Song of the Day

Courting - "Tennis" a 2022 single on Play It Again Sam. UK band Courting set the course with their 2020 single "Football" and the title track off last year's EP, Grand National. Now they return with another sporting track, the playful post-punk ode "Tennis," featuring frontman Sean Murphy-O’Neill talk-singing over a Krautrock beat. “‘Tennis’ is a paypig’s personal redemption narrative, set in “the city”, and told in two parts,” the band in a press release. “A twisted tale of two lovers’ back and forth, bound by cricket, bodybuilding, and money. A story as old as time.” “We named the song 'Tennis' as a logical (but unrelated) sequel to our two previously released sports-related songs. To us, this felt like a natural ending to that idea. Dynamically, the second part of the song is supposed to represent a shift in tone for the character in which they realise their own worth and leave the situation that is set within the first part of the song.” Read the full story at KEXP.org Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hello Mary - "Looking Right Into the Sun" from the 2022 album Looking Right Into the Sun on Frenchkiss Records Brooklyn trio Hello Marycontinue their ascent with a recent signing toFrenchkiss Records. They followed the announcement with a melodically gritty newsingle, today's Song of the Day, which they say touches on the "general themes of feeling stuck and restricted by circumstances out of one’s control." "For us specifically it relates to us having to practice as a band during COVID, not being able to play shows, and being stuck in the thick of writing songs out of a need to cope," they shared in a press release."The main repeating line of the song ‘Looking Right Into the Sun,’ plays with the idea of confronting something with such duality—the sun is beautiful and mesmerizing yet looking directly at it will blind you—kind of like confronting a hard truth and turning it into a sick song." Read the full story at KEXP.org Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donate See omnys...

Jasmyn - "Crystal Ball" from the 2022 album In the Wild on ANTI- Having unraveled herself from the band Weaves,Toronto singer/songwriterJasmyn Burke was ready to slow down. She moved from the city to the quiet ofHamilton, soaking in the outdoors and the serenity ofLake Ontario. Inspired by her surroundings, she decided to embark on a solo career under the nameJasmyn. She speaks to the experience in today's Song of the Day. "“I was writing about being afraid of moving into the future but also getting excited by it," she said in a press release. "I knew that I had to change my life and follow my heart in order to evolve and be happy. I think I leaned on nature to do that. Staring at the sun go down, watching birds just float. Nature seems to move without regret or worry. I wanted to write about leaning on my intuition and charging forward into the future with what felt right. I was hit with fresh love and fresh air and a new beginning -- it was exciting. I think this song is about th...

Xenia Rubinos & El Individuo - "Madrugada" a 2022 single on ANTI-. Last year's album, Una Rosa, was so fantastic, artist Xenia Rubinos is revisiting it with reimagined versions of those tracks. Last year's single "What Is This Voice?” has been reworked into today's Song of the Day, "Madrugada," adding guest vocalist, Cuban rapper El Individuo. She told Stereogum: El Individuo had just arrived to NYC from Habana for the first time and came straight into this session without us ever having met and just blew us all away. It feels like the thaw of Spring, like the last frost leaving, like the first flower buds starting to poke through. In the lyrics he talks about dawn and the mysterious vale of those hours right before the morning light hits. I added in a Rhodes line in post production at the end of the track that kind of reminded me of the melody that clocks play, “Westminster Quarters” and the main riff from Mt. Airy Groove by Pieces of a Dream. Creating this rework in a whirlwind...

Alec Shaw - "Spinning" from the 2022 self-released album Quantity. Seattle-based singer/songwriter Alec Shaw splashed onto the local scene in 2016 with the record Car Town, landing him a gig at famed venue Neumos and perking ears of those in the know as an artist to watch. Since then, Shaw’s subsequent records 2017'sUh Oh and the Oh Wells and 2019's Thinking Place led to KEXP’s own Marco Collins dubbing him one of the “Top 3 PNW artists he would sign immediately.” Earlier this year, Shaw dropped his fourth record Quantity, recorded during the pandemic and produced by Andy Park (Death Cab For Cutie, Noah Gunderson, Macklemore). The six songs represent that moment in 2020 when life was slowed down and thus more time and effort could be spent in creating fully-realized projects. “I didn't leave any song on that I was unsure of,” Shaw says of the album. “And because of this I'm thinking of naming the project Quantity as a testament to the thing I had to let go of during this tryi...

Banditos - "Here Tonight" from the 2022 album Right On on Egghunt Records. Birmingham-born, now Nashville-based six-piece Banditos initially started over a decade ago as a searing honky tonk band that bled only the most American of sounds integrating pedal steel, bango, upright bass, and even kazoo for a delightfully scrappy sound. With nearly seven years since their self-titled sophomore record and 2022’s Right On, the country rock band has refined their sound for something decidedly adult and yet no less energetic. Our Song of the Day, “Here Tonight,” is an excellent representation of this new era for Banditos, with Mary Beth Richardson taking on the role of lead singer which was a good call because the girl has got pipes! Stephen Pierce, initially the band’s banjo player, has also stepped in for bassist duty and the complex strutting rhythmic structure of “Here Tonight” proves that was yet another good call. Striking the line between sad and hopeful, the song follows a coup...

Kevin Morby - "A Random Act of Kindness," from the 2022 album This is a Photograph on Dead Oceans With today's Song of the Day, Kevin Morby aims to explore the duality of language on this impassioned piece of Americana. He explains in a press release: In ‘A Random Act Of Kindness’ I set out to write a song where each line could be interpreted in two completely different ways. For example; when I sing the words ’out of trust…’ it could be heard as either I have lost my sense of trust in something or that I am committing an act with trust as my motive. It’s a song about the menacing nature of the sun rising during a dark time in one’s life only to further illuminate their pain and suffering – and how during these periods it is often the selfless acts of strangers that keeps a person going. Sonically I am so proud and surprised by where we ended up with this one. Producer Sam Cohen and I had set out to make a sort of windows-down-mid-tempo-cruiser and somehow, with weeks of exp...

Wild Pink - "Q. Degraw," a 2022 single on Royal Mountain. Wild Pink– a New York-based group led byJohn Ross– reflect on the experience of burnout in today's Song of the Day. He's joined by guest vocalistCatherine Vianale of Winded on this six-minute long, heavy, expansive — yet ultimately uplifting — track. “This song is about my experiences with some health problems and how an extremely stressful situation can sharpen your focus on what’s important in life," he shared in a press release. "It’s also about how that stress can sometimes cause you to dissociate from yourself.” Read the full story at KEXP.org Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Panda Riot - "Extra Cosmic" from the 2022 self-released album Extra Cosmic. Not only do Chicago quartet Panda Riot tap into My Bloody Valentine's Loveless by sharing the same hot pink color on the album artwork to their fourth LP, Extra Cosmic, they also capture that dreamy shoegaze sound with their soaring, swooning guitars. (I'm also detecting a nod to the Cocteau Twins' Heaven or Las Vegas with the purple/pink theme.) Frontwoman Rebecca Scott's girlish voice is way higher in the mix than MBV though, which is a very good thing! Today's Song of the Day is a dream-pop delight with Beach House synth vibes layered throughout. Read the full story at KEXP.org Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Khingz - "Fort Cash Money" from the 2022 album Over The World on OTOW/ freshcutflowers. Khingz has long been an influential force in the Seattle hip hop scene, with the crowning achievement of Best MC of the Year in 2009 according to Seattle Weekly for his groundbreaking record From Slaveships to Spaceships. A powerful collaborator, Khingz has worked with Geologic of Blue Scholars, Macklemore, and KEXP’s own Gabriel Teodros in the hip-hop supergroup Good Medicine, with B-Flat and Crispy of Godspeed as the trio Hi-Life Soundsystem, and, once again, with Teodros as well as rapper Nam under the project The Livin Yard. His latest single and our Song of the Day reiterates Khingz’ affinity for collaboration. Over a twinkling piano line and vibrant high hats, Khingz waxes poetic about his desire to bring up the people around him and the power and importance of doing so in “Fort Cash Money.” “Please God make me useful for those I love,” Khingz pleads. “I just wanna be the plug /I jus...