Kexp Song Of The Day

mui zyu - "Demon 01" from the 2023 album Rotten Bun for an Eggless Century on Father/Daughter Records With her solo project mui zyu, London-based musician Eva Liu (also of Dama Scout) sought to capture the sounds she heard growing up at her family's Chinese restaurant. As she explains to Talkhouse:  My debut record, Rotten Bun for an Eggless Century, is about self-exploration and identity, at times told through a lens inspired by fantasy video-games and Chinese folklore. In the process of pulling together the themes for this collection of songs, I reflected on my own childhood and began to uncover sounds from my memory... Since we worked on this record, I feel even more tuned in to sounds around me all the time. For the most part, this has been a wonderful shift in my consciousness. Abrasive sounds that used to cause me stress are now intriguing — I’ll think about how they are made, what is causing the friction, how the air is moving, and I might even try to find rhythms in the chaos. I have welcomed this new

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 omnystudi

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

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

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

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 s

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

RATPAJAMA - "Violence" from the 2023 album The Drunken Lost Tapes on Deepland Records With the release of her latest EP The Drunken Lost Tapes, Ratpajama — the solo darkwave project of Kyara Jereissati (aka Kyro Coma) — seeks to embrace imperfection. (Although today's Song of the Day is a goth-tinged piece of perfection to these ears, with a driving industrial beat that will take you to the Batcave, punctuated by Coma's solemn, beautifully detached vocals.) "Because of my unhealthy perfectionism I couldn't, for a long time, find them good enough to release," she shares on her Bandcamp page. "However, I realized what I had forgotten about what was most important to me in this project: having fun. Now, after a long time, I finally looked at these tracks with a different perspective and I feel extremely fulfilled for being able to share them with you guys." Read the full story at KEXP.orgSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Zanias - "Burial" from the 2023 album Chrysalis on Fleisch Records. Chrysalis, the third album from Zanias (aka Alison Lewis), finds the ethereal darkwave artist undergoing a metamorphosis. The songs on this release were written and recorded between her current home of Berlin and her original home of Australia during a period of self-protection, as Lewis processed feelings of burnout, trauma, and, on today's Song of the Day, grief.  "That one is about burying someone you love," she revealed to Loverboy Magazine. "The period right after, when you have to build a new world without that person in it. I had flown back to Australia to be there when someone I loved died and people were angry at me for cancelling tour dates, even though I had told them a family member was ill. I wanted privacy but because of that they were questioning if I was lying. I couldn’t believe the insensitivity, and it was just really hard to feel like I had disappointed everyone over something that was already so heartbreaking and scary. S

Of The Heavy Sun - Cosmic Television a 2023 self-released single. Of The Heavy Sun are a psych rock trio from Seattle that has been churning out brooding psychedelic opuses since 2015, with the release of their debut self-titled full-length. They’re due to release their latest record Cosmic Television on June 2nd, after two years of production and “constant setbacks,” according to the band. Our Song of the Day is the album’s title track, a forceful nearly five-and-a-half-minute song that exemplifies the best of what the band has to offer: fiery guitars, humming basslines, and soaring vocals. The anxieties of modern life with the thesis being “Everyone is blinded by watching TV.” Frontman Samuel Emerick proclaims, “Finally awake /I can’t escape /Isearch these desert plains /It’s been two weeks since I was high and I can’t find a place to lay my head.” “Cosmic Television” was produced by Jesse Field mixed by Matt Bayles and mastered by Adam Cichoki. Of The Heavy Sun is playing the Sunset Tavern on Saturday, Jun

Acid Arab & Wael Alkak - Ya Mahla from the 2023 album ٣ (Trois) on Crammed Discs. French-Algerian collective Acid Arab recently released their appropriately titled third record ٣ (Trois) (٣ is the symbol for the figure three in Arabic and “trois” means "three" in French) in February via Crammed Discs. The collective, composed of Guido Minisky, Hervé Carvalho, Pierrot Casanova, Nicolas Borne and Kenzi Bourras, is known for their fusion of electronic and North African and Middle Eastern sounds and their latest record sees them bring in a bevy of guest vocalists from North Africa, Syria, and Turkey to add depth to their already-addictive club sounds. Our Song of the Day, “Ya Mahla,” features Syrian singer Wael Alkak, an accomplished musician and founder of the Neshama Popular Arts Association who has spent the past decade making a name for himself as an artist speaking out about the revolution while merging synthesizers and machines with bouzouk, traditional chaâbi rhythms, and popular songs from the Levant.

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:

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

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