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Tuesday, Jun 4 2019, 6AM
Frontperson Adrienne Lenker says this about the song:
"'Cattails' came about while we were at the studio in Washington in the pine forest. Writing it was just one of those electric multicolored waves of connectivity just sweeping through my body. I stayed up late finishing the song and the next morning was stomping around playing it over and over again. We thought why not just record it, so James sat at the drums and we practiced and by the time we’d finished practicing, Dom Monks—our engineer—had already sneakily set up mics and recorded it.
"It was beautiful that he’d captured it right away because when James and I were playing it felt like a little portal in the fabric had opened and we were just flying. Listening back to it makes me cry sometimes."
The Washington studio Lenker is referring to is Woodinville’s Bear Creek Studios. They’ll be back in Washington on Saturday, October 26 to play the Moore Theatre. Tickets & info: bit.ly
Check out the video of case/lang/veirs performing this at a show in Oregon: bit.ly
No Seattle date this fall but Lucy Dacus' tour takes her to Spokane, Vancouver B.C., and Portland in October. See all the dates here: lucydacus.com
"Fixture Picture" is accompanied by a mesmerising video co-directed by the artist and Jack Whiteley, tipping the hat to the work of psychedelic Chilean-French film maker Alejandro Jodorowsky. Harding drips in blood-red threads in a cropped frame, continuing the theme of "Big Beautiful Hats" she wears a huge, white, wide-brim completely covering her head and shoulders for the first quarter of the video. The director of photography Joel Honeywell shows off the other-worldly Cliffs Of Dover backdrop, as Harding jumps around her band, tambourine akimbo. youtu.be
There is a version of this song with alternate vocals as well: elliottsmith.bandcamp.com
Calexico and Iron & Wine will perform at the inaugural year of the new Thing Festival in Port Townsend on Sunday, August 25. Calexico’s Joey Burns had this to say about the song:
"Because we only had four or five days to make the album we didn’t overthink the process and just followed the flow. It’s these improvisational moments that are the glue and make for a great listen from start to finish. Sam sent some demos the week before we met to record the album. Based on the feel of those demos I wrote the song "Midnight Sun" the day I got to Nashville. I arrived at our rental house the day before everyone else and was happy to find a piano, old pump organ and guitar to do some writing. I was up late and came up with a tune that would bridge both bands’ worlds."
"Marianne" in this song is Marianne Jensen (later Ihlen), who met and lived with Leonard Cohen and her son on the Greek island of Hydra. Later, all three moved to Montreal. Cohen wrote this song when they split up. Marianne and Leonard both died of cancer in 2016. When Cohen learned that she was sick, he wrote her a letter that read:
Well Marianne it's come to this time when we are really so old and our bodies are falling apart and I think I will follow you very soon. Know that I am so close behind you that if you stretch out your hand, I think you can reach mine. And you know that I've always loved you for your beauty and your wisdom, but I don’t need to say anything more about that because you know all about that. But now, I just want to wish you a very good journey. Goodbye old friend. Endless love, see you down the road.
Ben Gibbard released this special 7” for Record Store Day in honor of late musician Richard Swift. “Me and Magdalena” has an interesting history. The song was originally written by Gibbard for the Monkees, when they released an album called Good Times! in 2016, in honor of the band’s 50th anniversary. Read more: bit.ly
Catch Black Belt Eagle Scout at Pickaton and The Thing Festival, both in August. blackbelteaglescout.com She was also live on The Morning Show on October 18th, 2018: bit.ly
Unlike their first album, Psychocandy, drum machines were used in place of drummer Bobby Gillespie, who had left to pursue a career as the frontman with Primal Scream.
We Were Promised Jetpacks performed "Quiet Little Voices" live at the Doug Fir in Portland during KEXP's broadcast during Musicfest NW in 2009: bit.ly
The Voom Blooms performed three songs during the KEXP Listener Party at Bowery Electric in NYC during CMJ. on 10/24/08: bit.ly
Liam Gallagher told Q magazine October 2008 that this is his favorite Oasis song. He explained: "I think the words still mean something powerful. You talk about Oasis capturing a spirit, and I think that song is how a lot of people feel when they're down on their luck. I think I first heard it in the Boardwalk in Manchester when our kid (Noel Gallagher) was trying it out. Even when we're starting it now I always feel like we're going to perform our best version of it. It makes me think of me mam. And it's the song that makes me feel I have the best job in the band. I may not have written it but I get to sing it. It's weird cos it's outlasted other tunes."
""Sweet Sweet Midnight," which could be interpreted as the record's title track, is an epic indie-rock duet between Chura and Toledo, reflecting on the loss of Chura's friend. Between Chura and Toledo's cathartic, grief-ridden shouts, the track flaunts the leveled-up songwriting and aesthetics that are saturated throughout the record." Read the full album review here: n.pr
Sleater-Kinney are playing The Paramount on November 23rd! There are dates all around the PNW find them all here: www.sleater-kinney.com
Yesterday, LUH shared Teen Violence an-unreleased Stomper,originally from the LHWYB album sessions.
From LUH: "It was left off the album for a few reasons, simply that an extra 4 minutes would bump us off one piece of wax and a double vinyl seemed a little excessive for this visceral work. But crucially we were not happy with how the song had been produced, the version we left the LA sessions with fell short of the envisioned impact.
Taking it off the album provided an opportunity to take it back into the studio to re-work it into the juggernaut you can hear today. I recommend to listen to it LOUD, preferably on headphones whilst stomping thru dirt ridden streets."
"The making of The The’s post-punk cult classic ‘This Is The Day’" Read this interview with The The's Matt Johnson: bit.ly
In case you were hopeful it was Wednesday already... it's not.
Simon says this song is an example of "how a collaboration works even when you're not aware of it occurring." He traveled to South Africa in February 1985 and recorded with a variety of local musicians. One of these sessions was with an accordion player named Forere Motloheloa, who played on the song "The Boy in the Bubble." These sessions produced a drum sound that Simon liked, which he described in the 2012 Graceland reissue: "The drums were kind of a traveling rhythm in country music - I'm a big Sun Records fan, and early-'50s, mid-'50s Sun Records you hear that beat a lot, like a fast, Johnny Cash type of rhythm."
Orville Peck is playing The Thing Festival on Saturday, August 24th!
Sabre said: “I wrote 'Drifting' to numerous different visuals that I was inspired by from Kendrick Lamar's Kahlil Joseph documentary through to La Haine. That's why it's has this cinematic feel within the music before we even created the film.
"I was brought up in Ireland and Irish cinema has always grabbed me, so we wanted to carry that on through and make sure it was captured as beautifully as possible. The aim is to tell as many different untold Irish stories within a grander film. 'Drifting' is scene one.”
Amen Dunes performed "Miki Dora" live in the KEXP studio on August 14, 2018. See it here: bit.ly
"It can be difficult to connect to Parker’s idea of pop music. “Borderline” is less looking at a lava lamp and more looking at an Instagram of a lava lamp." - Pitchfork Find their review of "Borderline" here: bit.ly
In a statement, Phantogram said “Into Happiness” “embodies the personal journey that both of us have taken since we released Three; it’s been a long path, coming out of the darkness and into the light.” They're playing The Capitol Hill Block Party on July 19th
Hatchie will be at Barboza on September 28th! You can also find their KEXP in-studio with DJ Cheryl Waters last September here: www.youtube.com
Lizzo is playing the Capitol Hill Block Party on Saturday, July 20th! Tickets & all the CHBP info: www.capitolhillblockparty.com
Underworld have announced details of a new album, ‘Drift Songs’, as part of a new project called ‘Drift’ which will see the band release new music, art and text pieces weekly over the course of a year. The eventual full album is scheduled for October 25th
The album takes its name from a line in the poem Geography by the New York poet Michael Brownstein whose reading of it is also sampled on the title track. www.poetryfoundation.org
Prince got the idea for this song when he dozed off in backup singer Lisa Coleman's 1964 Mercury Montclair Marauder after an exhausting all-night recording session. The lyrics came to him in bits and pieces during this and other catnaps. Eventually he was able to finish it without sleeping. "Pink Mercury Montclair Marauder" doesn't have the same ring to it.
This was originally released in 1969 on Bowie's self-titled album and timed to coincide with the moon landing. Released as a single, the song made #5 in the UK. In America, the single found a very small audience only reached #124 in August 1969.
In 1972, the album was re-titled Space Oddity and re-issued in the US. The newly released "Space Oddity" single made #15, becoming Bowie's first US Top 40.
In 1975, back in the UK, the song was once again released, this time on a single which also contained the songs "Changes" and "Velvet Goldmine." The single leapt to the top of the charts, earning Bowie his first #1 in the UK. All proving Bowie was ahead of his time and we all had to catch up.
"Clem Snide" is a character in several novels by William S. Burroughs, including Naked Lunch, The Ticket That Exploded and Exterminator!.
Bobbly Bare Jr. performing "Why Do I Need A Job?" at a hose party in 2010: www.youtube.com
"Tiananmen Square survivor reflects 30 years later: "I'm heartbroken" - Wu'er Kaixi, who at the time was 21 and was one of the main student leaders of the protests, managed to escape the violence.
"I am the survivor of a massacre," he told Palmer. "I have to live with the guilt." See his interview here: cbsn.ws
IDLES just performed live in the KEXP Gatherng Space last week. That performance is not posted but you can see their Morning Show in-studio from last October: bit.ly
Mark Smith said:
"Elena came up with some great words and I added some words I thought were like the Greek football fans' attitude, you know. I do know quite a few Greek football fans, and their attitude to soccer is completely different to Britain. Sort of cobbled it all together, put a Greek motif on the guitar and that was it."
Summer Cannibals are playing at the Sunset next Thursday, June 14th! Technically that's before summer so does that make them Spring Cannibals? Tickets & info: bit.ly
Imperial Teen are back in a big way with Now We Are Timeless, their first album in seven years! You can pre-order Now We Are Timeless on CD, LP, and limited-edition “blue ice” Peak Vinyl. bit.ly
Beneath The Eyrie will consist of 12 songs about “witches, Daniel Boone, misfits” and other spine-tingling subjects. Lead single “On Graveyard Hill” is riddled with archetypal horror imagery—there’s a moon and a curse, as well as an ominous crossroads—that spills from the growling, guttural vocals of Black Francis. You'll have to wait until Spetember 13th for Beneath The Eyrie.
The title comes from Nirvana thinking the bass intro sounded like something a cheesy lounge band would use.
Nirvana appeared on the British TV show Tonight With Jonathan Ross and were told to play "Lithium." Instead they played this song before smashing their equipment and leaving the stage.
Titus Andronicus are playing an all ages show at The Crocodile on September 16th. www.eventbrite.com
Joy Division guitarist Bernard Sumner explained: "'She's Lost Control' was about a girl who used to come into the rehab center where Ian worked, to try and find work. She had epilepsy and lost more and more time through it and then one day she just didn't come in any more. He assumed that she'd found a job, but found out later she'd had a fit and died."
Ex Licks were in-studio with DJ Troy Nelson on the 1st. Find their new album here: exlicks.bandcamp.com
Orange Crush was an orange flavored soft drink. In this case, though, it refers to Agent Orange, a chemical used by the US to defoliate the Vietnamese jungle during the Vietnam War. US military personnel exposed to it developed cancer years later and some of their children had birth defects. The extreme lyrical dissonance in the song meant that many people completely misinterpreted the song, including Top Of The Pops host Simon Parkin, who remarked on camera after R.E.M. performed the song on the British TV show, "Mmm, great on a summer's day. That's Orange Crush."
KEXP's song of the day for 4-24-19. Download it here: bit.ly
"Everybody Wants To Rule The World" is a line from the 1980 Clash song "Charlie Don't Surf." Did Tears for Fears lift it? Joe Strummer of The Clash thought so. He recounted a story to Musician magazine about confronting Roland Orzabal in a restaurant, informing Orzabal that "you owe me a fiver." Strummer said that Roland reached in his pocket and produced a five pound note, ostensibly as compensation for poaching the line for his hit title.
Pronoun is Alyse Vellturo. She has been touring in support of her debut EP and said: “Almost every show I’ve played, someone has come up to me after saying they found me on Spotify or Apple Music and that’s so cool to me. Someone came up to me after a show in Toronto, these two girls, and one of them was basically like ‘I have a lot of mental health issues. I have huge anxiety and I can’t leave my house. I haven’t gone to a show in five years,’ and she came out. That was super, super, super cool. No one has ever said anything like that. I was like ‘This is way heavier, more impactful.’ That was very, very cool.”
Local Natives played live on KEXP on May 17th. That session isn't posted yet but in the meantime you can see their 2016 in-studio here: www.youtube.com
This song is about an imaginary lover in a different part of the world. They Might Be Giants have commented that "Ana Ng" would become a very common name for girls.
