In Our Headphones

Friedberg - "Yeah" from the 2021 album YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH YEAH on Marathon Artists. Indie pop quartet Friedberg is named after frontwoman Anna F.’s Austrian hometown and is just the latest project from the musician, who had a successful solo career in her native country that included two chart-topping records and four Amadeus Austrian Music Awards, before joining forces with...

Qlowski - "Folk Song" from the 2021 album Quale Futuro? on Maple Death Records. London-by-way-of-Italy art-punk outfit Qlowski is led by Michele Tellarini and Cecilia Corapi. Friends since the age of 16, the duo have dabbled with a number of sounds and influences over the past decade, which is apparent on their debut full-length Quale Futuro? which eccentrically fuses new wave and post-punk with j...

Amelie Siba - "hold on to me" from the 2021 self-released EP when is our time. Prague-based singer-songwriter Amelie Siba makes quiet, intimate songs that are simple in instrumentation so as to focus on Siba’s childlike falsetto which belies the maturity of her songwriting. Following 2019’s introductory EP titled It Was Nice to Meet You , Siba’s 2020 debut full-length Dye My Hair...

Meskerem Mees - "Joe" from the 2021 album Julius on Mayway Records. Belgium-based singer-songwriter Meskerem Mees first appeared on the scene in 2020 with her debut single, “Joe.” A sweet and simple guitar ballad, Mees’ soft, clear voice takes center stage and pulls listeners in with her saccharine coos, making it an easy choice for Song of the Day. “Joe” went on to b...

LADANIVA - "Vay Aman" from the 2020 EP Ladaniva on Planete B. Ladaniva is the musical partnership between Armenian singer Jacqueline Baghdasaryan and French multi-instrumentalist Louis Thomas. Founded by the duo in 2019, they went viral in the early days of the pandemic with the release of the video for our Song of the Day, “Vay Aman.” Set in a sunny locale with faces full of joy, it&r...

Jayomi - "Julia" from the 2021 self-released album Midnight Love Note. Local band Jayomi has been wowing underground audiences with their dreamy take on indiepop for a few years now but didn’t release recorded music until 2019’s W et Burrito. The album was the band’s attempt to recreate the sad yet beautiful nature of those late romantic composers through the lens of modern day i...

Parcels - "Somethinggreater" from the 2021 album Day/Night on Because Music. Australia-born, Berlin-based five-piece Parcels make groovy electropop, blending funk and disco in intoxicating fashion. Their 2018 self-titled debut blew up with a little help from Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, better known as Daft Punk, who produced the album’s lead single “Overnight.&rdq...

Bully - "Just For Love," a 2021 single on Sub Pop. If you somehow missed SUGAREGG , the third studio album from Nashville’s Bully , when it was released a year and a half ago then it’s definitely time to circle back. Furious and fiery, Alicia Bognanno put her all into the record, which just finally got to be played on live stages this past December. Ahead of that nine-date east coast t...

Ibibio Sound Machine - "Electricity," a 2021 single on Merge. Just about three years ago, when the world was in a very different place, KEXP celebrated International Clash Day by venturing across the pond to London for a showcase of upcoming artists that radiate the spirit of the Clash in vibrant, diverse ways. One of the most electrifying performances over those four days came from electro Afro-f...

Beach House Once - "Twice Melody" from the 2022 album Once Twice Melody on Sub Pop. As longtime fans and champions of Baltimore-based band Beach House , the excitement over the dream pop duo’s partially-released double LP Once Twice Melody is feverish, to say the least. With two of the four chapters already released, it’s clear to see Victoria Legrand and Alex Scally have a masterpiece...

Floored Faces - "I'd Be Broke" from the 2021 self-released album Kool Hangs. Floored Faces are the latest to emerge from Seattle’s heavy rock scene, drawing influence from Northwest greats like the Melvins, Tad, and the Sonics. Fusing that heavy rock energy with psychedelic and indie, the trio makes songs just as melodic as they are dense. Our Song of the Day, “I’d Be Broke,&rdqu...

Constant Smiles - "Run to Stay" from the 2021 album Paragons on Sacred Bones. Since 2009, Constant Smiles have been churning out roughly an album a year, amassing a pretty enormous discography that’s now 15 records deep. Led by Ben Jones, the band is more of a collective, with more than 50 members providing contributions over the past 13 years. While Constant Smiles have tried out a number o...

Lætitia Sadier - "New Moon," a 2021 single on Drag City. Laetitia Sadier’s heavenly croons became familiar to us via Stereolab back when they appeared on the scene in the early ‘90s. On our Song of the Day, “New Moon,” Sadier proves her vocals have not only remained intact but, like a fine wine, have grown with age. The lead single off her forthcoming, as yet untitled...

Bonobo - "Rosewood" from the 2022 album Fragments on Ninja Tune. Since the late ‘90s, Simon Green has been sharing his sweeping electronic grooves as Bonobo to much acclaim. 2022 will see him unveil his hotly anticipated seventh full-length Fragments . Created during the pandemic, the songs were made out of fragmented pieces of ideas the British-born, LA-based producer put together while on...

Carrie Biell - "Come By" from the 2022 self-released album We Get Along. As one-quarter of Moon Palace , which she founded with her twin sister Cat Biell, Carrie Biell makes warm and rambling indie rock with a hint of desert psychedelia. For her solo work, which she’s been releasing since 2001’s treasured and difficult to find Symphony of Sirens , her music is much more intimate, strip...

Eternia & Rel McCoy - "Home (feat. Shad & SHEAL)" from the 2021 album FREE on Fat Beats. This past September saw two of Toronto’s hip hop stars team up for a collaborative album titled FREE . Juno-nominated rapper Eternia and Juno-winning producer Rel McCoy put together twelve tracks that flex their skills while shining a light on some of the criminally underrated talent that’s...

NeONE the Wonderer - "Nose Dive" from the 2021 album Future Bubblers 5.0 on Brownswood Recordings. Nathan Lawrence might have a limited body of work at NeONE the Wonderer , just a smattering of singles going back to early Summer 2020, but what the UK-based artist has out showcases a fully-formed artist with a captivating point of view. Our Song of the Day, “Nose Dive,” displays his pen...

Earl Sweatshirt - "Tabula Rasa (feat. Armand Hammer)" from the 2022 album Sick on Tan Cressida, inc/Warner. Former Odd Future member Earl Sweatshirt is gearing up to release his latest album, Sick , this month and the anticipation couldn’t be higher. His first release since 2019’s introspective Feet of Clay , Sick is still mostly a mystery other than the two singles released ahead of i...

Waahli - "DERIVE (feat. Webz)," a 2021 single on Wyzah Musk Prod. Born and raised in Montreal to a Haitian family, Waahli is one of the leading members of Hip Hop supergroup Nomadic Massive . He is revered as a trilingual emcee (English, French, Creole), guitarist and beatmaker. In 2018, he broke out on his own to release the debut solo album Black Soap and has since followed that up with 2020&rsq...

The Midnight Hour - "Jazz Is Dead (Georgia Anne Muldrow Geemix)" from the 2021 album Remixes JID010 on Jazz Is Dead. As The Midnight Hour, Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Adrian Younge collaborate with a long list of incredible musicians to make a fusion of soul, jazz, and hip hop that’s inspired by the sophisticated sounds of yesteryears. Their acclaimed 2018 self-titled debut was star-studded fea...

Alina Pash - "Bosorkanya" from the 2019 album PINTEA:GORY on Bitanga LLC. Alina Pash will be performing at this year's virtual Eurosonic (ESNS) Music Festival and Conference January 19-22. Known for a great number of things in her home country of Ukraine, Alina Pash is a former X-Factor semi-finalist, style icon, and an innovative musician breaking boundaries with her bold use of Carpathian tradit...

Дeva - "Unglitched," a 2020 single on Move Gently Records. Дeva  will be performing at this year's virtual Eurosonic (ESNS) Music Festival and Conference January 19-22 and has also been nominated for a Music Moves Europe Award. Дeva/Deva is the solo project of Budapest-based musician Dorina Takács. Her use of blending traditional Hungarian folk music with pulsating electronic basslines...

Denise Chaila - "CHAILA" from the 2020 album GO Bravely on narolane. Denise Chaila will be performing at this year's virtual Eurosonic (ESNS) Music Festival and Conference January 19-22 and has also been nominated for a Music Moves Europe Award. The past two years have been ones of extreme highs and lows for Zambian-Irish rapper Denise Chaila. On one hand, 2020 saw her release her debut full-lengt...

Takeshi’s Cashew - "Sterndüne (Kosmodr∞m)" from the 2021 album Humans In A Pool on Laut & Luise. Takeshi’s Cashew will be performing at this year's virtual Eurosonic (ESNS) Music Festival and Conference January 19-22. Blending genres, cultures, and regions into their own sound that they’ve titled “cosmofunk,” Takeshi’s Cashew can be seen taking ju...

Anna B Savage - "Corncrakes" from the 2021 album A Common Turn on City Slang. Anna B Savage will be performing at this year's virtual Eurosonic (ESNS) Music Festival and Conference January 19-22. In 2015, Anna B Savage released a straightforwardly titled EP titled just EP , with the four songs named after their tracklist placement. While it may have lacked appellative flair, the warmth and heart t...