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Tuesday, May 21 2019, 6AM
The ballad "Cellophane" marks FKA Twigs' musical return and, from her perspective, a new beginning. "Throughout my life I've practiced my way to being the best I could be," she writes in a statement. "It didn't work this time. I had to tear down every process I'd ever relied on. Go deeper. Rebuild. Start again."
Black Belt Eagle Scout will be playing both Pickathon, August 1st and the Thing Festival in Pt. Townsend on August 25th! You can also check out her in-studio from last October: bit.ly
It's been three years since Kate Tempest released Let Them Eat Chaos. Now there's new music produced with Rick Rubin and Dan Carey and an album called The Book of Traps and Lessons. The first song released is called "Firesmoke," and Kate Tempest tells us that "it's a love song that I wrote to my woman, a celebration of her and of everything I've learned from knowing her. And in the context of the record, it comes as a moment of cleansing and relief, in a way that a relationship can be a moment of cleansing and relief in a life."
Fron Star Slinger's website: "This song will help you get out of a rut. This song will help when you feel you’ve lost your way. This song will help guide you. This spoken word song condenses quotes from a very helpful book I read last year. I guess the book itself could be perceived as self-help nonsense on the surface but under the hood it is sage practical advise from a guy who had it all and lost it all. He got back up & repeated that cycle several times and eventually found peace in the middle.
It explains that in any set of circumstances that you have options. The biggest option you have at any time is to Choose Yourself. Ie, to change your mindset from one where people & objects dictate your life (overly emotional) to one where you see things for what they are and you are in control (stoic mentality). You’re calling the shots because now you see things for what they are. You realise that 30% will love you, 30% will hate you and 30% won’t care about you & that your focus should be on the 30% who love you. "
Emancipator is performing at the Faeriewords Festival in Oregon this August. More info here: faerieworlds.com
Ben Gibbard performed "Such Great Heights" solo in the KEXP studio September 12, 2018: bit.ly
Iron & Wine are coming to the Thing Festival in Pt Townsend: thingnw.org and several other stops in the PNW: ironandwine.com
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.
"Byegone" was the KEXP song of the day for October 9th, 2013. Find this (and subscribe!) here: bit.ly
Gabriel said of this song's message: "The basic idea is that handling failure is one of the hardest things we have to learn to do."
The band tells us: "The song describes a time in everybody’s life that make you lose faith in yourself, in someone else, or in life itself and you just need to hear from someone that one day everything will be OK again. That no matter what, with time and patience we all will be OK.” Read the full KEXP interview with Lea Porcelain: bit.ly
OK Computer was released on this day in 1997...in Japan. Listen for us to celebrate it again on June 16th! It's nice to have another excuse.
What's Going On was released on this day in 1971. In the US even! What's Going On is a concept album with most of its songs segueing into the next; the album ends with a reprise of the album's opening theme. The narrative established by the songs is told from the point of view of a Vietnam veteran returning to his home country to witness hatred, suffering, and injustice. Gaye's introspective lyrics explore themes of drug abuse, poverty, and the Vietnam War. He has also been credited with promoting awareness of ecological issues before the public outcry over them had become prominent.
Jurassic 5 live at O2 Academy Brixton performing 'A Day at The Races' in June 2013. bit.ly
Stakes Is High is De La Soul's fourth full-length album, released on July 2, 1996. The album marked a change in the group's sound and direction as it was their first release not to be produced in collaboration with Prince Paul. Stakes Is High was mainly produced by the group themselves with additional tracks provided by Jay Dee, DJ Ogee, Spearhead X and Skeff Anslem.
“‘Miami Memory’ is a story about how we audition in the present for our future selves to enjoy in retrospect. In that way, tender memories that we share together are captured in thought and stored with the same electricity that keeps our heart beating,” Cameron said in a press release. “It's a gift for my girlfriend Jemima, and it is dedicated to the artist Greer Lankton and her partner Paul Monroe. I am lucky to have learned that a group of people can be a shining light.”
Chaos Chaos performed live on The Morning Show December 3, 2012. bit.ly
TR/ST was just in Seattle May 15th at Neumos as well as live on KEXP. Watch here for that in-studio to be posted: bit.ly
CCFX were live in the KEXP studio on The Morning Show April 3, 2018. They opened with "The One To Wait" bit.ly
Hatchie is at Barboza on Saturday, September 28th! Tickets & info: bit.ly
Hurray For The Riff Raff have performed on KEXP several times. Their most recent was on June 15th, 2017. See it here: bit.ly
It might be grainy, black & white footage but you can see this performance here:bit.ly
"Check On It" was composed by Beyoncé, Swizz Beatz, Sean Garrett, Angela Beyincé, and Slim Thug. Initially recorded by Beyoncé only, the song was supposed to be featured on the soundtrack album for 2006 film The Pink Panther, in which she co-stars as Xania. As it was ultimately not included on its soundtrack album, the song with additional vocals from Slim Thug was placed on the 2005 Destiny's Child's greatest hits album #1's. Columbia Records released "Check on It" in the United States on December 13, 2005. The official single version of the song includes vocals from American rapper Bun B.
"Inner City Blues" was the climactic song of this landmark album, released on this date in 1971. Written by Gaye and James Nyx Jr., the song depicts the ghettos and bleak economic situations of inner-city America, and the emotional effects these have on the people living there.
This song samples "Summer in the City" by Quincy Jones, "125th Street Congress" by Weather Report and "Are You Experienced?" by The Jimi Hendrix Experience.
This song features Yannick Etienne. The Haitian singer later contributed backing vocals on Roxy singer Bryan Ferry's 1985 solo album, Boys and Girls. Ferry recalled in 2009: "I was in a studio in New York when I heard the most haunting voice coming down the corridor. It was Yanick Etienne, a singer from Haiti, who was doing a demo next door. I asked her to sing on our record, which she did in one take, and a piece of recording history was made."
Kishi Bashi will be at Washington Hall on June 16th! Tickets & info: bit.ly
On this song, vocalist Noah Lennox, aka Panda Bear, sings about how he eschews material things and just wants four walls to keep his wife and daughter safe. He explained: "I'm not big on possessions but, for some reason, being the owner of a space, a safe house for my wife and my daughter, has become the most important thing for me, for better or worse."
This is Bowie's tribute to the Velvet Underground, and Lou Reed performed this with Bowie at his 50th birthday party in New York in January 1997. See it here: bit.ly
Spirit Award have a couple shows coming up in Seattle, June 8th at the Tractor and June 20th at Victory Studios
Fontaines DC will be live on KEXP on May 28th at 3pm! Better get here the full 90 minutes before and get signed up. This one will fill up fast!
Nine Types of Light is the final TV on the Radio album to feature bassist Gerard Smith, who died of lung cancer nine days after it was released.
Young Fathers have performed on KEXP a few times and here they are with "Nest" from 2015: bit.ly
L7 is playing in Tacoma on June 9th! Find all their dates on their website: l7theband.com
"Wugazi’s ’13 Chambers’: A Track-by-Track Breakdown" Check out the Rolling Stone article here: bit.ly
Wu-Tang Clan are at the Wamu Theater on June 21st! Tickets here: bit.ly
This won a Grammy in 1999 for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group.
Golden Gardens is out on a US tour. Their Seattle date was back in April but you can see them in Bellingham on June 3rd
Luna were described by Rolling Stone as “The best band you’ve never heard of.”
Night and Day is the fifth studio album by Joe Jackson, released in June 1982 and pays tribute to the wit and style of Cole Porter (and indirectly to New York).
You Made Me Realise was My Bloody Valentine's first release through Creation Records, and its title track was the embodiment of the Irish alt-rockers' noise pop style. During live performances, the experimental guitar sounds, matched with obscured lyrics about inner turmoil, gave way to an extended white noise section nicknamed "the holocaust," the unrelenting repetition of a single chord that could last up to 20 minutes (once even 40 minutes), taking the audience through a range of emotions that usually ended in stunned silence - or unconsciousness.
"It seems like such an odd thing to do, you know, to make a lot of noise," Kevin Shields, MBV guitarist and vocalist admitted to Option magazine. "But I think we take it way past the point of acceptedness. It takes on a meaning in itself. I don't know exactly what it means, but it basically transcends stupidity. For us it's genuinely... It's the most relaxing moment of the whole gig."
Find the "Where the F*** is Kevin Shields" version here: bit.ly
“‘temporary tantrum’ was written about that moment in the relationship when you realize you’ve been played,” Alyse Vellturo of Pronoun said in a statement. “Although in that moment it’s heart breaking and you feel like the biggest idiot, you know that eventually you will come out on the other end and use that experience to grow.”
"Throughout, vocalist Katie Ball sounds like a ghost, a memory. When those guitars first screech in, it’s as if hearing a person erased in front of you. As the track goes on, she returns, fighting against the static that surrounds her. It’s a quietly intense track, suggesting both the tensions and the eruptions Just Mustard have already proven themselves capable of in their young career." Read the full article about Just Mustard on Stereogum: bit.ly
"With heroin habits kicked, ‘Serfs Up’ is the sound of a band that’s downgraded to mellower substances for superior results. " Find the full review on NME: bit.ly
Crows frontman James Cox tells how a chance message with IDLES frontman Joe Talbot changed the fortunes of the London punks: bit.ly
