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Friday, Feb 17 2017, 6AM
The song's refrain of "Everything's gonna be OK," is about the self-delusion that is sometimes necessary for surviving modern life. The band's Dave Sitek told NME: "The 'I keep telling myself...' line means that it might not be true. Everyone goes through that, on multiple levels. There's a lot of doubt floating around. What has modern living and its aspirations led to? ''Trouble' at least for me, is about putting your helmet on."
Watch Arcade Fire performing this song live at Madison Square Garden in 2010: www.youtube.com
The Helio Sequence will play the Doug Fir Lounge in Portland on April 29th, 2017. Watch live video of a 2015 KEXP in-studio session: blog.kexp.org
The song was initially recorded with the working title "Bad Finger Boogie," after John Lennon tried to play the melody on a piano having hurt his forefinger. Read more about the making of this song: www.beatlesbible.com
This reviewer says: The song "Can't Hardly Wait" has stuck with me all these years, partly because of its ultra-sweet sound, largely attributable to its lovely guitar line performed by Big Star's Alex Chilton (in case you couldn't tell, Chilton was a big influence on Replacements singer/songwriter Paul Westerberg).: mentalfloss.com
Hurray for the Riff Raff will undoubtedly play "Hungry Ghost" when they perform at The Crocodile on Friday, June 16th, 2017.
You can pre-order "Swear I'm Good At This" at Diet Cig's Bandcamp page: dietcig.bandcamp.com
John Richards chose "Maybe We'll Drown" from Menace Beach's new album as a KEXP Song of the Day. Doownload it for free here: blog.kexp.org
"Blue" was the first single from Verve's first album. It's featured in this article about The Verve's 10 best songs: www.stereogum.com
That John Richards! Here's another KEXP Song of the Day that he selected, just for you: blog.kexp.org
Aren't the strings in this Peter Murphy classic compelling? Here's the video: www.youtube.com
Do you remember the first time you heard this lilting melody? According to Black Sabbath bassist Geezer Butler, the song was never about the Marvel hero: "“I can’t exactly recall what Ozzy said, but it was something like: ‘Why don’t we do a song called Iron Man, or maybe Iron Bloke’. That got me thinking about a lump of metal, and then putting it all into a science-fiction context. It all flowed from there.”: teamrock.com
The first grunge-era band to get signed to a major label was Seattle’s own Soundgarden. They got started officially in 1984, naming themselves after a sound sculpture near Seattle’s Magnuson park. Learn more about Soundgarden shen you listen to this KEXP documentary--"Grunge--Soundgarden": blog.kexp.org
Watch Sleater-Kinney performing this song live: www.youtube.com
Go hear Japandroids when they perform at The Neptune on Saturday, March 18th, 2017.
Bob Mould has been a great friend to KEXP. Enjoy this live performance and interview with Kevin Cole last year: blog.kexp.org
In a statement describing "Love Is Mystical," vocalist Nathan Willett says the song is "about supernatural love -- looking for inspiration and meaning, surrendering to feeling, love calling out your name and that journey we must go on to find it." See the video for this lead single from Cold War Kids' new album: abcnewsradioonline.com
Ahhh....the Friday song. Tune in to KEXP on Thursday, March 2nd for Music Heals, a collaboration with the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance Proton Therapy Center dedicated to the power of music to lift our spirits and heal our souls in the face of cancer. Learn more about this all-day program: blog.kexp.org
"Everybody wants to be a deejay...." Learn the lyrics to "The Magic Number": www.lyricsfreak.com
Speech was inspired to write the song after meeting up with his brother at his grandmother's funeral in Tennessee. Shortly afterwards, his brother died suddenly from a bad asthma attack,and Speech wrote the song about the experience of losing two loved ones so close together. That's Dionne Farris' wonderful voice in the song.
Attrell Cordes, better known as P.M. Dawn founding member Prince Be, died last year at the age of 46: www.syracuse.com
Lauryn Hill posted an apology to the Pittsburgh community for a 3-hour-late start to a recent show: www.post-gazette.com
Run The Jewels is touring in support of "RTJ3," but is not (yet) coming to Seattle: runthejewels.com
7:44 AM
26th spin
You'll want to know a little more about Handsome Boy Modeling School: www.allmusic.com
Lovage is a collaborative project headed by Dan the Automator, under his pseudonym "Nathaniel Merriweather" (a persona he created for the project Handsome Boy Modeling School).
This is a cover of Grandmaster Flash's "White Lines.": thetraffic.bandcamp.com
"Covering 50 Cent, Cat Stevens, Faith Evans, and more on steelpan drums should not sound this gimmick-less. It helps that the Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band is, first and foremost, a strong funk ensemble.' Read a positive review of "55": pitchfork.com
Mavis Staples summarized Curtis Mayfield's work - "There's a beauty about him, an angelic state. Everything he wrote had a whole lot of love." Read a biography of this incredible musician: www.curtismayfield.com
As a child, Cherry traveled the world with her stepfather, Don Cherry, a legendary trumpet player who often worked with free-jazz pioneer Ornette Coleman. She has said that one of her earliest childhood memories is of sitting with Miles Davis at a gig in Paris. Learn more fascinating facts about this Swedish musician: nypost.com
"Although she's crazy stepping, I'll try to stop her stride...Cause I won't have no more of this passing me by..." Don't pass by the opportunity to learn these lyrics: genius.com
A decade ago, Ghostlland Observatory's "Piano Man" was selected as a KEXP Song of the Day. You may still get this classic tune for free here; blog.kexp.org
The Guardian investigated whether this is the "sickest video ever": www.theguardian.com
That's a pretty powerful list to "destroy." "Mylo aka Myles MacInnes was introduced to the world with his seminal international hit album Destroy Rock and Roll,": www.facebook.com
“It is about being horrified about my own silliness,” James Murphy once said about the song’s origin. “I had become kind of cool for a moment. And to be honest, I was afraid that this newfound coolness was going to go away,” he said. “And then it became a wider thing about people who grip onto other people’s creations like they are their own. There is a lot of pathos in that character though because it’s born out of inadequacy and love.”
"Opening with one of Hook’s most infectious twangy riffs, and powering forth on Morris’s kinetic drumming, this is the sound of New Order throwing back the curtains and letting the sun come in. When John Peel first played it, he singled out Sumner’s two-note guitar motif at 4’14” as the song’s most sublime moment – playing the five-second burst over and over – but the entire song is New Order playing pop music at its most headrushing, joyful and flawless." Read more about the best New Order songs: www.theguardian.com
Mr. Petty and the band will be here in Seattle at Safeco Field on Saturday, August 19th, 2017. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame says that "in a sense, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers are America's band.
Durable, resourceful, hard-working, likeable and unpretentious, they rank among the most capable and classic rock bands of the last quarter century.": www.rockhall.com
Spoon's new release, "Hot Thoughts," will be available on March 17th, 2017. You can pre-order it here: www.spoontheband.com
Strand of Oaks will be LIVE on KEXP on Friday, March 24th, 2017 at 3:00 p.m. The public is invited to sign up and attend that event. Strand of Oaks will perform at Neumos that evening.
Front man Richard Butler had a specific audience in mind when he penned the lyrics to this song. He explained in an interview with Creem in 1982: "It's basically addressed to people who are f--ked up about their sexuality, and says 'Don't worry about it.' It was originally written for gay people." Read more facts about this song: www.songfacts.com
Watch Foals performing "My Number" live in the KEXP studio in 2013: www.songfacts.com
Santigold explained the meaning of this deeply personal jam to Spin magazine: "It's getting out a bunch of anger inside about the death of my dad," she said.
Download "Open Your Eyes," a great song from School of Seven Bells' final album, "SVIIB": blog.kexp.org
This song samples Jackie Verdell's vocal from "Lord, don't leave me" by The Davis Sisters. Read a biography of this American gospel singer who died in 1991: en.wikipedia.org
Devotchka just performed here in Seattle on Valentine's Day. Here they are in the KEXP studio with a live version of "The Alley": www.youtube.com
"of a dark Scottish loch..." Read a biography of The Police: www.thepolice.com Here's the video for this song about "meaningful coincidence": www.youtube.com
Read an interview with Nigerian multi-instrumentalist and Afro-funk legend Joni Haastrup: www.okayafrica.com
"Yo uncle, whassup, whassup...." Here are the lyrics to "A Little Somethin'": www.azlyrics.com
"Uncensored and unrestricted," the video for "Nuthin' but a 'G' Thang" is here: www.youtube.com
British rapper Monie Love was born Simone Gooden. You may, like Owen, wonder what has happened to her: www.facebook.com
Beastie Boy Adam Yauch said, "“No one has been able to approach the political power that Public Enemy brought to hip-hop." Read a biography: www.rockhall.com
What could this song by Philadelphia alternative hip-hop group The Goats be about?: www.youtube.com
If you would like to purchase "Hang On," you can do so right here: shadk.bandcamp.com
Go to the official online home of Jurassic 5: www.jurassic5.com
