Eva Walker

"It's a Mistake" is an anti-war song about the mindset of military men across the world in the 1980s. The song was written by lead singer and guitarist Colin Hay, from the Australian band's second album, 'Cargo,' released in 1983. 1980s Video! youtu.be www.colinhay.com

You probably know this duo from their powerful cover of Gloria Jones' "Tainted Love." They are an English synthpop duo, composed of Marc Almond and Dave Ball. Here's a biography: www.allmusic.com -- Want to see a live version?: www.youtube.com

The sixth full length album, the London based musician and producer. - www.jamesblakemusic.com

"Voices Carry" was the debut single, from the debut album of the same name, and greatest claim to fame for 'Til Tuesday. The group came out of Boston, Massachusetts, after winning a radio contest, Boston's WBCN Rock & Roll Rumble. Til Tuesday's lead singer was Aimee Mann, who later emerged as a formidable solo artist. -- Watch a live performance by Aimee Mann in the KEXP studio in 2017: www.youtube.com

Torres will be here in Seattle on Tuesday, March 26th, 2024, playing at Neumos, in support of her new album, "What an Enormous Room," out on January 26th. -- The first single off the album is sleek, stomping rock track “Collect,” which Mackenzie Scott says “is about justice being served,” adding it’s “the rage song I’ve been trying to write for years!” -- Watch the video: www.youtube.com

"The blues is a river with tributaries that flow into virtually every channel of American music. Dan Auerbach’s Nashville-based label Easy Eye Sounds' new anthology Tell Everybody! is a compilation, produced by Auerbach featuring all new, exclusive recordings cut at Easy Eye Sound’s Nashville studio. From old masters to brilliant youngbloods, acoustic blues to roiling blues-rock, the collection is a fully realized survey of the blues tradition. Easy Eye Sound — Billboard’s Blues Label of the Year in 2022 — is charting a new course in “21st century juke joint blues.” -easyeyesound.bandcamp.com

Nilsson wrote the word "coconut" on a matchbook during a vacation in Hawaii, thinking it would make a great lyric for a song. When he returned home to Los Angeles, he found the matchbook while he was driving down the freeway and wrote the song in his car. bit.ly

Janis Joplin made two albums as lead singer of Big Brother & the Holding Company. Allegedly, gospel/blues singer Erma Franklin (Aretha's sister) didn’t even recognize Joplin’s cover of her song "Piece of My Heart" when she originally heard it on the radio. The little twenty-something white girl from Texas was daring her listeners to “take it, break it and have another piece” of her heart while her San Francisco band electrified a sound that would later get coined "acid rock." bit.ly

Sam Beam is a singer-songwriter who has been creating music as Iron & Wine for over a decade which includes seven albums, numerous EPs and singles, and the initial volumes of an Archive Series. Iron & Wine will release this new album in November via Sub Pop Records. ironandwine.com

"Flory-Barnes is a Seattle native who graduated from Garfield High School. He is a composer and bassist whose work moves across the music spectrum from classical to hip-hop to jazz." evanflory-barnes.bandcamp.com '"I'm Out" is the 2019 debut single from Evan Flory-Barnes a bassist, composer/arranger stepping forward as a singer/songwriter. The song is about leaving behind situations, relationships and attitudes that no longer serve you, while moving into possibilities with a sense of freedom and joy. It is the place where the unknown becomes more trustworthy than the adaptive ways of the past.'

Performing in Tacoma at Tacoma Arts on 10/20!! AND - Edmonds Center for the Arts on 10/21! -herbalpert.com 'Whipped Cream & Other Delights' sold over 6 million copies in the United States and the album cover alone is considered a classic pop culture icon. It featured model Dolores Erickson wearing chiffon and shaving cream. The picture was taken at a time when Erickson was three months pregnant. The album cover was so popular with Alpert fans that, during concerts, when about to play the song "Whipped Cream," Alpert would jokingly tell the audience, "Sorry, we can't play the album cover for you!" As Herb Alpert remembers it, he was in a recording studio one day in 1965 when the art director for A&M, the label Alpert co-owned, showed him the photograph that would soon grace one of the most memorable LP covers of all time. “My first reaction was, 'Holy shit, man. Too racy,'” Alpert says. “Obviously now it would hardly register, but at the time I thought, 'Wow, that’s a little much.' And I didn’t know, quite frankly, whether it reflected the album -- the music I was doing at the time. But we decided to go with it. Obviously that was fortuitous.” bit.ly

"Zango" means "meeting place." It's the band's first new album in nearly 40 years!: pitchfork.com Recorded in the same studio in Zambia where the band’s sensational 1975 album ‘Lazy Bones’ had been made some 46 years prior – DB Studios – ‘Zango’ tells the story of the band’s phoenix-like rebirth into its current supergroup-like state. The album is full of international and inter-generational collaborations that chart musical histories from Zambia and beyond. www.youtube.com

This week on 50 Years of Hip-Hop, Dusty Henry takes us back to 1982 with the track “Bam Bam” [pronounced “bomb bomb”] by Sister Nancy. Her story is one of innovation — how Jamaican tradition contributed to hip-hop stylings that are still popular today. Sister Nancy’s story is ALSO one of unrecognized talent — how decades passed before she finally received the recognition she deserved. Dusty explains how the track was a “throwaway” track that became so popular that it was featured in a movie, yet it was at least 16 years before she saw any royalties. - www.kexp.org It’s Hip-Hop's 50th Birthday in 2023 and KEXP is celebrating! All year long we'll be highlighting a year in Hip-Hop history. Each week KEXP focuses on a different year with new features. Not enough Hip-Hop for you? Checkout 50 Years of Hip-Hop, KEXP's newest podcast hosted by Larry Mizell, Jr. Expect personal reflections, iconic tracks and albums, and conversations around the genesis of the culture. New episodes drop every Wednesday. Subscribe now wherever you get your podcasts and find more info at KEXP.ORG

Word to the Jaz is the debut studio album by American rapper and producer The Jaz from New York City.

Originally released in 1982 on the album titled 'Tough' on Mercury Records. 2023 marks Hip-Hop's 50th Birthday and KEXP is celebrating! All year long we'll be highlighting a year in Hip-Hop history. THIS WEEK: 1982. The vocals/lyrics from this song were sampled by Nujabes for "Don't Even Try It." -- In 1979, Kurtis Blow signed a deal with Mercury Records, making him the first rapper signed by a major label. His album "Christmas Rappin'" sold more than 400,000 copies. His follow-up album, The Breaks, went gold. He went on to release 10 albums over the next 11 years and also produced albums. Blow became an ordained minister in 2009 and founded Hip Hop Ministry.: www.hiphopscriptures.com

Released by Sugar Hill Records in 1982, this song was recognized and archived by The National Recording Registry at the US Library Of Congress for being culturally significant, one of the first prominent hip hop songs to provide social commentary. It was first written by Duke Bootee and Melle Mel in 1980. It’s Hip-Hop's 50th Birthday in 2023 and KEXP is celebrating! All year long we'll be highlighting a year in Hip-Hop history. Each week KEXP focuses on a different year with new features. Not enough Hip-Hop for you? Checkout 50 Years of Hip-Hop, KEXP's newest podcast hosted by Larry Mizell, Jr. Expect personal reflections, iconic tracks and albums, and conversations around the genesis of the culture. New episodes drop every Wednesday. Subscribe now wherever you get your podcasts and find more info at KEXP.ORG

Performing in Seattle 11/13 at Showbox SODO! Noname pulls no punches on her new album, Sundial. In time for Hip-Hop 50, Noname, born Fatimah Nyeema Warner, dropped her long-awaited sophomore album, which follows her 2018 LP, Room 25. Originally, Warner planned to title her new album Factory Baby in 2019, before scrapping the title and threatening to leave music altogether. "Most days I’m not sure if I’ll ever make music again," she wrote in her Instagram Story in 2021. "The last time I was consistently making songs was four years ago. It’s been so hard to find producers to link up with and who I genuinely connect with sonically. I’m truly grateful for the art I was able to release but that might be it from me." Thankfully, the Chicago native changed her mind, and delivered a stunning album with features from Jay Electronica, Common, Eryn Allen Kane, $ilkMoney, billy woods, Ayoni, and more. Sundial was announced in July, in tandem with Warner’s headlining set at MIKE’s Young World III festival in Brooklyn. tinyurl.com

A Walker Wormhole Wednesday selection!

Seattle's own funk collective Polyrhythmics are in the midst of a West coast tour. Playing The Crocodile on Friday, November 24th. They recently announced a New Year's Eve date along with Karl Denson's Tiny Universe in Portland, which is sure to be a funky good time! www.polyrhythmics.com

New music from Los Angeles band Death Valley Girls! Playing The Tractor Thursday, November 2nd as part of Freakout Fest 2023! And again at The Shakedown in Bellingham on November 4! www.the-freakout.com Watch Death Valley Girls 2020 in-studio KEXP performance: youtu.be deathvalleygirls.bandcamp.com

The Budos Band performed Live on KEXP from THING Fest last month. While you wait for video from that session to drop, you can enjoy their 2019 performance: youtu.be budosband.bandcamp.com

Sting was visiting the German avant-garde composer Eberhard Schoener in early 1979. One night they went out on a schnapps drinking session. Sting returned to his Munich hotel room drunk, slumped on his bed when this song's riff came into his head. He got up and starting walking around the room to try to clear his head muttering to himself, "Walking round the room, walking round the room." The next morning he wrote down the riff and decided that "Walking round the room" was a stupid title so he changed it to an even more stupid one, which was "Walking On The Moon." The song is set in space, but it's an allegory for how Sting felt when he was on the road, confined to hotel rooms and stages as the world kept turning. The song's video was shot at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on October 23, 1979. Stewart Copeland took the opportunity to drum on a Saturn V rocket that served as backdrop. It was directed by Derek Burbidge, who did all of their early videos. www.youtube.com shorturl.at

This was inspired by the late comedian Andy Kaufman. When he was a teenager, R.E.M. lead singer Michael Stipe saw Kaufman on Saturday Night Live, and has cited him as a huge influence ever since. -- "I never thought I was going to write a song about Andy Kaufman and the Moon Landing, but it ended up being a song about faith, timelessness, spirituality, time and space, death and darkness."- Michael Stipe in an interview with Aftenposten in October 2017 -- Eddie Vedder performed this with R.E.M. during the band's induction into the Rock Hall of Fame: www.youtube.com