In Our Headphones

Los Blenders - "Perdidos En Pantitlan" from the 2020 album Mazunte 2016 on Devil in the Woods. KEXP has been enamoured with Mexico City's Los Blenders since their 2015 debut album Chavos Bien . (Check out their infectious garage-punk in this 2016 KEXP session .) On their forthcoming full-length Mazunte 2016 , out September 25th via Devil in the Woods, the rambunctious quartet bring a new maturity...

Ghetto Kumbé - "Vamo a Dale Duro" from the 2020 album Ghetto Kumbé on ZZK Records. Ghetto Kumbé take inspiration from their hometown of Bogotá, capital city of Colombia and just a quick flight from the Caribbean coast, infusing Afro-Colombian rhythms with modernized interpretations of dancehall, rumba, and traditional chants and call-and-response vocals. “I think...

Marilina Bertoldi - "Fumar de Dia" from the 2018 album Prender un Fuego on Pelo Music S.A. Argentinan artist Marilina Bertoldi got her start as the frontwoman for the hard rockin' group Connor Questa, but since going solo in 2012, she's been exploring a range of sounds, landing the Best Rock Album of the Year award at the 2016 Latin Grammy Awards for her album Sexo Con Modelos . On her most recent...

Lo Tom - "Start Payin'," from the 2020 self-released album LP2. Back in 2017, David Bazan and TW Walsh of Pedro the Lion teamed up with Trey Many and Jason Martin of Starflyer 59 to create Lo Tom , whose self-titled debut combined all the things we love about each of their respective bands: melodic, ‘90s-influenced rock, heavy with guitar riffs.  As the band said themselves, "We had fun...

Kelly Lee Owens - "On" from the 2020 album Inner Song on Smalltown Supersound. On her sophomore album, Inner Song , Welsh artist Kelly Lee Owens explores what she calls “the hardest three years of my life,” allowing her grief and sadness to express itself through her lush production work and her thoughtful lyrics.  As reported in a recent episode of the Song Exploder podcast, toda...

Æ MAK - "i dance in the kitchen (feat. Seba Safe)," a 2020 self-released single. Irish artist Æ Mak (real name: Aoife McCann) has always brought an infectious energy to her work. (Who can forget her dynamic performance at KEXP's 2019 Iceland Airwaves broadcast?) And now she brings that vivacity to the culinary with her new single "i dance in the kitchen," a sneak peek at her forthcomin...

Loraine James - "Don't You See It (feat. Jonnine)" from the 2020 Nothing EP on Hyperdub. Throughout the pandemic, London-based producer Loraine James has exercised her creativity, sharing demos and songs that didn't make the cut for her acclaimed 2019 album For You & I , releasing the remix EP Bangers and Mash , and, in July, releasing the five-track EP Hmm , with songs titled "Ahh," "Erm," an...

Rose City Band - "Only Lonely" from the 2020 album Summerlong on Thrill Jockey. Portland-based musician Ripley Johnson returns with his project, the appropriately-titled Rose City Band , the latest addition to his musical resume that also includes Moon Duo and Wooden Shjips. While the "band" name might allude to a larger outfit, the Rose City Band is more of a solo endeavor for Johnson, with just...

Jupiter & Okwess - "Na Kozonga," a 2020 single on Everloving Records. The phrase "Na Kozonga" translates to "the return" in the Congolese language of Lingala, and that's what Jupiter & Okwess was looking forward to after the 180-date worldwide tour promoting their 2017 album Kin Sonic : returning home. The song is dedicated to bandleader Jupiter Bokondji's father, who passed away recently,...

Noga Erez - "NO News on TV," a 2020 single on City Slang. With today's Song of the Day, Tel-Aviv based artist Noga Erez teams up with her partner Ori Rousso to reflect on the COVID-19 pandemic. In a press statement, she shares:  "This song was written during a period where I had more time than I've had in a decade. I was able to sit down and work my ass off on new music without any emails dis...

Fantastic Negrito - "How Long?" from the 2020 album Have You Lost Your Mind Yet? on Cooking Vinyl. With his past two albums, soulful singer/songwriter Fantastic Negrito (real name: Xavier Amin Dphrepaulezz) won Best Contemporary Blues Album at the Grammy Awards, and with his latest LP, Have You Lost Your Mind Yet? , he's poised for a hat-trick. On his new album, Negrito says, "I wanted to write ab...

Arlo Parks - "Hurt," a 2020 single on Transgressive Records. London-based poet and artist Arlo Parks understands the pain of the pandemic, sharing the new single "Hurt" to commiserate with listeners. The soulful jam provides a hypnotic groove to showcase Parks' warm vocals and reassuring lyrics.  “‘Hurt’ surrounds the possibility of healing from pain and the temporary nature...

Naked Giants - "Take A Chance" from the 2020 album The Shadow on New West Records. Seattle trio Naked Giants return this month with their sophomore album The Shadow , an album they say is "much more honest" than their 2018 debut full-length SLUFF .  “We’ve come to realize that the path to becoming a better person and bringing positivity into the world isn’t always linear, an...

Widowspeak - "Even True Love" from the 2020 album Plum on Captured Tracks. On their fifth full-length Plum , Brooklyn band Widowspeak continue to craft a dreamy folk-pop sound, punctuated by vocalist (and former Tacoma, WA native) Molly Hamilton's serenely-sweet vocals. In a press release, Hamilton shared: "Prior to writing “Even True Love,” I’d been sitting with some existential...

Songhoy Blues - "Worry" from the 2020 album Optimisme on Fat Possum Records. Malian rock band Songhoy Blues have entranced us with their modern take on traditional West African music since their 2015 debut album Music In Exile . And now, in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the band have released their first song ever sung entirely in English. In an interview with KEXP , vocalist Aliou Tour&ea...

TARA - "Oceans," a 2020 self-released single. Even though they've only been together for a few years, Brooklyn quintet TARA have quickly coalesced their different musical backgrounds into the cohesive shoegaze-influenced sound they've displayed on the handful of singles they've released so far, including today's featured track "Oceans."  After relocating to New York from California, guitarist...

Eep - "Hogar" from the 2020 self-released album Death of a Very Good Machine. With the song "Hogar," 52-year-old musician Rosie Varela launched a lifelong dream. Though she's been writing songs for over twenty years, it wasn't until she wrote this love song for her husband that she reached out to Ross Ingram, who owns Brainville Studios in Sunland Park, New Mexico. “I asked him if he thought...

Cumulus & Little Wins - "Doorway," a 2020 self-released single. Little Wins is the solo project of songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Andrew Vait, also of Seattle duo SISTERS. And Cumulus is the songwriting project of Seattle's own Alexandra Niedzialkowski. Before Vait moved away to California, the two teamed up to create this song. "This song is about no-one and everyone; a collage of all the p...

Pure X - "Angels of Love" from the 2020 album Pure X on Fire Talk Records. It's been six years, but Austin-based band Pure X have returned with their fourth full-length, their first since 2014's Angel . The new self-titled release was written over the past three years with band members working on their parts remotely from their respective homes before reuniting to record live over six days in the...

HÆLOS - "Unknown Melody," a 2020 single on Æ Recordings. London electronic quartet HÆLOS return with a new single, released via their own Æ imprint. “We found ourselves reminiscing about some mid-’00s electro releases and feeling a nostalgia for those early trips,” says band member Dom Goldsmith, who also produced the track. “Writing ‘Unknown M...

Anna Kaneelina - "Lilledes" from the 2019 album Anna Kaneelina on Erik Lindström Music. With the release of her debut album last year, Tallinn-based singer-songwriter Anna Kaneelina swept the 2020 Estonian Music Awards, winning Female Artist of the Year, Album of the Year, Alternative/Indie Album of the Year, and the Debut Album of the Year. A self-proclaimed "urban witch", Kaneelina combines...

박혜진 Park Hye Jin - "Beautiful" from the 2020 How Can I EP on Ninja Tune. On her sophomore EP How Can I , DJ/producer/rapper 박혜진 Park Hye Jin continues to expand on the dreamy production style she introduced with her 2018 debut If U Want It while expanding into heavier house sounds, pulsing with energy.  Originally from Seoul and now based in L.A., Park has expanded her sonic palette, bu...

Candace - "Still Phase" from the 2020 self-released album Ideal Corners. Portland dream-pop band Candace have had a long journey to their latest album, titled Ideal Corners . Originally formed in 2009 in Minneapolis under the moniker Is/Is, the trio released an EP and a 7" single until drummer Mara Appel Des Lauriers relocated from the midwest to Portland. Remaining band members Sarah Rose (bass/v...

Dylan Cartlidge - "Yellow Brick Road," a 2020 single on Glassnote/AWAL. “I’m this kid who’s from a place you’ve probably never heard of, who has a weird background and a weird musical journey. And yet I'm being able to hold my own in my industry.” So says newcomer Dylan Cartlidge , a 23-year-old songwriter who combines rock and rap in a way that's garnered him compari...

Blimes and Gab - "Baptism" from the 2020 album Talk About It on B.A.G. Enterprises. Over the past few years, Seattle's own Gifted Gab and San Francisco-based artist Blimes Brixton have been teasing our ears with a handful of singles (like their 2017 breakthrough track “Come Correct”), but earlier this summer, they finally released their debut full-length album, Talk About It . &nb...