In Our Headphones

Bat Hearse - “Coffin for Christmas,” a 2021 self-released single. This week, we are continuing a long-held tradition of featuring Christmas-themed songs selected by Brian Foss, host of KEXP’s punk show Sonic Reducer. He will be hosting his 18th annual Punk Rock Xmess on Saturday, December 24th from 9pm -12am and then jump back on the mic Christmas day from noon - 9pm for his no standards, non-traditional Christmas broadcast, including a special holiday edition of Sunday Soul. Detroit-based Gothabilly band Bat Hearse lean into darkness and horror but with a humorous slant. The five-piece have released two records, their 2021 self-titled debut and 2022’s Transylvania Moonshine but before dropping either, their first single was a tune in celebration of a very unlikely holiday for a band gushing Halloween out of their pours. “Coffin for Christmas” barrels in like an undead force to be reckoned with. In between frequent howls, frontman Rick Ruiner sings of unrequited love and is either threatening them with a coffin for Christmas or is proclaiming that’s what he’s received. Either way, his anger is palpable. “Are you looking for stocking stuffer, baby?” asks vocalist/guitarist Nina Friday and Ruiner’s howls confirm the answer is most definitely affirmative. Watch the blast of a video for “Coffin for Christmas” at the link below. Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

James Kochalka Superstar – “Christmas Muffin,” a 2017 self-released single. This week, we are continuing a long-held tradition of featuring Christmas-themed songs selected by Brian Foss, host of KEXP’s punk show Sonic Reducer. He will be hosting his 18th annual Punk Rock Xmess on Saturday, December 24th from 9pm -12am and then jump back on the mic Christmas day from noon - 9pm for his no standards, non-traditional Christmas broadcast, including a special holiday edition of Sunday Soul. James Kochalka is a Vermont-based comic book artist and writer, animator, and rock musician. Under his James Kochalka Superstar moniker, it makes sardonic comic rock with nearly twenty releases to his name, going back to 1995. As you’d imagine, his take on a Christmas tune is wry and undeniably silly. “Christmas Muffin” grapples with the very adult reality of having to purchase gifts when you’re flat broke. With little dinero to his name, our narrator instead offers the most generous gift of a muffin - or at least half of it. The song is less than a minute long but his point is made quickly and succinctly. Over a spare high hat beat, Kochalka declares, “Ain’t got no money to buy you nothin’ /Ain’t got no money to buy you shit / Ain’t got no money to buy you nothin’ so I got you this muffin /But we’ll have to split it.” If that’s not the true spirit of Christmas, I don’t know what is. Watch the selfie-shot video for "Christmas Muffin" at the link below. Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kennebec - Tall Tales (feat. Hemlock Ernst and Sudan Archives) from the 2022 album Without Star or Compass on Night Time Stories. While Eric Phillips has only been releasing cinematic instrumental soundscapes under the name Kennebec since 2020, his enchanting works have garnered attention and led to a number of incredible collaborations. Our Song of the Day, “Tall Tales,” sees the Portland-based artist team up with Samuel T. Herring of Future Islands under his rap moniker Hemlock Ernst and Brittany Denise Parks, better known as the LA-based musician Sudan Archives. The early single off his sophomore record Without Star or Compass is one of three tracks on the album that Herring contributes to but the only one under his rap alias. Over a guitar-strummed hook, Herring and Parks swap stream-of-consciousness verses and come together for heavenly harmonies on the chorus. While the lyrics are esoteric, ripe with references to nature, the seeming meaning revolves around our inability to fully know what another is thinking or feeling. Phillips had this to say about working with Herring: “I think our styles just resonated well with one another, and we clicked naturally. We sent some ideas back and forth remotely and then he flew out to Portland and we recorded all the vocals in three days together. It was so fun and inspiring – and really deepened my appreciation for his craft. He’s such a nice guy and a total genius. Sam’s lyrics really hit a beautiful balance between that sense of magic and folklore in the natural world that I’m after, while really bringing his own sense of narrative. He’s really amazing at constructing lyrical concepts in a way that I think compliments my own strengths (and weaknesses).” Watch Future Islands’ Live on KEXP at Home performance from 2020 and read the full post at KEXP.org.Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Archie Roach - One Song from the 2022 album My Songs: 1989 – 2021 on Bloodlines. Indigenous Australian singer-songwriter, activist, and author Archie Roach exited this mortal coil on July 30th of this year, leaving behind a legacy of powerful blues tunes telling the story of his painful personal history as well as those of the Aboriginal community. In his 66 years on the planet, 30 of them releasing music, he acquired numerous awards and accolades, including multiple ARIAs (Australia’s version of the Grammy’s), an International Human Rights Achievement award, and a hall of fame induction at the 2020 ARIAs. Shortly before his death, in February of 2022, Roach released the 44-tack anthology album My Songs: 1989 – 2021 which included a new song titled “One Song.” The softly-strummed six-minute song is sparse yet compelling, with Roach singing of a collective connection and the acknowledgment of and privilege to all come from one place. “Remember well what we have told you /And don't forget where you come from,” Roach warmly suggests. “Mother Earth will always hold you /And you are born of just one song.” Watch Archie Roach play the song live for Triple J’s Like a Version at read the full post at KEXP.org.Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Weyes Blood - "Grapevine" from the 2022 album And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow on Sub Pop. Los Angeles-based artist Weyes Blood (real name: Natalie Mering) explores the ways we're tangled together on the wistful acoustic ballad "Grapevine." “Technology is harvesting our attention away from each other,” she said, via a press release. “We all have a ‘Grapevine’ entwined around our past with unresolved wounds and pain. Being in love doesn’t necessarily mean being together. Why else do so many love songs yearn for a connection?” Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bleached - "Flip It" a 2022 self-released single. Los Angeles-based sibling duo Bleached return with a pop-punk pep talk, inspired by television dialogue and self care. “I heard this quote on Euphoria," Jennifer Clavin said in a press release, "‘Every day you get out of bed is an act of courage.' I really related that to the lyrics. During the time of writing this song, I felt like I had to find my inner warrior to make it through another day in LA.” Her sister Jessie adds, "“I was thinking of the way I speak to myself and I never realized how hard I could be on myself. I'm becoming way more aware of my inner voice. When I’m going through a day and I'm just feeling extra challenged, I now think about flipping it.” Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hannah Jadagu - "Say It Now" a 2022 single on Sub Pop. As we eagerly await a full-length debut from Hannah Jadagu, the 20-year-old artist gives us a sneak peek with the new single "Say It Now." In a press release, the Texas-born/New York-based artist explains, “"Say It Now" is my sort of inner reflection on where things have gone wrong in my past interactions and relationships with other people. Sonically and lyrically, I feel as though this song signifies me venturing into a new world that is even more intense and vulnerable.” The new track is accompanied by a video directed by Jade De Brito and shot in Paris. Jadagu adds, "Making this video was so special because I got to make it during my first visit to Paris. We shot it in about 2 days, showcasing a sort of “day in the life” where I do studio work and get to go around the city. It’s a nice contrast to the lyrical content because there’s truly no time to be sad in Paris." Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Field School - "Jennifer Valentine" from the 2022 album When Summer Comes on Bobo Integral / Small Craft Advisory. It can be rare for a new band to immediately conjure a very specific location, scene, time, and sound but pressing play on Field School’s debut album When Summer Comes is like traveling to Olympia in the early ‘90s, despite its 2022 release. The project of Charles Bert of Seattle band Math and Physics Club, Field School was born out of necessity during the pandemic. Without the ability to play with his bandmates, Bert leaned on himself to create and record full songs on his own. Conjuring the twee pop sounds K Records became synonymous with during that era, the perhaps-not-coincidentally Olympia-based artist makes sentimental lo-fi jangle pop with all the sugary sweetness but none of the calories. Our Song of the Day, “Jennifer Valentine,” is a highlight off the record and hones in on the saccharine wistfulness. “Jennifer Valentine, I wrote your name a thousand times/I wonder if you remember mine,” Bert sings with sincerity while a simple drum beat keeps tempo and guitars effervescently jangle. “Jennifer Valentine, I'll never change my mind /Cross my heart and hope to die.” If that’s not twee, I don’t know what is. Purchase When Summer Comes on Bandcamp and read the full post at KEXP.org.Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Peak Park - Need Your Love a 2022 self-released single. Naarm/Melbourne-based trio Peak Park make groovy multi-facted art rock that blends genres to make music that’s at times upbeat and dancey and other times slow and sweet. Ethereal vocals deliver vulnerable and honest lyricism, centred on identity, existentialism and mental health. Our Song of the Day “Need Your Love” is a dark and driving synth-filled tune about the intoxication and obsession of the baser needs surrounding new love. In a TikTok made by the band, they claim to have been inspired by the films The Batman, Bodies, Bodies, Bodies, Drive, and Good Time when writing the song and the gritty undertones of those films are felt on the track. “Need your love /I wanna lose the weight of my bones /Intoxicate my air /I just need a taste of you,” passionately croons frontman Mitch Summers, balancing the complex feelings of vulnerable pining with the sometimes-seedy demands of desire. To see a different side of the band, watch the lyric video for recent single “For Tomorrow,” off 2022’s How To Be EP and read the full post at KEXP.org.Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Death of the High Street - "Chancer" a 2022 single on Bubblebrain. Post-punk quartet Death Of The High Street return with their second KEXP Song of the Day this year, a sneering slice of razor-sharp alt-rock titled "Chancer." In an interview with Edge of Arcady, the band describe the main character of the track as "a Frank Gallagher meets Del Boy character who’ll sell you a TV just as soon as he’s lifted it from your living room." The accompanying video — written, filmed, and edited by the band themselves — follows Chancer in a day-in-the-life clip. Check it out below. Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Cliché Cult - "Slippy" a 2022 single on Blaggers. Post-punk band Cliché Cult formed in the height of the pandemic, but the lockdown hasn't hampered their rise. This past August, the Leeds quartet played their first live hometown show. "It's probably my favourite gig that we've played so far," they told Rebel Noise. "The crowd were chanting along to our tunes! The venue was quite small as well so it was a sweaty night." If you can't get enough of their dark, '80s-influenced sound, the group are aiming to release a new single early next year. Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Fever Ray - "Carbon Dioxide" from the 2023 album Radical Romantics on Mute. Swedish artist Fever Ray (aka Karin Dreijer) returns early next year with their third LP Radical Romantics. It's their first full-length in five years, and features production from her brother (and former partner in The Knife) Olof Dreijer. Contributors include Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, Nídia, Aasthma (Johannes Berglund, Peder Mannerfelt, and Pär Grindvik), and Vessel. Radical Romantics will be released March 10th via Mute. Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tona - Triple Crown (feat. Drezus & Shad) a 2022 single on District Entertainment. Toronto rapper Tona has been churning out a massive amount of high-level, collaborator-heavy music for years now and received the coveted Juno Award for Best Rap Recording in 2015. Recently he dropped GE20, the follow-up to 2021’s Good Energy, which sees Tona hone in on optimistic thoughts during the most pessimistic scenarios and how they can affect your health. “Good Energy does not mean you ignore life's less pleasant situations, just means that you approach unpleasantness in a more positive and productive way,” reads the Bandcamp description for the record. And nothing brings better energy than collaborating with talented friends. Our Song of the Day, “Triple Crown,” features Rwandan-Canadian rapper Shad and Calgary-based indigenous artist Drezus trade the mic to speak on their various perspectives. But, as Tona states in his opening verse, it’s, “For all people.” This is what he had to say about the song: "This record came about from a conversation of truth, our truths. Featured artists Shad & Indigenous lyricist Drezus have always been advocates for speaking their truths about equality and freedom the same way I do with my content. The fight against racism in Canada, the U.S. and abroad is far from over. The Black community has been grieving for the Black lives lost due to police brutality, racial inequality, systems inflicting trauma, historical injustice and the many injustices faced daily for a long time as well as the indigenous people. There are intense feelings of helplessness, anger and emotional pain. It might be uncomfortable for those not affected by race, but the dialogue must continue to stay open to allow room for responsiveness and not reactionary tactics. All of these emotions are captured on this record produced by The Kount." Watch the self-directed video for “Triple Crown” and read the full post at KEXP.org.Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

SoulChef & Uptown Swuite - Bless The Child a 2022 single on SoulSwuite Music. New Zealand-based rapper SoulChef has been churning out soul and jazz-inspired hip-hop for well over a decade now, starting with 2010’s Escapism. He focuses on invoking serenity through his thoughtful lyricism, meticulous productions, and head-bopping beats. He’s also an endeared collaborator. For one of his latest singles, “Bless The Child,” SoulChef teams up with Bay Area-bred rapper and member of the Digital Martyrs collective Uptown Swuite, for a breezy jam steeped in nostalgia. In the song, the rappers forgive their former adolescent selves for their mistakes since it’s not their fault they were products of broken homes. This isn’t the first time the two have worked together. In 2020 the duo dropped the collaborative album SoulSwuite. At the time, Uptown Swuite told HipHopDX this about their relationship: “Soul Chef and I are of Samoan descent. Although I reside in California and Chef lives in New Zealand, New Zealand is like my second home. I used to live there and have real strong roots in the music/Hip Hop community of New Zealand. With this album, we really just wanted to capture the Samoan experience all around via our eyes — whether it be a Samoan living in California, New Zealand or even the motherland Samoa/American Samoa.” Watch the video for “Bless the Child,” directed by Digital Martyrs, and read the full post at KEXP.org.Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Danielle Ponder - "Some Of Us Are Brave" from the 2022 album Some Of Us Are Brave on Future Classic. After working as a Public Defender for five years, Rochester-based singer/songwriter Danielle Ponder left to focus on her music full-time. But her life-long pursuit of justice continues through her songs, as you can hear on her debut LP Some of Us Are Brave. "I read a book in law school, All the Women Are White, All the Blacks Are Men: But Some of Us Are Brave," Ponder explains in a press release. "I first fell in love with the title, I immediately felt seen. The book is essentially one of the first to address intersectionality. Often when we talk about feminism, we forget the issues that uniquely impact Black women and the same when we speak about race. The book is a collection of Black women writers pushing against invisibility, speaking loud and clear and telling our unique story. To me, this song was just a moment to pause and pay homage to Black women. The album is named that because that's where I get my biggest inspirations. My biggest cheerleaders are my sisters, my mother, Black women. And I think bravery is what I've needed to become a full-time artist.'' Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Arima Ederra - "Steel Wing" from the 2022 album An Orange Colored Day on Arima's Lab. Today's Song of the Day came to singer/songwriter Arima Ederra in a moment of anger. As the firstborn daughter of Ethiopian refugees, the Los Angeles-based artist was rattled by the refugee crisis that forcibly displaced a record 68.5 million people. In a press statement, she reflected: “When the former president put a ban on refugees in 2017, I remember sitting in my room very angry and couldn’t help but think about my family in East Africa. When the news came, a melody followed, kind of in the form of a chant. I recorded a little voice note of it, tucked it away and didn’t really think much of it til later in the year. When we started making the music, it felt like a soundtrack to my rebellious teen years and I felt called to explore the parallels of my youth to my father’s journey as a refugee. The hook is kind of like a conversation between the two of us. 'Steel Wing' pays homage to not only my family, but all refugees, women and young girls to continue to take up space, rebel and explore their curiosity and freedom in everything they do.” Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Carsen Gray - "Cracks" a 2022 single on Nettwerk Music Group. Canadian singer/songwriter Carsen Gray brings the beauty of her homeland of Haida Gwaii, BC to her music. “It’s very chill, beautiful, laidback, and peaceful,” she says of her home in a press statement. “The people are nice and welcoming. We all support one another and cheer each other on. Because of where I’m from, I feel like I was able to come out with such a warm project. We’re in a safe little place up here. I’m proud of my heritage, where I come from, and the land I live on.” She brings that "chill, beautiful, laidback, and peaceful" vibe to today's Song of the Day, which showcases Gray's soulful voice against an acoustic guitar. Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Among Authors - Fears We Hold, a 2022 single on Squaremoss. Five years after releasing their debut album I AM BECOME, atmospheric art-rock outfit Among Authors finally returned last month with a gripping new single. The Seattle-based band is led by Ian Ketterer and the song details the crippling anxiety he’s felt his entire life due to being born without a right thumb or ear coupled with the scars left from multiple invasive surgeries - one to fix a Tracheoesophageal fistula and the other an open heart surgery. This isn’t just vanity at play, it’s struggling to fit into what is considered “normal” in a very ableist society. But it also hits home for all of us quietly brooding over what we consider to be our imperfections. In “Fears We Hold,” Ketterer sends a message to his younger self that the world isn’t as scary as he thinks it is and that nobody’s out to get him. Led by sparse piano, the song builds and swirls as Ketterer bellows, “So pull back your hair /And roll up your sleeves /Cause nobody cares /Or sees what you see.” In a reflective and deeply vulnerable Instagram post, Ketterer had this to say about the song: “I have struggled with hiding the right side of my body my entire life. Everything from my clothing style down to my body movements and positions are all so ingrained in my subconscious and all tailor around making sure nobody can see my right hand, or my missing ear on my right side. I have worn long sleeves my entire life, long hair, even the seemingly simplest every day tasks like going to get Starbucks puts my head in a space where without even thinking about it, I am pulling out my card to pay for my drink in a specific way so my right hand isn't seen. Or when talking to people, always positioning myself so the right side is hidden. Oh god don't even get me started with when I am approached by someone to shake their hand with my right hand. You know what I do? I grab their hand with both my hands so that they don't sense that I have a missing thumb on my right hand. I have lived in my own self-doubt my entire life. As a musician, I have always had this fear that when my band makes it big some day, and we're at some dumb photoshoot, that my big "lie" will be revealed, we'll get kicked off our record label (which we've yet to have) for not being sellable from a look standpoint, and our music career will be over. That's all nonsense. I have held onto these unnecessary and irrelevant fears for way too long. This is who I am.” Watch Among Authors’ KEXP in-studio performance from 2018 and read the full post at KEXP.org.Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Martha - Hope Gets Harder from the 2022 album Please Don't Take Me Back on Specialist Subject. British pop-punkers Martha have been spreading messages of anarchy since 2014 when they released their debut album Courting Strong. They’ve dropped three more records since, with the latest being this year’s Please Don’t Take Me Back. The record proves that the band from a small town called Pity Me continue to pity no one, especially the Powers That Be controlling the state of the UK. Our Song of the Day, “Hope Gets Harder,” hones in on this idea, targeting the rich and powerful who are killing hope and optimism at a rapid rate. “Drain the blood from every diamond /On this damp and hateful island,” they cry over a sprititedly brisk riff before closing the song with the pointed claim, “Every day the hope gets harder/ England is a funeral parlor.” In a lengthy statement about the song, the band don’t mince words on what they mean by that: “‘Hope Gets Harder’ is a song about England: a uniquely fucking terrible idea,” the band said in a statement. “A place governed by the most absurdly mediocre people in history. Selfish, rich, thick, malevolent ghouls propped up by a bootlicking, self-congratulating, stenographic, client-journalist news media that puts North Korea to shame. England is a grey, damp artifice, vibrating to a quasi-fascist background hum, where the majority live miserable hopeless lives, so that a tiny minority can live in extravagant luxury. As we lurch violently from one crisis to the next, it feels like the light of any hope for the future is slowly dying. But we have to try and find hope in one another, and together we have to fight like hell for a more socially and ecologically just world. No fate but what we make for ourselves. Abolish england. Fuck the king.” Watch the cleverly illustrated music video for “Hope Gets Harder” by Nathan Stephens-Griffin and read the full post at KEXP.org.Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Metronomy x Jessica Winter - “I lost my mind,” a 2022 single on Because Music. Following the release of their seventh LP Small World, Metronomy return with a "reimagined" version featuring re-worked versions of tracks from that album from Sébastien Tellier, Bolis Pupul, and on today's Song of the Day, London-based singer/songwriter Jessica Winter. Winter cited Kylie Minogue as an inspiration for the reimagining, saying in a press release, “As soon as I heard the held high notes in the chorus I thought the song could go in a Kylie direction; the key change at the end then went quite ABBA.” She added, "“Everything on the track was made from analogue synths and drum machines and there’s real strings on there too; if you listen closely you can hear a hook pinched from a different track on Metronomy’s latest album.” Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Fanfara Station - “Lafoo” from the 2022 album Boussadia on Garrincha Edizioni Musicali. On their latest LP Boussadia, the trio Fanfara Station aim to celebrate the culture of each band member. Multi-instrumentalist Marzouk Mejri grew up in Tunisia; not only does he bring an inspiration of North African rhythms to the group, but he explores traditional woodwind and percussion instruments in his music. He met DJ/producer Marco Dalmasso (aka Ghiaccioli e Branzini) after relocating to Italy in the '90s; his electronic expertise elevates Mejri's compositions to dance-floor bangers. American horn player Charles Ferris arrived from San Francisco on a Fulbright scolarship to research the chants of Campania, The album was recorded in Tunisia, in order for the artists to "immerse and breath the culture," and most of the tracks were born from live improvisations, to "capture the energy of their concerts." Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mykki Blanco - “French Lessons (feat. ANOHNI and Kelsey Lu)” from the 2022 album Stay Close to Music on Mykki Blanco/Transgressive. On today's Song of the Day, poet/musician Mykki Blanco pays tribute to fellow speak-singer Lou Reed. “The song is a reflection on the possibility of true love, on the notion that one truly can experience what we see in the Hollywood films,” Mykki states in a press release. “The song is also this ode in a way to Lou Reed. I’m not what I would consider a singer at all, I’m a talk-singer so I look to people in history who have that same style: Tom Petty, Jonathan Richmond of the Modern Lovers, Lou Reed – these are all AMAZING ‘talk singers’ and I feel comfortable in that style vocally. The song was originally composed by FaltyDL and it encapsulated so much sonically of what I was trying to articulate with my own music. FaltyDL has a way of touching on the spiritual subtleties of life. He is able somehow to create mystery out of banality, to create tranquility and fill a room with zen like vibrations, something unnameable and yet so familiar a feeling.” The song features a guest collaboration with Kelsey Lu. (On the album version of the song, ANOHNI contributes to the track.) Mykki continues, “Kelsey Lu I’m sure will go on to become one of the legendary artists of my generation. A classically trained virtuoso with a voice that sounds ancient like a bell ringing for the first time, like something out of a Greek odyssey. I have been a long time super fan of Kelsey’s and collaborating with her on this song has been a very special moment for myself and FaltyDL.” Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Multiplayer - Cosmic Quest from the 2022 self-released album Multiplayer. Matt Williams is a Seattle-based, Phoenix-bred, Kansas City-born pianist and vibraphonist who has worked with a seemingly endless amount of names in multiple jazz communities, many of which might only be familiar to niche jazz aficionados but carry a heavy mantle of respectability. His latest project Multiplayer is an improvisational project that feels both modern and nostalgic. Our Song of the Day, “Cosmic Quest,” comes from his recently-released debut self-titled album and very much feels like one searching the galaxy for something more. With a sparse synth-fueled start, the song's unhurried build feels like a floating object just searching for some purpose. Things tighten up quickly, as the target is acquired and, while we may not feel like we’re moving at the speed of light, we’re still boldly going where no man has gone before. Watch Multiplayer's live session at the old Cafe Racer back in 2019 and read the full post at KEXP.org.Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Yves Tumor - "God Is A Circle," a 2022 single on Warp. Shortly after the end of spooky season, Yves Tumor dropped the chilling single “God Is A Circle” to the delight of the many fans who have been gripped by the Turin-based artist’s enigmatic take on glam rock. The single follows last year’s EP The Asymptotical World and 2020’s full-length Heaven To a Tortured Mind. Produced by Noah Goldstein (Frank Ocean, Arcade Fire), and mixed by Alan Moulder (My Bloody Valentine, Nine Inch Nails), the song is built upon a beat of labored breaths for a moody post-punk-indebted rocker that features squelching guitars, fuzzed-out bass, and desperate shrieks. Swedish electronic artist Ecco2K and Lebanon-born artist Thoom bestow backing vocals as Yves Tumor sings about detachment and strained relationships, “There’s places in my mind that I cannot go / There’s people in my life I still don’t know.” The song is paired perfectly with a campy horror-movie-style video by Jordan Hemmingway which adds to the ominous feel of the song. Watch the video and read the full post at KEXP.org.Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kelela - "Happy Ending" a 2022 single on Warp It's been five years since we last heard from L.A.-based artist Kelela. Her 2017 debut LP Take Me Apart was a masterful set of adventurous electro-R&B, and her recent return to music — with the singles “Washed Away” and now, "Happy Ending" — show she hasn't missed a beat during that brief hiatus. Today's Song of the Day features production by LSDXOXO with additional production from Bambii. Drawing inspiration from "the rapture of a club crush" (as a press release states), it's fitting that the accompanying video (co-directed by Alima Lee and Kelela) captures the Black rave scene in NYC. Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Floating Points - "Problems" a 2022 single on Pluto / Ninja Tune Throughout the year, British electronic musician Floating Points (aka Sam Shepherd) has been releasing some excellent stand-alone singles, including today's Song of the Day. Just last week, he announced the songs will be collected and released on limited vinyl for the first time on December 16th. Today's featured track is accompanied by a video directed and produced by the creative team Hamill Industries, a frequent Floating Points collaborator. In a press statement, they wrote: "'Problems' is meant to agitate every single room that its ecstatic sound waves reach. We wanted to celebrate it with movement and dance and reshape it through sound, by using techniques that allow the sonification of images. We have used lasers that spin and move with the music, making visible their sinuous shapes. It was important that this video shaped the electrical feeling you get when being on a dancefloor, the urge of dancing when sound waves reach your ears." Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Empress Of - "Dance For You" from the 2022 Save Me EP on Major Arcana Brooklyn-based artist Empress Of (the electro-pop recording project of Lorely Rodriguez) released her five-song EP Save Me over the summer, which features the stand-out (and suitably-titled) track "Dance For You." “I love the lyrics on this song,” Rodriguez said in a press statement. “I made this in Minneapolis with BJ Burton. It was freezing outside. I was in a cave-like studio in the snow literally dancing as I wrote this. ‘Surrender to me like this’ is a touching lyric for me because I’m not hurt over this person anymore. I’ve come out the other side.” Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jason McCue - "Kingdom" from the 2022 album Screen, Turn On on Fluff & Gravy. KEXP has long been supporters and fans of local artist Jason McCue. First bursting on the scene as the 2017 winner of Sound Off!, which sees artists under 21 showcase their talent for a shot at the coveted prize. Since then, he’s gone on to release three records, 2018’s Pangaea, Wasteland in 2019, and, most recently, Screen, Turn On. Recorded during the pandemic, the record sees McCue grapple with his reliance on technology as the world became a more insular place. Our Song of the Day, “Kingdom,” hones in on other vices that often sneak up and then terrorize those in vulnerable headspaces. In the song, our narrator experiences a heavy night of drinking, leaving them lost and bloody, with their lover pleading with them to stay the night before doing anything else wreckless. In a tone that sounds as if Elliot Smith was reincarnated, McCue quavers “But my baby said to me /Don’t you go home /Stay here with me /I know you’ve been drinking all night long /Don’t you go home” over an urgently strummed acoustic guitar while another electric guitar offers warbled flourishes. The intensity of the message and the vulnerability of the narrator’s position is felt through the constantly changing dynamics that slow down at the end with layered vocals mimicking the narrator’s fading mind and resolve. Watch McCue’s KEXP in-studio performance of the song “Ocean" and read the full post at KEXP.org.Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Glüme - "Do Me a Favor," a 2022 single on Italians Do It Better. Describing Glüme could be easy - a wide-eyed chanteuse who channels equal parts Marilyn Monroe and Lana del Rey - but it would be reductive. Especially considering her status as one of the newest additions to the Italians Do It Better roster, who are known for their icey cool-as-hell synth-filled soundscapes. How does the pouty, Monroe-reincarnated pop princess fit in with the leather-clad cool kids? The answer is something along the lines of: the girl’s got chops. On our Song of the Day, “Do Me a Favor,” the latest single from Glüme, is an upbeat ode to the insecurities that often plague one’s mind from being burned too many times. How can you recognize if something is real after so many heartbreaks? Sometimes the answer is sometimes just in the other person making the bold moves. “Do me a favor and take me,” she begs. The single is off her forthcoming sophomore record Main Character, out on Valentine’s Day 2023 and follows 2021’s lauded The Internet. It comes with a gay western-themed video in which Glüme is dressed in a red leather dress and gets wooed by a cowgirl that leads them to an onslaught of debauchery in a tiny tumbleweed town. Watch the video, directed by George Baron, and read the full post at KEXP.org.Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

WITCH - "Waile" a 2022 single on Desert Daze/Partisan. It's been almost 40 years since WITCH (which stands for "We Intend To Cause Havoc") caused some havoc. The Zambia-based band were early adopters of the "Zamrock" sound, a combination of traditional African music with psychedelic rock, releasing seven albums back in the '70s and '80s. After Zambia-born hip-hop artist Sampa The Great featured them on her latest LP As Above, So Below, WITCH decided to reconvene, releasing the single "Waile." "'Waile' was one of the songs that I brought to the WITCH when I joined in 1978," explained keyboardist Patrick Mwondela via a press release. "While it was played live often back in the day, it was never recorded until the new formation of the band picked it up 43 years later during a rehearsal on an island in Kenya, where the band embraced it and made it their own. A few months after that, they gave it a new lease of life by recording it in Lusaka’s legendary DB Studios. Sang in my native language Luvale, the subject matter is a nostalgic wailing for home of ancient African tribes that would eventually settle in Zambia." Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Cuffed Up - "10 for 10," a 2022 single on Corduroy Recordings. Los Angeles-based trio Cuffed Up return with a punk-pop pep-rally anthem for anyone struggling with imposter syndrome. "It's deeply rooted in confidence," vocalist and guitarist Ralph Torrefranca told Atwood Magazine. "The dialogue in the song follows a creative, trying to understand the negative thoughts that plagues their mind every time they feel the imposter syndrome. The chorus is the heavy-handed conclusion that they arrive to every time but the bridge is the 'big aha! moment' where the character finally realizes that they are amazing at what they do and are in fact, 10/10." Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Winter - "sunday" from the 2022 album What Kind of Blue Are You? on Bar/None. Songwriter Samira Winter (who records as Winter) returns with her sophomore full-length, What Kind of Blue Are You?, described as an "emotional excavation of [her] purest self." The new album features guest appearances from artists like Hatchie and Sasami. "“I feel like I’ve come full circle, making an album that my 22-year-old self who just started Winter would love," she says in a press release. "It’s my inner shadow girl, revealing herself in all her brokenness, despair, and beauty.” Winter describes today's Song of the Day as "a fever dream meditation on social media toxicity," a topic she says is "always on my mind and generates a lot of fear and anxiety for me. It’s a critique on social media’s effect on mental health and contorted beauty standards for women." Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Lydia Ramsey - “I Will Wait For You” from the 2022 self-released album Like A Dream. Lydia Ramsey is an Indianola, WA-born, Seattle-based Americana artist that’s been channeling the vintage folk sounds of Emmylou Harris and Linda Ronstadt since 2016. Her wistful melodies and enchanting vocals and often simple in presentation: just a guitar or banjo, perhaps some twinkling piano, and showstealingly lovely coos. Her latest record Like A Dream was released in September and hones in on the collective thoughts, anxieties, and loneliness felt during the pandemic. Our Song of the Day “I Will Wait For You” is especially relatable looking back on those lockdown days but also for many still, as she speaks to a friend - or perhaps to herself - in the depths of despair, encouraging them to keep moving forward. “Running through your head /What if this lasts forever,” Ramsey quavers. “It’s bitter end in these days without being close together.” Resiliently, she presses on, hoping, waiting, and praying for the day in which things “will be better than ever.” Ramsey collaborated with a number of longtime musician-friends, engineer Johnny Bregar, and New York-based engineer/producer, D. James Goodwin (The National, Kevin Morby, Blitzen Trapper) on Like A Dream. Watch the intimate Jacob Rosen-directed video for “I Will Wait For You" and read the full post at KEXP.org.Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rival Consoles - “World Turns” from the 2022 album Now Is on Erased Tapes. Ryan Lee West has been making electronic music under the name Rival Consoles since 2007, experimenting with a diverse range of styles and influences primarily with analog equipment. His latest release Now Is was made during the pandemic and sees the English producer in a contemplative mood, painting an atmospheric kaleidoscope of occasionally glitchy sounds. He had this to say about the record: “There are some pieces that are influenced quite strongly by the isolation and anxiety of these times. There are also pieces which are more optimistic and vibrant, which I think is a consistent attitude of my records, as I want art to express many aspects of life.” Our Song of the Day, “World Turns,” thrums with spacey energy, slowly unfolding and retracting. Not quite a dancefloor jam, the song mimics the spinning orb we live on and the twinkling stars that sit amongst it, making the song a perfect late-night headphones listen. Check out Rival Consoles' Boiler Room set from 2016 and read the full post at KEXP.org.Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs - “When the Lights Go” from the 2022 album When the Lights Go on Nice Age. Over the past decade, Orlando Higginbottom has been thriving under the name Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs. The British producer scored a Grammy nomination for his collaboration with Bonobo, and has released several singles and EPs since his 2012 debut LP Trouble. Ten years later, he shares his sophomore full-length, When The Lights Go, which he says is "about love and the end of the world." “I think that the record starts and all the ideas are quite direct, and then it gets murkier and murkier as it goes on,” he told Rolling Stone UK. But as we move further away from the lockdown, the apocalypse isn't quite as front of mind. “It’s kind of nice to get this material off my chest. The next record I’m working on is much more hopeful. I’ve come out and I’m very far over the other side now.” Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

United Freedom Collective - “MERCY (feat. FACESOUL)” from the 2022 Am Ta EP on Dama Dama. At the core of the United Freedom Collective are three musicians: Mathieu Seynaeve, WaiFung Tsang, and Robbie Redway. The trio convened in a remote barn in Cornwall, in South West England, to create music inspired by Zen Taoism, Buddhism, Jungian analysis, meditation, yoga, and more. “It’s supposed to be something more than us” they explain in a press statement, “it’s music with intention, music for healing”. This open and experimental approach can be heard on their debut EP Am Ta. The intentional band name of "United Freedom Collective" leaves the door open for frequent collaborators, and on today's Song of the Day, we hear from Somali-born, U.K.-based singer/songwriter FACESOUL, who the band describe as "a dear brother who spent some time with us in Cornwall earlier this year to cook up some magic with his unbelievable voice." Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bill Callahan - “Coyotes” from the 2022 album YTI⅃AƎЯ on Drag City. Singer/songwriter Bill Callahan is shaking up reality — literally, with the backwards title of his latest LP, YTILAER, out now via his long-time label Drag City. “It felt like it was necessary to rouse people — rouse their love, their kindness, their anger, rouse anything in them. Get their senses working again,” he shared in a press release. On today's Song of the Day, that reality takes us to his backyard, where the titular animal made its presence known. “We lived for awhile in a house in the hills,” he explained. “Coyote hills. The coyotes would start their song at dawn. Dawn and dusk were their main appearance times. Our dog would sleep outside sometimes in the morning and our boy was still bite-size. The coyotes would come take notes, edging closer each day. Mornings on the kingsize outdoor daybed. Like a righteous floating tide the coyotes would drift into our world. Predator and prey, blurred. Past and present, blurred. The young, the aged are to be snatched and devoured. Past lives edge in closer to try to speak to us. Current lives eye the past ones like sleeping dogs. And love spans all, that is why the feeling is so deep — deeper than one lifetime.” Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Grynch Paper Route (feat. Sir Mix‐A‐Lot) from the 2022 self-released album Born in '86. Nearly fifteen years after dropping his debut full-length, My Second Wind, Grynch is back with his first solo record since 2014 titled Born in ‘86. While it may be a solo record, that doesn’t mean the Seattle-born-and-bred rapper isn’t still open to sharing the mic. The deeply collaborative artist invited artists like Boom Bap Project, Blake Lewis, Prometheus Brown, and Daz Dillinger to help add color to the nostalgia-hued record. But there’s no collaboration more deeply Seattle than our Song of the Day. “Paper Route” sees none other than the big-booty-loving Sir Mix a Lot join Grynch for a song that recognizes the resilience it takes to continue on the winding and fickle journey of being a longstanding musician. “I could never do a thing that I aint about,” Grynch spits on the chorus, “Suckers out here running miles /Chasing clout /But when it’s all said and done and they faded out /I’m gonna still be getting mine on my paper route.” Watch Grynch's KEXP in-studio performance of fan-favorite “My Volvo” from all the way back in 2010 and read the full post at KEXP.org.Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

4348 Kevin Cole Thursday 10/27/22 Bosq Song for Ehi (feat. The Ibibio Horns and Kaleta) a 2022 single on Canopy Limited. Bosq is the musical pseudonym for Benjamin Woods, who has been utilizing Afro-Latin music in fusion with Funk, Disco, Reggae, House and Hip Hop to dazzling effect for a decade now. The Boston-bred, Colombia-based musician has released 4 full albums, heaps of EP's of original music, and countless collaborative singles and remixes with artists like Fania Records, Orchestre Poly Rhythmo de Cotonou, Poolside, Nickodemus, and many more. He recently teamed up with the horn section of Ibibio Sound Machine as well as vocalist Kaleta for a fiery new single released via Portugal-based label Canopy Records, whose specialty is “Sub-Saharan synth swagger, re-calibrated and re- celebrated.” Titled “Song for Ehi,” the track is a combination of classic Edo-funk, Afro-disco and reggae disco with a groovy meandering bassline, soaring horns arrangements, and timbale breakdowns. While it may be cold outside, the group is bringing the heat! Watch Ibibio Sound Machine’s recently-released KEXP in-studio session from September and read the full post at KEXP.org.Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You Said Strange - "So Sorry" from the 2021 album Thousand Shadows Vol.1 on Le Cèpe Records / Modulor. For their debut album, Salvation Prayer, the French band You Said Strange recorded in Portland with Dandy Warhols guitarist Peter G Holmström. For they're latest LP, titled Thousand Shadows Vol​.​1, they hunkered down at home, building their own studio in Évreux, equipped with a vintage analog console and microphones gathered during previous tours. The band told Psychedelic Baby Magazine that the change enabled them to "become autonomous with our gear, build a cocoon and stretch our creation on a bigger space of time. Taking time to refine our sound and our compositions." As a result, the group's sophomore full-length is a thoughtful, intimate affair, produced by Daniel James Goodwin (This Is The Kit, Kevin Morby, Wand). Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Love'n'joy - "Psy Summer" from the 2022 self-released album Half Home. Kyiv-based band Love’n’Joy completed their latest album Half Home just three days before the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. Vocalist/guitarist Anton Pushkar explained to Psychdelic Baby Magazine, "The idea of ​​the album title was mainly connected with the loss of Crimea, the place where me and Sergey (Zlobin, drummer) were born and raised and where our relatives live under russian occupation. After the events of February 24, when we had to leave our native Kyiv, this feeling multiplied.” While touring in support of the new LP, the band established the Musicians Defend Ukraine fund, a way for them to support "Ukrainian artists who defend their cities and work as volunteers." “Different parts of the world [are] trying to support somehow,” Pushkar told Kerrang. “[You] can sell your records, collect money, organise a show – there’s lots of options available. And for [promoters] you can also just have a Ukrainian band play, because I guess all of the bands who are outside the Ukraine right now are raising money. We have a really big volunteer movement in Ukraine, and in a really horrible time it’s really nice to know and a really warm feeling that everybody cares for each other. And to see how people from Europe and U.S. help us, that’s really important.” Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Elsy Wameyo - "River Nile" from the 2022 Nilotic EP on Music in Exile. Over the past few years, Nairobi-born, Adelaide-based artist Elsy Wameyo has made a name for herself in hip-hop, garnering both the Young Kenyan of the Year award in 2018, and the People's Choice Best Hip Hop Award at the annual South Australian Music Awards in 2019. Her debut EP, titled Nilotic, is a tribute to her indigenous roots to the people of the Nile Valley who speak Nilotic languages. In a press release, she explains that today's Song of the Day is an exploration of her newfound strength. “‘River Nile’ was a revelation, a turning point that led me to understand who I truly am. I had been so weak, fighting a battle that was never mine. This song came about after I learnt how to strategically use the power within. I journeyed with this song to find a place of rest. I reached a level where I no longer had to work. Instead, I used the forces around me to gain altitude. The moment I found it, it was game over for everyone else.” Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Enumclaw - "Jimmy Neutron" from the 2022 album Save the Baby on Luminelle Recordings. It can often be tough to trace exactly where and when a band “broke” but for Enumclaw, it’s pretty straightforward. KEXP’s own Martin Douglas first wrote about the Tacoma band on KEXP’s website and, shortly after, major publications like Pitchfork, Stereogum, Gorilla vs. Bear, and The Fader followed suit. So, for all intents and purposes, we claim them as ours. Last week, the quartet - made up of Aramis Johnson, Nathan Cornell, Eli Edwards, and Ladaniel Gipson - released their debut full-length Save the Baby. Produced by Gabe Wax, who’s also manned the boards for Soccer Mommy, Palehound, and Ian Sweet, the highly anticipated record continues their streak of ‘90s-inspired indie rock. Our Song of the Day, “Jimmy Neutron,” is a dreamy rocker about the desire for love and the pitfalls of making it a reality. "This song is about getting so close to love that you can almost taste it," says Johnson of the track. "All the highs of being in love and how ridiculously unlike yourself it can make you act. All the daydreaming you do about what things could be and how they might go. There's always a catch though and in this story as soon as you reach out to grab 'love' and have it in your hands you drop it." Enumclaw is currently touring the US, check out their scheduled dates to make sure you don't miss "the best band since Oasis." Recently, Martin Douglas spoke with Enumclaw and revisited the beginning of his relationship with the band for KEXP. Read the full post and watch the John C. Peterson-directed video for “Jimmy Neutron" at KEXP.org.Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Cheekface - "I Feel So Weird!" from the 2022 album Too Much To Ask on New Professor. In times like we’ve been living through the past handful of years, humor has become more and more tantamount to survival. Cheekface understands that and displays it with aplomb. The Los Angeles-based band made up of Greg Katz, Amanda Tannen, Mark “Echo” Edwards channels Lou Reed, Jonathan Richman, and Stephan Malkmus with their speak-singing but has plenty of wisdom behind their absurdist, critical, and, dare I say, cheeky lyricism. Our Song of the Day “I Feel So Weird!,” off the band’s recently released third record Too Much To Ask, is an excellent example of Cheekface’s ability to make you spit-take with laughter at the same time as saying to yourself, “I feel that.” Over a mellow, bass-heavy rhythm Katz spews goofy statements like, “The difference between me and a dog is I am taller /Think about it, just think about it” before getting into a pretty great allegory for the feelings that anxiety often riddles upon a body, which is also an allusion towards dogs. Plus the Das Racist reference of “I'm at the combination Jamba Juice and therapist” makes it the gold standard of satirical lyricism. While Cheekface isn’t big on music videos currently, watch the lyric video for other Too Much To Ask highlight “Featured Singer” and read the full post at KEXP.org.Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

PVA - "Untethered" from the 2022 album BLUSH on Ninja Tune. South London trio PVA have gained a reputation for their live sets, with their dark, industrial-tinged dance music and frontwoman Ella Harris' deadpan vocals. (Early in their career, the band came up with the term “country-friend techno” to describe their sound.) With their debut LP BLUSH, the group channels the raw energy of their shows, while displaying an increased confidence in the studio. “We wanted to surprise people and do something more than just get across how we sound at a gig,” percussionist Louis Satchell conveyed in a press release. “It’s quite an anxious record sometimes that is relating to mental health issues but also an everyday anxiety of making the album. It’s been a rocky ride but we always pick ourselves up.” Harris says today's Song of the Day is about "being in a straight relationship that is restrictive and closed off. It’s basically an expression of this really frustrated anger at masculinity and a resentment at being unable to free yourself from that heteronormative situation and explore the world.” The group elaborates, "'Untethered' is a song about release. It’s our current set opener and an introduction to our industrial arm. We wrote it in one session in a burst of chaotic catharsis. The lyrics follow a character being freed from imaginary tethers and experiencing the earth under their feet again." Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Benedek - "Emotional (feat. Devin Morrison)" from the 2022 Zebrano EP on Apron Records. Los Angeles-based producer/musician Benedek (real name: Nicholas Benedek) began playing guitar at the age of nine, and first started composing beats using his Nintendo Game Boy Camera software. With admiration for artists like Herbie Hancock and Jeff Beck, he's developed a unique style drawing from funk, hip-hop, soul, house, as well as science fiction and '90s video games. On today's Song of the Day, Benedek teams up with the soulful singer Devin Morrison for this '80s-inspired jam. (Do I detect a Bell Biv DeVoe inspiration?) Bandcamp calls the track a "slow burning ode to the West Coast," and with Morrison's laid-back vocals and that smooth R&B groove, it's the perfect song to make you forget it's autumn now. Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

STR4TA - "Turn Me Around" from the 2022 album STR4TASFEAR on Brownswood. Just before the world shut down in 2020, renowned DJ/record label owner Gilles Peterson joined acid jazz legend Jean-Paul Maunick (better known as "Bluey") for an improvised jam session in Bluey's parents’ garden shed in London. The result became STR4TA, and last year's debut LP, Aspects, draws influence from the '70s/'80s Brit-Funk sound they both grew up with. Their sophomore full-length, STR4TASFEAR, will be released on November 10th via Peterson's own Brownswood Recordings, and is described by Peterson in a press release as "a continuation from our first project, celebrating the ground breaking Brit-Funk era of the late 70s/ early 80s while continuing the story with the rise of the drum machine; paying homage to the Acid Jazz and Electro Soul that followed and the evolution that inspired club culture and new Jazz of recent times." He continues, "For me it's a record of parallels, not only in music but a lot of the issues we are experiencing today began in that Brit-Funk era. The parallels in the political landscape of that time and today are poignant and the moment of overall change we are living in is reflected in this record. Bluey is a significant executer of exhibiting the important social questions through music from a Black British perspective and it's an honour to work with him." Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Snotty Nose Rez Kids, Taabu, Shad - Red Sky at Night - Remix a 2022 single on Distorted Muse. Snotty Nose Rez Kids are a Polaris and Juno Award-nominated indigenous hip hop duo that are beacons amongst their community for addressing the generational trauma affecting indigenous people with wit, humor, and bars for days. Their most recent album Life After dropped in 2021 but recently they unveiled a remix of standout track “Red Sky at Night” featuring veteran emcee Shad and producer Taabu. While the original was a vibey late-night track that showed off the duo’s dexterous verbal ability and is absolutely incredible on its own, the remix is a fiery hard-hitting journey meant to melt faces. Shad’s gracious opening verse sets the tone before Yung Trybez and Young D speak their truth, “Rez Kids on that red carpet /Tell the homies that this feature is free /Get best bargain like red target, all love.” Turns out, Shad was actually supposed to be on the original version of the track but submitted his verse too late. “He showed us mad love when he heard it,” says SNRK to Complex of Shad. “...and sent us a verse back a little late when it came to getting it on the original [song], but that’s what remixes are for! His verse was recorded before we even thought about ours, and he set the damn bar!” Snotty Nose Rez Kids were featured on an episode of Sound & Vision last year to discuss the change they want to be in their community. Check it out and watch the visualizer for “Red Sky at Night (Remix)” at KEXP.org.Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bobby Sanchez - Trans 101 (Scarim) from the 2022 Prophecy EP on Harawiq Records. Bobby Sanchez carries a plethora of identities on their shoulders - poet, musician, painter, model, activist. The American-Peruvian Indigenous artist is vocal about speaking on the topics close to their heart such as Indigenous displacement, gentrification, environmentalism, and gender identity. Their most recent EP Prophecy covers all of these in just four short yet vibey tracks. Based solely on the number of Tik Toks that have used “Trans 101 (Scarim)” over the past few months, our Song of the Day has clearly hit home for a lot of trans people. Over a jazzy piano sample, Sanchez effortlessly flows about the beauty and danger of being trans. In one of the more triumphant verses, Sanchez coos, “Trans bodies are like temples I could see you worshipping /Trans bodies sentimental more beneath the surfaces /Trans bodies love each other and the love is permanent /Trans bodies will prevail and you cannot circumvent.” Watch the video for 2018 single “Plutonomy” and read the full post at KEXP.org.Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Byron Nicholai - "Tengauryugtua (I Want To Fly)" from the 2022 album Ayagnera (The Beginning) on Tuallu Entertainment. Back in 2014, a young Byron Nicholai went viral when he began posting videos of himself singing in the Indigenous Yup'ik language on Facebook. The media even dubbed him the "Justin Bieber of Alaska." Since then, he's relocated from the coastal town of Toksook Bay to Anchorage, to "get faster internet," he confessed to KYUK. “I feel like it would mess with my momentum a little bit, 'cause sometimes I’d be excited to work on a track, but then having internet problems would just kind of wash that away.” The move worked, because now, almost ten years later, he's returned with a new album, titled Ayagnera [The Beginning], a collection of rap, R&B, and dance songs, all sung in Yugtun, the Indigenous language he grew up speaking. “I came up with the title Ayagnera [The Beginning] because I felt like it was the start of Yup’ik modern music," he told Rolling Stone India. "There’s currently no other Yup’ik music that is released like this other than what I’ve put out.” Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.