In Our Headphones

Songhoy Blues - "Worry" from the 2020 album Optimisme on Fat Possum Records. Malian rock band Songhoy Blues have entranced us with their modern take on traditional West African music since their 2015 debut album Music In Exile. And now, in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the band have released their first song ever sung entirely in English. In an interview with KEXP, vocalist Aliou Touré told us: "We need hope. We need to come together. And when we get worried, there's no way to think positive. So we don't have to be worried, we don't need that bad energy around us. Otherwise, we're not going to be able to go through this situation we are in. So that's why we wrote this song. Who can talk to everybody to keep their self-control. To not get worried and then we can be optimists together." Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

TARA - "Oceans," a 2020 self-released single. Even though they've only been together for a few years, Brooklyn quintet TARA have quickly coalesced their different musical backgrounds into the cohesive shoegaze-influenced sound they've displayed on the handful of singles they've released so far, including today's featured track "Oceans."  After relocating to New York from California, guitarist/vocalist Saagar Kurani met another west coast transplant, guitarist/vocalist Wesley Deimling. They added Jack Weiss, Alexa Garay, and Stephen Kingslow to the line-up and proceeded to share their first set of singles last summer. The band shared the background of today's Song of the Day with KEXP: Our intent was to create a sound pallet which makes you feeling nostalgic for a place you've never been. Old but still new. The lyrics are inspired by Alexa's really good friend and visual artist, Sarah N--. Alexa states: 'swirling guitars and crescendos meant to deliver our exhausted selves to places wide open and far away, a song on the theme of dreams, full tide pools, Wuthering Heights, and lightness and fluttering during amid wild storms and turbulence. This fluttering of wings for soothing, for us, for us, for you, for all of us in wearying times, for Sarah.' Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Eep - "Hogar" from the 2020 self-released album Death of a Very Good Machine. With the song "Hogar," 52-year-old musician Rosie Varela launched a lifelong dream. Though she's been writing songs for over twenty years, it wasn't until she wrote this love song for her husband that she reached out to Ross Ingram, who owns Brainville Studios in Sunland Park, New Mexico. “I asked him if he thought it was silly to want to record a shoegaze song at my age,” she admitted to the blog Noise Artists.  Instead, Ingram helped Varela assemble the band EEP, not only recording her ode to her spouse, but seven additional shimmery songs that encompass their full-length debut Death of a Very Good Machine, released last month.  Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Cumulus & Little Wins - "Doorway," a 2020 self-released single. Little Wins is the solo project of songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Andrew Vait, also of Seattle duo SISTERS. And Cumulus is the songwriting project of Seattle's own Alexandra Niedzialkowski. Before Vait moved away to California, the two teamed up to create this song. "This song is about no-one and everyone; a collage of all the people in our life we wish we had more time with, or another chance to say all the things we should have said," Niedzialkowski explained on her Facebook page. "Originally a song about missing someone from the past, it does feel like the song took on new meaning as the world turned upside down these last few months. So much of the country is sitting indoors, grappling with the reality outside our homes, waiting for the day we can hear a friend knock on the door again," she continued. She added, "Don’t actually go knocking on doors right now, but if you miss someone, let them know. Give them a call, send them a message, don’t regret the things you never said." Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Pure X - "Angels of Love" from the 2020 album Pure X on Fire Talk Records. It's been six years, but Austin-based band Pure X have returned with their fourth full-length, their first since 2014's Angel. The new self-titled release was written over the past three years with band members working on their parts remotely from their respective homes before reuniting to record live over six days in the Texas countryside.  “[After Angel], as far as the world was concerned, we were broken up. That was a great place to be because I can live my fucking life and write my songs as I go and let them marinate. That's why we chose to have it be self-titled, because this is the most natural record we've ever made,” guitarist/vocalist Nate Grace told Fader. Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

HÆLOS - "Unknown Melody," a 2020 single on Æ Recordings. London electronic quartet HÆLOS return with a new single, released via their own Æ imprint. “We found ourselves reminiscing about some mid-’00s electro releases and feeling a nostalgia for those early trips,” says band member Dom Goldsmith, who also produced the track. “Writing ‘Unknown Melody’ back in January, it just felt cathartic for us to remember some of the good times when everything felt so unstable. How little we knew. We’re listening and learning.” Since then, in reaction to the way the world seems to be continuously turning itself upside down, the band decided to do "upside down" versions of each new track. You’ll find the one for Unknown Melody on their Bandcamp here. Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Anna Kaneelina - "Lilledes" from the 2019 album Anna Kaneelina on Erik Lindström Music. With the release of her debut album last year, Tallinn-based singer-songwriter Anna Kaneelina swept the 2020 Estonian Music Awards, winning Female Artist of the Year, Album of the Year, Alternative/Indie Album of the Year, and the Debut Album of the Year. A self-proclaimed "urban witch", Kaneelina combines ethereal vocals with delicate melodies and vulnerable lyrics. Today's Song of the Day channels the otherworldliness of Kate Bush with transcendent instrumentation.   Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

박혜진 Park Hye Jin - "Beautiful" from the 2020 How Can I EP on Ninja Tune. On her sophomore EP How Can I, DJ/producer/rapper 박혜진 Park Hye Jin continues to expand on the dreamy production style she introduced with her 2018 debut If U Want It while expanding into heavier house sounds, pulsing with energy.  Originally from Seoul and now based in L.A., Park has expanded her sonic palette, bubbling beneath her hypnotic vocals, sung in both English and Korean. "I actually believe Korean to be the most beautiful language. Is there a more delicate or emotional language? That I do not know. Of course, it may be because I don’t know the languages of other countries well. For example, when I try to write lyrics in English, I can’t clearly express the feelings I want to convey," she said last year in an interview with Hypebeast.  On today's Song of the Day, Park eschews vocals entirely, relying on punchy percussion and a repetitive, echoey voice in the distance. The result is, well... beautiful. Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Candace - "Still Phase" from the 2020 self-released album Ideal Corners. Portland dream-pop band Candace have had a long journey to their latest album, titled Ideal Corners. Originally formed in 2009 in Minneapolis under the moniker Is/Is, the trio released an EP and a 7" single until drummer Mara Appel Des Lauriers relocated from the midwest to Portland. Remaining band members Sarah Rose (bass/vocals) and Sarah Nienaber (guitar/vocals) tried to keep Is/Is going without her, but eventually relocated to Portland themselves, starting anew with the name Candace.  The albums New Future and New Ruins followed in 2016 and 2018, respectively. Their newest release was recorded with Larry Crane at Jackpot! Recording Studio in late summer 2019, and finds the trio experimenting with drum machines, adding an otherworldly-ness to their shoegaze-tinged sound. Today's Song of the Day, they say, "is about coming to terms with the senselessness of inaction, about learning over and over again that there is no “right time,” nothing is ever definite."  Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dylan Cartlidge - "Yellow Brick Road," a 2020 single on Glassnote/AWAL. “I’m this kid who’s from a place you’ve probably never heard of, who has a weird background and a weird musical journey. And yet I'm being able to hold my own in my industry.” So says newcomer Dylan Cartlidge, a 23-year-old songwriter who combines rock and rap in a way that's garnered him comparisions to "everyone from Beck to Andre 3000," his press release confirms. On today's featured track, he teamed up with produer James Dring (Jamie T, Gorillaz) for his first song written and recorded in a "big fancy studio." In a press release, he shared: “This song to me is about the juxtaposition of dreams & expectations. It’s about how fear and self-sabotage can dump the weight of the world on your shoulders in your most hard-earned moments. But it’s also about how overcoming all of this can be as simple as putting one foot in front of the other and stepping into the unknown..." Dylan Cartlidge will be LIVE on KEXP at HOME on Wednesday, September 2nd at 2:00 PM PT. Read the full post on KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.