In Our Headphones

Sessa - "Vento a Favor" a 2023 single on Mexican Summer São Paulo-based musician Sessa returns with his first new single since last year's enchanting LP Estrela Acesa. The track is co-produced by Brazilian artist Biel Basile and American musician Mikey Coltun, who also plays bass in Mdou Moctar.  "'Vento a Favor' started as a track meant to be on Estrela Acesa," he tells Stereogum. "It was recorded, mixed, and mastered in the same sessions as the whole LP but somewhere along the way, when putting the pieces together, I started to feel that its energy was different from the story I was trying to tell with the record. The track was a bit too sure of its force and movement forward, outwards, while Estrela Acesa’s gesture was something more of an inward look, a whisper to the soul. But you know, nothing wrong with that, breathing goes both in and out." Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

deary - "Fairground (Saint Etienne Remix)" a 2023 single on Sonic Cathedral. London-based dreampop duo deary couldn't have chosen a better group than long-running UK trio Saint Etienne and composer Augustin Bousfield to remix their debut single, "Fairground." (The mix is formally titled the "Saint Etienne Meet Augustin Bousfield At The Top Of Town Mix.") “It was fun putting the guitars down for once, playing around with different synths instead,” says Ben, co-founder of deary. “I got into [Saint Etienne's 1991 debut LP] Foxbase Alpha in a big way while studying at Goldsmiths via the Dusty Springfield sample on ‘Nothing Can Stop Us.' I love that record; the drum samples and the pop sensibilities were a real inspiration for both ‘Fairground’ and deary as a whole. We absolutely love their reworking of ‘Fairground,’ it’s really trippy and such a joy to have them work on our stuff. A thousand thank yous to them and Augustin.” Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Corvair - Right Hook from the 2023 self-released album Bound to Be. Portland duo Corvair describe themselves as “Scorpio weirdo power duo serving up lush guitar pop w/ sharp incisors,” which this fellow Scorpio can certainly appreciate. Made up of Brian Naubert (Ruston Mire, Tube Top, Pop Sickle, The Service Providers) and Heather Larimer (Eux Autres), the romantic, as well as musical, duo are veterans of the Portland music scene. They released their debut self-titled album in 2021 and are following it up with their sophomore full-length Bound to Be on June 23rd. The lead single off the record is “Right Hook,” explores a dark night in a relationship where the protagonist is ready to fight. “On this record, I pushed myself to be more exposed and unfiltered,” explains Larimer of the song. “I can unfortunately be an ugly fighter and I wondered what would happen lyrically if I just owned up to it. The things I do that I am ashamed of and the toll it takes on everyone involved.” “The musical spine of this song was me thinking about Tears for Fears meets King Crimson,” Nuebert says of the instrumentation. “But then Heather wrapped that art rock foundation in a Blondie-meets-Shirelles pop energy. It’s a strange combination that fits the story–out of control emotions that end in shame and regret.” Watch the video for "Right Hook" and read the full post at KEXP.org.Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Feeble Little Horse - Tin Man from the 2023 album Girl with Fish on Saddle Creek. Pittsburgh quartet Feeble Little Horse formed three years ago during the pandemic lull but have exploded since dropping their 2021 debut full-length Hayday. They’re on the verge of releasing its follow-up, Girl With Fish, via Saddle Creek, a perfect home for their slowcore brand of noise pop. Out June 9th, we’ve so far gotten three tastes of Girl With Fish, “Steamroller,” “Pocket,” and our Song of the Day “Tin Man.” Starting with a mathy guitar line directly inspired by Slint’s incredible “Breadcrumb Trail,” a rush of feedback roars in as frontwoman Lydia Slocum delivers her trademark deadpan vocals about a vapid, emotionless manipulator. “Took him apart and I found nobody/But when I dent you, I end up bruised.” “The song is about people who use sadness to control your actions because they know you will sympathize,” Slocum says of the song. “Oftentimes when these people are investigated there really is not much inside them, they just use emotions to get what they want out of other people. I have my qualms with this sort of person.” “‘Tin Man’ is one of the songs that represents a new style of writing for us as a group,” explains guitarist/co-songwriter Ryan Walchoski. “This song went back and forth through Google Drive links, trying to come up with the best iteration of the song that we were all happy with; vocals recorded, scrapped and re-recorded, drums scrapped and re-recorded, the chorus at one point was completely different.” Feeble Little Horse will be touring the US starting in June, with a date in Seattle on Wednesday, July 5th at Barboza. Watch the video for “Tin Man" and read the full post at KEXP.org.Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

ĠENN - "A Reprise (That Girl)" a 2023 single on Liminal Collective On today's Song of the Day, Anglo-Maltese quartet ĠENN team up with guest vocalist John Newton (of fellow four-letters-all-caps duo JOHN) for this stylistically sinister slice of post-punk.  On their Bandcamp page, vocalist Leona Farrugia speaks to the track's themes: “Naturally I’ve always felt like there’s a pressure to compare myself, be that through the lens of present technologies or within the creative industry. It’s something that can be very debilitating, especially to young people in a patriarchal society.” Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

MAN ON MAN - "Showgirls" from the 2023 album Provincetown on Polyvinyl. “As we lean into what Man on Man is and will be, two things immediately come up. Energy and community. ’Showgirls’ is all that.” — Roddy Bottum, Man on Man As co-founder Roddy Bottum puts it, today's Song of the Day embodies the fun-loving duo's ethos. The track is a sneak peek at their sophomore LP Provincetown, out June 16th via Polyvinyl Records and named for the town in Massachusetts where Bottum and his partner/bandmate Joey Holman shared their first home. Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Caroline Polachek - "Fly To You (feat. Grimes and Dido)" from the 2023 album Desire, I Want to Turn Into You on Perpetual Novice. New music from Caroline Polachek is exciting enough, but when it features collaborations with both Grimes and Dido, it's a mind-blower. In an interview with Vulture, Polachek says he wrote part of the song in Grimes' bedroom at 6 AM — "Just the two of us, in this very sweet session," she details. As for Dido, Polachek wrote her a fan letter, asking for her involvement. “Her way of blending a quite natural, almost folk approach to pop singing with a very contemporary electronic production was very influential for me,” Polachek told Vulture. Following a FaceTime call days later (“I screamed and screen-grabbed it,” she admits), she traveled to Dido's home in Los Angeles where the two finished the track together. Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Puerta Negra - Caida al Mal from the 2023 album Playa Sola on SYNTHICIDE. Portland-based Puerta Negra have been an immense amount of buzz for only just releasing their debut EP in 2022. They make 80’s-infused EBM that’s somehow both slick and grimy, making for the perfect edge. Berlin label Detriti dropped their debut Costa Humano and their upcoming follow-up Playa Sola is being released through Brooklyn-based darkwave label/monthly dance party hosts SYNTHICIDE. “Caida al Mal” is the lead single off Playa Sola and opens the four-track EP with swelling synths, hard-hitting electronic beats, and scathing growls from Maria Aguirre and Mark Arciaga. Of the song, the band had this to say: “In every revolution there are winners and there are losers. What is a dystopia for one may be a utopia for another. The lights can blind you but they can also lead the way.” Get a taste of Puerta Negra’s charismatic shows and read the full post at KEXP.org.Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kurs Valüt - Kurs Valüt from the 2021 album Kurs Valüt on No Emb Blanc. Kurs Valüt is an electronic duo formed in 2017 by Eugene Gordeev in Dnipro to popularize the Minimal Wave in Ukraine. “The very appearance of Kurs Valüt is partly caused by the underdevelopment of the dark underground in Ukraine,” the duo explained in an interview with Post-Punk in 2021. “The moment of the absence of the subculture itself, thematic festivals, events for Gothic or Post Punk music fans…this is the result of a long disconnect of Ukraine from cultural processes in Europe and the World.” Our Song of the Day is the title track and opener of their sophomore self-titled record, released in 2021. It’s a throbbing club track that sees Gordeev monotonously reciting Ukrainian lyrics that this writer has yet to decipher but are compelling nonetheless. Of the album Kurs Valüt, the band had this to say on Bandcamp: “The second album, Kurs Valüt is the result of a long work that summarizes difficult stage of life experience inspired by solitude, austerity and extreme mental states. In comparison to the debut album Veselo (2018) it is more melodic and metaphoric. Lyrics can be interpreted differently. Usage of a tube summing mixer during the studio processes adds a warm, non-commercial textured color to the sound of this release.” Get a taste of Kurs Valüt’s live shows with this live recording of “Kurs Valüt” and read the full post at KEXP.org.Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Prospexx - "Punya Siapa" from the 2021 album A Quiet World on Symphony of Distruction. On today's Song of the Day, Singaporean synth-pop duo PROSPEXX take us back to the '80s with their darkwave dance tracks. In an interview with Unite Asia, vocalist Vanessa explains that she and her bandmate Hafiz have always been into synthwave. "Both of us are super into 80s music, and the dystopian-esque vibe from the pandemic just happened to give us that huge push to actually do something about it," she explains of the band's inception. "It really isn’t like anything we do with any of our other bands and projects, plus the lockdowns made it hard for us to get together with any of our other friends anyway. So I guess it was borne out of both a love for the '80s and the absolute necessity to continue creating in a time of bleakness.” While most of the group's songs are song by Vanessa, today's track features guest vocals by Azril, singing in Bahasa, a form of Malay spoken in Malaysia, Singapore, and Brunei.  Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.