In Our Headphones

BRoc - "Black Rainbow (feat. Porter Ray)," a 2022 self-released single. Brian Ovalles, AKA BRoc , is a Seattle-based producer and DJ who’s worked extensively with Central District Seattle MC Porter Ray . He is a part of the label/collective called Intratecque, family to the Black Constellation . Read the full post on KEXP.org Take a journey through the Black Constellation on KEXP's new podca...

Sevdaliza - "High Alone," a 2022 single on Twisted Elegance. It's been two years since her stunning sophomore release Shabrang , but Dutch-Iranian artist Sevdaliza re-emerges on the new EP, Raving Dahlia . On today's Song of the Day, she continues to explore the gothic electronic sound of those earlier releases, adding cinematic elements like the spoken-word piece against an ethereal harp backgrou...

Fly Anakin - "Ghost (feat. Nickelus F)" from the 2022 album Frank on Lex Records Ltd. Described by Madlib as "one of the illest MCs," anticipation has been high for the debut full-length from Richmond, VA-based rapper/producer Fly Anakin . On March 11th, that release will drop, titled Frank , via Lex Records. He notes the album draws inspiration from the "classic R&B and Soul" his dad played f...

High Pulp - "All Roads Lead to Los Angeles" from the 2022 album Pursuit of Ends on ANTI-. With today's Song of the Day, Seattle's experimental jazz septet High Pulp share a sneak preview of their forthcoming full-length Pursuit Of Ends , which will be released April 15th via ANTI- Records. The album draws inspiration from "bebop, punk rock, shoegaze, hip-hop, and electronic music," and came togeth...

Blue Lab Beats - "Motherland Journey (feat. Killbeatz & Fela Kuti)" from the 2022 album Motherland Journey on Blue Note / Blue Adventure. London-based duo Blue Lab Beats released their Blue Note Records debut last week with Motherland Journey , an album they described as "extremely special album to us."  “This album took us two-and-a-half years to finish, our longest process to make...

F!RES - "The Lonely Sea" from the 2021 self-released album High Tide. Ballard-based band F!RES pay tribute to the late Shawn Smith on today's Song of the Day. The local legend had lent his distinctive vocals to bands like Brad, Satchel, Pigeonhed, and The Twilight Singers, as well as his solo material. And he also appears on the new F!RES full-length High Tide . "H igh Tide really is a love letter...

Cloud Cult - "One Way Out of a Hole," a 2022 single on Earthology Records. After a six-year hiatus, Cloud Cult return with the album Metamorphosis , to be released March 4th via their own Earthology Records. Like all albums from this orchestral-folk-rock group, nature plays a big role in the LP. Founding member/frontman Craig Minowa wrote and recorded the new album in the remote woods of Wisconsin...

Yard Act - "The Overload" from the 2022 album The Overload on Zen F.C. This might be the debut album from Leeds band Yard Act , but its members have been kicking around the scene for a while — frontman James Smith in Post War Glamour Girls, and bassist Ryan Needham as a member of Menace Beach. They're hardly the latest post-punk band to come out of the UK, but Smith brings a sarcastic sense...

Dehd - "Bad Love" from the 2022 album Blue Skies on Fat Possum. Post-punk trio Dehd return this spring with Blue Skies , their fourth album overall, but their first for Fat Possum Records. Today's featured track finds the Chicago-based band channeling an '80s new wave vibe, calling to mind The Jesus & Mary Chain led by Dale Bozzio of Missing Persons.  “‘Bad Love’ is abou...

The Head and the Heart - "Virginia (Wind in the Night)" from the 2022 album Every Shade of Blue on Warner. Beloved local band The Head and the Heart return this spring with their fifth full-length, Every Shade of Blue , recorded at Studio Litho here in Seattle, where they made their first two albums back in 2011 and 2013. “It was almost like coming back home,” guitarist/vocalist Jonath...

Weep Wave - "Synthetic Dreams," a 2022 self-released single. Over the five years since we first covered Weep Wave , a lot has changed for the Seattle band. They went on to release their debut album, S.A.D. , in 2019, a concept album based on the changing seasons and corresponding moods that take place over the course of a year in the Pacific Northwest, that KEXP’s Martin Douglas had a lot to...

Warpaint - "Champion" from the 2022 album Radiate Like This on Heirlooms/Virgin. After six long years, Los Angeles quartet Warpaint are set to release a new album. Due out on May 6th, the heavily anticipated Radiate Like This follows 2016’s Heads Up . Alongside the announcement, the band shared the lead single “Champion,” which is just too good to not be our Song of the Day. &ldq...

Widowspeak - "Everything is Simple" from the 2022 album The Jacket on Captured Tracks. Brooklyn-based duo Widowspeak are gearing up to release their sixth studio album, The Jacket , on March 11th via longtime label Captured Tracks. Initially intended to be a concept album based on a fictional band, The Jacket morphed into a more personal and biographical meditation on performance and past lives. T...

The Devil and Her Chauffeur - "Never Let Me Go," a 2021 self-released single. Seattle-based duo The Devil and Her Chauffeur was a project born out of the pandemic and the necessity of creative projects to stay sane. Jacqueline Kasbohm was in-between recording with her proper band Echodrone and brought in a revolving door of collaborators to flesh out her ideas. Now two years into the band, the str...

Pom Pom Squad - "Popular (feat. Matthew Caws of Nada Surf)," a 2021 single on City Slang. Back in December, Pom Pom Squad turned a joke tweet into reality when they covered Nada Surf ’s “Popular” and remade the classic video shot by shot. “I’m gonna recreate the video for “Popular” by Nada Surf but I’m gonna play every character,” Mia Berrin tw...

Greg Cypher & Def Dee - "Right On (feat. 10isee Williams)" from the 2021 album Third Stone on Nine Six Intl. For over a decade Greg Cypher climbed the ranks of Seattle hip hop as one-half of Kung Foo Grip alongside fellow rapper Eff Is H. Never disappointing with their live show, the duo concocted a hip hop, trap rap, and punk cocktail that saw them looking beyond a single genre for influences...

A La Una - "On My Way (feat. Kimmortal)," a 2022 single on Palms High Records. A La Una is the just the latest iteration of a long-running collaboration between Lex Junior and Romeo Candido. Formerly known as DATU, the duo has progressed from focusing on contemporizing traditional Filipino music to a vast landscape of various tempos, stories, and textures as A La Una. Our Song of the Day, “O...

Lucius - "Next To Normal" from the 2022 album Second Nature on Mom + Pop Records. After spending the past few years lending their voices to their friends’ records such as The War on Drugs’ I Don’t Live Here Anymore and Brandi Carlile’s In These Silent Days , Holly Laessig and Jess Wolfe are finally unveiling their latest album as Lucius . Titled Second Nature , the record i...

Lady Wray - "Melody (feat. Melody Bloom Bacote)" from the 2021 album Piece of Me on Big Crown Records. Nicole Wray’s musical career is a long and winding one, with a series of highs like collaborating with Missy Elliot and then getting signed to her label, a certified gold single with 1998’s “Make It Hot,” and doing background vocals for The Black Keys and Lee Fields. Her l...

JusMoni - "Reckoning," a 2021 self-released single. Here at KEXP, we’ve long been fans of JusMoni aka Moni Tep. Back in 2018, alongside the release of her latest album Sweet to Me , she curated a Midnight in a Perfect World set, the track “Characters” was chosen as Song of the Day , and she played her first KEXP in-studio . Finally, after three years, she’s ready to release...

Chastity Belt - "Fear," a 2021 self-released single. Local faves Chastity Belt recently returned with the limited 7” ‘Fake/Fear,’ the quartet’s first release since 2020’s “The Process,” a digital split release with Melbourne trio Loose Tooth. “Fear” was the first of the two to be shared and is an anxiously dreamy slow-burner about going through...

Boy Harsher - "Give Me a Reason" from the 2022 album The Runner on NUDE CLUB. The Northampton, MA-via-Savannah, GA duo Boy Harsher recently added filmmaker to their resume with the release of their debut feature film The Runner . Obviously, any arthouse horror film wouldn’t be complete without a killer soundtrack and vocalist/lyricist Jae Matthews and producer Augustus Muller have been ready...

Dijon - "Talk Down" from the 2021 album Absolutely on Warner. LA-based artist and former half of the alt R&B duo Abhi//Dijon, Dijon released his debut album Absolutely back in November, perhaps just a smidge too late in the year for listeners to spend the appropriate time cozying up with it for the album to end up on the 2021 year-end lists that it absolutely should have been on. A home-run of...

Parris - "Skater's World (feat. Eden Samara)" from the 2021 album Soaked In Indigo Moonlight on Can You Feel The Sun. Parris is a London-born-and-raised producer who has been using his grime, drum 'n' bass, and pop influences to weave diverse soundscapes since his 2017 split single release Burr / Blue . 2021 saw him finally unveil his debut full-length, Soaked in Indigo Moonlight , which intertwin...

serpentwithfeet - "Down Nuh River" from the 2021 EP DEACON'S Grove on Secretly Canadian. In March of 2021, Los Angeles-via-Baltimore experimental soul artist serpentwithfeet released his sophomore album DEACON, which ended up on both KEXP’s Larry Rose and Larry Mizell Jr.’s top albums of 2021 . While that one incredible record would’ve been quite sufficient for one year’s r...