A Deeper Listen

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White Lotus Actor Michael Imperioli on Lou Reed, Buddhism, and Antiquity Jul 29, 2025

Show notes

Michael Imperioli, the actor known for his roles in The Sopranos and The White Lotus, is also the guitarist of a three-piece indie band called Zopa. Their latest album, Diamond Vehicle, came out in early 2025.

KEXP’s Martin Douglas spoke with Imperioli about how he started playing music, the influence of Buddhism in his songwriting, and his fondness of The Beatles, Lou Reed, and The Smiths.

“When you play with people for a long time, hopefully something gels,” Imperioli says of Zopa’s music. “It took a while to get there, but I’m happy with how it came out.”

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photo by Kayla Rocca

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Bonus: Wu-Tang’s Final Chamber Jul 24, 2025

Show notes

July 18, 2025 was the last day of Wu-Tang Clan’s farewell concert tour, The Final Chamber. One of their stops was at Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena, where KEXP’s Dusty Henry, Martin Douglas, and Larry Mizell, Jr. rapped alongside thousands of fans. We recap the concert and pay tribute to the group’s decades-long legacy.

“Wu-Tang Clan is our generation’s equivalent of the Beatles — it’s not even close,” Martin asserts in the conversation. “They basically created an entirely new style out of an existing form of music. They wrapped up this whole mythology inside of it, from the use of samples to the aliases to, of course, the logo.”

Photo Credit: Kyle Christy

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Marlon Williams Amplifies Te Reo Maori in Dynamic New Album Jul 22, 2025

Show notes

Marlon Williams, singer-songwriter from New Zealand, uses his deep vibrato on more than a dozen new original songs written entirely in the Indigenous language Te Reo Maori. It was a years-long endeavor, with songs featuring collaborators like KOMMI and Lorde.

KEXP contributor Celine Teo-Blockey spoke with Williams in Sydney, Australia last month. He was attending the premiere of the album’s accompanying documentary, Marlon Williams: Ngā Ao E Rua – Two Worlds.

“A big goal for the record was to see what Maori is capable of across different musical worlds,” Williams says in the interview. “Where can this language prove itself? Having now made this record, this makes me want to push it into other areas, too. It feels like a real starting point, not a finish.”

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Artificial Go Answers a Toddler’s Burning Questions Jul 15, 2025

Show notes

Cincinnati-based trio Artificial Go released their sophomore album, Musical Chairs, in May 2025. Their blend of post-punk riffs, danceable rhythms, and faux British accents has made them one of the most exciting groups on the scene. During their live shows, singer Angie Willcut wears a marching band uniform and literally marches around the audience. Their patently unserious attitude is exactly what we need right now.

KEXP’s Dusty Henry teams up with his 3-year-old daughter to drill down on the big themes in this music project.

“My favorite color is red,” Willcut asserts in the interview. “If I did drive a convertible, I would want red because every day I like to wear the color red, so the convertible would match all my outfits.” When pressed, Willcut added: “Periwinkle wouldn’t match my red outfits as well.”

Photo Credit: Paul L Carter

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Bonus: “Waiting for Britney Spears” and Jeff Weiss’ Surrealistic Account of Pop Stardom (Allegedly) Jul 10, 2025

Show notes

Music journalist Jeff Weiss recently wrote a book titled Waiting for Britney Spears, documenting the pop stars rise and fall from the public eye. But the book isn’t a historical account, it’s an “allegedly true” story that blurs fact and fiction, putting Weiss himself in the middle of the action. His writing takes a playful tabloid-style tone — a commentary on the tabloid-style news that moved her story along and his own experience working in that industry.

KEXP’s Martin Douglas talked with Weiss about how Britney Spears not only influenced modern music, but also symbolized a collective loss of innocence among millennials.

“I wanted to tell the story of the death of the millennial American dream,” Weiss says in the interview. “Who more symbolic than Britney Spears? She was such a martyr for our cultural sins in so many respects. All the themes that Britney Spears embodies, we’re still grappling with in the eye of pop culture today."

Photo Credit: Krista Schlueter

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Sea Lemon’s Shoegaze Captivates Ben Gibbard, Seattle, and Beyond Jul 08, 2025

Show notes

Natalie Lew, also known as Sea Lemon, released her debut album Diving for a Prize in June 2025 on Luminelle Recordings. Across 12 songs, reverb-heavy guitars wash underneath vocals that allude to made-up stories and unhealthy obsessions. For example, “Stay” draws inspiration from the real-life antics of an elderly security guard at a thrift store while “Rear View” pulls from Lew’s original fiction about a naive baseball player’s failing career. She proudly likens her sound to shoegaze pioneers Cocteau Twins.

KEXP’s Roddy Nikpour talks with Sea Lemon about launching her music career in New York and moving back to her hometown of Seattle. She has since opened for American Football in two sold-out shows and collaborated with Northwest music legend Ben Gibbard — all within five years of picking up a guitar for the first time.

“I was an insanely big Death Cab fan as a kid,” Lew says in the interview. “Ben reached out to me over Instagram. Somehow, he had found my music outside of realizing the fact that I was in Seattle. Then we played a show together, and we did a song together, ‘Crystals,’ which was the first song that I recorded for my album. It all came together so funnily, and it felt like the smallest world.”

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Photo Credit: Rachel Bennett

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Meet Carl the Collector, the PBS Kids Show with “Synth and Soul" Jul 01, 2025

Show notes

Max Perla and Vincent John make up Eraserhood Sound, the duo that scores the animated PBS Kids series Carl the Collector. In the spirit of Vince Guaraldi’s signature sound in Peanuts cartoons, show creator Zach Ohora says that Eraserhood’s “synth and soul” formula provides the perfect soundscape for the everyday happenings of an autistic raccoon and his neurodiverse friend group in Fuzzytown.

KEXP’s Roddy Nikpour spoke with Perla, John, and Ohora to learn more about the show, their shared interest in collecting vinyl, and how their pride as fellow Philadelphia-based artists led them to creating the show’s low-stimulus soundtrack.

“You know that opening scene from Reservoir Dogs when they’re walking down the alleyway?” Ohora says in the interview, describing one of the music cues. “It’s like that for four-year-olds. It’s like, ‘This is my gang that I want to hang out with, and they’re the cutest, nicest, fuzziest animals.’”

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“Youth Revolution Now”: Sharp Pins on Chicago’s DIY Scene Jun 24, 2025

Show notes

Sharp Pins is the solo project of 20-year-old Kai Slater, who also runs a zine called Hallogallo. Based in Chicago, he started the zine during the height of the coronavirus pandemic as a teenager, overwhelmed and frustrated with a life dominated by screens. So, both his music and zine are analog, made with tape recorders, photo copiers, and type writers. KEXP’s Dusty Henry talks with Slater about his music and the thriving DIY scene in Chicago.

“The way that you remain young is by staying in touch with your creative side,” Slater says in the interview. “If I were to stop that, I would surely die,” he adds with a chuckle.

Sharp Pins’s album Radio DDR came out March, 21 2025 on Perennial Records.

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photo by Jolie M-A

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Outer Spaceways Incorporated Honors Sun Ra’s Cosmic Legacy Jun 17, 2025

Show notes

The Kronos Quartet — founded in Seattle, now based in San Francisco — has shaped modern classical music for more than 50 years. Their 2024 album Outer Spaceways Incorporated reimagines the work of the trailblazing American jazz pianist, Sun Ra, featuring covers and collaborations with artists like Jlin, Armand Hammer, and others. In addition to recorded testimonials from Laraaji, Georgia Anne Muldrow, and longtime Arkestra leader Marshall Allen, KEXP’s Larry Mizell, Jr. spoke with one of the Kronos Quartet’s founding members, David Harrington.
“The more I’ve learned of Sun Ra, the more I’ve realized we’re like brothers or something,” Harrington laughs in the interview. “The question I have been asking all these years is: What’s next? What can music be that it hasn’t been so far? How might I become a better musician? How might I learn more about the world through music, with music, because of music?”
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photo via Impulse! Records and ABC/Dunhill Records

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The Revival of Panchiko, a '90s “Lostwave” Band Jun 10, 2025

Show notes

Owain Davies received a message from a stranger in 2020 asking if he might have been the singer of a band called Panchiko more than two decades ago. As it turns out, he was — but they never put their music online. They just had seven demo tracks on CDs, but Panchiko never really broke out of their scene in central England at the time.

Fast forward to 2025: Panchiko is back in action with their second album since the band’s revival, Ginkgo, out on Nettwerk Music Group. Now, thanks to a devoted fanbase, Panchiko is embarking on a tour to play in front of thousands of people. KEXP’s Roddy Nikpour spoke with Davies and his bandmate Andy Wright about being “rediscovered.”

“Just say yes to opportunities — I almost didn’t,” Davies says in the interview. “Because we said yes to a simple thing of, ‘Yeah, we’ll start talking to you about this weird album you’ve discovered,’ it led to this. Try things out. You never know where it’ll go.”

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Photo Credit: Adam Alonzo

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