John Richards

GOOD MORNING! It's Friday. Yes...

HÆLOS just released a new single off the album Any Random Kindness, which drops on May 10th. “The first lyric - ’Come down from heaven now’- came out almost subconsciously,” Lotti Benardout recalls. “A few months later my dad sadly passed away in an accident. It’s eerie for me to listen to now because the song is almost like a prediction, written to help navigate the difficult questions that came with his loss - If you took a different decision, where would you be now? Would things be different?” bit.ly

Bellingham WA is lucky not only for the show on May 18th with Death Cab for Cutie, but ODESZA announced they are to play a special DJ set at the location of their first ever show on May 16th. Fans were able to enter a lottery to "win" the opportunity to purchase tickets for this DJ set. I wish I could get in for that intimate experience. bit.ly

Pitchfork says Chemical Brothers' latest release, their ninth album, "is their most party-hardy album since the millennium-flattening swarm of Surrender. Blending psychedelic sensory overload with riotous club bangers, the shape-shifting electronic duo’s album is their most entertaining in years." Fantastic! pitchfork.com

The vocal samples in this track are from the film The Prophecy. "Even now in heaven there were angels carrying savage weapons". What are you to me?

So thrilled that this album is finally out! Heavy, dark and dancy tracks. Makes me so happy. And guess what?!! You can come see TR/ST (previously also known as Trust) play in the KEXP live room on Wednesday, May 15th at 12:00 PM. Up to 75 guests can get in for free to see the show. Learn how to get in here: www.kexp.org

You can see TR/ST play at Neumos that night. bit.ly

Formed in a squat in Peckham in 2011, South London's Fat White Family comprised Lias Saoudi (vocals), Nathan Saudi (keyboard), Adam Harmer (guitar), Martin Dead (drummer), and Saul Adaczewski (guitar), and garnered critical and public adulation for their skuzzy mix of country, rock & roll, post-punk, and nihilistic psychedelia, recalling the likes of the Fall, the Birthday Party, Butthole Surfers, and Charles Manson. Their third album Serfs Up! was just released in April of this year.

London's eclectic one-man band Tom Vek made most of his early recordings in his parents' garage. He is a self-taught multi-instrumentalist musician. In 2011, he was guest vocalist on the album track, and single, "Warning Call", on DJ Shadow's The Less You Know, the Better.

"there's no telling what we'll do when we're free". Lou Barlow and partner John Davis crafted a sexy, sinuous, electronic-tinged groove with this track, which was on the Kids soundtrack.

Where Future Unfolds is a new work spirited by Chicago-based sound & visual artist Damon Locks. Starting as a solo sound collage piece (where Locks pulled samples from Civil Rights era speeches and recordings to create an improvisational pallet for performance on his drum machine), over 4 years the project has blossomed into his 15-piece Black Monument Ensemble. bit.ly

Moby's memoir "Then It Fell Apart" comes out on May 7th. On Friday May 10th, Moby will be at the Seattle First Baptist Church (First Hill) for a conversation that dives into his extraordinary life story. What do you do when you realize you have everything you think you’ve ever wanted but still feel completely empty? What do you do when it all starts to fall apart? In the summer of 1999, Moby released Play - the album that arguably defined the millennium and catapulted him to superstardom. bit.ly

This is from the thirteenth studio album by the Australian band. "There are two kinds of songs the Bad Seeds do well, Nick Cave says: 'Slow, sad and pathetic,' and 'extremely violent.'" Susan Carpenter of the Los Angeles Times described the album as "a bounty of gothic rock" and noted that "the more driving, menacing numbers have been separated from the slow and scurrilous in a double album that is not two halves of a whole so much as two distinct records released simultaneously and in one package. lat.ms

The Argentinian-Swedish indie folk singer-songwriter and guitarist José González said the first concert he went to was "The Wailers. I got their autographs and everything. I was about 12 or so. At the time, my favourite music was Bob Marley and Michael Jackson."

So many interesting pop culture facts about this song - played as the pre-game intro song at New York Rangers games; a new version of the song was recorded for and featured in the trailer for the 2009 film Where the Wild Things Are; licensed to play in commercials during Super Bowl XLIV; covered by Macy Gray.

Turn it up loud! Last day of work, turning in your laptop. It's going to be a good day.

Lea Porcelain gives us a message we all need to hear and/or say in these tough times: "I Am OK". 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 KEXP article here: www.kexp.org

Choir! Choir! Choir! teamed up with David Byrne and a TON of singers in the Ford Foundation lobby of the Public Theater during the Under the Radar Festival to sing 'Heroes' written by David Bowie and Brian Eno. Gives you cold chills. www.youtube.com

Watch Queen's set at LIVE AID with these two songs: www.youtube.com

Special happy birthday messages going out today with the Friday song!!

On Wikipedia: "The song 'Show Me,' which first appeared on the 2001 US reissue of the album, is played every Friday by John Richards of KEXP and the song has become known as 'The Friday Song.'" bit.ly

This song was written for the 2009 film Where the Wild Things Are. The name "All is Love" is a play on the name of the Swedish band Love is All, whose song "Make Out Fall Out" inspired Karen O. The whimsical song contains shouting, whistling, and clapping and incorporates an untrained children's choir.

Dreamily.... "I heard about this frog It's a very tiny frog, But it's also very special, You can only find it in the jungle, So far away from me, But if you find it and if you touch it, Your world can change forever"

Songwriter Paul Williams said, [When Kermit sings], 'Why are there so many songs about rainbows?' it means, obviously, he's heard a lot of songs. This is a frog that's been exposed to culture, whether it's movies, or records, or whatever. And I also like the fact that it starts out with the negative: 'Rainbows are only illusions, rainbows have nothing to hide.' So the song actually starts out as if he's going to pooh-pooh the whole idea, and then it turns: 'So we've been told, and some choose to believe it. I know they're wrong, wait and see.' And again, he doesn't have the answer: 'Someday we'll find it.'"

This song is accompanied by a performance from Brazilian drumming collective Olodum in a live recording. It was recorded live in the streets of Pelourinho Square of Salvador, Brazil in February 1988. Microphones were hung from windows or on telephone poles to capture the performances. According to Simon, "Hundreds of people gathered. bit.ly

Seattle renaissance man Rudy Willingham holds a number of titles including DJ, producer, photographer, and advertising guru. This track was the featured KEXP Song of the Day earlier this year. Download it for free here: www.kexp.org

In January of 1973, a group of high school kids in Jamaica, Queens, recorded a handful of tracks under the guidance of producer Roy C. The funk sample classic gets revived to protest you-know-who in the White House. With this version, Kelly Finnigan and The Sure Fire Soul Ensemble are ready to “Impeach the President”. bit.ly

This was the song that launched the Charlatans career utilizing the Hammond organ which became part of their sound. It is one of the songs of the Manchester "Baggy" sound in the early 1990s in North West England and its still played at Indie clubs to this day. The catchy organ riff was lifted from Deep Purple's 1968 hit "Hush." Sadly, the Hammond organ player responsible for this sound, Rob Collins, was killed in a 1996 car crash.

This song's lyrics relate two stories: one is a story of New York City police shooting a boy "right through the heart" because they mistook him for someone else, and the second of a ten-year-old girl who dies in an alley of a drug overdose. Neither of these events are known to be factual. However, it is certainly possible that Jagger incorporated into the lyrics some elements of a notorious police shooting that took place around the time the song was released. bit.ly

Inspiral Carpets emerged from England's late-'80s "Madchester" scene. The title of this fourth album came from producer Pascal Gabriel's pronunciation of the word "developing."

The self-titled debut album of English dance group When in Rome was released on this day in 1988. Calculating.... 31 years ago.

The music video, directed by Steve Barron, features the band members playing amidst color television imagery, interspersed with a female model passing through an airport X-ray and sunbathing. www.youtube.com

“‘temporary tantrum’ was written about that moment in the relationship when you realize you’ve been played,” Alyse Vellturo says 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.” bit.ly

"We're only here to make you GO!" In 2015, (when "Go" was released), The Chemical Brothers said that they had been together for longer than lots of marriages. bit.ly

Go! Stop? Now GO!

Perry Farrell said “Stop!” was inspired by [the 1982 documentary] Koyaanisqatsi, which showed how mankind has gotten so out of control. “The world is loaded/It’s lit to pop/And nobody is gonna stop…” The world is going faster and faster; we’re chopping down all the trees and overrunning the planet, and I just have to go “Stop!” But nobody’s gonna stop! Read the full article where Perry Farrell and Dave Navarro break down this amazing album track by track. bit.ly

Go! Yes one more, Go!

The song was initially a hit in dance clubs but made a number of appearances in popular culture in later years. In 1990, Moby used a sample of it in his 1990 dance hit of the same title. In 1997, it was featured in Grosse Pointe Blank and appeared on the second volume of the soundtrack. The song was also notably featured in the 2003 cult film Party Monster.

Go. Stop. Now Go. Go! Nothing Gonna Stop. It's a good Friday. Nothing is going to stop the flow.

This album came out 31 years ago, released on May 3rd 1988. In 2017, Rolling Stone ranked Vivid as 71st on their list of "The 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time." bit.ly

The song's title refers to Electric Avenue in the south London district of Brixton which was the first market street to be lit by electricity. At the beginning of the 1980s, tensions over unemployment, racism and poverty culminated in the street events now known as the 1981 Brixton riot. Grant, horrified and enraged, wrote and composed the song in response; a year afterwards, the song was playing over the airwaves. The Guardian spoke with Eddy Grant about the making of this classic song. urlzs.com

Eddy Grant was the original guitarist in The Equals. He was a teenager when he formed The Equals in the mid-’60s. The multi-racial ’60s beat group provide The Clash with streetwise inspiration, who covered the song in 1980. bit.ly

Joe Strummer had been toying with the phrase "rock the casbah" prior to hearing Topper Headon's musical track that would form the basis of the song. This phrase had originated during a jam session with Strummer's violinist friend Tymon Dogg. Dogg began playing Eastern scales with his violin and Strummer started shouting "rock the casbah!" Not hearing Strummer properly, Dogg thought that Strummer had been shouting at him to "stop, you cadger!"

Interrupting all programs. This is radio clash from pirate satellite. www.youtube.com

"Save It for Later" is notable for its unique tuning, which was achieved accidentally. The track's lyrics highlight the suggestive double-entendre of the song's title.

"One Step Beyond" is a tune written by Jamaican ska singer Prince Buster as a B-side for his 1964 single "Al Capone". It was made famous by Madness who covered it for their debut studio album.

Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet are a Canadian band, formed in 1984. This song was used as the theme to the Canadian sketch comedy TV show The Kids in the Hall.

May the 4th be with you. On May 3rd. Because it's Friday.

The main thing that inspired the song, Keen said, was “Returning home after a long time gone. I lived in Bandera, Texas. When I would come home, it would occasionally be really late — this was back when I didn’t have a bus. And there was this place called Arkey Blue’s Silver Dollar Saloon that you could go to, still exists. So I would come home and my wife would be asleep. Now, the other way, just about half a block, was Arkey’s. Lit up with a big silver dollar and it says ‘Arkey Blue’s Silver Dollar’ on it. And I would go there. Not to avoid going home, but to decompress from traveling — I would still be pretty awake. Even past 2:00 a.m.” bit.ly

Danny Pearson, of American Music Club, made this song under solo project Clodhopper. "i've cooked in hell's kitchens, drove a million miles too, played so many bars soaked in beer and pine sol to ever count or want to with a few bands and the American Music Club. built my own homestead all off -the -grid once" dannypearson.bandcamp.com

The Los Angeles-based band Goldspot is named after the fizzy drink Gold Spot. According to an interview with Siddhartha Khosla (the band's core member), the drink was very popular back in India at the time. The band also released a Hindi version of the same track: spoti.fi

Melbourne-by-way-of-Tasmania band Quivers is the project of Sam J. Nicholson, who started it to keep singing after losing a brother in a free-diving accident. He’s since added Michael Panton on lead guitar, Bella Quinlan on bass, and Holly Thomas on drums to round out the project. This track was featured as the Song of the Day in April. Read more about the song and download it here: www.kexp.org

John's favorite song to run to. Read this fun article by super-volunteer Ken Tarleton, which has links for the running podcasts that can fuel your run: www.kexp.org

Regarding the album's title, Martin said, "We called it Violator as a joke. We wanted to come up with the most extreme, ridiculously Heavy Metal title that we could. I'll be surprised if people will get the joke." This article came out in 2015, discussing the 25th anniversary of Violator: bit.ly

The Hold Steady performed live in the KEXP studio in July 2014. www.youtube.com

And Faith No More, because we care a lot.

Thanks for listening to this week's Friday show! We stopped and go'd many times. Maybe you danced, or cried, or sang along, or thought what is going on, or all of the above. And now John and Owen's song to bid you farewell. Have a good weekend!