In Our Headphones

Ivy Sole - "Don't Hide (feat. Kingsley Ibeneche)" a 2023 single on Ivy Sole LLC / Venice Music Candid , the latest album from Philly-based Pan-Africanist artist Ivy Sole , is presented as triptych, inspired by her parents' love story and how it shaped her own views on relationships.  As she told Metal Magazine , "How the story unfolds in this album is not identical to how it transpired in the live...

C.S. Armstrong - "MA EMILY (feat. Rapsody)" from the 2022 self-released album THE MAKINGS OF ME . During the three years of lockdown, Houston, Texas-based artist  C.S. Armstrong didn't release any original music. But the period gave him time to reflect. "The pandemic allowed me to sit with myself" he continues. "God told me to began producing, with not much knowledge I started to learn how to prod...

Fight Milk - ICU from the 2022 self-released Fight Milk EP. Fight Milk is the project of Redmond, Washington-based project of Jackson Leavitt, who has been releasing singles and EPs since 2019 under the name. Influenced highly by campy ‘80’s new wave bands like Devo, Fight Milk’s shows are a multi-disciplinary audiovisual experience made to entertain. Our Song of the Day, “ICU,” comes off of 2022’...

Avalanche Kaito - Dabalomuni from the 2022 Dabalomuni  EP on Glitterbeat Records. Avalanche Kaito is as their name suggests, an avalanche of disparate sounds, ideas, and ancestral odes. Made up of Burkinabe griot singer and multi-instrumentalist Kaito Winse and Brussels noise punk musicians Benjamin Chaval (drums, electronics) and Nico Glitter (guitar), the trio fuse West African oral traditions w...

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Tautumeitas - "Spodrē Manu Augumiņu" from the 2022 self-released album Skrejceļš . Latvian ensemble  Tautumeitas take traditional folk songs and folklore from their homeland and update them with modern beats and production. Their latest album,  Skrejceļš , was crafted with their long-time producer Reini Sējanus, as well as Swedish producer Povel Olsson.  Today's Song of the Day is a celebrat...

Jembaa Groove - "Bassa Bassa" from the 2022 album Susuma on Agogo Records. The word “Jembaa” translates to “life,” and a "groove in life" is what Berlin-based Afro-Soul band Jembaa Groove aims to inspire with their music. Bassist/composer Yannick Nolting and vocalist/percussionist Eric Owusu happened to meet in late 2020 when they were each picking up their sons from kindergarten. Before too long,...

Noah Coinflip - Journey (feat. Porsche) from the 2022 self-released album God Is Love. Seattle-via-Alabama producer Noah Coinflip released his latest album God Is Love back in November. According to Bandcamp, the album is “an exploration of themes related to finding a transformative higher power through compassion and community” as well as “an exploration of the mystery behind the higher power” an...

Christine and the Queens - la clairefontaine from the 2022 album Redcar les adorables étoiles (prologue) on Because Music. In November, Christine and the Queens dropped their latest album Redcar les adorables étoiles which also unveiled a new persona for frontperson Chris, Redcar (he/him). The record follows the 2020 EP La vita nuova and his sophomore album, Chris , released in September 2018. One...

Fievel Is Glauque - "My Rebel" from the 2022 album Flaming Swords on MATH Interactive. Taking their name from a diss on a 1986 cartoon character, Belgium-based vocalist Ma Clément and NY producer/musician Zach Phillips comprise the duo that is Fievel Is Glauque . ("Fievel" is a mouse who stars in the animated An American Tail film series; the internet says "glauque" translates from French to "sini...

MIKE - Stop Worry! (feat. Sister Nancy) from the 2022 album Beware of the Monkey on 10k London-via-the-Bronx artist Michael Jordan Bonema (better known as MIKE to us) has recruited the legendary Sister Nancy to help out on today's Song of the Day. Sister Nancy is the first ever female dancehall DJ, and her repeated refrain to "wake up" helps elevate this laid-back, synthesizer-laden song.  The tra...

A party in the Bronx on August 11th, 1973 is widely considered to be the birthplace of hip-hop. The art form has since touched every corner of our world and evolved into one of the most significant cultural forces today. This year, on hip-hop's 50th anniversary, we’re giving it a proper tribute.  50 Years of Hip-Hop is KEXP’s newest podcast. Hosted by Larry Mizell Jr, the series highlights a diffe...

Liv.e - "Wild Animals" from the 2023 album Girl In The Half Pearl on In Real Life Music. Psychedelic soulstress  Liv.e returns with her sophomore full-length  Girl in the Half Pearl , out February 10 via In Real Life. The Dallas-born, Los Angeles-based singer/producer found inspiration while experimenting with live performance at her residency last year at London's Laylow. Today's Song of the Day ...

Hibou - Night Fell from the 2023 self-released Arc EP. Hibou , the solo project of former Seattlite Peter Michel, dropped his first body of music in three years earlier this month. The five-song EP Arc builds upon the dreamy atmospherics that have been his signature since releasing his debut self-titled back in 2015. Now living in Paris, Michel was inspired by “an electric arc between things, or a...

Black Belt Eagle Scout - Don't Give Up from the 2023 album The Land, The Water, The Sky on Saddle Creek. Three years after the release of her sophomore record At the Party Wtih My Brown Friends , Katherine Paul unveiled the new Black Belt Eagle Scout single "Don't Give Up." The song is a dreamy, emotive gift to her Indigenous Swinomish, WA community, where over a melancholic guitar melody she hush...

Genesis Owusu – “Get Inspired,” a 2022 single on Ourness With his 2021 debut LP Smiling with No Teeth , Ghanaian-Australian artist  Genesis Owusu swept the ARIA Music Awards (like the Australian Grammys) landing Album of the Year, Best Hip Hop Release, Best Independent Release, and even Best Cover Art. As we await another full-length, Owusu has shared some stand-alone singles, including today's So...

Gladie - "Heaven, Someday" from the 2022 album Don’t Know What You’re in Until You’re Out on Plum Records Recorded in early 2022, Philadelphia band Gladie chose an appropriate name for their second LP: Don’t Know What You’re in Until You’re Out . The thoughtful title covers more than just the pandemic. As frontwoman Augusta Koch explained to Flood magazine , "We decided to name the record this bec...

Deerhoof - My Lovely Cat! from the 2023 album Miracle-Level on Joyful Noise. Bay Area-based noise-pop group Deerhoof may not be savvy on internet-memes, but they did dedicate today's Song of the Day to the online feline sensation Lil Bub, and had the song produced by Mike Bridavsky, Lil Bub's owner. As the band explain in a press statement: If you were going to compose a song about a cute cat from...

Quasi - Doomscrollers from the 2023 album Breaking the Balls of History on Sub Pop. "Doomscrollers" is a new single from the indie rock duo Quasi , the project of former partners Sam Coomes and Janet Weiss, off their upcoming album  Breaking The Balls Of History which is set to be released in February and is their first full-length in a decade. The song is a commentary on the modern phenomenon of...

Death Valley Girls - What Are the Odds from the 2023 album Islands in the Sky on Suicide Squeeze. Los Angeles-based garage rockers Death Valley Girls are releasing their fifth record Islands in the Sky on February 24th via Suicide Squeeze. The follow-up to 2020’s Under the Spell Of Joy was recorded in a cabin in the California woods in early 2022 following a “mysterious illness” that left frontwom...

Moriah Bailey - "The Ocean Life" from the 2022 album i tried words on Keeled Scales. "i was hoping on the ocean life to pull through / turns out i’ll have to say goodbye real soon." On her sophomore full-length,  i tried words,  harpist/vocalist  Moriah Bailey  reflects on the end of a relationship, and the definitions and expectations of "femininity" that can play into not only romantic relations...

Fan Girl - "react (react)" a 2022 self-released single. Australian quintet Fan Girl closed out 2022 with a bang, releasing their latest single "react (react)," a boisterous high-energy piece of early 2000's-influenced pop-punk.  “We wrote this song during a particularly wintry week in our studio in Brunswick, Melbourne, channeling the energy and excitement of playing shows,” they told Australian w...

Dave Okumu & The 7 Generations - "Blood Ah Go Run (feat. Wesley Joseph & ESKA)" from the 2023 album I Came From Love on Transgressive. Mercury Prize-nominated artist Dave Okumu returns with his new project, Dave Okumu & The 7 Generations , a name he says honors "my actual ancestors, the ancestors of others, my musical ancestors, and my descendants." Their debut album, I Came From Love...

Caleb Kunle - All In Your Head a 2022 single on Pony Recordings. While Caleb Kunle may only have a handful of EPs and singles under his belt, the soul-pop artist has been making a splash in the UK since the release of his debut EP Eden in 2017 which landed him the prize of Emerging Artist of the Year 2017 from Thatchers Haze x NME. Born in Lagos, Nigeria, Kunle immigrated to the Irish countryside...

Queralt Lahoz - "Blade," a 2022 single on Costa Futuro/Say It Loud. Queralt Lahoz is a rising star from Spain who has captivated audiences with her powerful live performances over the past handful of years. Ahead of not only her Eurosonic slot, but also her first stints at SXSW in Austin, Texas, she released the song “Blade.” Her most powerful, pop-centric track yet, the song sees her both sing an...