Cheryl Waters

Happy Tuesday and welcome to The Midday show with the delightful Cheryl Waters! Thanks so much for listening! -- The Weather Station will be LIVE on KEXP this Thursday, February 17th, at noon! They are playing The Tractor Tavern (with Cassandra Jenkins) that night. --- Like this song? (Sure, you do!) It's available to you as a free KEXP Song of the Day: www.kexp.org

Faye Webster will be at Neumos tonight, Tuesday, February 15th, 2022! -- Faye Webster performed "In A Good Way" and other songs from her great "I Know I'm Funny Haha" in a live performance for KEXP listeners last March: www.youtube.com

The band intended the song as a critique of “politicians who prioritize economics above the environment,” and fittingly enough much of “Kyoto” is an eerie churn built on mournful Radiohead-esque piano chords and spectral vocals from Lotti Benardout and Arthur Delaney. The track comes with a video directed by Oli Prout; at first, it seems to be simply depicting sushi chefs at work, with interjections of Benardout prone and singing into the camera. The reveal of how the two go together is pretty creepy!: www.youtube.com -- Haelso was Live on KEXP in March, 2019: youtu.be.

Sascha Ring, better known by the stage name Apparat, is a German electronic musician. He produces ambitious, emotive electronic music in a wide range of styles, from glitchy techno to exquisitely orchestrated experimental pop.: www.allmusic.com

Here's the lead single of Kurt Vile's newly announced ninth solo LP, (watch my moves), out April 15 on Verve Records. The record will be 15 tracks of what Vile has dubbed "fried" pop — combining his rock background with folk-country fundamentals. “It’s about songwriting. It’s about lyrics. It’s about being the master of all domains in the music,” he says. “I’m always thinking about catchy music, even though it’s fried, or sizzled, out. It’s my own version of a classic thing—it’s moving forward and backward at the same time.” -- He'll be at The Moore Theatre (with Chastity Belt) on Friday, May 20th, in support of the new album.

Don't miss the video for "Elevator Operator," featuring Courtney Barnett in elevator operator garb. She meets Sleater-Kinney, Jeff Tweedy, and (among many others) Magda Szubanski, the Drones, Tim Rogers, and Paul Kelly.: www.youtube.com

"Fusing lo-fi production with a singer-songwriter sensibility, Phair helped shaped what would become “indie rock” and defied expectations of what a female rock star could be." Here's a look back at Liz Phair's sophomore album: www.udiscovermusic.com

Cheryl was the host when Speedy Ortiz performed "Lucky 88" and other songs in this great live performance from 2018: www.youtube.com

Dehd has announced their third album, "Blue Skies," out on May 27th. -- They'll be here in Seattle on Thursday, May 5th, at Neumos. -- Here's the video for this terrific new single, "Bad Love": www.youtube.com

Hannah Jadagu will play Madame Lou's on Thursday, March 3rd, 2022. -- This BEAUTIFUL voice is coming from the very talented 18 year old Hannah who's creative recording process consists of recording all of her music through her iPhone 7. Using Garageband iOS, an iRig, microphone, and guitar! ========= More about Hannah Jadagu on SubPop: www.subpop.com

Amsterdam-based alternative act Klangstof is comprised of musicians Koen van de Wardt, Wannes Salomé, and Erik Buschmann.: www.klangstof.com -- Their new EP, "Ocean View," will be released on March 4th. Here's a look at the title song and the EP: northerntransmissions.com

The Concretes are an eight-member Swedish band. Go here for a very positive review of their eponymous debut: pitchfork.com

Ty Segall performed live with The Freedom Band in the KEXP studio in 2017. They opened with "Break a Guitar." Check out the full session here: youtu.be -- Watch Ty Segall 'Break A Guitar' with Fred Armisen: www.youtube.com

Happy birthday to Gary Clark, Jr., born on February 15, 1984.!: www.garyclarkjr.com -- Here's an extended live version from The Fonda Theater in Hollywood in 2017: www.youtube.com

Ohhh....Big Thief will play The Paramount Theatre on Monday, May 2nd, 2022. -- This wonderful song is one of 20 on their just-released new album, "Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You": floodmagazine.com

Destroyer will perform at The Neptune Theatre on Saturday, April 23rd, 2022. -- Destroyer (the project of Dan Bejar) is releasing a new album, "LABYRINTHITIS," on March 25 via Merge. "LABYRINTHITIS" is the follow-up to 2020’s "Have We Met." It was written mainly in 2020 and recorded in spring 2021. Bejar once again worked with regular collaborator John Collins, this time under lockdown conditions, with Bejar in Vancouver and Collins on the nearby remote Galiano Island.

Brother Ali will be at The Crocodile on Saturday, March 12th, 2022. -- This new single was produced by Ant and Brother Ali.: www.brotherali.com

Did you know that you can get a free download of this song when you buy a "Maybe It Will All Blow Over" T-shirt from Brighton's Laundromat?: laundromatmusica.bandcamp.com

Use KEXP's streaming archive to go back to 11:00 a.m. last Friday, February 11th, to hear Cheryl's interview with Britt Daniel and the playing of "Lucifer on the Sofa" in its entirety.: www.kexp.org -- Here's the transcript of Cheryl's conversation with Britt Daniel: www.kexp.org

This is Spoon's smoldering version of Smog's "Held." Britt Daniel said, "I think the first thing I was drawn to was the riff, but also the lyrics. These lyrics about opening yourself up to vulnerability and a love connection for the first time. That appealed to me, it was something I was going through then. I related. It's just a fantastic, beautiful lyric, like so many of his [Bill Callahan] songs have."

"The [Seattle] band consists of three guys — Joe Syverson on acoustic guitar/singer, Chris Early on bass, and Brian Hoyne on drums. They're strangely intricate and melodic for such a rhythmic compilation of instruments.": threeimaginarygirls.com

Nation of Language will be playing here in Seattle at The Crocodile on March 24, 2022! -- Watch them perform "Wounds of Love" live at KEXP in October: www.youtube.com

Ride's Andy Bell released his second solo album, "Flicker," last Friday, February 11th. It's an 18-track double album that stems from songs he'd started at his former Beadie Eye bandmate Gem Archer's studio well before the pandemic. Bell says in some ways it represents a bit of artistic time travel, from the album art which features an outtake from the photo sessions for Ride's 1990 album "Nowhere" to the songs, some of which date back to the '80s.: bit.ly

Orville Peck has announced his sophomore studio album, "Bronco," out on April 8th. “This is my most impassioned and authentic album to date,” Orville remarked in a statement. “I was inspired by country rock, ’60s & ’70s psychedelic, California, and even bluegrass with everything being anchored in country. Bronco is all about being unrestrained and the culmination of a year of touring, writing in isolation and going through and ultimately emerging from a challenging personal time.” "C'mon Baby, Cry" is the lead single. Here's the video: www.youtube.com

Hiss Golden Messenger will be here at The Neptune Theatre on Friday, February 25th, 2022. -- Cheryl welcomed Hiss Golden Messenger to the KEXP studio in 2016 for a live performance that included "Biloxi": www.youtube.com

Katie Crutchfield about this song: "This song is so f**ked up. I knew when I wrote it that I will never be able to really tell the story, because it’s not my place. It’s about someone I have known for a very long time who struggled badly with addiction. It starts with this imagery of the South from my youth and conjures this innocence. Then the middle part takes you into the thick of the addiction: it’s truly dire, it’s life or death. I have struggled, but not like this person did. So it’s just relating to them, trying to connect, and almost feeling like you’re getting ready to say goodbye. At the end it’s this whole thing of recovery and trying to do the next right thing in life. It ends in this sweet little place that says, 'We’re doing our best.'"

Watch the live version of this Bright Eyes' cover by Conor Oberst and Phoebe Bridgers in the KEXP studio: www.youtube.com

Michael Stipe explained to Q magazine in 1992: "The first line is about Laocoon, a freak mythological figure who had two sons. All three were devoured by serpents. It was a popular theme in Renaissance painting. There's also John Barth's novel End Of The Road where a statue of Laocoon features heavily. Oh, I did change the gender in the song from a man to a woman." -- Want to see a murky live performance from 1983?: www.youtube.com

Yard Act will be LIVE on KEXP at noon on Monday, April 18! (Broadcast Only) They'll play at Madame Lou's (The Crocodile) later that night. -- The Leeds band's new album "The Overload" has been touted (already) for this year's "ten best": diymag.com

Frontman Yannis Philippakis said of this new single, “Musically, ‘2am’ is one of the poppiest songs we’ve ever written. “It’s about repetitive cycles of destructive behaviour, which I think lots of people can relate to, and certainly it’s an expression of something that I struggle with. There’s something cathartic about expressing that feeling to this upbeat music that’s got a sense of release and the hope of resolution.” See the video: www.youtube.com -- Foals' new album, "Life Is Yours," has not yet received a release date.

Parquet Courts will perform live at Showbox at the Market on Friday, April 22nd, 2022. -- See them debut this song on the Ellen show: www.youtube.com

You can see Sasami at Barboza on Sunday, April 10th, 2022. -- "Sasami Ashworth, 31, barreled headlong into heavy metal and industrial sounds on her second album, 'Squeeze,' out Feb. 25 via Domino." "Being in lockdown definitely left a lot of space for fantasy, because I wasn’t doing anything else except for making this music,” Ashworth says. “The pandemic was f**king carnage, the protests were extreme injustice and devastation. For me, music is like gasoline for your feelings. So, I wanted to make music that more-marginalized people could relate to and use as fuel for their own experiences and catharsis.” Here's an interview with the artist: bit.ly

"'Wolf Like Me' fully captures what TV on the Radio was doing with 'Return to Cookie Mountain'. It takes that album’s signature dark, fuzzy indie-rock style, adds lyrics that touch on both the fantastic and the mundane, and wraps it all up in a tidy, four-minute, 39-second package—and it’s one hell of ride." Read an essay about this song (and see the video): bit.ly

Australian (now based in Berlin) electro-pop band Parcels will be LIVE on KEXP on Wednesday, February 23rd, at 12:00 PM. Parcels will be at The Showbox on Tuesday, March 1st, 2022. : www.axs.com --

Don't miss Jungle's live in-studio performance at KEXP last October.: www.youtube.com

"This song is built on a gorgeously simple, jangling melody and an acoustic guitar-based arrangement upon which Fraser and Buckley’s voices stand. The song also includes some of Buckley’s most poetic and naked lyrics. The song came out of a brief and extremely intense romantic affair between Buckley and Fraser at a time that Fraser’s marriage and band, the Cocteau Twins, were both coming to an end. Fraser has talked openly about the song being too difficult for her to listen to because she still feels so emotionally connected with to it. This is certainly a problem compounded by Buckley’s sudden and unexpected early death by drowning in 1997, shortly after the pair had cut the duet." Read more about this beautiful and powerful song: bit.ly

You can hear artist Silvana Estrada at The Sunset Tavern tonight, Tuesday, February 15th, 2022. -- Read a New York Times article about her stunning debut album, "Marchita": www.nytimes.com

Chaz Bear, aka Toro y Moi drops 'MAHAL' in April! The follow-up to 2019’s ‘Outer Peace’ was largely completed in Bear’s studio in Oakland last year, and features contributions from Unknown Mortal Orchestra‘s Ruban Neilson, Neon Indian’s Alan Palomo, Sofie Royer and the Mattson 2. “I wanted to make a record that featured more musicians on it than any other record of mine,” Bear explained in a statement. “To have them live on that record feels grounded, bringing a communal perspective to the table.”