In Our Headphones

Pure Akan - "Yete Apor (feat. Efya)" a 2023 single on A-Level Music. Ghanaian highlife/hip-hop artist  Pure Akan stays true to his roots by rapping in Twi, a dialect of the Akan language. "It created a connection between me and my people, the Akan people and also our culture," he told Pan African Music . "My fans relate better. They understand me now." His new single sees him pairing up with anoth...

Alsarah - "Farasha فراشة (feat. Sufyvn & Flippter)" a 2023 single on Alsarah Productions On today's Song of the Day, Sudanese songstress Alsarah celebrates femininity. The song title "Farasha" translates to "butterfly" in Arabic, and in a press statement, she says the track honors the "spirit of resistance, resiliency, and perseverance" of Sudanese women. The featured song was co-produced with...

Acid Tongue - Consumerism a 2023 self-released single. It’s been two years since Seattle garage rockers Acid Tongue released their third full-length Arboretum , which came about as frontman Guy Keltner came to terms with drug and alcohol abuse, as well as his struggles with his bipolar diagnosis, during the pandemic. Keltner and co-frontman Ian Cunningham detailed the making of the record as well...

Daníel Hjálmtýsson - No Reception (feat. Aðalbjörn Tryggvason) from the 2022 self-released album Labyrinthia . While Daníel Hjálmtýsson’s recorded work only dates back to 2020, he’s made quite a splash in the past few years, perking the ears of his fellow Icelanders as well as a particular Seattleite - Kevin Cole. He recently caught their performance at Tremor Festival which is set at secret locat...

Tramhaus - "Make It Happen," a 2022 single on Subroutine Records. Post-punk quintet  Tramhaus provide a sneering statement on their hometown of Rotterdam, Netherlands on today's Song of the Day.  The phrase "make it happen" serves as the city's official slogan — "a phrase which coincidentally functions as the absurd and out-of-touch city-slogan of Rotterdam," they state on Facebook . The accompany...

Verde Prato - "Niña Soñando" from the 2023 album Adoretua on Plan B Rec. Recording under the name Verde Prato , Colombian artist Ana Arsuaga sings in Basque, honoring the traditions of the ancient Vascones and Aquitanians. Her haunting neo-folk synth-pop songs call to mind artists like Kate Bush or Tirzah .  Via her Bandcamp page, she explains today's Song of the Day reflects on "the questions tha...

Lucrecia Dalt - "Contenida" from the 2022 album ¡Ay! on RVNG Intl. On her eighth and latest LP  ¡Ay! , Colombian-born, Berlin-based artist  Lucrecia Dalt  celebrates both her homeland  and outer space. Infusing childhood influences of bolero, mambo, merengue, and salsa into her synth-heavy soundscapes, she tells the story of Preta, an extraterrestrial being who lands on Earth. The ten-track album...

Jarv Dee & Bad Colours - Beat Drop a 2023 single on MOOR LIFE. Jarv Dee has been one of the leading rap luminaries of the Seattle scene for the past decade, churning out numerous bops and anthems. Since the beginning, one of his secret weapons has been production from London-born, Maryland-raised, Brooklyn-based DJ, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist Ibe Solima, aka Bad Colours ....

Es - Swallowed Whole from the 2023 Fantasy EP on Upset The Rhythm. London-based quartet Es burst onto the scene back in 2020 with their debut LP Less of Everything , made up of nine tracks of ominous and icy post-punk exploring the tension between intent and interpretation. Three years later, they’re back with the Fantasy EP. For their new release, they’ve bumped the tempo up but haven’t lost an o...

System Olympia - "Falling in Love" from the 2023 album New Erotica Collection on Okay Nature Over the past few years, London-based producer, DJ, and vocalist System Olympia (real name: Francesca Macri) has been releasing a series of sultry stand-along singles, including today's Song of the Day, featuring guest vocals from South London artist P Nut . Earlier this year, she compiled nine of these tr...

Say She She - "Reeling" a 2023 single on Colemine/Karma Chief. It's a tongue-twister, but Brooklyn trio  Say She She named their group as a tribute to none other than Nile Rodgers ("C’est chi-chi!: It's Chic!,” they explain on their Bandcamp). They also carry his torch with their self-described "discodelic soul," sure to get you out on the dance floor. On today's Song of the Day, band members Nya...

Outside - "Then It Hits You," a 2023 single on Dorado Records Limited. "I’ve evolved the mixture of modern and retro," says multi-instrumentalist, writer, and arranger Matt Cooper. "That’s the Outside sound." Cooper began Outside during the '90s London club scene, releasing his 1993 debut album  Almost In at the age of 20. Now, 30 years later, he returns with a forthcoming sixth studio album,  Alm...

Rose City Band - “Chasing Rainbows” from the 2023 album Garden Party on Thrill Jockey. Rose City Band , the brainchild of Ripley Johnson (also of Wooden Shjips and Moon Duo and, with a name like that, was either born to play music or be the keeper of facts that you may, or may not, believe) is due to release their fourth record later this month. Titled Garden Party , the album follows up 2021’s Ea...

Tanukichan - “Thin Air (feat. Enumclaw)” from the 2023 album GIZMO on Company Records. Last month, San Francisco-based artist Hannah Van Loon, known better as Tanukichan , released her incredible sophomore record GIZMO which widened the depth of the shoegaze-indebted dreampop that she’s been making since 2016. Co-produced by Toro y Moi’s Chaz Bear, who’s been assisting Van Loon since her debut EP...

Momma – “Bang Bang,” a 2023 single on Polyvinyl. With their latest single "Bang Bang," Brooklyn-based trio Momma set out to write something provocative. “We wanted to write something lyrically different than anything else we’d done," explained band member Allegra Weingarten, "just super literal and crude." Today's Song of the Day came out of a COVID bubble between Weingarten and her bandmate Etta...

Indigo De Souza- “Younger and Dumber” from the 2023 album All of This Will End on Saddle Creek On today's Song of the Day, Asheville, NC-based artist  Indigo De Souza reflects on the insecurities of her youth. The track serves as a sneak peek to her forthcoming full-length, All Of This Will End , which will be released April 28th via Saddle Creek.  In a press statement, she shares: “Younger and Du...

Ven Y Mira - “Padre Nostro” from the 2023 self-released album Parque de Letras . With today's Song of the Day, Mexico-based quartet  Ven y Mira shares a sneak peek at their forthcoming debut full-length, Parque de Letras , due for release on April 28th.  Expanding on the psych-inspired sounds we heard on last year's EP,  Nota Roja , the group takes a harder, punk-influenced approach on today's fea...

Who Is She? - My My Orca Card a 2023 single on Father/Daughter. Seattle supergroup Who Is She? , made up of Bree McKenna of Tacocat, Robin Edwards AKA Lisa Prank, and Chastity Belt frontwoman Julia Shapiro, have been making sweetly sardonic music since 2017, when they released their debut record Seattle Gossip . After a few years of silence from the trio, the band went from Who Is She? to Where Ar...

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,”...

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 — th...

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 Ca...

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 N...

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...

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 pr...

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-len...