Σtella - Another Nation

The Southern University Jazz Ensemble - “Clean Air” from the 1973 album Goes To Africa With Love from Now-Again Records What was once an incredibly rare record is now re-issued, thanks to Eothen “Egon” Alapatt’s Now-Again Records label. Recorded in 1971, the student-performed album, The Southern University Jazz Ensemble's Goes to Africa With Love, was originally given away as souvenirs at Southern University in Baton Rouge, LA. This reissue marks the first time it has been made available commercially.  The group was instructed and led by legendary avant-garde jazz clarinetist Alvin Batiste, and the LP was reissued in his memory. Jazz historian Bret Sjerven provides liner notes for this release, alongside never-before-published photos. Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

13 Juli 20235min

Girl Ray - “Everybody's Saying That” from the 2023 album Prestige on Moshi Moshi London trio Girl Ray turn the beat around on today's Song of the Day with a dance-inspired track produced by Ben H. Allen, who's previously worked with Animal Collective, Gnarls Barkley, and Cut Copy, to name a very few. “The lyrics on this single were inspired by the straight-to-the-heart simplicity of the disco greats," vocalist/guitarist Poppy Hankin shared in a press release. "I wrote it while missing my partner while on tour in 2020, and it plays on themes of new love and self-doubt. Musically we took reference from the nu-disco resurgence that seemed to be taking off in 2020, in particular from the likes of Kylie Minogue (Disco), Jessie Ware (What's Your Pleasure?), Dua Lipa (Future Nostalgia), and Róisín Murphy (Róisín Machine). We were really inspired by all of these women re-imagining disco.” Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

12 Juli 20233min

Fishbone and NOFX - “Estranged Fruit,” a 2023 single from Bottles To The Ground. Today's Song of the Day commemorates the 30-year friendship between ska legends Fishbone and punk group NOFX. The single features NOFX's El Hefe on trumpet and Fat Mike on guest vocals. Fat Mike also produced the band's latest EP — their first new release in nearly a decade — and is releasing it via his new label Bottles to the Ground. “Fishbone is the one band I’ve always wanted to produce ever since NOFX toured with them in 1992," Fat Mike said via a press release. "When I got the chance two years ago… I fucking gave it everything I got! I fucking love this band so much as friends and musicians, but I may like this record even more! I thank all of them for the opportunity.” Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

11 Juli 20233min

L'Rain - “New Years UnResolution,” a 2023 single from Mexican Summer Records. Brooklyn-based artist Taja Cheek — who records as L'Rain — reflects on a relationship in this atmospheric electronic track. The single was co-produced by Cheek's longtime collaborators Andrew Lappin and Ben Chapoteau-Katz, and marks her first new music since her outstanding 2021 full-length Fatigue. “The words of this song were written at different periods of time to give a sense of what it’s like to think through the trajectory of a relationship at different points of my life–right after a breakup, and many moons later,” L’Rain said in a press release. “I wonder: What is it like to feel like you’ve forgotten a part of yourself?; how does time pass differently at different moments in your life? (like molasses, like water, like air); how do you set new terms of engagement with someone you’ve interacted with in a very specific way for a long time?; how do you deal with the turmoil of stepping into a distant unknown after a period of fierce intimacy?” Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

10 Juli 20234min

Ollella - "Head in the Clouds" from the 2023 self-released album Back Back Back Seattle musician Ellie Barber has trained as a classical cellist since the age of nine. She integrates these studies into her project Ollella (pronounced oh-lel-uh), crafting a jazzy, folktronica style that calls to mind Beth Orton.  “As someone who grew up playing classical cello but listening to indie music, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about what direction I want to take my music as a new solo artist," she tells Glide Magazine. "I wrote 'Head in the Clouds' during a particularly exploratory period, playing with different effects on my loop pedal and not attaching judgment to what came out. The bones of this song immediately felt so genuine to the type of sound that I was seeking – so much so that I left it untouched for six months because I was afraid I would ruin it.”  “The verses speak to my own pivot towards music: how I kept feeling unsettled where I was in life because I wasn’t following the little voice in my gut to pursue full-time artistry,” she continues in a press release. Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

7 Juli 20233min

RVG - "Squid" from the 2023 album Brain Worms from Fire Records Travel back in time with Melbourne-quartet RVG on today's Song of the Day.  “'Squid' is a song about going back in time and stepping on a Tiktaalik and then going back to the present but you have the same job, the same problems you had before except you’re a squid,” vocalist Romy Vager explained to Rolling Stone Australia. “We jammed it on a whim and it ended up coming out really well. I left a large chunk of the lyrics till the last minute, finishing them off in Finsbury Park at 6 in the morning before I could get into the studio and record my vocals.” The track can be found on the band's third LP, Brain Worms, released last month via Fire Records. The band says the new album captures them at their most confident yet. “Hype is scary. After two years of COVID, it felt like the hype had gone down so we were able to just do stuff,” says Vager in a press statement. “This time around we were like, this is what we’re doing, we’re taking control, we’re taking risks, and we’re going to make an album that sounds big so that when we hear it on the radio we want to hear it again.”  Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

6 Juli 20234min

Yeule - "sulky baby" a 2023 single from Ninja Tune For today's Song of the Day, Singapore-born, London-based artist Yeule turns to the pages of their journals, or "scars," as they call their collection of writings. They describe the track as "a conversation with a younger version of themselves." "'sulky baby' was like a 2000s alt-rock shoegaze hybrid tinted in sad satire," they share in a press statement. "I felt like I was talking to a younger version of me, stopping her from crying, looking back at the ways I betrayed and neglected that innocence from myself. I failed to protect her and I felt like I needed to go back in time and fulfill what she was starved of. So that she could return to my side. So that I can smile like a little kid again." "The song gives quite vivid descriptions of a depression I felt with almost a burning passion, yet I tried to give it a light-hearted tone. I think romanticizing is not always that bad. It helps to do it sometimes when you're dealing with a repressed memory. I think it is called an advantaged delusion? Sometimes, that's the only way I can remember parts of me I don't want to remember, so that I can lay her to rest and heal. My mother used to tell me as a child, not to sulk all the time. I guess that's why sulking is so special to me." Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

5 Juli 20234min

Kara Jackson - "pawnshop" from the 2023 album Why Does The Earth Give People To Love? from September Recordings. As the 2019 National Youth Poet Laureate, Chicago-based singer/songwriter Kara Jackson has a demonstrated command of words, showcased on her debut full-length album, Why Does The Earth Give Us People To Love?. “There’s so many words on this project," Kara says via a press statement, "it’s important for me that people know I can write things, maybe in ways they aren’t used to seeing.” Jackson wrote and recorded the demos for her first LP in her childhood bedroom during the pandemic, reaching out to NNAMDÏ, Kaina, and Sen Morimoto to help record and produce.  Today's Song of the Day sets her thoughts against slide guitar in this country-tinged track. She says the song is “about uncovering how worth is subjective,” adding, “It’s taking ‘one man’s trash is another man’s treasure’ and reveling in that sentiment, taking pride in the fact that even if people can’t understand your value, only you know how priceless you are.” Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

4 Juli 20232min