John Richards

Good morning on a lovely Friday in Seattle. Welcome to The Morning Show with John Richards. As Arlo Parks said in the previous song, "You are not alone." We're so glad you're here! Happy birthday to Jimi Hendrix's debut album...released on this day in 1967...or from the year 2398.

Here are Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals performing "Burn One Down" live at Red Rocks in 2015: www.youtube.com

superviolet is the solo project of Steven Ciolek, former frontman of Ohio band the Sidekicks. -- “Big songbirds don’t cry/ They just get the blues/ Besides in sports bars, the adage holds true/ It’s blues with red and silver telecasted sound/ Pentatonic poetry as a higher ground.” This single is from his debut album "Infinite Spring."

Happy birthday to Ifar "Eef" Barzelay, Israeli-American musician and the principal songwriter and singer of Clem Snide. He was born on May 12th, 1970.

Depeche Mode is coming to Climate Pledge Arena on the Memento Mori Tour on Sunday, November 26th. -- "First we stand up, then we fall down We have to move forward, before we drown We drown..." "Memento Mori," their fifteenth album, is their first to be recorded and released after the death of beloved keyboardist Andy Fletcher last year.

"Elena Tonra isn’t a keen swimmer, but oceans pervade 'Stereo Mind Game.' It’s a matter of distance. Daughter’s third record, the band’s first studio album for seven years, grapples with what it means to be separated, from loved ones and too from yourself." : shop.4ad.com Daughter – the trio comprising Tonra, Igor Haefeli and Remi Aguilella – were live on KEXP in 2013 with John: www.youtube.com

Garbage will be performing at White River Amphitheatre in Auburn, WA on Friday, June 2nd. -- This is their cover of the Siouxsie and the Banshees classic. 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 great cover.

Typical of De La Soul, there are a soup of samples on this track, but the main groove comes from Funkadelic's "(Not Just) Knee Deep." That song's writers, George Clinton and Philippe Wynne, are credited on "Me Myself and I" along with De La Soul. The vocal melody is cribbed from the 1988 Jungle Brothers song "Black Is Black," which features Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest. -- R.I.P., Trugoy the Dove, who died in February at age 54: www.nytimes.com

The Helio Sequence will perform at Alma in Tacoma, Washington on Friday, May 19th. -- From 2018, here's Brandon Summers of The Helio Sequence performing live in the KEXP studio. And, yes, he performs "Hallelujah"! www.youtube.com

The New Radicals included Danielle Brisebois, best known for her role as Stephanie Mills on the Norman Lear-produced sitcoms All in the Family and its spin-off Archie Bunker's Place. -- Watch the official video for "the baby Friday song," which is also the New Radicals' signature song: www.youtube.com

Sudan Archives is the alias of Cincinnati-bred, LA-based singer, songwriter, violinist, and producer Brittney Denise Parks. Did you know that she was our guest DJ for Midnight in a Perfect World? Take a look at her playlist here: www.kexp.org -- ODESZA laced their haunting sound design through Archives' signature violin patterns in the new remix, the duo's first in eight years. Their visceral production is the perfect fit for the contemplative lyricism of "Selfish Soul," which uses women's hair as a motif to express their search for identity in a world that distorts conceptions of beauty. bit.ly

This first hour of your show has already been a banger -- and exactly what I've needed to get my day started. If you could fit in Freedom! 90 by George Michael, then I would be most grateful and definitely take the dance break I need. Thank you for all you do. -- Jen, Lexington KY -- In a clip released last year, the late George Michael talks about the making of the video for this song. "The almost two-minute-long clip features the making of "Freedom! ’90" video and how Michael revolutionized the concept for music video making, just by adding five supermodels to his video. As Sir Elton John sums up, “It changed the whole face of how videos were done. The video said everything. It was genius, and it was a revolutionary thing.”: collider.com

It's too hot to sleep...."and I want to walk around with you...": www.youtube.com This song has a more simple arrangement than other Animal Collective tunes. Dave "Avey Tare" Portner explained that they came across the melody of this song suddenly. He added: "I tried to find an additional melody, much more dark and bizarre, but nobody loved it (laughs)!. In general, I write the most complex Animal Collective songs, with structures to A / B / C / D / E... But I wanted to keep the almost naive simplicity of this song."

The National Weather Service has issued a Heat Advisory for portions of northwest and west central Washington. The advisory is in effect from 2 p.m. Saturday to 8 p.m. Monday as the highest temperatures of the year so far will blanket the area. The hot temperatures will pose a moderate risk of heat-related illnesses for those who are sensitive to heat, especially for people who don’t have a way to keep cool or stay hydrated.: bit.ly -- Watch The Cure play the song live: youtu.be

This song was originally recorded in 1969 by a group from Beaumont, Texas called The Clique, who released it as the B-side of their only Top 40 hit: "Sugar On Sunday." The song was written by the group's producer Gary Zekley along with Elliot Bottler, Mitchell Bottler and Brandon Chase.

Hey John, We took the day off for my husband’s birthday and are sitting in the backyard enjoying your show on this very warm NJ day. How about something from the Pixies? For Mike please! Thank you!! --Catherine -- Three different storylines are at play in "Bone Machine". In an interview with Pixies frontman Frank Black, he explained the inspirations: "Girlfriend. Unfaithfulness. Creepy pastor whose intentions I later questioned. In that order." bit.ly

Don't you love the great bass line in this song? Here's a live version from 2019: www.youtube.com

Smokey Brights will be LIVE on KEXP on Thursday, May 25th, on The Morning Show at 9:30 a.m. They will be playing Friday, June 2nd (with Sera Cahoone) at the Showbox. -- “‘No Getting Out’ is a call out,” vocalist Kim West says. “It’s a battle cry. It’s a self-help anthem for those of us who know we gotta figure it out and that we can’t wait for anyone else to do it for us. Raise my hands to the sky, tonight I refuse to burn.”: floodmagazine.com

Could you play that Pomplamoose Lovely Day mashup? Also, could I get a shoutout to my beautiful wife Jami, the best mom ever to our three kids, happy Mother's Day! also you look hot as hell today! -Phil -- Pomplamoose takes Bill Withers’ “Lovely Day” and Lizzo’s “Good as Hell” and mashes them up into one fantastic arrangement. Joe Ayoub is the bassist in this song.

This is Poolside covering Neil Young's "Harvest Moon." -- Pitchfork called "Pacific Standard Time" "a disco album that slinks along with the urgency of a teenager on the first day of summer vacation.": pitchfork.com

Don't get sunsick. Here's the CDC's guide to the warning signs and symptoms of heat-related illnesses: www.cdc.gov -- John selected this song from LA psych artist Morgan Delt as a KEXP Song of the Day back when it was first released: www.kexp.org

John was the host when Amen Dunes came to the KEXP studio in 2018 for a live performance that included "Miki Dora": www.youtube.com -- "Miki Dora" was featured as a KEXP song of the day! - www.kexp.org

I have a request for the show ahead of the weekend because this Sunday is not just Mother’s Day, it’s my twins’ first birthday. The hospital let us bring in a Bluetooth speaker for their birth and we put together a playlist. LCD Soundsystem’s “Dance Yrself Clean” was playing when Eli and Ari were born. If time permits, would you please play that song for my wife and kids? My wife Rachael and Eli and Ari Thanks for all that you at KEXP do. You’re not alone. ---Colin in West Seattle -- You won't regret watching Kermit, Animal, Cookie Monster, and Miss Piggy perform the song on the streets of Brighton, England: www.youtube.com

Señores y señoras.. Nosotros tenemos más influencia con sus hijos que tú tiene, pero los queremos.. Creado y regado de Los Angeles, Juana's Addicción... Here we go! -- Dave Navarro's wah-wah guitar solo made Guitar World's list of the greatest wah solos of all time.

Any Curve, please. Just finished a workout and I'm just sitting here in the locker room like a creeper because I don't want to turn off your show to take a shower! KEXP > hygiene ---Laura -- 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.

Checking in from Split, Croatia, Could you play some Clash? Dan from Charlotte -- Joe Strummer admitted in an interview with Melody Maker in 1988 that he had nicked the bassline from the Queen hit "Another One Bites The Dust" (which in itself shares many similarities with another disco classic, Chic's "Good Times"). -- The song as a whole is the band's tribute to New York rap acts such as the Sugarhill Gang and Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five - indeed, Strummer's sinister high-pitched laugh at the start of the song was directly inspired by Grandmaster Flash's "The Message."

When the Vancouver Canucks skate onto the ice, they use this song. Speaking of hockey, go Kraken!! -- The song's music video was inspired by a classic '80s hard rock clip. "Our music video is based on 'Paradise City' by Guns N' Roses," said guitarist Brian King. "When he [director Jim Larson] wanted direction, I said, 'That's what I want it to be like.' : www.youtube.com

Hi, good morning! My sisters Terese and Maureen and I are road tripping to Spokane this morning. If there is time, can you play Born to Run for us? If it pleases the DJ? ---Ellen in Olympia -- Springsteen played this song for the first time on May 9, 1974 when he opened for Bonnie Raitt at Harvard Square. Rock critic Jon Landau was at the show and wrote in Boston's Real Paper: "I saw rock and roll's future - and its name is Bruce Springsteen." Landau eventually became Springsteen's manager. -- Sesame Street released "Born to Add," using this Springsteen tune: www.youtube.com

Cheekface will be LIVE on KEXP on Tuesday, May 16th, at 3:00 p.m. They will be performing at Barboza that evening. -- 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

Hmmm....what do you think this song is about? Read about the long-misinterpreted meaning behind this song: americansongwriter.com

This samples "Summer Madness" by Kool & The Gang. The last words in the lyrics of this song, before the chorus, are "summer madness." -- Here's that Kool & The Gang tune: www.youtube.com

"Hey, ladies! Where y'all going to?" -- You can have this wonderful call-and-response song for your very own self, since it was a KEXP Song of the Day: kexp.org

Born in Jamaica, Clinton Fearon established himself as bassist, vocalist and lyricist of the mythic Gladiators at the age of 19. In 1987, Fearon moved to Seattle, where he would establish himself as a major player in reggae worldwide. Upbeat, uplifting and contagious are words that best describe Clinton Fearon’s energy. -- Here's that performance by Clinton Fearon on John's lawn in November, 2020: www.kexp.org

Israel Kamakawiwoʻole, also known as Bruddah Iz, was a Hawaiian musician and activist who passed away in 1997.