KEXP DJ Kevin Sur on Martin Luke Brown’s therapeutic new track

bdrmm - "It's Just a Bit of Blood," a 2023 single on Rock Action Records When post-rock icons Mogwai sign you to their label, Rock Action, you know you gotta be doing something right. Such is the case for Hull-based quartet bdrmm, whose second full-length, titled I Don’t Know, was just released by the label back in June. “After touring with Mogwai and forming such a close relationship with them, we feel blessed to have been invited to work with them and their team," the band said via a press release. "To be on the same label as Arab Strap too? I mean, say no more.” On today's Song of the Day, the band capture a favorite live track.  Lead vocalist Ryan Smith shares, “The more we played it, the more it dawned on us it was becoming something special, and an integral part of our set. Lyrically, it stems from my recent mental health awareness. I’d become depressed and very socially anxious, I really felt like I had changed and didn’t know who I was. I am lucky enough to be surrounded by three of my brothers within this band – one literally by blood – and have always been able to be myself with them. It’s about realising what you have and remembering that when you can’t see it.” Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

29 Aug 20234min

Dengue Fever - "Touch Me Not," from the 2023 album Ting Mong on Tuk Tuk Records. Los Angeles-based Cambodian psych band Dengue Fever return with their sixth studio album Ting Mong, to be released September 15th via their own Tuk Tuk Records. The band explain a "ting mong" is "a decoy or mannequin, similar to a scarecrow, used to fight away evil spirits and plagues." Following the pandemic, couldn't we all use a ting mong to protect us? Today's Song of the Day originated from a melody vocalist Chhom Nimol came up with one day. Her band members built the hypnotic groove around her voice. “We gave ourselves parameters recording Ting Mong, but we smashed the rules we created for ourselves on past albums,” bassist Senon Williams told Flood Magazine. “The songs’ sole purpose was to let Chhom’s voice soar. It was our mood or perhaps the mood of the world that gave us focus on the sublime and the melancholy." Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

28 Aug 20234min

High Pulp - "Unified Dakotas (feat. Jeff Parker)" from the 2023 album Days In The Desert on ANTI-. Los Angeles-based jazz collective High Pulp team up with Jeff Parker of Tortoise on today's Song of the Day. The track can be found on the band's adventurous new LP Days In The Desert, out now via Anti- Records. “We have been fans of Jeff Parker (both solo and his work with Tortoise) for years, and when thinking about who the right person may be to collaborate with on this song it became abundantly clear once I threw his name out," explained High Pulp's drummer Bobby Granfelt in a press release. "Jeff’s maturity and humility shine throughout this song. It tells a story and feels more like watching someone make a painting than listening to a traditional guitar solo.” “'Unified Dakotas' was one of the last songs that we wrote, and it quickly became one of the band’s favorite songs from Days In The Desert,” he continues. ”If you listen to the trumpet writing you can hear explicit choices and tones inspired by [the 1959 Miles Davis album] Sketches of Spain; we felt this song called for that color palette: playful, tense, and slightly indignant.” Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

25 Aug 20235min

Sweeping Promises - "You Shatter" from the 2023 album Good Living Is Coming For You on Feel It Records. Sweeping Promises weren't kidding when they titled their second LP Good Living Is Coming for You. The duo of Lira Mondal and Caufield Schnug used the advance they received from Sub Pop Records to purchase a home in Lawrence, Kansas. In an interview with Pitchfork, they explain how they used the back of the house to build a recording studio where they crafted their latest album. (They've also recorded 40 other bands there in the past year alone!) Lira and Caufield describe today's Song of the Day as “our ode to being a hammer,” something they surely understand after their renovations. Catch Sweeping Promises on September 15th at Madame Lou’s. And check out Martin Douglas's album review for Good Living is Coming for You here.  Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

24 Aug 20233min

Killer Mike - "SCIENTISTS & ENGINEERS (feat. André 3000, Future, Eryn Allen Kane)" from the 2023 album MICHAEL on Loma Vista Recordings / Concord It's been 11 years since the last solo album from Killer Mike, and his latest LP, titled Michael, is his most personal yet. Songs reflect on his childhood growing up in Atlanta, and, as he told Zane Lowe in an interview, he was also inspired by "the civil rights movement, the abolitionist movement, which gave us some of the most beautiful music ever." The album features a fantastic collection of collaborators, including CeeLo Green,Young Thug, his Run the Jewels bandmate El-P, and more. Today's Song of the Day features guest vocals from Eryn Allen Kane, and reunites Killer Mike with two members of the Dungeon Family hip-hop collective, Future and André 3000. “I’ve assembled a cast of some of the best artists from Atlanta and beyond,” he wrote on Instagram. “Our collective perspectives will allow you to understand the glorious story and beautiful nuances of what it’s like to be a Black boy growing up in the deeply religious south, specifically the westside of Atlanta.” Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

23 Aug 20234min

Pozi - "Slightly Shaking Cells" from the 2023 album Smiling Pools on PRAH Recordings On their sophomore full-length Smiling Pools, London-tro Pozi break away from the post-punk sound they demonstrated on their debut LP, PZ1.  “It’s not our goal to totally embrace and restrict ourselves within a genre,” says bassist Tom Jones. “I feel that the tracks on Smiling Pools demonstrate that we’re taking our music to a different place and we want to bring the listener along on that journey.” Today's Song of the Day shows shades of krautrock. “This song is inspired by figures such as Boudica, Cleopatra and Xena the Warrior Princess, and the kind of immortality you can create through believing in your own strength," the band state via Bandcamp. "The song then switches to someone admiring another person from afar, zooming into everyday existence away from matters of life and death.” Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

22 Aug 20233min

Sen Morimoto - "If The Answer Isn't Love" from the 2023 album Diagnosis on City Slang Records. Chicago-based artist Sen Morimoto has signed with City Slang Records, accompanying the announcement with the new single "If The Answer Isn’t Love." The track will appear on his third album, Diagnosis, out November 3rd via City Slang in partnership with his own Sooper Records. “In the face of imminent climate disaster, war and unending sickness it’s natural to start considering what will remain and what might have made it all worth it,” Morimoto says of today's Song of the Day. “I want the sound of my music to reflect that same urgency – instruments warbling and splattered over the beat, melodies tangled and contradicting. I wrote this song about the enduring power of love and the struggle to hang onto that feeling when in crisis.” The song's video was directed by Chicago film production duo New Trash. Morimoto continues, "Up until my first tour in Japan, I washed dishes for a living. I would daydream all day at work about being a full time musician. My fantasies were sweet and naive, mostly just pop culture references glued together, stuff I’d seen in movies and music videos. It wasn’t until I started touring full time that I realized how long the road is from being a working musician to building a life in music that is actually sustainable, which has become even harder as touring proves itself to be a gamble with bad odds, even for more established acts. I wrote this video concept as a kind of tongue-in-cheek visualization of those mid-shift daydreams. I’m dreaming of this big guitar solo in the sky, but even my fantasy is insecure, balancing on a rusted beam with no support." Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

21 Aug 20232min

RUB - "Contentment," a 2023 single on RUB Sounds. Today's Song of the Day is the debut single from Rub, a Seattle supergroup featuring members of Trick Candles, Salt Lick, Acid Tongue, Killer Workout, Cute Lepers, Panama Gold, and NighTraiN. The group are currently recording their debut full-length. On today's featured track, the band write: "This song is about Contentment. When will it happen, and what to do when you finally get it? It's about remembering that you are in control of your happiness and can choose it anytime. In the video, we wanted to show something mundane like band practice and how you can turn everything into a moment of celebration. You're doing the work by just being." Check out the video for the single, directed by Nina Wasankari, below.  Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

18 Aug 20233min