Cheryl Waters

Voyager One began typically enough -- as an ad placed in a Seattle music magazine -- but has since gone on to create intricate, textural space-rock in the manner of Catherine Wheel, Swervedriver, and Ride. bit.ly Voyager One recorded the track "Ocean grey" live in the KEXP studio in 2008: youtu.be voyagerone.bandcamp.com

Nilüfer Yanya will be at The Crocodile on Saturday, May 21. bit.ly -- This London-based artist’s second album is an impressive set of sharply detailed indie-pop ranging from crunchy, ‘90s-influenced rock to anxious, electronic-tinged pop. www.kexp.org Being open on her songs has always been scary for Yanya. “You always think, when you write it down and talk about something specific to yourself, that everyone’s gonna know what it’s about, that it’s gonna be immediately obvious,” she says. It’s also a trick for herself; there’s no vagueness in the emotions on PAINLESS, because her lyricism is intentional, rather than ambiguous. “It’s what keeps the writing interesting,” Yanya explains. “Like, ‘How do I talk about this, without talking about it? How do I say this, without it just being about me?’” The album’s title is drawn from the myth that artists need to be in pain in order to make something good. “I’m not sure if that’s true,” Yanya says. “I’m not sure if that’s the best way I can work, anyways. To always be tormented,” adding “I mean, you can’t call it ‘PAINFUL,’ that would be a terrible album name!” Once Yanya really got into the creation process, things began to fall into a comfortable groove. “This is a way that I like making music, I like it to be a bit more painless,” she says. “I feel like that’s how you get the best, most instinctive stuff out.” daily.bandcamp.com niluferyanya.bandcamp.com niluferyanya.com

The 2018 release 'I Don’t Want' is a collaboration. Santigold recorded the new mixtape with Dre Skull, the producer behind the vastly influential dancehall label Mixpak. (She met him during a recording session for another artist.) Talking to Pitchfork, she says that the new mixtape has lyrics driven by “social commentary” — “not political,” she clarifies. She also calls it “a summer reggae record.” bit.ly Santigold - "Run The Road" - @ House Of Blues - Boston, MA - 2019: youtu.be www.santigold.com

Did you know Lizzo recorded a session here at KEXP? She stopped by in 2017 and chatted with Morgan. Check it out! youtu.be Lizzo's music career started at the age of 14 when she formed a group called Cornrow Clique with her best friends. She graduated from the University of Houston with a degree in classical studies, concentrating in flute studies. Lizzo has since featured the flute on all her releases, and frequently performs with the instrument live. bit.ly www.lizzomusic.com

Happy Birthday to Dana Owens (aka Queen Latifah)!! Yesterday, Larry Mizell, Jr. featured Queen Latifah on OG Thursday. Go listen to this special show in the archives (03/17/2022 from 1:00-4:00PM)! kexp.org

PLOSIVS will be at Chop Suey on Tuesday, April 5. bit.ly -- Last year, John Reis (Hot Snakes / Rocket From The Crypt / Drive Like Jehu), Rob Crow (Pinback), Atom Willard (Against Me!), and Jordan Clark (Mrs. Magician) revealed their new band together called PLOSIVS and shared their debut single, “Hit The Breaks.” Now they’re back with news of a whole self-titled debut album, which they recorded in October 2020 at the same time they did that first single. “To me, an obvious universal psychological protocol should be to remember there are as many perspectives to any event or situation as there are sentient beings affected by the experience, as opposed to the apocryphal notion of ‘two sides to every story,'” Crow said in a press statement. “For a person to claim an absolute based on the one experience and perspective they can ever truly know seems irrational.” bit.ly

Body Type are a Sydney based four-piece who make scuzz // rock. New single titled ‘Buoyancy’, described by vocalist-bassist Georgia Wilkinson-Derums as “a personal reminder that when certain things are rendered uncertain, those you love are an eternal rudder”. bit.ly youtu.be The debut album from Body Type is out May 20. bodytypemusic.bandcamp.com

Chapel Hill, NC band Superchunk will be live on KEXP on Monday, April 4 at Noon. This session is NOT open to the public, so be sure to tune in or listen from the archives! They are playing that night at Neumos. bit.ly -- Check out their 2018 session live in the KEXP Studio: youtu.be superchunk.bandcamp.com

Lady Wray will be live on KEXP on Wednesday, March 30 at 12:00 PM. This session is NOT open to the public, so be sure to tune in or listen from the archives. bit.ly -- The second Lady Wray album from Atlanta-based artist Nicole Wray is a well-crafted blend of warm, ‘70s-influenced soul and funk with chunky ‘90s-steeped beats along with her soulful vocals and lyrics of love, loss, struggle and resilience. kexp.org ladywray.bandcamp.com www.ladywray.com

Shabazz Palaces are on the line up for Day In Day Out Fest, August 12-14. www.dayindayoutfest.com -- Local band Shabazz Palaces is one of the featured artists in the new KEXP Podcast 'Fresh off the Spaceship,' which launched today! Fresh off the Spaceship tells the story of the Black Constellation, an artist collective (Shabazz Palaces, THEESatisfaction, Ya Tseen) with Seattle roots and cosmic reach. Hosted by KEXP’s Larry Mizell Jr. and Martin Douglas, each of the 10 episodes takes listeners on a musical journey connecting the stars of the Black Constellation and drawing meaning from their art, emphasizing the revolutionary power of communion along the way. www.kexp.org -- shabazzpalaces.bandcamp.com www.subpop.com

Ty Segall & Freedom Band performed live in the KEXP studio in February 2022 with songs off the latest album, 'Harmonizer.' youtu.be -- The clarion call/siren sound of his guitar....the helium-steamed ride of the vocals....track after track, releasing the thought that have been holding us down, all in the name of getting higher on pop songs. Why have one when you can have two? It's a big world, and MANIPULATOR has only begun to fight. tysegall.bandcamp.com ty-segall.com

Future Islands will be playing at The Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver, BC on May 12-13. bit.ly -- Future Islands shared songs recorded live exclusively for KEXP and chatted with DJ Morgan from 2020. youtu.be -- New Future Islands single, though no new album announcement yet. Their last full-length was 'As Long as You Are,' released in October 2020. bit.ly futureislands.bandcamp.com future-islands.com

Kevin Morby will be at The Showbox on Friday, November 11. bit.ly -- In January 2020, songwriter Kevin Morby witnessed his father collapse from a medical event while visiting his childhood home in Kansas. In a state of shock, the singer spent the evening looking at old family photos and fixated on an image of his father as a young man, looking, as Morby states, “full of confidence.” The experience forced Morby to confront both the idea of mortality and the passage of time — and, after an extended sojourn in Tennessee, these reflections came together in the form of his upcoming album, 'This Is a Photograph,' out May 13. bit.ly youtu.be kevinmorby.bandcamp.com www.kevinmorby.com

Daniel Rossen will be playing at Neumos on Saturday, June 18. bit.ly -- Grizzly Bear's Daniel Rossen today announced his first-ever solo album. The multi-instrumentalist will release 'You Belong There' on April 8. He also shared the lead single, "Shadow in the Frame." Stereogum says the song "exemplifies the kind of vivid, proggy chamber-indie Rossen has always specialized in. His virtuosic guitar work is front and center, accented by swells of brass and woodwinds and his trembling vocals, powerful yet fragile. It’s good shit. You should listen to it." bit.ly danielrossen.bandcamp.com danielrossen.com

Seattle's Jeremy Enigk has performed live at KEXP many times. Check out all of his sessions here: www.youtube.com -- The Sunny Day Real Estate singer returns from a long hiatus with a crowd-funded solo album that reconciles his singer/songwriter instincts with his lavish orchestral ambitions. bit.ly jeremyenigk.bandcamp.com jeremyenigk.com

If you’ve tuned into the Midday Show on KEXP over the years, you’ve grown accustomed to the voice of Britt Daniel. Regular listeners know within the opening lick of a Spoon track that a second is soon to follow. Cheryl Waters chatted with Britt Daniel and broke down 'Lucifer on the Sofa.' www.kexp.org Spoon’s tenth album, 'Lucifer on the Sofa,' is the band’s purest rock ’n roll record to date. Texas-made, it is the first set of songs that the quintet has put to tape in its hometown of Austin in more than a decade. Written and recorded over the last two years –both in and out of lockdown –these songs mark a shift toward something louder, wilder, and more full-color. spoontheband.bandcamp.com spoontheband.com

Psychedelic Porn Crumpets will be at The Crocodile on Friday, May 20. bit.ly -- Psychedelic Porn Crumpets - Performance & Interview (Live on KEXP at Home) from April 2021: youtu.be Psychedelic Porn Crumpets have announced the release of a new album, 'Night Gnomes,' which will be out on April 22 via Marathon Artists. They have also shared two new songs from the album: “Bubblegum Infinity” and “Dread & Butter.” Frontman Jack McEwan states in a press release: “A lot of the album is about trying to work out what the fuck is going on, in general life and obviously the period of time we’ve all found ourselves dormant in for the past two years. I started reading a few quotes from philosophers because, hey! They might know what’s going on, but mostly it was a bunch of cleverly worded gibberish that was drenched in self turmoil that thankfully, serendipitously, unbeknownst to me was the thing I found comfort in. That nobody has a clue what life is and we’re all winging it as we go! Cheers, William of Ockham.” bit.ly "Bubblegum Infinity" (Official Video): youtu.be psychedelicporncrumpets.bandcamp.com www.psychedelicporncrumpets.com

This is the new single from Foals' forthcoming album, 'Life Is Yours,' due for release June 17th. Frontman Yannis Philippakis says, “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.” bit.ly lifeisyours.foals.co.uk

Beach House will be at The Paramount Theatre on Sunday, April 3. bit.ly -- This Baltimore duo's eighth full-length is an impressive double album of cinematic, psych-tinged dream-pop with a majestic, atmospheric sound combining celestial keyboards, soaring strings, gauzy guitars, occasional other instrumentation and slow-moving rhythms with Victoria Legrand's serene vocals and bittersweet lyrics of love and heartache. www.kexp.org beachhouse.bandcamp.com www.beachhousebaltimore.com

Sigur Rós are playing two nights in Seattle at The Paramount Theatre, Friday & Saturday, May 13-14. bit.ly -- ( ) - Sigur Rós’s celebrated third album, and for many people - especially in US where it remains their biggest selling work - the most quintessentially “Sigur Rós” record of their career to date. It is the only album where Jónsi sings entirely in the wordless lyrics of Hopelandic. A desire to elide meaning and allow the listener to bring their own interpretation to the music, extends to the eight songs, all of which are nameless. The music is broadly divided into two halves, divided by a critical 36 seconds of silence. The first half of the album being lighter and more optimistic, and the second half bleaker and more melancholic, culminating in the thundering climax of Untitled #8, the closing song of every Sigur Rós show since the song was written in 2000. store.sigurros.com sigurros.com

Published today! Hannah Jadagu was live in the KEXP studio earlier this month. youtu.be “‘Think Too Much’ is the only song that I’d written with the intent of putting it on an EP,” Jadagu says. “Sonically, I was challenging myself to make a song that was high energy, fun, and a ‘bop,’ as I like to call it. At the time, I remember listening to a lot of Dayglow, Jean Dawson, and Winnetka Bowling League, and thinking to myself, ‘These people are making such catchy and fun songs without even trying.’ Then I thought to myself, ‘You’re really thinking too much.’ I asked all my friends what they thought about ‘too much,’ compiled their responses, chose some fun chords and rhythms inspired by Snail Mail and Phoenix, and went to work.” hannahjadagu.bandcamp.com www.hannahjadagu.com

Japanese Breakfast is playing Day In Day Out Fest, August 12-14. www.dayindayoutfest.com -- Watch Japanese Breakfast's Live on KEXP At Home session from July 2021: youtu.be -- “After spending the last five years writing about grief, I wanted our follow-up to be about joy,” Zauner said regarding 'Jubilee,' her third album. “For me, a third record should feel bombastic and so I wanted to pull out all the stops for this one. I wrote ‘Be Sweet’ with Jack Tatum from Wild Nothing a few years ago. I’ve been holding onto it for so long and am so excited to finally put it out there.” bit.ly Jubilee was KEXP listeners' top album of 2021! See the full list here: www.kexp.org michellezauner.bandcamp.com japanesebreakfast.rocks

Charli XCX is playing Capitol Hill Block Party, July 22-24. www.capitolhillblockparty.com -- New Charli XCX out today! As someone affected by chromesthesia — the involuntary ability to associate sound with its various shades — Charli XCX has forever viewed music in dramatically different colors. Some have taken on dark, cold, experimental tones (like “Pop 2” and her lockdown project, “How I’m Feeling Now”); others have adopted warmer shades that skew decidedly toward commercial, mainstream pop (a la “Sucker” and “Charli”). With “Crash,” which she has declared is her last album for the Atlantic label, it’s abundantly clear which side of the color wheel she’s landed on for the moment: The avant-pop singer-songwriter-producer is heading face-first into rainbow’s end, with its multi-tints at their brightest and most obvious. bit.ly charlixcx.bandcamp.com charlixcx.com

Arcade Fire have revealed 'WE,' the band’s first new album in five years. 'WE,' out May 6 via Columbia Records, was produced by longtime Radiohead collaborator Nigel Godrich along with Arcade Fire’s Win Butler and Régine Chassagne. The LP was recorded at studios in New Orleans, El Paso and Mount Desert Island in mid-2021 following a pandemic period that marked “the longest we’ve ever spent writing, uninterrupted, probably ever,” Butler said in a statement. The album borrows its title from Russian author Yevgeny Zamyatin’s 1921 sci-fi novel "We," which would later inspire the dystopian works of George Orwell and Aldous Huxley. The seven-song LP is split across two sides, “I” and “WE,” respectively, with the first half exploring loneliness and isolation and the latter part celebrating reconnection following, say, a lengthy pandemic. bit.ly youtu.be www.arcadefire.com

Operators performed live at The Triple Door as part of KEXP's VIP Club concert series back in 2016. Watch the full set, including "Cold Light" here: youtu.be Operators are Dan Boeckner, Sam Brown, and Devojka. operatorsband.bandcamp.com

LCD Soundsystem are playing a few nights in Philadelphia & Boston at the end of March and early April. Many of these shows are NOT sold out yet. lcdsoundsystem.com -- Released in 2017, 'American Dream' is the fourth album by LCD Soundsystem. The album was announced on January 5, 2016, the day after it was revealed that the band was reuniting after a disbandment lasting nearly five years. bit.ly Check out "Change Yr Mind" live from 2017: youtu.be lcdsoundsystem.bandcamp.com

Check out Hot Chip live in the KEXP studio from 2019: youtu.be -- "And I Was a Boy From School" was listed by Pitchfork as number 29 on their top 500 songs of the 2000's. “We tried but we didn’t have long/ We tried but we don’t belong.” With those lines, Hot Chip showed they were more than a bunch of synth-fetishizing goofballs. “Boy From School” wraps itself up in poignant nostalgia– the kind you can’t escape from after spotting a high school acquaintance 10 years after the caps were tossed. It’s about the undeniable desire to go backward and make things right: do that work, behave that way, see that girl. “I got lost/ You said this was the way back,” it concludes, as if stuck in a looping dream. bit.ly hotchip.bandcamp.com

Brand new Rosalía out today! Rosalía’s ‘Motomami’ is brave, bawdy, and completely uncompromising. The Spanish pop rule-breaker follows her own instincts and impulses wherever they lead her — and comes up with a daring album. bit.ly rosalia.bandcamp.com www.rosalia.com

Pom Pom Squad is playing at Barboza on Wednesday, May 4. bit.ly -- Pom Pom Squad shared a live performance recorded exclusively for KEXP and chatted with Cheryl Waters in August 2021. youtu.be "The character of this song is basically my ego," says frontwoman Mia Berrin. "The part of myself who doesn't learn, makes the same mistakes constantly, is flaky, can't admit she's wrong, is self-pitying and who wraps it all up in a bow the color of self-deprecation." bit.ly pompomsquad.bandcamp.com

Disclosure is playing WaMu Theater on Saturday, April 9 on the YOU’VE GOT TO LET GO IF YOU WANT TO BE FREE TOUR with DJ Boring. bit.ly -- Disclosure return with a their most direct album 'Energy.' A global spectrum of talented artists grace the record – and for the first time this includes rappers. Appearances from Mick Jenkins, Channel Tres, Aminé and slowthai sit comfortably alongside the legend that is Common. Other features include the inimitable Kelis who opens the album and Fatoumata Diawara who the boys have also linked up with previously. Cameroon’s Blick Bassy brings his own flow to the table while a powerhouse team of Kehlani and Syd ease the pace with their contribution. bit.ly Check out the video for "ENERGY": youtu.be www.disclosureofficial.com

This track was selected by Cheryl Waters as a KEXP Song of the Day in 2016. Subscribe to the podcast and download songs for free: kexp.org 'Every Now & Then' reflects a period of exploration and expansion for the Australian duo of singer/guitarist Gabriel Winterfield and multi-instrumentalist/producer Jono Ma, who will be joined on tour by bassist Jack Friedman. Produced entirely by Jono Ma, the 11-song collection embraces a range of influences from funk, dub and techno, to krautrock, garage rock and psychedelia - to come through in the end with a sound that is uniquely their own. jagwarma.bandcamp.com

Jungle is playing THING August 26-28, 2022 at historic Fort Worden in Port Townsend, WA. thingnw.org -- Don't think about it Keep moving, keep moving If you have not watched this yet, do it! Jungle played live in the KEXP studio in October 2021. They always bring a party, and this one was no exception. This one is like a giant hug that will make you feel good and keep you grinning all day long! youtu.be jungle.bandcamp.com www.junglejunglejungle.com

Mac DeMarco is playing Day In Day Out Fest, August 12-14. www.dayindayoutfest.com -- Mac DeMarco has stopped by the KEXP studio a few times over the years. Check out his sessions here: www.youtube.com macdemarco.bandcamp.com www.mac-demarco.com