Jason McCue - When He Drinks

St. Vincent - "Pay Your Way In Pain" from the 2021 album Daddy's Home on Loma Vista Recordings. On her sixth album, Daddy’s Home, St. Vincent (real name: Annie Clark) looks to the past, specifically the ‘70s, to inspire the present. “There’s something interesting about what the early ‘70s were, and the parallels between then and now – even socially,” Clark told NME. “You had the idealism of the ‘60s come crashing down and the flower child thing had dissipated and made room for a way grittier, more nihilistic, more ‘dirt under the fingernails’ vibe. The economy was crazy, there was a whole [lot] of social unrest and that doesn’t sound too dissimilar from now as we’re watching institutions of power being dismantled and people upset with the status quo. People are trying to navigate what it is to just survive.” Today's Song of the Day captures that theme of endurance. “I feel like we live in a world where we’re often asked to choose between surviving and dignity. Part of it is like blues for 2021. It’s also about how there’s nothing that I’ve done in my life that didn’t involve some sort of struggle. Some of those struggles are really worthy ones to have and something great can come of them.” Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

25 Maalis 20213min

Ora the Molecule - "Creator," a 2021 single on Mute Records. Oslo, Norway-born artist Nora Schjelderup (otherwise known as Ora The Molecule) releases her debut album Human Safari this summer on July 23rd. Today's Song of the Day is the first single from the release, an ebullient anthem for youth, as reflected in the accompanying music video, directed by Tanmay Chowdhary. “The song is all about empowerment in the individual,” Schjelderup says in a press release. “You have to love the creator that is inside of the creature. I know there’s a lot of fear among kids. Greta Thunberg is a great example. She’s such a hero for so many young kids. It’s playing into that a little bit. In the video, my little sister, Tindra, is the adult listening to the news. I am a passive adult. She’s training me and doing all of these things to get us ready for the big day of catastrophe.” Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

24 Maalis 20214min

Anushka Chkheidze - "Move, Move" from the 2021 album Move 20-21 on CES Records. With last year's debut LP Halfie, Anushka Chkheidze landed a nomination for IMPALA’s European Independent Album of The Year Award. Less than a year later, the 23-year-old electronic music artist returns with her second full-length, Move 20 – 21, an album she describes as "a mind journey through space and time without any physical activity." The LP was recorded during lockdown in her hometown of Kharagauli, a village in the Imereti region of western Georgia, and the songs have an inevitable introspection to them. “The album is a reflection of 2020 and 2021 so far, but not because of the situation brought on by COVID-19,” she tells the Calvert Journal. “It has to do with people, home, age. Last year, I realised I need to take better care of others, and of myself.” Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

23 Maalis 20215min

Altin Gün - "Maçka Yollari" from the 2021 album Yol on ATO Records. Amsterdam-based, but globally influenced with Turkish, Indonesian, and Dutch band members, Grammy-nominated band Altin Gün continue to add a psych-touch to traditional Turkish folk songs on their third album, Yol. Today's Song of the Day hails from the Trabzon region near the Black Sea coast, with Altin Gün giving it their usual funk infusion. Like many recent releases, Yol was created during quarantine. "We couldn’t get together, so we demoed everything from home," vocalist/keyboardist Merve Daşdemir explained to American Songwriter. "We all work on Logic, [so] essentially [this album] sounded a bit electronic. But it wasn’t super intentional. It was more like, pandemic, so we have to do it differently. Which, I really enjoyed. This is the most creative input I put on an Altin Gün album so far, so it’s kind of my personal favorite, in that sense. Because I really like working alone, so this was perfect for me." Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

22 Maalis 20213min

Echo of the Low Light - "Afterlife," a 2021 single on Independent. Echo of the Low Light is more than just a band; it's a collective of Pacific Northwest artists taking an experimental approach to song construction. At its core is guitarist/vocalist Kerri Holland and bassist Pam Drago. After years in bands, they wanted to push the boundaries. They explain on their Instagram, "We began to explore more digital elements and effects, blending them with the traditional guitar/bass/drums we’d been used to. This opened things up sonically in ways we couldn’t imagine. Then we thought, ‘what would it be like to create with artists we’ve never worked with before?’ This is when the floodgates flew wide open." Every song features a different line-up of collaborators. On today's Song of the Day, they welcomed guest artists Joy Dunay (The Dirty Slippers, The Way We Were in 1989), Brandon Krebs (All Known Aliases), and John Gibson (Danielli). Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

19 Maalis 20214min

Squid - "Narrator (feat. Martha Skye Murphy)" from the 2021 album Bright Green Field on Warp. After a series of stand-alone singles and an EP, Brighton, England-based band Squid have announced their debut album, Bright Green Field, out May 7th via Warp. Today's Song of the Day features guest vocals from Martha Skye Murphy, to help make "the point that the unreliable narrator is, more often than not, a male who wishes to portray women as submissive characters in their story." The band continue in a press release: "'Narrator' was inspired by the 2019 film A Long Day’s Journey Into Night. The song follows a man who is losing the distinction between memory, dream, and reality, and how you can often mold your memories of people to fit a narrative that benefits your ego. After some discussions with Martha she thought it’d be a good idea that she play the part of the woman wanting to break free from the dominating story the male has set​." Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

18 Maalis 20214min

Jupiter & Okwess - "You Sold Me a Dream (feat. Ana Tijoux)" from the 2021 album Na Kozonga on Everloving Records. Congolese band Jupiter & Okwess team up with Chilean artist Ana Tijoux for an infectious track with a powerful message, a song Jupiter declared an "anthem of resistance." Against an electronic tribal rhythm, Tijoux states: [Google translated] From Congo to the world From Congo to Latin America and Africa complete Against all racism the music is heard loud, loud, hear it Today's Song of the Day will be released on Jupiter & Okwess' forthcoming full-length, Na Kozonga, out April 23rd. Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

17 Maalis 20213min

Team Dreams - "Imaginary Love," a 2021 self-released single. One of the (many) highlights of our 2018 Iceland Airwaves Music Festival broadcast was the appearance of Icelandic supergroup Team Dreams, a project of longtime friends Sin Fang (aka Sindri Már Sigfússon), Sóley, and Örvar Smárason. (We're going to assume they landed on the band name "Team Dreams," even though a couple of years ago they claimed it was just the title of their debut LP, joking they were "too old to come up with a new band name at this point in their careers.") Upon their return, they've announced they'll be releasing a new song every month this year, kicking off the ambitious project with today's Song of the Day. February's track was soon to follow, and we can't wait to see what they launch for March! Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

16 Maalis 20214min