Cheryl Waters

Perfume Genius will be LIVE on KEXP on Monday, November 15 at 12PM. This session is NOT open to the public, so be sure to tune in. kexp.org Perfume Genius is playing at The Showbox on Saturday, November 13. bit.ly Check out previous KEXP sessions with Perfume Genius: www.youtube.com perfumegenius.bandcamp.com

Upon its release in 2011, 'The Year of Hibernation' was received to widespread critical acclaim, earning Best New Music from Pitchfork, which depicted the album as "compulsively listenable music that explodes at just the right moments"; while NPR described the songs as, "murmurs that bloom into powerful, otherworldly crescendos". Now, a decade later, 'The Year of Hibernation' continues to earn its initial praise. youthlagoonfp.bandcamp.com Youth Lagoon performed live in the KEXP studio in 2015. youtu.be

Atlanta based band fronted by singer Bradford Cox. 'Microcastle' was released in 2008. The album was recorded over the course of one week in April 2008 by Nicolas Vernhes at Rare Book Room Studios in Brooklyn, NY. bit.ly Deerhunter playing "Never Stops" live in Sydney: youtu.be deerhunter.bandcamp.com

Yesterday's song of the day comes from the legendary poet and teacher Abiodun Oyewole, who's history can be traced back to May 19, 1968. On that day he read poetry in Harlem's Mount Morris Park with David Nelson and Gylan Kain in honor of Malcolm X's birthday and became what is now considered the first hip-hop group The Last Poets. To honor the sacred day and his love for the New York neighborhood, Abiodun penned this song, "Harlem" Download "Harlem" and read more about this one here: kexp.org

Today's Song of the Day comes from Breeze, featuring Canadian rapper Cadence Weapon. Toronto-based producer Josh Korody has a long list of credits to his name including Dilly Dally, Beliefs, and Nailbiter but his main solo project is the monosyllabically titled Breeze. For his latest album as Breeze, Only Up, Korody recruited pretty much anybody and everybody in the Toronto scene to join him in collaboration to make a record in only eight days. Members of Orville Peck, Tallies, Vallens, Zoon, Sauna, Fake Palms, Rapport, Praises, Civic TV, Moon King, Blonde Elvis, For Jane, Ducks Ltd, TOPS and Broken Social Scene all have their fingers on the frenetically fun album. Download "Come Around" and read more about this track here: kexp.org

Big Thief will be at The Paramount Theatre on Monday, May 2. bit.ly Big Thief is back with their first new music since 2019’s 'Two Hands', which was their second album release that year following up 'U.F.O.F.' Both tracks we’re released simultaneously and produced by the band’s drummer, James Krichvenia. bigthief.bandcamp.com Big Thief stopped by and played live in the KEXP studio back in 2019. Check out their full performance here: youtu.be

Sinéad O’Connor released 'The Lion and the Cobra' on this day in 1987, her debut album. O'Connor recorded the album while in the later stages of pregnancy with her first child. bit.ly In an April 1988 interview with The Tech, O'Connor said: "Mandinkas are an African tribe. They're mentioned in a book called Roots by Alex Haley, which is what the song is about. In order to understand it, you must read the book." bit.ly

Amyl and The Sniffers shared a live performance recorded exclusively for KEXP and chatted with Troy Nelson in October 2021. Check out the full performance and interview for Live on KEXP at Home: youtu.be Speaking to The FADER, singer Amy Taylor said: "'Got You' is about that feeling you get when you first start seeing someone and you're excited to see them, no matter what shit they got. You just see them at the pub and it feels like the most exciting thing in the world, like you're so lucky they're even there." bit.ly amylandthesniffers.bandcamp.com

Skegss are back with their first new music since the release of their album 'Rehearsal', and it's lovely and wholesome and sentimentally brilliant. It's called 'Bunny Man' and it's named after the band's tour manager, guitar tech, driver and all-round brilliant bloke. It's a really sweet tribute to not just him but to all crews for all bands and the hard work that they put in to keep the ship moving. Check out what the band has to say about this track here: bit.ly skegss.bandcamp.com skegss.com

Santiago Motorizado performed "Amor en el Cine" live during the Extraordinary Week of Actual Cinema - SECA. Recorded in La ERRE, Guatemala City in 2017. youtu.be

'Either/Or' was Elliott Smith's third album released in 1997. The Washington Post wrote about how the album made Smith a star and about the "tragic glamour" that surrounds it: wapo.st

Nashville singer-songwriter Adia Victoria released her new album 'A Southern Gothic' in September. Co-produced by Victoria with Mason Hickman, the album includes appearances by Jason Isbell, Margo Price, and the National’s Matt Berninger. bit.ly Adia Victoria shared a live performance recorded exclusively for KEXP and spoke with Cheryl Waters in February 2021. youtu.be Adia Victoria talks about her latest album, A Southern Gothic, and how it reimagines the south’s whitewashed history. kexp.org adiavictoria.bandcamp.com www.adiavictoria.com

With his past two albums, soulful singer/songwriter Fantastic Negrito (real name: Xavier Amin Dphrepaulezz) won Best Contemporary Blues Album at the Grammy Awards, and with his latest LP, 'Have You Lost Your Mind Yet?', he's poised for a hat-trick. On his new album, Negrito says, "I wanted to write about people I knew, people I grew up with, people whose lives I could personally affect, and whose lives have impacted me," adding, "It was the hardest album I’ve ever written." On this KEXP Song of the Day, Negrito continues to ask the important questions. Read more and download "How Long?" here: kexp.org Fantastic Negrito shared a set of songs recorded for a Live in KEXP at Home session and chatted with Larry Mizell, Jr. in October 2020. Check out the exclusive session, including "How Long?", here: youtu.be fantasticnegritomusic.bandcamp.com

From Wolf Parade's debut album, released in 2005. According to interviews with the band, the album is named after an incident in which the band was removed from the ocean liner Queen Mary for breaking down the door of a ballroom and staging a violent séance. bit.ly Wolf Parade performed live at The Triple Door as part of KEXP’s VIP Club concert series in February 2020. youtu.be wolfparade.bandcamp.com

Wolf Parade performed tracks from 'Cry Cry Cry' live in KEXP's Gathering Space in 2018: youtu.be -- The soaring choruses, rousing anthems, sprawling guitars and chaotic keys that make up Wolf Parade are on proud display over the course of 'Cry Cry Cry'. “The band itself is almost a fifth member of the band, something more or at least different than the sum of its parts,” says Krug. “We don't know who or what is responsible for our sound, it's just something that naturally and consistently comes from this particular combo of musicians.” “Once we got back together, I was playing guitar, writing and singing in a way that I only do while I'm in Wolf Parade,” says Dan Boeckner, who shares primary lyrical and singing duties with Spencer. “It’s just something that I can't access without the other three people in the room.” wolfparade.bandcamp.com

We just hosted Jungle in the KEXP studio on October 22nd. Subscribe to KEXPs YouTube channel to see when this session is posted. In the meantime, check out a couple sessions from 2014 & 2019: www.youtube.com jungle.bandcamp.com www.junglejunglejungle.com

Born in Botswana and raised in Zambia, Sampa Tembo (aka Sampa the Great) moved to Australia in 2014 to start her music career. She's since become a staple in the Australian hip-hop scene, dropping her debut LP 'The Return' in September of 2019. 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.

Foals are coming back in 2022 with a new album, and while they haven’t revealed details including the title or release date, they have shared the album’s first offering. “Wake Me Up” arrives with a new Dave East–directed video. “With ‘Wake Me Up’, I just wanted to write a song about transporting yourself to a better, idyllic situation,” Yannis Philippakis said in a statement. “I think we all had that feeling of the last eighteen months being like a weird fever dream that felt surreal but very affecting. I think we all wished we could have woken up somewhere else at various points.” bit.ly youtu.be

And one more time!! NEW FOALS!!!

Parquet Courts recruited Danger Mouse to produce the album, as the band wanted a way to push themselves outside of their comfort zone. On recruiting Danger Mouse for the album, Andrew Savage said, "I personally liked the fact that I was writing a record that indebted to punk and funk, and Brian’s a pop producer who’s made some very polished records. I liked that it didn’t make sense." In an interview with Billboard, Andrew Savage described the album having a funk influence saying, "there's this duality between joy and anger that I find to be really interesting, and that's something the record kind of deals with at large. I always thought it was really interesting how hardcore could be such an angry music form but could make you feel so positive. There's a lot of moments on the record when all of us are singing at the same time and I guess that's something I kind of associate with hardcore, or Funkadelic." bit.ly

This anthemic song deals with youthful naïveté and mortality. There is a call to action ("Children wake up!"), but it's rather abstract. What's undeniable is the power of the song in a live setting. A highlight from Arcade Fire's debut album, it quickly became a crowd favorite, typically played during their encore. bit.ly "Arcade Fire in concert is probably the closest to a religious experience as I have ever had." bit.ly Arcade Fire performance of "Wake Up" from Coachella 2011: youtu.be

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club performing live in the KEXP studio in 2018. youtu.be Black Rebel Motorcycle Club took their name from a 1953 movie. The name was name of Marlon Brando's motorcycle gang in 'The Wild One'. bit.ly www.blackrebelmotorcycleclub.com

Black Marble are on tour now, with US dates in November, none in Seattle though. Chris Stewart formed Black Marble in 2012; Stewart writes and plays everything himself, and tours with a rotating cast of players. Emerging from the early 2000s New York synth scene, Black Marble carried on the tradition of early synthwave pioneers like Martin Dupont and Modern Art who repurposed synths once reserved for expensive studios and stadium rock superstars. Available widely and cheaply for the first time, these synths became a staple for bedroom artists – connecting wires and twisting knobs into something that felt entirely new. "When I started making songs I got enough positive feedback just to keep me going," Stewart says, "and then I never stopped." blackmarble.bandcamp.com

Nation of Language was the first band to perform in the KEXP Live Room since the pandemic started. Check out this amazing performance! youtu.be nationoflanguage.bandcamp.com

Neko Case performed live in the KEXP studio in 2018. Watch the full session, including "Gumball Blue," here: youtu.be Here's a wonderful 2018 interview with Neko Case about the album "Hell-On": bit.ly nekocaseofficial.bandcamp.com

alt‐J is playing at WaMu Theater with Portugal. The Man & Cherry Glazerr on March 29. bit.ly alt-J releases their fourth album, 'The Dream,' on February 11. The British band’s singer, Joe Newman, on how the trauma that followed the murder of a friend’s sister led to their songs about dark subjects on the new album. bit.ly altjband.com

Juana Molina performed live in the KEXP studio in 2017: youtu.be 'Un Día' is a hypnotic record, restless, alive with melodies that surface imperceptibly before burrowing into your brain, never to leave. It’s a record informed by an ever shifting and polymorphous sense of groove, rhythms writhing over and inside each other, played out on wood and cymbal and bombo legüero, and woven from electronic glitches. “I noticed rhythm on my previous records was tacit, there but concealed,” explains Molina. “For this record, I aimed to make what was obvious to me obvious to others, to bring it to the front, like a hidden layer in Photoshop.” juanamolina.bandcamp.com

Based out of Seattle, Sea Lemon is the new solo project of 26-year-old songwriter Natalie Lew. After picking up an electric guitar for the first time in 2019, Natalie discovered a love for writing, recording, and producing music. Natalie’s first release, “Sunday,” is the first song off of an future upcoming EP, to be released in 2022. bit.ly youtu.be

“‘This Enchanted’ encapsulates everything I wanted to do moving forward from my first album,” Hatchie (Australian musician Harriette Pilbeam) says. “It’s one of the more lighthearted, lyrically vague songs of my new recordings about falling in love." bit.ly Hatchie performed live in the KEXP Studio in 2019: youtu.be hatchie.bandcamp.com

KEXP is presenting the 10th annual SMooCH (Seattle Musicians for Children’s Hospital) Benefit Concert on Saturday, December 11 at The Showbox. https://bit.ly/3GP7gs5 The evening will feature a live performance from Modest Mouse, plus sets from Shaina Shepherd and Josiah Johnson. Every ticket sold directly supports patients and families. General Admission tickets are now sold out, but a limited number of VIP tickets remain. This event is 21+ and proof of vaccination is required. Visit www.smoochforkids.com for more info. https://kexp.org/events/kexp-events/10th-annual-smooch-seattle-musicians-childrens-hospital-benefit-concert/

Sub Pop has (FINALLY!) signed the beloved Pacific Northwest rock band Built to Spill for the entire known universe, to release music for the label in 2022 and beyond. bit.ly They will be playing at The Showbox on Thursday, December 16th. bit.ly Built to Spill will be playing two nights at The Crocodile in January. Wednesday, January 26: bit.ly Thursday, January 27: bit.ly Check out Built to Spill live in the KEXP studio from 2015: youtu.be