Exitmusic - Iowa

Mitski - "The Only Heartbreaker" from the 2022 album Laurel Hell on Dead Oceans. Mitski's latest album, Laurel Hell, went through a few different phases during its creation. "This album has been a punk record at some point, and a country record," she told Rolling Stone. "Then, after a while, it was like, 'I need to dance.' Even though the lyrics might be depressing, I need something peppy to get me through this." Today's Song of the Day definitely fits the bill. "I needed that Breakfast Club dance-sequence music." Today's Song of the Day also marks the first time Mitski has teamed up with another songwriter: Dan Wilson, formerly of the band Semisonic. "I was just sitting on it forever. I have so many iterations of it. Nothing felt right," she told Apple Music. Wilson was able to give her the guidance she needed. "It turned out he's really good. He helped me solve so many of the problems and kind of lead me out of the labyrinth of it. And yeah, I'm really glad that I took that chance with him." Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

29 Maalis 20223min

What is the Black Constellation? If you know, you'll want to listen to this podcast. If you don't, you'll want to listen, too. "Fresh off the Spaceship" is the newest podcast from KEXP, telling the story of the highly influential yet scarcely documented artist collective. The Black Constellation has included such varied musical acts as Shabazz Palaces, THEESatisfaction, Ya Tseen and Porter Ray. Hosted by KEXP's Larry Mizell Jr. and Martin Douglas, each episode in this 10-part series takes listeners on an audio journey connecting the stars of the Constellation, shedding light on their art and their ethos along the way. New episodes come out every Friday from March 18 - May 27, 2022. Find out more at KEXP.org/fresh-off-the-spaceship. Watch a video version of the trailer and explore more work from the artists of the Constellation on KEXP's Fresh off the Spaceship YouTube playlist.Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

28 Maalis 20225min

Sudan Archives - "Home Maker," a 2022 single on Stones Throw. Leave it to Sudan Archives to make domestic life sultry and seductive. After making the move from Cincinnati to her current home of Los Angeles, the acclaimed violinist/vocalist/producer (real name: Brittney Denise Parks) turned to home making to feel more grounded. Her first new single in three years reflects that. “It took nesting — building a home, investing in partners that were worth my investment — to shake my anxiety and depression,” she said in a press release. “For me, homemaking is a service to mental health and coping with fear and isolation. This song is about the effort put into making a relationship work and giving love a place to live.” Check out the video at the link below, directed by Jocelyn Anquetil, and revisit her 2019 KEXP session, filmed at THING! Fest in Fort Worden, WA. Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

28 Maalis 20223min

Acid Tongue - "Take Me To Your Leader (feat. Death Valley Girls)" from the 2021 album Arboretum on Freakout Records. This past November, local chairmen of psych-rock Acid Tongue dropped their celebrated third record Arboretum. Their most fully-formed album to date, Arboretum is a joyful, intoxicating psychedelic glam rock opus that employs the many friendships Guy Keltner and Ian Cunningham have made in the music scene for a highly collaborative effort. Our Song of the Day, “Take Me to Your Leader,” sees L.A.-based psych-garage group Death Valley Girls jump in for one of the most rousing tracks on the album. Furious and rollicking, the song blazes in with a message that essentially says, “If the country’s burning down, we might as well have fun while it lasts.” Something I can certainly get behind. Watch the VHS-style, cult-themed video by CULT NUG at the link below. Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

25 Maalis 20222min

King Hannah - "Big Big Baby" from the 2022 album I’m Not Sorry, I Was Just Being Me on City Slang. While the duo that make up King Hannah - Craig Whittle and Hannah Merrick - hail from Liverpool, the music they make feels more fitting for the deep American south. Taking inspiration from the dark, mystical elements of that region, the band makes smokey, heavy Americana with tinges of dusky, rambling post-rock. Our Song of the Day, “Big Big Baby,” epitomizes this, utilizing slow, ominous drums, fuzzy guitars, and Merrick’s sultry vocals for an ominous effect. But these tones belie the song’s darkly humorous lyrics. Lines like “I heard you got a lady pregnant, well I can only wish her well /‘Cause soon you’ll have a bigger baby, in the family than yourself” and “I hope you choke on a dumpling, at least that would be mildly fun” read as the punchlines of some harsh burns. The video for the song leans into the elements of the songs sound rather than lyrics, with Merrick slow dancing in a dark, slighted distorted room. The clip was directed by Whittle, proving the duo are a creative force to be reckoned with. Watch it at the link below. Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

24 Maalis 20223min

The Lazy Eyes - "Fuzz Jam" from the 2022 self-released album SongBook. Australian psych band The Lazy Eyes chose a fitting title for today's Song of the Day: the song is, indeed, a fuzzy jam, making it a fitting introduction to their forthcoming debut full-length SongBook, to be released on April 22nd. In an interview with Happy Mag, vocalist/guitarist Harvey Geraghty remembers the genesis of the track. "I’ve got a pretty random story about how this song started. I was brushing my teeth at home, and I was looking in the bathroom mirror and I was just like beatboxing to myself. I don’t know if anyone else does that, but like, you know, when people sing to themselves, I was just doing a bit of a beatbox." "And then I started doing that like rhythm, which is what the bass line is. And then I think I just went to my room and recorded it on the guitar. And then maybe a few days later, recorded a GarageBand demo to show the boys. But yeah, the bass line, it’s all based around the bass line. No pun intended." Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

23 Maalis 20224min

Death Valley Girls - "When I’m Free," a 2022 single on Suicide Squeeze. Earlier this year, Seattle's Suicide Squeeze Records released a split single featuring two bands off their roster: Death Valley Girls and Le Butcherettes. Side A features the Guadalajara-based Le Butcherettes covering an old DVG song titled "The Universe," and side B features a brand new track from Death Valley Girls, the psychedelic, introspective song "When I’m Free." In a press release, frontwoman Bonnie Bloomgarden shares, “We’ve talked a lot about trauma, mental health, and how hard it is to live in a human body! One concept that has really been helping during the daily struggle is the perspective shift – that things aren’t ‘happening to me,’ they’re ‘happening for me.’ Sometimes if you can, squint your eyes, alter your view, try to see experiences as opportunities to learn and grow! Sometimes that’s the best we can do!” Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

22 Maalis 20223min

Bambara - "Birds" from the 2022 Love On My Mind EP on Wharf Cat. Brooklyn-based band Bambara — a trio of twins Reid and Blaze Bateh with their childhood friend William Brookshire on bass — have just released their six-song mini-album, Love Is On My Mind, in advance of their European tour with IDLES. On today's Song of the Day, Reid shares in a press release, “‘Birds’ compresses the events of many months into three and a half minutes, spanning time when the couple we follow throughout the record are growing closer. On the train, they fall in and out of sleep, reliving shared moments. Then a childhood memory bubbles up to the surface of the protagonist’s mind, revealing his complex relationship to the idea of love.” Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

21 Maalis 20223min