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Thursday, May 11 2023, 4PM
New music from a band who borrows its name from Brian Eno's song "The True Wheel."
Guitarist Martin Moscrop shared that the album title is "called 1982, but I wouldn’t say this album sounds anything like Sextet," referring to their third album that was released that year.
Drummer Donald Jonson added, "The title is just playful. People can take it whichever way they can."
Among the first white indie groups to draw heavy influence from funk as well as disco and Latin percussion, A Certain Ratio, who formed in 1978 in Manchester, were among the first to debut on Tony Wilson's Factory Records in 1979 with "All Night Party," produced by Martin Hannett.
1999 is the fifth studio album by Prince, released on October 27, 1982, by Warner Bros. Records. It became his first album to be recorded with his band the Revolution. bit.ly
Basic tracking for D.M.S.R. took place at Sunset Sound in Hollywood, California on 20 April 1982, during the same set of sessions which produced Free, Something In The Water (Does Not Compute), Delirious, Automatic and How Come U Don’t Call Me Anymore.
When CD technology was created and albums were released on CD, D.M.S.R. was left off the initial releases of 1999 as the time limit on CDs was 74 minutes at the time. As CD capacities increased, however, the track was added to the tracklist again. bit.ly
ĠENN is a Maltese/UK ensemble, and this song features backing vocals from John Newton of JOHN.
Lead vocalist Leona Farrugia explains, "Naturally I’ve always felt like there’s a pressure to compare myself, be that through the lens of present technologies or within the creative industry. It’s something that can be very debilitating, especially to young people in a patriarchal society." bit.ly
Jack White said that the song is about a child trying to find his place in a dysfunctional family when a new baby comes.
The cover of the single is an allusion to the graphics of Saul Bass, seen in the movie posters and title sequences of films such as Anatomy of a Murder and The Man with the Golden Arm.
The cover also alludes to Jack White's then-broken index finger and his obsession with the number three. bit.ly
"Making Time" is The Creation's debut single released in 1966 and was featured in Wes Anderson's 2nd film, "Rushmore."
The Creation were a dynamic band with an equally engaging image, they would burn brightly for less than two years, yet would leave an indelible mark upon music history.
Over the nearly five decades since, the Creation has seen a tremendous resurgence in interest. First it was the Jam flossing "Making Time" on the inner sleeve of All Mod Cons.
A few years later Alan McGee formed the band Biff Bang Pow and his Creation record label. By the turn of the century a new generation had discovered the band via a strategic placement in Wes Anderson’s Rushmore. bit.ly
"There’s a deliberate, claustrophobic repetition to the earlier stages of the song/video, which mirrors the very human tendency to obsess in cycles of thought — it’s certainly something we both struggle with as individuals," says JOHN drummer and vocalist John Newton.
"If you take the title more literally, we all contain a patchwork of images sewn together from the past, and these memories are used as a map of survival within our present. These primal instincts seem overloaded nowadays, and we become open to be haunted by even the slightest reflection."
Catch JOHN live at the Sunset Tavern on Oct. 10!
The duo performed live for KEXP's International Clash Day broadcast in 2019: bit.ly
Binki reveals, "In my personal life, I’m really easy going to the point where people can take advantage of me. I don’t really like confrontation, but typically there’s always a breaking point where things just become very clear to me... 'Rocket Ship' is about that moment where you just realize the vibes are off, and you’re ready to go." bit.ly
"Romántica Champeta" is a tribute to the Barranquilla Carnaval in Colombia. The Carnival celebrates the diversity, music, and dance traditions of the region. It is often considered to be the second most important cultural celebration in Latin America following the Carnaval in Rio de Janeiro. bit.ly
On "Beautiful People" Ware ups the ante and brings it back to the dance floor: "It’s got this kind of impatient energy. And it’s very much about that experience of being able to open those doors to a club, and the beautiful people are everywhere. That moment of feeling like you’re so part of a community, and that escapism. It’s about taking your life, putting it on hold for a moment, and just fucking dancing and enjoying yourself." bit.ly
This is the first New Order song to be included on a studio album, Low-Life, at the same time as its release as a single.
The vinyl version has Factory catalogue number FAC 123 and the video has the opposite number, FAC 321.
The overall meaning of the song is unclear to its writer today. In an interview with GQ magazine Bernard Sumner said, "I haven't a clue what this is about."
He agreed with the interviewer that his best known lyric is in the song: "Pretending not to see his gun / I said, 'Let's go out and have some fun'".
The lyrics, he revealed, came about after the band was visiting a man's house in the United States who showed his guns under his bed before they went out for an enjoyable night. It had been quickly written, recorded and mixed without sleep before the band went on tour in Australia. bit.ly
"With A Hammer" was composed across a two-year period in New York, Seoul, and London, begun shortly after the release of "What We Drew" and during the lockdowns of the Coronavirus pandemic.
It is a diaristic ode to self-exploration; the feeling of confronting one’s own emotions, and the transformation that is possible when we’re brave enough to do so. In this case, Yaeji examines her relationship to anger.
It is a departure from her previous work, blending elements of trip-hop and rock with her familiar house-influenced style, and dealing with darker, more self-reflective lyrical themes, both in English and Korean. Yaeji also utilizes live instrumentation for the first time on this album—weaving in a patchwork ensemble of live musicians, and incorporating her own guitar playing.
"With A Hammer" features electronic producers and close collaborators K Wata and Enayet, and guest vocals from London’s Loraine James and Baltimore’s Nourished by Time. bit.ly
This infectious debut album won the band the Mercury Prize in 2012.
The band's actual name is the triangle-shaped symbol Δ (the capital Greek letter delta). "Alt-J" comes from the key sequence used to generate the symbol Δ on an Apple Mac computer.
alt-J performed this song, as well as other favourites from this album, in a live performance for KEXP listeners at Seattle's Triple Door in 2012: bit.ly
If you haven't seen it yet, be sure to catch the official video for this track; it's beautiful: bit.ly
Avalon Emerson, former software developer turned Berghain DJ and acclaimed techno producer, gives off the enviable aura of someone who’s good at everything. When she describes her musical database management in precise schematic detail, or excitedly reveals how much she’s learned about the septic system at her rural pandemic retreat, you can practically see the mental flowcharts unfurl.
She’s admitted that she’s “not really a singer,” but for Emerson that’s just another in-game challenge to unlock. Her debut album is a self-described pop record credited to her new collaborative project Avalon Emerson & the Charm, and she sings almost the whole time.
Pandemic restrictions enforced a pre-planned break from touring and, perhaps, opened more time for home listening. “My idea of a perfect record is a Cocteau Twins record, things that are soft and beautiful,” she told Pitchfork. bit.ly
Jessy Lanza starts her 2023 with the first single she's written and produced since moving to LA from Hamilton, Ontario via New York and San Francisco; the start of a new chapter for her, with the upbeat, rolling "Don't Leave Me Now."
As is often the case with Jessy's lyrics, they disassociate from the confident energy of the music, as they were written in response to almost being hit by a car when she first arrived in LA. This triggered an event of the Agoraphobia she's felt since she was small and so she wrote 'Don't Leave Me Now' an act of Catharsis. bit.ly
In the years leading up to Dan Snaith’s seventh album as Caribou, the Canada-born musician had some dramatic experiences. First, his second daughter’s arrival in the back of a car on a busy London street, and secondly, the unexpected death of a close relative. Yet there’s nothing maudlin about Suddenly. It’s a typically kaleidoscopic burst of the colour from Caribou, and is warmly enveloping throughout.
What Suddenly does so majestically is conjure a sense of the familiar, with Snaith’s soothing vocals wafting over each of its 12 intricately crafted electronic tracks, while surprising the listener at every turn.
As beautiful as it is exciting, Suddenly is an uplifting album that embraces the change and shifting perspectives that life throws our way. bit.ly
When Jones talked to his label about releasing a solo album, he said it "would smell like zesty magnolias on a hot July day in Louisiana."
Listen and see for yourself: bit.ly
Nilüfer Yanya is celebrating her birthday today, and will be at The Crocodile on Saturday, May 21. bit.ly
Yanya runs headfirst into the depths of emotional vulnerability this album. 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. bit.ly
Nilüfer Yanya shared a live performance recorded exclusively for KEXP and chatted with Cheryl Waters in March 2021. youtu.be niluferyanya.com
Of the collaboration between the Aussie electropop outfit and UK producer, Confidence Man reveal, "Dan knows what’s good. And ConMan does too. It’s a match made in sexy rave heaven. A naughty international subgenre mashup. Yin and Yang in parachute pants. And we did it all for you. Open up and let us in."
Avery, meanwhile, is just as thrilled about the collaboration. "Ain’t nobody realer than ConMan," he says. "The best collaborations always feel like you’re flying. We’re high above the clouds with this one."
Avery and Confidence Man aren’t strangers to each other, with the producer remixing the latter’s 2022 track "Feels Like A Different Thing." They finally met in person at Glastonbury 2022, and headed into the studio to work together afterwards. bit.ly
"'No Reason' is unmistakable and irresistible, built from a cascading melody, a heavy acid riff and a snare roll that rattles like a military tattoo," according to the track's press release.
The single, a highlight of the band’s recent live shows and DJ sets, was mastered in Dolby ATMOS by Beatles producer Giles Martin at the legendary Abbey Road Studios in London.
The track is accompanied by a surreal animated visualiser that will be familiar to anyone who saw one of The Chemical Brothers’ 2022 festival shows. It was directed by longtime collaborators Smith and Lyall, and choreographed and performed by Gecko Theatre. bit.ly
Celebrating Greg Dulli's birthday today!
Debuting as a member of the rock band the Afghan Whigs in 1986, Dulli has been a member of the Twilight Singers, Gutter Twins, and in 2020 released his debut solo album, Random Desire. Dulli is known as the voice of John Lennon in the 1994 film Backbeat, and has produced music for musicians such as Afterhours, and is known as a regular collaborator of Mark Lanegan and Joseph Arthur.
Dulli grew up in Hamilton, Ohio. In 1983, he studied film at the University of Cincinnati, but later dropped out after a year and a half, moving to Los Angeles and working at Tower Records on Sunset Boulevard while attempting to become an actor. Inspired to become a musician by the band the Dream Syndicate, Dulli moved back to Cincinnati and formed a band called the Black Republicans. bit.ly
Cover of the Clash song using the drum loop from Train in Vain!
Celebrating Greg Dulli's birthday today. Originally from Hamilton, Ohio, he went to study film at the University of Cincinnati in 1983, but later dropped out after a year and a half, moving to Los Angeles and working at Tower Records on Sunset Boulevard while attempting to become an actor. Inspired to become a musician by the band the Dream Syndicate, Dulli moved back to Cincinnati and formed a band called the Black Republicans. bit.ly
The Whigs performed a fantastic in-studio session in KEXP's Live Room back in 2018; check it out here: bit.ly
'The Cost of Living' EP was released on this day in 1979!
The EP was produced by the band and Bill Price, and marked a transition in musical styles for the band, bridging the intensity of their earlier, punky albums with the broader, more American influenced rock and roll yet to come on London Calling, most evident on the folk rocking "Groovy Times" and "Gates of the West". bit.ly
"I Fought the Law" was written in 1966 by Sonny Curtis of the Crickets. This cover version helped gain the Clash their first taste of airplay in the States and is one of the best-known cover versions of the song. bit.ly
The band wrote "Spokane Views" in the midst of the pandemic while all together on a little orchard farm.
"Seven years ago, Valerie packed up a moving truck and moved across the state from Spokane into a Belltown Apartment in Seattle with Veronica after having been apart for years. We often think about how that moved saved and inspired our life <3" https://bit.ly/3nWIWjx
La Fonda recently performed in our Live Room at KEXP; check out that session here: https://bit.ly/42qT0jG
The Minneapolis artist reveals, "This song is about a very specific memory with my cousin. I was terrified of breaking rules as a kid, so this experience of swiping her stepdad’s car, without a license, to go rent a movie has sunk itself into the core memory archives.
"It also captures the entire relationship with my cousin and crashing through childhood and adolescence together. I have a really intense sensory memory, so the end of the track is a tangent of every time I’ve felt a specific breeze while with her. I also wanted to highlight and display all of these little instances of growing up that you don’t realize are going to stick with you." bit.ly
Ben Bridwell said that this song was inspired by his feelings of paranoia. "I suffer from paranoia really badly," he said. "And the thing that inspires me most is, once I get into that horrible isolated area, I think I'm being watched."
He added: "I've written songs that are based specifically on that feeling. 'Is There A Ghost' was based on an ice-maker in my house that was freaking me out." bit.ly
Tramhaus are a post punk band based in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
"Make It Happen," a live favorite among locals, shows a more hollowed out, atmospheric side to the band, implementing the likewise hollow city marketing slogan in a more acid-spewing, cynical (and nonetheless very Rotterdam-sounding) context. When discussing the city’s punk scene, Rotterdam has been plagued with many of the same clichés as fellow port city Manchester: a supposed angular, grey-hued working class city.
Arriving here, that couldn’t be further from the truth, because Rotterdam has been subjected as much of the same maladies as other Metropolitan areas: it’s original dwellers forced to make way to so-called progress, with a ballooning housing market only benefitting the rich and privileged.
The bright-colored video for "Make It Happen" shines a light on the community living in Rotterdam’s Wielewaal district, who are set to be evicted from their beloved homes for the quote unquote future. "Drawing further on what we believe is a misleading Rotterdam city slogan – 'make it happen' – we came up with the idea to make a video with the Wielewalers," Tramhaus comment. "With the video, we hope to show their struggle to a wider audience." bit.ly
bar italia, the London trio of Nina Cristante, Jezmi Tarik Fehmi and Sam Fenton, have announced details of their new album Tracey Denim, which will be released digitally and on CD May 19th on Matador. The album will be available on vinyl September 8.
Tracey Denim was recorded and produced by bar italia with mixing from Marta Salogni. It features the single "Nurse!" which was released in March to acclaim, and described as "a hypnotic post-punk ballad"” (The Guardian) and "narcotically arresting" (Pitchfork). bit.ly baritalia.bandcamp.com
"Lyrics came last for 'All I See,' about 3 years after the track, and when I finally sat down and wrote them, I was pretty anxious about whether I had them right or not," bandleader Kai James said in a statement.
"A new Mylie Cyrus [sic] track played on the radio that afternoon, she too, was singing about houses burning down, and I took that as confirmation. So I thanked Mylie Cyrus and her great new track 'Flowers' and never looked back." bit.ly
This one's for Luke!
A local band whose members can vary from a 6-15 person ensemble. Performing tomorrow night at the Tractor Tavern, along with Ural Thomas!
The newest single, “Roller,” from the Seattle-based funk collective, Polyrhythmics, is more like a daring film score than a debut track. Lead guitarist Ben Bloom zips a Ferrari down a narrow mountain road. Deep pocket bassist Jason Gray laughs as the guards take someone away during a poker game. The band’s horn section portends adventure in the 24-hour City of Sin. Drummer Grant Schroff jumps from building to building. It’s the sound of a Hollywood fairytale. It’s a tuxedo and a red rose. It’s hand-to-hand combat in the desert before the plane swoops overhead. It’s all this, set to music.
Released on this day in 1981!
Fun fact: Grace Jones has a lifetime ban from Disney World. She frequently flashes audiences or goes topless during performances, but apparently "the Most Magical Place on Earth" didn't appreciate the showmanship.
During a live show at Florida's then-Downtown Disney House of Blues in 1998, Jones "pulled her top off, then proceeded to light up and smoke a doobie—on stage," according to The Orlando Sentinel. Read more here: bit.ly
Released on this day in 2004.
John Bush of AllMusic gave the album 4 stars out of 5, saying, "4th Dimensional Rocketships Going Up delivers what every fan wants to hear: more quality material from one of the best underground rappers in the business."
Nathan Rabin of The A.V. Club called it "an album that's simultaneously epic and intimate, personal and political, passionate and playful."
El Michels and Black Thought first met in the 2000s when Thought was first getting familiar with the contemporary soul scene. This connection eventually led Leon and Thought to doing a few fundraising events around NYC and Philly together.
Michels says of their collaboration: "Before long, Black Thought was coming around the studio and would jam with us from time to time. Then, fast forward to 2020 and COVID lockdowns, he just hit me up out of the blue, wanting me to send him stuff to write to. We both were looking to stay busy." bit.ly
Vocalist, songwriter, and producer Miya Folick will be releasing her new album, Roach, on May 26 via Nettwerk.
"'So Clear' is about pulling yourself out of the wreckage you’ve made of your own life again and again, for the thousands of days we live on this earth and realizing life is so much more expansive than the petty concerns we waste precious time on," Folick says. "An epiphany that I have over and over again is that I am very small, but my actions are very meaningful. So I have to choose to live truthfully every day. It’s not easy! The song is very dramatic, and I imagined it as a good karaoke song when we were making it." bit.ly
Parks shares, "'Pegasus' is about experiencing the warmth and lightness of good love for the first time. It also explores how the absence of chaos and the presence of real connection can be a little bit terrifying after a long time of not having it."
As for the album, she writes, "The world/our view of it is peppered by the biggest things we experience—our traumas, upbringing, vulnerabilities almost like visual snow. This record is life through my lens, through my body—the mid 20s anxiety, the substance abuse of friends around me, the viscera of being in love for the first time, navigating PTSD and grief and self sabotage and joy, moving through worlds with wonder and sensitivity—what it’s like to be trapped in this particular body.
"There is a quote from a Joanna Hogg film called The Souvenir, it’s an A24 semi-autobiographical film with Tilda Swinton—it recounts a young film student falling in love with an older, charismatic man then being drawn into his addiction—in an early scene he’s explaining why people watch films—‘we don’t want to see life as it is played out we want to see life as it is experienced in this soft machine.' So there we have it… My Soft Machine." bit.ly
Thinking of Bob Marley, who died on this day in 1981.
Although having become one of the most popular Marley songs, "Sun Is Shining" used to be a fairly unknown and seldom-performed number during Marley's lifetime. Up to date, only two live performances are documented; however, both took place under special circumstances. On June 16, 1978, Marley performed at The Music Inn in Lenox, Massachusetts, a concert having been rescheduled twice since 1976, and played an over 2-hour set. "Sun Is Shining" was the opening song, reportedly included spontaneously as it stopped to rain.
On July 23, 1978, Marley performed an outdoor concert at the Santa Barbara Bowl that included "Sun Is Shining" as opening song; just before the song, Marley introduced the performance by referring to Haile Selassie's birthday on the same day. bit.ly
Thinking of Bob Marley, who died on this day in 1981.
Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, his musical career was marked by fusing elements of reggae, ska, and rocksteady, as well as his distinctive vocal and songwriting style.
Marley's contributions to music increased the visibility of Jamaican music worldwide, and made him a global figure in popular culture.
Over the course of his career, Marley became known as a Rastafari icon, and he infused his music with a sense of spirituality.
He is also considered a global symbol of Jamaican music and culture and identity, and was controversial in his outspoken support for democratic social reforms.
In 1976, Marley survived an assassination attempt in his home, which was thought to be politically motivated. He also supported legalisation of marijuana, and advocated for Pan-Africanism. bit.ly
The project of acclaimed guitarist and vocalist Ripley Johnson, Rose City Band has extended beyond the studio and lives in tandem as a live ensemble featuring some of the finest players in contemporary rock: pedal steel guitarist Barry Walker, keyboardist Paul Hasenberg, bassist Dewey Mahood (aka Plankton Wat) and drummer Dustin Dybvig.
"Chasing Rainbows" was a recent featured Song of the Day, and "suggests the nostalgic innocence of childhood when one’s summer days might consist of chasing things one cannot capture but deeply believe they can." Get yourself a free download of the track, and read more about Rose City Band, here: bit.ly
