You Said Strange - Brain

BILBAO - "Get Up!" from the 2022 album Shake Well on [PIAS]. Like the beautiful city in Spain where they derived their band name, Bilbao create sunny, summery songs, showcased on their debut LP Shake Well. It's hard to believe then that the quartet themselves actually hail from Germany. "There is the 'Bilbao' song by Yves Montand, a chanson that my parents used to play," bassist Jannes Eschrich shares about their moniker. "He tells of the place of longing Bilbao. Our band should also be a place of longing, a place that we conjure up in rainy Hamburg and that you can dream of." Bilbao came together after the four friends attended the Reeperbahn Festival in 2019, writing and recording their first EP within a month. Despite the pandemic, they kept the momentum going, resulting in their first full-length, released in early 2022. Calling to mind bands like Bombay Bicycle Club and Two Door Cinema Club (and other groups that don't have "club" in their band name), Bilbao suceed in transporting you to sunnier shores with their buoyant, upbeat tunes. This week's Songs of the Day were selected by KEXP DJ Kevin Cole, host of Drive Time, showcasing artists playing at this year’s ESNS (Eurosonic Noorderslag) Festival. ESNS is a European new music showcase festival and conference committed to presenting and supporting the best new and emerging artists. This year’s festival will take place January 18-21, 2023 in Groningen, NL. Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

11 Jan 20233min

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10 Jan 20234min

OSKA - "Starstruck" from the 2022 album My world, My love, Paris on Nettwerk Music Group. Though paying tribute to the City of Lights on her debut album My world, My love, Paris, singer/songwriter OSKA (real name: Maria Burger) was born in a small village in Lower Austria, the youngest of eight kids. She moved to Vienna at the age of 18 to study music, busking on the streets, and sharing her debut EP, Honeymoon Phase, in 2020. The five-song release won her the XA Music Export Award at Waves Vienna Festival 2020. Conceived near the beginning of the pandemic, OSKA envisioned the story of a couple "who board a boat as the world comes to an end" as the theme for her eagerly-anticipated first full-length. She cites her inspiration as the Edith Piaf song "Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien" (which translates to “No, I do not regret anything”). Today's Song of the Day has a particular cinematic influence. "This song was inspired by one of my favorite movies, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," she shared in a press release. “It’s about celebrating someone great that is in your life while also dealing with the fear of losing them.” This week's Songs of the Day were selected by KEXP DJ Kevin Cole, host of Drive Time, showcasing artists playing at this year’s ESNS (Eurosonic Noorderslag) Festival. ESNS is a European new music showcase festival and conference committed to presenting and supporting the best new and emerging artists. This year’s festival will take place January 18-21, 2023 in Groningen, NL. Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

9 Jan 20232min

Jarv Dee & WD4D - “Lets Work,” a 2022 single on MOOR LIFE. Today’s Song of the Day is a Seattle-centric bop that sees rapper Jarv Dee hook up with producer WD4D for a buoyant banger about the stressful nature of the “work hard, play hard” lifestyle. While the track is light and airy, Jarv Dee clearly isn’t. “Sometimes I wanna take a vacation just to clear my head and get my money right,” he exasperates on the hook while a scorching beat evokes the feeling of a summer evening with zero concerns. A vacation in the ears is better than no vacation at all. Jarv Dee stopped by KEXP in July 2022 for a live performance. Watch it and read the full post at KEXP.org.Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

6 Jan 20233min

Blinky Bill, M.anifest, Khaligraph Jones - “Inaweza Haiwezi,” a 2022 single on Rauka Music Ltd. You may know celebrated Kenyan producer/DJ Bill Sellanga, aka Blinky Bill, is one-fourth of the electronic collective Just A Band and has produced songs for notable names like Nneka, Goldlink, and Sampa The Great. The OneBeat Alum and TED Fellow is on the verge of releasing his anticipated sophomore record We Cut Keys 2, which follows 2018’s Everyone’s Just Winging It and Other Fly Tales. Our Song of the Day is the lead single from the record, “Inaweza Haiwezi,” which features two of Africa’s greatest rappers, M.anifest from Ghana and Kenya’s Khaligraph Jones. Produced by Blinky Bill and Swiss producer Hook (MDQ), mixed by Commissioner Gordon (‘Miseducation of Lauryn Hill’, ‘Welcome To Jamrock’) and mastered by Tony Dawsey (Jay-Z ‘Blueprint 3’, Whitney Houston “My Love is your Love”, Nas ‘Illmatic’), the song is a bouncy, bass-heavy thrillride that shows off each rappers dexterous flows in this “East/West classic.” The song comes with a colorful, gorgeously-shot video directed by Zack Adell. Watch it and read the full post at KEXP.org.Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

5 Jan 20233min

Ukhoikhoi - “Abathembu” from the 2022 Nongqawuse EP on Next Movement More than just a musical duo, uKhoiKhoi call themselves a "a live looping, musical performance art showpiece." Hailing from Johannesburg, South Africa, the group is comprised of musician/composer Yogin Sullaphen and vocalist Anelisa Stuurman. Their band name pays tribute to their shared KhoiSan heritage, an indigenous tribe said to be the first inhabitants of southern Africa. By combining operatic elements with chanting and poetry, they create a unique Afro-Futuristic sound they call "indigenous-electro." Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

4 Jan 20233min

Little Simz - “Angel” from the 2022 album NO THANK YOU on Forever Living Originals. With her latest single "Angel," London-based artist Little Simz continues to pay tribute to her friend Harry Uzoka, who was murdered in 2018. "Harry listenin’ from Heaven on repeat/He was backin’ it when nobody believed" She previously wrote about Uzoka with her 2019 song "Wounds" off the album GREY Area. As she told The Guardian at the time, "“I remember waking up, Googling, trying to find out as many details as I could and going to the studio in bits. I sat in the dark in tears and I didn’t go on socials to see everyone posting ‘RIP’ – and because I didn’t do that, I was able to write 'Wounds.'” Today's Song of the Day not only finds Little Simz continuing to process her grief, but also struggling with the music industry, as she notes on the couplet: "They don’t care if your mental is on the brink of somethin’ dark/As long as your cuttin’ somebody’s payslip" A ten-minute short film was released to accompany her latest LP NO THANK YOU. Watch that below, along with her 2021 Live on KEXP at Home session. Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

3 Jan 20235min

Contour – “Hearing Voices” from the 2022 album Onwards! on Touching Bass Limited. Recording under the name Contour, Khari Lucas combines tradition and technology into his sophomore full-length Onwards!, using both archival material and atmospheric production to weave together influences of jazz, soul, psych, and hip-hop. In a press statement, he offers, "The record exists as a bridge in conversation between today’s artists and art of the past which offered potential ways to navigate the world that we’re in; personally or on a larger scale." He explains that today's Song of the Day “explores the relationship between our conditions of living and working and how we process or fail to process them," adding, it's about "our connection to intuition.”  Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

2 Jan 20232min