In Our Headphones

TV Star - In-Between from the 2023 album Hallucinate Me on Painter Man. Seattle’s TV Star make desert-tinged neo-psych with nods to The Brian Jonestown Massacre and the Jesus and Mary Chain. Formed in 2020, the five-piece features members of Shine, Regional Justice Center, and Advertisement and unveiled their debut EP in February, Hallucinate Me. Our Song of the Day is the rambling “In-Between,” the dreamy guitar-led early single off the record. Ashlyn Nagel’s crystalline vocals cry out with catharsis, “I’m comin clean/ I’m livin free/ The in-between,” about ditching what’s expected in order to become one’s authentic self. She had this to say about the song: “‘In-Between’ is about breaking out of a funk, letting go of the pressure, and living the way you want to. It’s about caring less what others think and making self-fulfilling decisions.” The song comes with a lo-fi fisheye shot video of the band on the road, being themselves. Watch the Nate Kahn-directed video and read the full post at KEXP.org.Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

DEBBY FRIDAY - "SO HARD TO TELL" from the 2023 album GOOD LUCK on Sub Pop Nigerian-born, Toronto-based artist DEBBY FRIDAY needed some convincing before designating today's Song of the Day as the lead single from her debut album, GOOD LUCK, released just last week via Sub Pop Records.  "Every single person that I would play the album to was like, 'This song, this song, this song, this song — this one has to be the first single!'" she told Exclaim!. It's a surprisingly softer side than we saw on DEBBY's 2019 EP DEATH DRIVE, with a graceful co-production from Graham Walsh (METZ, Holy Fuck).  “I have a lower register and speak with vocal fry so I don’t know what came over me when I made this track,” she stated in a press release. “I have never in my life sung like this before and I had no idea I could even make these kinds of sounds with my voice. There’s no pitch effects on ‘SO HARD TO TELL,’ it’s all me.” Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Model/Actriz - Crossing Guard from the 2023 album Dogsbody on True Panther Brooklyn-based band Model/Actriz taps into Greek mythology on today's Song of the Day. The titular "Crossing Guard" is the figure Charon, the ferryman of the dead who transported the ghosts of the dead across the rivers Styx. As the post-punk band explained to Paper Mag, the accompanying music video, directed by Nathan Castiel, captures vocalist/lyricist Cole Haden conveying "the body's fragility and gradual degradation through slow, deliberate movement," via choreography by Alena Henke.  The band also cites the track as the "initial creative revelations that guided and buoyed [them] to completing" their debut LP, Dogsbody, released last month via True Panther.  Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Caution - "To Decide" a 2022 single on Hardly Art. Last year, local label Hardly Art Records celebrated its 15th anniversary by releasing 15 new singles from some of their favorite artists. They closed out the series back in December with this release from the duo Caution.  Songwriters Cash Langdon and Nora Button formed the pairing in 2019, after departing the DC-based power-pop group Saturday Night. With Langdon relocating to Alabama and Button in Minnesota, they collaborated by sending files back and forth online. For today's Song of the Day, Langdon shares, "The initial demo of ‘To Decide’ was created January 1st of 2022. The cold darkness of Minneapolis winter had pervaded my mood. The lyrics confront an inability to experience meaning and connection as well as a wavering between fear and acceptance of ephemerality."  Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kassa Overall - John Coltrane (Clifford Jordan Quartet) (feat. Tomoki Sanders & Vitamin D) from the 2023 self-released album Shades 3. The ever-talented jazz musician, emcee, singer, producer and drummer Kassa Overall dropped the latest addition to his Shades mixtape series, Shades 3, in February as a sample-heavy remix project that fuses jazz with modern danceable drum machine rhythms in a gonzo approach to the jazz tradition. The Seattle-raised, Brooklyn-based artist has been blowing minds to a wide audience of fervent fans since the release of his acclaimed sophomore record I Think I’m Good in 2020 and this project does not disappoint. Our Song of the Day reimagines the Clifford Jordan Quartet’s 1974 track “John Coltrane” with the help of New York-based multi-instrumentalist Tomoki Sanders on Tenor Sax and Derrick Jabar Brown, better known as Vitamin D, on vocals. “Welcome to the Upside Down” introduces the song before going into a profession for the love of jerk chicken. Over a warbling brass line, manipulated vocals cry out “Black spirit” while Vitamin D spits a verse about Black power and the incredible endurance and accomplishments of Black folks despite the many obstacles thrown at them. Below, watch Kassa Overall’s KEXP in-studio performance from 2020 and read the full post at KEXP.org.Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mic Flont & Khingz - Gucci (feat. Larisa Marie, AbJo) from the 2023 album Premium Smoke on OTOW. Earlier this year, Seattle emcees Mic Flont and Khingz teamed up to drop the collaborative LP Premium Smoke via Operation Take Over the World (OTOW), a Seattle-based independent record label and multimedia collective. Our Song of the Day sees local musicians ABJO and Larisa Marie jump to provide production and vocals, respectively. It’s a downtempo slow-burner about feeling “Gucci/ Feelin good” and perfect to bump either when you're in the throes of elation or if you need a little boost to get there. Read the full post at KEXP.org.Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

rum.gold - "Water My Heart (feat. Mereba)" from the 2023 album U Street Anthology on Leola LLC. Brooklyn-based artist rum.gold has been on a creative run since his 2018 debut EP yaRN. He followed with 2019's EP aiMless and the 2021 LP Thicker Than Water, a soulful, confessional full-length that was an introspective examination of upbringing, experience, and identity.  His sophomore full-length, U Street Anthology, is right around the corner, but in the meantime, he's shared the slow-groove "Water My Heart." The track teams him up with Los Angeles-based artist Mereba for a delicate, romantic duet. Hear him turn the tides on today's Song of the Day, and catch him on May 4th at Madame Lou's with Seattle's own dsrt flwr opening. Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jackie Venson - "Flying #evolution" from the 2023 self-released album Evolution of Joy. When Jackie Venson named her latest LP Evolution of Joy, she meant it in more ways than one. Not only is this a re-working of her 2019 album Joy, but it's also reflective of the evolution she's seen in the music industry since the pandemic struck.  “I released more music than I ever have before,” she told Austin Woman. “But that also led to more people discovering me that never had before. Then at the end of that year, I actually landed my first Austin City Limits TV taping, and it was because of all of the buzz that I had garnered. I shifted my whole career to the internet, made more music than I ever have in my life and also got more exposure than I ever have in my life. No label helps me get that exposure; all I did for that exposure was frequency.” With Evolution of Joy, she continues, "everything is beefier. Everything’s bigger. Everything is more consistent. Everything is better put together, more organized, and the skills are better. The techniques are all there presented. I’m excited about having Evolution of Joy as a foundation for who I am now [and] releasing more projects under that foundation.” Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Taylar Elizza Beth & WD4D - "THE BEAST / DAY 117" from the 2023 self-released album UNDERCOVER LOVERGIRL. On her new album UNDERCOVER LOVERGIRL, Seattle-based rapper Taylar Elizza Beth [aka Taylar White] reunites with producer and DJ WD4D (Blue Scholars, Abyssinian Creole, Common Market). The pair previously worked together on last year's EP, NINETY THREE.  “I want to have more say in what my sound sounds like — and so meeting up with WD4D and figuring out that we have a really great artistic chemistry, it was really serendipitous,” she told the South Seattle Emerald. And on this release, White gets her first producing credit.  On her Bandcamp, she writes that UNDERCOVER LOVERGIRL “is for anyone who has an abundance of love to give, but hasn't always felt safe giving it. It's for people who have had to grow hardened, to protect themselves, to survive. It's for the romantics, the dreamers, the people who even after all the bullshit still know that love is real — because they are full of it.” Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Lalalar - Yalniz Olu Baliklar Akintiyi Takip Eder from the 2022 album Bi Cinnete Bakar on Bongo Joe Switzerland. Lalalar are currently Turkey’s buzziest band and for good reason. The trio’s fusion of 70’s Anatolian rock and 80’s dark wave with a punk attitude make for an intoxicatingly fierce and innovative sound. While the band has only been around since 2018, Ali Güçlü Şimşek, Barlas Tan Özemek and Kaan Düzarat are established members of the Istanbul music scene so it was an almost-inevitable meeting of minds and an exciting one for those familiar with their prior work. Last year they released their debut album Bi Cinnete Bakar, a 70-minute epic journey of head-bopping soundscapes. Our Song of the Day “Yalniz Olu Baliklar Akintiyi Takip Eder” was originally released in 2019 on the split 7” Isyanlar. One of the most psych-infused tracks on the record, the band amps the fuzz up to 11 with an explosive meandering guitar line that cools to let Şimşek recite his spoken word lyrics only to burst again when he steps off the mic. It’s a dynamic thrill ride that’s only a small portion of what Lalalar excels at. To get a taste of Lalalar’s riveting live shows, watch a performance of Bi Cinette Bakar opening track "Isyanlar" and read the full post at KEXP.org.Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.