In Our Headphones

Hello Mary - "Looking Right Into the Sun" from the 2022 album Looking Right Into the Sun on Frenchkiss Records Brooklyn trio Hello Mary continue their ascent with a recent signing to Frenchkiss Records. They followed the announcement with a melodically gritty new single, today's Song of the Day, which they say touches on the "general themes of feeling stuck and restricted by circumstances out of o...

Jasmyn - "Crystal Ball" from the 2022 album In the Wild on ANTI- Having unraveled herself from the band Weaves, Toronto singer/songwriter Jasmyn Burke was ready to slow down. She moved from the city to the quiet of Hamilton, soaking in the outdoors and the serenity of Lake Ontario. Inspired by her surroundings, she decided to embark on a solo career under the name  Jasmyn . She speaks to the exper...

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 arriv...

 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's  Uh Oh and the Oh Wells and 2019's Thinking Place led to KEXP’s own Marco Coll...

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 a...

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 s...

Wild Pink - "Q. Degraw," a 2022 single on Royal Mountain. Wild Pink  – a New York-based group led by John Ross – reflect on the experience of burnout in today's Song of the Day. He's joined by guest vocalist Catherine 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 st...

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 wi...

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, an...

Mejiwahn - "Heart String Special (feat. Liv.e)" from the 2022 album BEANNA on Hot Record Societe. Mejiwahn, who previously recorded under the name Art Vandelay (which personally I love greatly as someone finally watching Seinfeld in whole), is a bit of a mystery. Like the fictional character that George makes up in a job interview, there are few photos, quotes, or general living artifacts to prove...

FKJ - "Greener (feat. Santana)" from the 2022 album V I N C E N T on Mom + Pop. How do you get legendary guitar virtuoso Carlos Santana to perform on one of your songs? Well, according to multi-instrumentalist FKJ (that's short for French Kiwi Juice, but his real name is Vincent Fenton), you just need to ask nicely. As he explains in a press release, "I told him I would listen to the radio as a yo...

Xênia França - "Ancestral Infinito" from the 2022 self-released album Em Nome da Estrela. Straight out of the gate, Brazilian artist  Xênia França scored two Latin Grammy nominations for her 2018 debut album,  Xênia , and the single “Pra Que Me Chamas?”  She returns with her self-released sophomore effort,  Em Nome da Estrela , which translates to "in the name of the star." França expands on the r...

Coco Peila - "Remember" from the 2022 Whose World? (The New Normal) EP on Miss Behave Records/La Vida Diosa Publishing. With her latest EP,  Whose World? (The New Normal) , Bay Area-based MC, singer-songwriter, and producer  Coco Peila continues to use music as a platform to speak on causes she feels passionately about. (Her last KEXP Song of the Day spoke out against outdated beauty norms.) This...

Supercrush - Perfect Smile - from the 2022 self-released Melody Maker EP. While Seattle power pop band Supercrush have technically been a band since 2013, they only just released their debut LP Debt Offensive in 2019. With time to makeup, the band, led by veteran hardcore, punk, and metal musician Mark Palm, quickly followed that up with SODO Pop in 2020 and just dropped the EP Melody Maker in ear...

Penelope Isles - Play It Cool (Alt Mix) - a 2022 single on Bella Union. It’s a family affair for Penelope Isles , the sibling songwriting duo of Lily and Jack Wolter, who have channeled the energy of their UK homeland the Isle of Man for some seriously dreamy sounds over the course of two records. Now based in Brighton, their latest record, 2021’s Which Way To Happy , sees the band recruit the hel...

Oceanator - "Beach Days (Alive Again)" from the 2022 album Nothing's Ever Fine on Big Scary Monsters. "By the ocean / Is where i wanna be / When this all comes to an end" On her 2020 debut album Things I Never Said , Brooklyn-based songwriter Oceanator (real name: Elise Okusami) pondered the apocalypse against grungy guitars and Green Day-inspired pop/punk. On her follow-up LP Nothing’s Ever Fine...

Camilla Munck - "Blessed Be" from the 2021 album Aeon on Moondrop Records. Danish artist Camilla Munck began with a background in soundtracks and sound design. On her debut album AEON , she taps into these skills for an emotive, atmospheric experience. On her Facebook page, she describes today's Song of the Day as "a song about finding oneself in and outside communities. to dare step in and out of...

Confidence Man - "Holiday" from the 2022 album TILT on Heavenly Recordings/[PIAS]. With today's Song of the Day, Australian electro-pop duo Confidence Man aim to make the party last forever. “We’ve been trying for the most epic, hands up, euphoric anthem for a while and this is the first time we’ve come close… Turns out it’s pretty difficult, but nothing’s too hard for Con Man,” said vocalist Suga...

Beautiful Freaks - "CROCODILE," a 2022 single on Scream Queen Records. Constantly evolving in their sound, Beautiful Freaks  has always been a band built more on energy and experimentation than a specific genre tag. Formed in 2013, Peter Bryson and James Bonaci came together over their love for metal, jazz & punk. Their 2018 debut Cameo Artist was hardcore glam at its most frenzied and viscera...

Chainsaw Girl - "Chainsaw Girl"  from the 2021 self-released Chainsaw Girl EP. Portland’s Chainsaw Girl were brought together with a combination of fate and Yu-Gi-Oh. Guitarists Manny Ruiz and Kei Iguchi met at a conference for the Japanese manga series in 2016 and found their common interests spanned beyond Yu-Gi-Oh and into a deep love for music. Vocalist Cricket Greene was later asked to join a...

Ethel Cain - Hard Times - from the 2022 album Preacher's Daughter on Daughters of Cain Records The album title Preacher's Daughter is on point for 24-year-old artist Ethel Cain . Raised and home-schooled in a tight-knit Southern Baptist community where her father served as deacon and her mother sang in the church choir, Cain (legal name: Hayden Silas Anhedönia after a name-change at age 20) s...

Dreamer Isioma - Dream Girl - from the 2022 album Goodnight Dreamer on Dreamer Isioma/AWAL. Goodnight Dreamer may be the debut album for 21-year-old Nigerian-American artist Dreamer Isioma , but it's hardly their first foray into music.  “Well, it started before birth,” Isioma told the Chicago Tribune , revealing their parents enrolled them in Mommy & Me music classes before t...

Tasha - Perfect Wife - from the 2021 album Tell Me What You Miss The Most on Father/Daughter Records. With her sophomore full-length Tell Me What You Miss The Most , Chicago-based singer/songwriter Tasha invites the listener to nestle in to each track, allowing yourself to be enveloped by the warmth and light. "These are swaying songs," she says of the swoonful new release. “I was inspired b...

Musician, producer, sound engineer, and all-around creative force Erik Blood is known for a lot of things - one-half of Knife Knights alongside Ishmael Butler, his recent funkified sensual project Pink Lotion with Rachel Ferguson, Black Constellation all-star contributor, and a solo artist in his own right. Something you may have missed was his 2011 foray into music soundtracking which saw the mul...

In April, Chaz Bear dropped the seventh studio album from his constantly evolving project Toro y Moi titled Mahal . One of his jammier records, Mahal veers heavily towards psych-funk and features a hefty list of contributors including Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s Ruban Neilson, Neon Indian’s Alan Palomo, visual artist and musician Sofie Royer, and jazz duo the Mattson 2. Our Song of the...