KEXP Playlist |
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11/04/2021 04:56 PM DJ: Kevin Cole |
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Of this track, Arca said it "is a song about seduction, about wanting to devour the entire world out of a desire to fuck, without shame, free from condemnation, about sex as a life impulse in the face of death; it's also a wink and nod to the internal heat generated by the hot and humid conditions that birthed Latinx music, a reverence to reggaeton royalty Wisin & Yandel, tambores Venezolanos, the furruco, an instrument I hear as sub-bass technology, contemporary Venezuelan folklore, life and eroticism birthed near the heat of the equator." https://bit.ly/3mNyQOk |
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11/04/2021 04:51 PM DJ: Kevin Cole |
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Scottish electro-pop trio CHVRCHES have covered Gerard McMann’s “Cry Little Sister,” a song made famous due to its inclusion on the soundtrack to 1987’s vampire horror film The Lost Boys. CHVRCHES version was also recorded for a soundtrack, to the Netflix film Nightbooks, which stars Krysten Ritter {Breaking Bad, and Adam Granduciel's (War On Drugs) partner] as a witch who imprisons a boy. The band collectively had this to say about the cover in a press release: “We were so excited to work on this project as we are big fans of everyone involved. Cinema—horror in particular—has always been a big part of CHVRCHES behind the scenes. We have talked about covering ‘Cry Little Sister’ for years and this seemed like the perfect moment to do it.” https://bit.ly/3nTgbAa |
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11/04/2021 04:48 PM DJ: Kevin Cole |
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According to Héloïse Letissier, when she first wrote the song, it was written in English. It was originally recorded under the title "Cripple" for an EP, Mac Abbey, in 2012. However, when she performed the song in Brighton in May 2013, the chorus "I actually do enjoy being a cripple" was poorly received by the audience. Letissier said: "... there was a huge embarrassed silence. I thought it was really ambiguous! But it's not." She reworked the lyrics in French as "Christine" for her 2014 debut album, and from this she made another English version, "Tilted". The English and French versions are not an exact translation and have significant differences in their lyrics, for example the English version begins with "I will die before Methuselah / So I'll fight sleep with ammonia," while the French version may be translated as "I start books at the end / And I hold my head high for nothing " (Je commence les livres par la fin / Et j'ai le menton haut pour un rien). https://bit.ly/3k9lz0V |
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11/04/2021 04:44 PM DJ: Kevin Cole |
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For nearly a decade, Charli XCX has pushed against the tired trends of contemporary pop music to carve out her own sound and style. Her latest, "New Shapes," brings in Caroline Polachek and Christine and the Queens for a sugary, '80s-inspired pop song. Indebted to the synths and 808 beats of freestyle girl groups like Company B and The Cover Girls, "New Shapes" twists its bubbly, side-pony pastiche into something more mournful. "All night, all day, we can fall in love in new shapes, new ways," Charli sings. "When the morning comes, I'm sorry I stayed." https://n.pr/3GQLp3E CRASH is XCX's fifth studio album and, as stated pointedly in a press release, the last of her five album deal with Atlantic. https://bit.ly/3whmQrG |
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11/04/2021 04:36 PM DJ: Kevin Cole |
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Ian Devaney describes the album’s intent and sound in more detail: "A Way Forward is an exploration of the band’s relationship to the music of the ’70s, through the lenses of Krautrock and early electronic music. We aimed to more deeply trace the roots of our sound, hoping to learn something from the early influences of our early influences. Experimenting with how they might be reinterpreted in our modern context—looking further backward to find a way forward. "We drew a lot from the steady locomotive rhythms of bands like Kraftwerk and Neu!, while also looking to less-propulsive electronic artists like Laurie Spiegel and Cluster. The goal was to have a record that felt like a journey, like being on a train that gets lost in a colorful fog, and then suddenly bursts through into different landscapes. "Thematically, some of those landscapes are familiar in their melancholy, but we also wanted to introduce celebration and joy in a way that hadn’t really been present in our previous album. Having these bursts of positivity felt like it gave the emotional low points more resonance, giving a stronger sense of emotional reality to the album overall." Abe Seiferth (who worked on Introduction, Presence) and Nick Milhiser of Holy Ghost! both produced A Way Forward. https://bit.ly/3o2viHu |
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11/04/2021 04:33 PM DJ: Kevin Cole |
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"The centre and the small hours in between the highlight and the Bacchanalian party of 'Alive' and 'DNA' and all these very out-there, almost camp moments, then to that quiet moment within the centre, and then we kind of unroll out of there to the dawn of the new day, to 'Keep a Watch'. So I feel that the record, it does have an evening, or an arc journey to it," reveals Nick Littlemore on the flow and concept of the album. https://bit.ly/2ZQtitx |
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11/04/2021 04:29 PM DJ: Kevin Cole |
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Upcoming 11-track LP, The Alien Coast, was recorded in the group’s hometown of Birmingham, Ala. and the extended studio time allowed them to experiment with synth sounds and samples, as well as tap into "a fever dream convergence of soul and psychedelia, stoner metal and funk." Explains frontman Paul Janeway of the new single, "The Last Dance," "The juxtaposition of dancing while facing certain doom is what 'Last Dance' is all about. Like dancing through a Mad Max scene. So naturally the video had to be a dance video. It was a pleasure to work with Machete Bang Bang and all the folks involved on this. I hope y’all enjoy." https://bit.ly/3nWqzHj |
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11/04/2021 04:24 PM DJ: Kevin Cole |
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As avid record collectors and fans of that old school analog sound, Solid Ground was recorded straight to 8-track tape on a Tascam 388, which also graces the cover art. Half of the tracks were recorded live at Transistor Sound Studio by soul crooner, Kelly Finnigan, and Ian McDonald where both Kelly and their band, Monophonics, have recorded their last few albums. The other half of the tunes were recorded by Kevin and Aaron at Fifty Filth Studio in Oakland, CA where the band also rehearses and mixed by analog-obsessive Orgone producer Sergio Rios. The album's original tunes draw from the Traps' various soul influences ranging from gritty funk ("Bird of Paradise" and "Hungry") to fuzzed-out psychedelic ("Residue") to sweet lowrider soul ("More and More"). The lyrics by lead singer The Gata also don't shy away from pressing issues of the day such as racism in America ("Roots") and finding hope in a world that seems pitted against you (the JB's style "Solid Ground"). The Traps also supplemented their sound with special guests including the Monophonics horns, background vocals from seasoned Bay Area vocalists, Sally Green and Bryan Dyer, as well as strings organized by Kansas City master viola player, Alyssa Bell. https://bit.ly/3wjpiOr |
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11/04/2021 04:17 PM DJ: Kevin Cole |
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"Lucky to be Alive" isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. Jim James, who fell off a stage and was seriously injured in 2008, sings that he’s “strung out on the road” and “sick from the cold,” but still concludes that he’s going to "forget about the stress" and "watch the sunset." James is all about love and appreciating life more than ever. https://bit.ly/3mJWmfe |
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11/04/2021 04:10 PM DJ: Kevin Cole |
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Back in 2013, Jonathan Wilson played an incredibly intimate show for KEXP crew and friends, at a secret remote location which only added to the chill but warm vibe. Check it out here; there was a lot of sweet Steadicam work in this video, a bit unusual but always welcome in KEXP's vault: https://bit.ly/3k9PXZf Desert Raven appears on the aptly titled, Gentle Spirit album, which was released by LA artist Jonathan Wilson in 2011. The record itself was a few years in the making and, leading up to its release on Bella Union, was circulated around Wilson’s friends and family. In which time it collected a large underground following which included many notable musicians, including Jackson Browne, Robbie Robertson and Elvis Costello. Such was its success that it received the #4 spot on Mojo Magazine’s 2011 Best of Albums of the Year. https://bit.ly/3nZ9vR1 |
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11/04/2021 04:04 PM DJ: Kevin Cole |
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"'I Don’t Wanna Wait' has a certain hypnotic dreaminess that breaks into gorgeous heartland rock that could soundtrack an ’80s rite-of-passage film set in midwest America. The record’s drive-time appeal feels like a bonus and adds to its perpetual quality . Existentially moving through life, there isn’t a tone of melancholy in Granduciel’s vocals as high tempo tracks propel the album forward; instead, I Don’t Live Here Anymore feels like a hand being held out for you to hold, to accept the past and be eagerly thrown head first into an energised present." https://bit.ly/3BOptlM |
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11/04/2021 04:00 PM DJ: Larry Mizell, Jr. |
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When asked how Caveman has seen the music scene evolve over the years, the band replied, "It's gotten way closer. [In that] movie on Dee Dee Ramone, he was just saying that back in the day every band was just at war with each other. A band would put up a poster, if it wasn't your band, you'd rip it off. Now, when you see one of your friend's posters coming down, you tape it back up. You know, it's like just that community vibe. Everyone's here to help you. We're all playing music, and that's been a big part of the NYC change in the scene. There's a lot of great music, and great people. Less drama. "Arte Lange mentioned that, he was like, 'What! These bands are so nice these days.' Being mean doesn't get you that far. No one has the time to deal with that." https://bit.ly/31yx4J1 |
