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Friday, Mar 8 2019, 6AM
Good morning and happy Friday. Today, we're celebrating International Women's Day. The theme for 2019 is "Balance is Better." "How can you help forge a more gender-balanced world?
Celebrate women's achievement [like this phenomenal song by Brandi Carlile]. Raise awareness against bias. Take action for equality." :www.youtube.com
"Belly formed in 1991 after Tanya Donelly left the critically acclaimed Throwing Muses, which she’d founded with her stepsister Kristin Hersh while they were both still in high school. Just prior to leaving the Muses, Tanya co-founded The Breeders as a side project with Kim Deal of The Pixies, but soon realized she needed more space to pursue her own fractured-fairytale alternative-pop-rock song-writing vision." Read a biography of this band: bellyofficial.com
Oh, this wonderful song! "But what did he say, PJ?": thenervousbreakdown.com
Watch a live performance of this song from Paris in 1994: www.youtube.com
Go see Beach House at The Moore Theatre on Wednesday, May 8th, 2019 or Thursday, May 9th, 2019 (or both nights!).
"We walked arm in arm...
But I didn't feel his touch....
A desire I'd first tried to hide...
That tingling inside was gone..." What's a girl to do when the thrill is gone?: www.lyricsmode.com
"Seventeen"describes an in-between moment in the arc of a human life, before adolescence ends and we’re expected to transform into a whole person...Janis Ian (“At Seventeen”) and Stevie Nicks (“Edge of Seventeen”) have each written about the danger and the power of that moment, and how the feeling of being half in, half out can linger for a lifetime. “Inside, we’re all seventeen with red lips,” Laurence Olivier once said. Read a wonderful New Yorker essay about Sharon Van Etten:www.newyorker.com
Bassist Kim Gordon is the lead singer on this Sonic Youth favorite.: www.spin.com
Tacocat is quoting writer Rebecca Solnit in this title: www.guernicamag.com
Watch an extraordinary live performance by boygenius in the KEXP studio (that includes this Dixie Chicks cover): www.youtube.com And now, here's the original: www.youtube.com
Someone wrote about this KEXP in-studio performance of "America" by First Aid Kit, "Would make Simon & Garfunkel proud. Probably the best cover of this song I've heard AND by my favorite female duo. So simply done and yet absolutely stunning." Watch: www.youtube.com
This song was released by Bob Dylan in 1962 and beautifully covered by Laura Marling in 2017: www.youtube.com
Jessica Dobson will be LIVE on KEXP today, March 8th, at 4:00 p.m. This new song is a cover of the song recorded by Lesley Gore in 1963, when Gore was 17 years old. Jessica Dobson wrote, "I chose this song to release around international women’s day because though it was recorded in the 60s, it’s relevance in terms of what it’s message is shouting—still remains. In the music industry (and everywhere), there is still an ongoing battle with toxic masculinity and the abuse of power towards women. The more we can shed light on this issue and seek to eradicate it, the better off the world will be. More freedom, more beauty, more equality, now. - "
Phoebe Bridgers, in partnership with Conor Oberst as Better Oblivion Community Center, will be at The Showbox (moved from Neumos) on Sunday, March 17th, 2019.
On International Women’s Day in 2017, Swedish folk duo First Aid Kit unleashed this song, “You Are the Problem Here,” a track that the Söderberg sisters wrote after reading about a sexual assault and the rapist’s lenient punishment. They wrote, “Our message is clear and should not be controversial in the least: if you rape, you are the problem. Alcohol is not the problem. So called ‘youth culture’ is not the problem. You are. And you always have a choice.”
She's a marvelous songwriter.: www.songhall.org Watch her sing this song in 1979: www.youtube.com
"To Be Young, Gifted and Black" is a song by Nina Simone with lyrics by Weldon Irvine. It was written in memory of Simone's late friend Lorraine Hansberry, author of the play "A Raisin in the Sun," who had died in 1965 at age 34.
Nina’s “Sealine Woman” is a 19th century seaport song about sailors and prostitutes. The sailors would come into port (Charleston or New Orleans, perhaps). Women of the pleasure quarters would be waiting, lined up dockside. Their dress colors signified the specific delights they offered. That is what the song is really about. Nina sang it many different ways, often changing the lyrics.: www.kcrw.com
This song is a medley of two songs, "Ain't Got No" and "I Got Life", from the musical "Hair," with lyrics by James Rado and Gerome Ragni and music by Galt MacDermot.
British band Piroshka is composed of Miki Berenyi of British shoegazers Lush, and Berenyi's partner, K.J. McKillop of Moose, Elastica's Justin Welch and Modern English's Mick Conroy. In the song "This Must Be Bedlam," the band dramatizes Brexit: www.wfit.org
Siouxsie Sioux explained in an MTV interview that this song is about "the way that women are portrayed in our Fascist media." She stated that "Peekaboo" is a reaction against the conformist images that the media puts on women.
Hatchie will play Neumos on Friday, April 12th, 2019. Here's the official video for "Without a Blush": www.youtube.com
Happy birthday, Matilda! This song is about making a deal with God to swap lives with another person. Bush explained in a 1985 interview: "It's about a relationship between a man and a woman. They love each other very much, and the power of the relationship is something that gets in the way. It creates insecurities. It's saying if the man could be the woman and the woman the man, if they could make a deal with God, to change places, that they'd understand what it's like to be the other person and perhaps it would clear up misunderstandings. You know, all the little problems; there would be no problem."
"People say 'beware!'
But I don’t care...
The words are just...
Rules and regulations to me, me..." Do you remember the first time you heard Patti Smith's version of "Gloria"? :www.covermesongs.com
Read an Allmusic biography of this talented and controversial musician:www.allmusic.com Oh, and see the video for this song: www.youtube.com
Morgan was the host when Jamila Woods performed live in our studio in 2017: www.youtube.com this song is a tribute to writer Zora Neale Hurston:pitchfork.com
Written by Lauryn Hill, this was the singer's debut single. The song is a warning against guys who are more interested in frivolous, expensive things than their girlfriends or families. Hill had some difficult relationships that may have inspired this; she dated Wyclef Jean from her group Fugees and was once engaged to Rohan Marley, son of Bob Marley. :www.youtube.com
"A woman can bear you, break you, take you...
Now it's time to rhyme, can you relate to...
A sister dope enough to make you holler and scream...." And....here comes Monie Love: www.youtube.com
Chaka Khan, the Queen of Funk, has just released her first album in 12 years, "Hello Happiness": liveforlivemusic.com
This was originally recorded by a British group called The Arrows in 1975, and it was written by their lead singer Alan Merrill and guitarist Jake Hooker. The Arrows had a TV show, simply called The Arrows Show, which ran from 1976-1977 in the UK. It was this show that Joan Jett saw in 1976, which prompted her to acquire a copy of "I Love Rock and Roll" and later cover it in 1981, producing what is arguably one of the most successful covers in rock history.
Bikini Kill formed in Olympia, Washington back in October 1990. Bikini Kill were considered one of the pioneers of Riot Grrrl movement. Bikini Kill believed that if all girls started bands the world would change. They actively encouraged women and girls to start bands as a means of cultural resistance. Ian MacKaye produced their self titled Bikini Kill EP. They broke up in 1997.
Le Tigre was a band that was never supposed to be. What was initially founded in 1998 as a backing band for riot grrl legend Kathleen Hanna’s lo-fi electronic solo project Julie Ruin.
ultimately became this trio of “underground electro-feminist performance artists.”Here's a discussion of the "10 best" Le Tigre songs:www.stereogum.com
John chose "Oh Come On" by The Julie Ruin as a KEXP Song of the Day: www.kexp.org
Gossip's Beth Ditto is out on her own now. Here's an interview from last year: inews.co.uk
See the fine video for this Beth Ditto anthem: www.youtube.com
Learn a little more about Carrie Akre, a musician best known for her work with Seattle underground bands Hammerbox and Goodness.: thesestreets.org
Does that initial guitar sound familiar? Read the story behind Seattle icon Heart's "Crazy On You":www.loudersound.com
"Cherry Bomb" was written by Runaways manager Kim Fowley and guitarist Joan Jett for the group's self-titled debut album. The title is a play on the name of their lead singer Cherie Currie, who was just 16 when this song was released.
"In 2014, Toronto-based indie-pop outfit Alvvays delivered one of the best songs about modern love with the hit “Archie, Marry Me.” The burden of student loan payments, the risk of alimony, skipping the traditions and just signing the papers. It’s all wound into 3:17 of indie rock perfection behind Molly Rankin’s effortlessly cool vocals.": indie88.com
Good morning! "Wait in the Car" was The Breeders' first new song since 2009: www.npr.org
"Live Through This" was released by Courtney Love and Hole just seven days after Kurt Cobain's death. Read an oral history:www.spin.com
Thank you, musicians! The Black Unicorns are three 9-year-olds and one 10-year-old. This is their first radio performance! Go to the Rain City Rock Camp for Girls website to sign up, volunteer, and donate: www.raincityrockcamp.org