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Saturday, Jun 25 2022, 12PM
In a recent interview on KEXP's Sound & Vision podcast, Ambar Lucid talks about how a trip on magic mushrooms inspired the title track of her new EP, Get Lost in the Music. She also talks about a 20-minute documentary called Llegaron Las Flores (The Flowers Have Arrived) about being reunited with her dad years after he was deported to Mexico, and how she hopes to heal her own and others' generational trauma through her music. bit.ly
Lucid is completely self-taught; she learned piano, guitar, and ukulele on her own, and turned to YouTube once again to refine her vocal technique when she started writing original music at 15. She spent the ages of 5 to 7 moving between the Dominican Republic, where she lived with her grandmother, and New Jersey, where her mom resided. Eventually, Ambar moved to Jersey permanently, but her family was separated once again when she turned 8, when her father was deported. bit.ly
Get lost as you watch this great live performance at KEXP by the Dominican/Mexican artist: bit.ly
Arlo Parks performed live in the KEXP studio in March 2022, check it out! youtu.be
"'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." bit.ly
arloparks.bandcamp.com
12:09 PM
189th spin
In an interview last year, Janelle Monae talked about how the documentary "All In: The Fight for Democracy" motivated her to write a song about how America currently finds itself in mid-turn between "a lie" and real revolution.: bit.ly
Sylvester (aka Sylvester James, Jr.), passed away in 1988 due to AIDS-related complications.
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"Sylvester’s soaring falsetto marks him as one of America’s greatest singers, performing songs in nearly every genre. He personified strength and courage. Sylvester was a rebel. He was Black, but didn’t really identify with the Black community. He was gay, but didn’t quite fit in with the Gay Community. He wore drag, but didn’t consider himself a drag queen. He was a Christian, but did not fit in with his church. He was some form of gender queer before there was that term. All these things that were the basis for marginalization, he turned into superstardom for a minute. He turned things that were used to stigmatize him into assets. Sylvester used his considerable talent as a radical visionary of music, identity, and authenticity. Sylvester was a rebel." bit.ly
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The song was originally recorded as a mid-tempo, piano-driven gospel song, however after producer Patrick Cowley saw a rehearsal of the song he offered to remix the song. In 2019, the song was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". bit.ly
More than 30 years old, the "New York group’s classic track is infectious, euphoric, nigh-on impossible to dislike. Slice ‘Groove is in the Heart’ in two and it bleeds good vibes and rubbery, melodic funk." Read how this terrific song captured the energy of 90's New York club culture: djmag.com
Scissor Sisters was a vital part of New York's glam-rock scene in the 00's. Read how they ushered in an era of queer pop.: www.udiscovermusic.com
This particular song, written by Babydaddy and Jake Shears at Shears' parents' horse farm in West Virginia, was inspired by Shears' coming out to his mother.: www.youtube.com
In a press release, Claud commented on their first single this year: "'Go Home!' is about falling into that hole of feeling awkward and uncomfortable in your own skin that all you crave is going home and sliding into whatever is familiar.”
toastmp3.bandcamp.com
Happy Pride!
Perfume Genius, aka Michael Hadreas, describes "Queen" as a song inspired by "gay panic", and the power one can derive from knowing their mere being is making everyone around them extremely uncomfortable.
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This great live performance from Seattle's Triple Door, exclusively for KEXP VIP Club members, featured "Queen" as its final song: youtu.be
You can buy your very own copy of "The Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side" below, but it's gonna add up if you want the other 68 Love Songs! Buy the album, it's a deal!
themagneticfields.bandcamp.com
This one is going out to Rose, who wants to dedicate it to the memories of Marsha "Pay It No Mind" Johnson & Sylvia Rivera.
NEW MUSIC! Nation of Language covering the classic by The Replacements from 1983's "Hootenanny". It'll drop on 7" vinyl this August, with a surprise single on the B-side!
Frontman Ian Devaney states in a press release: “One of the things that made covering ‘Androgynous’ so exciting is that, for me, so much of the original song is carried by Paul Westerberg’s incredible melodies and emotional delivery, and that really leaves a lot of opportunity to imagine new instrumentation. I felt like as long as I was able to channel enough of that emotional power but bring the vocals into my own space, it would be a challenging and worthwhile endeavor.”
Soft Cell’s 1981 synth-pop hit “Tainted Love” is a remake of a 1964 Gloria Jones song!
DJ Ian "Frank" Dewhirst claimed he was the first person to play the song for Marc Almond, the vocalist for Soft Cell. Thorne commented that he was surprised by the choice as he had not been impressed by the 1976 version on hearing it, but was impressed by the new arrangement and Almond's sinister vocal: "You could smell the coke on that second, Northern Soul version, it was really so over-ramped and so frantic. It was good for the dance floor, but I didn't like the record...when Soft Cell performed the song I heard a very novel sound and a very nice voice, so off we went."
www.soundonsound.com
Hercules and Love Affair is the project of NYC-based DJ Andy Butler.
"Blind" was influenced by Yazoo's song "Situation." Butler shared how Yazoo's club-pop song was a formative experience from when he heard it as a child: "I'd force my parents to hear the cassette tapes I'd made up. I remember my mother once saying, in her straight, American Midwest way, 'I don't think you should be listening to this music, is this a man or a woman singing?' To which I replied (adopts whiny kid's voice), 'Why can't you just appreciate the beauty of the voice?' But I was as excited by the synth hook and the delay Vince Clarke put it all through as I was by Alison Moyet's singing."
www.herculesandloveaffair.net
NEW MUSIC! New Beyoncé released in anticipation of forthcoming seventh solo studio album, 'RENAISSANCE'. "Break My Soul" samples New Orleans' Queen of Bounce, Big Freedia, and "Show Me Love" by Robin S.
More here: pitchfork.com
"Show Me Love" was the 1993 debut album from American singer Robin S. This single was written by Allen George and Fred McFarlane and originally released in 1990.
Erasure's third single, "Oh L'Amour" was released in April 1986. One of the B-sides is a cover version of "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)", the first time Erasure covered a song from the ABBA songbook.
Joel Gibb of The Hidden Cameras once described the band as "gay church folk music"
This song was written by frontwoman Beth Ditto as a response to the US government's stance on same sex-marriage during George W. Bush's presidency. www.songfacts.com
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"No matter what politicians or the law say, abortion has always existed and will always exist." 4,000 Years of Abortion History thenib.com
Bikini Kill is playing two sold-out shows at the Capitol Theater in Olympia, WA on September 11th and 12th.
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"That girl thinks she's the queen of the neighborhood / I got news for you.... SHE IS!" --
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The song is an American Anthem. Enjoy this interview with Kathleen Hanna about "fascination, friendship, and desire": www.npr.org
New Jersey singer-rapper 070 Shake’s 'You Can't Kill Me' dropped this week.
Operatic autotuned verses confess unashamedly romantic feelings over mixes crammed to the edge with diverse sounds. 'You Can’t Kill Me' is an exciting and expansive pop statement, always bounding towards new forms and fearless of its own impurity.
bit.ly
www.070shake.com
NPR's American Anthem asked listeners to send in their stories about this song:
"There were the DJs who spin it at wedding receptions, knowing it will get everyone on the floor. People who have played it for hours in one sitting, or kept it on repeat for a road trip hundreds of miles long, or made it the last dance at every house party they've ever thrown. People who insist it can be a queer anthem: "Is she singing 'I'm not the GIRL you're taking home' or 'I'm not the GUY you're taking home'? Who knows! Maybe she MEANT it that way? ROBYN IS A GENIUS," they said, more or less. The ones who have used it to get through not just breakups, but cancer, or death, or a lot more, who love that decadent drum fill toward the end more than life.
All stories of juxtaposition. People finding community in a song all about being solo."
n.pr
In 1979, Ross commissioned Chic founders Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards to create material for a new album after taking her daughters to see the band in concert, following the success of Ross's final Ashford & Simpson-composed and produced LP, The Boss. Rodgers got the idea for "I'm Coming Out" after noticing three different drag queens dressed as Diana Ross at a New York club called the GG Barnum Room.
Villano Antillano is one of the pioneers of the queer movement within the urban genre in Puerto Rico.
www.billboard.com
Lizzo is playing at Climate Pledge Arena on Wednesday, November 9.
bit.ly
The new Lizzo album will be out July 15th! www.lizzomusic.com
"About Damn Time" is Lizzo’s first release in 2022 after a brief short hiatus from her previous collaborative single, "Rumors," with rapper Cardi B.
The song was first revealed and teased on The Late Late Show with James Corden earlier this year, which featured a snippet of the pre-chorus and chorus. The following day Lizzo teased the first lines through a TikTok video. The new Lizzo album will be out July 15th! www.lizzomusic.com
'Shake Your Groove Thing' was one of Peaches & Herb's biggest hits. Seven different women have filled the role of "Peaches" over time, with the most notable being Francine "Peaches" Hurd Barker.
Happy Pride Everyone!
Covering Lady Gaga!
Accompanying the 10th anniversary edition of Gaga's second album ‘Born This Way’, featuring new takes on the album’s tracks by artists who are representative of the LGBTQIA+ community. Peck said: “I am so honoured and excited to be a part of the iconic legacy of this song and album. Thank you @ladygaga for askin me and Happy Pride y’all !!” bit.ly
"Montero (Call Me by Your Name)" was first previewed in a Super Bowl LV commercial in February 2021 and was released on March 26, 2021.
The song is noted for its queer themes, including its sexually explicit homosexual lyrics, taking its name from the 2017 film Call Me by Your Name which centers on a gay romance. The sexually charged music video for the song depicts Lil Nas X in a number of biblically-inspired scenes, including the artist riding a stripper pole to Hell, and giving a lap dance to Satan. The song and video were praised by some commentators for their boldly queer sensibilities, but were also the subject of backlash from a number of conservative figures in the United States who deemed the content immoral or harmful to children.
I have the video on repeat! www.youtube.com
"Finally" is CeCe's debut single and it became her first (and biggest) hit song, peaking at number five on the US Billboard Hot 100
MICHELLE will be playing The Capital Hill Block Party July 22 - 24
www.wearemichelle.com
Shamir will be performing at the Tractor Tavern on August 4th! Get your tickets here: bit.ly
'Ratchet' is the 2015 debut studio album by Las Vegas-based singer/songwriter Shamir.
shamir.bandcamp.com
We’re traveling back in time with songs from 2015 to celebrate 50 years of KEXP today! kexp.org/50/
Released in 1978, "I Will Survive", the song's lyrics describe the narrator's discovery of personal strength following an initially devastating breakup.
The song is also frequently recalled as a symbol of female empowerment and it is a huge Pride anthem!
Happy Pride!!!
"Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows" was composed by Marvin Hamlisch and produced by Quincy Jones!
This LA-based Mexican-American artist’s official debut full-length is an expansive blend of R&B, electro-pop, trap, acoustic folk-pop, funk-pop, Mexican folk and other styles, combining acoustic and electric guitars, keyboards, horns and more with his velvety vocals and intimate bilingual lyrics of love, desire and heartbreak.
Check out this feature on Omar Apollo's debut album on NPR here: www.npr.org
The video for this song parodies a popular British television soap, 'Coronation Street.' The opening sequence features all the band members in drag (Mercury as a housewife, Deacon as grandmother, Taylor as a schoolgirl, and May as a housewife). This confused many people who didn't catch the reference. Brian May was asked in an interview with Q magazine March 2011 whether each band member's character in the video was an accurate reflection of their personalities? He replied: "Of Course! Everybody thinks that was Freddie's idea because it looks like something that he would love to do but it actually came from Roger's girlfriend at the time, strangely enough. It was her idea to pastiche the 'Coronation Street' women."
bit.ly
Queen - "I Want To Break Free":
youtu.be
The Chicks wrote March March after attending the student-led March For Our Lives demonstration in support of legislation to prevent gun violence, which took place in Washington, DC, on March 24, 2018, a month after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting.
Emma Stayer of the band explained to Music Week magazine: "We were talking about that in the session, and that's where the march idea came up... But we didn't want to write three verses all about gun control, so we started talking about other things we were passionate about."
thechicks.com
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The video opens with a quote: “If your voice held no power, they wouldn’t try to silence you.” A montage of footage follows, exhibiting Americans demonstrating their first amendment rights to protest peacefully.: www.youtube.com
This track was reportedly inspired by a remix of The Smith's "There is a Light That Never Goes Out" -- one reviewer said:
'In my opinion, “This Modern Love” is the best Bloc Party song and one of the greatest love songs of the 21st century. Is the second half of that statement a bold claim? Absolutely. Do I stand behind it? One hundred per cent. It can’t be a track list coincidence that “This Modern Love” falls exactly halfway through the group’s 2005 debut Silent Alarm - it’s the heart of the album and Kele Okereke wearing his heart on his sleeves. There are plenty of catchier, more immediate songs on the record, but “This Modern Love” is the centrepiece and the album’s warmth.' -- tinyurl.com
DJ El Toro hosted Bloc Party Live in the KEXP Studio in 2012, and their set included this track: youtu.be
Smalltown Boy tells the tale of a young gay man who packs up and heads for London in response to homophobic violence in his (un-named) home town. It’s supposedly based on the experiences of lead singer Jimmy Somerville, who quit the Scottish city of Glasgow in search of a better (and safer) life down South. www.gayinthe80s.com
Happy Pride Everyone!
Pet Shop Boys will certainly perform "West End Girls" when they play Climate Pledge Arena with New Order on October 14th, 2022.: bit.ly
