Jason McCue - When He Drinks

Ric Wilson - "Fight Like Ida B & Marsha P," a 2020 single on Free Disco / EMPIRE. On his latest single, released days before Juneteenth 2020, Chicago rapper Ric Wilson pays tribute to civil rights leader Ida B. Wells and LGBTQ+ activist Marsha P. Johnson. He wrote on Twitter [sic]: “when I think about next level courage to ball your fist up & look Patriarchy, racist,sexism, homophobia & transphobia right in the eye & fight against it, I feel like blk folk like Ida B Well and Marsha P Johnson are of the bravest of us all and if ima fight any injustice I wanna have the courage of blk queer & femme freedom fighters like them. I believe the liberation of black womxn and black trans womxn lead to the liberation of all black people." He adds [sic]: "I encourage people to also study the History of policing and prisons here in the US & the laws made to keep Blk and Queer folk suppressed in this country for over 450 years. If we focus and start understanding the 'why', we will longer waste time arguing on the 'what.'" Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

21 Juli 20213min

Pixel Grip - "Pursuit," a 2021 single on Feeltrip Records. Chicago darkwave trio Pixel Grip return with their sophomore full-length ARENA, a soundtrack for the misfits out there. “Being in an audience of freaks, queers, fetish people, all in the same room sweating together,” is how vocalist Rita Lukea puts it, “and we all knew our purpose, and we were manic and arrogant.” Lukea explains that today's Song of the Day has a specific feeling to her: "the feeling of surrendering power, the feeling of having your love chewed up and spit out, the feeling of getting toyed with. Sometimes love isn’t empowering; in fact it can be humiliating and disabling. The only way I can take my power back is to pretend like it’s my decision. This song is designed to be screamed along with by an audience who understands the pain." Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

20 Juli 20213min

Emma-Jean Thackray - "Say Something," a 2021 single on Movementt. An active artist and producer in South London’s nu-jazz scene, multi-instrumentalist Emma-Jean Thackray has just shared her latest LP Yellow on July 2nd via her own Movementt imprint. “It’s a record about togetherness, the oneness of all things in the universe, showing love and kindness, human connection," she explains via a press release. “I approached the record by trying to simulate a life-changing psychedelic experience, an hour where we see behind the curtain to a hidden dimension, where the physical realm melts away and we finally see that we are all one.” Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

19 Juli 20213min

Ya Tseen - "Knives (feat. Portugal. The Man)" from the 2021 album Indian Yard on Sub Pop. Originally from Sheet’ka (Sitka, Alaska), artist Nicholas Galanin brings the influence of his Tlingit and Unangax̂ heritage to his spacey dance pop. Under the name Ya Tseen (which simultaneously translates to “be alive” and references his Tlingit name Yeil Ya Tseen), he uses his music to advocate for "Indigenous sovereignty, racial, social, and environmental justice, for present, and future generations." Today's Song of the Day is not about weaponry, but surrender. In a press release, Galanin shares, "“Knives is a love song about softening a calloused heart and experiencing the edge of magnetic desire, romantic connection, vulnerability, and risk that love opens us up to.” The song features guest vocals from John Baldwin Gourley of fellow Alaska-formed band Portugal. the Man, who he considers "friends and allies for social and environmental justice." Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

16 Juli 20213min

The Joy Formidable - "Into the Blue" from the 2021 album Into The Blue on Enci Records. Welsh band The Joy Formidable return with their first new music in three years. Today's Song of the Day is the title track from their forthcoming fifth album, Into The Blue, out August 20th. While the song was written in their hometown of Wales, it was completed in their new adopted home of Utah, which is also where the accompanying music video was filmed. “I am always daydreaming in the bathtub between recordings," frontwoman Rhiannon “Ritzy” Bryan says of the watery clip. “That diffuse thinking where your mind wanders freely — I always finish songs when I’m in that state. The idea that your imagination, that escape into another, deeper world can sometimes create a stronger connection with yourself.” She describes today's Song of the Day as being "about surrendering to love and magic," adding, “Having the courage to enjoy a new journey and the mystery and excitement of something unexpected. It’s about opening your eyes to beauty and love again. Making it to the other side. Whilst not conceived as a metaphor for the times we all live in now, it certainly turned out that way.” Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

15 Juli 20213min

Glüme - "The Internet" from the 2021 album The Internet on Italians Do It Better. When Glüme first heard the Chromatics come up on Spotify Shuffle, she knew that frontman Johnny Jewel was her sonic soulmate. It was destiny that she'd be signed to Jewel's record label Italians Do It Better for her debut album The Internet. An artist/musician/actor and trained tap dancer, Glüme was diagnosed with Prinzmetal Angina, a rare heart disease. Confined to bed, she went online to escape, and to eventually reinvent herself as the ‘Wal-Mart Marilyn Monroe’ she calls herself. “I didn’t like the vision of myself as a sick person. So I went on The Internet," she shares in a press release. “My online presence was my truth even though it was a lie. I have this self at home who is sick & then this self on The Internet that’s doing amazing. The world wasn’t working for me. But online, I could live the life I wanted to live.” Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

14 Juli 20214min

Lightning Bug - "The Right Thing Is Hard To Do" from the 2021 album A Color of the Sky on Fat Possum Records. On today's Song of the Day, Audrey Kang — lead vocalist for shoegaze sensations Lightning Bug — shares her personal battle with self-worth against a delicate wash of guitars. "Here I wanted to connect how the struggles and flaws within the individual are mirrored in the greater problems of society," she reveals in a press release. "How do we as individuals know we are on the right path? How do we as a society, as a species, know we are on the right path? So I started with myself, and my own struggles, touching on how I hide myself away from other people, on my stage fright, on my inability to be vulnerable, on this feeling I used to have that I needed to prove I was worthy of being alive. Then I tried to connect these struggles outward to global issues like xenophobia, arbitrary borders, the lines we draw between ourselves and the environment, and the ways we sacrifice the health of the planet for human convenience." Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

13 Juli 20213min

Mochipet - "Godzilla League of Legends" from the 2021 self-released album Godzilla Resurgence. David Wang has long had an obsession with dinosaurs, from wearing a purple costume of the prehistoric creatures in his musical alias of Mochipet, to the recent release of his EP Godzilla Resurgence, named for the mythical kaiju who has starred in films since the 1950s. “I saw my first Godzilla movie when I was around 10 years old in Taiwan. I think my cousin showed it to me or something," Wang told MixMag Asia late last year. “I actually didn’t like it at first. I didn’t understand why Godzilla was destroying Japan and I didn’t like that it was in black and white. It was not till later in my life I began to appreciate Godzilla for its representation of the human need for control and the Atomic Bomb that devastated Hiroshima and Nagasaki and destroyed many lives during World War II. Godzilla is a constant reminder of man’s need for control which usually ends in death and destruction." The new EP is dedicated to the memory of Wang's father, who passed away as this release was nearing completion. Proceeds are going towards the cost of his funeral and burial costs. More information here. Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

12 Juli 20215min