Cheryl Waters

Ibibio Sound Machine have announced a new album, "Pull The Rope," which will be out in May. It’s their follow-up to 2022’s 'Electricity'. In 2022, Ibibio Sound Machine gave a great live performance in the KEXP studio: www.youtube.com

The song talks about people who abandoned or shunned De La Soul after their initial commercial success and popularity took a dive, and those who attempt to hop back on the bandwagon. The title of the song is a phrase implying that something is either okay ("all good") or not okay ("it ain't all good") as sung by Chaka, during the chorus.

Catch Hurray for the Riff Raff all up and down the west coast! They're playing Portland on Thursday, March 28, Seattle on Saturday, March 30 and San Francisco on Monday, April 1. www.hurrayfortheriffraff.com

'Flavors of Paradise' is the sixth album from Brooklyn band SAVAK. Read a music review about the album from KEXP's associate music director Alex Ruder here: www.kexp.org

EERA, aka Anna Lena Bruland, has relocated from London to Berlin. -- Cheryl selected this song as a KEXP Song of the Day.: www.kexp.org --- The Video for "Ladder" shows EERA strutting unreservedly through dark city streets, her golden gown flowing imperiously behind her.: www.youtube.com

British musician Celeste sampled Nina Simone's 1965 track "Sinnerman" in "Stop This Flame". Celeste said: "In essence, 'Stop This Flame' is a song about seeing it through to the end. Whether it's about not letting go of love, not letting go of a dream or stridently coming through some form of adversity. The song has always evoked those feelings within me." www.celesteofficial.com

Death Cab for Cutie and The Postal Service have added more dates to their 'Give Up' and 'Transatlanticism' 20th anniversary tour! They'll be in Vancouver, BC, on May 14, Portland on May 15, and at the Just Like Heaven festival in Pasadena on May 18. www.deathcabforcutie.com -- 'The Blue EP' followed Death Cab's 2018 album 'Thank You For Today.' www.barsuk.com

Prior to recording 'Hurry Up, We're Dreaming,' Anthony Gonzalez moved from his native France to Los Angeles. Describing the move in an interview, Gonzalez said: "Having spent 29 years of my life in France, I moved to California a year and a half before the making of this album and I was excited and inspired by so many different things: by the landscape, by the way of life, by live shows, by movies, by the road trips I took alone... I was feeling alive again and this is, I feel, something that you can hear on the album" bit.ly ilovem83.com

Lol Tolhurst (formerly of The Cure) and Budgie (Siouxsie and the Banshees) will be playing in San Francisco on June 1, Portland on June 3 and Seattle on June 4. loltolhurst.com

Check out this Valentine's Day Live on KEXP performance Dr. Dog did back in 2020, hosted by Cheryl! www.youtube.com

Bon Iver conjures up nostalgia for childhood and motherly love with this track, "Hey, Ma". This track is off their fourth studio album. The band released each track, hour by hour on August 8, 2019 as a countdown to the album's official release the following day. 'i, i' features several different contributions from artists like James Blake, Moses Sumney, Aaron Dessner, and more. boniver.org

Check out this performance from Foals from 10 years ago (!) in KEXP's live studio, hosted by Cheryl: www.youtube.com --- www.foals.co.uk

ACTORS is a "modern post-punk" band from Vancouver, BC. They're playing the Verboden festival in Vancouver on May 9. They're also playing the Rickshaw Theatre in Vancouver on June 21. actors.bandcamp.com

KEXP's music director Chris Sanley says of Kim Gordon's new album: "The second solo album from the incomparable musician and visual artist is another groundbreaking exploration of industrial, dub, trap and punk with lyrical mantras. A nearly tactile experience, The Collective takes many unexpected, dark twists and turns as Gordon continues to expand upon and reinvent her avant-garde, singular sound." www.kexp.org

Listen to the Midday Show tomorrow at 12 PM to catch the session Cheryl recorded with Arlo Parks earlier this month! -- www.arloparksofficial.com

Kevin Morby performed live at The Triple Door as part of KEXP's VIP Club concert series in 2017. He started his set with "City Music." youtu.be Morby sings about the childhood friends who bring out your best parts, about how we’re all made up of the people who pass through our lives, however briefly. bit.ly kevinmorby.bandcamp.com

Los Angeles band Silversun Pickups has performed Live on KEXP a few times, including this performance in 2019, hosted by Cheryl: www.youtube.com

"Historian" was one of Cheryl's favorite albums of 2018. -- Lucy Dacus was raised in a Christian family in Virginia. But she no longer considers herself a believer in the traditional sense. "Coming out of Christianity was kind of a big process for me," Dacus says. "I don't really talk about it that much anymore." "Nonbeliever" emerged from several discarded songs, one which was "about telling my mom that I am not the Christian girl that she raised." She was also inspired by the story of her father leaving his hometown of Canton, Mississippi, for Chicago—a similar attempt to shed one's identity. The resulting song chronicles several different types of nonbelief: "nonbelief in a religion, nonbelief in a city, nonbelief in a friendship." www.newsweek.com

“As a person, I'm changing all the time. I think we all are. I feel like a different person every day, in a way. I would say for me, the music that I make is a reflection of those kinds of constant changes. In the past, I used music as a tool to feel less alone, and now I use it more as a tool to try and help other people feel less alone,” said Mackenzie Scott, aka TORRES, in an interview with Alternative Press. www.altpress.com

Cheryl hosted Sleater-Kinney in the KEXP studio earlier this year. The video just posted TODAY! www.youtube.com -- Sleater-Kinney is playing in San Francisco on March 30 and 31, Seattle on April 2 and 3, Vancouver, BC, on April 4 and Portland on April 5. www.sleater-kinney.com

Camera Obscura is playing in Seattle at The Crocodile on Friday, June 7th. They'll be in Portland at Revolution Hall on Saturday, June 8th, then at the Fillmore in San Francisco on Monday, June 10th! Their first album in 11 years, Look to the East, Look to the West, is due out May 3 via Merge. Discussing the album’s first single, vocalist Tracyanne Campbell said: “’Big Love’ is our tribute to Waylon Jennings, with a nod to Sandy Denny and prog rock band Scope. It’s a song about not looking back, having faith in the present and future.” www.camera-obscura.net

Faye Webster is hitting up the west coast this fall. She'll be playing in Berkeley on Sept. 27, Portland on Sept. 29, Vancouver, BC, on Sept. 30 and Seattle on Oct. 1. www.fayewebster.com -- The fifth studio album from the Atlanta native is a beautiful, sweeping, understated collection of emotive indie rock. Sonic intricacies including orchestral flourishes, pedal steel and vocoder accompany her pristine, ethereal vocals, adding a rich depth to these intimate songs that explore desire, conflict and platonic love.

The Dinosaur Jr. frontman's latest solo album, 'What Do We Do Now,' came out last month! www.jmascis.com Check out the Live on KEXP performance with J Mascis from earlier this year: www.youtube.com

In 1990, singer/guitarist Ben McMillan drafted ex-Skin Yard drummer Norman Scott, guitarist Tom Niemeyer, and bassist Tim Paul to form Gruntruck. The band's sound treaded much of the same post-punk/metal hybrid that was then common to the Seattle scene, and their counterpoint guitars and minor chords were reminiscent of bands like Soundgarden, Tad, Alice in Chains, and Screaming Trees. www.allmusic.com

Check out Live Video from San Francisco band Black Rebel Motorcycle Club's February 2018 KEXP In-Studio, hosted by Cheryl Waters: bit.ly. blackrebelmotorcycleclub.com