In Our Headphones

Lost Horizons - "I Woke Up With An Open Heart (feat. The Hempolics)," from the 2020 album In Quiet Moments on Bella Union. KEXP is a listener-funded nonprofit, and we need your help to keep creating podcasts like this one. Donate now for our Fall Fundraising Drive! Lost Horizons unites the talents of Richie Thomas (aka Dif Juz) and Simon Raymonde (bassist of Cocteau Twins and founder of record label Bella Union), two former 4AD recording artists in the '80s. Their 2017 debut full-length Ojalá featured a stellar cast of guest vocalists, including Marissa Nadler, former Midlake frontman Tim Smith, and Karen Peris of The Innocence Mission. And, on their forthcoming sophomore LP In Quiet Moments, they reinvite those three stunning voices, adding John Grant, Porridge Radio, Penelope Isles, and more to their cast. London-based soul group The Hempolics appear on today's featured Song of the Day.  The duo gave their guests the following theme to inspire their lyrics: "Death and rebirth," Raymonde confirmed via a press release. "Of loved ones, of ideals, at an age when many artists that have inspired us are also dead, and the planet isn’t far behind. But I also said, ‘The most important part is to just do your own thing, and have fun.'” Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Left at London - "Do You See Us? (feat. Nobi)" from the 2020 self-released single Jenny Durkan, Resign in Disgrace. With a title like "Jenny Durkan, Resign in Disgrace", it's pretty obvious Seattle artist Left at London (real name: Nat Puff) does not mince words. And in the verses of today's Song of the Day, she teams up with guest rapper Nobi to sing: Fuck you, and the slavers that you work for This song’s For the people you killed “I fucking despise her,” Puff says about Seattle's Mayor Durkan via a press release. “She gassed her own citizens on Pride.”  The track reappears on her latest LP Transgender Street Legend Vol. 2., which came out last week. “I wanted it to be a series,” she says, “and then the success of the first CD really encouraged me to start working on the second one.” This new album, like today's Song of the Day, takes on a more serious tone. “Comedy hasn’t really influenced this project in any real sense,” Puff confirms.  Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Budos Band - "Long in the Tooth" from the 2020 album Long in the Tooth on Daptone Records. Twenty years hardly makes one "long in the tooth," but Brooklyn's Budos Band are celebrating two decades as a musical unit (and 15 years from the release of their debut album) with their sixth LP, Long in the Tooth, out October 9th via Daptone Records. The album continues to expand on their soul-inspired instrumentals, sounding (as they put it) "as if Quentin Tarantino was the music supervisor for a Bond film." “In some ways, it’s reminiscent of our first two albums The Budos Band and Budos II,” says Tom Brenneck, guitarist and producer. “We branched off on Burnt Offering and V. Now, we’re still moving forward. You can play these songs on the dance-floor. We knew the horns had to stand out, too. Thinking about hip-hop allowed us to put the bounce back into The Budos.”  Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sneaks - "Faith" from the 2020 album Happy Birthday on Merge Records. A new album from Sneaks is definitely 'cause for celebration, and this fourth full-length from Washington, DC’s Eva Moolchan provides a party-perfect groove with electronic dance beats and a Liquid Liquid-influenced bass line.  Like last year's album, Highway Hypnosis, she teams up with mixing engineer Carlos Hernandez and legendary Grammy-Award-winning producer Jacknife Lee (U2, R.E.M., Taylor Swift, to name a few). The production combined with Moolchan's laid-back delivery takes you right back to New York's early '80s no-wave scene. Crank it up and enjoy the festivities. Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Smokescreens - "I Love Only You" from the 2020 album A Strange Dream on Slumberland Records. With their melodic, jangle-pop sound, you might mistake Smokescreens for a New Zealand band. But it's no surprise this Los Angeles-based band's music is infused with the classic "Flying Nun" sound, when David Kilgour, of legendary Dunedin band The Clean, is behind the production on their latest full-length A Strange Dream, out October 30th via Slumberland Records. "The Clean are one of my favorite bands of all time and David is definitely someone I greatly admire which makes this album so special to me," the band enthused on Facebook.  Recorded with engineer Kyle Mullarky (Allah-Las, Little Wings), the band come into their own on this third album, combining buoyant guitar lines with dulcet vocals. And with a trippy painting by Kilgour used as the album artwork, this is one record you'd be OK to judge by its cover. Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bully - "Hours and Hours" from the 2020 album SUGAREGG on Sub Pop. On Bully's third album SUGAREGG, frontwoman/songwriter Alicia Bognanno took a more introspective approach to her '90s-inspired, fuzzed-out grunge-pop. “There was change that needed to happen and it happened on this record,” she said in a press statement. “Derailing my ego and insecurities allowed me to give these songs the attention they deserved.” On today's Song of the Day, she reflected on her connection to her Mom. She explained: “Hours And Hours” is about my mother and I finally figuring out our relationship. She and I had a really hard time connecting growing up and at times felt like it would never happen. Over the past five years we have become best friends, she is now the very first person I call when I am at my absolute lowest and has saved my life. I realize now how similar we are and how that probably had everything to do with why we had a difficult time with each other growing up. I wish I knew sooner how much we could relate but am eternally grateful that we have figured it out now and I’m just so thankful to be on good terms, I love her dearly. Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Terror/Cactus - "Guanaco" from the 2020 self-released album Confluencia. Local producer Martín Selasco was born in Buenos Aires and raised in Miami, and he brings these influences to Seattle via his electro-cumbia project Terror/Cactus. His latest LP Confluencia is an auditory journey through the spectacular landscapes of South America, combining mesmerizing rhythms and psychedelic guitars. In an interview with Ballard Vox, Selasco talked about how his Latin American roots permeate his music: "Music has always been a way for me to connect to my cultural heritage. My parents moved to Miami from Argentina when I was just a baby, but with most of our family still in Argentina we’d go back and spend at least a month there every summer. This created a sense of nostalgia in me and that of belonging to something that was far away [...]" Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Yanna - "Marcaperu," a 2020 self-released single. "My friends take care of me / Not the police" On her debut single "Marcaperu," Afro-Peruvian artist Yanna (real name: Brenda Carpio) uses her voice to denounce the injustices she sees around her: racism, discrimination, and violence.  Raised in the San Martín de Porres district of Lima, Peru, Yanna moved to France to study International Business Administration and instead, fell in love with hip hop.  "When I came back, it was a shock," she told El Comercio. "Having left and identified as a black and empowered woman from that Afro side was reduced to the fact that people on the street were quite violent and they looked at me, but not in a positive way, they made fun of my hair and my features.” She continued, "I felt that being abroad I was treated better than being in my own country. I know people who have gone through this misogynistic, sexist, and abusive violence. I wanted to highlight and put these issues on the table." Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Los Blenders - "Perdidos En Pantitlan" from the 2020 album Mazunte 2016 on Devil in the Woods. KEXP has been enamoured with Mexico City's Los Blenders since their 2015 debut album Chavos Bien. (Check out their infectious garage-punk in this 2016 KEXP session.) On their forthcoming full-length Mazunte 2016, out September 25th via Devil in the Woods, the rambunctious quartet bring a new maturity to their surf sound, particularly on today's Song of the Day, inspired by recent events in their hometown. In a press release, they elaborate: "Lost in Pantitlán" is a true story. It happened to a friend of the band. It's a story about how absurd it is to deal with the police in Mexico and this inspired the song. It created a cry of protest in a way. Musically it is the most complex song that the band has released." Frontman Alejandro Archundia continues, "Musically it's a mix between the sound of rock in your language mixed with the most aggressive surf guitars we've ever pulled and a sticky chorus, trademark of Los Blenders." Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ghetto Kumbé - "Vamo a Dale Duro" from the 2020 album Ghetto Kumbé on ZZK Records. Ghetto Kumbé take inspiration from their hometown of Bogotá, capital city of Colombia and just a quick flight from the Caribbean coast, infusing Afro-Colombian rhythms with modernized interpretations of dancehall, rumba, and traditional chants and call-and-response vocals. “I think what makes us different is that we’re going further back to the rhythmic roots, back to where the rhythm that exists in Colombia came from, mostly from the Atlantic coast," reflects co-founding band member Edgardo Garcés (aka E Guajiro) to Sound and Colours. "In the process of trying to find the similarities between different rhythms, we really took stock of the fact that so much of it comes from Africa and decided that we’d move more towards the African elements, adding them to the Afro-Colombia part. All this means it [our music] has a different sound.” Today's Song of the Day roughly translates to "Let's Go Hard," and it's a call to action to fight against the capitalist system and "dirty politicians."  Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.