4,992Shows
249,891Spins
Tuesday, Apr 23 2024, 7AM
Good morning, friends.
In January it was revealed that Thom Yorke composed the original score for the film Confidenza, an adaptation of the Italian drama based on a novel of the same name. Yesterday it was announced that Thom Yorke’s Confidenza original soundtrack will be released digitally on April 26, with vinyl and CD to follow on July 12.
Sending a happy birthday to Jon Thor Birgisson AKA Jónsi, Icelandic musician and singer of bands Sigur Rós and Jónsi & Ale, born on this day in 1975!
sigurros.com
In 1987 Bono explained that everybody in the group knows what the line "And you give yourself away" means: "It's about how I feel in U2 at times - exposed."
The track’s lyrics were inspired by Bono’s conflicting feelings about the lives he led as a musician and domestic man.
Be Opened by the Wonderful: 40 Years Orchestrated contains orchestral reworkings of the band's songs from the Orca 22 orchestra led by Andra Vornici, also accompanied by the eight-person Manchester Inspirational Voices gospel choir.
wearejames.com
Lead singer Kathryn Crutchfield revealed that Tigers Blood came together "much more easily" in comparison to Saint Cloud as she felt at peace with herself. The singer started writing material for the album during a "hot hand spell" while on tour towards the end of 2022.
Tour Dates:
Brooklyn, New York: April 27 - Brooklyn Paramount
Oakland, California: May 18 - Fox Theater
Portland, Oregon: August 17 - Pioneer Courthouse Square
Seattle, Washington: August 18 - Woodland Park Zoo
www.waxahatchee.com
Sinéad O’Connor's Black Boys on Mopeds is a protest song against police brutality. The lyrics refer to an incident in England in 1989 where the police were pursuing Nicholas Bramble, who was riding a moped, in the mistaken belief that he had stolen it.
First released in 1988, Fast Car was the lead single from Tracy Chapman's self titled debut album.
"Fast Car" received three Grammy Award nominations: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance (awarded).
Tori Amos had to fight for the whistling part that comes in over her piano at the beginning of the song, as her production team was in favor of a mandolin line their guitarist came up with.
"Everybody really liked that," she told The Baltimore Sun in 1994. "And even in the mix studio, I was screaming at the top of my lungs that it had to be a whistle. I want the cowboys coming over the hill. Eric was laughing his head off, and the mixer, Kevin Killen, said to me, 'This whistle is naff, Tori.' And I said, 'Well, guess what, Kevin. When you make your own song, you can put your own mandolin on it. This is a whistle. F--king put it in. Put the sample in.' So I got my whistle, and I'm happy as a clam to this day."
www.toriamos.com
This song finds Johanna and Klara Söderberg imagining a simpler life away from this "dark, twisted road." Klara told The Sun: "I think we had this almost romantic idea of what it's like to be a waitress in an American diner."
Check out First Aid Kit performing this song live at KEXP in 2014: www.youtube.com
Happy birthday to Aaron and Bryce Dessner, twin brothers and members The National, born on this day in 1976!
Brand New Pearl Jam, released Friday of last week!
Dark Matter was recorded over three weeks in 2023 at Shangri-La in Malibu, California and, according to a press release, "channels the shared spirit of a group of lifelong creative confidants and brothers in one room playing as if their very lives depended on it".
See Pearl Jam on the Dark Matter World Tour!
Portland - Moda Center - May 10, 2024
Seattle - Climate Pledge Arena - , May 28 and May 30
New York - Madison Square Garden - September 3 and September 4
pearljam.com
Released on this day in 1971!
"Sister Morphine" is a haunting song co-written by Marianne Faithfull, Mick Jagger, and Keith Richards. Faithfull originally released the song as the B-side to her Decca Records single "Something Better" in1969. A distinct rendition emerged two years later when the Rolling Stones included it on their 1971 album Sticky Fingers. Mick Jagger took the reins as producer for this powerful track.
New Black Keys! “Please Me (Till I’m Satisfied)” is a link to the Black Keys' classic sound, being the lone track on Ohio Players that explicitly recalls the band’s blues roots.
theblackkeys.com
Another from Confidenza!
In case you missed it: In January, it was revealed that Thom Yorke composed the original score for the film Confidenza, an adaptation of the Italian drama based on a novel of the same name. Yesterday it was announced that Thom Yorke’s Confidenza original soundtrack will be released digitally on April 26, with vinyl and CD to follow on July 12.
This is Tom Jones' cover of “Talking Reality Television Blues,” written by American singer-songwriter Todd Snider, whose own version is on his 2019 album "Cash Cabin Sessions, Vol. 3."
--
Watch the official video here: www.youtube.com
According to Q magazine April 2008, this is about a crisis point in Thom Yorke's life. The singer's troubles were partly caused by the baggage of past relationships and coincided with an incident when Yorke was strolling on a beach, looked back, and spotted an apparition in his house.
Real gone is Tom Waits 16th album, released in 2004. The album features many political protest songs written by Waits.
www.tomwaits.com
American singer-songwriter Roy Orbison (member of the Traveling Wilburys) was born on this day in 1936. He passed in 1988 at the age of 52.
My Bloody Valentine released the Glider EP on this day in 1990. It was the band's first release on Sire records in the US.
Ride's new LP Interplay is out now!
The band said of the new single: "The song is a reflection on this feeling of how we’re all being smashed to pieces and under pressure constantly financially. It’s a kind of call to arms against this whilst we still have strength to fight against it."
rideox4.bandcamp.com
Upcoming shows:
THURSDAY MAY 23 Portland - McMenamin's Mission Theater
SATURDAY MAY 25 Seattle, WA - Showbox at the Market www.stereogum.com
Local Seattle band New Age Healers! (Featuring our dear friend Owen Murphy)
Catch them at Chop Suey on Wednesday, July 3rd with Blushing. Their new album, 'The Spin Out,' is out now!
newagehealers.bandcamp.com
Seattle's somesurprises return with their first new LP in five years, and was recently selected as Bandcamp's Album of the Day!
"Natasha El-Sergany’s voice is spectral in tone but crystal clear over a dense network of layered guitars that stick loosely to a set groove but seem to be in the process of a cosmically slow unraveling"
somesurprises.bandcamp.com
Inspiral Carpets released their album Life on this day in 1990!
In deliberate contrast to the full sentences featured on previous recordings—something for which the group had often been parodied within the music press—all of the songs on the album Seamonsters have one-word titles.
scopitones.co.uk
IDLES on tour!
Playing 2 sold out shows at Portland's Roseland Theatre on Sat, May 4 & Sun, May 5.
Playing 2 sold out shows at Seattle's Paramount Theatre on Tuesday, May 7 & Wednesday, May 8.
Playing Oakland's Fox Theatre on Fri, May 10!
Playing a sold out show at San Francisco's The Warfield on Sat, May 11.
- www.idlesband.com
Fontaines DC sited the dystopian anime Akira as an inspiration for the new record. “I’m fascinated by that—falling in love at the end of the world,” he says. “The album is about protecting that tiny flame. The bigger Armageddon looms, the more precious it becomes.”
KNOW. YOUR. RIGHTS.
Released by The Clash on this day in 1982 as the lead single from Combat Rock.
290 more days until International Clash Day 2025.
Fishbone released The Reality of My Surroundings on this day in 1991! This song was written by lead singer Angelo Moore and keyboard/trombone player Chris Dowd. Moore explained how it happened: "That's a Sly Stone influenced song. Chris Dowd wrote that one. He wrote the first half and I wrote the end. It was a church-style song. We were just going into it, man. Because back then we were emulating a lot of our favorite bands: The Specials, Sly Stone, Funkadelic, James Brown, Led Zeppelin, all those people. All those different styles would pop up while we were doing different jams. Rick James was another one. We be playing Rick James up in there."
--
See the official video for "Everyday Sunshine": youtu.be.
Requested by Zola!
Roland Orzabal of the band once said: "The song was written in my front room on just a small synthesizer and a drum machine. Initially I only had the chorus, which was very repetitive, like a mantra. I played it to Ian Stanley, our keyboardist, and Chris Hughes, the producer. I saw it as a good album track, but they were convinced it would be a hit around the world."
From listener Nicolae (we appreciate you!):
Good Morning John!
Though I’ve listened to KEXP on the amazing app “Radio Garden,” for a while now, it’s nice to have your “presence” here in the Bay Area.
Not sure if you are aware of an amazing station called KFOG, that was a huge Bay Area staple for decades (guessing you are😊) but it is much missed by locals.
KEXP/C gives us hope again!
Thanks for great tunes!
In honor of Paul Weller returning to the Bay Area in September, I was hoping you might play one of my all-time favorite tunes, for my first request, “My Ever Changing Moods,” by The Style Council.
Have a great day!
Nicolae
Madness released their album Complete Madness on this day in 1982!
"It Must Be Love" was written and originally recorded and released in 1971 by English singer Labi Siffre on his 1972 album Crying Laughing Loving Lying. It was then recorded by ska/pop band Madness.
Listener requested!
The song's music video was their first MTV hit, in heavy rotation on the young channel in its second and third years. Directed by Dominic Orlando, it was filmed in 1983 at GMT Studios in West Los Angeles, California. Terri Nunn only sang two lyrics on camera: "I remember hating you for loving me" and "Sorry". The video became a part of the Berlin Video 45 Geffen-VHS home video, released in 1984.
Watch the music video here: www.youtube.com
Goldfrapp released Black Cherry on this day in 2003!
Strict Machine was inspired by a newspaper article about experiments in which scientists stimulated rats' brains so that the rats would feel joy when following commands, and also by “more human aspects of machines, sex and control.”
www.goldfrapp.com
Dolly Parton cover from the latest Waxahatchee album. Playing in Oakland on May 18th at Fox Theater and Seattle at Woodland Park Zoo on August 18th.
www.waxahatchee.com
Cheers, friends. All the love. x