Briston Maroney - Under My Skin

Catholic Action - "There Will Always Be a Light" from the 2020 album Celebrated by Strangers on Palo Santo Records. Glasgow garage-rockers Catholic Action returned with their second album Celebrated by Strangers last month, their first new LP since 2017 debut In Memory Of. And while the full-length was written and recorded way before the coronavirus sent everyone into quarantine, many messages on the release will resonate during this lockdown. Today's featured song, in particular, is a soaring anthem of hope, reminiscent of Pink Floyd's "Fearless" as covered by Spiritualized. Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

23 Apr 20204min

Iceage - "Lockdown Blues," a 2020 single on Escho. Gibbard's not the only one releasing quarantine-inspired songs to benefit charity. Danish post-punk band Iceage have shared a new single inspired by feelings that have been brought up during lockdown. “The only way out is through,” sings frontman Elias Rønnenfelt. He paints a picture of the world as we know it now: "Empty shelves in barren streets / Confined domestic quarantine." The band writes on their Bandcamp page: "Written in the wake of the lockdown on gatherings, borders, schools and life as we know it, 'Lockdown Blues' is an attempt at addressing this troubled new reality during Covid-19." Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

22 Apr 20203min

Benjamin Gibbard - "Life in Quarantine," a 2020 single on Barsuk Records. Since the start of the statewide stay-at-home mandates, Death Cab for Cutie frontman Benjamin Gibbard has been there for us, streaming live performances from his home studio almost daily. (He's since pared down to just performing on Thursday evenings, which is still an incredibly generous act to do week after week.) During one of his sessions in late March, he debuted a new track he had written titled “Life In Quarantine.” "I know this is a really fucked up and scary time for everybody, including myself," he said, introducing the track. "And I know that we're all trying to figure out what we can do to make it better, or what we can do to alleviate the suffering of someone else." Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

21 Apr 20202min

Ellis - "Fall Apart" from the 2020 album Born Again on Fat Possum Records. Hamilton, Ontario dream pop artist Ellis (real name: Linnea Siggelkow) had hearts aflutter with her 2018 EP The Fuzz. Earlier this month, she re-emerged with her debut full-length, titled Born Again, which, as the title alludes to, finds Siggelkow exploring her feelings on faith. As for today's Song of the Day, she explains, "This is really just an honest reflection of my struggle with anxiety and how I can't hide it from the people closest to me. It's about the feeling the first time someone you admire sees you in your most vulnerable state, about putting in the work to get better but still having moments of weakness..." Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

20 Apr 20203min

Sólveig Matthildur - "Dystopian Boy" from the 2019 album Constantly In Love on Artoffact Records. As a member of Icelandic trio Kælan Mikla, vocalist/keyboardist Sólveig Matthildur knows her way around atmospheric synth-pop. When she relocated from her hometown of Reykjavík to Berlin, she began to produce music on her own, resulting in the 2016 debut LP Unexplained Miseries & the Acceptance of Sorrow, which went on to win the Icelandic Kraumur Award. Her 2019 follow-up album, Constantly in Love, continued to expand on her goth-tinged new wave, adding a little light to the darkness with the single "Dystopian Boy." The track features L.A.-based artist Deb Demure (aka Drab Majesty) on guitar, and together they craft an ethereal, '80s-inspired track that would fit right into a John Hughes movie. Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

17 Apr 20205min

Sinead O’Brien - "Taking On Time" from the 2019 album Speedy Wunderground - Year 4 on Speedy Wunderground. Esteemed London-based label Speedy Wunderground celebrated their 30th release with a new track by Irish poet Sinead O’Brien. O’Brien's work has been published for years, including a short story of hers printed in the London Review Of Books. Punk poet John Cooper Clarke invited her to open for him on a spoken word tour, a moment that changed her life. "He actually introduced me to the music of Mark E. Smith – probably one of my most valuable references ever," she recalled in an interview with Loud & Quiet. Like The Fall frontman, O’Brien recites her lines with a stoic cadence, an oratorical delivery, though hers is thick with an Irish brogue. “I would love people to dance to it,” she continued. “It’s the pace. I always try to do things faster than anyone will let me, then it gets pulled back just a tinge. Runaway, that’s my feeling. Always.” Read the full post at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

16 Apr 20203min

L’éclair - "Suite No. 2" from the 2019 album Sauropoda on Beyond Beyond Is Beyond Records. It's not surprising to learn that L’Eclair recorded their latest LP Sauropoda from an undisclosed location in the Alps: their music displays an array of influences as vast as the famous European mountain range itself. From krautrock to disco with Afro-Cuban percussion, the Swiss septet managed to capture an atmospheric groove in a 48-hour recording session. Bassist Elie Ghersinu explained to Popmatters, "We were just thinking of recording the last jams that we had developed during the last year's shows, and I think we just got inspired in the moment and we recorded some new jams, new songs, and it turned out to be an album. It was not meant to be an album." Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

15 Apr 20207min

Balkan Taksim - "Zalina," a 2019 self-released single. True to their name, Balkan Taksim take the traditional folk music of their homeland and combine it with psychedelic electronic beats that their Romanian ancestors never could've imagined. Formed by multi-instrumentalist Sașa-Liviu Stoianovici, producer Alin Zăbrăuțeanu, and percussionist Cosmo, the band thrive on stage, hypnotizing the hips of the audience. In a press release, Stoianovici explains that today's featured track is "about a strong-minded, beautiful girl and a man who is desperately in love with her. Musically, the song epitomises some of the directions we're pursuing, with its Romanian traditional vocals and keyboard stylings and laid-back yet dance floor-oriented trip-hop electronics." Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

14 Apr 20202min