A Deeper Listen

Unity Arena, a socially-distanced outdoor concert space with a 2,500-person capacity, has opened up in northern England. (Here’s what it looks like.) It’s hosted four massive shows so far with over 20 more planned or in the works. Steve Davis, Director and Promoter at SSD Concerts, which is operating Unity Arena, talks about what the arena looks like and how it functions while keeping...

Indoor theaters and music venues opened back up in England on August 15th with social distance rules in place. Founder of Music Venues Trust, Mark Davyd, talks about what these reopenings will look like.  “Venues are operating at roughly 30% capacity. Everybody has to be seated. Drinks are only brought to the table. There are massive additional costs in meeting the health and safety dem...

Anacortes, WA native, Phil Elverum talks about how he tried to break nostalgia by creating a one-track, 45-minute album under his old stage name, The Microphones.   "I wanted to get at what The Microphones was,” Elverum says.   Elverum also talks about maintaining his DIY and indie approach to music-making and defying the streaming era model of money-making by releasing such a long...

Seattle electronic duo, ODESZA has teamed up with Australian EDM artist, Golden Features on a project called BRONSON. ODESZA talks about BRONSON’s new album, creating songs on opposite sides of the globe, and how COVID has impacted them as artists and the music industry as a whole. Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/sound/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Irish band, Fontaines D.C. just released a new album, 'A Hero’s Death.' Frontman Grian Chatten shares the stories behind the title of the album and the final track, “No," and explains how the sea inspires his music. KEXP is a listener-funded nonprofit, and today we’re asking for your help to keep creating podcasts like this one. Donate now  to help reach our Summer Fundr...

Taylor Swift has now achieved her seventh No. 1 Album on the Billboard 200 chart for her latest record, ‘folklore.' At the end of April, Swift reached out to Aaron Dessner of the National to make an album. Three months later, ‘folklore' was released. The album is being dubbed Taylor Swift’s first indie-folk record, and has now been placed into heavy rotation at KEXP.  K...

Carla Sariñana is a Mexico-based musician. Her solo project is called Silver Rose, she plays bass in Ruido Rosa and is also label manager at Devil in the Woods. She says she wasn’t surprised when she heard that California’s Burger Records folded after members of more than a dozen bands on the label were accused of predatory behavior, sexual misconduct and assault, especially tow...

Total F*cking Godhead: The Biography of Chris Cornell is out today. Author Corbin Reiff discusses the stories behind the music of the vocalist of Soundgarden, Audioslave, and Temple of the Dog.   “Jeff Ament [of Pearl Jam] has once said that [Chris Cornell] is the best songwriter to come out of Seattle since Jimi Hendrix and that’s probably what I would go with his legacy as,&rdqu...

The book, “ Got to Be Something Here: The Rise of the Minneapolis Sound ” by Andrea Swensson explores Minneapolis’ segregated music scenes and the systemic racism historically at play in the city.  Swensson speaks with KEXP DJ Kevin Cole about the overlooked bands and artists who shaped the city’s sound, the Highway Act that split largely-Black neighborhoods in Mi...

A legal battle over the name "Lady A" has brought up questions around white privilege and racism in the music industry. Amid global protests against police brutality and systemic racism, the country group Lady Antebellum said they would change their name to Lady A. That’s because the word Antebellum, which in Latin translates to “before the war,’ is associated with the US Civil W...

Billboard  announced  this week that artists can no longer bundle album sales. Bundling is where an artist adds on, or “bundles” an album to a sale of a concert ticket or merch. For example, a fan would buy a ticket to a concert or an artist T-shirt and the artist adds in an album to that purchase. The idea was to game the billboard chart and count that sale of a ticket or sw...

Seattle hip hop artist Draze released a single called " Building Black Wealth ." The message was simple—build Black wealth by buying from Black-owned businesses. Draze discusses the single and its message. To understand the landscape of being a Black business owner in Seattle, Arif Gursel of the workspace,  The Union , as well as Frank Ulwenya, the owner of Rumba Notes Lounge ,&nbs...

In light of the news that Kanye West said he would run for president, we talk with another musician who went into politics. It’s Martha Reeves of Motown’s Martha Reeves and the Vandellas who had the hits, “Heat Wave” and “Dancing in the Streets”. She talks about her time as a Detroit City Councilwoman as well as Motown’s sound and how it united people when...

Independent music venues say they need help from the government or else they’ll have to close their doors completely. Guest Steven Severin is the co-owner of Neumos in Seattle, and is part of the Washington Nightlife Music Association (WANMA) and the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA). He discusses the state of independent music venues right now and how they are asking folks to ge...

Aisha Fukushima calls herself a RAPtivist. She says the mission of  RAPtivism  is to “challenge oppression with expression all around the globe.” About 10 years ago, Fukushima traveled to seven different countries as part of a fellowship program and recorded with musicians along the way. The final product ended up becoming her debut album, RAPtivism. Her latest single is...

Khruangbin’s unique brand of psychedelic funk draws influences from their hometown of Houston, Texas, as well as from around the globe, starting with their appreciation of Thai funk tapes from the 60s. This has helped the band gain popularity with audiences across cultures who can all find elements in their music to relate to.  Drummer Donald “DJ” Johnson and bassist Laura L...

Jackie Shane, a Black transgender soul singer, gained prominence in the 1960s with her captivating stage presence and voice. Then, in 1971, she quit her career and faded from the public eye and into a reclusive life at home. New York Times writer Reggie Ugwu  was able to track her down in 2017 and spoke to her on the phone from her home in Nashville. She passed away last year at the age of 78...

Australia’s Gordi is out with a new album, ‘Our Two Skins.' It addresses her queer identity, something she didn't come to terms with until recently. Gordi was supposed to tour the album on a bill with Of Monsters and Men but the tour was cancelled due to COVID-19. Having just wrapped up her medical degree in January, Gordi says she’s on call to put her medical degree to work if C...

Dua Saleh is a non-binary multidisciplinary artist from Minneapolis who released a single this month, “body cast,” in response to the murders of Black people at the hands of police. From their experience fleeing war and genocide in Sudan to the realities of institutional violence in the United States, Saleh expresses that there isn’t a place of safety for Black people. Saleh also...

CHOP, or the Capitol Hill Occupied or Organized Protest, formerly known as CHAZ, has been in the headlines lately. On June 8th, Seattle Police officers boarded up the East Precinct on Capitol Hill after more than a week of sustained protests by residents following the killing of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis. Since then, a police-free community has spread out to Seattle’s Cal Anderso...

I Self Devine is a musician and community organizer from Minneapolis. In 2018 he released a collaborative album called 'Dismembered & Unarmed,’ meant to accompany the book, ‘My Grandmother’s Hands,’ by therapist and trauma specialist Resmaa Menakem. The book and music explore how white supremacy and racism affect Black bodies. “He would tell me things like race ve...

Most people in Seattle know Nikkita Oliver from her historic mayoral run in 2017. She lost the primary election by less than 2,000 votes. But Oliver is also a musician, a poet, an attorney, and the co-director of an incredible organization called Creative Justice, which works with youth most affected by the school-to-prison pipeline. She’s also been an active organizer in Seat...

Toki Wright is a musician, MC, producer, writer, radio DJ and community organizer from Minneapolis. He recently moved to Boston and is now chair of Berklee’s Professional Music Department. He’s been making music that addresses systemic racism, oppression and police violence for years. “I don’t sit around all day thinking about race,” Wright says. “I have a lot o...

The Grammy Awards, as well as Republic Records, have announced they will no longer use the term “urban” in their award categories and music departments. Writer Jeremy Helligar discusses this welcome shift in language as a first step. He wrote a column in Variety titled, Down with Urban: It’s Time to Stop Categorizing Music by Race . “How does ‘urban' equal Black?&rdqu...

Today’s podcast is co-hosted by musician, community organizer and KEXP DJ, Gabriel Teodros. It celebrates the music of Black artists, some of whom are on the frontlines of the protests against police brutality, calling for long overdue systemic change.  We hear from Minneapolis musician, Nikki Jean, who’s been volunteering as a medic during the Minneapolis protests. She recou...