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Monday, Apr 17 2023, 7AM
Good morning and welcome to the Morning Show with John!
Brand new music from Nation of Language, who will be playing at the Crocodile on May 18th and 19th!
www.nationoflanguage.com
This "up and comer" will be at Climate Pledge Arena on Sunday, October 8th, 2023.
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This is the title song from Gabriel's new album.
He says, "...“i/o” means “input / output.” You see it on the back of a lot of electrical equipment and it just triggered some ideas about the stuff we put in and pull out of ourselves, in physical and non-physical ways. That was the starting point of this idea and then trying to talk about the interconnectedness of everything. The older I get, I probably don’t get any smarter, but I have learned a few things and it makes a lot of sense to me that we are not these independent islands that we like to think we are, that we are part of a whole. If we can see ourselves as better connected, still messed up individuals, but as part of a whole, then maybe there’s something to learn?
'All Things Must Pass' is the third studio album by George Harrison. Released as a triple album, it was Harrison's first solo work after the break-up of the Beatles in April that year. It includes the hit singles "My Sweet Lord" and "What Is Life", as well as songs such as "Isn't It a Pity" and the title track that had been overlooked for inclusion on releases by the Beatles.
Harrison said, "‘Isn’t It A Pity’ is about whenever a relationship hits a down point – instead of whatever other people do (like breaking each other’s jaws) I wrote a song. It was a chance to realise that if I felt somebody had let me down, then there’s a good chance I was letting someone else down. We all tend to break each other’s hearts, and not giving back – isn’t it a pity." - bit.ly
Released on this day in 1970!
McCartney is the debut solo album by English musician Paul McCartney, released on 17 April 1970 by Apple Records. McCartney recorded it in secrecy, mostly using basic home-recording equipment at his house in St John's Wood. Mixing and some recording took place at professional London studios. In its loosely arranged performances, McCartney eschewed the polish of the Beatles' past records in favour of a lo-fi style. Apart from occasional contributions by his wife, Linda, McCartney performed the entire album alone by overdubbing on four-track tape.
Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds has dropped a new single, “Dead to the World." The song will appear on the rock band’s fourth studio album, Council Skies, out June 2 via Sour Mash Records.
In a statement, Gallagher said that “Dead To The World” is “by some distance my favorite tune on the album. It has this film noir vibe. It’s not like anything else I’ve ever done before. It’s very melancholic, but I like that. I’m a Gemini – I’m as up as I am down, and the trick is to meet somewhere in the middle and turn that into music.”
The song is one of several on the LP to feature strings arranged by Rosie Danvers, a long-time High Flying Birds collaborator.
“Rosie gets what I do,” Gallagher noted. ‘Spending a weekend recording strings in Abbey Road – that’s one of the great privileges in a musician’s life. It sounds majestic.”
King Krule has announced a new album: Archy Marshall’s follow-up to 2020’s Man Alive! is called Space Heavy, and it arrives June 9 via Matador. He’s shared the new single “Seaforth,” which arrives with a new music video directed by Jocelyn Anquetil. The video features some very cute dogs, which you should watch here: www.youtube.com
Rocket is the Primitive Radio Gods' debut album, released in 1996. This song was used in the 1996 Jim Carrey movie The Cable Guy. The song's title is a reference to the otherwise unrelated song "Outside a Broken Phone Booth with Money in My Hand" by Bruce Cockburn, from his 1978 album "Further Adventures Of". Its chorus consists of a sample from the B.B. King song "How Blue Can You Get" from his 1971 album "Live in Cook County Jail.": "I've been downhearted, baby, ever since the day we met." - www.primitiveradiogods.info
From their bandcamp, Utilizing elements of grunge, acid house, trip hop, shoegaze and vaporwave as a sonic palette, George Clanton makes nostalgic music for the modern era.
georgeclanton.bandcamp.com
"Tom's Diner" originated as an a cappella track on Suzanne Vega's 1987 release "Solitude Standing." It became a hit in 1990 when British production duo DNA added a beat and released the remix as a bootleg. Their remix version was included in the 1991 album of Vega remixes "Tom's Album."
Video!
youtu.be
Depeche Mode will be in Seattle playing Climate Pledge Arena in support of the new album "Memento Mori" on Sunday, November 26th.
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"Ghosts Again" is Martin Gore and Dave Gahan's first new music since the sudden 2022 passing of bandmate Andy Fletcher. “It’s not often that we record a song that I just don’t get sick of listening to," said Gahan "I’m excited to be able to share it.” www.depechemode.com
New music from Christine and the Queens. Check out this Live on KEXP at Home session from May 2020, hosted by DJ Morgan! bit.ly.
“I’ve been through so much/That sometimes it feels far/It is like a movie played by another star/She’s a stranger, to be honest”---
In this interview, the artist, who now presents as masculine in his personal life, talks about gender identity: www.out.com
Here's the official video for "to be honest": www.youtube.com
christineandthequeens.bandcamp.com
Everything but the Girl's first release in 24 years. Fuse is out on April 21st. Fuse is described as "a modern take on the lustrous electronic soul the band first pioneered in the mid-90s."
ebtg.com
"It was 80 on Saturday. I planted a tree. Took care of my elderly mother who is sick.
What do you recommend to ward off the early spring blues?
I was thinking The Smiths - Ask
Mom always liked that song and it has a great line "Nature is a language, can't you read?"
Anyway, Happy Monday from Chicago!
Mike"
Touring with The Postal Service in the Fall! Playing at Climate Pledge on October 6th and 7th!
Don't "live in someone else's dream....": genius.com
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Here's the video: www.youtube.com
John was the host when Buffalo Tom played live in our studio in 2018. Watch that live performance: www.youtube.com
Brand new music from Grouplove! Grouplove has announced a new album called I Want It All Right Now. The sixth studio effort from the “Tongue Tied” group — and the follow-up to 2021’s This Is This — arrives on July 7. You can listen to two new songs off I Want It All, titled “All” and “Hello,” now via digital outlets. Both tracks are combined into a seven-minute video streaming now on YouTube. www.youtube.com
www.grouplovemusic.com
Lead guitarist Johnny Hickman explained how "Low" came together: "The song started with me coming up with that guitar riff just noodling around at a soundcheck in Portland one day, but it's really David's [Lowery] song. He wrote the title and lyrics after the fact, which are fantastic. David and Davey Faragher (bassist) started looking for chords to play around my guitar riff. A few days later David had the song completed." -- The black-and-white video was directed by Carlos Grasso, who came up with the concept after interviewing David Lowery and deciding that the song was about a conflict between his masculine and feminine sides. To play this out, he filmed a raging Sandra Bernhard driving to a makeshift boxing ring, where she knocks out Lowery. Grasso was going through a split with his girlfriend at the time, which provided some inspiration.: www.youtube.com
"Today is my 42nd birthday. I had a lovely weekend with friends from celebrating in my garden and on bike rides looking at public art.
I have been a kexp listener for about half my life. Thanks for all you do!
Please play some Material Issue if you have a chance.
Thank you
Amanda"
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Formed in 1985, Material Issue was the brainchild of frontman Jim Ellison, who also played guitar, sang lead vocals, and wrote most Material Issue songs.
Written by singer-guitarist Jim Ellison, "Valerie Loves Me" is about a neighbor girl that Ellison had a crush on when he was 11 years old.
The music video for "Valerie Loves Me" was in heavy rotation on MTV's 120 Minutes program in early 1991.
bit.ly
Video for "Valerie Loves Me":
youtu.be
Joe Ross tells the actual story of Kim the Waitress here: www.angelfire.com
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Watch a live version from Seattle's Silver Platters Records: www.youtube.com
You can purchase this great song at the Red's Recovery Room Bandcamp page: dannypearson.bandcamp.com
When Robert Earl Keen was inducted into The Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame during a ceremony at the World’s Largest Honky-Tonk, Billy Bob’s Texas in Fort Worth, Texas, he told the story behind this wonderful song.
He said, "Kathleen, the love interest in the story coming down the stairs, is my wife because occasionally she would wake up and figure, oh he’s not here, he must be at Arkey Blue’s Silver Dollar Saloon. And she would come down and see me and we would all sit and drink. And sometimes Arkey would lock the door and we would keep going after hours and go as long as we wanted to.”: bit.ly
Discussing the track singer and songwriter Hazel Wilde says: “"String Theory" is a song about reflecting on what might have been and might, in some way, still be. It finds beauty and solace in the multiverse theory and the idea that out there somewhere, vibrating on their own frequency, exists another fully realised version of yourself where your story turned out differently.”
Oh, and that's Radiohead's Philip Selway on drums!
www.lanternsonthelake.com
Happy birthday to Liz Phair, born on this day in 1967!
Elizabeth Clark Phair (born April 17, 1967) is an American singer-songwriter. Born in New Haven, Connecticut, Phair was raised primarily in the Chicago area. After graduating from Oberlin College in 1990, she attempted to start a musical career in San Francisco, California, but returned to her home in Chicago, where she began self-releasing audio cassettes under the name Girly-Sound. The tapes led to a recording contract with the independent record label Matador Records.
We were on the final leg of our trip back to New York from Mexico when our flight was canceled in Fort Lauderdale. The next best flight we could get left in four days. We decided to rent a car and drive to New York. We’ve driven 1,300 miles in 36 hours with two kids in the back seat and we have 149 to go. We’re streaming KEXP and are in good spirits. We are wondering if you could play a good road trip song.
Thanks,
Jon
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David Byrne told how the chorus came first and the rest of the song fell together: "It was just the four lines of what became the chorus that started the whole thing:
We're on a road to nowhere
Come on inside
Takin' that ride to nowhere
We'll take that ride
That pretty much laid out the whole song. It's this little ditty about how there's no order and no plan and no scheme to life and death and it doesn't mean anything, but it's all right."
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See the official video for this 1985 tune: www.youtube.com
Speaking about the track, Lahey commented: “Two of my exes got engaged within an improbably short space of time of one another. What are the odds? Couldn’t not write a song inspired by it.”
Bully will play an all-ages show at The Neptune Friday, August 18th! bullythemusic.bandcamp.com
Released on this day in 1989! But only in the UK. Tomorrow is the US date. You know what? Lets just celebrate both. Great album. You like the Pixies? We like the Pixies. They're coming to town with Modest Mouse and Cat Power. Gonna be good.
Anyway yeah, 2 days of Pixies celebrations. High fives all around. Could someone get me another coffee?
Covering the 1989 Pixies song from "Doolittle"!
Nation of Language vocalist Ian Devaney said: “When Aidan suggested ‘Gouge Away’ I was immediately struck by how badly I wanted to rework it in our style, and the whole song mapped itself out in my head right away. I didn’t let myself listen to the original from then until it was fully recorded so I might forget certain details about it, leaving only my impression of its foundational elements – the way the quiet, unsettling verses give way to the savage choruses, the way the big transitional guitar line overwhelms you every time it happens.”
Go here to the Facebook page of Manchester keyboardist Fred Kindt: www.facebook.com
Beirut is an American folk band fronted by Santa Fe native Zach Condon. This song from their third album The Rip Tide finds Condon coming to terms with his lot. He told Mojo magazine: "It's kind of cheeky to be singing a positive song about the hometown I once felt such a distance from; but being there as an adult, with a more established name, I'm finding a real warmth and charm to Santa Fe. I got a kick out of that sense of contradiction."
The song's vocal hook is underpinned by an electric organ figure. It arose from a re-recording Condon was making of the Gulag Orkestar track "Scenic World," that he was making for the soundtrack to Alma Har'el's documentary Bombay Beach.
He explained to Mojo: "I visited my parents for Christmas and was recording this old organ I still have in my bedroom there. I thought it sounded awesome and that I should use it for something else. So I started the chord progression (to 'Santa Fe') there and finished it in Albuquerque." bit.ly
From the AV club in 2004:
"Float On" almost seems like it was written as a challenge to yourself to write a more "up" song, both lyrically and musically.
IB: It was a completely conscious thing. I was just kind of fed up with how bad shit had been going, and how dark everything was, with bad news coming from everywhere... After we got out of that dark spot with everything melting down with the band, I just wanted to make a positive record. I think we managed to make a quarter of the record positive, and the rest is either kind of dark or more just relaxing into things being how they are, resigned.
Hi John
Happy Monday. Would you play “Pop Muzik” by M? Loving the show this morning.
Take care,
Brian
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M was a British new wave and synthpop music project from London, England, led by English musician Robin Scott in the late 1970s and early 1980s. "Pop Muzik" featured Scott's brother Julian on bass, his wife Brigit Novik on backing vocals, and Wally Badarou on keyboards.
“Our House” grew from the idea that each band member would write about his family. No one else bothered. I did.”- Madness vocalist Chas "Smash" Smyth
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Here's a long look at both Madness and the classic track "Our House": www.soundonsound.com
Five Fingers Of Funk is a ten-piece live Hip Hop band from Portland OR. Founded in 1992, the Fingers destroyed stages (in some cases literally) from Portland ME to Portland, OR. The band was fronted by rapper Pete Miser and DJ Chillest Illest and featured a three-piece horn section.
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Of the video for the single, “My Mom’s Prius,” an autobiographical cut and tribute to his mom and Portland, video director and band member Pete Miser says, “‘My Mom’s Prius’ is an earnest autobiographical song inspired by visits home to Portland, Oregon after I moved to Brooklyn, New York. I would stay at my mom’s house and borrow her car to go meet up with the homies. I couldn’t help but notice the look of envy on the faces of my boys when I pulled up next to their low riders and Lambos in her stock hybrid… that look was envy, right?”: ghettoblastermagazine.com
WITCH'S new album is their first in 4 decades!! Watch the video for this one (with Sampa the Great!) right here: www.youtube.com
"DROP IT HOW YA FEEL IT" produced by: C.Smith is claimed to be another New Orleans classic for Mardi Gras season. This is a great collaborative music masterpiece created by some of Nola's profound talent such as: Wild Wayne + Trombone Shorty + 5th/Ward Weebie + New Breed Brass Band
soundcloud.com
Covering Joy Division's famous 1980 single.
hot8brassband.bandcamp.com
Here is Hot 8 Brass Band covering "Love Will Tear Us Apart" live in the KEXP studio in 2019: youtu.be
The Hot 8 Brass Band recorded a lockdown version of "Love Will Tear Us Apart" for the Jazz Foundation Musicians' Emergency Fund Concert. Check it out: bit.ly
The soundtrack to the superhero film The Crow was released on this day in 1994!
This is NIN's powerful cover of Joy Division.
Bassist Peter Hook said that the song was a milestone in the band's career. “The first time I noticed anything different was when we’d written a song that weekend. And we had a gig on the Thursday, so we thought we’d play that song at the gig,
“We played the new song, which was Transmission - and everyone in the whole place stopped literally what they were doing to listen and to turn round and watch us. It was an absolutely bizarre moment. It really made the hair on your arms stand up and shivers down your spine.”
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The official music video begins with video of Hook playing that extraordinary bass line: www.youtube.com
The Linda Lindas comprises sisters Lucia and Mila de la Garza, their cousin Eloise Wong, and close friend Bela Salazar.
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The Linda Lindas chatted with KEXP about having "the most fun job in the world.:
bit.ly
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See their colorful video for "Oh!": www.youtube.com
STAY TUNED FOR THE BEAUTIFUL WONDERFUL GLORIOUS EVIE
Luck is the third studio album by Tom Vek, released in 2014. tomvek.bandcamp.com
This was a KEXP song of the day. Get it here: www.kexp.org.