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Lucinda Williams - Man Without a Soul Apr 02, 2020

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Lucinda Williams - “Man Without a Soul” from the 2020 album Good Souls Better Angels on Highway 20/Thirty Tigers.

"All the money in the world / Will never fill that hole / You're a man bought and sold / You're a man without a soul"

Over the past 40 years, Lucinda Williams has built a name for herself with her vivid storytelling, which has earned her four Grammy Awards throughout her career. But her forthcoming full-length, Good Souls Better Angels, will "forgo the personal and narrative-based songcraft that has become synonymous with her name and instead speaks to some of the injustices permeating our society."

Today's Song of the Day perfectly illustrates this shift. And while she never directly names who the subject of the song is, it's not hard to guess who she's referring to.

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Archers of Loaf - Raleigh Days Apr 01, 2020

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Archers of Loaf - “Raleigh Days,” a 2020 single on Merge Records.

It's been over 20 years, but indie rock kings Archers of Loaf have returned with the single "Raleigh Days," their first new music since 1998's LP White Trash Heroes. Originally formed in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, in 1991, the band exploded on to the scene with their debut album Icky Mettle and the hit single "Web in Front", which landed them a highly-coveted appearance on MTV's Beavis & Butthead.

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Steve Earle & The Dukes - Devil Put the Coal in the Ground Mar 31, 2020

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Steve Earle & The Dukes - “Devil Put the Coal in the Ground” from the 2020 album Ghosts of West Virginia on New West Records.

In 2010, the Upper Big Branch coal mine in Raleigh County, West Virginia exploded, killing twenty-nine of the thirty-one miners present at the time. It's been called one of the worst mining disasters in American history. And it inspired the latest album from veteran singer/songwriter Steve Earle, titled Ghosts of West Virginia.

The project originated with the off-Broadway play Coal Country, written by playwrights Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen, who approached Earle to compose the score. While the play had to cancel its run in New York City due the coronavirus, Earle will release the songs as his 20th studio album on May 22nd via New West Records.

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Throwing Muses - Dark Blue Mar 30, 2020

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Throwing Muses - “Dark Blue” from the 2020 album Sun Racket on Fire Records.

Alt-rock icons Throwing Muses return with their first new album in seven years, the fiery tenth full-length Sun Racket, out September 4 via Fire Records. The group originally formed in the early '80s, with it's current line-up of Kristin Hersh, drummer David Narcizo, and bassist Bernard Georges holding steady since the '90s. Recording the new album brought everybody back together from their respective coasts.

“Sun Racket has always been geographical," Narcizo confirms in a press release. "...a transplanted southerner in New England crash landing in California. A West Coast sound at New England scale, dragged back down to the south where the elements got more aggressive but now with deeper roots.”

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The B-Band - Kavire Del Mar 27, 2020

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B-Band - "Kavire Del” from the 2013 self-released album Napichideh (Uncomplicated)

B-band formed in Tehran, Iran in 2009, combining alt-rock with Persian folklore. Dr. Nasim Niknafs, Assistant Professor of Music Education at the University of Toronto, points out in an interview with Ethnotes that "when you transliterate this name into Farsi, it has another meaning, which translates roughly to 'without any boundaries.' In addition, B-Band is the name of a guitar pickup company. One name, many layers!"

Today's featured track is a cover of the '70s-era single “Kavire Del” by Marjan, which itself was a cover of a French/Turkish song performed by Ajda Pekkan.

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Liraz - Zan Bezan Mar 26, 2020

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Liraz - “Zan Bezan” from the 2020 album Zan on Dead Sea Recordings

Liraz Charhi's family emigrated to Israel during the '70s at the brink of the Iranian Revolution. Nearly 50 years later, it's still a major influence in the music she writes under the name Liraz. "Music in Iran in the ’70s was characterized by resistance to traditional music and a desire to find a universal sound," she explained to the Haaretz Newspaper.

Today's Song of the Day translates to "Women, Sing" — it's a call to action for women to join her personal revolution. According to Liraz, "The fight for women’s freedom of expression is in my DNA."

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Bahram - Goosht Mar 25, 2020

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Bahram - “گوشت (Goosht)," a 2019 single on Peeleh Records

The Huffington Post declared him one of the "50 people shaping the culture of the Middle East." Bahram Nouraei — who records simply as Bahram — uses hip-hop to call out the current political climate of Iran. His breakout single was titled "Nameyee Be Rayees Jomhour" (translating to "A Letter to the President"), which openly criticized the sixth president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Bahram has since relocated to Stockholm, Sweden. Earlier this year, he launched today's featured track, titled “گوشت (Goosht),” produced by Peymandegar and featuring album artwork by Setareh Malekzadeh. On March 20th, he released a new EP titled Gozaar (Transition), out now via Peeleh.

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Salome MC - Odium Mar 24, 2020

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Salome MC - “Odium” from the 2017 self-released album Excerpts from Unhappy Consciousness

Salome MC is Iran's first female rapper, and her LP Excerpts from Unhappy Consciousness is the first full-length Persian hip-hop album produced by a woman. This is all the more impressive when you learn that in 2007, the Iranian government denounced rap, with the Ministry of Culture shutting down recording studios where these albums are made, raiding record stores where this music might be sold, blocking websites, and even arresting the artists themselves.

Released in 2017, Excerpts from Unhappy Consciousness is the culmination of two years work, said to be an "autobiographical concept album that explores a woman's journey in the light of Hegel's Unhappy Consciousness, with each track correlating to a stage of dialectical life of spirit."

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SarrSew - Farewell, Warden Mar 23, 2020

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SarrSew - "Farewell, Warden.” from the 2018 album Girih: Iranian Sound Artists on Zabte Sote

When Tehran-born, Paris-based artist Sara Bigdeli Shamloo isn’t recording as half of the duo 9T Antiope, she records solo under the name SarrSew.

While previous SarrSew tracks were composed for theatre and film (Shamloo was studying Theatre Directing at Tehran University before she dropped out), today’s Song of the Day marks her solo debut single, a haunting, somber chant sung in English over an eerie, yet meditative lullaby until it culminates in an erratic blur of feedback.

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Eyelids - The Accidental Falls Mar 20, 2020

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Eyelids - "The Accidental Falls" from the 2020 album The Accidental Falls on Jealous Butcher Records

When Larry Beckett offers up his lyrics to you, it's hard to say "no." Beckett was a long-time collaborator with legendary singer/songwriter Tim Buckley, and even wrote the lyrics to the now-iconic and heavily-covered 1969 single "Song to the Siren." He's also the father of the kid who's best friends with Chris Slusarenko's son, putting this creative connection into place. Slusarenko is a member of Portland supergroup Eyelids, which features members of The Decemberists, Guided by Voices, Elliott Smith, Quasi, and Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks.

Eyelids' latest album, The Accidental Falls, is a 13-song collection utilizing Beckett's lyrics, produced by fellow Portland resident, R.E.M.'s Peter Buck. For the title track, Beckett drew from the works of 18th and 19th century German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe for "probably the most rocking translation of Goethe's work to date."

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