John Richards

This track is featured on UNKLE's debut Psyence Fiction. The album was helmed by the duo of James Lavelle and DJ Shadow, with the former overseeing the album's themes and the latter handling musical composition. Psyence Fiction also features contributions from a varied cast of guest vocalists recruited by Lavelle including Richard Ashcroft and Thom Yorke. This album turns 25 today!

As a teenager growing up in the ’80s in the suburbs outside Sacramento, California, Josh Davis, aka DJ Shadow, felt a huge distance away from the hip-hop centre of New York. However, that didn’t stop him falling in love with the genre and the idea of beatmaking. More importantly perhaps, he already understood that hip-hop could be about more than simply sampling a James Brown drum break and looping it. Davis wanted to take the form much further. "People like Afrika Bambaataa and Steinski and Grandmaster Flash showed me that hip-hop was so much broader than what people acknowledged it as being," he says. "It was about exploring music that you were denied access to." In the ’90s, Davis was to help reshape hip-hop into a form blending variously slowed-down or rapid, pyrotechnic beats with collages of atmospheric instrumental or vocal samples, creating a cinematic sound that was labelled trip-hop. It reached a landmark point with the 1996 release of the debut DJ Shadow album Endtroducing. bit.ly

Thom Yorke of Radiohead is singing the vocals on this song that he co-wrote with UNKLE's Josh Davis. -- Stylus Magazine ranked the video number one on their list of the Top 100 Music Videos of All Time.: www.youtube.com This album turns 25 today!

Recorded by the band at St. Catherine's Court, a manor house located in Bath, England that was built in the 16th century. That probably gave it it's spooky Halloween feel, which KEXP's Janice Headley wrote about: www.kexp.org

UNKLE was founded by James Lavelle, who started the influential Mo'Wax record label in 1992 -- the label was at the forefront of turntablism and trip-hop, as well as working with influential graffiti artists like Futura 2000 and Robert "3D" Del Naja DJ Shadow joined Lavelle in the first incarnation of UNKLE after Mo'Wax released DJ Shadow's masterpiece "Endtroducing..." (this track also features lyrics by Richard Ashcroft from The Verve) This album turns 25 today!

Richard Ashcroft told Q magazine in 2017 that he considers this to be his favorite song that he's ever written, "because it seems to be able to ignite or connect with an energy every time it's performed, without fail." He added: "I'll have to be on death's door not to be able to connect to the energy with the audience and that's something special. It's a rarity to express that feeling, to try and seize that moment when you're on top of the world and you're stood there naked smiling, like it says."

Psyence Fiction is the debut studio album by English electronic music act Unkle, at the time consisting of James Lavelle and DJ Shadow. "Unreal" and "Be There" contain samples of "Birth", written by Jules Blattner and performed by The Jules Blattner Group; and "Pre-Dawn Retrospective Chant", performed by Steve Forman. This album turns 25 today!

Here's the official video for this great 1972 song from the krautrock band: www.youtube.com. Released the same year KEXP was born! www.spoonrecords.com

In an interview with Apple Music, Josh Lloyd-Watson from Jungle stated that "This is one that wasn’t necessarily made for Jungle, we made it with [Dublin DJ/producer] Krystal Klear and [Essex singer-songwriter/producer] Lydia Kitto. It has a much more clubby touch to it, it’s got heavier kicks and it’s got 909 hats, which we’ve never really used. It continues that more aggy side of what we wanted to do, we wanted to have a bit more of the disco-punk element to it, à la [the South Bronx’s early-’80s punk-funk pioneers] ESG, something that was anti the soft, midtempo Jungle that we know and love. It’s a bit strobe-y and then eventually it releases to this refrain, which sounds like some old soul sample that we made. I suppose it’s the first time you’re like, ‘OK, this is a Jungle record. I know what’s going on here.’

New album out in September. They will perform at The Crocodile on November 24! Watch them performing live in the KEXP studio in 2020: www.youtube.com polyrhythmics.bandcamp.com www.polyrhythmics.com

My son Liam has been a long-time listener to your show and has made numerous birthday requests in the past. Today, Liam turned 12 and asked for Brandon Summers' You Are Not Alone song. If you have a chance, would love it if you give a should out to Liam here in Ottawa and play this year's birthday request for him. www.kexp.org

New music from Teenage Sequence! Teenage Sequence is Dewan-Dean Soomary, a London musician who used to be in bands King Blues and Bleach Blood. - teenagesequence.bandcamp.com

Go back, back, back to 2009 to see Jack Peñate perform "Tonight's Today" live in our studio: www.youtube.com

Dave Wakeling, who was a guitarist and vocalist in The English Beat, said, "The song 'Best Friend,' I'm actually singing it to myself in the same mirror that 'Mirror in the Bathroom' was written in. It was actually my sister's bathroom in Birmingham. 'Best Friend' was singing a song to a reflection, you know, I just found I'm your best friend - you."

Track from Activity's sophomore album, "Spirit in the Room" which released earlier this year. Vocalist Jess Rees state that this album reflects the band's "deep anxiety about the modern world while simultaneously displaying their immense gratitude—believe it or not—joy"

"From the New Nation of Long Shadows" was recorded and mixed at Spectre Studios, Issaquah WA in the year 2000 voyagerone.bandcamp.com

New LP due out on September 15, produced by Nick Millhiser (Holy Ghost!, LCD Soundsystem). The band just performed at KEXP during Day In Day Out Festival. You can see their 2021 set on YouTube: youtu.be

Title track from OMD's 14th studio album releasing on October 27

"Careful!" is Deeper's Sub Pop debut. “I wanted these to be interesting songs, but in a way where a two-year-old would vibe out to it,” Deeper's Nic Gohl says. “It’s pop music, basically.” deeperchi.bandcamp.com

This review calls Lush' "Lowlife" "a feminist antidote to Britpop’s dude overload.": music.avclub.com

Would you please play Ode to My Family by the Cranberries? I appreciate your open heart when it comes to talking about mental illness. My younger son has bi-polar disorder. I think this song is about Dolores and her struggle with the same illness. My older son lives In Seattle and is a teacher at Cleveland high school. He turned me on to KEXP years ago. He has taken me to the KEXP station. We drank good coffee and listened to good music. What a great place to be!! Thank you!! -Jessica from Colorado. Singer Dolores O'Riordan died of drowning in 2018 at age 46: www.theguardian.com

Hi John, good morning :-) Here in Berlin before going home after a working day. Can you play OASIS / Wonderwall for me? Cheers- Thorsten

'Albarn makes a show of tearing himself open, yet stretches so far to “transcend” autobiography, as he puts it, that the guts drop out. Could “Barbaric”—a lackadaisical breakup anthem with a Johnny Marr-style riff and a chorus about “barbaric” disunity—in fact allude to political polarization?' - very Pitchfork review: pitchfork.com

A Song for Leon (A Tribute to Leon Russell) comes out Sept. 8th, which includes Margo Price’s version of “Stranger in a Strange Land.” “I’ve always loved Leon Russell’s vibe and approach to music and life in general,” Price says in the announcement. “I completely fell in love with him after watching the documentary by Les Blank called A Poem Is a Naked Person. I had the pleasure of briefly meeting him at a show many years ago in the hallway. I always remember what he said during the live interview that day, which was that ‘It was his job to misinform the press.’ He was an old man at the time, but I’ll never forget how mischievous he seemed.” After recording “Stranger in a Strange Land” for this project, Price says, she’s been including it in many of her live shows. www.nodepression.com

Palehound plays Madam Lou's on Monday, November 6! www.ticketweb.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." www.stereogum.com

Track from Shamir's 9th album in eight years and debut with Kill Rock Stars label which released earlier this month! shamir.bandcamp.com

This was The Indigo Girls' first hit song. Emily Saliers describes this track as detailing them paying their dues by playing small venues and working hard "Amy and I used to be a bar band, and we would play 'til 3 a.m. like every night, practically for 13 nights in a row, three sets, finishing at 3 a.m., so I had some early experiences at bars at 3 a.m., certainly."

R.E.M. released their debut EP Chronic Town on this day in 1982! Happy Birthday Peter Buck! The R.E.M. guitarist explained to Q magazine in 1992: "There was an old guy in my neighborhood who would be out gardening at 2 a.m. in his suit and tie. I'd see him when I was out trying to get a beer at the Magic Mart or somewhere. It's basically a metaphor for the uselessness of everything." bit.ly Watch R.E.M. play this song live at Chateau Neuf Oslo 1985: youtu.be

Kerosene Hat released on this day in 1993 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

Rob Dickinson gave an interview in 2006 in which he describes "crank" as being British slang for an odd or eccentric person. When he sings "call me crank," he's actually referring to how he views himself and that he's comfortable in acknowledging that he's a bit unusual.: bit.ly

Hi John, I’m requesting anything by the B52s in honor of our friend Canelli. He took care of his partner Jenn for all three years of her terminal brain cancer and on Saturday she passed. We love and miss Jenn, and now it’s time for Canelli to build his new life. He wants to dance his ass off to the B52s so we are headed to Vegas! KEXP and specially your show helped keep Canelli’s spirits up through these last painful years and we are so grateful. Your work is spiritual work and you deserve to be known for that. With gratitude, Zoh Famed hitmaker Nile Rodgers produced this track -- he helped the B-52s break out of a creative funk and expand their audience. When they made the album, they had to start without Rodgers, who was wrapping up another project. This ended up giving the album even more creative energy, as they spent a month recording four songs with Don Was, including "Love Shack." youtu.be

Good Morning John, Can you play On the Road Again by Willie for my bestfriend Alex. Today we are celebrating her late father Frank who would have been 81 today. I hope this song can take her back to the start of all their road trip soundtracks. Thank you, -Marco The lyrics for this song were written on the spur of the moment on a airplane's barf bag. - bit.ly

This EP released in 1996 under Sub Pop Records. Damien Jurado performed a set at KEXP in 2022, listen to it here: www.youtube.com

This track was released on this day in 1981 BFF's Mick Jagger and Keith Richards go for a walk, run into Ronnie Wood at a bar, drink, and then (naturally) start singing together ... www.youtube.com

Heya John! Very fun set going! Along with Willie here, my fave driving song is Jerry Reed's East Bound and Down. Top comment on youtube vid is "The music you listen to when you're going 90 in a 40." For me it's going 69 in an 80 across Montana right now." Chip This track was recorded for the soundtrack for the film Smokey and the Bandit

Melody's Echo Chamber is the main project of French musician Melody Prochet. Melody's Echo Chamber is coming to Seattle and will play a 21+ show at The Crocodile on Saturday, October 7th! melodysechochamber.bandcamp.com