In Our Headphones

Shalom - "Happenstance" from the 2023 album Sublimation on Saddle Creek. Brooklyn-based, South Africa-raised artist Shalom had been playing bass in bands while in New Brunswick for college, and working on home-recorded solo songs on the side, when she was discovered by producer Ryan Hemsworth. He invited her to contribute to his collaborative project Quarter-Life Crisis, which led to her being signed with Saddle Creek Records, who released her debut album Sublimation earlier this year.  On today's Song of the Day, the Brooklyn-based, South Africa-raised artist sings of her "need to evaporate and receive validation at the same time," displaying a raw vulnerability against a dancey beat.   “The record is an introduction to me as a songwriter,” she says in a press statement. “I think it shows my versatility, but really, it’s me being really honest, earnest, and naked. You can see my bones on this record. I'm okay with it though, because I’ve got to get it out.”   Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

HÆLOS - "Last Days" from the 2023 album Where We Bring Our Burdens on INDIGO KIN. London-based trio HÆLOS returns with the track "Last Days," a song they describe as "about trying to evade the fears that come from traumatic experiences by constantly reminding oneself to remain present." It's the third single to be shared from the band's forthcoming full-length, titled Where We Bring Our Burdens. No official release date has been announced yet, but if today's Song of the Day is any indication, we have another beautiful, emotive LP from HÆLOS on the way.  Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Beach Vacation - "Lay Low" a 2023 single on Z Tapes. Take some time off with the dreamy vibes of Beach Vacation. The latest single from this Seattle-based pop project of songwriter Tabor Rupp will call to mind bands on the Captured Tracks Records roster like Beach Fossils and Wild Nothing. Rupp told the music blog kid with a vinyl that today's Song of the Day is about “wanting to leave behind everything – specifically the things and people that are stressors and forget about them forever.” Sounds like a vacation to me.  Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sendai Era - Calamansi dreams from the 2023 self-released album Kalayaan. Sendai Era are a Seattle-based music duo of emcee Era and producer Sendai Mike. They’ve been making music together since 2013 and released their sophomore full-length Kalayaan in January. “Kalayaan” is the Tagalog word for “Liberation,” which is a feeling the duo tried to capture throughout the album. “This album carries the lessons and experiences over the past few years,” explains the duo. “Forming a myriad of songs that signify a new beginning for us.” Our Song of the Day, “Calamansi dreams,” features guest vocals from Clarissa Abadesco and uses the economically important citrus hybrid predominantly cultivated in the Philippines, calamansi, as a metaphor for growth through discrimination and getting back to one's roots. "We wrote Calamansi dreams during lockdown,” says Sendai Era of the song. “It describes our experiences growing up in the diaspora through the lenses of family, culture, and music.” Watch Sendai Era’s music video for Kalayaan track “Written" and read the full post at KEXP.org.Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Lo! Peninsula - Super Glue (Cover) from the 2023 self-released album The Resurrection Of The Princess Of Woe And Her Vampire Hound Posse. Lo! Peninsula is a shoegaze/dreampop trio from Imphal, India that first caught the ears of KEXP’s John Richards and his producer Owen Murphy back in 2018 with their debut full-length AKA Lo Peninsula. Murphy interviewed the band that year about making music in a conflict-torn area and their DIY recording process. Since then, they’ve only released less than a handful of singles but recently returned with “Super Glue.” The song is a cover of Indian noise-rockers Hoirong’s 2013 original and appears on a covers album made in celebration of the tenth anniversary of Hoirong’s debut album The Reincarnation of The Princess of Woe and Her Vampire Hound Posse. Titled The Resurrection of The Princess of Woe and Her Vampire Hound Posse, the album sees contributions from Indian bands like Pacifist, Disco Puppet, Mr. INDIA, and Audrey. Hoirong’s version of “Super Glue” is a lo-fi affair with screeching warbles and fuzzed-out guitars while frontman Kamal Singh melodramatically sings, “Slowly comes an asshole and he looks so good /Slowly you become my menstruation /Funny how you try to be the super glue.” The original is so good that it’s a nerve-wracking undertaking to cover. Instead of trying to mimic, Lo! Peninsula wraps the song in a sheeny haze, taking “Super Glue” to new heights. Watch the video for Lo! Peninsula’s 2021 single “Kintsugi” and read the full post at KEXP.org.Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Drinking Boys and Girls Choir - "City" from the 2023 album Hey, Listen To Me on Damnably The latest release from South Korean trio Drinking Boys and Girls Choir is a collaborative project with three female artists from their hometown of Daegu. (On this EP, they've also invited special guest Jang Young-eun, guitarist and vocalist of the band igloo.) On today's Song of the Day, they've teamed up with artist Kim Seoul, known for her humorous work in printmaking with hand-colored details. As they write on their Bandcamp, the song was inspired by a conversation with drummer/vocalist Myeongjin Kim and Kim Seoul "about the loneliness and fear that metropolitan cities can give to individuals living in them, especially those cities that feel bigger for women living alone. Inspired by the conversation, the image of the song itself is about comforting yourself, after having experienced those feelings, and comforting fellow citizens who are still in such a situation." For the accompanying exhibition, Kim Seoul crafted a space that looks like her old living room. "The memories of living in a gap between clothes and objects in a small room are reproduced in this work. Through installations made with eco-friendly materials such as Tyvek, and silkscreen engraving techniques, the artist created a space filled with small but precious things which allowed for small citizens in large cities and exhibition visitors to search for other entries." Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

FiFi Zhang - "Nobody" from the 2023 EP So Beautiful So Lonely on Gum Studio. What started as a thesis project at the Parsons School of Design has since become a music career for FiFi Zhang. The Shanghai-born/Brooklyn-based artist was inspired by a sound design class to create her own songs, and submitted the track "Butterfly" and its accompanying music video. Since then, she's continued to evolve her ethereal electro-pop style, culminating in her latest EP, So Beautiful So Lonely (a title Zhang told music blog Grandma Sophia's Cookies was inspired by a line from the TV show Sex & the City).  Today's Song of the Day transforms the loneliness Zhang experienced during the pandemic into a house track, with a companion clip directed by Xiao Han and produced by Kennie Zhou. As she told GSC, "My image for the video was, you are at the bottom of the ocean and nobody can hear you, just floating by yourself in the bottom of the ocean. There is a scene where I’m a mermaid deep in the ocean, the sea creatures, my imaginary friends, all pop up from underneath me. It’s my version of turning tears into pearls, a productive solitary self-indulgence where my own creations make my world so colorful and beautiful. That’s the message of the music video." Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Lionmilk - "anxious thing" from the 2023 album Intergalactic Warp Terminal 222 on Leaving Records. With his latest LP Intergalactic Warp Terminal 222, Lionmilk continues the theme of using music to heal with another collection of soothing soul-jazz sounds to inspire introspection. Los Angeles-based musician/composer/producer Moki Kawaguchi refers to the new album as "music to feel less whack to." Like on 2021's COVID-response release, I Hope You Are Well, Kawaguchi explores songcraft as a means of self-care, connection, and community. (It's fitting that he continues to work with Leaving Records, who share a similar philosophy of camaraderie.) Today's Song of the Day is a lovely, lo-fi, breezy piece of electropop sure to absolve your own anxious feelings.  Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

MCM - Cry Me A River from the 2023 self-released Stolen Moments EP. MCM (aka Mid Century Modern) is a brand new Seattle-based duo featuring long-running emcee, producer, and community organizer King Khazm and singer/songwriter Jesse Kogita. In February, they released their debut EP Stolen Moments. The three-song EP sees the duo reimagine classic jazz standards by building a collage of samples, boom bap, bebop, and hip hop. On our Song of the Day, Ella Fitzgerald’s classic “Cry Me a River,” adding potent verses from Khazm of regrets and heartbreak, staying true to the sorrowful original but adding a downtempo boom bap beat, samples from old films, and Kogita taking on the role of singing Fitzgerald’s part. Ending with a sobbing woman, the song is both emotional and an incredibly original take on a song that’s been a part of our musical canon for nearly a century and covered countless times. Find the Stolen Moments EP on Bandcamp and read the full post at KEXP.org.Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

URF Tone - Zan Zendegi Azadi (Women Life Freedom) a 2023 self-released single. URF Tone is a duo made up of producer (as well as model, actor, and avid golfer) Nicholas Demps, aka The World Famous N.I.C, and MC Ila Parvaz. Together they seek to pay tribute to the golden era of Hip Hop, with inspirational lyricism and jazzy production. Emerging in 2020, the duo have released a string of singles, with a full-length titled All That Glitters due out in 2023 which features contributions from Camp Lo, Mr. Funke (of Lords of the Underground), Rae Khalil (contestant on the Netflix series, Rhythm + Flow), and Uhmeer (actor/rapper, and son of DJ Jazzy Jeff). Our Song of the Day, “Zan Zendegi Azadi (Women Life Freedom),” uses downtempo to highlight Parvaz’s lyrics about fighting oppression and tyranny, as well as lifting women up. The song is an excellent example of the band’s ethos, which they explained to The Hype Magazine in 2022 saying, “In a landscape of excessive braggadocio and shock-jocks, we raise questions around what is being elevated, while decency and simple goodness fall to the wayside. We’re both full-time workers and, more importantly, husbands to our wives, so we give everything we can to music from a place of passion and childlike joy.” Watch the video for “Zan Zendegi Azadi (Women Life Freedom)" and read the full post at KEXP.org.Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.