Briston Maroney - Under My Skin

Jessica Winter - "Sad Music" from the 2020 Sad Music EP on Roya Records. Brixton-based artist Jessica Winter stuns with her debut EP Sad Music, a perfect blend of introspective lyrics and infectious synth beats. “Music helps me realise that you are not alone that every one of us is capable of the best and worst feelings and actions in this world," Winter said via a press release. "This song was born out of a particularly bad day and how music was a saviour at that time.” Winter captures that feeling in the accompanying music video; she says: “This video was made over a year ago. Nan Moore (the director) and I started it with zero budget so we sweet talked our way into Specsavers and took a National Express down to Portsmouth beach to film the initial scenes... a year went past and we hustled, we toured together and eventually convinced someone to give us the cash to finish it off. The only reason we got into Spescavers was because I was there so often with a health condition called blepharitis, you treat it by using artificial tears. I think that reflects how as an artist, a woman putting out pop music, you always feel like there’s an element of being performative. 'Sad Music' is performative, it’s getting through heartbreak with a song and a dance.” Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

21 Loka 20203min

Dark Tropics - "Moroccan Sun," a 2020 single on Quiet Arch. Self-described "pop-noir" duo Dark Tropics return with their second single "Moroccan Sun," just in time to stretch out summer just a little bit longer. While the musicians, Rio and Gerard, reside in Belfast, Ireland, they first met in Morocco, and bring a sultry, sunny Mediterranean feel to today's featured track. In a press release, Rio shares: “’Moroccan Sun’ was written somewhat as a narrative for my first travelling experience fully on my own. It’s letting go of what you believed to be your comfort, your light in life and understanding that you will always have some constants, but by the same measure things will change and mould around you, and embracing this brings a new sense of happiness. Taking the step to leave the old behind, move forward into the new and embracing a new chapter.” “I did take a lot of inspiration from my travel diary, especially my night sleeping under the stars in the Sahara and the 12hr drive back to the city the next day where I spent a lot of time thinking about the life I was coming back to and what I really wanted.” Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

20 Loka 20203min

Adia Victoria - "South Gotta Change," a 2020 single on Atlantic Records. 'Cause I love you, I won't leave you Won't let you slip away Come what may We're gonna find a way Nashville-based artist Adia Victoria takes an introspective look at her city on her latest single, "South Gotta Change." The song, executive produced by the legendary T Bone Burnett, is not only a love letter to her town, but a plea for change. On Twitter, she declared, "this isn’t a song about hope, this is a howl for change." She continues in a press statement: In 2020 I have watched as the world became irreversibly altered. The upheaval COVID-19 caused has allowed for a sacred pause in our daily life. During this lapse we lost Congressman John Lewis. In the days following his death I pondered the work he accomplished and the work left to us who remain. "South Gotta Change" is a prayer, an affirmation, and a battle cry all at once. It is a promise to engage in the kind of ‘good trouble’ John Lewis understood necessary to form a more perfect union. No other place embodies the American experiment with the precision of the South. It is home to both unspeakable horror and unshakable faith. It is up to us, those who are blessed enough to be Southern, to take up the mantle Brother Lewis left us. As the old saying goes, “As the South goes, so goes the nation.” Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

19 Loka 20203min

Of Mexican Descent - "All Turn Native" from the 2006 self-released album Exitos Y Mas Exitos (Edicion De Lujo). Of Mexican Descent is a collaboration between Los Angeles-based artists, rapper 2Mex (real name: Alejandro Ocana) and Xololanxinxo (real name: Daniel Rodriguez). They began the project in 1991, and quickly became an elemental part of the rising Los Angeles underground hip hop movement. Their debut EP Exitos y Mas Exitos was originally released in 1998, and was recently re-released digitally via 2Mex's Bandcamp page. KEXP's DJ Gabriel Teodros says: "Of Mexican Descent is the duo of 2Mex and Xololanxinxo, two legendary underground Los Angeles MC's who cut their teeth performing at the famed Good Life Cafe, as documented in Ava DuVernay's 2008 film This Is The Life. As I was just coming into making music myself in the late '90s, OMD's work found its way to my Walkman via dubbed cassettes that friends were passing around, as we were all big fans of the styles coming out of the Good Life and Project Blowed. This was in a time when independent hip-hop had to physically travel to reach you; the internet wasn't used to distribute music the way it is now. 2Mex and Xololanxinxo both had such a courageous vulnerability in their approach, they kept love at the center of everything they did, and they represented an Indigenous perspective in hip-hop I hadn't yet heard at that point. The impact their music had on me then is something you can still see and feel in everything I do today. It only felt right to help shine a light on my OGs. "2Mex and Xololanxinxo are both very active today, Xololanxinxo has brand new music with The Psychic Temple you can listen to here and you can check the latest solo work from 2Mex here. "There's rumors of a new Visionaries album coming soon, too!" Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

16 Loka 20203min

Dioganhdih - "Native New Yorker," a 2019 self-released single. A self-described "queer, non-binary, indigenous rapper, activist, and diversity consultant", Dioganhdih uses their music to celebrate the Haudenosaunee culture. On their latest single, they explain, "this single release details the life of a water protector living in a constant state of emergency and being propelled into action while living in occupation at Oceti Sakowin, Standing Rock in 2016." The track was recorded in Los Angeles with Ziibiwan, an Anishinaabe electronic artist, on beat and post production. Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

15 Loka 20203min

Ill-ēsha - "Como la Chicha (feat. Fabian Arias & Dakota Camacho)" from the 2020 self-released album Songs from the Sweat Shed. Last year, veteran DJ/producer Ill-ēsha helped create the Tribal Gathering Festival Recording Studio in the middle of the jungle in Panama, using the new space to record indigenous tribes and artists from all over the world. On her new double EP, Songs from the Sweat Shed, she incorporates samples from these sessions into her infectious electronic beats, with 100% of proceeds to "help continue funding to get tribes from all over the world to Tribal Gathering." On today's Song of the Day, Ill-ēsha features Fabian Arias and Dakota Camacho. Camacho, in particular, was born and raised in Coast Salish Territory, resides in South Seattle, and is of Matao/CHamoru ancestry. A "multi-disciplinary artist/researcher", Camacho also co-founded I Moving Lab, "an inter-national, inter-cultural, inter-tribal, and inter-disciplinary arts collective that creates community and self-funded arts initiatives to engage and bring together rural & urban communities, Universities, Museums, & performing arts institutions." You can see the wide range of projects Camacho leads here. Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

14 Loka 20204min

DJ Shub - "The Social (feat. pHoenix Pagliacci)," a 2020 single on Shub Music. Award-winning producer DJ Shub has teamed up with Toronto-based artist Phoenix for a powerful new track, with proceeds going to organizations benefiting Black Lives Matter and Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women. In an interview with Billboard, DJ Shub (who is a Mohawk from Six Nations of the Grand River, Canada's largest First Nations reserve) explained: "Indigenous people in Canada are like the Black Lives Matter movement in the States. It’s pretty bad here, especially when it comes to shootings by police. The statistics are crazy, so I think we [as First Nations people] can relate to what’s happening. That’s why Phoenix [who is Black] gets it so deeply, we’ve both experienced the same struggle in Canada." Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

13 Loka 20205min

A Tribe Called Red - "Land Back (feat. Boogey the Beat & Northern Voice)," a 2020 self-released single. Canadian DJ duo A Tribe Called Red have a long history of using their public platform to amplify the indigenous community, and with today's Song of the Day, they're showing their support for the Wet’suwet’en people, whose sovereign lands are being invaded by the RCMP and the Coastal GasLink pipeline. They're offering this song for free on their Soundcloud page and are encouraging listeners to donate to the Unist'ot'en 2020 Legal Fund in return. The band also shared this statement alongside the release: We oppose the invasion of sovereign Indigenous lands by the RCMP and the Coastal GasLink pipeline. We stand with the Wet’suwet’en people and their hereditary chiefs. We stand with all the people working to support their fight. We will be making this song available to download for free and free to be used for anyone working to defend the Wet’suwet’en territories and all action that defend the right of Indigenous land sovereignty and to promote a true nation to nation discussion between the Indigenous nations of Turtle Island and our Canadian settlers. Until our Canadians are willing to treat the Indigenous nations of this land with the respect due, a sovereign people’s reconciliation will remain an empty gesture. It was the work of our good friend Whess Harman that inspired us to give the song away to the movement. Not only because of their work in the frontlines of resistance in Vancouver, but also because they are using their art for the movement. Whess designed the “Land Back” patch that is featured in our cover art, and has been selling them to raise money for the Unist'ot'en Camp Legal Fund. We will be making a donation to the same fund for our use of Whess' art. We encourage you to donate to the legal fund as well by following this link: https://actionnetwork.org/fundraising... The Halluci Nation would like to thank our friends and collaborators who have helped make this possible. Without our community we are nothing. Boogey the Beat, Northern Voice, Whess Harman and Valeo Arts Management.#Alleyesonwetsuweten #LandBack #WaterIsLife #Standwithwetsuweten #unistotencamp #unistoten #unistotensolidarity #indigenousrights #wetsuwetenstrong Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

12 Loka 20203min