Eva Walker
Early
Last show: Wednesday, Oct 23 2024, 5AM
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Friday, Jan 1 2021, 1PM
"Automatic" is a song recorded by American vocal group The Pointer Sisters for their tenth studio album Break Out (1983). NPR wrote, "The Pointers grew up singing in the choir at their father's Oakland church, and had clandestine sessions listening to secular radio when their parents weren't home: Nina Simone, Elvis Presley, Sam Cooke, Etta James. Later, the siblings worked tirelessly on their music — rehearsing, writing and arranging vocals, and penning original songs — and soaking up the revolutionary politics, culture and music galvanizing late-'60s San Francisco.”
Check out the Pointer Sister’s performance here: youtu.be
Third or fourth wave Yorkshire post-punks The Lounge Society craft dark, political, dance hits. Released at the start of the pandemic lockdown, Burn the Heather addresses class divisions, entitlement, and privilege.
Checkout the music video for "Burn The Heather" by The Lounge Society: youtu.be
Listed on Funkadelic keyboardist Bernie Worrell’s essential tracks of the group, Rolling Stone writes, “Wailing lead as well as arranging the ingenious backing vocals, Worrell pumped out a mammoth Hammond B-3 organ groove and a blistering jazz-tweaked solo (like Booker T. on "Cloud Nine") before Eddie Hazel's psych-metal guitar dropped a match on the whole acid-overdriven funk flex.”
Check out a 2012 Questlove Superjam Bonnaroo performance video here:
youtu.be
"Can You Get To That," is from their 3rd album (and masterpiece) Maggot Brain, you can read the full Pitchfork album review for the legendary Funkadelic album here: pitchfork.com
A brilliant track off of Public Enemy’s 2nd album, 1988’s 'It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back.' The NYT wrote: “Don't, don't, don't, don't, don't believe the hype,” rapped Public Enemy on the hook of their 1988 single by the same name. Public Enemy’s warning — which is essentially about being a critical, independent thinker and forming your own opinions — is just as potent today as it was more than two decades ago.”
Check out the official music video for the track here: youtu.be
Released in December 2020, Chance the Rapper and Jeremih unleashed the deluxe edition of their mixtape' Merry Christmas Lil’ Mama. Merry Christmas Lil Mama: The Gift That Keeps on Giving' following last year’s Re-Wrapped.
Watch the music video for “The Return” here: youtu.be
Seattle locals The True Loves perform an older style of R&B/Soul with a full horn section; Sunday Afternoon feels like its name. Listening to the abundant sounds of the Seattle-based funk & soul group, The True Loves, is like walking down a favorite neighborhood street, slapping-five with friends, checking up with clerks in their stores, admiring your own dark sun-glassed face in their windows, ducking under flowerpots and smelling the familiar smells of your most cherished locale. The band is its own block party.
Check out this 2018 KEXP performance of the True Loves: youtu.be
Formerly of Thee Satisfaction, Stas Thee Boss continues to wow us with sonic gems. Pitchfork described her first album as having, “Vocal distortion, playful harmonies, and rich basslines mingle with cheeky samples that show her love for bogle-ready basement party anthems.”
Check out the full 2018 KEXP performance here: youtu.be
Hailing from Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, Wells Fargo’s Watch Out is from their sole album (the singles collection Coming Home) is made up of 70’s singles, stylistically influenced by Jimi Hendrix but still maintaining a unique voice.
Check out their official Bandcamp here: wellsfargo.bandcamp.com
The music community is currently mourning the untimely loss of the talented genius MF DOOM. Rolling Stone wrote “Beyond his official releases, MF DOOM’s impact on music is hard to overstate. As a producer, he was nimble and fleet, repurposing various ephemera of pop culture for gloom-filled autopsies of the human condition. As a lyricist, he was uncompromising, representing a kind of introspection that at once dug inward and maintained a perspective 10,000 feet above it all. He mined America’s myths around Blackness to investigate a larger truth.”
Check out his official video for the song, “Rhinestone Cowboy”
youtu.be
Brittany Howard, most known for her work in the Alabama Shakes and Thunderbitch, has gotten a new mix on this track by world renowned producer Michael Kiwanuka. Pitchfork writes “I was so excited to get to work on this project as I’ve always been a big fan of Brittany’s music,” Kiwanuka said in a statement. “Knowing this particular track and being such a fan of her voice, I wanted to not meddle with her voice, and then to make it front and center. She sounds so victorious when she sings and speaks, so the music I made was governed by that.”
Read the full Pitchfork review for the track here: pitchfork.com
New York by way of Seattle duo Iska Dhaaf experimented with saturated pop and electronic sounds in their newest EP. The group explained of their influences in a recent interview with Trend and Chaos that they would, “rather not list all the bands or producers that have influenced us, the list is endless and forever evolving. The same goes for our sound. The sound reflects the moment or at least aspires to”
Read the full interview with the band on their new EP here: trendandchaos.com
Brandi Carlile pays homage to the late grunge icon Chris Cornell by collaborating with the surviving members of Soundgarden, recording a few of their original songs for Record Store Day 2020.
Check out her live performance of the song here: youtu.be
Bad as I Wanna Be is the third album released by American singer/songwriter/guitarist Malina Moye, produced by Björn ‘Polarbear’ Soderberg. In an interview with Guitar World, Moye explained that the album is, “a continuation of my last album, Rock & Roll Baby, but with a more produced sound. I wanted to make it as close radio-friendly as we could, but not to miss the essential elements of the guitar. With Rock & Roll Baby, we made a guitar-driven record that showcased what I wanted to project. With this new record, I wanted to focus more on the songwriting and the melodic [and] draw on my influences from growing up in Minnesota.”
Read her full interview with Guitar World here:
www.guitarworld.com
London post-punk outfit Shame have a new album coming out this month called Drunk Tank Pink, and “Water in the Well” is the second single off of the Dead Oceans release. Stereogum wrote that, “Drunk Tank Pink is touted as a big stylistic leap from Shame’s debut. Part of that seems to come from guitarist Sean Coyle-Smith, who turned to new influences like Talking Heads, ESG, and highlife music. “For this album I was so bored of playing guitar,” he said. “The thought of even playing it was mind-numbing. So I started to write and experiment in all these alternative tunings and not write or play in a conventional ‘rock’ way.’”
Check out the official video for “Water in the Well” here: youtu.be
The Dresden Dolls third single from their self titled debut album, in “Coin Operated Boy” Amanda Palmer explains the many advantages an artificial partner has over real ones in a tick-tock rhythm reminiscent of automata. The song has broad overtones of loneliness and a desire for a relationship with idealized physical affection but no personal sacrifice or chance of getting emotionally hurt.
Check out the official music video here: youtu.be
Seattle’s beloved locals Deep Sea Diver was #1 on The Top 90.3 albums of 2020, as selected by KEXP listeners!
Check out a Deep Sea Diver’s full KEXP in studio set here: youtu.be
Happy New Year’s Day from U2! "New Year's Day" was the first single from U2's third album, War, which got them into the mainstream which they were better prepared for than most thanks to years of touring and a band dynamic that worked very well. "New Year's Day" was the first U2 song to chart in America, where it reached #53.
Check out the official video for “New Year’s Day,” here: youtu.be
Quintessential New Years day song, “This Will Be Our Year” is a track from The Zombies masterpiece (Odessey and Oracle joke). “This Will Be Our Year” is lyrically hopeful for a fresh start and new beginnings .
Watch the Zombies perform "This Will Be Our Year" at the 2019 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony: youtu.be
For this Run The Jewels track, the official music video was filmed days before the pandemic hit. On their official YouTube channel, they write that, “this video is a fantasy of waking up on a day that there is no monetary system, no dividing line, no false construct to tell our fellow man that they are less or more than anyone else. not that people are without but that the whole meaning of money has vanished. that we have somehow solved our self created caste system and can now start fresh with love, hope and celebration. its a dream of humanity’s V-DAY… and the party we know would pop off.”
Check out the official music video here: youtu.be
Ex-Commodore Lionel Richie scored the first of many hits off of his second solo album Can’t Slow Down with the first single, “All Night Long.”
Check out the official music video for “All Night Long,” here:
youtu.be
In a recent highlight of the 2020 album ‘Radio Silence,’ Soul Bounce describes the trio as offering much needed "self-love & optimism," for the year.
Read the full review here: www.soulbounce.com
Helado Negro (feat. Flock of Dimes) has a unique and impelling take on this Neil Young cover, best known as a hit for Nicolette Larsen in 1978.
Read Stereogum’s full coverage of the song here: www.stereogum.com
Known for her pervasive style as front woman to the soul- grunge band BEARAXE, Seattle based Shaina Shepherd’s “Harambee,” was recently featured on the Sustainable Shred holiday compilation. The compilation grew from a yearly fundraising effort put on by the Beverly Crusher frontman Cozell Wilson, to benefit the Byrd Barr House.
Check out the bandcamp for the Sustainable Shred compilation here: sustainableshred.bandcamp.com
Pass the Peas was released in 1972 by the Fred Wesley led James Brown Backing band, The JB’s on People Records.
Check out the song performed live at the Apollo Theater in 1972: youtu.be
“Free,” is the newest tack from the British collective that famously eschew media interactions and highlights Black-centric issues The Guardian writes, “Straight away you realise you’re in the presence of something special. The first three songs function as brilliantly constructed dance tracks and keep messing with the listener’s emotions. Strong features beats spiked with explosions of dubby echo, an intricate mesh of Nile Rodgers-ish guitar and a terrific breakdown inspired by Brazilian batucada percussion.”
Check out their official music video here: youtu.be
Tank and The Bangas newest EP Friend Goals is a six-track, guest-heavy release. “There are hair goals, body goals, but Tank and The Bangas are actual friend goals,” singer Tarriona ‘Tank’ Ball says in a press statement.
Watch their NPR Tiny Desk Concert here: www.youtube.com
George “Daddy Hotcakes” Montgomery recorded Mustard Greens in St. Louis by Samuel Charters for Folkways Records in 1961. It was released on the album “The Blues in St. Louis”
Check out a description of the album here: folkways.si.edu
On their Bandcamp, the Polyrhythmics’s explain that Fondue Party is a concept record of tracks recorded during the Man from the Future sessions, but deliberately saved for this EP. This collection of songs explores the group’s downtempo, chilled-out side with heavy dub influence. While past releases mirror the group’s live performances with diverse and dynamic sets taking you on a journey with lots of twists and turns along the way, Fondue Party fits a vibe of its own and is intentionally different than past releases. The EP will also commemorate the band’s 10th anniversary and serves as a special treat to longtime fans while making ears perk up for new listeners.
Check out their EP on the group's official bandcamp: polyrhythmics.bandcamp.com
The brilliant LA/Seattle based artist Erik Blood wows us once again with this melancholy 2020 anthem. Lyrics like, “Sent home from my day job/Wasting my time in my bathtub/Shoutout to the lonely folks,” take us to the homebound and very relatable lonely sentiment of 2020.
Check out Erik Blood's bandcamp here: erikblood.bandcamp.com
1983 Italo disco single by Maurizio Cavalieri (of the band Firefly). Influenced by New Wave synth pop dance bands like Depeche Mode and Heaven 17, he embraced the new and came up with this oddity, which appears to be told from the perspective of an extraterrestrial woman trying to seduce an earthling. Motorik beats and dancey synths give this track a space-by-way of-the-70’s-party feeling.
Check out the video here: youtu.be
Mo Dotti, a jangle-gaze band from Los Angeles, paint an avant punk reminiscent of a more pop-centric Kleenex/ Liliput.
Check out a live performance of this track at the Hi-Hat in LA: youtu.be
"Bubble" by LAKE, from the album Roundelay is out now on PNW legendary Off Tempo. Repetitive lyrics help propel this dreamy contemplative track, and AllMusic referred to Lake as being "one of several brainy and sweet indie pop bands... to call the Pacific Northwest their home."
Check out the official “Bubble,” music video here: youtu.be
"Momentary Bliss" is a song by British virtual band Gorillaz, featuring British rapper Slowthai and the Kent-based punk rock duo Slaves. In an interview with CoolAccidents.com, the group said, "Song Machine is a whole new way of doing what we do. Gorillaz breaking the mould ‘cos the mould got old. World is moving faster than a supercharged particle, so we’ve gotta stay ready to drop. We don’t even know who’s stepping through the studio next. Song Machine feeds on the unknown, runs on pure chaos. So whatever the hell’s coming, we’re primed and ready to produce like there’s no tomorrow. Y’know, just in case…"
Check out the official music video here: youtu.be
Mainline Zine writes that ‘In Bliss,’ is “a faithful follow-up to the band’s 2019 debut Heater. The eclectic reimagining of 80s disco and funk that distinguished Heater lives on through In Bliss, evoking the iconic sounds of Niles Rodgers, Madonna and a smidge of ABBA. It floats from electrifying dance anthems (“Just Us 2”) to slow jams (“Try To Say”) with ease, always inviting you to sway along.”
All digital proceeds the cassette’s of this song will got to Southern Fried Queer Pride's fundraiser to open a community center in Atlanta. You can directly support here:
www.gofundme.com/f/help-fund-a-black-queerowned-community-space?
The Funkees were an afro-rock band out of Nigeria in the late 60s and early 70s, relocating to London in 1973. Break Through is a song by The Atomic Rooster, released as a single and later on The World Ends: Afro Rock & Psychedelia in 1970s Nigeria.
Check out the track here: youtu.be
The final 2014 album from Sub Pop's Dum Dum Girls is a Siouxsie Sioux saturated garage and dream punk affair, with a good amount of Strawberry Switchblade infused into the mix.
Check out the video to “Lost Boys” here: youtu.be
The Oregon basement power-duo Mitchell Winters & Brenton Clarke released their second album, describing the process to have been recorded in “marathon, late-night sessions in cramped basements throughout the state of Oregon, Bite Your Tongue is a patchwork of ambivalence, hedonism, self-deprecation, confidence, heartbreak, and ultimately acceptance.”
Listen to the whole album on their bandcamp here: slowcorpse.bandcamp.com
Local Seattle indie-surf band Warren Dunes released the single Fishbowl in September, as an homage to experiments about strangers maintaining silent eye contact.
Check out their official music video here: youtu.be
Arlo Parks, a British singer songwriter known recently for her singles Cola and Black Dog, released the single Caroline a couple of weeks ago. It is off of her soon-to-be-released debut, coming out at the end of this month.
Check out the official music video here: youtu.be
Future Islands have crowned their 14 year career with this newest offering-a bright synth pop, new-wave tinged album.
Check out the official music video for, “Hit the Coast,” youtu.be
Daptone artists The Budos Band released their sixth LP Long in the Tooth this past October. The Staten Island group is not only responsible for shining a light on the resurgence of Afro-soul music, the members have guested or backed several other Daptone artists. Silver Stallion is a testament to the fact that at 15 years on, they are still creating impelling and unique tracks.
Check out the Budos Band perform on KEXP in 2019: youtu.be
