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Friday, May 7 2021, 10AM
Welcome to this Friday edition of The Midday Show! Contact us at dj@kexp.org or text 206-903-5397
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This London-based artist’s debut album is a promising set of retro-leaning, jazz-tinged R&B that’s reminiscent at times of Adele along with Amy Winehouse, featuring a warm, soulful sound with acoustic and electric guitars, keyboards, horns, strings and more accompanying her dynamic, smoky vocals and lyrics of love, loss and autonomy.
kexp.org
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Watch the video for "Stop This Flame":
youtu.be
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www.celesteofficial.com
Sampa The Great creates a sense of home on her debut album - “The Return”. A characterful record, its reference points range from classic hip-hop to ancient Southern African sounds. Built on four years of personal and musical soul-searching, it’s an assured statement, the product of meaningful musical connections and of Sampa having to redefine her self-identity away from the comforts of family and old friends.
sampathegreat.bandcamp.com
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Check out the mix that Sampa the Great created for us for Midnight In A Perfect World here, including tracks by 2Pac, Burna Boy, Fela Kuti, Erykah Badu & The Roots, Mos Def and more:
www.kexp.org
Features Piya Malik of the band 79.5 plus a few added guest Hindi vocals.
Retro-soul bandleader and producer Leon Michels is also a founding member of Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings, Menahan Street Band, and Lee Fields & The Expressions, and has played with Charles Bradley as well as Wu-Tang Clan. A frequent collaborator of Dan Auerbach, Michels was a touring member of The Black Keys and co-founded The Arcs.
Read more about Leon Michels in Rolling Stone: bit.ly
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elmichelsaffair.bandcamp.com
Speaking of live music and the weekend..... Here is MGMT performing "Weekend Wars" live in 2008 in Brooklyn, NY:
youtu.be
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In preparation for live shows, here in WA state, here is information on getting a COVID-19 Vaccine:
www.doh.wa.gov
Dry Cleaning chatted with Cheryl Waters and shared an exclusive set for Live on KEXP at Home. Watch it here:
youtu.be
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This album will top many favorites lists of 2021.
drycleaning.bandcamp.com
Growing up in the suburbs of Tel Aviv, Erez was encouraged to try movement as a cathartic outlet for her unruly emotions, reasoning that creative expression could be a powerful anger management technique. She describes her childhood self as “extremely wild and curious,” known for her bad temper and disobedient nature. She started with dance lessons, then transitioned to piano lessons, which led to joining punk bands and indie collectives. Erez was conscripted for a mandatory stint in the IDF’s entertainment group before she ultimately arrived at electronic music in college.
Through electronic production, she learned composition and self-reliance. "The computer became my answer to independence," she explains, and fundamentally transformed the way she could create.
bit.ly
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nogaerez.bandcamp.com
On May 1, 2007, an e-mail sent to those on Beastie Boys' mailing list revealed the album is all instrumental.
OK, here's our blurb about our new album — it spits hot fire! — hot shit! it's official... it's named THE MIX-UP. g'wan. all instrumental record. "see i knew they were gonna do that!" that's a quote from you. check the track listing and cover below. you love us. don't you?"
bit.ly
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Beastie Boys originally wasn’t just a name, it was an acronym.
Beastie Boys formed in New York City in 1981 as a hardcore punk band. The name stood for “Boys Entering Anarchistic States Towards Inner Excellence,” which made no sense with a second “Boys” tacked on at the end.
Read more Beastie Boys facts here:
bit.ly
Jungle are playing the Moore Theatre on Friday, October 22nd!
bit.ly
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London-based electronica duo Jungle will release their third album, Loving in Stereo, this August.
www.junglejunglejungle.com
"Shout out and love to Deb...a home Healthcare nurse for Evergreen hospital....best nurse..and partner ever....
*Into the mystic*...her favorite song"
~ John
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According to a BBC survey, because of this song's cooling, soothing vibe, this is one of the most popular songs for surgeons to listen to whilst performing operations.
bit.ly
Dirty Projectors is a indie rock band from Brooklyn, New York, formed in 2002. The band is the project of singer-songwriter David Longstreth, who has served as the band's sole constant member throughout numerous line-up changes.
dirtyprojectors.bandcamp.com
Celebrating this May with "Pushing Boundaries", KEXPs Tia Ho has put together a fantastic article.
"Make no mistake, anti-Asian racism is as old as the myth of the American Dream – but in the last year, we’ve seen just how fragile and conditional Asian proximity to whiteness is, with people of Asian descent (or, let’s be real, East Asian-looking people because most really can’t tell the difference) going from the already fucked model minority to the physical embodiment of death."
Read the full article here:
kexp.org
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CHAI shared a live performance recorded exclusively for KEXP and spoke with DJ Morgan in April 2021. Watch this performance & interview, just posted earlier today:
youtu.be
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CHAI's new album 'WINK' comes out on Sub Pop on May 21st:
chaiofficial.bandcamp.com
"Barabajagal" was released on the 1969 album with the same name. The instrumental backing is provided by The Jeff Beck Group.
bit.ly
Editors' 'The Weight of Your Love' was released in 2013.
On the first recording sessions of the band's fourth studio album, frontman Tom Smith stated that it had been "a long, hard couple of years and it got pretty dark because whenever we tried creating new songs it wasn’t good enough. Chris's heart wasn’t in it any more. For a year, we'd leave rehearsals feeling very negative and uninspired."
bit.ly
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Watch Editors 2018 session in the KEXP Live Room:
youtu.be
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editors.bandcamp.com
"Good day, Cheryl! I wanna request some Russian Circles and dedicate it to my favorite Seattle nurse, Ashley! She's my hero among heroes!!! Have a great weekend, KEXP"
~ XoxO -Adam "Superfan" Noble Bass
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Perhaps the most immediately apparent characteristic of the fifth Russian Circles album, Memorial is its wide range of emotion. Vacillating from somber-yet-soaring melodies on one track to pummeling metal heft on the next, Memorial sounds like an album with split personalities.
russiancirclesband.com
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russiancircles.bandcamp.com
"Reckoner" features Thom Yorke's falsetto, "frosty, clanging" percussion, a "meandering" guitar line, piano, and a string arrangement by guitarist Jonny Greenwood. Yorke said the guitar riff was a homage to Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante, "in my sort of clunky 'can't-really-pick' kind of way".
bit.ly
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Watch Radiohead perform "Reckoner" live at The Hospital Club in London in 2008:
youtu.be
”I wrote ‘On the Way’ in response to the shootings in Atlanta and the rise in violence against Asians. I think culturally Asian Americans aren’t used to having to center ourselves in the conversation and to stick up for ourselves. But we have a right to express our anger and our grief and our fear and sadness, and we have a right to be heard. We have a right to feel safe in our own homes and own places of business and on the streets of our own neighborhoods. We have a right to be treated with dignity and respect as human beings, and we belong here.”
www.kexp.org
tomomusic.bandcamp.com
A review of "Cold" says:
"So much of quarantine has been spent in silence — for time and lives lost, the grievance of possibilities, a moment of introspection — but Cold might be the reason to sing again, even as the wind turns to rain."
bit.ly
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One of the newest additions to the R&B/Soul category, Lucy Park started her singer/songwriter journey in 2018. The London/LA based artist has become more and more accustomed to the craft evolving from playing covers on her guitar to penning her own timeless records.
www.lucyparkmusic.com
The Cribs put power-pop patron saint Ric Ocasek behind the boards for their sixth LP, resulting in a scruffy, buzzy and very hooky guitar album that doesn’t quite scan as "punk" or "indie."
pitchfork.com
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The Cribs - "Different Angle" live in Reading 2015:
youtu.be
Hot Snakes performed live at The Little London Plane during Upstream Music Fest in 2018. Watch the full set, including "Six Wave Hold-Down" here:
youtu.be
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Swami John Reis and Rick Froberg have been making noises together since high school. In 1986 it was the post-hardcore chime of Pitchfork. In 1991 it was the sprawling, multi-faceted arrangements of Drive Like Jehu. In 1999 it was the lean, mean swagger of Hot Snakes. Reis and Froberg are responsible for some of the most turbulent rock and roll of their, or any, generation.
After a 14-year hiatus from the studio, Hot Snakes have kicked down the door back into our lives with their 2018 album, 'Jericho Sirens'.
hotsnakes.bandcamp.com
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The Hives performed "Hate to Say I Told You So" live on KEXP's broadcast from Doug Fir during MusicfestNW in 2012. Watch the full set here:
youtu.be
KEXP review of Dinosaur Jr.'s new album, 'Sweep It Into Space':
"This Amherst, MA band’s 12th album (and fifth since reuniting in 2005) is an excellent set of grungy, hook-filled rock. Co-produced by Kurt Vile, the album combines fuzzy/jangly guitar riffs and incendiary solos, punchy rhythms and wistful melodies with J Mascis’s genial drawl and lyrics revolving around alienation and connection."
kexp.org
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dinosaurjr.bandcamp.com
"KEXP Nurse Appreciation Week!
First of all, I want to thank you for honoring us as nurses. This last year, more than ever, has been a struggle. The risks and expectations have been incredibly high, and, at times, it feels that we are under-appreciated; so your efforts to honor our profession and our contributions to the pandemic does not go unnoticed. Thanks!"
~ Mark, RN @ Harborview
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"Mark Lanegan lived for a time on Seattle's First Hill, site of the University of Washington-operated hospital. Its hard to say how much of his mystical lyrics arose from his own experiences or the universality of any troubled soul seeking mercy, acceptance and solace."
bit.ly
"Hi! My husband Sean is an ER nurse. I've been so proud of how hard he's worked through the whole pandemic, especially the truly frightening early days and weeks. He really likes Wild Cub and it would be great if you could play anything from them for him! Thanks to all the nurses out there who are the backbone of the medical system."
~ Marci
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In 2013, Wild Cub performed "Thunder Clatter" live for KEXP listeners from Mellow Johnny's Bike Shop during SXSW. Watch that whole performance here:
youtu.be
Japanese Breakfast is scheduled to play the Neptune Theatre in Seattle on September 25 with Luna Li!
bit.ly
Michelle Zauner (Japanese Breakfast) will release her third album, 'Jubilee', in June.
michellezauner.bandcamp.com
Her new memoir, "Crying in H Mart," came out April 20th:
www.cryinginhmart.com
Faye Webster's recent Live on KEXP at Home performance included this song, which she said "makes me feel like a badass for once.":
youtu.be
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'I Know I'm Funny haha' comes out June 25th on Secretly Canadian.
fayewebster.bandcamp.com
Can you imagine having 1 billion dogs?!!
Melina Duterte, the Oakland-based multi-instrumentalist who records as Jay Som, is a rock songwriter with a pop soul. This was the KEXP Song of the Day on 04/05/2017.
Read about it, subscribe and download here:
www.kexp.org
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jaysom.bandcamp.com
The Twin Cities-based musician, artist, and community organizer co-curated a gallery at the Minneapolis Institute of Art to create a dialog between works by Black visual artists from the United States, Africa, the greater African Diaspora, and this new album. Artworks by Kevin Beasley, Bisa Butler, Jordan Casteel, Deborah Roberts, Cinga Samson, Billie Zangewa, and others explore themes of identity, culture, spirituality, and power through the embodiment of Black lived experience.
I Self explains, "'Rituals of Resilience' is about the act of survival under intense pressure and heat. A place to hide when being in your body isn't safe. A reimagining of new worlds and possibilities. The creative culture of Indigenous and diasporic ethnic groups of African descent surviving and dismantling 400 hundred years of white supremacy ...through a visceral fabric of repetitious intentional movements, vibrations, gatherings, acts, symbols, and codes."
improvisedweaponry.bandcamp.com
IDLES performed this one live in the KEXP studio in 2018. Watch the full set here:
youtu.be
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LIVE SHOWS AGAIN!!! IDLES are playing two nights here in Seattle with Lithics:
Tuesday, November 9 - Showbox - bit.ly
Wednesday, November 10 - Showbox SoDo - bit.ly
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idlesband.bandcamp.com
IDLES Live on KEXP at Home in Oct. 2020. Have you seen this one yet?
youtu.be
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IDLES are playing two nights here in Seattle with Lithics:
Tuesday, November 9 - Showbox - bit.ly
Wednesday, November 10 - Showbox SoDo - bit.ly
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idlesband.bandcamp.com
In October 2018, shame played live in the KEXP Gathering Space. You can enjoy live video from the performance here: bit.ly
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shamebanduk.bandcamp.com
KEXP launched a new episode of the series Isolated Tracks on YouTube -- the series dissects songs you love with the artists who made them!
Isolated Tracks Ep. 6 features Bartees Strange talking to KEXP Audio Engineer Julian Martlew about his song "Boomer". Check it out here: youtu.be
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barteesstrange.bandcamp.com
Prism Tats opened their 2016 session live in the KEXP studio with "Pacifist Masochist". Watch the full set here:
youtu.be
The album is defined by growth, transformation and questions, but it doesn't provide all the answers. It’s rooted in an emotional rawness, but its layers are soft, intricate and warm, full of exquisitely crafted pop songs that blast sunlight and high energy in the face of anxiety, solitude and crippling self-doubt.
wearethedrums.bandcamp.com
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Check out The Drums live in the KEXP studio from a few sessions we have on YouTube:
www.youtube.com
Combo Chimbita performed live in the KEXP studio in 2019, as part of KEXP's series Immigrants Songs. Watch it here:
youtu.be
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Combo Chimbita’s second studio album sees the visionary quartet drawing from ancestral mythologies and musical enlightenment to unearth the awareness of Ahomale, the album’s cosmic muse.
combochimbita.bandcamp.com
"It's a melting pot to be sure, and the band has a tendency to go heavy on the atmosphere and light on the hooks, but there’s never any doubt that it’s a brew tended over by some awfully talented cooks."
www.allmusic.com
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Check out DeVotchKa's live sessions here in the KEXP studio:
www.youtube.com
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devotchkamusic.bandcamp.com
Stevie Wonder said about the song: "I think that the reason that I talked about being superstitious is because I really didn’t believe in it. I didn’t believe in the different things that people say about breaking glasses or the number 13 is bad luck, and all those various things. And to those, I said, ‘When you believe in things you don’t understand, then you suffer.’"
www.npr.org
The Beatles used this to end many of their early live performances. It was always a huge hit when they played it in concert, and was chosen as their opening song at their Shea Stadium performance on August 15, 1965 - the first rock concert held in a stadium.
John Lennon admitted that he screamed the lyrics. The Beatles had to sing loud when they did countless live shows in their early years.
bit.ly
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"Twist and Shout" - Live On The Ed Sullivan Show:
youtu.be
Spencer Krug takes 'Expo 86's' first shot with the chatty "Cloud Shadow on the Mountain", a jumpy, almost paranoiac ramble. Read the full Pitchfork review of the 2010 album release here: pitchfork.com
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Check out Wolf Parade live at The Triple Door as part of KEXP’s VIP Club concert series from earlier this year! youtu.be
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wolfparade.bandcamp.com
Dan Boeckner on vocals for the Wolf Parade double shot!
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The album is named after Wolf Parade drummer Arlen Thompson's sound studio, Mount Zoomer; the name of the studio references "a B.C. euphemism for magic mushrooms", and also nods to the Montreal band A Silver Mount Zion.
bit.ly
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wolfparade.bandcamp.com
"My wonderful wife Keri is an emergency nurse at Kaiser. She loves the Cure and as a nurse she is part of the cure, so could you play something from them for her?"
~ Brian
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Robert Smith said, “‘Friday I’m in Love’ is a dumb pop song, but it’s quite excellent actually, because it’s so absurd. It’s so out of character – very optimistic and really out there in happy land. It’s nice to get that counterbalance.”: www.rollingstone.com
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The Cure perform "Friday I'm In Love" at Glastonbury 2019:
youtu.be
Nightclubber Lang, Destro Destructo, and DJ Tre are the NW hiphop trio Boom Bap Project. This is their first new music in almost 15 years.
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The group call the song "an ode to the greatest fight in boxing history and a nod to the legend Marvelous Marvin Hagler (RIP). The song was selected by Larry Mizell, Jr. as a recent KEXP Song of the Day:
kexp.org
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boombapproject.bandcamp.com