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Tuesday, Apr 12 2022, 4PM
Arcade Fire have revealed 'WE,' the band’s first new album in five years.
'WE,' out May 6 via Columbia Records, was produced by longtime Radiohead collaborator Nigel Godrich along with Arcade Fire’s Win Butler and Régine Chassagne. The LP was recorded at studios in New Orleans, El Paso and Mount Desert Island in mid-2021 following a pandemic period that marked “the longest we’ve ever spent writing, uninterrupted, probably ever,” Butler said in a statement.
The album borrows its title from Russian author Yevgeny Zamyatin’s 1921 sci-fi novel "We," which would later inspire the dystopian works of George Orwell and Aldous Huxley. The seven-song LP is split across two sides, “I” and “WE,” respectively, with the first half exploring loneliness and isolation and the latter part celebrating reconnection following, say, a lengthy pandemic.
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www.arcadefire.com
Released as a single in 1986!
In an interview in 2016, John Lydon said:
"I think it's one of my best pop songs. The content of what it was about got me into hot water. It was that time when everyone was talking about how great Nelson Mandela was; but my history lessons went back further... people died.
My message is there's no political cause worthy enough that people should die for it. Once you start murdering your fellow human beings it's over. 'Rise' is about the stop of that. I related it to my own background. I've got Protestant and Catholic relatives in the north of Ireland, why were they killing each other."
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Nilüfer Yanya will be at The Crocodile on Saturday, May 21.
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Nilüfer Yanya runs head first into the depths of emotional vulnerability on her anticipated sophomore record 'PAINLESS.' Recorded between a basement studio in Stoke Newington and Riverfish Music in Penzance, the record is a more sonically direct effort, narrowing her previously broad palette to a handful of robust ideas.
niluferyanya.bandcamp.com
Nilüfer Yanya shared a live performance recorded exclusively for KEXP and chatted with Cheryl Waters in March 2021.
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niluferyanya.com
Bodega will be at The Vera Project on Wednesday, August 10.
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In the early months of 2020, the Brooklyn art-punk incendiaries gathered together with close friends to study the works of a wide range of philosophers. The album’s 12 songs are set in present day New York City, packing in references to contemporary issues of algorithmic targeting, media gentrification, and the band itself.
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bodegabk.bandcamp.com
30 years after the release of their debut album, three out of four of the original members, Fatlip, Slimkid Tre, and Imani, are back as the Farside (formerly known as the Pharcyde), creating on top of production from Oakland’s own Spear of the Nation, who was the true architect in putting this moment in time together.
Besides music, Spear of the Nation and his wife Mizan, have been pillars in the conscious community of Oakland for decades, having created the Sankofa Project Living Museum at Eastmont Mall, as well as playing a part in the creation of the Akoma Market, which is an outdoor flea market type of space for small businesses of color in the heart of Deep East Oakland, which is open on most weekends in the Spring, Summer, and Fall.
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www.spearofthenation.com
alt‐J was just recently in the KEXP studio recording a live session that was fantastic! Subscribe to KEXPs YouTube to be notified when this session is posted. In the meantime, check out a few alt-J sessions from the past here at KEXP:
www.youtube.com
After 2017’s RELAXER and a world tour that wrapped in 2018, the band took 2019 off. Life was in full swing: band members were getting married, moving house, adopting cats, and the trio wanted time away from the pressures of writing and recording. “I think we were quite fatigued when we were making that album,” says Unger-Hamilton, of RELAXER. “We came back into the studio in January 2020 with a renewed appetite to make music together.”
“I think our music has always had a dreamlike quality, whether that’s a good dream or a bad dream,” Unger-Hamilton explains. “‘U&ME’ is an example of a good dream, it’s the thing we’ve all been dreaming about for the last two years, which is like, going to a field, listening to music, and getting fucked up with your mates. And ‘Get Better,’ is a bad dream: it’s like the worst thing that can possibly happen in someone’s life. Or ‘Chicago,’ which is just a dream dream: lyrically it’s quite confusing—a sort of thing you’d dream about.”
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altjband.com
Arlo Parks performed live in the KEXP studio in March 2022. This session is absolutely breathtaking - check it out! Cold chills watching her perform "Sofly."
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"Softly" is Arlo Parks' first new single of 2022. Much more pop-friendly than most of Arlo Parks‘ brilliantly moody tracks, “Softly” shines with Parks’ signature angel-like vocals, all the while getting stuck in your head with the song’s relentless hook: “Break it to me! Break it to me! Break it to me! Break it to me softly, I don’t want no one else."
"'Softly' is a song about yearning, about how fragile you feel in the dying days of a relationship when you’re still desperately in love," shares Parks. "The song is about how it feels to brace yourself before the blow of a break up and reminisce about the days where it all felt luminous."
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arloparks.bandcamp.com
Today's Song of the Day, as chosen by Kevin Cole, host of Drive Time on KEXP, is "Incinerate for KG" by Chaka Gettz, from the 2022 self-released 'Daytime Eraser EP.' Today's Song of the Day is dedicated to none other than indie-rock icon Kim Gordon.
Ukrainian band Chaka Gettz admits: "If someday a series is made about us 🎬, then the beginning of the first series (our 2-year activity before the release of the first track) will not be very dynamic in visual terms. Probably, the director should just turn on the camera and shoot at an accelerated pace, as we play, compose, change and improve our songs day after day, sitting in our cozy studio in Kharkov (Ukraine) and looking for our sound 🎸."
kexp.org
chakagettz.bandcamp.com
By 1986, a still relatively recently formed Sonic Youth was in a time of transition. Born out of the noise of New York's thriving-in-ugliness no wave scene and ensconced in the influence of Glenn Branca's avant-garde guitar experimentalism, the band's early albums slowly morphed from the snotty abrasive clatter of its self-titled EP and spotty first proper LP 'Confusion Is Sex' into a far darker but still somewhat inconsistent merging of haunted song sketches and foreboding noisy atmospheres on second album 'Bad Moon Rising.' 'EVOL' found the band in a similarly eerie mindset....
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"Star Power": youtu.be
sonicyouth.bandcamp.com
sonicyouth.com
kimaltheagordon.com
Kikagaku Moyo are playing The Moore Theatre with Yu Su on Thursday, September 29.
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“The fifth studio album & last euphoric mind-trip to Kikagaku Moyo's imagined island. Best-suited for counting stars, looking at the ocean, and dancing in one’s daydream.”
'Kumoyo Island' comes out May 6th.
kikagakumoyoggb.bandcamp.com
Kikagaku Moyo performed live at The Triple Door as part of KEXP's VIP Club Concert series in 2019.
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Built to Spill is one of the bands that will be playing Pickathon, August 4-7, in Happy Valley, Oregon.
pickathon.com
"Gonna Lose" is the first single from their first album on Sub Pop. ‘When the Wind Forgets Your Name’ comes out September 9.
Since its inception in 1992, Built to Spill founder Doug Martsch intended his beloved band to be a collaborative project, an ever-evolving group of incredible musicians making music and playing live together. “I wanted to switch the lineup for many reasons. Each time we finish a record I want the next one to sound totally different. It’s fun to play with people who bring in new styles and ideas,” says Martsch. “And it’s nice to be in a band with people who aren’t sick of me yet.”
built-to-spill.bandcamp.com
Here's the official video:
youtu.be
Guerilla Toss will also be playing Pickathon, August 4-7, in Happy Valley, Oregon.
pickathon.com
Dig deep enough inside yourself -- start treating your body as your sanctuary rather than your enemy -- and eventually you'll find yourself blooming right back out into the sun. That's the transformation Guerilla Toss trace on their newest album 'Famously Alive,' their effervescent Sub Pop debut. After a decade sprinkling glitter into grit, building a reputation as one of the most ferociously creative art-rock groups working, the upstate New York band have eased fully into their light. This is Guerilla Toss at their most luminescent -- awake, alive, and extending an open invitation to anyone who wants to soak it all up beside them.
guerillatoss.bandcamp.com
www.guerillatoss.com
TV Priest will be playing Pickathon, August 4-7, in Happy Valley, Oregon.
pickathon.com
Without a brutal evaluation of their own becoming, TV Priest might have never made their second album. Heralded as the next big thing in post-punk, they were established as a bolshy, sharp-witted outfit, the kind that starts movements with their political ire. There was of course truth in that, but it was a suit that quickly felt heavy on its wearer’s shoulders, leaving little room for true vulnerability.
“A lot of it did feel like I was being really careful and a bit at arm's length,” says vocalist Charlie Drinkwater. “If I'm honest, I think maybe I was not fully aware of the role I was taking, how I would be perceived. I had to take a step back and realise that what we were presenting was quite far away from the opinion of myself that I had. Some of the ways people would interpret the music and my performance isn't really me, and I didn’t know why I was trying to wear that coat of the meat-and-two-veg rock guy. Now, I just want to be honest.”
'My Other People' comes out June 17.
tvpriest.bandcamp.com
Watch TV Priest perform LIVE on KEXP at Home, with host Kevin Cole, here:
youtu.be
Cassandra Jenkins will be at Pickathon, August 4-7, in Happy Valley, Oregon.
pickathon.com
From the Pitchfork 8.3 review of 'An Overview on Phenomenal Nature':
"Filled with people, stories, and dialogue, the New York songwriter’s second album flows like an emotional breakthrough, tying together disparate observations into a serene and unified vision."
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Cassandra Jenkins shared a live performance recorded exclusively for KEXP and spoke with Cheryl Waters in June 2021. Watch the full Live on KEXP at Home Performance & Interview here:
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cassandrajenkins.bandcamp.com
Syd is playing Showbox SoDo on Thursday, April 28.
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“Right Track” is an effervescent R&B jam that features a quick appearance from the great Chicago rapper Smino.
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youtu.be
'Broken Hearts Club' was just released last week!
sydofficial.bandcamp.com
www.syds.world
Brand new music from Empress Of. Check out the official video: youtu.be
Lorely Rodriguez, aka Empress Of, shared an exclusive live set and chatted with DJ Troy Nelson in July 2020:
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empressof.bandcamp.com
ffm.to
The Human League released 'Crash' in 1986.
1986 was a breakout year for the production team of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, who produced Janet Jackson's 'Control' album, released that February. Human League leader Phil Oakley knew of their earlier work with the R&B acts Change, Cherelle and the SOS Band, so he enlisted them to work on their album 'Crash.' Human League are a British synth-pop band with a very different sound than the artists Jam and Lewis typically worked with, but the union was a success, with Jam and Lewis not only producing the album but also writing three songs, including the first single, "Human." Human League met Jam and Lewis on their turf, traveling to Minneapolis to work at their Flyte Time Studios.
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Stars will be playing Madame Lou's Monday & Tuesday, June 6-7.
June 6: bit.ly
June 7: bit.ly
Montreal’s Stars return with the announcement of their first new album in five years, 'From Capelton Hill,' set for release on May 27. The album showcases the band of Torquil Campbell, Evan Cranley, Amy Millan, Chris McCarron, Patty McGee, and Chris Seligman at their very best.
In a press release, Stars’ Amy Millan said “Pretenders” is a “love letter” to bandmate Torquil Campbell and also her own memories of the band’s origins. Of “Snowy Owl,” in which the two trade verses as different characters in a doomed relationship, Campbell said, “I don’t know what comes after. I just make records about other people and in the end, they turn out to be about me.”
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starsband.bandcamp.com
www.youarestars.com
In this world, nothing is certain except taxes, death and Confidence Man. They are unstoppable, unquenchable, undeniable, and if you get in their way, you’re gonna get hurt. Not even a global pandemic could stop Janet, Sugar, Reggie and Clarence from producing an album so fierce, flirty and full of anthems that you might need to sit down before you hit play. Welcome to 'Tilt,' Confidence Man’s second album released on Friday April 1st .
confidenceman.bandcamp.com
www.confidenceman.com.au
Les Rita Mitsouko released 'The No Comprendo' in 1986.
Les Rita Mitsouko were a French pop rock group formed by Fred Chichin and Catherine Ringer. The duo first performed as Rita Mitsouko at Gibus Club in Paris in 1980.
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"C'est Comme Ça" was released as the second single. The music video directed by Jean-Baptiste Mondino was awarded "Music video of the year" by the annual French award ceremony Victoires de la Musique in 1987.
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lesritamitsouko.bandcamp.com
www.lesritamitsouko.com
Kevin Morby is playing at The Showbox on Friday, November 11.
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Everyone is gonna laugh at Kevin Morby on "Rock Bottom."
The new album, out on May 13th, was mostly written in Memphis, when Morby settled into the town for a period to aid his ailing father. He spent his days reflecting on the Mississippi riverside and thinking about some of the often troubled geniuses whose lives were marked by the city in some way. “Rock Bottom” is a song written from the perspective of those misunderstood souls, who created a lasting body of work even though they were chided for being different.
“I’d often pass a mural of the late James Lee Lindsey Jr. on Main Street (in Memphis) which eventually lead me down a rabbit hole to revisiting his body of work including watching the 2009 documentary filmed during his last days, Better Than Something. I was taken by how similar his story was to that of many other American icons that were ahead of their time and too-quickly rose from the bottom to the top, inevitably burning out. I read that his stage name, Jay Reatard, was worn as a badge of honor after years of being picked on in grade school – which may or may not be why on the cover of his seminal album Blood Visions he’s covered in blood as a nod to Sissy Spacek’s character in Carrie. Because of this I chose to begin the song by repeating ‘they’re all gonna laugh at you!’ When in the studio I pointed at the last Reatard’s album, Grown Up, F*cked Up as a reference for what I was trying to achieve sonically.”
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kevinmorby.bandcamp.com
www.kevinmorby.com
Spoon is coming to Seattle!! They are joining Interpol on the Lights, Camera, Factions Tour, with The Goon Sax on Friday, September 16 at The Paramount Theatre.
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DJ Cheryl Waters played 'Lucifer on the Sofa' in its entirety on the album release day. In between the songs, she played segments of her interview with Britt Daniel.
kexp.org
spoontheband.bandcamp.com
spoontheband.com
Angel Olsen will be joining Sharon Van Etten and Julien Baker on The Wild Hearts Tour, playing Marymoor Park on Wednesday, August 3.
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'Big Time' comes with a pretty complex backstory. A press release describes the album as being "written during the time Olsen was coming out as queer, and having her first experience of queer love and heartbreak." At the same time, she finally came out to her parents.
"Some experiences just make you feel as though you’re five years old, no matter how wise or adult you think you are," she said. "Finally, at the ripe age of 34, I was free to be me."
Only days later, Olsen’s father died, and she introduced her partner to her family for the first time at his funeral. Two weeks later, her mother ended up in the ER, and Olsen soon lost another parent. Only a few weeks after that second funeral, Olsen went into the studio to make 'Big Time,' joined by Jonathan Wilson.
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'Big Time' releases June 3.
angelolsen.bandcamp.com
angelolsen.com
Released in 1986!
The two Davids here are David Baerwald and David Ricketts. They showed great talent and promise, but turned out to be a one-hit wonder who released only a single album. Their songs addressed the struggles of working class Americans, and this song is very much a part of that, telling the stories of fallen people who somehow go on.
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This album, 'Live/1975–85,' was recorded October 18, 1975 – September 30, 1985, and released in 1986.
Springsteen's long-awaited and highly anticipated live album generated advance orders of more than 1.5 million copies, making it the largest dollar-volume pre-order in the history of the record business at the time. Record stores around the country found fans waiting in line on Monday morning before opening and one New York store reportedly sold the album right off the back of the delivery truck. The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard album chart, a then-rare occurrence that hadn't happened in ten years since Stevie Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life in 1976. It also became the first five-record set to reach the top 10 and the first to sell over a million copies.
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This London-based band’s fourth album is an impressive blend of Afrobeat, funk, disco, electro-pop and other styles. Produced by Hot Chip, the album combines bright synths, punchy sax, fiery guitar riffs and propulsive rhythms with Eno Williams’ commanding vocals and bilingual lyrics of connection.
kexp.org
Ibibio Sound Machine performed live a Studio 9294 in Hackney Wick, London, during KEXP's 2019 International Clash Day broadcast.
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ibibiosoundmachine.bandcamp.com
ibibiosoundmachine.com
Brand new WMC! From ‘Fear Fear’, coming out on July 15 via Heavenly.
Frontman Syd Minsky-Sargeant discussed its creation and themes in a statement, saying: “The first album was mostly a personal documentation lyrically, this is a blur between personal and a third-person perspective of what was going on."
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Watch the video for "Widow": youtu.be
Working Men's Club shared a live performance recorded exclusively for KEXP and chatted with Kevin Cole in April 2021.
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workingmensclub.bandcamp.com
New Order's twelfth single released September 1986. Unlike most New Order songs, it not only contains the title in the lyrics, but as a chorus.
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New Order will be joined by Pet Shop Boys and Paul Oakenfold on Friday, October 14 at Climate Pledge Arena.
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www.neworder.com
Request for Adam & Christine!
The Feelies released 'The Good Earth' in 1986.
After the various side projects and explorations the band got up to for most of the early '80s, not to mention switching some members around (with bassist Sauter and drummer Demeski now forming the rhythm section), the Feelies made a fine return with 'The Good Earth.' With co-production from noted fan Peter Buck, the group exchanged some of the understated tense frazzle of Crazy Rhythms for a gentler propulsion without losing its trancy edge.
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thefeelies.bandcamp.com
This London-based spoken-word artist’s fourth album is their most personal work to date. Produced by Dan Carey, the album features moody, beat-driven soundscapes combining a variety of acoustic and electronic instrumentation with evocative lyrics of love, family, anxiety, identity and growth.
www.kexp.org
Kae Tempest performed live in the KEXP studio in 2019.
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www.kaetempest.co.uk
Kwadwo Adu Genfi Amponsah, known professionally as Kojey Radical, is a British music artist, creative director and mixed media visual artist. His style has been described as a mix of grime-y hip hop, alternative rap and spoken word.
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The Guardian says:
Kojey Radical: 'Reason to Smile' is an era-defining Black British work
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kojeyradical.online
BRAND NEW from Jamaican reggae artist Chronixx!
From his Instagram:
"This one is for all the young musicians in Jamaica…we have lost so many of our guiding lights here on the physical plane. We are hurting and longing for the word sound of universal truth. Now we have to feel their essence in our creativity and keep the flame alive in the earth. This one is for our elder musicians. You have woven the fiber of who we are…your honor is our honor. We love you. You are our heroes."
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Chronixx’ latest release "Never Give Up" sounds like a classic Roots and Reggae tune with distinguished acoustics. Aided by a band and backup singers, the Skankin Sweet singer encourages listeners to “never give up” even when life “gets cold” and your hardships feel overbearing.
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chronixxmusic.com
Acclaimed Malian guitarist Vieux Farka Touré has released a single titled "Gabou Ni Tie." The song features Amadou Bagayoko of Amadou & Mariam on guitar. "Gabou Ni Tie" will be included in Vieux Farka Touré’s new album 'Les Racines' (World Circuit Records) scheduled for release on June 10.
'Les Racines' is Touré’s debut album for World Circuit Records, and his first since 2017. The title translates as "the roots." It represents a deep reconnection with the Songhai music of Northern Mali known as "Desert Blues," made famous by his father, Ali Farka Touré, who released several album on World Circuit releases decades earlier.
Vieux spent two years crafting 'Les Racines,' although he had been developing it in his mind even longer. "I’ve had a desire to do a more traditional album for a long, long time. It’s important to me and to Malian people that we stay connected to our roots and our history," he explains.
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www.vieuxfarkatoure.com