In Our Headphones

Jupiter & Okwess - "You Sold Me a Dream (feat. Ana Tijoux)" from the 2021 album Na Kozonga on Everloving Records. Congolese band Jupiter & Okwess team up with Chilean artist Ana Tijoux for an infectious track with a powerful message, a song Jupiter declared an "anthem of resistance." Against an electronic tribal rhythm, Tijoux states: [Google translated] From Congo to the world From Congo...

Team Dreams - "Imaginary Love," a 2021 self-released single. One of the (many) highlights of our 2018 Iceland Airwaves Music Festival broadcast was the appearance of Icelandic supergroup Team Dreams , a project of longtime friends Sin Fang (aka Sindri Már Sigfússon), Sóley , and Örvar Smárason . (We're going to assume they landed on the band name "Team Dreams," eve...

serpentwithfeet - "Fellowship (feat. Sampha & Lil Silva)" from the 2021 album DEACON on Secretly Canadian. Earlier this year , Los Angeles-via-Baltimore artist serpentwithfeet announced his sophomore album, DEACON , out March 26 via Secretly Canadian. In a press release, he explains that the new LP is "not only imagining but exploring a world wherein Black love is paramount." On today's Song o...

Corvair - "Sailor Down" from the 2021 album Corvair on Where It’s At Is Where You Are. KEXP is a listener-funded nonprofit, and we need your help to keep creating podcasts like this one. Donate to our Spring Drive today ! Portland duo Corvair made the most of quarantine by turning out their self-titled debut while on lockdown. The two had recorded plenty of times with their previous bands &m...

GHLOW - "Not Fit For This" from the 2021 album Slash and Burn on PNKSLM. KEXP is a listener-funded nonprofit, and we need your help to keep creating podcasts like this one. Donate to our Spring Drive today ! When electro-punk project GHLOW named their debut album Slash and Burn , they meant it. The Russian-Swedish duo sought to capture the intensity of their live performances on the new LP. &ldquo...

The Antlers - "Solstice" from the 2021 album Green to Gold on ANTI-. KEXP is a listener-funded nonprofit, and we need your help to keep creating podcasts like this one. Donate to our Spring Drive today ! Brooklyn duo The Antlers return later this month with their first new album in seven years, titled Green to Gold . Frontman Peter Silberman describes the LP in a press release as "Sunday morning m...

春ねむり (Haru Nemuri) - "bang," a 2021 single on TO3S. KEXP is a listener-funded nonprofit, and we need your help to keep creating podcasts like this one. Donate to our Spring Drive today ! Japanese artist Haru Nemuri (春 ねむり) (real name: Haruna Kimishima) is an alchemist, combining J-Pop with hip-hop, electronica, and noise. She calls today's Song of the Day a "prayer," inspired after the ele...

Bicep - "Sundial" from the 2021 album Isles on Ninja Tune. KEXP is a listener-funded nonprofit, and we need your help to keep creating podcasts like this one. Donate to our Spring Drive today ! London-based electronic duo Bicep dig into their Northern Ireland childhoods on their latest LP Isles, and today's Song of the Day takes us from Ireland to India. Belfast-born producers Matt McBriar and And...

Jessica Manning - "Safe Another Day" from the 2021 self-released You Are Here EP. Raised by a father who loved singing soul, Minneapolis-based R&B artist Jessica Manning grew up with a love for music and would sing Broadway show tunes in the privacy of her childhood bedroom. By the age of 15, she began playing guitar, posting covers (and sometimes an original!) on YouTube.  She's come a l...

Khingz (Over The World) x Ujjy - "Rainy Morning," a 2021 self-released single. Seattle hip-hop veteran Khingz teams up with Canadian artist Ujjy on this touching track, written during a dark time. Khingz states on his Bandcamp , he "wrote this when I did not know when I would see my son again and the world was heavy on my shoulders."  Khingz broke out as a battle emcee in the early 2000s, nam...

Felicia Douglass - "Continuation," a 2021 self-released single. Felicia Douglass 's voice is all around us: not only is she a solo artist, she's also a member of Ava Luna, Gemma, and Dirty Projectors; and she has lent her gorgeous vocals to Lushlife, BAILE, Toro y Moi, Helado Negro, and others. "There was a point a few years ago where I was like, 'Okay, I feel like I'm in too many bands,'" the Bro...

King Khazm - "Superpowerz (feat. Kane Smego & Jessica Care Moore)" from the 2021 album Pangea: Hip Hop Heals on MADK Productions. King Khazm has a long history as an emcee, artist, and community organizer in Seattle's underground hip-hop scene, and with the compilation Pangea: Hip Hop Heals , he gathers 50 emcees, producers, DJs, and artists representing 17 countries to share their perspective...

Farhot - "Yak Sher" from the 2021 album Kabul Fire Vol. 2 on Kabul Fire Records. “This is one of my goals,” hip-hop producer Farhot (real name: Farhad Samadzada) told Acclaim , “to help make Afghanistan a little bit more seen.” It's been seven years since the release of Kabul Fire Vol. 1 , and with the follow-up, he wanted to continue to celebrate his birthplace. "When it w...

Bad Colours - “Feelin' Like (feat. Jarv Dee)” from the 2021 album Pink on Bastard Jazz Recordings. London-born, Maryland-raised, Brooklyn-based DJ, songwriter, producer, and instrumentalist Ibe Soliman (aka Bad Colours ) was inspired by lockdown to record a debut album, using rough ideas and samples that friends sent him to spur on new ideas. One of the samples he used was from Seattle...

Jeff Parker - "Build a Nest (feat. Ruby Parker)" from the 2020 album Suite for Max Brown on International Anthem. With his 2016 album The New Breed , guitarist Jeff Parker paid tribute to his Dad, who passed away while he was recording it. With his latest release, Suite For Max Brown , he wanted to dedicate something to his Mom while she was still alive to hear it. "Maxine Brown is her maiden name...

Madison McFerrin - "Hindsight," a 2020 single on Mexican Summer. Brooklyn-based artist Madison McFerrin says she wrote today's Song of the Day as “a love letter to Bernie Sanders.” She explained the inspiration for the track to Afropunk.com : It was back in May when it was clear that both A) this pandemic wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon, and B) Bernie Sanders, the only Democra...

Navy Blue - "224" from the 2020 album Song of Sage: Post Panic! on Freedom Sounds. Skateboarder/graphic designer/streetwear model Sage Elsesser explores his musical side under the alias Navy Blue . Last year's full-length, Àdá Irin , was a confident debut (read KEXP's Martin Douglas' review here ), and less than a year later, he returned with his sophomore album, Song of Sage: Post P...

Gary Bartz, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Adrian Younge - "Spiritual Ideation" from the 2020 album Gary Bartz JID006 on Jazz is Dead. Last year, Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad (of A Tribe Called Quest) launched the label and series Jazz Is Dead, where the duo pair up with a legendary jazz musician, recording new music using the vintage studio equipment that artist originally used in their discogra...

Dark Time Sunshine - "Familiars" from the 2021 album LORE on Fake Four Inc. Dark Time Sunshine combines the talents of Seattle's own Onry Ozzborn (of Grayskul and Oldominion) and Chicago producer Zavala. It's been nine years since their last album, ANX , but they return this month with Lore.  While the lyrics on the new album mostly reflect on trauma and recovery, today's Song of the Day look...

Yazmin Lacey & Congi - "Follow Me" from the 2020 self-released Two Takes EP. Nottingham-based duo Congi have teamed up again with vocalist Yazmin Lacey for another soulful set of R&B jams. Their latest EP, titled Two Takes , is the result of just that: the artists did everything from home — "production and songwriting to the recording and mixing." Then, they kept things minimal in th...

Grove - "Ur Boyfriend's Wack," a 2021 single on Memorials of Distinction x Spinny Nights. Bristol-based producer Grove celebrates their "queerness" in today's Song of the Day. In a press release, they claim the song is “part satire about wack boyfriends who do The Bare Minimum, part informed by the experience of rejecting my own sexuality when younger. It is a steezy reclaiming of pride in t...

Jasik - "Black Sands" from the 2021 album Forest of Spirit on Preference Records. Pianist/producer Jamael Dean is only in his early 20s, but he already boasts a lengthy discography, both as Jira >< and, for his rap/spoken word material, as Jasik , a combination of "jah", the creator, and "seek," as in, a disciple or student. He uses this alias "for writing," he explains, "to pay homage to th...

SPELLLING - "Secret Thread" from the 2019 album Mazy Fly on Sacred Bones Records. Oakland-based artist Tia Cabral, who records under the name Spellling , found inspiration for today's Song of the Day in both a children's book and her dog. She told Culture Collide : I remember reading this book called Brown Angels . It’s a little book of poetry, and it has these old photos of black kids just...

Jason McCue - "First Time," a 2021 single on Fluff and Gravy Records. Back in 2017, Seattle singer/songwriter Jason McCue won the annual Sound Off! competition at MoPop, stunning audiences with his solo performance on acoustic guitar. Since then, he's grown as an artist, evidenced by his most recent releases  WASTELAND and  PANGAEA . Today, our Song of the Day is his latest sin...

The Lounge Society - "Burn the Heather," a 2020 single on Speedy Wunderground. Last year, Yorkshire-based band The Lounge Society released their debut single, which ended up being the fastest-selling 7” on their label Speedy Wunderground. The teenage quartet returned back in November with today's Song of the Day.  “‘Burn the Heather’ is a song deeply rooted in where we...