In Our Headphones

TORRES - "Don't Go Puttin Wishes in My Head" from the 2021 album Thirstier on Merge Records. On her forthcoming full-length, Thirstier , TORRES (real name: Mackenzie Scott) exudes a newfound happiness. “I’ve been conjuring this deep, deep joy that I honestly didn’t feel for most of my life,” she shares in a press release. “I feel like a rock within myself. And I&rsquo...

Pronoun - "I WANNA DIE BUT I CAN’T (CUZ I GOTTA KEEP LIVING)" from the 2021 OMG I MADE IT EP on Wax Bodega. Brooklyn bedroom pop artist Alyse Vellturo (who records as Pronoun ) follows her 2019 lowercase'd debut album, i'll show you stronger , with the all-cap'ed EP OMG I MADE IT, out June 11th via Wax Bodega.  In a press release, Vellturo explains that today's fist-pumping Song of the...

Gary Louris - "Almost Home" from the 2021 album Jump For Joy on Sham/Thirty Tigers. It's been a while since Gary Louris has released a solo album, but The Jayhawks frontman returns on June 4th with the full-length Jump For Joy , his first since 2008's Vagabond .  Today's Song of the Day was originally meant to be a jingle for an AT&T commercial. When they turned it down, a friend suggeste...

A Place to Bury Strangers - "End of the Night" from the 2021 Hologram EP on Dedstrange. Long-running Brooklyn-based psych-rock band A Place To Bury Strangers return this summer with the new EP, Hologram , and a new line-up. Frontman and founding member Oliver Ackermann is now joined by John Fedowitz on bass and Sandra Fedowitz of Ceremony East Coast on drums. Ackermann and his new bassist are chil...

Sofia Kourtesis - "Dear George," a 2020 self-released single. Today's Song of the Day was chosen in honor of It's Still Going on Day , recognizing the one year anniversary of the murder of George Floyd, playing songs of hope, justice, and change, songs that affirm Black humanity, classic songs of protest as well as those that came out in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, amid the protests of...

Bachelor - "Stay in the Car" from the 2021 album Doomin' Sun on Polyvinyl. Bachelor — the new project from friends Jay Som (Melina Duterte) and Palehound (Ellen Kempner) — will release their debut album this Friday, titled Doomin’ Sun . The LP was recorded in Topanga, California, over two weeks in January 2020, before the lockdown. Today's Song of the Day dates back to 2019, with...

Khari Wendell McClelland - "Feels Real Good," a 2021 self-released single. In a way, singer/songwriter Khari Wendell McClelland shares the writing credit for today's Song of the Day with his Facebook followers. The Vancouver-based artist asked them to share the ways they've been finding joy during the otherwise bleak pandemic, and then took their answers and created this beautiful track. "It was p...

Grady & Kiddus - "The Sun (feat. Blake Anthony)" from the 2021 album Don't Think About Me Dying on Empty Planet. London-based producer and vocalist Kiddus was struggling with the death of a close friend when another friend, Seattle hip-hop producer Grady , stepped in with support. Together, they completed the new EP Don't Think About Me Dying . As Kiddus writes on Facebook: Last year I lost a...

MALIA - "Deep Blue" from the 2021 self-released album Unpolished. Originally from Seattle, Malia Cunningham moved to California to study political science and sociology. “I just went through the motions. I never did anything with music throughout those years,” she told Buzzbands L.A . “I was so unhappy and realized that everything about my life had to change. That’s when I...

Jesse Markin - "Exodus (feat. Akua Naru)," a 2021 single on VILD. Born in Liberia and raised in the 100% white Finnish town of Viljakkala, singer/songwriter Jesse Markin turned to music to find himself. His 2019 debut album, Folk , landed him the "Newcomer of the Year" and the "Critics’ Choice" awards at the Emma Gala (the Finnish equivalent of The Grammys). (And, last fall, he participated...

IAMNOBODI - "Let It Roll Interlude (feat. Phonte & BeMyFiasco)," a 2021 self-released single. West Coast producer IAMNOBODI is hardly a nobody. Born in Düsseldorf, Germany as Dede Ademabua to a father who's a blues and jazz singer and a mother who is described as a music connoisseur, he's been making music almost all his life, starting out as an MC at the age of 13. Now a Grammy-nominated...

Avi Loud - "Breezy" from the 2021 Flower Chased the Sunshine EP on Heckworld Radio. A photographer and multi-disciplinary artist, Avi Loud aims to use his work to "spotlight and collaborate with underrepresented artists, aligning with like-minded folks interested in uplifting their communities through music, dance, and shared experience." Born and raised in Seattle, he's currently based in Los Ang...

Khana Bierbood - "ลูกรัง / Dusty Lane" from the 2019 album คนแปลกหน้าจากดินแดนบูรพา​ /​ Strangers from the Far East on Guruguru Brain.​ It will come as no surprise that คณะ เบียร์บูด/Khana Bierbood (translated as "Strange Brew" in Thai) is signed to Guruguru Brain, the label founded by Go & Tomo of Kikagaku Moyo. Both bands share a psychedelic surf rock sound, one that Khana Bierbood infuses w...

Empat Lima - "Climbing Clouds," a 2021 self-released single. Australian-based trio Empat Lima were influenced by 1960s girl groups from South East Asia, particularly Surabaya-based 1960s all-female garage rock band Dara Puspita. (They even cover their 1967 single "Au Go Go" on their debut EP Satu BOOM! .) "Although they are amazing musicians, it is the energy and spirit of their sound that capture...

Wastewomxn - "Natural Ones" from the 2020 self-released album Wastewomxn. A self-described "queer transatlantic Afro-Asia band," Wastewomxn was formed by Adedamola Bajomo (London), Tobi Adebajo (Essex), and Kyoko Takenaka (Los Angeles). On their self-titled debut album, they craft soulful songs, infusing R&B, punk, gospel, and hip-hop. In an interview with Color Bloq , Takenaka explains the cu...

Lionmilk - "Pastel Memories" from the 2021 album I Hope You Are Well on Leaving Records. As we say at KEXP, " music heals ," and with his latest album I Hope You Are Well , Los Angeles-based musician Moki Kawaguchi — who records as Lionmilk — sought to send comfort to his family and friends during the stressful early stage of the pandemic with his home-dubbed cassettes filled with soot...

No-No Boy - "The Best God Damn Band in Wyoming" from the 2021 album 1975 on Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. On his sophomore album, 1975 , musician/historian Julian Saporiti (recording as No-No Boy ) aims to share the stories of Asian musicians in American folk music, as part of his Ph. D dissertation at Brown University. As the child of a Vietnamese emigrant, who escaped here after her grandfath...

Hiperson - "Crashing Into Daylight" from the 2020 album Bildungsroman on Maybe Mars Records. Hiperson formed in 2015 when its members were students at the Sichuan Conservatory of Music in Chengdu, China. Since then, the post-punk quintet have graduated to their most sophisticated release yet, their third album Bildungsroman , which was released last year.  Their latest is a concept album abou...

Morningwhim - "Talking to Myself," a 2020 single on Miles Apart Records. Japanese indiepop quartet Morningwhim were so inspired by Brooklyn band The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart, that not only do they share a similar buoyant, charming style, but they even used the same artist on their album covers, Winston Szeto Chmielinski, who painted The Pains' 2001 album Belong , and now the artwork for today'...

本日休演 (Honjitsu Kyuen) - "Allergies" from the 2021 album MOOD on Mastard Records. With their fourth full-length MOOD , Kyoto-formed/Tokyo-based band 本日休演 (Honjitsu Kyuen) continue to mix and meld genres, a skill clearly demonstrated on today's Song of the Day which started out as an homage to Prince, adds touches of traditional Japanese folk, and then goes into a rap.  "When I listen t...

 파란노을 (Parannoul) - "아름다운 세상 (Beautiful World)" from the 2021 album To See the Next Part of the Dream on POCLANOS. “ I just hope there will be more active losers like me in the world,” South Korea-based shoegaze musician Parannoul says in the description of his sophomore album, To See The Next Part of the Dream . A self-described student writing music in his bedroom, Par...

Kylie V - "On My Mind" from the 2021 self-released album Big Blue. Singer/songwriter Kylie Van Slyke — who records as Kylie V — has been active in the Vancouver music scene since the age of 14. Their 2018 debut EP, Lotus Eater , was recorded on their iPhone. Now at age 17, their debut full-length, Big Blue , is a more sophisticated affair. Van Slyke recruited Sound Fountain (aka engine...

Flock of Dimes - "Price of Blue" from the 2021 album Head of Roses on Sub Pop. Wye Oak's Jenn Wasner returned to her solo project Flock Of Dimes for an album about heartbreak, titled Head of Roses . In a press release, she explains, "Part of the journey for me has been learning to take responsibility for the parts of things that are mine, even when I’m in a lot of pain through some behavior...

Anjimile - "In Your Eyes" from the 2020 album Giver Taker on Father/Daughter Records. On his debut album, Giver Taker , Boston-based musician Anjimile was inspired by “faith, addiction, and [their] own transition.” Today's Song of the Day examines the unfair perceptions of others, with Anjimile explaining in a press release, “This is another song about grappling with homophobia a...

Miss Grit - "Grow Up To" from the 2021 self-released album Impostor. Under the moniker of " Miss Grit ", songwriter Margaret Sohn explores the struggles of “impostor syndrome” on her aptly-titled EP Impostor . Self-produced at Brooklyn’s Virtue and Vice Studios, Impostor reflects on Sohn masking her half-Korean heritage in the predominantly white suburbs of her hometown in Michig...