4,992Shows
249,891Spins
Monday, Jul 10 2023, 7AM
Good Morning and welcome to the Morning Show with John!!
Coldplay released their debut record, Parachutes, on this day in 2001!
"Don't Panic" is a reflective ballad about the end of the world. It's named after the phrase that appears on the front of the fictional guidebook The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy from the Douglas Adams science-fiction franchise of the same name.
Happy birthday to Mavis Staples, born on this day in 1939!
Mavis Staples' album 'You Are Not Alone,' released before this performance, was produced by Jeff Tweedy.
Stipe has said that the song is about "when somebody actually thinks that, through words, they're going to be able to convince somebody that they are their one and only."
This orchestral version of Sometimes is part of a new double album released in celebration of James's 40th Anniversary! The album is a collection of some of James’ most loved and rare tracks, reimagined with a 22 piece orchestra and eight piece choir. - wearejames.com
Frank Black co-wrote "Gigantic" with Pixies bass player Kim Deal, who was using the stage name Mrs. John Murphy at the time. The song made a big impression on Kurt Cobain. He said in 1992, "I wish Kim was allowed to write more songs for the Pixies, because 'Gigantic' is the best Pixies song and Kim wrote it." Kim Deal reacted modestly, "Well, it's better than somebody saying, 'Oh God, you suck.'"
bit.ly
Check out a live version of the song performed at Rock Werchter Festival in Belgium circa 1989, enjoy:
www.youtube.com
Catch the Icelandic band live at the Paramount on August 24th!
sigurros.com
Bono references poet Charles Bukowski in "Dirty Day." The best advice from Bukowski, via Bono—
“if you’re going to try, go all the
way.
otherwise, don’t even start." : dontforgetthesongs365.wordpress.com
"i/o" is the upcoming tenth studio album by Gabriel, scheduled to be released in late 2023. It will be his first full-length album of new original material in over 21 years since his 2002 album Up.
Peter is currently in the midst of his worldwide tour. He'll visit Seattle and Climate Pledge Arena on October 8th.
petergabriel.com
"A Promise" is the fourth single by Echo & the Bunnymen and was released on 10 July 1981. It stayed on the UK Singles Chart for four weeks and peaked at number 49. Apart from the Australian-only release of "Over the Wall" later in the year, "A Promise" is the only single to have been released from the band's second album, Heaven Up Here
Daniel Ash and Kevin Haskins wrote this song with David J and John Alvin Rivers, Jr.
--
Watch David J of Bauhaus perform "No New Tale to Tell" at SXSW in 2014: www.youtube.com
Blur have reached their first Billboard Top 10 since 1997 with "The Narcissist," reaching No. 8 on Adult Alternative Airplay.
The band worked with producer James Ford (Depeche Mode, as well as Albarn’s Gorillaz) on the album in London and Devon, U.K.
Released on this day *checks notes* 47 years ago in 2001!
Watch Built to Spill's live performance in the KEXP studio in 2015: www.youtube.com
Bully will perform live at KEXP on Aug. 18 at 12 p.m! They'll also perform later that day at the Neptune Theatre: www.stgpresents.org --- bullythemusic.com
Palehound plays Madam Lou's on Monday, November 6th! tinyurl.com
"The ending of a relationship that spanned the majority of my twenties illuminated a forked road that daunted me," El Kempner shares of "Independence Day."
"In the aftermath of our breakup, I found myself dwelling on what that other life would have been like and who I would have become had we chosen differently, or even if circumstance or tragedy had chosen for us." tinyurl.com
"Love to hear you celebrating your brother today. My brother Erich was my oldest brother, best friend, guardian, all the things. I lost him a year and a half ago to a sudden heart attack way too young and not a day goes by without thinking and aching about him.
He was the same as your brother, the person I lived everything through with. Pretty tough without him, dammit.
He loved Paul Simon, specifically “you can call me Al.” It was just a happy song he liked to dance to. If you have time on Erich (Erik? Pardon if I’m misspelling your brother’s name) day that would be super duper to hear.
Happy birthday to your brother though, not trying to bogart his honor.
Kindly,
Joni"
WITCH (We Intend To Cause Havoc) will be LIVE on KEXP at noon on Friday, August 4th. They will perform at the Tractor Tavern that night.
--
“Zango means ‘meeting place.," stated the band. "Every village [in Zambia] will have this central place, where villagers meet to prepare for work, where youngsters go to learn, where the young ones learn from the elder folks, and where the visitors come and converge." bit.ly
Seattle's own Polyrhythmics are playing the West Seattle Summer Fest on Friday, July 14th. They'll stick around for Bite of Seattle, July 21-23, 2023 at Seattle Center.
"Funky Miracle" is the second single from the Seattle group's forthcoming album, Filter System. polyrhythmics.bandcamp.com
This song was released on this day in 1967!
"It was the third of June, another sleepy, dusty delta day," as Billie Joe McAllister jumps off the Tallahatchee Bridge, according to the Bobbie Gentry song "Ode To Billie Joe.
---
Bobbie Gentry was born Roberta Lee Streeter on July 27, 1944 in Chickasaw County, Mississippi. In the few interviews that she gave, Gentry touched briefly on her rural upbringing, saying, “We didn’t have electricity, and I didn’t have many playthings.”: www.rollingstone.com
Rodriguez, real name Sixto Rodriguez, is an American singer-songwriter from Detroit, Michigan, and he was born on this day in 1942.
“I think ‘Dying in May’ is the first Clientele song with no guitar,” the band’s Alasdair MacLean noted in a statement. “It also has no chords, as such — it’s a drone, with french horn, cello and Mellotron.”
www.stereogum.com
For Bob in Philly!
Directed by Anna Ginsburg, the video for "How Can You Swallow So Much Sleep" is an 'epic' journey of a little boy who one night dreams of going to the moon. The video was inspired by a story in the Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino.
youtu.be
Bombay Bicycle Club playing "How Can You Swallow So Much Sleep" live in 2012:
youtu.be
Durand Jones will be at Bumbershoot on Saturday, September 2, 2023, right here at Seattle Center! www.bandsintown.com
Much of the debut album "Wait Til I Get Over" is built on Jones’ relationship to his hometown of Hillaryville, Louisiana, a town first established as a form of reparations to previously enslaved Black Americans.
Peter DiStefano, guitarist and songwriter for Porno for Pyros, born on this day in 1965!
Good God's Urge is the second studio album by American alternative rock band Porno for Pyros, released in 1996. - pornoforpyrosofficial.com
Happy birthday to Neil Tennant, vocalist of the Pet Shop Boys, ex editor of music paper Smash Hits, who was born on this day in 1954.
I would like to unofficially nominate John for Segue of the Week, which is currently on hiatus, for that perfect segue - DJA Chelsea
====
Beck and Phoenix are touring together this summer and will play Climate Pledge Arena on Tuesday, August 1! The tour is called "Summer Odyssey". www.livenation.com
==
Last year, Phoenix released their seventh studio album Alpha Zulu. Beck’s most recent LP was 2019’s Hyperspace. Since then, he has collaborated with the Gorillaz and Paul McCartney. In February, Beck returned with the folky song “Thinking About You” but has yet to confirm when his next studio album will be released.
Long-running studio and live collaboration between master Jamaican percussionist Bonjo Iyabinghi Noah and English dub producer Adrian Sherwood, and a revolving cast of guest players. A unique blend of polyrhythmic outernational sounds.
africanheadcharge.bandcamp.com
Nation of Language last joined John Richards and KEXP in October 2021. Rewatch that performance right here - www.kexp.org.
Be sure to catch them playing at the Day In Day Out Festival in Seattle Center on Sunday, August 13th!
www.nationoflanguage.com
English band Bdrmm's second album, “I Don’t Know” was just released June 30th. Order the album on their Bandcamp:
bdrmm.bandcamp.com
Also, teehee, their twitter handle is @smellybdrmm
The Eraser was released on this day in 2006
This song has its origins in the Radiohead Kid A sessions. Thom Yorke told Rolling Stone magazine in 2006: "'Black Swan' has this tiny, shredded segment of something that was one of the library samples we had. It was Ed (O'Brien guitar) and Phil (Selway drums) doing this thing, and I sliced it into bits. The sample was 2000, but the song was 2005."
Radio edit!
Holy F**k hails from Toronto, ON!
Enjoy Live Video from their entire 2016 KEXP In-Studio: bit.ly.
holyfuck.bandcamp.com
'A Hard Day's Night' was released on this day in 1964!
Side one of the LP contains the songs from the film soundtrack. Side two contains songs written for, but not included in, the film, although a 1980s re-release of the film includes a prologue before the opening credits with "I'll Cry Instead" on the soundtrack. The title of the album and film was the accidental creation of Starr. According to Lennon in a 1980 interview with Playboy magazine: "I was going home in the car and [film director] Dick Lester suggested the title, 'Hard Day's Night' from something Ringo had said. I had used it in In His Own Write, but it was an off-the-cuff remark by Ringo. You know, one of those malapropisms. A Ringo-ism, where he said it not to be funny ... just said it. So Dick Lester said, 'We are going to use that title.'"
Janelle Monaé released her new single, "Float" earlier this year. For the song, they collaborated with Nigeria’s Oluseun Anikulapo Kuti, popularly known as Sean Kuti and his band Egypt 80. Monaé, who uses they/them pronouns, hasn’t released an album in five years. This is their first new single since they released “Say Her Name” in 2021.
And if you haven't seen any of their music videos for this album cycle, take 2:45 to watch "Waterslide" and then go put on your bathing suit and take the day off:
youtu.be
Released on this day in 2020!
Supergroup Dinner Party came together while Terence Martin and Robert Glasper were touring together, and grew from a core idea to tap into elements of jazz and soul, and root it in hip-hop. To bring it all together, Martin enlisted fellow saxophonist Kamasi Washington and storied hip-hop producer 9th Wonder. Recurring vocalist Phoelix is also involved with Glasper and Martin's R+R=Now project.
Support Dinner Party on Bandcamp: dinnerparty.bandcamp.com
John Coltrane's A Love Supreme, recorded near the close of 1964 and released the following year, inhabits an exalted plane beyond the realm of most other albums, in any musical genre. Easily one of the most celebrated jazz recordings ever made.
Released on this day in 1985!
"Pop Life" is the seventh track on Prince’s seventh album, "Around The World In A Day," the second to be credited to Prince and the Revolution, and three months after the album’s release, "Pop Life" was released as the album’s third single.
--
Rumors have suggested incorrectly that the booing crowd sampled in the song is from Prince’s infamous opening act for the Rolling Stones, from October 1981. The samples actually come from a Jac Holzman’s 1964 sound effects album titled "Authentic Sound Effects Volume 4."
Cover of the El Michels tune from 2021's "Yeti Season."
bacaorhythmandsteelband.bandcamp.com
Released on this day in 2001!
Built To Spill were LIVE on KEXP last year, hosted by Cheryl Waters. Watch their full performance here: www.youtube.com
The title of this track came from an experience the Johns had when they found a substantial number of Ng's listed in a phone book. Linnell: "I think I was collecting possible song ideas and, for some reason, I ended up looking in the phone book, and there were about four pages of this name that contains no vowels, Ng. I was fascinated because it's a name I didn't know about before, and it was filling up a large chunk of the Manhattan white pages. I called up some of the numbers kind of experimentally to find out how it was pronounced, and I got the phone machine of a Dr. Ng and I was kind of relieved. The message said, 'Dr. Ng is not in,' and I had my material."
Sigue Sigue Sputnik was a British New Wave band founded in 1982 in London by former Generation X bassist Tony James.
The name is a supposed reference to a Russian street gang, meaning, in rough translation "burn, burn satellite" ("sigue" coming from a form of the Russian verb сжигать, meaning burn, and Sputnik referencing the first man-made satellite launched by the Soviet Union in 1957).
--
The inspiration for the music video was the 1962 sci-fi featurette La Jetée. Watch it here:
www.youtube.com
The cover of this album is a reproduction of the painting "A Basket of Roses" by French artist Henri Fantin-Latour, which is part of the National Gallery's permanent collection in London. Peter Saville, the cover's designer, had originally planned to use a Renaissance portrait of a dark prince to tie in with the Machiavellian theme of the title, but could not find a suitable portrait. At the gallery Saville picked up a postcard with Fantin-Latour's painting, and his girlfriend mockingly asked him if he was going to use it for the cover. Saville then realised it was a great idea. Saville suggested that the flowers "suggested the means by which power, corruption and lies infiltrate our lives. They're seductive."
The Presidents of the United States of America (occasionally referred to as PUSA, The Presidents or Pot USA) was an American alternative rock power trio band formed here in Seattle in 1993.
And if you ever have a child, know that PUSA frontman Chris Ballew has you covered with Caspar Babypants so you never have to listen to Radio Disney or any of that crap.