In Our Headphones

Peter Matthew Bauer - "Skulls" from the 2022 album Flowers on Fortune Tellers. With The Walkmen still on hiatus, multi-instrumentalist  Peter Matthew Bauer continues their anthemic style of indie rock on his latest solo LP,  Flowers . On today's Song of the Day, he displays the ways he's developed musically since the band took a break. "'Skulls' was inspired by a new style of guitar playing that I...

Rocky Votolato - "Little Black Diamond" from the 2022 album Wild Roots on Spartan. Long-beloved local artist Rocky Votolato returns with his most personal album yet. Wild Roots is his first new album in seven years. Written during the pandemic, Votolato sought to craft an album about "family connection," adding to People magazine , "but on a deeper level, it's about the human struggle and overcomi...

Karate, Guns and Tanning - "Enchanter," a 2022 self-released single. Indianapolis-based band Karate, Guns & Tanning formed out of the 15-year friendship of bassist/vocalist Valerie Green and keyboardist/vocalist Paige Shedletsky. “We basically share a brain,” Shedletsky told Post-Punk.com . Together, they craft a dark, riot grrrl-tinged shoegaze, influenced by David Lynch and Hunter S. Thompso...

Livt - Let It Go (feat. Dave B) from the 2022 album Pink and Orange on LIV Free Media / DAY ONE ENT. If you weren’t able to make it to our KEXP 50th anniversary party earlier this summer, then you missed an incredible performance by local artist LIVt kicking the festivities off. KEXP has become a major champion of the Tacoma, WA-raised musician’s poetic lyricism touting messages of radical self-lo...

Lil Silva - Still (feat. Sampha & Ghetts) from the 2022 album Yesterday Is Heavy on Nowhere Music Ltd. It may have taken Lil Silva over a decade to finally drop his debut full-length, but he proved it was worth the wait. Since 2010, the UK producer has been winning over fans as a beatmaker who could bring emotion to the dancefloor. Eventually, Silva started to incorporate his airy vocals into...

Son Little - "6 AM," a 2022 single on ANTI-. Philadelphia-based R&B artist  Son Little (real name: Aaron Livingston) found inspiration from acclaimed sci-fi author Octavia Butler for today's Song of the Day.  “ Dawn  is my favorite Octavia Butler book,” he said in a press release. “It’s also my favorite time of the day— the time I have my clearest most exciting ideas and also the time when I s...

Mystic - "Here, Alive (Spirits High)" from the 2022 album Dreaming In Cursive: The Girl Who Loved Sparklers on Beautifull Soundworks. As KEXP's Gabriel Teodros says, "Every Mystic album is an event, and something to come back to for years and years." The long-running Bay Area-based artist/activist (real name: Mandolyn Wind Ludlum) returns with her third full-length  Dreaming In Cursive: The Girl W...

Kingsley Ibeneche - "Asked For Light" from the 2022 album Udo on Dirty Deity. Nigerian-American artist Kingsley Ibeneche truly opens his heart on his debut album Udo , which was released last Friday. In a press statement, the full-length is described as an "emotional experience of an empathic person who stays bound to their kin sometimes to the detriment of themselves, but who refuses to give up t...

Nada Rosa - "The Process of Dying" from the 2020 Personas EP on OTHERWORLDS. Brandi Diaz is a Seattle-based musician and first-generation Cuban/Dominican American making intimate surf-tinged cosmic soul under the moniker Nada Rosa. The name takes inspiration from the concept of infinite potential (everything comes from nothingness/nada) as well as the name of her maternal Grandmother Rosa, who rep...

Meridian Brothers - "Metamorfosis (feat. Grupo El Renacimiento)" from the 2022 album Meridian Brothers & El Grupo Renacimiento on Ansonia Records. For Eblis Álvarez, frontman and figurehead behind Bogotá band Meridian Brothers , the imaginary is a primary source of inspiration. His latest record, and 11th since the band’s inception in 1998, is a collaboration with a fictional band called Grupo...

Omar Apollo - "Archetype" from the 2022 album Ivory (Marfil) on Warner. This week's Songs of the Day were selected by KEXP DJs  Albina Cabrera  and  DJ Chilly , hosts of  El Sonido , in honor of  Aquí y Ahora: Without Borders . Join KEXP September 12 through October 14 for a month dedicated to amplifying the contributions, resilience, and music of Latinx, Hispanic and Latino-identified communities...

Mediopicky - "quien te llamo" from the 2022 album mediopicky on Salsa Fegol. This week's Songs of the Day were selected by KEXP DJs  Albina Cabrera  and  DJ Chilly , hosts of  El Sonido , in honor of  Aquí y Ahora: Without Borders . Join KEXP September 12 through October 14 for a month dedicated to amplifying the contributions, resilience, and music of Latinx, Hispanic and Latino-identified commun...

Doris Anahí - "Aprendiendo por las Malas" from the 2022 Aprendiendo por las Malas EP on Casa Mija. This week's Songs of the Day were selected by KEXP DJs  Albina Cabrera  and  DJ Chilly , hosts of  El Sonido , in honor of  Aquí y Ahora: Without Borders . Join KEXP September 12 through October 14 for a month dedicated to amplifying the contributions, resilience, and music of Latinx, Hispanic and La...

Beverly Crusher - "Vacuum" from the 2022 album Waste of Waves on Freakout. Seattle punk rock band Beverly Crusher has been chipping away and threatening a full album for about three years and finally have come to the point they can share said forthcoming new album Waste of Waves , out on Freakout Records. Said Cozell Wilson (guitar and vocals) of their brand new LP, "We had so many set backs, deve...

Manny Noir & Psychedelic Ensemble - "Where Were You…" from the 2022 album Nocturne on Everything Is Perfect / LIVE AT THE CLINIC. Southeast London emcee Manny Noir recently teamed up with producer Psychedelic Ensemble to release the collaborative record Nocturne in June. True to the album’s name, Nocturne is ten tracks of vibey downtempo hip hop perfect for the late hours of the evening. The c...

Meskerem Mees - "Best Friend," from the 2022 Caesar EP on Mayway. Born in Ethiopia and raised in Belgium (where she still resides today), 23-year-old artist Meskerem Mees displays a maturity beyond her years in her beautiful compositions. She's won the Emerging Artists Award from Humo's Rock Rally, the Music Moves Europe 2022 Grand Jury Prize, as well as the Montreux Jazz Talent Award in 2021. On...

S H I R A N - "Habibi Inta حبيبي انت" from the 2022 album Fadaytak on Batov. Tel Aviv-based artist  S H I R A N (real name: Shiran Avraham) uses her music to explore her Middle Eastern roots, combining the influences with hip-hop, Afrobeats, and more. Her production partner Ron Bakal returns on this latest LP to help her carry these songs to new heights, in a style they call “Electro Hafla,” a ref...

Jitwam - "The Get Down" from the 2022 album Third on Roya Records. As KEXP's DJ Alex mentioned in 2018 when Jitwam contributed a Midnight in a Perfect World mix to us, " Jitwam is a bit of an enigma. He was born in Northeast India, he's currently based in Brooklyn, he spent his formative years in New Zealand and Australia, and has lived in monasteries in Thailand, orphanages in South Africa, and w...

Franklin Gothic - Mr. Hangman from the 2022 album Into the Light on #veryjazzed. Franklin Gothic is the solo project of Portland-based artist Jay DiBartolo. In August, he released his debut record Into the Light via split release with Very Jazzed ad Pleasure Tapes. Made in collaboration with producer/local luminary Erik Blood (Shabazz Palaces, Tacocat, Pickwick), the album covers a variety of genr...

Brijean - Take A Trip from the 2022 album Angelo on Ghostly International. Vocalist/percussionist Brijean Murphy and producer/multi-instrumentalist Doug Stuart have been making sweltering groovy soundscapes as Brijean since 2019 and recently followed up their 2021 full-length Feelings with the EP Angelo . Named after their 1981 Toyota Celica, Angelo was born out of a period of immense grief, in wh...

Flying Lotus - "You Don’t Know (feat. Devin Tracy)" from the 2022 album The Room on Warp Records. DJ/producer Flying Lotus teams up with soul singer Devin Tracy for today's Song of the Day, a laid back summer-y groove perfect for these final days of the season.  FlyLo's been busy this year: he wrote the theme song to the AppleTV+ Magic Johnson documentary series, They Call Me Magic, and wrote the...

Yaya Bey - "alright" from the 2022 album Remember Your North Star on Big Dada. On her latest LP,  Remember Your North Star , Brooklyn-based artist  Yaya Bey explores the themes of Black womanhood against a mix of R&B, jazz, reggae, and hip-hop. "I saw a tweet that said, "Black women have never seen healthy love or have been loved in a healthy way." That's a deep wound for us," she stated in a...

Santigold - "High Priestess" from the 2022 album Spirituals on Little Jerk. Santigold returns with a vengeance for  Spirituals , her first new full-length in six years.  She explains in a press release, "I loved the idea of calling it Spirituals because it touched on the idea of Negro spirituals, which were songs that served the purpose of getting Black people through the un-get-throughable. In th...

Slang - Chipped Tooth from the 2022 album Cockroach In A Ghost Town on Kill Rock Stars. In one of the most ultimate Northwest powergroup collaborations to come in recent history, Slang seemingly appeared out of nowhere. In fact, Drew Grow and Janet Weiss (the latter needing no introduction and Grow being a IYKYK frontman of Modern Kin and the Pastors’ Wives and in-demand producer) have been slowly...

The Beths - Silence is Golden from the 2022 album Expert in a Dying Field on Carpark. New Zealand indie pop outfit The Beths are on the verge of dropping their highly anticipated third record Expert in a Dying Field on September 16th via Carpark Records. The follow-up to 2020’s Jump Rope Gazers sees the band delve into character sketches of relationships and their aftermaths, with an emphasis on t...