John Richards

#419 Check out The Black Angels at a KEXP VIP concert at the Triple Door. blog.kexp.org

#418 Here are a couple more songs from Calexico featured on the Song of the Day podcast...one of the many great things your donation to KEXP supports! blog.kexp.org blog.kexp.org

#417 Nick Cave has described this track as a comic re-imagining of the Lazarus myth, placing the recently ‘risen’ Lazarus in ’70s NYC. It was also another Song of the Day: blog.kexp.org

#416 Sea Ray's final show was January 21, 2005. Where else will you hear them 12 years on?

#415 Juno described the rate at which they changed drummers in their first couple years as "Spinal Tap luck with drummers"

#414 Yo La Tengo played both Sasquatch and Pickathon last year blog.kexp.org blog.kexp.org

#413 They'll be at the Tractor on May 26th!

#412 After a 15 year run, Nortec Collective quit in 2015. They said their final album "Motel Baja" reflects Tijuana’s cultural changes since they began recording together. “There’s less violence and Tijuana is a happier place now, and you can experience that in 'Motel Baja'” Fussible said. Bostich added that Nortec Collective’s earlier music reflected the violence that was happening at the time. “But we didn’t glorify it, we just experienced what was happening at the time."

#411 “Take Your Mama” was inspired by lead singer Jake Shears experience coming out to his Mom. Check out the tripped out and colorful official video in all of it’s bell bottomed glory: youtu.be

#410 Jagwar Ma is playing Sasquatch on Friday May 26th! Their latest, OB1 was Song of the Day back in August blog.kexp.org

#409 If this doesn't seem just plain wrong... a mostly instrumental version of Every Day Is Like Sunday (containing only the title lyric) was used in NFL Network's "When all you want is football" television ad campaign.

#408 Wolf Parade is playing the Capitol Hill Block party on July 21st! Here they are when they stopped by KEXP in September blog.kexp.org

#407 Your Little Hoodrat Friend appeared on Live at KEXP volume 4 blog.kexp.org

#406 This was Song of the Day back in December 2008 blog.kexp.org

#405 Joe Corrales Jr. of Yppah sat in for Midnight in a Perfect World blog.kexp.org

#404 Festival heavy-hitter Michael Franti & Spearhead played on KEXP's Secret Stage last year at Bumbershoot blog.kexp.org

#403 Daniel Ash told Spin Magazine, “We’re interested in the black and white, ying and yang, good and evil. We’re trying to cope and suss out the big “What’s it all about.” We’re continually questioning existence. Not trying to sound pretentious, but looking beyond party politics to see things. We are talking to individuals rather than masses. We’re all in this together, but we are talking to the individual in the privacy of their living room.”

#402 In this song, Jem sings about how society makes up all of these rules, and no one ever stops to think them through. Jem explained to Virgin Radio: " It is a song about the things that 'they' say, whoever 'they' are that we listen to and we act on without questioning. The example being, and what I wrote it about, was when I went to New York I had read in a New York guide, to not look people in the eye on the subway it kind of implied that I would get shot or something. When I got there I was really scared and literally would not look at anyone. Years later I was on the subway every day going to Brooklyn and I thought, 'Oh my God, it's fine!' I had completely believed this book. It made me think about all the things 'they' say."

#401 Trouble was used in a Travelers Insurance advertisement, which showed a dog concerned over the security of his bone.

#400 When The Dismemberment Plan stopped by KEXP the performed You Are Invited, and a few more blog.kexp.org

#399 When asked about his strangest concert experience, multi-instrumentalist Ross Godfrey said, "I took my mum to see Bruce Springsteen a couple of years ago; it was a great gig. A few days later, we were playing at the Hollywood Bowl, and in the box right in front of me sat half of the E Street Band. It made it very hard to play, but they seemed to like the music. At one point, they were all on their feet, clapping and singing along."

#398 "'Fitz and the Dizzyspells' is as multi-layered as anything Bird has released in the past, but instead of showcasing Bird as a solo artist amidst other musicians, here Bird sounds once again like the frontman of an ensemble." It was Song of the Day in 2009 blog.kexp.org

#397

#396 Frontman Ben Gibbard told VH1 News about this song: "As I'm sure other people feel as we get older, our windows of possibilities start slowly closing. In that song, it's represented by the clouds coming in and there's no more sunlight. As a child you look up, and you could lay on your back [and look] at the sky and anything was possible, and the older you get the less that is true."

#395 Yo La Tengo stopped by for an in-studio back in February 2013 while they were touring record stores for free in support of their 13th album blog.kexp.org

#394 The horn section was made up of eight jazz musicians from the St. John's Orchestra. Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood conducted them, but since they didn't really know how to conduct, so they jumped up and down when they wanted them to play faster and made calming gestures if they wanted the music slower.

#393 "It isn’t surprising to me that a band like Miike Snow is formed under the auspices of so many varied influences. Sporting a name influenced by renowned Japanese horror master Takashi Miike, featuring two producers best known for top-40 hits like Britney Spear’s “Toxic” and created under the wings of Downtown Records (home of artists like Art Brut and Mos Def), it’s easy to say that this trio of musicians has, well, a lot going on." Animal was Song of the Day in June of 2009 blog.kexp.org

#390 " Do they sound like anyone else? Not really, maybe a beach disco band? " When it was released you could download Surf Noir for free from their bandcamp page! "In The Water" was another Song of the Day... blog.kexp.org