Explone

http://blog.kexp.org/2016/08/26/song-of-the-day-explone-born-at-the-wrong-time/

Explone – Born at the Wrong Time (MP3)

Seattle rock group Explone has been making airy pop with a classic rock undertow with great success since 2005. The four-piece flaunts a guitar driven sound that lead man Patrick Porter explores with his lofty voice and uplifting hooks. It’s certainly music that brings an element of euphoria to its listeners, so it’s no surprise that Porter described their newest album as a “quest for joy.” However, it is surprising that Porter credits the inspiration for the album to a suicide fence on the Aurora Bridge – a not exactly joy inducing object. But while the music of Explone has always been about making joy tangible through music, it has been equally committed to drawing it from a place of melancholy. The sentiment certainly explains why and how Porter found joy in the dark connotations of the bridge, seeing beauty in the possibility that the fence could prevent a suicide and lead to someone possibly living a longer, happier life. The inspiration of the fence, and the theme of generating joy through its absence that it led to, is displayed seamlessly throughout the album as Porter has crafted ten songs full of melancholy laced lyrics that swell and rise with joyous melodies.

Today’s Song of the Day, album cut “Born at the Wrong Time”, captures the duality of the album excellently, as the song generates pleasant sounds while Porter sings “its never going to get easier for you.” The guitar driven track displays both the punch of punk riffs and the guitar driven melodies of classic rock while Porter’s voice climbs and soars. The song’s classic rock tint certainly displays why the group may have been born in the wrong time, and the lyrics certainly highlight what a tragedy it is, but Exploner surely isn’t offended by listeners finding joy in their melancholy.

- Geran Landen, KEXP

Grant Lee Phillips

http://blog.kexp.org/2016/07/04/song-of-the-day-grant-lee-phillips-rolling-pin/

"Grant-Lee Phillips has had a storied career, both of his own success with Grant-Lee Buffalo in the ’90s and through the ones he tells in the songs of his previous seven solo albums. The narrative force remains strong on his latest, The Narrows, his eighth and the first recorded since he moved from his long-time home in Los Angeles to Nashville. Recorded at Dan Auerbach’s Easy Eye Studio, the new LP finds Phillips walking a familiar path of warmly recorded country-tinged folk-rock, as in song he reflects on both the personal and the historical. While some songs focus on the latter, like the album’s first single, “Cry Cry”, which takes for its subject the persecution of Native American people during the Trail of Tears, today’s featured song, “Rolling Pin”, is of the former kind. “Flat out, laid me down / Like dough beneath a rolling pin / No, I never met the likes of her / I knew I never would again”, he sings of meeting his wife many years ago. It’s a straight-up love song, but there’s enough kick to this boot-stomper to keep from sounding schmaltzy or precious. In other words, “Rolling Pin” will knock you flat out too."

Amber Arcades

http://blog.kexp.org/2016/04/18/song-of-the-day-amber-arcades-right-now/

By JIM BECKMANN | Published: APRIL 18, 2016

photo by Nick Helderman

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part of our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJ’s think you should hear. Today’s song, featured on the Morning Show with John Richards, is “Right Now” by Amber Arcades from her forthcoming debut album, Turning Light, due June 3rd on Heavenly Recordings.

Amber Arcades – Right Now (MP3)

Given her day job as a legal aide in The Netherlands, often supporting UN war crime tribunals and cases involving Syrian refugees, you’d think Annelotte de Graaf might have a pretty strong serious streak. Her music, though, by contrast, is such blissfully produced, girl band influenced dream pop that you might be tempted by it to leave all your cares behind. Perhaps that’s the point, but the Dutch singer-songwriter isn’t at all about frivolity or disposability. Her recent single, “Right Now”, can get about as deep as you want it to, as de Graaf says herself:

Even now the precise meaning is hard for me to pin down and can shift over time, but generally I’d say it’s about the billions of different views there are to this life and whatever we’re doing here with our time and how all these differing views are probably equally true and false. I guess that’s kind of everything and nothing. And I think that might be the point.

To record “Right Now”, and the rest of her forthcoming debut – Turning Light, due June 3rd, on Heavenly Recordings – de Graaf hit up producer Ben Greenberg (The Men, Beach Fossils, Destruction Unit), whose work she admired. For a quick session at Williamsburg’s Strange Weather Recording Studio, she recruited guitarist Shane Butler and bassist Keven Lareau (both from Quilt), and drummer Jackson Pollis (from Real Estate), and the result is as dreamy as you’d imagine, and both as fresh and retro feeling as when Cults first hit the scene with “Go Outside”.

The Posies

http://blog.kexp.org/2016/04/15/song-of-the-day-the-posies-unlikely-places/

By SCOTT KULICKE | Published: APRIL 15, 2016

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part of our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJ’s think you should hear. Today’s song, featured on the Afternoon Show with Kevin Cole, is “Unlikely Places” by The Posies from their forthcoming album, Solid States, released on May 20th via MyMusicEmpire.

The Posies – Unlikely Places (MP3)

Over the span of their now 30-year career, Seattle band The Posies have released albums relatively few and far between. Their most recent, and seventh, effort was 2010’s Blood/Candy, and then after the unexpected passing of drummer Darius Minwalla in 2015 and the very recent loss of Joe Skyward (a.k.a. Joe Bass) to cancer this March, most people assumed the band’s storied history had reached its last chapter. But when new singles began circulating along with the mysterious announcement that there would be a national pop-up tour at locations only disclosed to ticket holders, it was clear the ride wasn’t over. This spring, The Posies will release their eighth LP,Solid States, through a digital new music platform called MyMusicEmpire, where fans can participate in the production, release and promotion of bands’ albums, like create album art and so on.

What bits of Solid States that have seen the daylight, like the previously released “Squirrel Vs. Snake” and today’s featured song, “Unlikely Places”, are what we hoped: the same tempered power pop, thoroughly catchy songwriting laying atop a bed of understated instrumentation. “Unlikely Places”, in particular, is a paragon of this style, steadily plucking guitar and buzzy-but-unobtrusive synth. Lyrically, what could easily masquerade as a mid-tempo bubblegum break-up song takes on a resounding melancholy in light of the personal losses of the band. The track is weathered, as frayed at the edges as any band would be after a three decades of work.

Midnight in a perfect world

https://www.mixcloud.com/kexp/kexp-presents-midnight-in-a-perfect-world-with-different-sleep/

Currently based in Los Angeles, San Diego native and emerging electronic producer Rafa Lavarez (a.k.a. Different Sleep) has been steadily evolving his underground style over the past 5 years, adding upon his early lush downtempo aesthetic to incorporate a more physical and abstract sound that adventurously touches upon juke, garage, and ambient styles, while still sneaking in infectious R&B and pop moments. His guest mix for 'Midnight In A Perfect World' explores the colorful intersection between all these styles in thrilling fashion, blending contemporary favorites with his own recent productions and remixes. This mix also arrives just a week before the release of his new 'Last Nerve' EP via the excellent L.A. label Friends of Friends, a highly recommended release if you're feeling the vibes in this mix.

Úlfur Eldjárn - Poyekhali! (Live on KEXP)

Úlfur Eldjárn is a composer, multi instrumentalist and producer from Reykjavík, Iceland. He started out early in music and has worked in widely different genres such as pop, indie, jazz, electronic, experimental and avant-garde music. He’s composed extensively for film, TV, theatre, advertising and interactive media.

Úlfur released his first full length album in 2010: Field Recordings: Music from the Ether, a playfully experimental work that defies categorisation. On the album he uses a variety of curious sound sources, including mechanical instruments from the Middle Ages, a custom made percussion robot, Japanese vocaloid and radio signal generators.

http://ulfureldjarn.com/

Søren Juul

http://blog.kexp.org/2015/10/19/song-of-the-day-soren-juul-ambitions/

Søren Juul – Ambitions

By JACOB WEBB | Published: OCTOBER 19, 2015

photo by Beth Crook

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. Today’s song, featured on the Morning Show with John Richards, is “Ambitions” by Søren Juul from his 2015 self-titled EP on 4AD.

Søren Juul – Ambitions (MP3)

The dazzling gleam of Søren Juul’s music feels both massive and understated, a one-man orchestra with an emotional resonance that gradually hums into something subtly affecting. Performing as Indians until recently, Juul played his first show under the moniker in 2012, quickly picking up buzz for his ability to craft glistening songs that struck a post-rock-esque emotional chord with their well-placed arrangements and meticulously sculpted tones. Juul toured Indians’ debut, 2012’s Somewhere Else, until last year, before announcing the release of a self-titled EP that moved even further in an electronic direction. (A full-length of new songs is expected early next year.) “Ambitions” never reaches an explosive, movie scene-soundtracking climax that so many bands who use the same atmospheric tools Juul utilizes, but that only underscores the song’s ability to harness quiet tension and transform it into something quietly breathtaking. Juul’s feather-light voice rides the song with gracious agility, allowing oscillating synths and guitars carry him through illumanted tones (think “I’m on Fire” or the first half of “Wait“), and even when he brings in drums and synthesizers in the song’s final third, he only uses them to augment his unwavering, luminescent sonic landscape. On the first listen, “Ambitions” may seem like anything but its titular descriptor, much less a mission statement, but it signals a new chapter for the Danish musician – Juul’s masterful grasp of calming tension is nothing short of sweeping across a stirring five and a half minutes.

Seapony

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http://blog.kexp.org/2015/10/09/song-of-the-day-seapony-a-place-we-can-go/

Seapony – A Place We Can Go

By GERAN LANDEN | Published: OCTOBER 9, 2015
Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. Today’s song, featured on the Midday Show with Cheryl Waters, is “A Place We Can Go” by Seapony from the 2015 self-released album A Vision.
On September 7th, 2015, Seattle band Seapony announced on Facebook that they were done as a band, offering thanks but providing little explanation. After three albums and five years, their always excellent take on dream pop has unfortunately come to a halt. Fortunately, though, they left fans with a parting give in their July album release, A Vision. No gathering of left-behinds, the record is a solid offering from the band, featuring a lush backing to the sunny haze of their always approachable pop. As ever, Seapony craft the type of music that truly embodies the term “dream pop,” providing listeners with an escape to distant sunny lands in every song. It’s a sentiment that resonates stronger in the face of the bands demise, as all their records will keep well and welcome return visits to sonic landscapes sure to remain untainted by time. In the vain of that theme, “A Place We Can Go” serves as a fitting Song of the Day send off for the band. On it, surfy guitar melodies back Jen Weidl’s airy vocals in delightful simplicity, before a fuzzy guitar solo flirts with the main riff, playing out the song. At under three minutes, the song feels much too short, as does the era of Seapony.

Noah Gundersen – Jealous Love

http://blog.kexp.org/2015/08/26/song-of-the-day-noah-gundersen-jealous-love/

By JACOB WEBB | Published: AUGUST 26, 2015

photo by Allyce Andrew

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part of our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJ’s think you should hear. Today’s song, featured on the Morning Show with John Richards, is “Jealous Love” by Noah Gundersen from the 2015 album Carry The Ghost on Dualtone.

Noah Gundersen – Jealous Love (MP3)

Although Noah Gundersen emerged in Seattle concurrent with a wave of folk musicians, his flair for roots-leaning textures, rough-edged voice, and heavy, direct lyricism set him far apart from many of his contemporaries. Gundersen was born in Olympia, Washington into a musical family (Gundersen’s siblings, particularly his sister Abby, have frequently contributed to his work) and began recording and gigging in his early teens, first as part of The Courage and later as a solo artist. Gundersen’s self-released EPs Saints & Liars (2009) and Family (2011) put him on the radar of Seattle tastemakers before breaking out to a wider audience with his 2014 full-length debut, Ledges, the success of which was confirmed with a hometown stand at The Moore Theatre in November 2014. Gundersen quickly began work on his sophomore effort, this year’s Carry The Ghost, which incorporated both more full-band arrangements and more existential themes than any of his work in years. Gundersen has written about love plenty of times before, but there’s desperate undercurrent to the pining, country-leaning “Jealous Love” that shows Gundersen’s increasing depth as a songwriter. Riding a languid steady beat, Gundersen’s gently strummed guitar floats along while his heartbroken proclaimations circle around his resolve-seeking chorus. Even though it features some of Gundersen’s most compact, efficient songwriting and a typically great cameo from his sister Abby on vocals and violin, what’s most striking about “Jealous Love” is that Gundersen’s weathered voice has never sounded so at home in a song, tapping into the wounded and courages tone that CHVRCHES’s Lauren Mayberry and Jason Isbell use to carry their best songs. If diving headfirst into uncertainty is what allowed Gundersen to take such a leap in his songwriting, it was a risk worth taking because he’s never sounded so confident in his abilities.

Gwenno

http://blog.kexp.org/2015/08/11/song-of-the-day-gwenno-patriarchaeth-2/

Gwenno – Patriarchaeth

By KEXP | Published: AUGUST 11, 2015

by Casey Dunau and Jacob Webb

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part of our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJ’s think you should hear. Today’s song, featured on the Midday Show with Cheryl Waters, is “Patriarchaeth” by Gwenno from the 2015 album Y Dydd Olaf on Heavenly Recordings.

Gwenno – Patriarchaeth (MP3)

Don’t understand the name of Gwenno’s fantastic new album? That’s probably because you don’t speak Welsh. Although, you may have a better time working out the translation for one of the album’s stand out tracks and today’s featured song, “Patriarchaeth”. And if there’s one connection between the name of the song and the language of the album, it’s that solo artist Gwenno Saunders isn’t afraid to subvert systems of power. By recording the majority of Y Dydd Olaf in her native Welsh, she spreads the language to corners of the world, or at least the internet, where English dominates most cultural exchanges.

Gwenno Saunders’ resume confirms her pop bona fides, and on her full-length solo debut, the Welsh musician sounds more colorful and expansive than ever. Born in Cardiff, Saunders was primarily a dancer for many years (at one point, she was a member of a Michael Flatley company in Las Vegas) before focusing on music in the early 2000s. A pair of EPs sung in Welsh served as her first works, but her solo career was put on hold as she joined The Pippettes in 2005. Although critical acclaim and moderate commercial success met the band’s first album, the band’s lineup frequently shifted, and by the time their second album arrived in 2010, the band was comprised of Gwenno and her sister Ani, who dissolved the band not long after. Saunders was soon recruited to play keyboards for Pnau on their joint tour with Elton John, but after that gig ended, Saunders returned to her solo work, teaming with producer Rhys Edwards for sessions that would eventually produce her first proper solo album, 2014’s Y Dydd Olaf (“The Last Day”), which was given a wide release by Heavenly the following year. Named for the Welsh author Owain Owain’s dystopian novel, Y Dydd Olaf sounds appropriately otherworldly, albeit with a strong pop current running through its alien tones.

As far as dystopian four-on-the-floor bangers go, “Patriarchaeth” pretty much tops the short list, but even in a bigger context. kicks off with two harmonizing synths, one of the more jagged saw variety, and the other belonging to the smoother sine family. There’s tension in the contrast, and the two tones emit a melancholy sigh as they bounce off notes dissonant to one another. The whole intro feels and sounds a bit like the melodic version of waiting for dial-up internet to get going on an old 90s PC. That is until joyous chime sounds start to climb exultant scales with unbridled speed and enthusiasm, and then digitized kicks and snares build a familiar but undeniable groove. Before long, you’re having so much fun that, much like in the old days of the internet, you forget you had to wait at all. In fact, the Gwenno revolution may already be upon us, and the magnificentally singular and catchy “Patriarchaeth” could be one of her greatest triumphs to date.

Blitz the Ambassador - Full Performance (Live on KEXP)

With a vision that embraces his personal West African past and a revolutionary future of Afropolitan cross-pollination, Blitz the Ambassador meshes African popular sounds, American vintage soul, and hard-hitting beats and lyrics with the help of an international cast of collaborators, including the elegant Angelique Kidjo and Afrobeat firebrand Seun Kuti.

But as always with Blitz, the album is about far more than the music. It’s about the Immigrants who made America, who shaped and molded it. Each person, each generation, each bearer of culture arriving on a boat or airplane has made an impression. Immigration is the chain that links the past to the present, the near to the seemingly far.

Afropolitan Dreams tells a story of disruption and connection that Blitz the Ambassador knows very well. He’s lived it.

“I told some of the story on my last album, Native Sun,” he explains. “That was the journey to America in search of a dream. This is a sort of continuation, but with more detail about what it’s like to start at the bottom and work up. Afropolitan Dreams was inspired by meeting peers in different disciplines. What we had in common was that we were all immigrants.”

Blitz himself arrived in the US in 2001, fresh from Ghana, where he’d grown up listening to American soul, the highlife of his homeland, the Afrobeat of Fela Kuti, and the old-school hip-hop of Public Enemy, Rakim, and KRS-One. He was ready to make his own dream real.

And on Blitz’s tracks, everything is culled from and shaped by intense experience. He remembers his first day in America, taking the A train in New York out to Bedford-Stuyvesant, the cacophony, languages, dreams and aspirations that filled the subway car, and that became the opening cut, “Arrival.”

Source: http://blitz.mvmt.com/

The Do-Over

https://www.mixcloud.com/kexp/kexp-presents-midnight-in-a-perfect-world-with-the-do-over/

KEXP Presents Midnight In A Perfect World with The Do-Over By KEXP Kexp, Dj, Mix, The Do Over

The Do-Over is a world renowned party and DJ crew based in Los Angeles, California that regularly brings their feel-good vibes and super fresh sounds to block parties in their home city in addition to one-off parties in metropolises all over the world. Their exclusive mix for Midnight In A Perfect World showcases their tropical summertime style in fun and funky fashion.

Tal National - Full Performance (Live on KEXP)

Midnight in a perfect world

https://www.kexp.org/programs/MidnightinaPerfectWorld

Midnight in an Perfect World, KEXP's weekly hour-long guest DJ show, airs Fridays at midnight. This multi-genre program features eclectic sets by a rotating cast of international and local DJ’s, each building upon a party vibe to kick off your weekend.

“We are always looking for ways to get more voices and more music on the air,” said John Richards, host of The Morning Show on KEXP and architect of Midnight in a Perfect World. “This show will open up KEXP’s airwaves to the best local and international DJs so they can bring their mixes to our audience and give our listeners a taste of what top DJs are playing in Seattle and all around the world.”

The show's name comes from a song title by DJ Shadow. “We’ve played 'Midnight in a Perfect World' for years and Endtroducing is a groundbreaking record,” said Richards. “I love the connection to the vibe and title of the song to the show.”

Tune in every Friday at midnight, after Michele Myers' upbeat variety show, for a new, exclusive, world-class mix.

https://www.mixcloud.com/kexp/kexp-presents-midnight-in-a-perfect-world-with-erin-oconnor/?utm_campaign=notification_new_upload&utm_medium=email&utm_source=notification&utm_content=html

Erin O'Connor is a renowned DJ from Seattle and has held residencies all over the Northwest for a good portion of 18 years, most recently and currently part of the beloved monthly Train Car House Party nights that take place at the Orient Express (every last Saturday). Her sharp ears, mixing prowess, and infectiously enthusiastic energy is constantly recognized regardless of genre, time, place or crowd, and her exclusive mix for Midnight In A Perfect World perfectly showcases her love of house, disco, funk, and slo-mo dance grooves.

East India Youth - Full Performance (Live on KEXP)

Hibou

http://blog.kexp.org/2015/07/03/song-of-the-day-hibou-dissolve/

Song of the Day: Hibou – Dissolve

By GERAN LANDEN | Published: JULY 3, 2015

photo by Jenny Jimenez

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part of our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. Today’s song, featured on the Midday Show with Cheryl Waters, is “Dissolve” by Hibou from the upcoming self-titled album on Barsuk Records.

Hibou – Dissolve (MP3)

Hibou, the solo project of Craft Spells drummer Peter Michel, could easily be referred to as Seattle’s answer to Washed Out. And while Michel’s music definitely draws from dream pop, it is not afraid to venture outside of the genres expectations. That much is clear on single “Dissolve,” where 80’s guitar tones meander through layers of sound drenched in sunny disposition with Michel’s slightly flanged vocals reiterating the mellow tone. But as soon as you think you have the track figured out, its shimmering guitars escalate into sunny sirens, raising the stakes of the song. If Hibou’s self-titled debut LP holds any resemblance to the first single, it will be a must listen project.

Hibou the album comes out on Barsuk on September 18th, but you can catch Hibou the band at Barboza on August 21st when he opens for Cayucas. Get tickets and more info about that 21+ show here, keep up with Hibou on Twitter and Facebook.

Toro y Moi

http://blog.kexp.org/2015/07/02/song-of-the-day-toro-y-moi-empty-nesters/

Toro Y Moi – Empty Nesters

By JACOB WEBB | Published: JULY 2, 2015

photo by Dave Lichterman (view set)

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part of our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. Today’s song, featured on The Midday Show with Cheryl Waters, is “Empty Nesters” by Toro Y Moi from the 2015 album What For? on Carpark Records.

Toro Y Moi – Empty Nesters (MP3)

Although his early work placed him at the forefront of the then-burgeoning chillwave sound of the early 2010s, Chaz Bundick evolved to make Toro Y Moi one of the most funkiest and fun outfits of the decade. A native of Columbia, South Carolina, Bundick was introduced through his earliest bedroom experiments to electronic music, and when he emerged in 2009 with a debut 7″ on Carpark, his music was going through a dreamy, gauzy phase, which led him to be grouped under the chillwave banner. However, with the release of his second album, 2011’s Underneath the Pine, Bundick moved into a spacey, disco-based direction and embraced funk elements into his increasingly strong songwriting, a direction that 2013’s Anything in Return continued in. After taking time off to return to his love of dance music as Les Sins, Bundick returned to Toro Y Moi for 2015’s full-band grooving What For?

A longtime festival staple, Toro Y Moi have increasingly learned how to write tunes that are immediate and danceable, and “Empty Nesters” boldly connects on both of those points. Building swirling keyboards and guitars around a rubbery low-end, Bundick tumbles through the song’s jangly bounce with an equally as agile vocal melody. After spending time away as a dance music producer, it’s enthralling to hear that Bundick has brought that project’s sense of rhythm into his full-band work, making “Empty Nesters” the latest in his string of sun-kissed dancefloor fillers.

Toro Y Moi will be in Seattle later this month when they play the 2015 Capitol Hill Block Party. Stay tuned for coverage of that show after it happens, and keep up with the band at theirFacebook and website. 

Lady Lamb

http://blog.kexp.org/2015/06/09/song-of-the-day-lady-lamb-billions-of-eyes/

By JACOB WEBB | Published: JUNE 9, 2015

photo by Eric Tra

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part of our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. Today’s song, featured on The Midday Show with Cheryl Waters, is “Billions of Eyes” by Lady Lamb from the 2015 album After on Mom + Pop.

Lady Lamb – Billions of Eyes (MP3)

With her loquacious lyrical style and penchant for unpredictable, lengthy song structures, Aly Spaltro (a.k.a. Lady Lamb) emerged from Portland, Maine, in the early 2010s with a fully-developed songwriting voice. Spaltro’s earliest songwriting exercises as Lady Lamb The Beekeeper (she dropped the latter part of her moniker earlier this year) were written in the video store she worked at. After the store closed, Spaltro would pull out her musical equipment from behind the counter and work on songs until the next morning. A series of self-released recordings made Spaltro a staple of the Northeastern live circuit, and in 2013, some of those songs, as well as some new ones, were collected and polished as her debut album, Ripely Pine. That album opened the door for Spaltro to tour more extensively, and after spending time on the road with Torres and Neko Case (among others), Spaltro returned to her home in Brooklyn to complete work on her second album, this year’s After. “Billions of Eyes” was released as the album’s lead single, and it’s easy to see why: it’s one of Spaltro’s most direct, pop-oriented tunes and earns that distinction without losing any of her wordy charm. The twinned guitar/vocal melody leads into each of Spaltro’s stream-of-consciousness verses, covering anxiety, affection, and the relief of making your train on time. By the time the song reaches it’s celebratory climax, Spaltro has run through a plethora of crashing dynamics and words, and she seems exhausted but satisfied, riding the same kind of high as the one she gets when she makes her train.

Lady Lamb will embark on another run of dates behind After in July, including her next stop in the Pacific Northwest at Musicfest NW. Keep up with Aly at her Facebook and website, and watch her perform “Billions of Eyes” live at KEXP earlier this year.

Sarah Bethe Nelson

http://blog.kexp.org/2015/05/12/song-of-the-day-sarah-bethe-nelson-start-somewhere/

Sarah Bethe Nelson – Start Somewhere

By JACOB WEBB | Published on the KEXP blog on MAY 12, 2015

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part of our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. Today’s song, featured on the Midday Show with Cheryl Waters, is “Start Somewhere” by Sarah Bethe Nelsonfrom the 2015 album Fast Moving Clouds on Burger Records.

Sarah Bethe Nelson – Start Somewhere (MP3)

A veteran of the San Francisco music scene as a supporting player, Sarah Bethe Nelson’s debut record as a solo artists is built with the perspective and musical depth of a long-time lead. Nelson’s role as a bartender, as well as her status as an alumnus of the Sacramento rock band Prariedog, in the Bay Area hasn’t just provided a window into many of the local’s heartbreaks and victories, it also set her up as one of the most well-connected individuals in the city’s notably tight-knit scene, which means that her Kelley Stoltz-recorded, Burger Records-released solo debut, Fast Moving Clouds, arrives with plenty of hometown approval. Fast Moving Clouds is a considerably diverse introductory statement, with Nelson’s airy voice gracefully floating over languid ballads (“Paying”), pop shuffles (“Impossible Love”), and hazy rockers (the title track). “Start Somewhere”, the album’s opening track, captures Nelson’s lovelorn ethos in a three-word and two-chord chorus, which, is as it turns out, is all the space Nelson needs to nail it. Her opening line – “All that you learn by being tough/is how to love without loving that much” – starts off Nelson’s lyrical advice on love before she reveals her own uncertain perspective in the final stanza. Spoken like a true bartender, “Start Somewhere” is wise, empathetic, and oozing with charisma, and even without a round or six (or seven) to warm you up, it’s a total knockout of an introduction.

Sarah Bethe Nelson will head out on tour this summer with Sonny and the Sunsets, but there’s no Seattle date announced at the moment, so keep up with Sarah Bethe on tour at her Facebookand Instagram. 

Miami Horror – Real Slow

http://blog.kexp.org/2015/05/18/song-of-the-day-miami-horror-real-slow/

By JACOB WEBB | Published: MAY 18, 2015

photo by Dylan Reyes

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part of our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. Today’s song, featured on The Afternoon Show with Kevin Cole, is “Real Slow” by Miami Horror from the 2015 album All Possible Futures on Dine Alone Records.

Miami Horror – Real Slow (MP3)

It didn’t take long for producer Benjamin Plant’s dance remix persona to turn into a full-on disco and house-influenced dance band dubbed Miami Horror. The Melbourne producer’s early remixes eventually gave way to original work, including the buzzy Australian track “Sweaty Wet/Dirty Damp” with Gameboy/Gamegirl. Not long after the release of that single, Plant released his debut EP as Miami Horror and gathered a live band – guitarists Josh Moriarty and Aaron Shanahan and bassist/keyboardist Daniel Whitechurch – to take the songs from the EP and his debut album, 2010’s Illumination, on the road. For the second Miami Horror LP, Plant brought the band into the collaborative process, resulting in the 2015 disco-leaning All Possible Futures. Just like Miami Horror aren’t actually from Miami, “Real Slow” isn’t the least bit slow: it’s a uptempo, celebratory burner that captures the joyous spirit of early Italo-disco tunes. Featuring a subtle, silvery guest vocal performance from Sarah Chernoff, the tune’s stacked synths play off each other like disco ping pong: when space in one keyboard line opens up, it’s brilliantly rallied by another counter line. “Real Slow” doesn’t take long to connect with the dancefloor, but in headphones, it’s an even more intriguing listen, filled with plenty of effervescent layers to unpack.

Miami Horror will bring All Possible Futures to Seattle on Friday, May 29th, as the perform as part of KEXP’s Hood-To-Hood Day in West Seattle, joining John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats, Hop Along, and Telekinesis for a free outdoor celebration. Miami Horror will also play at the The Crocodile later that night. Get tickets to that all-ages show here, keep up with the band at their Facebook and website, and watch the borderline-NSFW video for “Real Slow”.