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Friday, Mar 30 2018, 6AM
Elbow's first UK single from their 2005 album Leaders of the Free World. elbow.co.uk
DC post-punk trio Flasher plays Capitol Hill Block Party on Friday, July 20th. The band features Taylor Mulitz of Priests, Emma Baker of Big Hush, and Daniel Saperstein of Bless and Trouble. flasherdc.bandcamp.com
Midnight Oil's 1990 single "Blue Sky Mine" is a protest song inspired by the struggles and experiences of workers at the Wittenoom asbestos mines in Western Australia, many of whom were were exposed to potentially lethal levels of asbestos during their work. The "blue" refers to blue asbestos, and the "sugar refining company" refers to the Colonial Sugar Refining Company Ltd (CSR), the owner of the mines.
M83's eerie, Village of the Damned invoking music video for "Midnight City"is worth checking out: bit.ly
Car Seat Headrest has a number of Washington shows coming up in April. You can catch them April 11th at the Knitting Factory Concert House in Spokane, April 12th at Real Art in Tacoma, April 13th at Wild Buffalo in Bellingham, and April 14th at the Capitol Theatre in Olympia. They're also headlining the Timber! Outdoor Music Festival July 12-14 in Leavenworth. carseatheadrest.bandcamp.com
Berlin post-punk duo Lea Porcelain features producer Julien Bracht and vocalist Markus Nikolaus. www.leaporcelain.com
In December 2013, Benjamin Curtis of Secret Machines and School of Seven Bells passed away at the age of 35 after a battle with T-cell Lymphoblastic Lymphoma.
You can catch Portland based producer and DJ Emancipator at the Showbox on March 30th. This song mixes Mobb Depp's "Shook Ones (Part II) with Sigur Rós's "Untitled 1". emancipator.bandcamp.com
Rolling Stone has some details on the 1986 session in which Prince recorded "The Cross": "Recorded entirely solo on a Sunday at
Sunset Sound in Los Angeles, [The Cross] was an
other example of Prince finding inspira
tion in imperfection. '[The drumming]
speeds up, but he wasn't using a metronome. ... I thought he was actually going
to scrap it,' [Susan Rogers, Prince's staff engineer and production right hand on Sign 'O' the Times] recalls. 'But he was
happy with it.'" rol.st
Check out this 1988 performance of "Get Up, Stand Up" by Bruce Springsteen, Sting, Peter Gabriel, Tracy Chapman and Youssou N'Dour at Amnesty International's Concert for Human Rights in Paris. bit.ly
Roseanne Cash held "Big River" in particularly high esteem:
"I think my dad’s ‘Big River’ is one of the most eloquent pieces of American poetry ever written. It is so layered and cinematic.
It’s a narrative that starts at the top of the Mississippi River, in St Paul, Minnesota, and ends in New Orleans. It was written about a time when travel was still full of surprises; when it was an exotic trip to go from St Paul to Memphis or New Orleans. He uses alliteration in a thrilling way.
The first line of the last verse always gives me a thrill. It is positively Shakespearean. I like knowing my dad was so moved by the river, the South, the Delta and the music that arose from that area."
Stay up to date with Stephin Merritt and company at the Magnetic Fields' website: www.houseoftomorrow.com
During an interview with BBC, Jeff Lynne discussed finding inspiration for "Mr. Blue Sky" while staying in a chalet near Lake Geneva in Switzerland. Here's an excerpt:
“It was dark and misty for two weeks,” Lynne later recalled, “and I didn’t come up with a thing. Suddenly the sun shone and it was ‘Wow, look at those beautiful Alps.’ I wrote ‘Mr Blue Sky’ and 13 other songs in the next two weeks.” The subsequent album, 1977’s Out Of The Blue, consolidated Electric Light Orchestra’s success."
You can listen to the interview here: bbc.in
Chilean-American electronic artist Nicolas Jaar surprise released this album from his project A.A.L. (Against All Logic) back in February. nicolasjaar.net
The Avalanches “Stay Another Season” is built around a vocal sample from The Main Attraction’s song “Everyday.” www.theavalanches.com
Did you catch The Avalanches' July 2017 show at The Showbox? You can check out KEXP's live review over at our blog: bit.ly
"The Noisy Eater", from The Avalanches' 2016 album Wildflower, features verses from Biz Markie. Samples include "The Noisy Eater" by Jerry Lewis and "Come Together" by John Lennon and Paul McCartney.
From San Diego producer DJ Z-Trip's major label debut. djztrip.com
"I just got here and I wanna go home." Why not brush up on the lyrics to this 2003 track from SoCal hip hop trio Ugly Duckling while you wait for the weekend: bit.ly
Mark Griffin is a trumpeter, keyboard player, vocalist, programmer, and songwriter best known as MC 900 Ft Jesus. Over the course of three albums he combined hip hop, electronic, industrial, noise, jazz, funk, soul, and storytelling/poetry. Thematically his lyrics typically explored the realms of the mind, the darker side of humanity, the supernatural and the surreal. www.facebook.com
FIDLAR stopped by KEXP's old studio back in 2015 for a live session. You can watch their set here: bit.ly
It wouldn't be Friday without the Friday Song, but you already knew that.
On this day in 1992, PJ Harvey released her debut studio album Dry. Speaking to Filter magazine in 2004, Harvey said of her debut album: "Dry is the first chance I ever had to make a record and I thought it would be my last. So, I put everything I had into it. It was a very extreme record. It was a great joy for me to be able to make it. I never thought I'd have that opportunity, so I felt like I had to get everything on it as well as I possibly could, because it was probably my only chance. It felt very extreme for that reason." pjharvey.net
Sinéad O'Connor's sophomore album I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got was nominated for four Grammy Awards in 1991, including Record of the Year, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, and Best Music Video, Short Form for "Nothing Compares 2 U." O'Connor famously declined to accept the nominations and award.
Sydney based trio Middle Kids' debut album Lost Friends is out May 4th. They'll be at the Tractor Tavern in support of it on Saturday, June 30th. www.middlekidsmusic.com
Learn more about South London indie rockers Goat Girl at their website: goatgirl.co.uk
Does anyone else miss the Kids in the Hall? bit.ly
Robert Smith on the composition of "The Love Cats": “With "Love Cats,” I suggested that we were going to do something that’s kind of like a Disney take on jazz, based around the Aristocats. And suddenly everything we did started to sell"
"Bizarre Love Triangle" was the second single released from New Order's 1986 album Brotherhood, and the only one to feature a video. You can watch that video here: bit.ly
TR/ST plays Capitol Hill Block Party on Sunday, July 22nd. www.facebook.com
Baby Dayliner is NYC based artist Ethan Marunas. Although this song had been kicking around for nearly a decade, Marunas didn't officially release it until July 2017. KEXP had the honor of debuting the video, which you can check out here: bit.ly
"ABC" hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1970, knocking "Let It Be" off the top of the charts.
In a 2001 interview, Thomas Bangalter of Daft Punk discussed their use of vocoder and auto tune effects in their music: "People always ask us what vocoder we use, but every one of our vocal tracks uses a different vocoder effect. We have the old Roland one [an SVC-350], Auto-Tune, and a Digitech Vocalist. We take the same approach with phase shifters. Every track on this album uses a different phase shifter. We have a Mu-Tron phaser, a Moogerfooger pedal, an old AMS phaser, and an Ensoniq DP-4. With the older items, you can have several of the same model and they all sound different.
We also use vocoders in ways most people don't use them. Auto-Tune is great for fixing vocals, but we use Auto-Tune in a way it wasn't designed to work. A lot of people complain about musicians using Auto-Tune. It reminds me of the late '70s when musicians in France tried to ban the synthesizer. They said it was taking jobs away from musicians. What they didn't see was that you could use those tools in a new way instead of just for replacing the instruments that came before. People are often afraid of things that sound new." Read more here: bitly.com
Did you catch LCD Soundsystem's Austin City Limits appearance back in February? You can watch their full performance here: bit.ly
The Chemical Brothers have some European festival dates coming up this summer. Stay up to date with their itinerary here: www.thechemicalbrothers.com
Former Gossip frontwoman Beth Ditto's solo debut Fake Sugar came out last year. Ditto has described the album as being born in part from her feelings following the dissolution of her former band. "It's my divorce, isn't it?" asks Ditto. "I was going through a breakup with the loves of my life. Gossip was the longest relationship I'd ever had." www.bethditto.com
Parquet Courts' Danger Mouse produced album Wide Awake! is out May 18th via Rough Trade. “I personally liked the fact that I was writing a record that indebted to punk and funk, and [Danger Mouse]’s a pop producer who’s made some very polished records,” guitarist/singer Andrew Savage said in a press release. “I liked that it didn’t make sense.” parquetcourts.wordpress.com
Mastersystem is a new supergroup featuring members of of Editors, Frightened Rabbit, and Minor Victories. Their debut album Dance Music is out April 6th.
mastersystemband.com
The Lemonheads recorded this Simon and Garfunkel cover to mark the 25th anniversary of the release of The Graduate in 1992.
The Smiths released their singles compilation album Louder Than Bombs on this day in 1987.
B-52's frontman Fred Schneider on the inspiration for "Rock Lobster": "I was at a disco that had pictures of lobsters and children playing ball," he said. " 'Rock Lobster' sounded like a good title for a song." rol.st
The Sugarcubes - featuring a young Bjork - performed this song on SNL in 1988. Watch their performance here: bit.ly
STRFKR are playing Tito’s Handmade Vodka’s 21st Birthday & KEXP Benefit, Sunday, April 8th at Neumos. strfkr.com
Washed Out will be at the Neptune Theatre on May 14th. washedout.net
Neon Indian's 2011 KEXP in-studio session is available for your viewing pleasure over at our youtube page: bit.ly
Here's We Were Promised Jetpacks' performing "Quiet Little Voices" live from Doug Fir in Portland, OR during the 2010 edition of MusicFestNW. bit.ly
Treepeople was a rock band formed in Boise, Idaho and based in Seattle between 1988 and 1994. Treepeople shared its members with punk band State Of Confusion and The Halo Benders. Upon leaving the group in 1993, Doug Martsch formed Built To Spill. The band recently reunited for some PNW shows and they play Doug Fir Lounge in Portland tomorrow night. treepeoplek.bandcamp.com
