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Friday, Oct 10 2014, 2PM
"Phantogram are an electronic rock duo from upstate New York whose music incorporates psychedelic pop vocals, J Dilla-style hip-hop beats, and shoegazing sensibility. Founded in 2007 and based in Saratoga Springs, New York, the duo is comprised of longtime friends Josh Carter (guitar, vocals) and Sarah Barthel (keyboards, vocals), who originally hail from the nearby small town of Greenwich, New York. Originally known as Charlie Everywhere and associated with the local independent label Sub-Bombin Records, the duo released the eponymous Phantogram EP in March 2009 and sparked widespread interest with two songs in particular, 'Mouthful of Diamonds' and 'When I'm Small.'" www.allmusic.com/artist/phantogram-mn0002128228/biography This sweet duo stopped here a few months ago and played a smouldering set; relive the shimmering, breathy magic here: http://blog.kexp.org/2014/08/29/live-video-phantogram/
Back in 2011, youthful Londoner Jamie T paid a visit to our studios, blending "rock, reggae, hip-hop and more into a wry pop style with rapped/sung lyrics. He calls it 'bullocks,' but you can decide for yourself with this live acoustic set" recorded live here during his first visit to the US. kexp.org
A gem for you from the archives: "Canada’s Stars have been crafting dreamy, romantic rock for over a decade now, and with the release of their forthcoming sixth album, The North, they’ve combined the electronic inclinations of 2010′s The Five Ghosts with the grand orchestrations of their past albums to move forward with a sound that had nearly painted itself into a corner. A shimmering mid-paced grind, 'Hold On When You Get Love And Let Go When You Give It' features all of the quintessential elements of a Stars song. As Torquil Campbell’s hopelessly romantic vocals lead the song over a steady beat in the verses, the chorus breaks into a tumbling rhythm as Amy Millan’s breathy coo and crystalline guitar take the reigns." Read on, and download the song right here: blog.kexp.org
Caroline Polachek on playing all-ages shows where audience members can't drink: "They have a natural enthusiasm, so it doesn't matter. 15-to-18-year-olds will go crazier than drunk 30-year-olds any day. They have the attention span of goldfish." www.interviewmagazine.com/music/chairlift#_ Liked what you heard? Then follow the link and check out an in-studio performance from 2012: http://kexp.org /live/liveperformance.aspx?rId=33937
Dan Whitford: "After we got back to Melbourne from touring at the start of last year, I started getting into going out again as a punter and going to a lot of club nights. I just started enjoying the experience of dance music again. It's completely different going out and experiencing it for your own interest's sake, after having been making and playing it for so long. I tuned into a bunch of cool stuff that was happening in Melbourne and that led on to more specifically getting back into old school house music and the acid-house period. I think it's a really interesting period for dance music; it was a real revolution within dance. I felt this real connection with that era and some of the scenes I was seeing around in Melbourne, even though it's really underground and not really out there in the world as such, this dedication to house music is what it's all about. It's really inspiring." goo.gl Here's a sweet in-studio: kexp.org
Formerly of Wolf Parade, Handsome Furs, and Divine Fits, Dan Boeckner says of his new outfit: "With Operators, the gear lends itself to repetitive grooves, and I’ve always loved pop music. I was like, okay, I’m going to push myself with the vocals and the melodies of these songs. If we’re going to have the same bass line running through this song, we’re going to need a keyboard hook in it, there needs to be a vocal hook in it, and it needs to be really, really direct. It needs to be immediately accessible. I just really didn’t want to make a record that was ponderous, like a think piece record. I wanted to make something that people could dance to, that had a ton of weird, noisy crap going on, but at its core was pop music. That’s what I wanted with the band. We experimented with s lot of different formats, and this is what we hit on." goo.gl Boeckner brought his Operators in for a spectacular performance; watch it now: blog.kexp.org
Our Featured Song of the Day today: "In her 20+ year career, Seattle native Jen Wood has covered more ground than most musicians of her generation, evolving her musical output as she grows older and more experienced. At the age of 15, Wood and friend Madigan Shive formed the folk punk group Tattle Tale, maintaining a presence in the Pacific Northwest as part of the Riot Grrrl movement before dissolving in 1995. After Tattle Tale’s end, Wood continued on as a solo artist for the better part of a decade, sporadically releasing pop-influenced indie rock and famously serving as Ben Gibbard’s duet partner on The Postal Service’s 'Nothing Better.' The beginnings of Wilderness, her forthcoming album, lie in the piano that Wood and her husband bought upon moving into a new house a few years ago." blog.kexp.org Jen will be playing an early-evneing CD release show at Barboza on November 15th; info and tix here: goo.gl
Just for fun, here are twelve songs that may potentially appear on Radiohead's upcoming album: consequenceofsound.net
Kevin Parker on what it feels like to be on tour: "It is surreal, but the things that are surreal about it. The practicalities about it. It’s always great. Bizarre as hell when you roll into some city you’ve never heard of and then there are all these people to see you and know your name. That’s the crazy part. It’s surreal when you realize when you’re somewhere on a map and you wouldn’t be able to point out where you are on a map, not know what day or sometimes what month it is. You leave grounding completely. What’s going on around you and stuff like that. That’s what’s surreal about it. You have no idea what is going on." More from our exclusive interview with the band: http://blog.kexp.org/2010/12/27/interview-with-tame-impala/ Dig what you heard? Then keep digging here with an in-studio performance here: www.kexp.org/live/liveperformance.aspx?rId=33270
"Enlightenment, understood in the widest sense as the advance of thought, has always aimed at liberating human beings from fear and installing them as masters. Yet the wholly enlightened earth is radiant with triumphant calamity. Enlightenment's program was the disenchantment of the world. It wanted to dispel myths, to overthrow fantasy with knowledge. The price human beings have paid for their increase in power is estrangement from that over which the power is exerted." ~ Theodor Adorno, from album liner notes
"Júníus Meyvant is the artist name of Vestmann Islands born singer-songwriter Unnar Gísli Sigurmundsson. As a young boy he was an eccentric to a small degree and he only loved two things, skateboarding and painting. Every now and then he asked the Muses if he should learn to play an instrument but his wild and free behavior terminated his dreams as he was quickly suspended out of music school. All through his teens he rambled on without even considering becoming a musician or even playing any instrument.
In his early twenties Unnar stumbled upon a beat up guitar at his parents’ house and started noodling around. By playing the guitar he managed to tame his inner beast and his sense for songs and melodies burst like rockets. The uncontrollable urge for writing music and constant flow of ideas kept him tossing and turning every night and day forever and a day." juniusmeyvant.com See Junius perform tomorrow night at Neumos, as part of our free Reykjavik Calling showcase.
"We first heard Sóley perform a year ago at Gym and Tonic, the back room at KEX Hostel in Reykjavik during Iceland Airwaves ’11. We were intrigued by her at then recently released debut LP, We Sink, but hadn’t had time yet to really dig into it. We figured, let’s record a few songs with her and see how it goes. The session itself was jaw dropping, but more importantly listeners and YouTube viewers ate it up... to the point at which her performance of “I’ll Drown” gained half a million views!" See video from her performance for KEXP at KEX Hostel in 2012: blog.kexp.org She performs tomorrow night at our free Reykjavik Calling showcase at Neumos; full details on the show here: blog.kexp.org
"It was fitting a fitting way to wrap our broadcast at KEX Hostel in Reykjavik during Iceland Airwaves ’12 with Sindri Már Sigfússon and his group Sin Fang. Sindri was one of the first artists we met the first year we arrived in Iceland in 2009, and we recorded him as a solo performer in his basement studio. Back then, he called his project Sin Fang Bous, and it was an outlet for him to experiment more than he was doing with the gorgeously lush pop melodies of his other group, Seabear. Over the years, though, he shortened the name to Sin Fang and added more players to his live set, including some names you’ll recognize from other artists we recorded this year..." Read on for more from this amazing band, and watch a performance we filmed at KEX Hostel: blog.kexp.org See them play free tomorrow night at Neumos with Júníus Meyvant, Eric Anderson of Cataldo, Sóley, and Say Hi, with Seattle Rock Orchestra Quintet. goo.gl
"The sound of The Budos may be challenging for some to describe, but to the band, 'Staten Island instrumental afro-soul' means internalizing such seemingly disparate influences as the Cairo Jazz Band, J.C. Davis, Mulatu Astatke, and Black Sabbath and coming together to form a mind-bending combination of rhythm and melody." daptonerecords.com "In one of the strongest KEXP performances ever, the Budos Band kick up a mighty set of Afro-beat, infused with flavors of funk, soul and jazz. Join this talented New York band live on KEXP in NYC." High praise indeed; check it out for yourself here: kexp.org
"In the brief time she spent with Wild Flag, Mary Timony learned one of rock’s great truisms: The quickest path to the heart is the most direct — as well as another: Girls just want to have fun. The ex-Helium frontwoman strips down her sound in her bewitching new project, Ex Hex. The album’s initial track, and today’s featured song, 'Don’t Wanna Lose,' blasts out of its garage-y reverbed guitar opening, jumps immediately into the power-pop fast lane, and heads straight for the New Wave valley. It’s a pace that never lets up for all of Rips... and you won’t want it to ever stop." Read on and download your own copy here: blog.kexp.org Ex Hex perform live from KEXP at 1pm on Sunday, October 19, 2014.
"The last three records we've gone in relatively unprepared. Some more gregariously than others. The Weight Is A Gift, for example, we did with Chris Walla. We really wished he was a smoker so he would take a break once in a while. We set up the gear, and he got great sounds within an hour and said, "All right, I'm ready!" And the secret truth was that there were only two real songs we had finished, and the others we'd figure out on the fly. It's stressful for me because we'd have a recording session, and then I'd go back to my room where I was staying and have a four-track and giant art-sized notebooks and try to get a big picture idea of what I was trying to do. I was tired of that kind of stress, and it was kind of expensive in a dumb way." ~ Matthew Caws exclaim.ca Nada Surf played a fantastic set at the Triple Door as part of our VIP Club Concert Series; enjoy it here: blog.kexp.org
"I made a vow after two years of not working, because of the accident, that I should, uh, take care of my health 100 percent. With two years of living not quite sure whether you're going to rock-'n'-roll again, the build-up to this tour was tremendous. The inspiration was flowing, 'cause when I knew that I could go back onstage again with my foot, I just said, 'Right. Now, if I am going to do that, if I'm going to dance again, perform again, then I'm going to sing better than I've ever sung before. There's nothing that's gonna stop me.'" ~ Robert Plant, from a rare interview with Mark Ginsberg for Rolling Stone, 1977. www.interviewmagazine.com/music/new-again-robert-plant#_
"Conventional wisdom dictates that the Vaselines might have been relegated to footnote status were it not for Nirvana's Kurt Cobain, who regularly cited the little-known Scottish quartet's influence in interviews with the music press. Cobain's gospel-spreading no doubt accelerated their rise to cult sainthood, but truth be told, the Vaselines would have gotten there sooner or later on their own accord. Lewd but naïve and abrasive yet tender, the band's shambling, primitivist squall remains a perfect distillation of pop at its most guileless and euphoric. The Vaselines were formed in Edinburgh in 1987 by singer/guitarists Eugene Kelly and Frances McKee, who were later joined by Kelly's brother Charles on drums and James Seenan on bass... The Ramones-inspired V for Vaselines The Ramones-inspired album featured many of the same players who helped make Sex, including Belle and Sebastian's Stevie Jackson and Teenage Fanclub's Francis MacDonald." goo.gl
"There isn’t really a great way to describe Sigur Rós‘ live shows in writing. It’s something that has to experienced in person, not vicariously. Jónsi and co.’s performances could be called 'majestic,' 'sweeping,' or 'life-affirming,' but even those descriptors don’t capture the emotional grandeur of a Sigur Rós show." Difficult as it may be, here's our shot with a live review and stunning photos: blog.kexp.org
Alt-J love reigns fierce here at the station, and it's understandable why; here they are, performing an absolutely sublime (and free) performance at the Triple Door for VIP Club Donors a few years back: http://blog.kexp.org/2012/10/09/live-video-alt-j-at-the-triple-door/ Don't miss them on Monday, October 13th, when they perform a live video-stream performance for us at 2pm. Tune in at 90.3FM or stream it all in its glorious entirety at www.kexp.org
Can't get enough of the new Caribou? Neither can we, and especially Larry Rose, who has just released a smoking-fresh podcast entitled "Music That Matters, Vol. 429 - Total Control of GRMLNs on a YACHT full of Bleached Caribou on Acid." Stream it in its entirety here: kexp.org
"Richard D. James goes by the name Aphex Twin. He grew up in Cornwall, England and as a teenager used to take apart electronic devices to see how they worked. James started DJing in Cornwall in the late 80s. In 1992 as Aphex Twin he came out with 'Selected Ambient Works:85-92.' This album explored the electronic style called 'ambient' and included some gorgeous, beatless, melodic neo-classical sounds." More on this electronic visionary here, as part of our "Electronic Innovators" documentary series: blog.kexp.org
Paul Banks on the band's visual aesthetic: "You’ve got wear clothes, so you may as well enjoy what you’re doing and find clothes that suit you. Fashion is a nice way to communicate things in an artful way. Image is important to us simply because I don’t think we would leave a facet of our work unattended, so to not have some sort construct in the visual realm would be strange. If bands are trying to be slouchy or non-fashionable then that in itself a fashion statement. I think if it works for what a band is trying to say for them to wear shorts and fucked up t-shirts like Pavement for example, then that’s just as much as a fashion statement as to wear suits... It’s more like a uniform for us. It started for me simply by the fact that when the band began I had a job that I hated and I remember going from work to a gig and thinking that this gig is what means something to me so I’m going to make myself presentable." goo.gl
"Sunny Day Real Estate members Jeremy Enigk, William Goldsmith and Nate Mendel put the emotion back into emo with a gorgeous, heartfelt live set of songs from their self-titled debut album. Personal, poetic songwriting, poignant vocals and warm guitar synchronicity power the indie rock sound of these topnotch Seattle musicians." kexp.org
"LA garage pop outfit Bleached have been rising strong on the scene in the last year with a number of fantastic singles and well known strong live presence. The band mixes West Coast surf tendencies with the gorgeous melodic punk of bands like Vivian Girls and Dum Dum Girls, delivered through tight musicianship, longing vocals harmony between sisters Jennifer and Jessie Calvin, and joyous hooks." Catch a live performance from the band here, recorded right here in our studios: blog.kexp.org
Monica Coleman, Kate Pierson's partner in business and life, on the pair's award-winning hotel properties in the U.S., which also include Airstream Trailer "rooms": "Initially Kate purchased the hotel as an investment, before we had met. Because interior design is one of her passions, she had a vision of decorating the rooms and opening a hotel – easy, right? Well, purchasing a building constructed in 1952 had so much more work to be done than she expected. The infrastructure had to be completely reworked – water systems – boilers – roofs, electrical systems had to be complete upgraded. That’s where I came into the picture and helped pull that together – it took two years to completely finish... We wanted each of the trailers to have a theme, so we decided to tap their creative talents to design “Tinkerbell”, an ode to the fairy princess of Neverland; “LAVA”, which creates the feeling of being inside the lava lamp..." goo.gl
"Simon Ratcliff and Felix Buxton have been creating body-moving tracks together since 1994. Ratcliff came from a genre called 'deep Latin funk' and Buxton spun 'Chicago house.' After meeting at a Thames riverboat party, the London duo started composing. They dropped several club anthems in the mid-90s, like 'Flylife' and 'Samba Magic,' which solidified their place in the scene. But it wasn’t until the 2003 album Kish Kash that they entered the pop stratosphere. Songs like 'Good Luck' and 'Plug It In' took the dance floor home to the masses." More from our Saturday Afternoon Artist Feature right here: blog.kexp.org
Beck on the purported "new darkness" of Modern Guilt: "I think that it’s an angle. I think the album just doesn’t have those two other funky songs that the other records have. We just took those off. And if you leave them on, then they cast all the rest of the songs in this light of being slightly ironic or not completely sincere. I thought, “What if we just take these couple songs off?” If you go out to the other records, even Odelay, and read the lyrics, like in “Devil’s Haircut” and “Ramshackle,” they’re not always bright and happy. They’re kind of dark. But at the same time, I listen to Leonard Cohen, Nick Drake, Radiohead, Nick Cave, Tom Waits -- that’s dark. You know, what I’m doing is pretty lightweight in comparison to what I listen to. It’s like I was removing some of the colors, trying to get the simplicity and make it a little more monochromatic." More from our exclusive in-depth interview from his tour bus at Bumbershoot 2008 here: goo.gl
For your visual pleasure: "TV On the Radio‘s previously reported film accompaniment to their new album Nine Types of Light was released in conjunction with the album. The entire thing is sparsely interconnected music videos for each song on the album, directed by various filmmakers under the direction of lead singer Tunde Adebimpe. (Adebimpe also directed the video for 'Forgotten.')" Watch it here: blog.kexp.org
Of this sparkling new album, Don Yates writes, "The second album from Kyoto, Japan-born, San Francisco-based artist Yoodoo Park (aka GRMLN) is an impressive set of anthemic pop-punk reminiscent at times of Cloud Nothings and Husker Du, combining layered, distorted guitars, bashing drums, angsty lyrics, sing-along choruses and sticky pop hooks." If you liked this track and would like to explore further, check out Larry Rose's smashing and just-released (as of today!) Music That Matters podcast, "Total Control of GRMLNs on a YACHT full of Bleached Caribou on Acid" (Vol. 429). You won't be disappointed! kexp.org
"Although it started as one of Cleveland-based musician Dylan Baldi’s numerous online projects, Cloud Nothings has become a band whose furiously cathartic punk-based songs reach far beyond Baldi’s initial ambitions. During Baldi’s freshman year at college, he spent his weekends in his parents basement making music under various names for his own enjoyment. When a New York promoter took interest in “Cloud Nothings”, Baldi gathered a live band to perform his songs for the first time in December 2009." More, plus a free MP3 of the track you can download, right here: blog.kexp.org
Can't get enough? Then check this out: "Post-punk/post-rock hardcore group out of Copenhagen, Denmark plays a quick and dirty set at The Cutting Room": www.kexp.org
"Fans of Seattle’s indie-pop act Throw Me The Statue were saddened to see the band’s hiatus announcement back in October, but the break has proven its value since frontman Scott Reitherman’s new project Pillar Point has completed their debut album, [which debuted] in early 2014. However, Pillar Point diverges from TMTS in the band’s experimentation with unique dance grooves and the emotional journey accompanying their new sound." Watch Reitherman's new project perform a dreamy set from our studio: blog.kexp.org
"Ever since their first show in December 2008, Fitz and the Tantrums have established themselves as one of the hardest working bands on the circuit today. In between the release of their 2010 debut Pickin’ Up The Pieces and their sophomore record, More Than Just A Dream (out this week!), the Los Angeles soul sextet embarked on multiple international tours, criss-crossing North America a few times over in the process. After road testing some of the new material last year (including multiple stops in Seattle), the group stopped by KEXP’s studios last month to showcase the new songs. Watch the four-song set below and get a reminder of why the group is considered one of the tightest soul bands around." blog.kexp.org
"Christopher Owens took us all by surprise last year when he randomly announced that he was leaving his own band, Girls. Girls started back in 2007 with Owens and Chet JR White, but they really got off the ground and running in the last couple years with 2009′s very popular Album and 2011′s pitch perfect art rock masterpiece, Father, Son, Holy Ghost. But the lifespan of the modern rock band is short, and Owens’ springboard onto the scene had done its job." More from our album review of Lysandre, his first solo album post-Girls: blog.kexp.org
Revisit some seriously glorious magic here, with a vintage performance: "Seattle's Fleet Foxes are generating a lot of buzz in anticipation of their first full length release due in early 2008. Lead singer Robin Pecknold's sunny yet sophisticated and complex songwriting and soaring harmonies will charm you too, in this exclusive set performed live at the KEXP Music Lounge at Bumbershoot 2007." kexp.org
"Bright and melodic, Tomten’s charming brand of baroque indie pop draws equally from the bright pop sounds of the power pop groups of the’70s and the more orchestrated indie rock of the late ’90s. Formed by singer/keyboardist Brian Noyeswatkins, bassist/songwriter Lena Simon, and drummer Jake Brady while they were in college, the band built a reputation for their dream pop-influenced tunes while playing shows around the Pacific Northwest and producing two albums, 2010′s self-titled effort and 2012′s Wednesday’s Children." Learn more about the band, and download your own copy of "Mother Millow," here: blog.kexp.org Have a happy and healthy weekend from all of us at the Afternoon Show!
