bassist Mandy Tannen] were trying to wrestle with the feeling that success in your career or field kind of feels like selling out, even if you don’t think you’re knowingly capitulating to the demands of later capitalism. Like, work, or art, or whatever, feels somehow more authentic, or just better, if other people don’t like it, or if you’re failing. And maybe it feels like a badge of honor to just reject success altogether, and because of that, there’s maybe an impulse to self-sabotage, like, to do things on purpose that you know will not succeed. Also this song has a nice guitar solo in my opinion, although I am biased, because I played it.

Cheekface is: Amanda Tannen on bass guitar and backing vocals, Greg Katz on vocals and guitar, and Mark Echo Edwards on drums and percussion. -- Want to see Cheekface performing this song live?: www.youtube.com -- L.A. band Cheekface is touring this spring but, alas, they are not coming to Seattle.: www.bandsintown.com

In 1993, the Washington Post called this a "below-the-belt hit": wapo.st --- Here's the...uh...oral history of this song: www.spin.com

Watch Captain Kirk perform this Pulp cover on the Tonight Show, with the help of Joe Jackson and the Ben Folds Five: www.dailymotion.com

Written by Violent Femmes lead singer/guitarist Gordon Gano, this quirky song from their first album has become one of their most popular. Their bassist/multi-instrumentalist Brian Ritchie played the xylophone on this song, which features two xylophone solos. The lyrics, "I can Tell by the way you that you switch and walk, I can see by the way that you baby talk, I can know by the way you treat your man, I can love you baby it's a cryin' shame" are originally from the song "I Just Want To Make Love To You" by Muddy Waters, which was written by Blues great Willie Dixon. Dixon gets a composer credit on "Gone Daddy Gone" as a result, and the song is occasionally referred to as "Gone Daddy Gone/I Just Want to Make Love to You."

"Cregand, could we bring the lights down a bit? We're gonna do one of our slow jams..." -- From the first ever episode of Flight of the Conchords which aired June 17, 2007: www.youtube.com

"Yield,' Pearl Jam's was released on this date twenty-five years ago today!! This article, published two hours ago, is entitled: "Given To Fly: How Yield taught Pearl Jam to chill the f**k out and fall back in love with being a killer rock 'n' roll band": bit.ly

Broken Bells are James Mercer (of the Shins) and Brian Burton (aka Danger Mouse). They released their long-awaited third album, Into the Blue, in October 2022. This track was the album's first single. Watch the band perform on KEXP in 2014: www.youtube.com