Cheryl Waters

Good morning, happy Fat Tuesday, and welcome to The Midday Show with the fabulous Cheryl Waters! March is Women's History Month and, today, we're observing International Women's Day all day. -- "Throughout the month of March join KEXP for International Women's Month, celebrating amazing women making music—through the course of music history and today. All month you'll hear featured voices, mixes, live sessions, historical highlights, and of course, a little more of the music you hear all year long on KEXP." : www.kexp.org -- Sister Sledge is four sisters whose last names really are Sledge. They were a backup band for various artists before releasing this album, which was their first. This was their biggest hit. It was written and produced by Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers; their band Chic had a hit at the time with "Le Freak." Rodgers and Edwards got the idea for the song's title when they first met the sisters.: bit.ly

In the gorgeous video for this song, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Dev Hynes play a couple whose lifelong romance plays out in 6 minutes: www.youtube.com

Arlo grew up in South West London but is half Nigerian, a quarter Chadian and a quarter French. As a sensitive and shy teen, she wrote short stories to create her own fantasy worlds as she struggled with her identity in the real one: "I'm a black kid who can't dance for shit, listens to emo music and currently has a crush on some girl in my Spanish class," she says of her upbringing. Here's the official video for an early song, "Cola": www.youtube.com -- Arlo Parks shared a live performance recorded exclusively for KEXP and spoke with Gabriel Teodros. "Cola" was one of the fantastic songs she played for us. Check out this gorgeous session here: youtu.be

Laetitia Tamko, better known by her stage name Vagabon, is a Cameroonian-American self-taught multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter and music producer based in New York City. Read a New Yorker profile of this artist: www.newyorker.com -- Watch a Live on KEXP performance here: www.youtube.com

Out of Portland, Oregon, Y La Bamba is a Latin indie alternative/experimental band led by singer-songwriter and guitarist Luz Elena Mendoza. She is a first generation Mexican American, and sings in both English and Spanish. -- Oooh, want to see a wonderful live performance by Y La Bamba on KEXP Live at Home last year?: www.youtube.com

Beatrice Laus, known professionally as beabadoobee, is a Filipino-British singer-songwriter. Watch her Live on KEXP at Home last May: bit.ly. -- KEXP selected her song "Are You Sure" from her 2019 album "Space Cadet" as a free KEXP song of the Day: www.kexp.org

Australian artist Hatchie (Harriette Pilbeam) will be at Neumos on Saturday, May 21st, 2022. -- She says '“Quicksand” is about dealing with the realisation that you’ll never be satisfied. I was feeling guilty and ungrateful for not being happy about a few different things in my life that were technically going well. I had to work through some tough learned thought processes and emotions that had been working away for years to try to understand how to be happy with my present, and stop fixating on my past and future.' : www.youtube.com

New Orleans-based artist, Solange wrote, arranged, and co-produced EVERY song on 'A Seat at the Table'. In a breakdown of this track, Solange told Song Exploder: “I’ve had an extremely difficult relationship with meditating and trying to silence my brain, which is what so much of this song is about.” : songexploder.net -- In the song’s video, we see Solange alone and with fellow black women in grand, gorgeous spaces; the background’s scenic beauty is a vital component of the song’s persistent message. With Raphael Saadiq on bass, the beat is remarkably spacious, giving Solange plenty of room to detail her truth.: www.youtube.com

Left at London, stylized /@/, is the stage name of Nat Puff, a singer-songwriter, producer, and comedian from Washington state. : leftatlondon.bandcamp.com -- Cheryl selected this song by queer artist Nat Puff (Left at London) for a recent Song of the Day! You can download it for free here: www.kexp.org

Polica have just released "Rotting," their first new song in two years. The Minneapolis-based group has also just announced a tour which includes The Neptune Theatre in Seattle on Thursday, July 7th, 2022. : bit.ly

This track by Brooklyn-based band Barrie (Notice the clever alliteration!) was featured by Cheryl Waters as the KEXP Song of the Day back in 2019: www.kexp.org The band has described themselves as "Fleetwood Mac if they couldn’t afford cocaine" -- and they recruited lead singer Sabine Holler on Tinder! "We found Sabine and never did it again. We deleted Tinder, threw the phone in the ocean, changed our names, and made a blood oath to never speak of it again." winspear.biz barrie.bandcamp.com

We loved it when L.A. Witch came to the KEXP studio back in 2017 for a live performance that included "Get Lost": www.youtube.com

Blackwater Holylight will perform at Chop Suey on Friday, June 10th, 2022. -- This Portland-based band's song "Sunrise" was selected as a free KEXP Song of the Day. It's available for you right here: www.kexp.org

Pavivalkova posted on Facebook: "Putin started war against Ukraine. For our foreign friends around the world — support Ukraine, go to the protest for Ukraine in your country. Pray for PEACE, pray for Ukraine 💙💛" From the heart of Ukraine, Pavivalkova is a multi-instrument trio who mix gentleness with brutal irony in their straightforward lyrics. The band sings in Russian, Ukrainian, English, Spanish and French, and classify their music as "sensitive minimalism." Show love and support for Ukranian musicians: panivalkova.bandcamp.com

It was Aretha's idea to cover this Otis Redding song. The Queen of Soul came up with the arrangement, added the "sock it to me" lines, and played piano on the track. Her sister Carolyn, who sang backup on the album, also helped work up the song. -- The "ree, ree, ree, ree..." refrain is a nod to Franklin's nickname, Ree (as in A-Ree-tha). -- When asked why the song was so successful, Aretha explained, "Everyone wants to be respected."

Judy Mowatt is famous as one of the I-Threes in Bob Marley & The Wailers. Here's a "Reggae in Seattle" tribute to this artist, who was strongly influenced by Aretha Franklin: reggaeinseattle.com

A contemporary of Aretha Franklin and Etta James, Irma Thomas is known as the "Soul Queen of New Orleans"! Read a biography and an interview with blues vocalist Irma Thomas: www.thehistorymakers.org

This was the first single from the band's second album, "Show Your Bones." -- Check out the desert-themed video for "Gold Lion": www.youtube.com

Cheryl was the host when Canadian duo/twin sisters Tegan and Sara Quin played live in the KEXP studio. Their performance included "Walking With a Ghost": www.youtube.com

Can you believe that "Whip Smart," Liz Phair's second album, came out in 1994? Revisit this sophomore album that defied expectations of what a female rock star could be: www.udiscovermusic.com

La Luz's November in-studio live performance included "The Pines": www.youtube.com

Read today's article by KEXP's Rachel Stevens on "The Complications of International Women's Month (or Why I Love Neko Case)": bit.ly -- Neko Case's parents are of Ukrainian ancestry: www.rollingstone.com

Jessica Dobson notes that "Lights Out" was “born out of a season where it felt like I couldn’t see farther than a foot in front of me for quite some time.” She continues, “There was a pestilent cloud of darkness around me, but I was fighting to keep my spirit intact and not fall into a deeper depression. Ultimately, it’s a song about the desire of wanting to be in a more life-giving place but knowing that you might need to be carried by the ones you love to get there. Vulnerability is always more powerful than trying to keep it together on your own.” -- Check out KEXP's presentation of "Lights Out," including the animated video created by frontwoman Jessica Dobson and her husband/drummer Peter Mansen: bit.ly

This Atlanta garage band's "Make It Right" was selected as a KEXP Song of the Day: www.kexp.org --

The Ettes are vocalist/guitarist Lindsay "Coco" Hames, drummer Maria "Poni" Silver, and bassist Jeremy "Jem" Cohen, a trio of New Yorkers who became Los Angelenos. -- Want to see them live? Watch this KEXP in-studio performance: www.youtube.com

Wild Flag featured Sleater-Kinney guitarist Carrie Brownstein, Mary Timony (Helium), Janet Weiss (Quasi, Sleater-Kinney) and Rebecca Cole (The Minders). -- Spoon frontman Britt Daniel produced "Glass Tambourine." -- " 'Glass Tambourine' is a song that exemplifies a lot of why I love being in Wild Flag," Brownstein says. "It starts off as a warped pop song and then veers into something more psychedelic. There are melodies, harmonies and then a fair amount of chaos. For this very reason, it's one of our favorite songs to play live. There is an improvisational aspect at the end, and we rarely know what's going to happen.": n.pr

Chastity Belt will play The Moore Theatre (with Kurt Vile & The Violators) on Friday, May 20th, 2022. -- Go here to purchase "No Regerts": chastity-belt.bandcamp.com

Here's a wonderful feature article on Brittany Howard's personal history: relix.com -- Cheryl welcomed Brittany Howard into the KEXP studio for a live performance of songs from her debut solo album "Jaime" in 2020.: youtu.be.

Ana Tijoux: "It’s our imperative to take on the task of re-empowering the concept of feminism, and to break the chains of misleading and victimizing publicity. Women fighters have their skirts on, so to speak, fighting a war perpetuated throughout all of history, and for all of the women who went before, it’s our turn to ally ourselves, deepen our commitment and act.": bit.ly -- See Ana Tijoux performing "Antipatriarca" on KEXP Live at Home in 2020: www.youtube.com

See our wonderful Eva Walker and The Black Tones in a live performance in the KEXP studio: www.youtube.com

Nilüfer Yanya will be at The Crocodile on Saturday, May 21, 2022. -- Her sophomore album will be out this Friday, March 4th, 2022: www.stereogum.com -- "Stabilise" was a KEXP Song of the Day. Subscribe and download this song for free here: www.kexp.org

Octo Octa is the project of Maya Bouldry-Morrison, currently based in Brookyln octoocta.bandcamp.com -- Pitchfork calls her 2019 album, "Resonant Body," "a celebration of the qualities—intimacy, ambiguity, physicality, release—that lead to dancefloor catharsis.": pitchfork.com

Go_A (Ukrainian: Ґоу_Ей) is a Ukrainian electro-folk band first formed in 2012 who were set to represent Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 in Rotterdam, Netherlands, before that contest was cancelled due to Covid. They placed fifth the following year with this song, "SHUM." -- They proudly represent their country. The lead singer grew up near Chernobyl, has one lung, and still taught herself to sing in the traditional folk way. NPR recently featured the band in an article: n.pr

Sharon Van Etten originally wrote the just-released “Used to It” for the HBO documentary "Baby God," which follows a fertility specialist who impregnates women with his own sperm. “Ultimately, the film team changed their musical direction, but I found myself welcomely challenged to the idea of writing a song about the concept of family, connection through blood, nature vs nurture, while attempting to incorporate ideas of love and the complexities of science and technology,” Van Etten said. -- Of the video for “Used to It,” Van Etten added: “Together [with the song], they helped me convey the feelings of internal struggles, while also finding space for oneself and embracing that pain in order to move on.”: www.youtube.com

New Orleans artist Hurray for the Riff Raff (Alynda Segarra) will play The Crocodile on Friday, April 1st, 2022. -- Listen to an NPR podcast that focuses on her new album "Life on Earth," which they call "an affirmation of humanity":n.pr

Romy Vager of Australian band RVG wrote of this song: "Alexandra is a song which came together quickly, but which felt like it uncompromisingly needed to be recorded. The lyrics, [which] describe a story of personal oppression at the hands of one’s community, [are] an allegory for the broader oppression marginalized people are subjected to." bit.ly -- They performed this song on Live at Home on KEXP last November: www.youtube.com

Oh, it was wonderful to see Katie Crutchfield (Waxahatchee) playing live in our Gathering Space last September!: www.youtube.com

Margo Price explained about this song---"I've been passionate about the pay gap for years. A lot of people don't believe that it even exists and this song is for them. Most women in the US are getting 79 cents to every dollar a man makes. It's not set to close for another 100 years and I'll be long gone by then, but I want to be remembered as someone who fought for equality for all." -- Here's a live performance of "Pay Gap": www.youtube.com

Before going solo in 2005, Cahoone was best known as the drummer for Carissa’s Wierd and, briefly, Band of Horses. "From Where I Started" is her fourth album. -- That's Jay Kardong's pedal steel that accompanies her on this beautiful song. Watch a live performance of "Better Woman" on KEXP: www.youtube.com

"Keep me, don't let me go When I'm losing my head Well, if the angels won't have me Well, meet me at the bar-room instead...": songsear.ch

This single is from London Grammar's third album, "Californian Soil," released last spring. Upon the song's release, singer Hannah Reid shared, "I’ve always loved pop music. Some of my favorite writers and singers are female, many who are younger than me but who are absolutely smashing the pop world with amazing songs." bit.ly Want to watch a live performance whose first song made Cheryl Waters speechless?: www.kexp.org

“I’m simply watching, examining, and wanting to highlight all of the people who are on the frontlines fighting for our democracy, fighting against racial inequalities, fighting against white supremacy, fighting against systemic racism, and systemic oppression. So, this song is to keep us motivated. This song is to uplift us and keep us galvanized when we’re fatigued. And this song is really for the people," says Janelle Monáe. bit.ly. See her perform “Turntables” from "All In: The Fight for Democracy": www.youtube.com

"Sampa Tembo, known professionally as Sampa the Great, is a Zambian-born Australia-based rapper and songwriter. At the ARIA Music Awards of 2019, she won Best Hip Hop Release for her single, "Final Form"." Filmed in Zambia, the video for "Final Form" bridges the gap between the traditional and contemporary in her native country, featuring both indigenous Nyau dancers and aspects of modern Zambian youth culture.: www.youtube.com