In Our Headphones

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.

Chyle - DAY (feat. B SELF) from the 2023 album Majestic Constellations on Cosmic Aliens Entertainment On his latest LP, Majestic Constellations, Chyle MC (pronounced Child Emcee) invites listeners on a voyage influenced by classic Parliament-Funkadelic, who he cites as his "muse." Though based in Atlanta, Georgia, Chyle MC has ties to Seattle, working with longtime friend and producer Vitamin D, and on today's Song of the Day, bringing in Vitamin's Ghetto Children bandmate B-Self for guest vocals. The track serves as a pep talk to anyone just trying to get through the day, reviving you with its upbeat energy.  Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Pure Akan - "Yete Apor (feat. Efya)" a 2023 single on A-Level Music. Ghanaian highlife/hip-hop artist Pure Akan stays true to his roots by rapping in Twi, a dialect of the Akan language. "It created a connection between me and my people, the Akan people and also our culture," he told Pan African Music. "My fans relate better. They understand me now." His new single sees him pairing up with another Ghana-based songwriter, neo-soul artist Efya, whose voice elevates the beauty of 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.

Alsarah - "Farasha فراشة (feat. Sufyvn & Flippter)" a 2023 single on Alsarah Productions On today's Song of the Day, Sudanese songstress Alsarah celebrates femininity. The song title "Farasha" translates to "butterfly" in Arabic, and in a press statement, she says the track honors the "spirit of resistance, resiliency, and perseverance" of Sudanese women. The featured song was co-produced with Sufyvn and features guest rapper, Flippter. In the background, you'll hear field recordings Alsarah gathered in the Nuba Mountains and the Blue Nile in Sudan. The accompanying music video — directed by award-winning Sudanese multidisciplinary artist, Mai Elgizouli — is designed to "shine a light on neglected issues facing women in Sudan, which have ranged from societal pressure over beauty standards to women’s roles in the revolution.” Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Acid Tongue - Consumerism a 2023 self-released single. It’s been two years since Seattle garage rockers Acid Tongue released their third full-length Arboretum, which came about as frontman Guy Keltner came to terms with drug and alcohol abuse, as well as his struggles with his bipolar diagnosis, during the pandemic. Keltner and co-frontman Ian Cunningham detailed the making of the record as well as their personal experiences on Sound & Vision in 2021. Our Song of the Day is the latest release we’ve gotten from Acid Tongue since then, the anti-capitalist/nihilist anthem “Consumerism.” Over the thrumming guitar rhythm, the message relayed by Keltner is clear. No matter how or what you consume, we’re all consumers. Be it eating too much, drinking excessively, consuming cheap drugs, or “digital love” (I think we all know what means), they’re all easy forms of escape through consumption. “Every day I consume more,” softly cries Keltner. “Can you tell me what it’s all been for?/ Cheap drugs and digital love/ I never know when enough’s enough.” Below, watch the video for “Consumerism,” directed & edited by James Kimberling, and read the full post at KEXP.org.Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Daníel Hjálmtýsson - No Reception (feat. Aðalbjörn Tryggvason) from the 2022 self-released album Labyrinthia. While Daníel Hjálmtýsson’s recorded work only dates back to 2020, he’s made quite a splash in the past few years, perking the ears of his fellow Icelanders as well as a particular Seattleite - Kevin Cole. He recently caught their performance at Tremor Festival which is set at secret locations around São Miguel island in the Azores and has been said by some to be the “world’s weirdest music festival.” So stunned by their performance, he had to share their music with the world. In November, Daníel Hjálmtýsson, which also includes Hálfdán Árnason and Skúli Gíslason, released their debut full-length Labyrinthia. The album leans into Nick Cave-esque gothic rock that Mark Lanegan, also a clear inspiration, cited as, “Neo-goth music that brings to mind the forbidding landscapes of his native Iceland. One can imagine him on a stage in a church-turned-dungeon somewhere in the Reykjavik underbelly.” I don’t think I could possibly describe it better than Lanegan so I’ll let him do the talking. Our Song of the Day is the lead single off Labyrinthia, “No Reception,” which features guest vocals from fellow Icelandic rocker, Aðalbjörn Tryggvason, of the long-running post-metal band Sólstafir. It’s a slow-churner about the anxieties of loneliness and unhealthy coping mechanisms. Also, perhaps because I’ve recently binged the new Interview with a Vampire series, the words, “I’ll never see another /I’ll never see another /Day” seem like a song Louis might write. A melancholy ode to the plight of eternal darkness. The official video for “No Reception” debuts today, alongside our Song of the Day, and was directed, edited, and produced by Jónatan Leó. Watch it and read the full post at KEXP.org.Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tramhaus - "Make It Happen," a 2022 single on Subroutine Records. Post-punk quintet Tramhaus provide a sneering statement on their hometown of Rotterdam, Netherlands on today's Song of the Day.  The phrase "make it happen" serves as the city's official slogan — "a phrase which coincidentally functions as the absurd and out-of-touch city-slogan of Rotterdam," they state on Facebook. The accompanying music video was filmed in the Wielewaal neighborhood, and the residents who are set to be evicted. “Drawing further on what we believe is a misleading Rotterdam city slogan  – 'make it happen' – we came up with the idea to make a video with the Wielewalers,” the band commented to Beats Per Minute. “With the video, we hope to show their struggle to a wider audience.” Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.