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Tuesday, Jul 26 2022, 10PM
July 30 Seattle Summer Stage Empowered Women
feat. Yemi Alade (Nigeria), Dobet Gnahore (Cote d’Ivoire), Naomi Wachira (Kenya/Seattle)
@ Magnuson Park
KOKOKO! performing live in the KEXP studio. Recorded October 12, 2019. www.youtube.com
Ghanaian singer, Amaarae teams up with Marvel for a new collaboration titled ‘A Body, A Coffin’ for the soundtrack for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
The one and only Kate Bush circa 1989, featuring Pink Floyd's David Gilmour.
New music from U.S. Girls - their first new track since 2020’s Polaris Prize shortlisted album, Heavy Light.
U.S. Girls played live on KEXP in in 2018, you can check out their full performance here: www.youtube.com
Norwegian duo Röyksopp is back with this track featuring Astrid S. They said in a statement: “We wanted to create a warm and sensual space in which the simple message of the song felt native. And to us, Astrid S had to be a part of that mise-en-scène.”
The first of what would turn out to be five compilations Ian Broudie released from 1996 to 2006.
Pure, The Lightning Seeds' first release by Virgin, is almost a reissue rather than a compilation, since it consists of all but three of the songs released by Epic on the first two albums, Cloudcuckooland from 1990 and Sense from 1992. bit.ly
L.A. trio Automatic will perform at Neumos on Saturday and Sunday, September 10th and 11th!
“It’s about spending your life making money and then spending it to fill the void created by said job,” explained bassist/vocalist Halle Saxon, with bandmate Lola Dompé cheekily adding, "Kind of like going to LA to live your dreams." Download this KEXP Song of the Day from May here: www.kexp.org
On this day in 1989, the iconic trio De La Soul released an album that would change the course of Hip Hop forever. Off Tommy Boy Records, De La Soul’s debut album, '3 Feet High And Rising' set the standard for what rap should (and would) sound like.
Along with producer Prince Paul, the group crafted a sonic landscape of sampled songs, sounds, and snippets unheard of before in Hip Hop. Where most producers sampled either James Brown or P-Funk, De La and producer Paul were borrowing from recordings by an unlikely host of artists usually not affiliated with hip-hop sampling like Johnny Cash, Hall and Oates, Otis Redding, The Turtles, and a French-language instructional record.
bit.ly
The most inventive, assured, and playful debut in hip-hop history, '3 Feet High and Rising' not only proved that rappers didn't have to talk about the streets to succeed, but also expanded the palette of sampling material with a kaleidoscope of sounds and references culled from pop, soul, disco, and even country music. Weaving clever wordplay and deft rhymes across two dozen tracks loosely organized around a game-show theme, De La Soul broke down boundaries all over the LP, moving easily from the groovy my-philosophy intro "The Magic Number" to an intelligent, caring inner-city vignette named "Ghetto Thang" to the freewheeling end-of-innocence tale "Jenifa Taught Me (Derwin's Revenge)."
bit.ly
www.wearedelasoul.com
“2 Be Loved (Am I Ready)” — from Lizzo’s new album, Special — is a self-questioning self-help pop track with 1980s drum machines and synthesizers.
On the track, she’s met a man she wants to be with, but she’s unsure if she’s ready for the leap due to scars from previous relationships. Eventually, she takes the leap and navigates the ups and downs of a new relationship. www.latimes.com
New music from Ben Harper. Check out his entire performance live on KEXP from 2016 here:
www.youtube.com
Robert Smith wrote this as a wedding present for his fiancée, Mary Poole, shortly before they got married in 1988. Smith has remained steadfast in his devotion to Mary, whom he met at school when he was 14. He credits her with saving his life by pulling him out of the abyss when he went through some self-destructive periods.
www.songfacts.com
Grace Ives' latest album was produced in collaboration with Justin Raisen, was described by Ives in a statement: “Everyone has a shitty star tattoo/stick n poke, that’s never perfect, or is rough around the edges. A beautiful thing to think about is that stars on earth look like blobs but in space really defined structures.”
Black Francis commented on the song in an interview with NME: "It's about winos and hobos traveling on the trains, who die in the California Earthquake, peeing their pants. Before earthquakes, everything gets very calm — animals stop talking and birds stop chirping and there's no wind. It's very ominous. I've been through a few earthquakes, actually, 'cause I grew up in California. I was only in one big one, in 1971. I was very young and I slept through it. I've been awake through lots of small ones at school and at home. It's very exciting actually — a very comical thing. It's like the earth is shaking, and what can you do? Nothing."
“‘Bad Love’ is about recovering from love addiction and making a decision to stop choosing and aligning with people who aren’t your energetic match,” said vocalist Emily Kempf in a statement. “I wrote it for myself and for everyone who needed to hear a song about choosing new forms of love. It’s about chasing a relationship with oneself rather than an unhealthy one, one that just doesn’t quite fit, or a codependent one.” bit.ly
dehdforever.bandcamp.com
Rhythm Nation 1814 was the best-selling album of 1990 and made history as the first and only album to generate seven top-five Billboard hits: "Miss You Much", "Rhythm Nation", "Escapade", "Alright", "Come Back to Me", "Black Cat", and "Love Will Never Do (Without You)", all of which peaked within the top five on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. It is the only album to score number one hits on the Hot 100 in three separate calendar years – "Miss You Much" in 1989, "Escapade" and "Black Cat" in 1990, and "Love Will Never Do (Without You)" in 1991.
ODESZA is playing three sold-out nights at Climate Pledge Arena on July 29th-31st. -- They chose Portuguese singer and songwriter Mariana Brito da Cruz Forjaz Secca, known professionally as Maro, as their collaborator on this song.: artists.teamwass.com
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See the official video for "Better Now": youtu.be
In a 2012 interview with British newspaper The Guardian on how "Back to Life" was made, producer Jazzie B said:
"Everything about this single was magic. We weren't trying to follow any trend or fit into any category – we were just doing our own thing... Its shuffling beats were a cross between reggae and what was to become known as hip-hop: breakbeats and electronic sound. Caron Wheeler's vocal, coming over these very heavy bass beats, was the icing on the cake...We also had the Reggae Philharmonic Orchestra on the track, and the RPO became a key part of our sound. We often look to America for our influences, but this was a moment that put British music back on the map. It also came out at a special time in the industry's history – just before digital took over and everything seemed to fall apart."
This game-changing album was produced with the Dust Brothers, whose use of sampling helped establish the practice of multi-layered sampling as an art in itself. In total, 105 songs are sampled.
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KEXP broke down the entire album in 2015 www.kexp.org
The band say the album was influenced by the classic fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm as well as other works of fantasy.
When recounting Channel Z, the B-52s said it's “probably our most straightforward political song up until then,” said Fred Schneider in a 2008 interview. “It was about the state of the country. And who knew nearly 20 years later it’d be worse?”
(bit.ly)
And who knew that 14 more years later... never mind.
PVA just announced their new album, BLUSH, which will come out this October. Drummer Louis Satchell: “It’s quite an anxious record sometimes that is relating to mental health issues and carries within it the anxiety of making an album. It’s been a rocky ride but we always pick ourselves up.”
Young MC's real name is Marvin Young. He wrote this and also composed Tone Loc's hits "Wild Thing" and "Funky Cold Medina."
Playing Climate Pledge Arena on Monday, September 12th! gorillaz.com
New Gorillaz, featuring Thundercat! The fictional band has lately been asking fans to join something called "The Last Cult," and cartoon bassist Murdoc Niccals is the cult’s "self-appointed Great Leader," according to a press release.
"It’s nice to be back, I’m well into our new tune, it brings back weird and scary memories of stuff that hasn’t happened yet," singer 2-D shared. bit.ly
Born in Compton, Steve Lacy gained popularity as the guitarist of R&B group The Internet. Gemini Rights is his latest album and released earlier this month.
The debut full-length from this LA-based artist (aka John Cudlip) is a promising set of shoegazer psych-rock with fuzzy guitars, soaring choruses and wistful melodies.
"'Free Yourself' is the beginning of a new era for me," Ware said in a statement. "I'm so excited for people to have this song for the end of their summer; to dance, to feel no inhibitions, and to feel joyful because that’s how I've been feeling recently being able to tour again and being able to sing again. Enjoy yourself, Free Yourself!"
www.jessieware.com
The original version of Neneh Cherry's "Buffalo Stance" was released in 1989.
New music from British singer-songwriter Hope Tala, co-written by Seattle's own Parisalexa! Watch the music video for "Is It Enough" here: www.youtube.com
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She said in a statement that "this song was inspired by so many different things and events. Police brutality in my home city of London and in the US, laws that restrict the rights of women and the LGBTQ+ community, thinking about my ancestors in chains - all of those things and more played a part in the making of 'Is It Enough.'"
When you first heard this song, did you know that the drums were sampled from The Gap Band's "Burn Rubber on Me (Why You Wanna Hurt Me)"? -- I asked the guy, "why you so fly?" he said, "Funky Cold Medina" You can sing along with these lyrics: www.azlyrics.com
New cover of the Go-Go’s’ Beauty and the Beat single “Tonite" by this LA band.
"In early 1988 Seattle’s ace recording engineer/producer, Jack Endino, passed off a new cassette of fresh tunes he'd cut with a little band from Aberdeen named Nirvana to a few industry folks including KCMU DJ Shirley Carlson... Months later, the band's leader Kurt Cobain (1967-1994) walked a copy of their debut Sub Pop single "Love Buzz" into KCMU hoping that they might air it. Then, as he and a girlfriend made the return trek home in her car, dashboard radio locked onto 90.3-FM, he was disappointed that the disc wasn't being aired. So mid-route, she exited I-5 and, using a gas-station payphone, Cobain called in an anonymous request for the song. Soon after, the record was blasting forth and the couple reveled in that magic moment. KCMU would also debut tracks from Nirvana's follow-up album, Bleach. Three years later, in September 1991, a grateful Cobain (and Nirvana) returned to the station to do an on-air release-day interview promoting the band's second album, the immortal 'Nevermind'."
www.historylink.org
MorMor (Toronto artist Seth Nyquist) has returned with his first new song since 2020, describing it as being “about the toxicity that occurs in a relationship when both people haven’t yet faced their demons.” It comes with a music video directed by Camille Summers-Valli. Watch: www.youtube.com
"It’s a song about recognizing what it feels like to be pushed down but wanting to resist," Yanya says about "Midnight Sun," adding, "I really like the imagery of ‘midnight sun’ as a lyric as it insinuates a light guiding you through darkness. The wings carry their own symbolism — freedom, lightness, flight, fantasy. If I could pick what people saw and heard, it would be seeing the beauty of confrontation and the necessity of rebellion." bit.ly
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She performed it live (with wings) on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon: www.youtube.com
Peter Murphy, of course, was the vocalist for Bauhaus. In an interview, he was aked what it is that "cuts you up and spits you out." He replied: "The path of discovery, self-knowledge, wisdom... once you feel you have it. Then the path will spit you out or off the way and ruin your assumptions of this path. In fact, it is a great mighty necessity for those spiritual seekers or so-called 'holy state' desirers who become arrogant."
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The song is driven by a violin riff played on a synthesizer. According to Simon Rogers, who produced the track, they brought in a musician to replicate it on viola, but it didn't sound right.
Young Fathers return with “Geronimo," their first music in four years since 2018’s "Cocoa Sugar." bit.ly
In a statement, the Scottish trio (Alloysious Massaquoi, Kayus Bankole, and G. Hastingssaid) about the new track: “It’s a track about contrast, because life is contrast - pushing through, giving up, all at the same time. Wanting everything and then wanting nothing, then wanting everything again. It’s kind of reflective of where we are at the moment, trying to remember how to do this again.”
Young Fathers played live on KEXP back in 2019. Check out their full performance and interview here: www.youtube.com.
www.young-fathers.com
3rd Bass was formed in 1987 in Queens, NY, United States, and disbanded in 1992 after releasing two full length albums (1989's "The Cactus Album" and 1991's "Derelicts Of Dialect") and a handful of memorable singles.
Michael Berrin (aka MC Serch), Peter Nash (aka Prime Minister Pete Nice), Rich Lawson (aka DJ Richie Rich or Daddy Rich) sampled Aretha Franklin's "Think."
British band Pop Will Eat Itself formed in 1986.
Def.Con.One mashes several musical genres, and features elements of alternative rock, hip-hop, pop and punk, but was proclaimed by the band to be grebo rock. It was a forerunner (along with the Beastie Boys with the Dust Brothers) for heavily sampling other songs and musical scores, including big hits and/or popular classics "I Wanna Be Your Dog" by The Stooges, "Funkytown" by disco band Lipps Inc, the 1973 hit "Crazy Horses" by The Osmonds, and The Twilight Zone theme tune. The title comes from the United States' Defense Readiness Condition DEFCON 1, meaning "war is imminent".
Workbook is the 1989 debut solo album by Bob Mould, following the breakup of the influential rock band Hüsker Dü.