In Our Headphones

Ride - "Peace Sign" from the 2024 album Interplay on Wichita Shoegaze pioneers Ride return with the album Interplay, out March 29th on Wichita Recordings/PIAS. It'll be their seventh full-length overall, and their third since reuniting in 2014.  “This album has taken a long time to make, and has seen the band go through a lot of ups and downs; maybe the most of any Ride album,” co-founder Andy Bell said in a press release. “But it has seen us come through the process as a band in a good place, feeling able to shake off the past, and ready to celebrate the combined musical talents that brought us together in the first place.” Today's Song of the Day first began to come together during a jam session in band member Mark Gardener's recording studio, OX4 studio. "We called it ‘Berlin’ and initially it featured Loz on drums, Steve on bass, and myself on a prophet 5 synth," Bell continued. "About six months later I got hold of the recording and wrestled it into song form. Lyrically I was inspired by a film called The Alpinist about the visionary free climber Marc-André Leclerc. Soon after I’d finished working on the song I remember I was raving to my bandmates about Leclerc at OX4, and a good memory of that time was us all watching that film at Mark’s studio." Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

TR/ST - "Robrash" a 2023 single on Dais TR/ST — a project of producer Robert Alfons — shares the first single from his latest release, a self-titled EP from his new label, Dais Records. Formed in Toronto, and now based in Los Angeles, he continues to craft darkwave synth perfect for haunting the dance floor.  Today's Song of the Day was co-produced by Nightfeelings and mixed by the legendary Nick Launay, who has worked with everyone from Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds to IDLES to Kate Bush.  Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Brittany Davis - "Sepricon" from the 2024 album Image Issues on Loosegroove Records Last we spoke with Seattle artist Brittany Davis, they had released an EP via Loosegroove Records, the label ran by Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard (who is also Davis's bandmate in the side project, Painted Shield). Now, they've returned with their debut full-length album, titled Image Issues, out March 1st on Loosegroove. It's an ambitious 26-track, concept-driven release, interspersed with spoken word pieces by Davis, and with deeply personal lyrics touching on their "discrimination as a Black, non-binary, blind musician, to traumatic family experiences touching on abuse, gun violence, and the prison system." The LP was co-produced by Josh Evans (Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Brandi Carlile), with Gossard's full support. (“He is everywhere in spirit and conception and love and vision,” Evans told Spin Magazine.) Davis describes today's Song of the Day as "definitely born to funk...to soul funk! The record is an ode to James Brown and filled with thoughtless greatness...there really is no rhyme or reason to it...all primal instinct." Check out the music video below, directed by Tony-nominated modern dance choreographer Donald Byrd (The Color Purple, The Minstrel Show).  Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Izzy and the Black Trees - "F-16" a 2024 single on Antena Krzyku. Polish punk rockers Izzy and The Black Trees tap into some COVID anxiety for today's Song of the Day. As vocalist Izabela “Izzy” Rekowska explains to music blog Vanadian Avenue: "Back then, I was watching many movies and Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb really got stuck in my head. Plus, there was a constant hum of jet planes flying over our apartment. So, you get the story. The song was recorded with our producer Marcin Bors at his home studio in the mountains. Marcin also produced our second album Revolution Comes In Waves. We really loved working on that album as well as on 'F-16' and our previous single, 'Shutdown City.'" The band are currently working on a new EP with their sights set on a third full-length in the future. Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Waxahatchee - "Right Back To It (feat. MJ Lenderman)" from the 2024 album Tigers Blood on ANTI- On today's Song of the Day, singer/songwriter Katie Crutchfield — best known as Waxahatchee — enlists the talents of MJ Lenderman (of the band Wednesday, as well as a solo artist) for an unconventional love song. “I wrote it backstage at Wolf Trap when I was on tour opening for Jason Isbell and Sheryl Crow,” Crutchfield says in a press statement. “I’m really interested in writing love songs that are gritty and unromantic. I wanted to make a song about the ebb and flow of a longtime love story. I thought it might feel untraditional, but a little more in alignment with my experience to write about feeling insecure or foiled in some way internally, but always finding your way back to a newness or an intimacy with the same person.” The track will appear on her forthcoming full-length, Tigers Blood, out March 22nd via Anti-. The LP was recorded with Brad Cook at Sonic Ranch in Texas, and features guest appearances from Spencer Tweedy and Phil Cook, in addition to Lenderman. Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

SPRINTS - "Adore Adore Adore" from the 2024 album Letter To Self on City Slang Dublin, Ireland-based garage rockers Sprints rage against the patriarchy on today's Song of the Day, as vocalist Karla Chubb explains on Bandcamp: “'Adore Adore Adore' is a guttural reaction to my experience of criticism, gender, and misogyny. People can't seem to stop pressing their idea of what being a woman or acting like a woman is or should be upon us. You can't act like this, you can't say that, you have to be born with this or that and it's exhausting. There is still a different standard of behaviour expected from me vs even the other members in Sprints. There is a different set of invisible rules I am supposed to abide by — I am supposed to fit their mould and give them what they want — and not deliver what it is I am here to do. So at a time when trans rights are under attack, people are trying to force upon us what they think a woman is or should be, this is the outward expression of my own frustration, struggle and rage.” Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Arcwelder - "Lafayette" from the 2024 self-released album Continue Minneapolis trio Arcwelder return with their first new album in 24 years. During their '90s heyday, they released six albums on Touch & Go and Big Money Records before their double-decade hiatus. Their latest LP was mixed by J. Robbins of Jawbox, Burning Airlines, and Government Issue. And it's all too appropriate that "Lafayette" is today's Song of the Day, as the band say the track is drummer/vocalist Scott  Macdonald's tribute to "music, radio stations, and the childhood radio that delivered it all to him." Check out Morning Show Producer Owen Murphy's 2017 chat with Scott here. Read the full story at KEXP.org  Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Spoon Benders - "Dichotomatic" from the 2023 self-released album How Things Repeat With their sophomore full-length, How Things Repeat, psych-rock group Spoon Benders continue to elevate the glam-garage sound we first fell in love with on their 2020 debut LP Dura Mater. As they explained to Be in a Band or Die, "Since April of 2019, the band has been writing, rehearsing, and performing live together multiple times a week. I think How Things Repeat has captured that growth and is an excellent representation of our evolution together as a band and individually as players and songwriters. For How Things Repeat we are building on our sound and looking to express similar energy through the recording as we do on stage in the live setting." The accompanying music video — directed by Karlee Boon — aims to capture the opposite: the monotony they experience in their day jobs. "People often forget that musicians work grueling 9-5 jobs to survive while balancing their band and personal lives," they added. Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Skating Polly - "Hickey King" from the 2023 album Chaos County Line on El Camino Media Tacoma-based punk-pop trio Skating Polly describes today's Song of the Day as "the most Skating Polly song" on their latest LP, a double-album titled Chaos County Line, out now via El Camino Media. Songwriters (and step-sisters!) Kelli Mayo and Peyton Bighorse trade off vocals on the stripped-down single, inspired by a bad date Kelli went on. “In Peyton’s verse she’s talking about never knowing how far to go or how much of yourself to give to someone, and when my part comes crashing in it’s about guys being possessive and always trying to leave their mark on you,” Kelli says in a press release. “To me, it’s the most Skating Polly song on the record because it’s all these different energies happening at once.” Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hurry - "Beggin' For You" from the 2023 album Don't Look Back on Lame-O Records Philadelphia-based group Hurry released their sixth album last year, titled Don’t Look Back, a nod to a 1995 Teenage Fanclub song, if that gives you a hint to their influences. And today's Song of the Day brings that same jangly, power-pop goodness.  The new album was produced by Ian Farmer (of Slaughter Beach, Dog, and Modern Baseball), and is out now via Lame-O Records.  Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.