Eva Walker

Dave Wakeling, who was the keyboard player and singer in The English Beat, wrote the lyrics to this song. R.I.P., Ranking Roger of The Beat, who died in 2019 at the age of 56: www.theguardian.com When the band broke up in 1983, Wakeling and Ranking Roger formed General Public, while The Beat’s other main creative contributors David Steele and Andy Cox formed Fine Young Cannibals. www.avclub.com

Superproducer Trevor Horn presents Echoes – Ancient & Modern, his Deutsche Grammophon debut album, featuring fresh orchestral takes on 11 iconic tracks from the 80s and 90s. trevorhorn-echoes.bandcamp.com

The Beatles recently released their "last" song, ‘Now and Then,’ featuring A.I.-extracted vocals from John Lennon. Based on a demo recorded by Lennon in the 1970s, the song is the “closest we’ll ever come to having him back in the room”. www.smithsonianmag.com

David Bowie was born David Jones on this day in 1947 (died Jan. 10, 2016). "In May of 1974, Bowie's next phase of all-original work was unleashed in the form of the dystopian epic Diamond Dogs. Rife with tension and foreboding—punctuated by the raucous title track, the ominous 1984 and perennial glam anthem Rebel Rebel—Diamond Dogs' conceptual sprawl unfolded in vivid contrast to the disco music that was beginning to crowd the airwaves." www.davidbowie.com

Sleater-Kinney will be playing The Showbox on April 2 & 3. Their 11th album 'Little Rope,' is out Jan. 19, completed in the aftermath of a deadly car accident involving Brownstein's mother and stepfather in Italy in late 2022. Dealing with this event, the duo had to face up to questions surrounding "how we navigate grief, who we navigate it with, and the ways it transforms us". The album deals with topics including "global crisis and personal tragedy". www.sleater-kinney.com

Local artist Shabazz Palaces released Robed in Rareness in October. shabazzpalaces.bandcamp.com #83 on KEXP's Best Albums of 2023 A two-part interview with Ishmael Butler of Shabazz Palaces helped kick off KEXP's 2022 podcast, Fresh Off the Spaceship, which tells the story of the Seattle local artist collective, the Black Constellation. Listen here: www.kexp.org

Informed by isolation, reflection, and profound spirituality, the third full-length album from South London keyboardist and producer Kamaal Williams (aka Henry Wu) is a cerebral instrumental journey through jazz, classical, dub, downtempo, bossa nova, and hip-hop styles. The front half features the record’s most immediate moments, peaking with the title track and its sweet flip of Soho’s 1990 track “Hot Music,” before diving into dreamy and downright beautiful classical arrangements on the back half. Tacked onto the album’s 10-track run as a digital bonus disc are Stings’ three early singles that includes the distinctive, menacing, vocal-laced “PKKNO.” - KEXP New Music Review www.kexp.org

Check out Curtis Harding's Live on KEXP at Home performance from 2021: bit.ly Released in 2017, Face Your Fear was produced by Harding, Sam Cohen, and Danger Mouse. Harding also recorded the album at Danger Mouse's studio. curtisharding.bandcamp.com

Happy birthday to Steve Garvey, bass guitarist for Buzzcocks, born on this day in 1958. The Buzzcocks formed in Bolton, England in 1976 by singer-songwriter-guitarist Pete Shelley and singer-songwriter Howard Devoto. They chose the name Buzzcocks after reading the headline, “It’s the Buzz, Cock!”, in a review of the TV series Rock Follies in Time Out magazine. The “buzz” is the excitement of playing on stage; “cock” is northern English slang meaning friend. powerpop.blog

David Bowie wrote "Moonage Daydream" specifically for fashion designer Fred Burrett, whom he met in The Sombrero Club in London. Burrett later changed his name to Freddie Burretti, and is credited as a vocalist on the song, but whatever contributions he might have made never actually made it onto the track. Mick Ronson is also featured on guitar. David Bowie was born on this day in 1947.

Check out First Aid Kit playing this song as part of their Live on KEXP performance from 2014 www.youtube.com "The title of this traveling song comes from the English metaphor for optimism, "every cloud has a silver lining." The tune finds the Swedish Söderberg sisters contemplating life on the road as a mixed blessing, as they wake up one morning in a hotel room with no idea, "who or what or where I am." However, they add that there's always something good to balance out the bad." bit.ly www.firstaidkitband.com

The Jesus and Mary Chain will celebrate their 40th year as a band with Glasgow Eyes, their eighth album, on March 8 via Fuzz Club. The album was recorded at Mogwai's studio, Castle of Doom. "Hopefully people will expect a Jesus and Mary Chain record, and that’s certainly what Glasgow Eyes is," Jim Reid said. "Our creative approach is remarkably the same as it was in 1984, just hit the studio and see what happens. We went in with a bunch of songs and let it take its course. There are no rules, you just do whatever it takes. And there’s a telepathy there – we are those weird not-quite twins that finish each other’s sentences." tinyurl.com

King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard will be at The Gorge on Saturday, September 14 and promise a "3 hour marathon set"! "The Silver Cord" is their 25th album: kinggizzardandthelizardwizard.com Here's Live Video from their October 2022 KEXP In-Studio performance bit.ly

Title track from Gaye's 1971 release. This was one of the first Motown songs to make a powerful political statement. The song had a tremendous impact because listeners weren't used to hearing social commentary from Gaye. As Jackson Browne said in a 2008 interview with Rolling Stone: "No one was expecting an anti-war song from him. But it was a moment in time when people were willing to hear it from anybody, if it was heartfelt. And who better than the person who has talked to you about love and desire?" bit.ly www.marvingaye.net

This medley is from Marvin Gaye's 1972 concert at "the then-new Kennedy Center." www.allmusic.com On this day in 1970, Marvin Gaye released That's the Way Love Is, his 10th studio album featuring "Abraham, Martin & John", which became a hit in the UK, peaking at #9 in June 1970, and an amazing cover of The Beatles' "Yesterday."

Happy birthday to Camille Yarbrough, who turns 86 years young today! This album, "The Iron Pot Cooker", originally released in 1975, is highly sought after by collectors. Fatboy Slim sampled this song for his hit "Praise You". Yarbrough stated that the song was written for "all the people who had come through the black civil rights movement, who had stood up for truth and righteousness and justice, because human beings need to praise and respect one another more than they do". The Iron Pot Cooker was based on the 1971 stage dramatization of Yarbrough's one-woman, spoken word show, Tales and Tunes of an African American Griot.

"Praise You" was the third single released from Fatboy Slim's 1998 album, You've Come a Long Way, Baby. A total of six samples are used in the song, including Camille Yarborough's "Take Yo' Praise," "Lucky Man" by Steve Miller Band, "Running Back To Me" by Tom Fogerty, and "It's a Small World" from the Disneyland Records-released album Mickey Mouse Disco. bit.ly www.fatboyslim.net

Seattle artist, Chong the Nomad, will perform at Neumos in Seattle this Thursday, January 11! www.neumos.com

The fifth track from Andre 3000's new album New Blue Sun, he told NME about the song's inspiration: "No. 5 is called ‘Ninety Three ‘Til Infinity And Beyoncé.’ That was more when I was a youngster – Souls of Mischief was one of my favorite groups and ’93 ’til Infinity,’ everybody remembers that song,” he began. So it was kind of like a fun nod and you know, Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story, he always say, ‘To infinity and beyond!’ You know? So, it was kind of like, ‘Ninety Three ‘Til Infinity And Beyoncé. So it was kind of just this fun thing.” www.nme.com

Future Islands have announced their new LP is due out January 26th! futureislands.bandcamp.com Future Islands kept the live music going during the pandemic. Check out their Live on KEXP at Home performance from 2020 - youtu.be

As voted by listeners, #19 on KEXP's Best Albums of 2023! KEXP hosted Say She She last year bit.ly. "Say She She, the soulful female-led band from Brooklyn & London, stand rock solid on discodelic duty with their boundary breaking sophomore album Silver." saysheshe.bandcamp.com

David Bowie would have been 77 years old today (born Jan. 8, 1947). Bowie said this song's call-and-response vocal arrangement "all comes from Little Richard." A defining moment in Bowie's childhood was when his dad came home with a copy of "Tutti Frutti." That's Stevie Ray Vaughan on guitar and the incredible Steve Elson on baritone sax.