Kexp Song Of The Day

Death of the High Street - "Chancer" a 2022 single on Bubblebrain. Post-punk quartet Death Of The High Street return with their second KEXP Song of the Day this year, a sneering slice of razor-sharp alt-rock titled "Chancer." In an interview with Edge of Arcady, the band describe the main character of the track as "a Frank Gallagher meets Del Boy character who’ll sell you a TV just as soon as he’s lifted it from your living room." The accompanying video — written, filmed, and edited by the band themselves — follows Chancer in a day-in-the-life clip. Check it out below.  Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Cliché Cult - "Slippy" a 2022 single on Blaggers. Post-punk band Cliché Cult formed in the height of the pandemic, but the lockdown hasn't hampered their rise. This past August, the Leeds quartet played their first live hometown show. "It's probably my favourite gig that we've played so far," they told Rebel Noise. "The crowd were chanting along to our tunes! The venue was quite small as well so it was a sweaty night." If you can't get enough of their dark, '80s-influenced sound, the group are aiming to release a new single early next year. Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Fever Ray - "Carbon Dioxide" from the 2023 album Radical Romantics on Mute. Swedish artist Fever Ray (aka Karin Dreijer) returns early next year with their third LP Radical Romantics. It's their first full-length in five years, and features production from her brother (and former partner in The Knife) Olof Dreijer. Contributors include Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, Nídia, Aasthma (Johannes Berglund, Peder Mannerfelt, and Pär Grindvik), and Vessel.  Radical Romantics will be released March 10th via Mute. Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tona - Triple Crown (feat. Drezus & Shad) a 2022 single on District Entertainment. Toronto rapper Tona has been churning out a massive amount of high-level, collaborator-heavy music for years now and received the coveted Juno Award for Best Rap Recording in 2015. Recently he dropped GE20, the follow-up to 2021’s Good Energy, which sees Tona hone in on optimistic thoughts during the most pessimistic scenarios and how they can affect your health. “Good Energy does not mean you ignore life's less pleasant situations, just means that you approach unpleasantness in a more positive and productive way,” reads the Bandcamp description for the record. And nothing brings better energy than collaborating with talented friends. Our Song of the Day, “Triple Crown,” features Rwandan-Canadian rapper Shad and Calgary-based indigenous artist Drezus trade the mic to speak on their various perspectives. But, as Tona states in his opening verse, it’s, “For all people.” This is what he had to say about the song: "This record

SoulChef & Uptown Swuite - Bless The Child a 2022 single on SoulSwuite Music. New Zealand-based rapper SoulChef has been churning out soul and jazz-inspired hip-hop for well over a decade now, starting with 2010’s Escapism. He focuses on invoking serenity through his thoughtful lyricism, meticulous productions, and head-bopping beats. He’s also an endeared collaborator. For one of his latest singles, “Bless The Child,” SoulChef teams up with Bay Area-bred rapper and member of the Digital Martyrs collective Uptown Swuite, for a breezy jam steeped in nostalgia. In the song, the rappers forgive their former adolescent selves for their mistakes since it’s not their fault they were products of broken homes. This isn’t the first time the two have worked together. In 2020 the duo dropped the collaborative album SoulSwuite. At the time, Uptown Swuite told HipHopDX this about their relationship: “Soul Chef and I are of Samoan descent. Although I reside in California and Chef lives in New Zealand, New Zealand is li

Danielle Ponder - "Some Of Us Are Brave" from the 2022 album Some Of Us Are Brave on Future Classic. After working as a Public Defender for five years, Rochester-based singer/songwriter Danielle Ponder left to focus on her music full-time. But her life-long pursuit of justice continues through her songs, as you can hear on her debut LP Some of Us Are Brave.  "I read a book in law school, All the Women Are White, All the Blacks Are Men: But Some of Us Are Brave," Ponder explains in a press release. "I first fell in love with the title, I immediately felt seen. The book is essentially one of the first to address intersectionality. Often when we talk about feminism, we forget the issues that uniquely impact Black women and the same when we speak about race. The book is a collection of Black women writers pushing against invisibility, speaking loud and clear and telling our unique story. To me, this song was just a moment to pause and pay homage to Black women. The album is named that because that's where I get m

Arima Ederra - "Steel Wing" from the 2022 album An Orange Colored Day on Arima's Lab. Today's Song of the Day came to singer/songwriter Arima Ederra in a moment of anger. As the firstborn daughter of Ethiopian refugees, the Los Angeles-based artist was rattled by the refugee crisis that forcibly displaced a record 68.5 million people. In a press statement, she reflected: “When the former president put a ban on refugees in 2017, I remember sitting in my room very angry and couldn’t help but think about my family in East Africa. When the news came, a melody followed, kind of in the form of a chant. I recorded a little voice note of it, tucked it away and didn’t really think much of it til later in the year. When we started making the music, it felt like a soundtrack to my rebellious teen years and I felt called to explore the parallels of my youth to my father’s journey as a refugee. The hook is kind of like a conversation between the two of us. 'Steel Wing' pays homage to not only my family, but all refugees,

Carsen Gray - "Cracks" a 2022 single on Nettwerk Music Group. Canadian singer/songwriter Carsen Gray brings the beauty of her homeland of Haida Gwaii, BC to her music.  “It’s very chill, beautiful, laidback, and peaceful,” she says of her home in a press statement. “The people are nice and welcoming. We all support one another and cheer each other on. Because of where I’m from, I feel like I was able to come out with such a warm project. We’re in a safe little place up here. I’m proud of my heritage, where I come from, and the land I live on.” She brings that "chill, beautiful, laidback, and peaceful" vibe to today's Song of the Day, which showcases Gray's soulful voice against an acoustic guitar. Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Martha - Hope Gets Harder from the 2022 album Please Don't Take Me Back on Specialist Subject. British pop-punkers Martha have been spreading messages of anarchy since 2014 when they released their debut album Courting Strong. They’ve dropped three more records since, with the latest being this year’s Please Don’t Take Me Back. The record proves that the band from a small town called Pity Me continue to pity no one, especially the Powers That Be controlling the state of the UK. Our Song of the Day, “Hope Gets Harder,” hones in on this idea, targeting the rich and powerful who are killing hope and optimism at a rapid rate. “Drain the blood from every diamond /On this damp and hateful island,” they cry over a sprititedly brisk riff before closing the song with the pointed claim, “Every day the hope gets harder/ England is a funeral parlor.” In a lengthy statement about the song, the band don’t mince words on what they mean by that: “‘Hope Gets Harder’ is a song about England: a uniquely fucking terrible idea,”

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Multiplayer - Cosmic Quest from the 2022 self-released album Multiplayer. Matt Williams is a Seattle-based, Phoenix-bred, Kansas City-born pianist and vibraphonist who has worked with a seemingly endless amount of names in multiple jazz communities, many of which might only be familiar to niche jazz aficionados but carry a heavy mantle of respectability. His latest project Multiplayer is an improvisational project that feels both modern and nostalgic. Our Song of the Day, “Cosmic Quest,” comes from his recently-released debut self-titled album and very much feels like one searching the galaxy for something more. With a sparse synth-fueled start, the song's unhurried build feels like a floating object just searching for some purpose. Things tighten up quickly, as the target is acquired and, while we may not feel like we’re moving at the speed of light, we’re still boldly going where no man has gone before. Watch Multiplayer's live session at the old Cafe Racer back in 2019 and read the full post at KEXP.org.Su

Yves Tumor - "God Is A Circle," a 2022 single on Warp. Shortly after the end of spooky season, Yves Tumor dropped the chilling single “God Is A Circle” to the delight of the many fans who have been gripped by the Turin-based artist’s enigmatic take on glam rock. The single follows last year’s EP The Asymptotical World and 2020’s full-length Heaven To a Tortured Mind. Produced by Noah Goldstein (Frank Ocean, Arcade Fire), and mixed by Alan Moulder (My Bloody Valentine, Nine Inch Nails), the song is built upon a beat of labored breaths for a moody post-punk-indebted rocker that features squelching guitars, fuzzed-out bass, and desperate shrieks. Swedish electronic artist Ecco2K and Lebanon-born artist Thoom bestow backing vocals as Yves Tumor sings about detachment and strained relationships, “There’s places in my mind that I cannot go / There’s people in my life I still don’t know.” The song is paired perfectly with a campy horror-movie-style video by Jordan Hemmingway which adds to the ominous feel of the son

Kelela - "Happy Ending" a 2022 single on Warp It's been five years since we last heard from L.A.-based artist Kelela. Her 2017 debut LP Take Me Apart was a masterful set of adventurous electro-R&B, and her recent return to music — with the singles “Washed Away” and now, "Happy Ending" — show she hasn't missed a beat during that brief hiatus. Today's Song of the Day features production by LSDXOXO with additional production from Bambii. Drawing inspiration from "the rapture of a club crush" (as a press release states), it's fitting that the accompanying video (co-directed by Alima Lee and Kelela) captures the Black rave scene in NYC. Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Floating Points - "Problems" a 2022 single on Pluto / Ninja Tune Throughout the year, British electronic musician Floating Points (aka Sam Shepherd) has been releasing some excellent stand-alone singles, including today's Song of the Day. Just last week, he announced the songs will be collected and released on limited vinyl for the first time on December 16th.  Today's featured track is accompanied by a video directed and produced by the creative team Hamill Industries, a frequent Floating Points collaborator. In a press statement, they wrote: "'Problems' is meant to agitate every single room that its ecstatic sound waves reach. We wanted to celebrate it with movement and dance and reshape it through sound, by using techniques that allow the sonification of images. We have used lasers that spin and move with the music, making visible their sinuous shapes. It was important that this video shaped the electrical feeling you get when being on a dancefloor, the urge of dancing when sound waves reach your ears." Re

Empress Of - "Dance For You" from the 2022 Save Me EP on Major Arcana Brooklyn-based artist Empress Of (the electro-pop recording project of Lorely Rodriguez) released her five-song EP Save Me over the summer, which features the stand-out (and suitably-titled) track "Dance For You." “I love the lyrics on this song,” Rodriguez said in a press statement. “I made this in Minneapolis with BJ Burton. It was freezing outside. I was in a cave-like studio in the snow literally dancing as I wrote this. ‘Surrender to me like this’ is a touching lyric for me because I’m not hurt over this person anymore. I’ve come out the other side.” Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jason McCue - "Kingdom" from the 2022 album Screen, Turn On on Fluff & Gravy. KEXP has long been supporters and fans of local artist Jason McCue. First bursting on the scene as the 2017 winner of Sound Off!, which sees artists under 21 showcase their talent for a shot at the coveted prize. Since then, he’s gone on to release three records, 2018’s Pangaea, Wasteland in 2019, and, most recently, Screen, Turn On. Recorded during the pandemic, the record sees McCue grapple with his reliance on technology as the world became a more insular place. Our Song of the Day, “Kingdom,” hones in on other vices that often sneak up and then terrorize those in vulnerable headspaces. In the song, our narrator experiences a heavy night of drinking, leaving them lost and bloody, with their lover pleading with them to stay the night before doing anything else wreckless. In a tone that sounds as if Elliot Smith was reincarnated, McCue quavers “But my baby said to me /Don’t you go home /Stay here with me /I know you’ve been dri

Glüme - "Do Me a Favor," a 2022 single on Italians Do It Better. Describing Glüme could be easy - a wide-eyed chanteuse who channels equal parts Marilyn Monroe and Lana del Rey - but it would be reductive. Especially considering her status as one of the newest additions to the Italians Do It Better roster, who are known for their icey cool-as-hell synth-filled soundscapes. How does the pouty, Monroe-reincarnated pop princess fit in with the leather-clad cool kids? The answer is something along the lines of: the girl’s got chops. On our Song of the Day, “Do Me a Favor,” the latest single from Glüme, is an upbeat ode to the insecurities that often plague one’s mind from being burned too many times. How can you recognize if something is real after so many heartbreaks? Sometimes the answer is sometimes just in the other person making the bold moves. “Do me a favor and take me,” she begs. The single is off her forthcoming sophomore record Main Character, out on Valentine’s Day 2023 and follows 2021’s lauded The In