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Tuesday, Dec 15 2020, 10PM
The song was written to inspire the youth of their Mali homeland to get involved and help change their corrupt and oppressive political system. In light of the very recent military coup d’etat in Mali, it could not come at a more prescient and poignant time. “Barre” (which means "Change") serves as a figurative and spiritual call to arms for the younger generation to take control of their destiny and invest in their futures. bit.ly
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On Election Day, Songhoy Blues shared a special live set from the riverside in Bamako, Mali for KEXP listeners. Watch that live performance that included "Barre" and enjoy hearing lead singer Aliou Touré talking live with Kevin Cole: www.youtube.com
Find them here:
songhoyblues.bandcamp.com
The phrase "Na Kozonga" translate to "the return" in the Congolese language of Lingala, and that's what Jupiter & Okwess was looking forward to after the 180-date worldwide tour promoting their 2017 album Kin Sonic: returning home. The song is dedicated to bandleader Jupiter Bokondji's father, who passed away recently, and the accompanying music video, filmed in his hometown of Kinshasa, shows the musician boarding a plane to return to his family in Africa, with a "metaphysical" detour.
www.jupiterandokwess.com
Khruangbin has a whole lot of content on the KEXP website! From live-in studios, interviews, and music reviews! bit.ly
Cheryl selected this song by Caribou (artist Dan Snaith) as a KEXP Song of the Day. You can download it for yourself here: www.kexp.org
This review says that "Ware’s fourth album of defiantly sexy, plush post-disco is a flirtatious joy.": www.theguardian.com
Watch the video for the disco-tinged title track: www.youtube.com
Michael Alden Hadreas, better known as Perfume Genius, shares in a recent press release how "'On the Floor' deals with the ways in which a crush can really live on its own, separate from you and the person you are pining for. The fantasy feels like its own world, obsession can turn the person you are longing for in to a monument that has less and less to do with them and more to do with the idea of love itself and what it can do, what it can soothe or quiet or light on fire. I wanted to show that maddening, solitary part of desire but keep the core which is a real warmth and belief that you have something crucial to share with each other."
While live concerts are still a shot or two away, you can catch him perform a dreamy session Live on KEXP from the safety of your home right here: bit.ly
In 2011 Nathan Quiroga (Mad Rad, Buffalo Madonna) and Benjamin Verdoes (Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band) left their respective Seattle-based projects behind and began collaboration on Iska Dhaaf.
Written largely in Paris and Berlin, Up was originally the foundation of a third full-length album from Iska Dhaaf. With the help of co-producer Sam Miller, the band finished the final touches on this unique set of songs that see the duo as a band in transition.
Released earlier this year from the Nashville, TN artist. sopharela.bandcamp.com
In a statement about this single, frontman Ian Devaney noted: “September Again is about struggling with the feeling that with each passing year you’re only becoming a worse version of yourself—less capable of wonder or grand ambition, less sure of your footing in your own life."
Thao's "Phenom" is the first great Zoom video: 48hills.org
“This video is a fantasy of waking up on a day that there is no monetary system, no dividing line, no false construct to tell our fellow man that they are less or more than anyone else. Not that people are without but that the whole meaning of money has vanished. That we have somehow solved our self created caste system and can now start fresh with love, hope and celebration. It’s a dream of humanity’s V-DAY… and the party we know would pop off.” youtu.be
Run the Jewels - Full Performance (Live on KEXP): www.youtube.com
Seattle MC Gifted Gab and San Francisco-bred Blimes Brixton describe themselves as being, "For every boss woman in your life who never apologizes for the reverb of her footsteps; for every powerful female who dares to change the game; this is Blimes and Gab." www.blimesandgab.com
Found on the Australian band's long-awaited follow up album to 2015's 'Currents' and sure to be on many top 10's. official.tameimpala.com
Chris did a "Live from Home" session with KEXP where we got insights about how she wrote this song: www.youtube.com
As the lyrics go, King Krule reminds you, "Every minute, every second, you're not alone, you're not alone, you're not alone, you're not alone."
English songwriter Nilüfer Yanya's 'Feeling Lucky?' EP will be out this Friday, December 11th. "Crash," co-written with Nick Hakim, was the first single from that release. niluferyanya.com
This was also KEXP's Song of the Day recently: www.kexp.org.
Anderson .Paak's "Lockdown" has powerful protest lyrics. "We just wanna break chains like slaves in the South...Started in the North End but we in the downtown...Riot cops tried to block, now we got a showdown..." Read the lyrics here: genius.com And check out the video for "Lockdown": youtu.be
11:26 PM
189th spin
The video shows the devastating footage of racial oppression and police brutality in protests for justice, before it transforms into an emotional display of Black strength, excellence and achievement. "We kicking out the old regime / Liberation, elevation, education / I said 'America, yousa lie' / But the whole world 'bout to testify."
youtu.be
Robert Glasper, Terrace Martin, Kamasi Washington, and 9th Wonder are the supergroup, Dinner Party. Dinner Party came together while Martin and Glasper — who first met way back in 1996 at a jazz band camp — were touring with Glasper’s R+R=NOW project. The core idea was to tap into elements of jazz and soul, but root the new group in hip-hop. To bring it all together, Martin enlisted fellow saxophonist Washington and storied hip-hop producer 9th Wonder.
SAULT's third album arrived on Juneteenth, right as the world was in the thick of Black Lives Matter protests and renewed discourse about white oppression against people of color. Much like A Seat At The Table by Solange, UNTITLED (Black Is) tackles these topics with restraint, calmly unpacking them over a meditative collection of funk, spoken-word, repurposed protest chants and soul.
On "Wildfires," the vocalist wonders why another officer killed another person for no reason. "You should be ashamed," the singer asserts. "The bloodshed on your hands / Another man / Take off your badge / We all know it was murder." In the next breath, she snaps back to the reality: Though we're crying right now, we won't be afraid to keep fighting. There's also dual meaning in the title; the band sees fire as a cleansing, a burning of the country's old ways of governance for something fresh and new. n.pr
The debut album from this Boston-based duo comprised of Lira Mondal and Caufield Schnug is a ripping set of fuzzy post-punk and catchy garage-rock that is deservingly being heralded as one of the finest debut albums of the year. Recorded using a "single mic technique" that beautifully captures Lira's passionate, urgent, anthemic vocals, Hunger For A Way Out is a fantastic lo-fi DIY album full of swagger, charisma, and sonic nuggets. — AR
Released in April of this year and sure to make many year end top 10 lists. Maybe in yours?
yves-tumor.bandcamp.com
The Neverly Boys are a new duo made up of TV on the Radio’s Dave Sitek and Swedish singer/songwriter Daniel Ledinsky, who has worked with artists as varied as Rihanna, Carly Rae Jepsen, and yes, TV on The Radio. The pair met while writing songs for what would become TV on The Radio’s 2014 album Seeds. Earlier this year, amidst covid-19, a troubling political landscape, racial inequities, they decided to release their debut, Dark Side of Everything. It was their hope that the album would add love and hope to a world in turmoil. KEXP’s Owen Murphy spoke to each via the internet from their respective homes in Los Angeles about their friendship, and how there’s light within the moody sound of the album. - soundcloud.com
Philadelphia-based artist Shamir was Live on KEXP at Home, Wednesday, August 26th, at 3:00 p.m. This song, "On My Own," was recently selected as a KEXP Song of the Day. You can download it for free here: www.kexp.org
Debut album from Brooklyn-based Korean-American producer Kathy Lee. yaeji.com
The Weeknd, a three-time Grammy Award winner whose 2020 album "After Hours" is the most-streamed R&B album of all time, will perform during the Pepsi Super Bowl LV Halftime Show on February 7th, 2021.: www.espn.com
The London rapper recorded her new EP, 'Drop 6,' over the month of April while in isolation from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Notwist have announced a new album, Vertigo Days, which is their first in 7 years and will be out January 29 via Morr Music. The album finds core members Markus and Micha Acher and Cico Beck collaborating with a variety of musicians, including Juana Molina, Ben LaMar Gay, Angel Bat Dawid, Saya of Tenniscoats, and Zayaendo. "We wanted to question the concept of a band by adding other voices and ideas, other languages, and also question or blur the idea of national identity,” says Markus.
www.nme.com
Pre-order the album here: linktr.ee
Oneohtrix Point Never, a.k.a. Daniel Lopatin, has released a fantastical new video for “Long Road Home.” Co-directed by Charlie Fox and Emily Schubert, the clip features a courtship between two demonic creatures who become one in the end.
“It’s a romantic fable about love and transformation, which grew out of a lot of wild philosophical conversations with Dan over the summer,” Fox and Schubert said in a statement. “We wanted to take these supposedly grotesque or demonic creatures and turn them into the weirdly adorable and heartbreaking protagonists of this courtship ritual. For a song that seems to be sung by something mutant and magical in a time when intimacy is craved and feared, it felt like a hot match; it just felt good inside. And all this stuff started oozing out.”
www.rollingstone.com
“Long Road Home” taken from the new album “Magic Oneohtrix Point Never”: youtu.be
oneohtrixpointnever.bandcamp.com
The band has shared, "[Free Love] is a record about being increasingly terrified of the world around you and looking inward to remember all the times when loving other people seemed so easy, so that you can find your way back to that place. This first single, 'Ferris Wheel,' is about discovering your power and awkwardly figuring out how to wield it. It’s for the summer, it’s for you, we hope you like it." bit.ly
Recorded on September 24th, watch Sylvan Esso share an exclusive live set and chat with DJ Morgan live on KEXP: bit.ly
Closing track off of Childish Gambino's new album 3.15.20, find it here: donaldgloverpresents.com
Local Seattle artist Chong the Nomad "spent much of her college career learning to score compositions for film, and she draws from this cinematic background to create her own consistently evolving style of dynamic, quirky, shape-shifting music that blends sleek electronic production with an addictive pop sensibility."
Chong the Nomad put out this new EP in August 2020: chongthenomad.bandcamp.com
"The desire for change stirs from the inside. We either listen to it—or not. Aluna chose to listen. After widespread critical acclaim as one-half of multi-platinum duo AlunaGeorge, the singer, songwriter, and producer established an unpredictable and undeniable signature sound on her 2020 solo debut, Renaissance." alunaaa.bandcamp.com
"UNTITLED (Rise)" is the second great album released by UK "mystery collective" SAULT in 2020. Go here to purchase it.: saultglobal.bandcamp.com.
Of her latest record, Lorely Rodriguez writes:
“I’ve definitely grown as an artist. I think that this is my best album to date. I just think it does a lot of things that take everything I’ve done to another level, and because I produced most of it, the production really sounds like an Empress Of record.”
“It’s always been important for me to elevate my culture as a Latin American and I think I’m really doing that. Having my mom say “it wasn’t easy to learn English”, on the opening track and then just hearing her accent and hearing her experiences. I think I’m really encompassing everything right now.”
Enjoy Live Video from September's KEXP Lawn in the Morning session with Deep Sea Diver - including this tune: www.kexp.org.
Here's what she had to say via Twitter when she released "Night":
"From me to you, here is a song from my album. It's called 'Night'. This wasn't really supposed to be a single but with everything that is happening right now I wanted to reach out."
'Inner Song' is available now:
kellyleeowens.bandcamp.com