KEXP DJ Greta Rose on Australian producer and DJ HAAi

Cloud Cult - "One Way Out of a Hole," a 2022 single on Earthology Records. After a six-year hiatus, Cloud Cult return with the album Metamorphosis, to be released March 4th via their own Earthology Records. Like all albums from this orchestral-folk-rock group, nature plays a big role in the LP. Founding member/frontman Craig Minowa wrote and recorded the new album in the remote woods of Wisconsin, tracking the album from an old Amish cabin he converted to a recording studio. The sounds from outdoors can be heard throughout the songs on Metamorphosis. Cloud Cult return to Seattle on Saturday, August 27th at St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral. Check out the video for today's Song of the Day at the link below, and enjoy a Throwback Thursday to the band's 2014 KEXP in-studio session. Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

24 Helmi 20225min

Yard Act - "The Overload" from the 2022 album The Overload on Zen F.C. This might be the debut album from Leeds band Yard Act, but its members have been kicking around the scene for a while — frontman James Smith in Post War Glamour Girls, and bassist Ryan Needham as a member of Menace Beach. They're hardly the latest post-punk band to come out of the UK, but Smith brings a sarcastic sense of humor and gift for lyrics that sets them ahead of the pack. "‘The Overload’ serves as an overture to the album," he says of today's Song of the Day to NME. "It’s written from the perspective of someone sitting in a pub overhearing snippets of all these different conversations from different characters and acting as a vessel, a medium even, for their own thoughts and opinions. That cut and paste approach means it’s hard to decipher where one person’s musings end and another’s statement begins, and that feels like a fairer representation of why human existence is at the point it is right now. Society doesn’t prevail because of the absolute, it struggles on in spite of it. It’s our ability to compromise which helps us to coexist." Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

23 Helmi 20223min

Dehd - "Bad Love" from the 2022 album Blue Skies on Fat Possum. Post-punk trio Dehd return this spring with Blue Skies, their fourth album overall, but their first for Fat Possum Records. Today's featured track finds the Chicago-based band channeling an '80s new wave vibe, calling to mind The Jesus & Mary Chain led by Dale Bozzio of Missing Persons. “‘Bad Love’ is about recovering from love addiction and making a decision to stop choosing and aligning with people who aren’t your energetic match,” said vocalist Emily Kempf in a press release. “I wrote it for myself and for everyone who needed to hear a song about choosing new forms of love. It’s about chasing a relationship with oneself rather than an unhealthy one, one that just doesn’t quite fit, or a codependent one. Everyone experiences loneliness and everyone needs connection. I wished to reclaim loneliness for myself and others as something not embarrassing or to be a kept dark secret. I wanted to embrace loneliness and being alone, alchemizing it with friendship and behaviors with self that don’t involve romance or sex.” Blue Skies hits store shelves on May 27th, preceded by a May 5th appearance at Neumos in Seattle. Check out the video for the song at the link below, and revisit their Live on KEXP at Home session from 2020. Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

22 Helmi 20222min

The Head and the Heart - "Virginia (Wind in the Night)" from the 2022 album Every Shade of Blue on Warner. Beloved local band The Head and the Heart return this spring with their fifth full-length, Every Shade of Blue, recorded at Studio Litho here in Seattle, where they made their first two albums back in 2011 and 2013. “It was almost like coming back home,” guitarist/vocalist Jonathan Russell told Consequence of Sound. “We used the same engineer, Shawn Simmons. There was this balance of old and new, being familiar with the studio but bringing somebody much newer in his relationship with us.” On today's Song of the Day, Russell pays tribute to his home state. "Being from Virginia, for me this song represents a long and winding relationship to place – a place that is grounding. I’m often drawing on my life through symbolism as a way into someone else’s psyche,” he said via a press statement. “It’s part of my search for a deeper connection without having to compare our experiences directly. There is a reason this song has two titles. One is literal and one is symbolic. Not everyone is from Virginia, I know that. But I bet you have walked home and heard the wind in the night.” The Head and the Heart perform two nights – August 12th and 13th – at Marymoor Park. Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

21 Helmi 20223min

Weep Wave - "Synthetic Dreams," a 2022 self-released single. Over the five years since we first covered Weep Wave, a lot has changed for the Seattle band. They went on to release their debut album, S.A.D., in 2019, a concept album based on the changing seasons and corresponding moods that take place over the course of a year in the Pacific Northwest, that KEXP’s Martin Douglas had a lot to say about. Since then, a series of lineup changes have occurred but the band, led by Dylan Fuentes, continues to constantly churn out a new single at least every six months or so. One of Weep Wave, currently a quartet,’s most recent singles is the synth-fueled, “Synthetic Dreams.” Putting aside their signature Modest Mousian guitar riffs for this one, the song is a stripped-down version of the band, utilizing ‘80s style synthesizers and a thrumming analog drum machine for a haunting and altogether different sound for the band. “It was interesting to write and record a style of song that’s pretty different from what we would normally do,” explains Fuentes. “With the synth there’s a lot of textures and tones that I can’t do with the guitar.” Weep Wave has big plans for 2022 including releasing a new EP and going on tour. Keep up with release dates and tour announcements here. Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

18 Helmi 20225min

Warpaint - "Champion" from the 2022 album Radiate Like This on Heirlooms/Virgin. After six long years, Los Angeles quartet Warpaint are set to release a new album. Due out on May 6th, the heavily anticipated Radiate Like This follows 2016’s Heads Up. Alongside the announcement, the band shared the lead single “Champion,” which is just too good to not be our Song of the Day. “Champion” continues Warpaint’s penchant for brooding anthems, with a slow-burning smooth groove leading the way with angelic harmonies floating amongst the thrumming beats for a haunting soundscape. The final minute builds the groove into a slightly rollicking post-rock instrumental for a cinematic ending. “Being a champion to oneself and for others,” is the band’s description of the meaning of the song. “We are all in this together, life is too short not to strive for excellence in all that we do.” Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

17 Helmi 20224min

Widowspeak - "Everything is Simple" from the 2022 album The Jacket on Captured Tracks. Brooklyn-based duo Widowspeak are gearing up to release their sixth studio album, The Jacket, on March 11th via longtime label Captured Tracks. Initially intended to be a concept album based on a fictional band, The Jacket morphed into a more personal and biographical meditation on performance and past lives. The record’s lead single, “Everything is Simple,” is a gentle alt-folk strummer that sees frontwoman Molly Hamilton wistfully ruminate on constantly shifting perspectives. “Everything is simple 'til it's not,” is the phrase that Hamilton hauntingly bookends the song with, describing a whole variety of possible situations. She had this to say about the meaning behind the “Everything is Simple”: “At the beginning of something (a relationship, a project, a job, a new place) you have this very pure feeling toward it. Everything feels less complicated because you’re oriented wholly toward that potential. It’s undefined, and that makes it easier to understand, because you can’t see the problems yet. As time goes on, you learn more, you experience more, and you see where the limitations exist: not even necessarily ones imposed upon you, but where you draw your own lines. Maybe you can’t see what was holding you back until it’s in the past, and by then others’ perspectives contradict your own. Everyone is constructing their own versions of reality. The song was originally going to feed into the drama of the imaginary band, but it’s about our own band too. I was thinking about how I’m an inherently unreliable narrator about my own life, and at the same time maybe there are no ‘true’ stories.” The song comes with a bullriding-themed video directed by OTIUM. 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.

16 Helmi 20224min

The Devil and Her Chauffeur - "Never Let Me Go," a 2021 self-released single. Seattle-based duo The Devil and Her Chauffeur was a project born out of the pandemic and the necessity of creative projects to stay sane. Jacqueline Kasbohm was in-between recording with her proper band Echodrone and brought in a revolving door of collaborators to flesh out her ideas. Now two years into the band, the string of singles released show a strong affinity for ‘90s indebted shoegaze and atmospheric post-rock. Our Song of the Day, “Never Let Me Go,” is dreampop gold, with densely interwoven vocal layers, spacious synths, and dreamy guitars. Kasbohm’s Rachel Goswellian vocals are light and airy, initially leading the song but then settling amongst the instruments as just an additional layer in the thick wall of sounds. The track was initially recorded with Daniel Dieters handing guitars and percussion but now has Virginia-born, Bay Area-based musician Tosh Enders handling that load. The Devil and Her Chauffeur are currently working on their first full-length album with producer and fellow musician, Fran Lora from the Saville, Spain band Flu Flu and is set to be released by end of summer 2022. Watch the video for “Never Let Me Go” at the link below. Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

15 Helmi 20223min