Cheryl Waters

Rostam said this new song was written while “in a fever-dream state during the second week of March last year while [he] was recovering from COVID-19.” -- “I was thinking of three generations while I was writing this song,” Rostam said. “There’s a generation of adults who don’t see global warming as their problem because they think they won’t be impacted by it. Then there’s a generation younger than mine, who will certainly have to deal with what is happening. In the song I have a fantasy of the younger generation arresting the adults and putting them on trial in the streets of cities around the world. Those are the ‘sidewalk courts’ that I sing about in the song.” -- Here's the official video: www.youtube.com

Toronto artist Seth Nyquist (MorMor) joined Cheryl Waters for an interview and a KEXP Live at Home performance last October.: www.youtube.com

The video for "Virile," written and directed Sumney himself, features the singer performing an interpretive dance number that goes from rhythmic West African steps to erratic movement as the track intensifies. According to the video’s description, it “takes place in a post-human world, the last remaining man is caught between Beauty and Brutality’s battle to dominate the earth and his body.”: www.youtube.com

Best wishes, Lauren, to your mom, you, and your partner! -- Songwriter Fran Healy said, "'Sing' - You could replace that word with 'Dance' or 'Cry' or 'Laugh' or just 'Let Go.' 'Cause as an expression, when you're a child, you sing all the time. And then when you get older, you don't - you just go, 'I don't want to, my voice is crap.' But when you're a kid, you don't care! And I think that's what you should always have - a little bit of that still in you. People look at people in the street that sing like they're mad, like, 'What are you singing for?' But it's about having fun and feeling good and all that stuff."

Among the people who awed songwriter Mike Scott and who might be referred to in "The Whole of the Moon" were C.S. Lewis, Prince, Jimi Hendrix, and Pink Floyd's Syd Barrett. Read a discussion of this signature song from The Waterboys: www.songmeaningsandfacts.com

Go back to 2012 for a live KEXP in-studio performance by Plants and Animals: www.youtube.com

From Claud Mintz' upcoming record on Phoebe Bridgers' new imprint, Saddest Factory Records. The album features collaborations with Clairo, Blu DeTiger, Nick Hakim, and Unknown Mortal Orchestra's Jake Portrait. --- Claud had this to say about “Soft Spot” in a press release: “‘… Sigh. I have a soft spot for lots of people, places, and things. This song is about knowing I can’t be with this one specific person, but my feelings won’t go away… I still hope I run into them, or they randomly text me about something. It’s just me romanticizing what I can’t have and being like ‘but what if…’” --- Watch her sing from the back of a rental truck in the official video for "Soft Spot": www.youtube.com

“Try Again” finds a narrator, presumably Shauf, trying to salvage a relationship that just won’t stick. And while the heartache of the scenario writes itself, it’s Shauf’s scene setting with drunken gaffes and awkward exchanges that ground his breezy reflection, culminating in the gut punch of a line “I make a silent toast to the things that I do and don’t miss.” ---- Cheryl selected "Try Again" by this talented songwriter as a KEXP Song of the Day. Download it for yourself here: www.kexp.org

Cuco is a 21-year old self-produced Chicano solo artist from Hawthorne, CA. Cuco, born Omar Banos, first began playing music at the age of 8 years old. Starting with guitar, moving on to learning bass, keys, drums, trumpet, french horn, and mellophone all before the age of 15.: www.npr.org

Amor Elefante is a band from Buenos Aires formed in 2009 by Inés Copertino (keyboards), Rocío Bernardiner (vocals, guitar) and Rocío Fernández (vocals, drums). Go here to order their 2019 release, "Billetes falsos": amorelefante.bandcamp.com

Colombian band Bomba Estéreo have announced their first studio album in four years. "Deja" arrives this spring via Sony US Latin. Here's the official video for the new single, Agua": www.youtube.com Cheryl welcomed Bomba Estereo to our studio in 2013 for a terrific live performance. Watch that entire session: www.youtube.com

British trio London Grammar are releasing a new album, "Californian Soil," on April 9th. Frontwoman Hannah Reid had this to say about this second single from the album: “‘Lose Your Head’ is about power and control in relationships. The lyrics are quite dark, but I wanted to show the song in an upbeat way.”: www.youtube.com

Spillage Village is the Atlanta collective comprised of EarthGang, J.I.D, 6lack, Mereba, brothers Hollywood JB and JurdanBryant and new member Benji. The theme of their wonderful new album is spirituality: tinyurl.com

Swedish group Off the Meds describe themselves as a "techno boy band.": www.thefader.com

You can purchase "On All Fours," the just-release album from London band Goat Girl here: goatgirl.bandcamp.com And...you can watch Goat Girl's sterling performance at KEXP's International Clash Day in London in 2019: www.youtube.com

Congratulations, Alessandra and John, on your good news! Here's the song you danced to at your wedding! -- Want to see a live performance of this song? This is from a concert for KEXP VIP Club members at Seattle's Triple Door in 2015: www.youtube.com

Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio—or as it is sometimes referred to, DLO3—specialize in the lost art of “feel good music.” The trio is composed of Delvon Lamarr on keyboards, Jimmy James on guitar, and Dan Weiss on drums. "I Told You So" is DLO3's sophomore album, released last Friday.: delvonlamarrorgantrio.bandcamp.com

This is for you, Ryan and Eamon on Mercer Island. -- Fuzz is a trio that includes TY Segall, Charles Moothart, and Chad Ubovich. This album, produced by Steve Albini, is their first in five years.: glidemagazine.com

Speaking of Chad Ubovich, LA band Meatbodies began as one of his projects. "Mountain" was selected as a KEXP Song of the Day way back in 2014 and it can be yours now!: www.kexp.org

Thanks, Severn, for this request! -- Watch hand-held video of a live performance of "Even in His Youth" in Denver in 1989: www.youtube.com

Happy anniversary, Carolyn and Mark! -- It was a number one hit in the U.K. in the 1960s. Then it was a top 20 hit in Italy in the 1970s. Finally, in the 1980s, it charted in the United States, where it had gone nearly unnoticed for two decades. And fifty-three years after it was recorded, Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World” was recognized as an iconic standard when its creators were posthumously honored with the Songwriter Hall of Fame’s Towering Song Award in June of 2015 in New York City. Read the story behind this wonderful song: americansongwriter.com

Detroit-born legend and Soul Skate alumnus Chico DeBarge is featured on this song. Here's a review of "Taken Away," the excellent new album by Detroits' Kenny Dixon, Jr. (aka Moodymann): www.residentadvisor.net

Cheryl was the host when Adia Victoria sang "Dope Queen Blues" in the KEXP studio in 2019: www.youtube.com

On Twitter, Adia Victoria declared, "this isn’t a song about hope, this is a howl for change." She wrote, "No other place embodies the American experiment with the precision of the South. It is home to both unspeakable horror and unshakable faith. It is up to us, those who are blessed enough to be Southern, to take up the mantle Brother [John] Lewis left us. As the old saying goes, “As the South goes, so goes the nation.” --- "South Gotta Change" was a recent KEXP Song of the Day. Download it for yourself: www.kexp.org

"How Sharon Van Etten chased down her shadow and made her best album yet..." marks the beginning of this in-depth look at "Remind Me Tomorrow.": www.theringer.com

Ben Gibbard came to our studio in 2018 to sing "Soul Meets Body" live: www.youtube.com

Tim Smith recalled the story of this song: "The lyrics simply started with their first word 'stonecutters.' From that word everything else formed. The scene was set in my mind and the words came very quickly over a few days, which is pretty fast for me. My actual life has never been too exciting, so it made more sense to make things up from the world in my head. The lyrics convey what I was feeling at the time, and still am, really, elements of the countryside, a simpler life, honest work, working for others, the excitement of embarking on a new adventure, and loneliness.": www.songfacts.com

See a great live performance by Woods in the KEXP studio in 2016: www.youtube.com -- Enjoy this in-depth KEXP review of "With Light and With Love": www.kexp.org

Leon Bridges co-wrote and recorded this song for the NFL drama "Concussion." The tune plays over the closing credits of the film, which stars Will Smith as Dr. Bennet Omalu, who in 2002 uncovered a pattern of significant brain injuries in former NFL players. "I'm so glad to have Leon's music in the movie," director Peter Landesman said. "His songs are a shot straight from the heart, full of feeling and emotion, power and heartbreak. And it's a perfect match for the movie, because I could describe Dr. Bennet Omalu the same way - in the movie, he's a spiritual person, standing up on his own against a world of powerful forces, using only his smarts, his courage and the knowledge that he's right."

Spoon performed this live at NYC's Cake Shop in 2010: www.youtube.com

Watch Spoon play "Hot Thoughts" live in the KEXP studio: youtu.be