In Our Headphones

MAITA - "Pastel Concrete" from the 2022 album I Just Want To Be Wild For You on Kill Rock Stars. MAITA is the full-band project of Portland-based artist Maria Maita-Keppeler. Quickly following up the release of her fantastic debut album Best Wishes, unveiled only just last year, this February her sophomore record I Want To Be Wild For You will be revealed.  Our Song of the Day is the early single “Pastel Concrete.” What appears to be an intimate, possibly somber guitar strummer in the opening lines grows into a jaunty tune that grows and eventually cathartically erupts. Known for her mercurial lyricism, Maita-Keppeler turns the task of driving through Santa Monica for work as a study of the unique culture and landscape of Southern California.  “Pastel Concrete was written at a time when I had a job that periodically sent me to Santa Monica, Maita-Keppeler says of the song. “A place that felt more foreign to me than any other. The outdoor mall, the kitschy boardwalk, the actors and artists I worked with who seemed so different from me and yet so understood the struggle of trying to get paid, and the infamous mythology of LA—I found it all uncomfortable and fascinating.” I Want To Be Wild For You is out February 18, 2022 via Kill Rock Stars.  Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Breeze - "Come Around (feat. Cadence Weapon)" from the 2021 album Only Up on Hand Drawn Dracula. Toronto-based producer Josh Korody has a long list of credits to his name including Dilly Dally, Beliefs, and Nailbiter but his main solo project is the monosyllabically titled Breeze. For his latest album as Breeze, Only Up, Korody recruited pretty much anybody and everybody in the Toronto scene to join him in collaboration to make a record in only eight days. Members of Orville Peck, Tallies, Vallens, Zoon, Sauna, Fake Palms, Rapport, Praises, Civic TV, Moon King, Blonde Elvis, For Jane, Ducks Ltd, TOPS and Broken Social Scene all have their fingers on the frenetically fun album. Our Song of the Day is the record’s early single “Come Around.” Energetic and eclectic, the song mashes genres together in a way that makes “Come Around” sound so wrong that it’s right. Psychedelic guitar strums meld with hard-hitting tribal beats and post-punk howls that feels caustic on first listen but gets soothing on repeated spins.  Then, just when your brain is starting to comprehend what’s happening, Cadence Weapon (the musical pseudonym of rapper/writer Rollie Pemberton) jumps in halfway through for an unexpected verse of nonsensical but clever as hell lines like, “On the web I surf like Brian Wilson.” After a cool 40 seconds, he dips out and we’re back to Korody’s trippy nightmarish yowls. Korody had his to say about the song: “Come Around” is about someone that has done something horrible and has not shown any accountability or true remorse and the fear they – or have the nerve – to be able to jump back into a community that no longer feels comfortable around them. So, as I’m singing the song I’m picturing performing it live with them walking into the room and making people, especially the people closest to them, extremely uncomfortable and angry. The lyrics: ‘Yeah, you really did a number on this one’ references the trauma they imposed upon the community. When Rollie (Cadence Weapon) comes in, his lyrical dialogue is a bit more separate, it’s more fun but still comes from frustration as well and it quickly takes myself and others out of that dark place with the hope of trying to move on and to enjoy the life we have.” Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Abiodun Oyewole - "Harlem" from the 2021 album Gratitude on Fire Records. Abiodun Oyewole’s legendary history can be traced back to one very important day, May 19, 1968, when he read poetry in Harlem’s Mount Morris Park with David Nelson and Gylan Kain in honor of Malcolm X’s birthday and became what is now considered the first hip hop group - The Last Poets. In honor of this sacred day and Oyewole’s love for the New York neighborhood that gave him life, Oyewole recently released a single expressing his appreciation for Harlem and the people that live there. Appropriately titled “Harlem,” the song is locked in a singular groove for nearly six and a half minutes while Oyewole waxes poetic about the music, food, history, and culture that makes this neighborhood so special. Backup singers provide meditative coos of “Harlem, sweet Harlem” behind Oyewole’s shout outs to soul food at Sylvia’s, hanging out at the Jazzmobile, the Apollo, shopping on 125th street, children jumping double dutch, high fives, and real hugs. It’s a spiritual and inspirational journey of a man with a singular legacy. In a recent interview with Pat Thomas, Oyewole had this to say about the inspiration behind the song: “You gotta realize, Harlem was the place I wanted. It was like a desire, a dream. I was raised in Queens, New York. I would see Harlem every Sunday of my life because we went to church in Harlem. The energy of Harlem was exciting, electric. I told myself, 'I got to be here,' because there was no place in New York City that had that kind of energy and I really wanted that. “When the opportunity arose that The Last Poets were gonna happen and Dahveed Nelson, a brother who I consider part of the group because it was his idea, he told me that we were going to read poetry at Mount Morris Park in Harlem, there was a part of me that was very happy and a part of me that was very scared. I was intimidated because I thought Harlem was a tough place to do anything.  “Harlem was where everything was going to happen. When we set up our home base in Harlem, I spent all my time in Harlem, I got an apartment in Harlem - Harlem became everything to me.” Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

 alt-J - "U&ME," from the 2022 album The Dream on Atlantic. After a surprisingly sunny weekend, a cheery indie pop single about hanging with your friends at a music festival seems most appropriate. Alt-J, Mercury Prize winners and one of the early 2010’s leading festival headliners, are back after four years to provide that ebulliant and light-hearted feeling with their latest single “U&ME.” Their first release since 2017’s Relaxer (if you don’t count the following year’s remix album Reduxer) and the lead single off their forthcoming album The Dream, “U&ME” hits all the notes that Alt-J fans search for. Groovy percussion - check. Blissed out guitar riffs - you know it. A woozy melody - gotta have it. A nostalgic repeating chorus with slightly esoteric verses - wouldn’t be alt-J without em.  “It’s about being at a festival with your best friends, having a good time, togetherness, and the feeling in life that nothing could be any better than it is right now,” explains keyboardist/vocalist Gus Unger-Hamilton. The video, directed Unger-Hamilton’s brother, Prosper, captures that sort of bonding-with-the-buds feeling by featuring the band ripping at the skatepark. Kicks are flipped, blood is shed, and - wait - concrete is floating? Just a typical day with the guys!  The Dream is out February 11th via Canvasback/Infectious Music. Alt-J will be in Seattle on Tuesday, March 29th to play WaMu Theatre with Portugal. The Man.  Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sneaker Pimps - "So Far Gone (feat. Simonne Jones)" from the 2021 album Squaring The Circle on Unfall. It might have taken almost two decades, but Sneaker Pimps are finally back with their first record since 2002’s Bloodsport. Titled Squaring the Circle, the album is a lengthy 16 tracks that sees founding members Chris Corner and Liam Howe team up with LA-born, Berlin-based musician Simonne Jones on vocals. Our Song of the Day,  “So Far Gone” probably best utilizes her emotive voice to haunting effect. Harkening back to the trip-hop that put them on the map in the ‘90s, “So Far Gone,” is cemented by a downtempo electronic beat while arpeggiated synth flourishes sparkle around Jones’ yearning cries of nostalgia. “So far gone, never return, no safe ground,” she coos with a deeper timbre than the band’s original singer Kelli Alli’s wispy vocals rang on iconic songs like “6 Underground.” The textured dynamics and affecting vocals make “So Far Gone” an album highlight and an exciting return for a band that some (wrongly) think of as a one-hit-wonder.  Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Danny Newcomb - "This World," a 2021 single on Rock Candy Mountain. Danny Newcomb’s musical journey goes all the way back to 1981, when the hair was bigger, the music simultaneously messy and glam, and Seattle wasn’t even a footnote in the music zeitgeist. At that time, Newcomb was a member of a KISS-inspired Seattle-area band called Shadow made up of four teens, one with a particularly now-recognizable name - Mike McCready. Since then, Newcomb’s gone on to play in a number of bands including dark pop outfit Goodness and the McCready and Nancy Wilson-featuring short-lived side project. Under his own name, Newcomb makes straightforward guitar strummers, with his last release, 2020’s Mackerel Sky, departing from his long-standing rock-n-roll, singer-songwriter roots for a drum-less, introspective, piano and acoustic-guitar led record.   On our Song of the Day, “This World,” he is back to playing with a full band, bringing the piano into the sound as well. “I’ve always been a fan of classic songwriting and so many are written on the piano,” Newcomb explains. “It’s such a great instrument to have in the mix when there is a strong main melody — you can call and respond with the vocals, echo a chorus subtly, while adding a driving percussive feel at the same time. It’s made the sound bigger, and it feels a little more finished to me.”  Last year, he started gathering material for a new release, writing for the band, and “This World” is the first single of 10 songs recorded with producer John Goodmanson, (Sleater-Kinney, Wolf Parade, Quasi) and drummer Eric Eagle, bassist Jeremy Lightfoot, and Erin Rubin on piano. “My good friend Carrie Akre [who played with Newcomb in Goodness and The Rockfords] will be singing with me on a track as well  — its a bit of a throwback, (that song) but maybe in the best possible way."  "I wrote ‘This World’ last fall after being shut in for 10 months or so on the small farm on the small island where I live,” Newcomb continues. “I think there was line that drew me in — the one that says: ‘Don’t ever let the Strangers in’ — because that’s what it was, I saw my family every morning, the sheep, the chickens, my geese, my neighbors, but not anyone outside my immediate circle. And I missed seeing people in that larger circle, people at shows, people on the ferry, talking to people i didn’t know, making connections. Felt like the whole world was lonely — literally — but it was also a state of mind.”  The single is the first song off the upcoming LP in Spring 2022 tentatively titled The Islander. Watch Danny Newcomb & the Sugarmakers’ KEXP in-studio performance from 2019 below. Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Makthaverskan - "This Time" from the 2021 album För Allting on Run For Cover. Makthaverskan don’t sound at all like they belong in this era. Heavily inspired by mid ‘80s post punk and baroque pop, they sound like they should be a Factory Records-signee alongside Joy Division rather than their (albeit great) home of Run For Cover. Even the slight crack in their recordings make them sound like a long-lost cassette import your cousin sent you when they went to Sweden for the summer. But, indeed, the Gothenburg-based band is completely of this time and on the verge of releasing their fourth studio album and first since 2017’s III. Titled För Allting, the album was recorded with HOLY’s Hannes Ferm and will be out on November 12th via Run For Cover. Our Song of the Day is the record’s lead single “This Time” that soars in the band’s typical theatrical fashion, with frontwoman Maja Milner’s voice going to Kate Bushian lengths to convey, well, something important. “It won’t matter/ This time, it’s too late/ This time, it won’t matter.” While the song sounds squarely within the wheelhouse of the Makthaverskan’s previously melodramatic dream pop, the band say the recording process for the new album was a very new direction for them. “When we started the songwriting process for this album, I think we all were pretty determined to take the music in a new direction. Not necessarily that we would sound ‘different,’ but to work on the songs using somewhat different methods than before. For our previous albums, we wrote the songs in our rehearsal space and pretty much recorded them the way they were. For this album, we intended the songs to be finalized in the studio and left some more room to work with.” Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Deserta - "Lost in the Weight" from the 2022 album Every Moment, Everything You Need on Felte. Matthew Doty is wasting no time building up a catalogue of work as Deserta. Quick on the heels of releasing his debut album under the moniker last year, Black Aura My Sun, the former Saxon Shore/Midnight Faces plans on releasing the follow-up titled Every Moment, Everything You Need in 2022. The record’s lead single and our Song of the Day is the Herculean track “Lost In the Weight.” At nearly six and a half minutes, the song is a slow burn of epic proportions that sludges as if carrying the weight of the world on its back. Endless layers of swelling textures ground the track while Doty’s wispy vocals float above, urging us to “Take a little time /Slow down” like an angelic spirit guiding us from the demons in our heads. Doty had this to say about “Lost In the Weight”: “This song came from a place of exhaustion, frustration and the necessity to create. LITW trudges away on the same bass note for most of its six and a half minutes. It has moments of release, but even those moments are meant to feel heavy. This was the first song I tracked with Chris Coady and while we were setting up mics I said something along the lines of “Please make this sound as good as possible, I can’t work as a nurse much longer.” And though I somehow doubt releasing seven-minute ‘singles’ will bring about financial independence, I feel that we created some beauty from all of those darker parts.”  Deserta will be in Seattle on Friday, November 5th to play the Central Saloon. Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs - "The Distance" from the 2021 The Distance EP on Nice Age. Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, the musical pseudonym of Orlando Higginbottom, returned last year with his first collection of songs since his 2012’s Trouble, a four-track EP called I Can Hear the Birds. After nearly a decade of releasing singles and collaborating with a horde of others including Amtrac, Bonobo, and Porter Robinson, the London-born producer is finally ready to give us the solo cuts we’ve been patiently waiting for. Our Song of the Day, “The Distance” is the title track from a forthcoming solo EP out October 27th. The blissful dance track is meditative and trancey with wistful glitched out vocals. “How long must I wait for this love?” T.E.E.D. beseeches. “I’m tired of breathing alone /Don’t you know this could be you and me forever?” Rarely has longing felt this good. Read the full post on KEXP.org  Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aeon Station - "Queens" from the 2021 album Observatory on Sub Pop. After 18 years of waiting for the Wrens to follow up their beloved 2003 triumph, The Meadowlands, we’ve finally received new music from them. Well, sort of. Frustrated with his bandmate Charles Bissell’s endlessly tinkering with his half of the planned follow-up record alongside a dispute over money cuts, Kevin Whelan is releasing his portion of songs under the name Aeon Station on December 10th. It’s a heartbreaking way to receive them, but we’ll take what we can get! The lead single and our Song of the Day, “Queens,” was unveiled in September and is so much more than we could’ve expected. A climactic five-minute epic, the song opens as a synthy slow-burner but builds into a propulsive, thrashing rocker only to crash to its emotional guitar-strummed ending. With lines like, “You said it was all in,” it’s difficult to not read the song as Whelan’s pointed message to his former bandmate.  Whelan claims the song was inspired by one of his all-time favorite songs, “The Winner Takes it All” by ABBA. “It’s about betting on the real you,” he explains in the press release. “Like a game of high-stakes poker, you push all your chips to the center of the table and aren’t afraid to go “all in.” When the New York Times asked Whelan in their profile on his new project about whether the song was a breakup song, he responded “More like post-break-up,” Whelan said, “when you find the strength to get on with your life.” Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.