Eva Walker

and it ends as it begins. And so it was written and so it was so.

"Once Twice Melody" is the first album by Beach House produced by entirely by band duo Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally; parts of the album were recorded at Pachyderm Studio in Cannon Falls, Minnesota, where Nirvana recorded much of In Utero. www.beachhousebaltimore.com

J. Spaceman (aka Jason Pierce) plays 16 different instruments on the band's newest album, Everything Was Beautiful -- recorded at 11 different studios, including his home!

New music from New Idea! Read more about the Hardly Art signees here: www.hardlyart.com

Happy Birthday to the great Bernie Worrell, a keyboardist and record producer, best known as a founding member of Parliament-Funkadelic and for his work with Talking Heads. Bernie would have been 78 today.

Bass guitarist Bootsy Collins recalled: "One night in D.C. some guys start shouting, 'One nation! One nation! One Nation Under a Groove!' When you've got fresh musicians around you, you can take that hook line and really make something. George's thing was, 'It don't matter how many hooks you put in. Don't matter! Put them all in there.' So, on that song, you've got 'One Nation Under a Groove... Feet don't fail me now,' all that." -- Here are 25 wonderful (but grainy) video minutes of a live performance of "One Nation Under a Groove," recorded in 1978:

From New Orleans, Tank And The Bangas' single “Stolen Fruit” is a soulful single that honors Black History Month. www.tankandthebangas.com

SZA says she wrote "Good Days" as a mantra for herself after a heavy year of the pandemic, losing friends, and the general mood of the country: “I genuinely lost my mind in quarantine last year. I have nothing else but to believe in good days because if not, what? I'm just going to let it spiral out of control? And that's not an option.” Read more about her songwriting process: www.nbcnews.com szactrl.com

Go check out the awesome official video: www.youtube.com ffm.to

Happy Birthday to Alan Price, original keyboardist for the Animals!

This was XTC's breakthrough single. It was written by bassist Colin Moulding, who shared vocal and songwriting duties with guitarist Andy Partridge. -- Moulding: "Partly biographical, this one. My dad prompted me to write it. He wanted a university future for me and was very overpowering in trying to persuade me to get my hair cut and stay on at school. It got to the point where he almost tried to drag me down the barber's shop by my hair. I know the song tells of a slightly different situation, but it all boils down to the same thing - parental domination."

"Love Action (I Believe in Love)" was precisely as packaged: an homage to love, as its title suggests. This song is a semi-autobiographical account of vocalist Phil Oakey's relationships. Oakey's lyric, "I've been a husband and a lover too" alludes to how he'd been unfaithful to his then-wife. He explained to Mojo: "It was a celebration of the hope that people could be more open about their sex lives." bit.ly

This song features the former Happy Mondays frontman Shaun Ryder. The main vocalist is Noodle (in reality the vocals are provided by backup singer Rosie Wilson). The song was originally going to be called "It's There," but it was altered because Shaun Ryder's broad Mancunian accent made it sound like he was saying "It's Dare." -- The music video for "Dare" included an appearance by Shaun Ryder as a giant disembodied head kept alive by machinery in Noodle's wardrobe.: youtu.be

Producer & songwriter Rachel Lime made a name for herself in the Minnesota music scene before recently relocating to New York City.

Future Islands will be playing at The Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver, BC on May 12-13. bit.ly Future Islands shared songs recorded live exclusively for KEXP and chatted with DJ Morgan from 2020 -- youtu.be futureislands.bandcamp.com

Mitski will be headlining this summer's Day In Day Out festival August 12-14 in the Fisher Green Pavilion, steps away from KEXP! www.dayindayoutfest.com

Sylvan Esso was Live on KEXP at Home back in September 2020 - check it out: youtu.be

Jack White has two albums set to release this year - “Hi-De-Ho” is his Q-Tip collaboration from the first album 'Fear of the Dawn' dropping April 8. The second release, 'Entering Heaven Alive', is due out July 22. White and Q-Tip have collaborated together before; White appeared on A Tribe Called Quest's 'We Got It From Here… Thank You 4 Your Service'; they also performed each other’s songs together at a 2015 Madison Square Garden show. White is touring! In Seattle June 8 at Climate Pledge Arena! More tour dates and music: jackwhiteiii.com

Singer and cellist Kelsey Lu is featured on this song

Surf's up! Watch out for tsunamis on the coast. Here's Tacocat's 2018 live performance on KEXP www.youtube.com

Operators performed live at The Triple Door as part of KEXP's VIP Club concert series back in 2016. Watch the full set, including "Cold Light" here: youtu.be Operators are Dan Boeckner, Sam Brown, and Devojka. operatorsband.bandcamp.com

See their full performance live on KEXP. www.youtube.com

"I've always seen our albums as a quilt. This record, like our other ones, has a few different people mixing the songs, and they each bring their own sonic palette to the sound... our records can be difficult to sequence, but I like it like that. We've always approached it that way. The music's weird and, to use hand quotes, 'experimental.' It's electronic. I think for it to be seen as this patchwork thing helps the record – it helps it not be just one footprint from start to finish." bit.ly Holy Fuck played this one Live on KEXP back in 2016 -- youtu.be

"'About Damn Time' can lead into so many conversations," Lizzo shares. "It’s about damn time I feel better, it’s about damn time we get out this pandemic. It’s about damn time we to get the first Black female Supreme Court Justice. There’s so many things. It’s about damn time we popped the champagne. It’s about damn time the tequila got here." bit.ly

EARTHGANG will be in Seattle on Friday, April 22 playing at Showbox SoDo. bit.ly

Kendrick Lamar has announced the release of his final Top Dawg Entertainment album, 'Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers,' out on May 13

"In less than 50 words, Parquet Courts have framed basic housecleaning as an inescapable purgatory, and the absurd part is that they're dead on." bit.ly

Fantastic Negrito will play The Neptune Theatre on Wednesday, June 15. bit.ly -- He says of the new release, "That song’s as true today as it’s ever been. The Egyptians, the Persians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Americans, everything goes to the highest bidder. It’s human nature. People always want to have the best. It’s all predicated on extracting the most out of other people for the least. In this country, we worship billionaires while parts of some cities look like what we’d call the third world. I’m trying to convey what I see when I walk down the street here in Oakland." bit.ly youtu.be 'White Jesus Black Problems' comes out June 3. fantasticnegritomusic.bandcamp.com

New music from London afro-funk band Ibibio Sound Machine's upcoming album, Electricity. The album is produced by Hot Chip! ----- "London-based DJ/live music octet Ibibio Sound Machine combine sounds inspired in equal measure by the golden era of West African funk and disco, post-punk, and modern electro. The band was started by producers Max Grunhard, Leon Brichard, and Benji Bouton, all enthusiasts of African grooves from the 1970s and '80s. The group, fronted by English-Nigerian vocalist Eno Williams, took club culture by storm with their 2014 self-titled debut for Soundway. Supported by a host of influential DJs including Gilles Peterson, the album opened the door to international touring. " www.allmusic.com --- The title track, "Electricity", was a KEXP Song of the Day! Subscribe to the podcast and get it for free: kexp.org

The band Mazarati, which was formed by Prince's bass player Brown Mark and signed to his Paisley Park record label, asked Prince for a song for their debut album, so he dashed off a minute-long bluesy acoustic demo for them on a mini tape recorder. Mazarati and producer David Z re-worked the song, giving it an irresistible funk groove. When he heard it, Prince was smart enough to take the song right back. He replaced their lead vocal, added the guitar break in the chorus and included it as a last-minute addition to his eighth studio album, "Parade." -- Prince won the 1986 Grammy Award for Best Rhythm & Blues Vocal Performance for this song. -- www.youtube.com

Stemming from the encounter between Congolese vocalist/composer Bony Bikaye, French musician/producer Hector Zazou and modular synth wizards CY1, Zazou Bikaye made history with their debut, cult album "Noir et Blanc" (1983), a groundbreaking Afro/electronic experiment which has been adulated to this day by generations of music fans and musicians. Go here to purchase "Mr. Manager," the 1985 follow-up EP to that debut album. It’s now been expanded from the original 5 songs to 14 with the addition of some singles and previously unreleased songs. zazoubikaye.bandcamp.com

"Love Her Madly" was released in March 1971 and was the first single from L.A. Woman, their final album with singer Jim Morrison. "Love Her Madly" became one of the highest-charting hits for The Doors.

Watch Seattle band The Young Evils perform this song live on KEXP: www.youtube.com

SASAMI was live on KEXP last week. Keep your eyes on KEXP's YouTube channel, the session will be launching soon!

The production on the track (done by Chris Martin, known as DJ Premier) samples two jazz tracks: “Mind Rain” by Joe Chambers and “Flight Time” by Donald Byrd, as well as vocal samples from Eric B. & Rakim’s track “Mahogany” for the song’s hook. -- The track received Gold certification in the US, as well as Rolling Stone magazine placing the song in their “50 Greatest Hip-Hop Songs of All Time.": storyofsong.com

A classic B-Boy anthem from 1972! www.whosampled.com