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Tuesday, Apr 10 2018, 6AM
Yo La Tengo has two shows coming up at The Neptune... May 31st & June 1st. Their latest album, "There's a Riot Going On" was released March 16th.
Based on the '60s surfer/financial criminal Miklos "Miki" Dora, Damon McMahon sings of him in a warbly, emotional tone. McMahon had this to say about the song: "Miki Dora was arguably the most gifted and innovative surfer of his generation and the foremost opponent of surfing’s commercialization. He was also a lifelong criminal and retrograde: a true embodiment of the distorted male psyche. He was a living contradiction; both a symbol of free-living and inspiration, and of the false heroics American culture has always celebrated. With lyrics of regret and redemption at the end of one’s youth, the song is about Dora, and myself, but ultimately it is a reflection on all manifestations of mythical heroic maleness and its illusions." Download it here with the Song of the Day Podact from March 22nd: www.kexp.org
Earlier this year (January 23rd) Luna performed live on The Afternoon Show: bit.ly
This is the lead tune from her debut solo album "Colt," out June 8th on Brooklyn label Sacred Bones Records. She's also released a self-directed video depicting a dancer in motion under a burning bright spotlight superimposed on top of semi-abstract imagery.
bit.ly
What makes this a beautiful song:
1. The cross-rhythms. This is a very percussion-heavy song, in that many of the instruments are important for their rhythm as well as the actual note they’re playing. The further you get in the song, the more 3’s against 4’s you start to hear…and the more you start to feel like you’re living in a clock repair shop.
2. The choir. They sound separate from the rest of the song because they don’t seem to be tied to the beat in any way.
3. The organ. As the song ends, the chords are sustained by the stuttering organ, which slowly fades to silence.
The Guardian called Seven Swans "a record of remarkable delicacy" and Spin described the album as sounding "like Elliott Smith after ten years of Sunday school".
Sharon Van Etten: "I wrote the song about a friend talking me through a panic attack. [In] moving to New York City and doing what I do, social anxiety is a really ridiculous kind of curse to have. But I met people along the way who deal with it — performers as well — and they are learning to deal with it daily and deal with it in different ways.
When I first started working in New York, I started working at Ba Da Bing [Records]. I became friends with Zach Condon. He suffers from social anxiety as well. We've wanted to work with each other for a while, but our schedules were rarely on the same plane. I sang on his last record and he said, "I would love to do the same for you if you can find space for me.""
Los Angeles based violinist and vocalist, Sudan Archives (Born Brittney Denise Parks) writes, plays, and produces her own music, drawing inspiration from Sudanese fiddlers, she is self-taught on the violin, and her unique songs also fold in elements of R&B, and experimental electronic music.
Growing up in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she "messed around with instruments in the house" and took up violin in the fourth grade, eventually teaching herself how to play the instrument by ear. When she discovered the violin playing style of Northeast Africa, her eyes opened to the possibilities of the instrument. "The way they played it was different from classical music. I resonated with the style, and I was like, 'Maybe I can use this style with electronic music'" She says to expect a small collection of songs to be out this summer but for now you can find "Nont For Sale" on her bandcamp: sudanarchives.bandcamp.com
Andrew Bird will be playing at Woodland Park Zoo with the Punch Brothers on August 19th. Tickets here: ticketf.ly
Another show at the zoo, Trampled By Turtles are playing there on June 27th in support of their new album, "Life Is Good On The Open Road" available May 4th. Tickets: ticketf.ly
The Lumineers performed live for KEXP at Columbia City Theater on April 1st, 2016. bit.ly In addition to Cleopatra you'll find:
Sleep On The Floor,
Ophelia,
Flowers In Your Hair,
Ho Hey,
Slow It Down,
Dead Sea,
Angela,
Big Parade,
Submarines,
Scotland,
Gun Song,
My Eyes,
Charlie Boy,
Stubborn Love
Gengahr are a British indie rock band from London. The band was formed at Stoke Newington School in Hackney in 2013.
Though originally named RES, they were forced to rename after discovering an artist already called RES on iTunes. Their new name is a play on Gengar, one of the original Pokémon.
"Cocoa Sugar bursts with the weird warmth of an ice burn, a sizzling stew of Tricky-covers-the-Fall garage rap. Each song is nasty, brutish and short, bristling with imagination." The Guardian gives the album 5 stars: bit.ly
"In both ‘Hue’ and ‘Nil’, Taylor shows the purity of his unfaltering voice, evoking a Justin Vernon vibe that immediately puts you at ease. There’s a clear sense of yearning in the track, a desperation as Taylor warbles over the chorus “I’ll never find another like you / Similar tone but a different hue.” Maintaining a consistent atmospheric and haunting veil, the more rustic laidback approach to ‘Hue’ metamorphoses into an R&B soulful sound in ‘Nil’, especially towards the back end of the track where the guitar comes into play and the electronic aspects really step up a notch. Again, ‘Nil’ is equally pessimistic in lyricism with the lines “You look in my eyes like the ordained / But you’re not in love / I’m not blind.” Openly heartfelt and impressively put together, ‘Hue/Nil’ is some of SOHN’s best work yet, and if this latest release is the beginnings of a new album then there is a lot to look forward to." - bit.ly
SOHN kicks off his European tour at Roundhouse in London on May 17th .
Wye Oak will be at Neumos on July 15th. Find all their tour dates here: www.wyeoakmusic.com
"All My Friends" was named the #1 song of 2007 by Pitchfork Media. In 2009, Pitchfork listed the song at #2 of their Top 500 Tracks of the 2000s.
It was selected by Guardian Unlimited readers as the best single of 2007. Time magazine named "All My Friends" one of The 10 Best Songs of 2007, ranking it at #4. Rolling Stone ranked "All My Friends" as the 41st best song of the 2000s. In October 2011, NME placed it at number 118 on its list "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years".
How does a band keep evolving and moving forward after 15 years? First up, embrace the modern age and the way that people are consuming music these days. "I don’t like it, but the long play album format is probably dead," says Mates of State singer/drummer Jason Hammel. "Now we just want the hits. Don't bother me with filler; get me your best songs straightaway."
"This Toronto band’s best songs have just the right amount of rage to get them out of the shadows of PJ Harvey and Sonic Youth." Pitchfork gives the new album a 6.7 pitchfork.com They'll be at the Funhouse May 26th
“Degrees" began as a completely fingerpicked folk song. After Will listened to it he suggested going in a Janis Joplin direction, like the song "Ball and Chain," emphasizing the loud-quiet-loud aspects. We sat and watched a few videos and then practiced it with Ryan Clancy on drums. That's where the song took on a much bigger sound that included drum transitions and organs, solos, all that stuff."
Ed Schrader: "This one is biographical, I suppose. "Riddles" has a sense of urgency and romance that can only come in rich, deep moments that strike your core and etch themselves into your essence. Like a Harry Potter scar!
It manically jumps between me being a teenager and hiding out in my weird basement room, smoking my stepdad's cigs, listening to The Cranberries, taking myself way too serious, [and] fast-forwards to a more present self, swept up in the existential crisis of losing my dad, stepdad, and David Bowie — also my dad — within like, two years time. I could not hide in my head and bury myself in irony and Frasier, try as I did. I was left awake and vulnerable, which I kind of needed at that point. I was running from facing myself. I was putting off an intense surgery and smoking too many cigs and hiding in moments. "Riddles" did me a little favor. It was time to face the cold wind of now. So glad I did."
Even by Interpol standards, the lyric is rather opaque, and was made even more incomprehensible with the line, "Sleep tight, grim rite, we have two hundred couches where you can sleep tonight." The band didn't print the lyrics with the album, so fans struggled to figure out exactly what lead singer Paul Banks was saying. They eventually posted the lyrics on their website to help out their ESL fans in Europe; a "grim rite" is an unfortunate ritual - much different than a "grim right," which would be the right to do something grim. In this context, the line refers to the girl's proclivity for sleeping around - that's her "grim rite."
Lullaby was released on this day in 1989 - the first single from Disintegration. The song is the highest charting single by the band in the UK, reaching number five in the UK charts. Additionally, the music video won the British Video of the Year at the 1990 Brit Awards.
To the best of our knowledge, this is the most popular song featuring a marimba as a lead instrument. You're welcome.
Brian Molko of Placebo states: "It's about that time of the day when the sun's coming up and you're coming down; and everybody else is getting ready to go to work and you're feeling incredibly dislocated from the rest of the world; and all you really want is for a friend to be there to put their arms around you and help you ease into sleep."
This was one of the 165 "lyrically questionable" songs pulled from the radio at the suggestion of Clear Channel Communications.
Kristin Hersh just previewed a song, "LAX" from her upcoming album "Possible Dust Clouds". Hear it here: www.kristinhersh.com
Shrink is the fourth album by German indie rock/electronica group The Notwist and marked their movement away from their punk origins.
This was the first #1 hit for Manic Street Preachers. The title of the song comes from a 1937 propaganda poster of the Spanish Republic. On it, under a formation of Nationalist bombers, a killed child can be seen. The slogan of the poster is "If you tolerate this your children will be next." bit.ly
The Wedding Present played a KEXP in-studio in April 2017: bit.ly Tonight they're kicking off a tour in Japan.
For those of you lucky enough to be in the UK, Ned's Atomic Dustbin are on tour! www.nedsatomicdustbin.com
"The debut LP from this South London band is absurd, playful, and more than a little unsettling, sounding at times like a less romantic Libertines." pitchfork.com
L7 have announce a new album and a tour. The album is available for preorder here: www.pledgemusic.com
The new album, Sparkle Hard is out May 18th and you can catch them at the Neptune on August 4th
Earlier today Wax Idols released a second track from their upcoming album, Happy Ending. Listen to "Crashing" here: www.youtube.com
Find Lucy Dacus in Seattle at Charles Smith Wines Jet City on June 2nd!
This is from Sub Pop #254 but it was also the B side to Pond's Wheel, Sub Pop #178
The Undertones were a Northern Irish punk band led by Feargal Sharkey. This song got them a record deal when British DJ John Peel played it on his show. Peel raved about this, even playing the song twice in a row, something he never did before. With Peel's endorsement, it became a punk anthem and got the group signed to Sire Records.
Sharkey: "Our only hope was John Peel, and we sent him a copy - that was the only copy we sent anyone"
No detail it’s unclear when said album will see the light of day, but Pearl Jam have released this first single from an upcoming album.
Parquet Courts are playing the Traveller's Rest Music Festival, August 4th-5th in Missoula. Looks like there is plenty of room in their tour schedule around that time to add a Seattle date...
Fontaines DC will be Live on The Morning Show at 9:30 on May 14th!
Veni Vidi Vicious is the second studio album by Swedish rock band the Hives and was released on this day back in 2000.
The new album is out May 4th. There is also a video to accompany this first single: youtu.be
Eels are at The Showbox June 2nd. Happy Birthday to Mark Oliver Everett, lead singer, songwriter, guitarist, keyboardist and sometimes drummer of Eels. Born on this day in 1963.
Find Sera Cahoone (w/ strings trio) and special guest Zoe Muth at Benaroya's Illsley Ball Nordstrom Recital Hall on April 20th. Here are all the tour dates: www.seracahoone.com
Bowie described this Eddie Cochran-inspired single in a 1987 interview as "a piece of sexist rock 'n roll. It's about picking up birds. It's not very cerebral, that piece."
Little Creatures was voted as the best album of the year in The Village Voice Pazz & Jop critics' poll and is the band's biggest-selling studio album, with over two million copies sold in the US.
Released on this date back in 1990! Read the story of the crafting of "Fight the Power": www.rollingstone.com