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Tuesday, May 2 2017, 6AM
Different than the band’s reverb-drenched early tracks, 810 shows the band exploring the poppier territory of shoegaze, lead singer Vanessa Cea’s voice ringing at the forefront of the album mix. In recent years, various bands (think Pinkshinyultrablast, Japanese Breakfast or Alvvays) have created albums which exist in a grey area between intricate modern pop music and shoegaze. 810 acts as a continuation of that spirit, channeling foundational shoegaze groups like Slowdive while finding new ways of mixing walls of guitar and bass, with the melodic clarity provided by Cea’s voice. Check out another track from 810 with the Song of the Day for April 24th, "Please Let's Go Away" . blog.kexp.org
Power, Corruption & Lies was a dramatic change of sound, adding synthesizers and sequencers, and a substantial amount of melodicism to the traditional guitar, bass and drums. This established New Order's formula mixing early techno and guitar-based music. Peter Saville's design for the album had a colour-based code to represent the band's name and the title of the album, but they were not actually written on the original UK sleeve itself (they were present on some non-UK versions). The decoder for the code was featured prominently on the back cover of the album and can also be used for the "Blue Monday" and "Confusion" singles.
The New Pornographers were just in Seattle and you can read a review of the show here on the KEXP blog: blog.kexp.org . If you missed them, they just announced Canadian dates for the fall and there will be September shows in Victoria and Vancouver! www.thenewpornographers.com
David J was just at KEXP on Thursday! Catch the performance on the streaming archive! Echo & the Bunnymen will be playing Zootunes on August 2nd!
Back in 2013 Foals came by KEXP for a set including "My Number" . See it here: blog.kexp.org
Interpol announced two US shows celebrating 15 years since the release of ‘Turn on the Bright Lights’. September 23rd and 30th they will be playing the album in its entirety in NYC (Forest Hills Stadium) and LA (LA State Historic Park) with special guests Deerhunter and Battles. A limited number of pre-sale tickets will be available via interpolnyc.com beginning 5/2 at 10am local time with additional general on-sale tickets becoming available at 10am local time Friday 5/5.
The new album is out Friday and their tour brings them to Portland on October 16th and Seattle on October 18th!
Hamilton Leithauser will be playing the Neptune with Courtney Marie Andrews on November 15th.
First Hate is from Copenhagen... hear more from them on the band's Soundcloud page soundcloud.com
Saint Etienne will be playing the Neptune on October 2nd in support of Home Counties, the new album, which will be released on June 2nd
The Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver shows in August are all sold out! If you want to see them it looks like the closest available tickets are Missoula and Oakland!
Playing Seattle on August 11th at the WaMu Theater! Full list of dates on their website www.coldwarkids.com
Spoon finally has Seattle on the tour! They'll be next door at Bumbershoot. Tickets went on sale Friday.
"Dead Souls" was originally released on 18 March 1980 by record label Sordide Sentimental as a France-only B-side to "Atmosphere". It was limited to 1578 copies. John Peel played "Atmosphere" for the first time on his show on 11 March 1980 and "Dead Souls" the following night.
"Needle" was Song of the Day back in May 2013 . blog.kexp.org . You can also see Born Ruffians this fall! Victoria BC on September 28th and Vancouver BC on the 29th. See all their dates here: www.bornruffians.ca
It was Ronnie Wood, not Rod Stewart or Ronnie Lane, who sang the lead vocal for this song. Lane and Stewart were at odds at the time. Stewart did not think the song was up to his standards although both he and Lane recorded lead vocals for it. Their producer suggested Wood give it a try, and that's the version that was used for the album, which was Faces last studio album. Lane left the group after Ooh La La was released and The Faces disbanded after their 1974 tour.
Ted Leo is working on a new album, planned to be released this fall. He's funding it via KickStarter: www.kickstarter.com
A Dog Called Money and I’ll Be Waiting were recorded at London’s Somerset House during The Hope Six Demolition Project sessions in January 2015. The two tracks are currently being offered exclusively as a Double A-Side 7” Vinyl on PJ Harvey’s North American tour.
This track was Song of the Day back on April 22nd, 2008 . blog.kexp.org . You can hear some new music from Cut Copy when they play the Neptune on June 15th! cutcopy.net
This is based on a recurring nightmare Robert Smith had as a child where he was eaten by a giant spider. He said the lullabies his father sang to him had similarly tragic endings. "There would be something like 'Sleep now, pretty baby,' and then there'd be an 'Or you won't wake up at all' coda to the song,"
Odesza will be playing Bumbershoot and in addition to "Late Night" has another single out, "Line of Sight." Check them out here: odesza.com
When Power, Corruption & Lies turned 30 back in 2013, Consequence of Sound dusted it off and gave it an in-depth look: consequenceofsound.net
Cobain did not begin to write "Smells Like Teen Spirit" until a few weeks before recording started on Nirvana's second album, Nevermind, in 1991. When he first presented the song to his bandmates, it comprised just the main riff and the chorus vocal melody, which bassist Krist Novoselic dismissed at the time as "ridiculous." In response, Cobain made the band play the riff for "an hour and a half." In a 2001 interview, Novoselic recalled that after playing the riff repeatedly, he thought, "'Wait a minute. Why don't we just kind of slow this down a bit?' So I started playing the verse part. And Dave [started] playing a drum beat." As a result, it is the only song on Nevermind to credit all three band members as authors.[
Weird Al is releasing "Squeeze Box," his complete works remasterd on 150-gram vinyl and CDs on November 24th. www.pledgemusic.com
Pitchfork called the 20th anniversary reissue of 24 Hour Revenge Therapy the best reissue of 2014. pitchfork.com
The lyrics resemble a stream of consciousness, a writing technique championed by beat poets such as Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg, both of whom were a major influence on Dylan. Musically, Dylan told the LA Times the song was inspired by Chuck Berry: "It's from Chuck Berry, a bit of 'Too Much Monkey Business' and some of the scat songs of the forties."
The new album is out June 2nd and you can pre-order it on blue vinyl. Limited to 500 copies. No Seattle dates on the tour... yet.
He's at the Showbox on the 22nd and there are tickets still available! Vancouver and Portland are sold out.
Closing out "Our First 100 Days" you can hear Phosphorescent's cover of Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land" and read Matthew Houck's statement on his contribution here: deadoceans.com
Originally titled "God Blessed America," Guthrie wrote this as a parody of Irving Berlin's "God Bless America." When Guthrie started writing the song in 1940, the last line in the chorus was "God blessed America for me," which Guthrie eventually changed into "This land was made for you and me." It evolved into a protest anthem as generations of folk singers performed the song, but it is often misinterpreted as a patriotic song. The lyrics express Guthrie's belief that the working class should have the same rights as the rich.
Such an amazing cover. RIP Sharon. blog.kexp.org
Link Wray, American singer-songwriter and guitarist introduced the power chord.
Power chords can be traced back to commercial recordings in the 1950s. Music historian Robert Palmer pointed to blues guitarists Willie Johnson who played for Sun Records in the early 1950s, as the true originator of the power chord, citing as evidence Johnson's playing on Howlin' Wolf's "How Many More Years" (recorded 1951). Link Wray is often cited as the first mainstream rock and roll musician to have used power chords, with "Rumble." Regardless, all were great and changed the face of music as we know it.
Another hit based around the power chord. Dave Davies got the dirty guitar sound by slashing the speaker cone on his amp with a razor blade. The vibration of the fabric produced an effect known as "fuzz," which became common as various electronic devices were invented to distort the sound. At the time, none of these devices existed, so Davies would mistreat his amp to get the desired sound, often kicking it.
Johnny Ramone's guitar, which was highly distorted, is on the left channel, while the rest of the band is on the right.
Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet fans aren't made, they're born! www.youtube.com
In Seattle at the Showbox on October 23rd following shows in Portland on the 21st and Vancouver BC on the 22nd.
On April 7th Pearl Jam were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The KEXP DJs shared their Pearl Jam memories: blog.kexp.org
If you don't win tickets, you can still buy them! May 8th at the Neptune and May 9th in Portland at Revolution Hall
“You’re lazy if you play ‘Fascination Street.'” blog.kexp.org
The first track on side 2 of the LP, 'Your Silent Face' was so audibly influenced by Kraftwerk it was given the working title KW1.
"Why 'Someone Great' by LCD Soundsystem is the Best Song About Loss Ever Written" . medium.com
OK Computer is being reissued June 23rd with 3 unreleased tracks and eight B-Sides! In the meantime, how about a Radiohead covers roundup with three versions of Karma Police? You'll find John Vanderslice, Citizen Cope, and Ryan Adams each performing this here: blog.kexp.org
On their first album Von Sigur Ros painted the studio in exchange for recording the album.