4,992Shows
249,891Spins
Monday, Sep 11 2023, 7AM
Live from New York it's Saturday Ni—, er, Monday Morning! Welcome to the Morning Show with John!
Bassist Carlos Dengler said, “The songs were written before 9/11, but the unintentional meaning they take on isn’t any less of a meaning; we were holding the cards to a certain message that was about to become relevant. It’s insane. It’s like the universe is taking care of us, even in the form of a horrific event.”: dontforgetthesongs365.wordpress.com
The "lush" version of YYY's Spitting Off the Edge of the World. The original version of the track, which features fellow indie rocker Perfume Genius, was released as the first single from the band’s 2022 album Cool It Down.
www.yeahyeahyeahs.com
Polly Jean Harvey grew up on a sheep farm in Corscombe, a small village in Dorset, England. Her parents owned a stone quarrying business but were also heavily involved in music, organizing small gigs around West Country.
Harvey was inspired by her parents' record collection that included blues legends like John Lee Hooker, Howlin' Wolf, and Nina Simone, along with rock musicians like Captain Beefheart, Jimi Hendrix, and The Rolling Stones. Harvey said her teenage rebellion consisted of going to school discos and listening to Duran Duran. "My mum was horrified that I was buying Spandau Ballet records," she added.
bit.ly
pjharvey.net
New album out November 10th! Pre-order it here: www.beirutband.com
During a Brooklyn performance of this, Sufjan once sang the lyrics "I drove to New York in a van with my friends. We slept in parking lots... true story. It sucked." with a chuckle.
My Back Was a Bridge for You to Cross is the fifth studio album by Anohni and the Johnsons, formerly known as Antony and the Johnsons.
- anohni.bandcamp.com
Blackoak refers to the area where the bulk of this track was written over the winter of 2021, surrounded by snow covered woodland.
Watch Maribou State play Live on KEXP in 2019 hosted by DJ Kevin Cole: youtu.be.
mariboustate.bandcamp.com
Collaboration of French artist/producer SebastiAn and UK’s London Grammar.
“It was a total joy writing and creating this track with Sebastian,” London Grammar commented on their joint track. “We are so excited for you to hear it. He is a total genius and it really has been an honour.”
www.stereogum.com
"It was my son Max’s 12th birthday yesterday and when I asked him what he wanted for birthday he said a birthday shout on the morning show. I said well it’s Sunday but maybe Monday may work. Anyways, if it pleases the DJ he would love to hear Space Age Love Song by Flock of Seagulls. Thanks so much from an amplifier family in Milwaukee Wisconsin!!!
Sincerely
Tony"
=====
Mike Score, the Flock frontman revealed the meaning behind this song:
"'Space Age' was just about intimacy, if you'd like. When you meet somebody there is an instant eye contact if the chemistry is right. If everything is right, you catch their eye... that whole 'across the crowded room/caught your eye' thing. The lyrics explain that: 'I saw your eyes and you made me smile.'"
This is the last new single before the release of this wonderful Brooklyn band's next LP this Friday! Pre-order the new record here:
www.nationoflanguage.com
Title track from OMD's 14th studio album, which will be released on October 27. Pre-order it here:
omd.uk.com
"I'm listening to John in Paris! How about something from my favorite French band Phoenix? Saw them in Chicago with Beck a couple weeks ago and I danced like a maniac!
Laura"
Phoenix lead singer Thomas Mars explained the track is about the French capital city: "It's a song about Paris," he said. "Paris in 1901 was better than it is now. So the song is a fantasy about Paris."
bit.ly
"Good morning John. Today is our dear friend Doug's birthday. Many years ago after going to a langhorne slim show in Indiana he walked out completely inspired and bought a guitar. He taught himself how to play, is a huge music and kexp fan and we'd love any langhorne slim song today to be dedicated to him as today is his birthday. Perhaps a small uplifting celebration on what has historically been a somber day. Happy birthday Doug! Love Brad and Bridget"
=====
See the official music video: www.youtube.com
"Free" was written and produced by Florence Welch and Jack Antonoff.
During an interview with Apple Music, Welch talked about the making of this song: "Ironically, 'Free' was actually the last song I wrote before the first lockdown." "It’s a song about my anxiety and how I process it and this feeling that it’s just something that’s been with me my whole life, and even as my life stabilizes - when I'm playing or I'm making music or I'm in the flow of creativity the anxiety goes away, so it's kind of this push-and-pull throughout the song of the anxiety, and then taking it out of the way and dancing and feeling free." tinyurl.com
"Blue Monday" is the best-selling 12-inch single of all time in Britain.
--
New Order came up with the rhythm when they were experimenting with a new Oberheim DMX drum machine they had purchased. In the Guardian newspaper of February 24, 2006, Peter Hook explained: "Bernard [Sumner] and Stephen [Morris] were the instigators. It was their enthusiasm for new technology. The drum pattern was ripped off from a Donna Summer B-side. We'd finished the drum pattern and we were really happy, then Steve accidentally kicked out the drum machine lead so we had to start from scratch and it was never as good. The technology was forever breaking down and the studio was really archaic. Kraftwerk booked it after us because they wanted to emulate 'Blue Monday.'
Just-released second record from the Canberra-based Genesis Owusu!
www.genesisowusu.com
This upbeat track was born out of Michael Kiwanuka's feelings of inferiority in an industry that is highly competitive. "If you don't belong, live in the trouble," he defiantly sings.
Kiwanuka explained to the New York Times that he was thinking about how at festivals he would get self-conscious thinking the other acts were so much more talented than he was. Eventually, he grew tired of beating himself up and started to say to himself, "There's nothing wrong with me. Of course I can work on myself and grow, but enough of this self-deprecating attitude. Let me just enjoy this amazing experience of being an artist, and believe in myself, and keep going."
So, Kiwankua decided to write a song in which he says, "You're not the problem. I hope to be who I believe in."
This was written by Ellie Greenwich, Jeff Barry, and Phil Spector. Greenwich and Barry were married from 1962-1965 but kept working together after their divorce. They were one of the most successful songwriting teams of the '60s, with a string of hits that included "Do Wah Diddy Diddy" and "Leader of the Pack." Greenwich, Barry and Spector each had separate ideas for songs which they combined to form "River Deep - Mountain High." The melody is a composite of three different unfinished songs.
--
This was written specifically for Tina Turner to sing. Phil Spector made very dense recordings that required a strong vocalist to cut through, and he knew Turner and her flamethrower voice could handle it.
Although this is credited to Ike And Tina Turner, Ike had no part in the recording process. Phil Spector wanted his own people to record this, and made sure Ike was not in the studio during the sessions.
Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings were an American funk and soul band signed to Daptone Records. They were part of a revival movement of mid-1960s to mid-1970s style funk and soul music. They released their debut album Dap Dippin' in 2002, the first of seven studio albums.
"With a fresh take on afrobeat fused with heavy, hypnotic, and sci-fi sounds, BMB gears up for their forthcoming LP, set to release in Fall of 2023 on Colemine Records."
earcandymusic.biz
---
blackmarketbrass.bandcamp.com
Jungle visit the WAMU Theater in Seattle for an all-ages show this Friday, September 15! - www.wamutheater.com
Cheryl Waters hosted Jungle's 2021 visit - Live in the KEXP Studio: youtu.be
The Avalanches' sampled Salty Miller's 1980 song "Music Makes Me High." in this song
This song was written and produced by Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards (of the group Chic).
--
North Philadelphia natives Sister Sledge got their commercial start in 1971, when siblings Debbie, Joni, Kim, and Kathy ranged in age from 12 to 16. Read a biography here: www.allmusic.com
Instruments series feature on The Horn Section!
Watch The Budos Band's 2019 in-studio at KEXP here. www.youtube.com ---
The Beastie Boys were celebrated on Saturday as a street corner in New York City's Lower East Side was officially named after them.
The unveiling of the Beastie Boys Square sign took place on the corner of Ludlow and Rivington, over three decades after the intersection appeared on the cover of their 1989 LP Paul’s Boutique.
An attempt to name the area in the trio's honor was shot down in a 24-to-1 vote in 2014, but later approved by the New York City Council eight years later.
The honor comes over 11 years after the loss of Beastie Boys member Adam "MCA" Yauch, who died in 2012 after a three-year battle with cancer at age 47.
Read more in Gothamist: gothamist.com
This 1991 song featured a marvelous collaboration between Tip and Phife Dawg.
"So play the resurrector and give the dead some life..." Here are the lyrics: genius.com
--
The hook samples Minnie Riperton’s 1975 song “Baby, This Love I Have” and the classic horn sample from Average White Band’s 1976 song “Love Your Life”:
The song is notable for being the first hip-hop song to be played on Mars, by NASA's Opportunity Rover in 2004.
Alison Mosshart and Jamie Hince will return in October with their first new album since 2016.
Watch the video here: www.youtube.com
Pre-order the new record here: thekills.tv
Wolf Alice are an English rock band from London, England. Formed in 2010 as an acoustic duo comprising singer Ellie Rowsell and guitarist Joff Oddie, Wolf Alice have also featured bassist Theo Ellis and drummer Joel Amey since 2012.
"Cut Your Face," the brand new single from the Joy Formidable, is out now.
Of the song, Bryan says in a press release: “‘Cut Your Face’ is a reminder to myself that even in shyness, when that voice is telling you to hide away, that what I really want is deep, authentic connection. The only way to satisfy that longing is to be vulnerable, messy and imperfect…and life is all the more beautiful because of it.”
Watch the music video here:
youtu.be
onerpm.link
The Bug Club are a three piece from the little-known rock n' roll hotbed that is Caldicot, Monmouthshire, Wales. They've been gigging relentlessly for a few years now (until recently, obviously), mainly in Cardiff and Bristol.
Check out their upcoming double album, "Rare Birds: Hour of Song," out Oct. 18! tinyurl.com
This was the number one album of 2022 as voted by you - our wonderful listeners!
This debut album from Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers is fantastic: www.wetlegband.com
Morgan hosted Wet Leg at Thing Fest in August, 2022:
www.youtube.com
Playing at the Neptune on October 10th!
Mannequin Pussy return with intense new single, "I Got Heaven." The new track marks the Philadelphia indie-punk band’s first new release since their EP, ‘Perfect’, which arrived back in 2021. It also sees the band reverse ideas in modern Christianity, stripping it down to its core values.
“‘I Got Heaven’ is a song intended to merge the sacred and the profane and to serve as a reminder that we are all perfect exactly as we have been made and that no one gets to decide how a life should or should not be lived,” Dabice said, explaining the meaning behind the new single.
tinyurl.com
mannequinpussy.com
New album JUST RELEASED! Order it on their site: www.frankieandthewitchfingers.com
Check out Lenny Kaye (most famously known as Patti Smith's guitarist) reviewing this Stone's album in Rolling Stone from 1972: www.rollingstone.com
This is Swedish garage band The Hives' first new music in over 11 years. They haven't missed a beat!: consequence.net
The band's first album in over a decade ‘The Death Of Randy Fitzsimmons’ is out now!
"Good Morning John! Would love to hear Elbow - New York Morning Welcome back to NYC
John"
=====
Elbow frontman Guy Garvey still mainly lives in Bury, England but he also owns an apartment in New York.
The song was influenced by Garvey reading EB White's Here's In New York. He told Mojo magazine that it's, "a beautiful little book written in 1949, full of praise and scorn for the city." - bit.ly
Happy birthday to Richard Ashcroft, English singer-songwriter (The Verve and RPA & The United Nations of Sound), born on this day in 1971
Released on this day in 1995!
At the time of the release of this song, "Britpop" was attempting to encapsulate all things British in its music and thus create a sort of soundtrack for the time. John Harris said in his book The Last Party: "Blur's 'The Universal' identified a condition of tranquilized (and very British) denial as the illness of the modern age."
www.songfacts.com
Released on this day in 2015!
Mimi Parker drummer, vocalist, songwriter for the band Low, died on November 5th at only 55. She was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 2020.
Born and raised in Minnesota, in an interview with the magazine Chickfactor Parker said she grew up in a musical family, to a mother who was an aspiring country singer. "My role was always to come up with harmonies, because she and my sister would usually sing the lead.”
Songwriter and artist Daniel Johnston died of a suspected heart attack at his home in Waller, Texas, at the age of 58, on this day in 2019.
The Late Great Daniel Johnston: Discovered Covered is a 2004 Gammon Records two-disc set. Despite what the title and cover art may suggest, Johnston lived to see the album's release; he passed away fifteen years later in 2019.
This is a cover of the late great Daniel Johnston. www.thisisbrighteyes.com
David Bowie performed this Simon & Garfunkel cover to open The Concert for New York City in October 2001. He sat on the floor, center stage, with a microphone and a Suzuki Omnichord. - bit.ly