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Monday, May 8 2023, 7AM
Good morning and welcome to the Monday edition of the Morning Show with John!
Lead singer Thom Yorke on "Let Down": "I was pissed in a club, and I suddenly had the funniest thought I'd had for ages - what if all the people who were drinking were hanging from the bottles... if the bottles were hung from the ceiling with string, and the floor caved in, and the only thing that kept everyone up was the bottles? It's also about an enormous fear of being trapped."
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"Let down and hanging around...
Crushed like a bug in the ground..." Here are the lyrics: www.azlyrics.com
The Veils are an English/New Zealand rock band fronted by singer and songwriter Finn Andrews.
www.theveils.com
South formed in the late 1990s, consisting of lead singer Joel Cadbury and his two bandmates Brett Shaw, and Jamie McDonald.: nbhap.com
For Ryan on Alki!
Drive that Fast is a 1991 EP by the UK alternative rock group Kitchens of Distinction. The title track later appeared on the full-length album Strange Free World.
Brand new Peter Gabriel! Featuring Eno's "electric worms"-sounding synths and is the latest single from the upcoming album.
petergabriel.com
Rob Laakso, a longtime guitarist and multi-instrumentalist in Kurt Vile and the Violators, died on Thursday, May 4. His wife Mamie-Claire Cornelius confirmed his death following a battle with cholangiocarcinoma, a rare and aggressive form of bile duct cancer. Laakso was 44.
Laakso officially joined Kurt Vile and the Violators in 2011, replacing the War on Drugs’ Adam Granduciel, but Vile and Laakso had been collaborating in the years preceding that. Laakso performed multiple instruments and served as co-producer on a number of Vile’s solo and Violators records, including 2009’s God Is Saying This to You…, 2011’s Smoke Ring for My Halo, 2013’s Wakin on a Pretty Daze, 2015’s B’lieve I’m Going Down…, and 2018’s Bottle It In, among others. His most recent album with Vile was 2022’s Watch My Moves.
Prior to collaborating with Vile, Laakso was a member of several other groups, notably Swirlies and Mice Parade, appearing on 2004’s Obrigado Saudade, 2007’s Mice Parade, and 2010’s What It Means to Be Left-Handed. In addition to his production work with Vile, he also served as an audio engineer on projects for Mice Parade, No Joy, and other artists. (via Rolling Stone)
‘Shadowboxing’ is the debut single from Lost Under Heaven's forthcoming 3rd Album- ‘Something is Announced by your Life!’ - lostunderheaven.bandcamp.com
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Lost Under Heaven performed live in the KEXP studio in 2018 - www.youtube.com
From the 'Singles' soundtrack! According to Billy Corgan, the success of "Drown" was stymied by the label behind the soundtrack due to their pushing of Alice in Chains' hit, "Would?".
"That's classic record company. You would think, 'Hey, you've got this soundtrack. You've got two songs working radio, you're going to sell more soundtracks.' They killed our single to make sure that it wouldn’t hurt the Alice in Chains thing." - bit.ly
Just released for Record Store Day as part of a new EP called "Witness To Your Love." The record backed Garbage’s 2008 rarity “Witness To Your Love” with three previously unreleased tracks: a pair of originals called “Blue Betty” and “Adam And Eve,” both culled from the sessions for 2021’s No Gods, No Masters, and this cover of Siouxsie and the Banshees' “Cities In Dust.”
The official debut album from this acclaimed Arizona-bred, upstate New York-based DJ/producer is a beautifully crafted blend of Balearic electro-pop and shimmering dream-pop, with a warm, breezy sound combining glistening synths, jangly guitars, strings, sax and more with buoyant rhythms, wistful melodies and reflective lyrics of relationships, climate change, and the passage of time.
From the minds that brought you CCFX, “What Are You
Waiting For?”, and Daisies “2” comes the
7th release from the purveyors of the electronic paisley
underground, “Great Open Big Sky” daisies.bandcamp.com
In the press release for the album, Sarah Barthel said “Ceremony is what Phantogram is to us. Everyone has their own ceremony and they don’t have to relate to anyone else’s, but Phantogram is our ceremony: our process, our ritual. Playing shows is our ceremony for everyone. And for us.” They've played KEXP multiple times, including this performance from five years ago: bit.ly
For David in Chicago
In Hinduism, Kundalini is a form of divine feminine energy. It is an important concept in Śhaiva Tantra, where it is believed to be a force or power associated with the divine feminine or the formless aspect of the Goddess. en.wikipedia.org
Grain Chatten is the frontman for Fontaines D.C. and his solo album entitled Chaos for the Fly is coming out June 30th.
www.grianchatten.com
The Frames are an Irish rock band based in Dublin. Founded in 1990 by Glen Hansard (of Once fame), the band has been influential in the Dublin rock music scene. The group has released six studio albums.
Son of Evil Reindeer is the second studio album by Scottish indie rock supergroup The Reindeer Section, which has featured members of Snow Patrol, Arab Strap, Belle & Sebastian, Mogwai, and more.
"Velouria" is written and sung by the band's frontman Black Francis. It is essentially a love song about a girl named after velour, a soft furnishing fabric. Francis said of the song: "It's folklore based; the Rosicrucians of 1920s San Jose California had some pretty interesting ideas."
www.songfacts.com
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Pixies performed Live on KEXP in 2014: www.youtube.com
Brand new music! Jonathan Owen Bree is a singer-songwriter and producer from New Zealand, best known for his work as a solo artist, as well as co-founding the indie pop group The Brunettes, in 1998 and Lil' Chief Records, in 2002. He frequently collaborates with label-mates as a musician, engineer, and record producer.
www.jonathanbreemusic.com
Maybe the most popular song featuring a marimba as a lead instrument?
"Love My Way" was the first Psychedelic Furs song to chart in America. Released in 1982, Forever Now is the third studio album by the Psychedelic Furs. - thepsychedelicfurs.com
Nylon Union are experimental indie pop band based in Bratislava, Slovakia. The new album Words And Waves produced by Erik Horák at Lososound Studio.
nylonunion.bandcamp.com
By request!
#201 on KEXP's countdown of the top songs from the past 50 years!
Matt Berninger explained the song's meaning: "It's about being stuck between an old version of yourself and the one you're becoming. I was trying to shed my skin. That's what the first line about lifting up my shirt means to me. I definitely didn't feel like the same person I used to be. I didn't feel like an Ohioan anymore and I definitely was not a New Yorker. I was married with a baby, living in Brooklyn, which was still a foreign land to me, and on the verge of becoming a rockstar if I didn't blow it. It was winter, and I remember pacing around ice puddles in (co-producer) Peter Katis's yard trying to finish the words."
John was the host when The National performed live in our studio in 2017. Watch that wonderful session: www.youtube.com
boygenius will play the Gorge Amphitheatre on Saturday, July 29th!
Their debut full-length album came out in March: xboygeniusx.bandcamp.com
From the debut album by the Cure, Three Imaginary Boys, released on this day in 1979.
Three Imaginary Boys was released on 11 May 1979 by record label Fiction. The record company decided which songs were put on the album, as well as the cover artwork, without Robert Smith's consent. For all Cure albums since, Smith has ensured that he is given complete creative control over the final product before it goes on sale. The "Foxy Lady" soundcheck, with vocals sung by Michael Dempsey, was not supposed to be on the album, and was removed for the American release. Smith has stated that "songs like 'Object' and 'World War' and our cover of 'Foxy Lady' were Chris Parry's choice".
"Hi,
Today is my wife Jo’s birthday and we are on the road to visit her folks because even at 59, she wants to celebrate with them.
Can you play Dionne Warwick’s What The World Needs Now for her.
During the pandemic she would blast that our Bakeshop front door. Just spreading the love.
Have a great Monday.
Sam"
Lyricist Hal David on "What the World Needs Now":
"We showed the song to Dionne Warwick, who had recorded many of our songs, and it is the only song of ours that she ever turned down. We put it aside and then received a call from Liberty Records to meet with Jackie DeShannon. We played this song for her and she wanted to do it. Burt did a great arrangement and we recorded it."
Dionne Warwick evidently changed her mind, as she did later record the song for her 1966 album Here Where There Is Love."
"Good morning! Please play the Unchained Melody cover by the Unrighteous brothers, Orville Peck and Paul Cauthen if you have time. Thank you- Julie in Seattle"
Paul Cauthen and Orville Peck have joined forces on a fun new project as "The Unrighteous Brothers" and released their debut via digital retailers. Proceeds from the collaboration will be donated to MusiCares, helping musicians with critical assistance in times of need.
"When I first heard Orville’s voice, I knew we’d sound good together," said Cauthen. "I’ve always wanted to cover some Righteous Brothers tunes, but it took time to find the person I could pull it off with. I knew Butch and Beau would be perfect for this project. I pitched the idea to Orville and we were off to the races. I’m glad the world will finally get to hear The Unrighteous Brothers. Never knew the unrighteous could be so righteous and I’m damn lucky to be a part of it.
Peck confessed, "I’ve been obsessed with Paul ever since I first heard his voice a year or two ago. I finally got to see him play while we were both on tour in Nashville and that’s when we first met. He has such a larger than life, soulful presence, so when they brought me the idea of us doing The Unrighteous Brothers, it was just a no-brainer." bit.ly
Proceeds from The Unrighteous Brothers project will be donated to MusiCares, helping musicians with critical assistance in times of need.
Chris Isaak's Wicked Game did not become a hit until it was featured in the 1990 David Lynch film Wild at Heart, starring Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern.
"On Grace & Dignity" came to be in winter 2020 when he lost his job in lockdown and moved back to his parents’ house. The only work he found find was as a worker at a building site outside of Truro. From Woods: “It was such a bleak winter – waist-deep in mud digging holes and rolling out turf on top of building waste, really grim stuff, which became the backdrop to the stories I was trying to write." He cited Raymond Carver, Lydia Davis and Richard Hugo as influences for the album. thegoldendregs.bandcamp.com
Love from southern Oregon and love this show so much, I listen every morning at work. Would love it more if you played some super furry animals on this rainy Monday.
Mathew
Super Furry Animals are a Welsh rock band formed in Cardiff in 1993. For the duration of their professional career, the band consisted of Gruff Rhys, Huw Bunford, Guto Pryce, Cian Ciaran, Dafydd Ieuan. An earlier incarnation of the band featured actor Rhys Ifans on lead vocals.
"What Would I Want? Sky" borrows from Grateful Dead's song "Unbroken Chain," from the 1974 album, Grateful Dead from the Mars Hotel. It is the first-ever officially licensed Grateful Dead sample. - bit.ly
Dave in Ballard
Gday John! This Monday has me longing for a rooftop in Manhattan as only PJ Harvey can sing it. If you could work it into the mix that would be great 🙏🏼Dave in Ballard
On a rooftop in Brooklyn
At one in the mornin'
Watchin' the lights flash
In Manhattan
I see five bridges
The Empire State Building
And you said something
That I've never forgotten
That! Feels Good! is HERE!
Title track "That! Feels Good!" opens the record, and features cameo vocals from various celebrities speaking the phrase, including singer Kylie Minogue (who Ware had collaborated with on single "Kiss of Life" in 2021), actress Gemma Arterton (who appeared in the music video for "Remember Where You Are") and Róisín Murphy, the latter of which recording her vocals in an airport toilet
Brand new music from Sheffield, UK artist Acid Klaus!
acidklaus.bandcamp.com
Al Jourgenson co-wrote this song with Shay Jones for Ministry's debut album, With Sympathy.
With Sympathy was out of print for many years, and Jourgensen claimed that he had destroyed the master tapes. In 2012, Eastworld Records reissued the album with three bonus tracks
The Chemical Brothers' upcoming album is expected to come out later this year, just in time to celebrate the band's 30th anniversary, with tour dates in the UK this October/November. bit.ly
Their bandcamp page is straight to the point: "An English post-punk band formed in 1977 in Manchester."
Sorted.
acertainratio.bandcamp.com
"White Lines (Don't Don't Do It)" is a song by American hip hop recording artist Melle Mel (better known by his stage name, Grandmaster Flash), released as a 12" in 1983 on Sugar Hill Records. The song, which warns against the dangers of cocaine, addiction, and drug smuggling, is one of Mel's signature tracks. The bassline is taken from a performance of the Sugar Hill house band (featuring bassist Doug Wimbish) covering "Cavern", a single by New York City band Liquid Liquid.
“This Is America" is Childish Gambino's (aka Donald Glover) Grammy-winning exploration of trap music, gun violence, and America's festering relationship with its long and bloody history on race.
Do not miss the video, which is as disturbing as it is relevant.
youtu.be