John Richards

#420

#419 Gary has been recording some covers including Bon Iver, Foy Vance, Ryan Adams, Leonard Cohen and John Martyn while writing the upcoming Snow Patrol album. Get the songs here: www.garylightbody.com

#418 The percussion and guitar were sampled from Argentine composer Lalo Schifrin's "Danube Incident," originally written for an episode of Mission Impossible. Check out the original: www.youtube.com

#417 Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings are recent legends and have become one of KEXP’s core artists. The band, and the Daptones label that it represents, were the main force behind the soul funk revival of the last fifteen years, the stylistic rebirth that bands ranging from The Alabama Shakes to The Budos Band have ridden to superstardom. It was an honor for us to have Sharon and the bank help us kick off KEXP’s New Home Grand Opening! You can see that performance here: youtu.be

#416 There were several different versions of the "Pets" single released in 1993. The standard version, released on both CD and 7" vinyl, included only the radio edit of the title track and the B-side "Tonight." The second limited edition version, also made available on CD and vinyl, featured two additional tracks as well as three full-panel band photos. The 12" vinyl picture disc featured the cover art from the album Porno for Pyros embossed on the A-side of the vinyl itself, while the B-side featured the band's red "Devil" logo.

#415 Boston declared October 4th "Mission of Burma Day" much like International Clash Day February 7th! Roger Miller of Mission of Burma spoke to KEXP earlier this year about the influence of The Clash. Hear the interviews here: blog.kexp.org

#414 In an interview in June 2009, Daniel Ash emphatically stated that he had no further plans to play with Love and Rockets. "We've worked together since 1980. I really want to work with new people, I'm sure everybody feels the same."

#413 After a 19 year hiatus, KoD reunited for an album in 2013. “I never really wanted to get Kitchens back together again,” Julian Swales admits, “and nor did Patrick (Fitzgerald). Nor did anybody want us to get back together, I think! And then we sort of ended up doing it. That it’s happening at all is rather odd. It’s almost like it’s a dream." thequietus.com

#412 In the early 1990s, Jimi Goodwin and twin brothers Jez and Andy Williams were producing dance music as Sub Sub. In February 1996, on the Williams twins' birthday, the band's recording studio located in Ancoats, Manchester caught fire and burned down, destroying virtually all of the band's equipment and recorded material. In an interview with Excellent Online, Jimi Goodwin said of the fire, "Yeah, we lost tapes, we lost equipment. But we were insured. If we weren't insured, we might not be here now. When forty grand goes up, where would we be to get that back at 22 years old? So, yeah, we were lucky. It was a blessing in a way. I was laughing. After the initial shock, I started giggling, y'know? It was like [looking to the sky], 'What else you gonna throw at me, man? C'mon then, fucking bring it on! Me bird just left me, what else you got?'" The only surviving recorded material recovered from the ashes was released as Delta Tapes in February 1998, featuring early versions of later Doves tracks "Firesuite" and "Blue Water", as well as B-side tracks "Crunch" and "Lost in Watts".

#411 In April of this year David J stopped by KEXP to chat with John and play a few songs. Check it out here: www.youtube.com

#410 "There was one video that terrified me. In it, a parade of grotesque cartoons torment a kid in a beanie with the letter ‘R’ on it, who then climbs a streetlight. The plot made no sense — ‘R’ goes with his friend to see a naked women in a tree, plays ping-pong with an angel, and eventually a Winston Churchill lookalike dismembers himself and falls into the sea — but the characters resembled the world I knew closely enough that as soon as I heard that eerie acoustic riff, those unexpected claves, and that bewildering voice, I knew that it was time to change the channel. The white letters at the bottom left corner of the screen, which I so rarely stuck around to see reappear at the end of the video, spelled out the origin of my fears. It was a band called Radiohead performing a song called “Paranoid Android,” on an album called OK Computer. " blog.kexp.org

#409 Cults will be playing Neumos on Halloween! The new album, "Offering" will be out October 6th In the meantime, listen to "Go Outside" again with the sog of the day podcast: blog.kexp.org

#408 Broken Social Scene are playing two nights at The Neptune, October 22nd and 23rd in support of their latest album, "Hug Of Thunder" The first single from it was the song of the day: blog.kexp.org

#407 Record Store Day 2105 saw KEXP hosting the legendary Sonics over at Easy Street Records, and it was a good old fashioned show in all regards: the hard, proto-punk garage rock The Sonics are known for, the crowd closing in at eye-level with the band just like the basement shows of yore, guest singers like Presidents of the United States of America’s Chris Ballew and Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder. On RSD 2016 the performance was released on limited edition vinyl. Only 3500 produced. You can see video of the show here: blog.kexp.org

#406 Iron & Wine are coming to The Moore on October 18th! "Boy With A Coin" was Cheryl's song of the day pick back on July 30th, 2007 blog.kexp.org of-the-day-iron-wine-boy-with-a-coin/

#405 Dirk Fowler at f2design in Lubbock has created a special hurricane relief benefit poster for Wilco’s upcoming tour dates in Texas. You can preorder now in the Wilco store. They’re donating all proceeds to Americares.org to benefit the victims of Hurricane Harvey. wilcoworld.net

#404 The Head And The Heart just released a cover of Crowded House's "Don't Dream It's Over." Stream/download it here www.theheadandtheheart.com dream-its-over-27771

#403 Sebadoh performed live at KEXP and spoke with Troy back in 2013 www.youtube.com

#402 Back in 2007 Beirut was live (one of a few times) on KEXP from Chicago. Here’s what John had to say about their performance at the time: "Beirut are a great band. Not just a great band but one of the greatest bands playing today. As I watching this young band for maybe the 5th time and 3rd time on KEXP, I just once again got caught up in the sincere emotion and musical skill they possess. Beirut loves music and you can feel that when they play. This in-studio was no different. They came off an overnight drive from Montreal to play on KEXP, which we really appreciated. Some bands wouldn’t have made the trip early, but they did. They were tired and road weary but ready to play. You see them and they’re so funny and nice to be around and you just want to put ‘em up in a nice hotel for hot showers and take em out to buy nice new clothes. They’d say no, but you just want to take care of them to make sure they’re playing music for years. In studio they set up and circled around one another with no less then 3 people in there taking pictures, including our friends from Pitchfork. They played 5 songs from the new album plus one traditional song. Then they signed off on us launching them on a podcast, packed up and continued on their journey, heading for a show in Chicago Thursday night and then the around the world — this is a band you should support." blog.kexp.org

#401 "The city of Bristol in England, 1991. Two unemployed musicians met in a job retraining program offered by the city. Geoff Barrow was a producer and keyboardist and Beth Gibbons was a singer who had played in lots of local bands. They started making music together and in 1992 added jazz guitarist Adrian Utley. They named the band Portishead after the west coast town that Barrow had grown up in. In 1994 they scored a short film noir To Kill a Dead Man, and this soundtrack caught the attention of British label Go Records. In 1994 Portishead released their first record, Dummy. Gibbons was notoriously shy, and the band refused to tour or do press interviews for this album. Despite this fact, the record sold 150,000 copies in the US." Check out DJ Michelle's Electronic Innovator Documentary on Portishead: blog.kexp.org portishead/

#400 Mirah's new EP, "Sundial" comes out on October 6th and is available now for preorder on a limited 12" clear vinyl. Hear three tracks from the EP here: www.mirahmusic.com

#399 Arcade Fire are playing next door at Key Arena on October 15th

#398 Fans believed there was a hidden message in artwork being sold from the band's site in 2016 that alluded to a new album...but no album yet.

#397 If Ice Cream is too cold, check out Marshmallow: blog.kexp.org

#396 Fujiya & Miyagi are "pleased to announce" that they are finally releasing their 2006 LP ‘Transparent Things’ (which includes "Collarbone") on vinyl for the very first time. A limited edition transparent vinyl version with transparent sleeve can be pre ordered from their site: www.fujiya-miyagi.co.uk

#395 Due to the instances of strong language in a great majority of the songs, the album was released with a Parental Advisory warning, although the song "Friday Night" remains censored on all versions of the album.

#394 Oh bloody hell, Friendly Fires are BACK! After half a decade away, the band will play a comeback gig next April at The O2 Academy in Brixton.

#393 Your last chance to catch Pixies in 2017. Just today they annouced a December 13th show at The Hollywood Palladium. They're playing THREE nights in Portland Nov 29th-Dec 1st and Seattle on Dec 3rd but those nights are sold out. Tickets for LA go on sale Friday www.pixiesmusic.com

#392 "Armed with a 16-track and a sequencer, Northampton’s James Chapman, the man behind Maps, writes and records cool, breezy songs in his own bedroom." "To The Sky" was John's pick for song of the day May 14th, 2007. blog.kexp.org the-day-maps-to-the-sky/

#391 Greg Vandy of The Roadhouse called Rodriguez‘s the “Story of the Year.” (2009) In the early ’70s, Sixto Diaz Rodriguez recorded two albums — Cold Fact (1970) and Coming from Reality (1971), both of which saw limited sales and critical response at the time. Eventually, the label that put them out folded, and Rodriguez went on with his life of education, working construction, and social activism. During those years, his albums became more and more popular in South Africa and Australia, but Rodriguez himself was so far removed from music that he was unaware of his growing success and his fans thought he was dead! He made a brief appearance, touring Australia in the late ’70s but soon slipped back into obscurity. Occasional references were made to his song “Sugar Man” in this current decade in movies and mixtapes, but it wasn’t until 2008, when Seattle label Light in the Attic re-released Cold Fact (and subsequently Coming From Reality), that Rodriguez, now in his 60’s, has finally received the recognition in America that he deserves. Recently, KEXP hosted a very special performance by Rodriguez at The Triple Door in Seattle as part of KEXP’s VIP Club concert series. We knew that many more people would be dying to see him perform, so we’ve captured several songs from the session on video for you here: blog.kexp.org

#390 In a chat with John, David Byrne talks about the inspiration for his project concept album and “disco musical” Here Lies Love, the logistics of bringing the show to town, and what music means to him. Watch or listen here: blog.kexp.org exclusive-interview-david-byrne-on-here-lies-love/

#389 After a bajillion years, Luna just released another album! Find 'A Sentimental Education' on their site: lunamusic.com

#388 Still some time to catch Built To Spill live this year. Sep 30th at Music Tastes Good in Long Beach, CA or Oct 8th at the Modest Music Fest in Moscow, ID You can always find their 2015 KEXP in-studio with Cheryl here: www.youtube.com

#387 Primal Scream’s Andrew Innes collaborated on the new Unkle album: pitchfork.com looking-for-the-rain-listen/

#386 The Raveonettes have been featured with the song of the day quite a few times: blog.kexp.org blog.kexp.org blog.kexp.org blog.kexp.org

#385 Dead Kennedys are on tour! November 9th in Portland and November 10th-11th in Vancouver B.C.! www.deadkennedys.com