In Our Headphones

Activity - "Department of Blood" from the 2023 album Spirit in the Room on Western Vinyl The latest LP from Brooklyn band Activity — titled Spirit in the Room — is appropriately "haunting." Songs take inspiration from the loss of vocalist/mutli-instrumentalist Travis Johnson's mother to pancreatic cancer, including today's Song of the Day.  “The grief was (and sometimes is) this colossal thing,” he shares in a press statement, “and I kept finding myself thinking of how I could find her or get in touch with her, like there was a phone number or address and I just had to find it.” As he explains to Flood Magazine, “Department of Blood" tackles these frustrations, “the feeling of knowing you’re being manipulated by something way more powerful than you and also knowing you can do absolutely nothing about it. Just that resignation. It seemed to work.”  Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Grandaddy - "The Town Where I'm Livin Now" from the 2023 album Sunday: Excess Baggage on Dangerbird Records Long-time KEXP faves Grandaddy recently a digital-only collection of rarities and b-sides titled Sumday: Excess Baggage. With a career spanning three decades, there are a lot of gems within, including today's Song of the Day, a dreamy tribute to songwriter Jason Lytle's home in California. “I like making songs like this," he shares in a press release. "Lots of bleak but sweet visuals. Everyday stuff available for everyone to see…but some of us just end up with the twisted work of documenting it.” On the collection, he continues: “After many years of hammering away at writing and recording as Grandaddy, Sumday seems to be the center of it and where it all peaked. To the journalists we were, ‘On the verge of greatness, underrated, overlooked, unsung.’ It was a tumultuous and exciting time for us for sure. Also very exhausting." “Revisiting this material and reflecting on those times has been a double edged sword. Bittersweet is an apt word, I suppose. Twenty years after the fact, I’m just grateful to be alive and kicking… celebrating that moment in time by re-releasing the original album, B sides and extras of that era, and even some raw cassette demos of the album itself a sort of sketchbook/rough draft of the LP in cassette form. So be it then. ‘On the verge of greatness, underrated, overlooked, unsung.’ This is what all of that sounds like. I’ll take it.” Revisit our 2020 interview with Lytle on their last full-length, 2017's Last Place, and the passing of their bassist Kevin Garcia.  Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tycho - "Time to Run" a 2023 single on Mom + Pop Records It should come as no surprise that our host of The Runcast should choose the track "Time To Run" for today's Song of the Day. Like KEXP DJ John Richards, Scott Hansen — the producer behind long-running electronic project Tycho — is a runner. As he explains in a press statement: “Music has always served as a kind of meditation for me, long before I started creating it. As a competitive runner throughout my early life, I would play back loops of songs in my head to cope with the stress of races, focusing on rhythmic elements to help pace myself and stay calm. There is a unique form of clarity that I have found through the meditative practice of running, it is a fundamentally human experience and when I feel the deepest connection between the mind, body and nature. ‘Time To Run’ is my attempt to translate these ideas into music. My goal was to approach the composition from a new angle and let the rhythmic elements take the lead. I cast the melodic elements that have come to define the Tycho sound in a new light by juxtaposing them against a new foundation that takes cues from funk music.” The track gives a tease at Tycho's forthcoming 2024 full-length. Details are scarce, but MusicTech reports that Grizzly Bear’s Christopher Taylor will be on board as mix engineer.  Read the full story at KEXP.org  Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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During KEXP’s fall fund drive, discover the variety of music podcasts we produce at KEXP and hear some of our favorite clips from each one. We’re thankful to the thousands of amplifiers who already donate to KEXP, building the foundation for our community of storytelling, and we want you to join them with a one-time donation or a recurring gift! 50 Years of Hip-Hop: https://www.kexp.org/podcasts/50-years-of-hip-hop/ El Sonido: https://www.kexp.org/podcasts/el-sonido/ Fresh off the Spaceship: https://www.kexp.org/podcasts/fresh-off-the-spaceship/ Live on KEXP: https://www.kexp.org/podcasts/live-on-kexp/ Sound and Vision: https://www.kexp.org/podcasts/sound-vision/ Song of the Day: https://www.kexp.org/podcasts/song-of-the-day/ KEXP Podcasts on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@kexppodcasts Donate today: kexp.org/donateSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dabda - "Flower Tail" from the 2023 album Yonder on Electric Muse Records Korean quartet Dabda / 다브다 call their unique brand of math-rock "Pastel Psychedelic," which you can hear in the soft, dreamy sonic waves they weave on their latest EP Yonder.  Though based in Seoul, the band found inspiration in a recent trip to Thailand, describing it as "an intense experience." "The gap between the manufactured nature in vacation spots, which we usually are comforted with, and the nature that exists wildly was interesting," they continue in a press release. "We tried to capture the changing of air according to the season when the songs were made and I hope that the various temperaments of nature contained in each song will comfort and liberate the listeners." Today's Song of the Day "tells the story of a voyage through the horizon, sailing on a flower boat in the tropical sea. At the same time, the song is about the ones who set sail and leave for somewhere. In southern Thailand, the bow of a long-tailed wooded boat is decorated with flowers of different shapes, which is said to be a wish for the well-being of fishermen leaving for the sea." Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Subsonic Eye - "Performative," from the 2023 album All Around You on Topshelf Records. Singaporean dream-pop group Subsonic Eye continue their exploration of nature on their latest LP, All Around You. This examination of the natural world around urban landscapes began on their third album, 2021's Nature of Things. "Ticking boxes / charging laptops / separating causes from ourselves," they sing on today's Song of the Day. "Nature is everywhere around you, even in the city," vocalist Nur Wahidah told Whiteboard Journal last year. "It adds something special like cycling to school. It’s not just going to school — enjoying your time outside. I feel like a lot of people would think of it as like, 'oh, I live in the city, that means I can’t go into nature and stuff.' But, I think we all realized that nature is everywhere around us." Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

James and the Cold Gun - "Something to Say" from their self-titled 2023 album on Loosegroove Records Often referred to as “South Wales’ loudest group,” the Cardiff, UK-based garage rockers James and the Cold Gun share their self-titled debut album via Seattle's own Loosegroove Records, the label owned by Stone Gossard (Pearl Jam) & Regan Hagar (Malfunkshun, Brad, Satchel). Gossard describes the band as "a shot of pure adrenaline," and invited the group to open for Pearl Jam at their Hyde Park show.  Frontman James Joseph calls the new LP, "a no frills rock and roll ripper recorded ourselves in the garage where we first started jamming as a band, we think it’s a great introduction to what we’re about at our core, loud, energetic guitar rock." Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

DAIISTAR - "Speed Jesus" from the 2023 album Good Time on Fuzz Club Records Austin, TX psych-rock band DAIISTAR shine on their debut LP Good Time. The album was produced by Alex Maas of The Black Angels and engineered by James Petralli of White Denim. Formed in the Spring of 2020, Alex Capistran (vocals/guitar), Nick Cornetti (drums), Misti Hamrick (bass) and Derek Strahan (keys) escaped the doldrums of the pandemic through sonic waves of guitar.  “To us, these songs were a glimmer of light," Capistran says in a press release. “Starting a band at the peak of the pandemic to some might seem ill-timed, but to us it was a way to escape for a moment. There was something to look forward to and we kept our heads in the future. These songs guided us through some dark times and hopefully they can do the same for you. GOOD TIME is here.” Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Drew Martin - "Second Nature," from the 2023 album Where's Your Feet on Kritter Records Kānaka Maoli singer/songwriter Drew Martin recently returned to Seattle from Maui, releasing his latest LP Where’s Your Feet?. As he writes on Instagram, "There’s some joy on this record, there’s some grit on this record, there’s some chicken skin on this record." Drew utilizes a Hawaiian slack-key guitar in his folky blues-style songs, as you can hear on today's Song of the Day.  Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.