In Our Headphones

Latest Episodes:

Ukhoikhoi - Abathembu Jan 04, 2023

Show notes

Ukhoikhoi - “Abathembu” from the 2022 Nongqawuse EP on Next Movement

More than just a musical duo, uKhoiKhoi call themselves a "a live looping, musical performance art showpiece." Hailing from Johannesburg, South Africa, the group is comprised of musician/composer Yogin Sullaphen and vocalist Anelisa Stuurman. Their band name pays tribute to their shared KhoiSan heritage, an indigenous tribe said to be the first inhabitants of southern Africa. By combining operatic elements with chanting and poetry, they create a unique Afro-Futuristic sound they call "indigenous-electro."

Read the full story at KEXP.org

Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Little Simz - Angel Jan 03, 2023

Show notes

Little Simz - “Angel” from the 2022 album NO THANK YOU on Forever Living Originals.

With her latest single "Angel," London-based artist Little Simz continues to pay tribute to her friend Harry Uzoka, who was murdered in 2018.

"Harry listenin’ from Heaven on repeat/
He was backin’ it when nobody believed"

She previously wrote about Uzoka with her 2019 song "Wounds" off the album GREY Area. As she told The Guardian at the time, "“I remember waking up, Googling, trying to find out as many details as I could and going to the studio in bits. I sat in the dark in tears and I didn’t go on socials to see everyone posting ‘RIP’ – and because I didn’t do that, I was able to write 'Wounds.'”

Today's Song of the Day not only finds Little Simz continuing to process her grief, but also struggling with the music industry, as she notes on the couplet:

"They don’t care if your mental is on the brink of somethin’ dark/
As long as your cuttin’ somebody’s payslip"

A ten-minute short film was released to accompany her latest LP NO THANK YOU. Watch that below, along with her 2021 Live on KEXP at Home session.

Read the full story at KEXP.org

Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Contour - Hearing Voices Jan 02, 2023

Show notes

Contour – “Hearing Voices” from the 2022 album Onwards! on Touching Bass Limited.

Recording under the name Contour, Khari Lucas combines tradition and technology into his sophomore full-length Onwards!, using both archival material and atmospheric production to weave together influences of jazz, soul, psych, and hip-hop.

In a press statement, he offers, "The record exists as a bridge in conversation between today’s artists and art of the past which offered potential ways to navigate the world that we’re in; personally or on a larger scale."

He explains that today's Song of the Day “explores the relationship between our conditions of living and working and how we process or fail to process them," adding, it's about "our connection to intuition.”

Read the full story at KEXP.org

Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Stas THEE Boss - DON'T CRASH Dec 30, 2022

Show notes

Stas THEE Boss is no stranger to KEXP. The former host of our station’s beloved weekly hip-hop show, Street Sounds, Stas has been a fixture of Seattle since she emerged as part of the duo THEE Satisfaction. Though Stas has since moved away, her sound, influence, and ingenuity can still be felt reverberating in Seattle. The rapper and producer has been busy dropping singles the past couple of years following 2020’s immaculate On the Quarner. “Don’t Crash” finds Stas steeped in deep house, capturing the feeling of blurry, 4 a.m. euphoria on the dancefloor. As always, Stas’ voice is the smooth tether holding you down. It’s an exciting new dimension to her ever-expanding sounds and ideas in her catalog.

Get to know more about Stas KEXP’s Fresh off the Spaceship podcast.

Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nick Hakim - Vertigo Dec 29, 2022

Show notes

Nick Hakim - “Vertigo” from the 2022 album COMETA on ATO / PIAS.

Nick Hakim has been making amorphous psych-soul since 2014 that hones in on his gorgeous buttery smooth croons. Just since 2020, he’s released three projects, 2020’s WIl This Make Me Good, a collaborative record with jazz saxophonist Roy Nathanson, Small Things, in 2021, and, most recently, the intimately stunning COMETA.

Featuring appearances by Alex G, Helado Negro, Arto Lindsay, and DJ Dahl, with co-production from indie’s go-to guy Andrew Sarlo, COMETA is a collection of romantic songs written through different lenses, guided by Hakim’s own experience of falling in love in a way that made him feel like he was floating. This is best seen on our Song of the Day, “Vertigo,” in which Hakim is struck by the hypnotic feelings of falling in love. The tender track whirrs and sputters as Hakim coos, "Can't tell if it's me or the room that's moving."

“The key is to find that extremity of love for yourself,” he says of the romantic themes on the record. “It’s about growing into someone you want to be; it’s about finding pure love within yourself when the world around us seems to be crumbling.”

The song comes with a cinematic and perfectly-paired video by Asli Baykal shot at a real-life rotating house in Bosnia-Herzegovina built by Vojin Kusic for his wife, who desired a life where she could enjoy constantly-evolving views. Watch it and read the full post at KEXP.org.

Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dina Ögon - Oas Dec 28, 2022

Show notes

Dina Ögon - "Oas," a 2022 single on Playground Music Scandinavia.

Stockholm-based songwriter Dina Ögon captures the warmth of Laurel Canyon with her immaculate, soothing arrangements, and pristine vocals. After releasing her self-titled debut album in 2021, Ögon teases more of what’s to come with new single titled “Oas.” The title track from her forthcoming sophomore album on Feb. 3, 2023, the song is a breezy exhale as we reach the end of the year.

Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

SHIRT - Dave Chappelle Is Wrong (Beef With God) Dec 27, 2022

Show notes

SHIRT - "Dave Chappelle Is Wrong (Beef With God)" from the 2022 album I Turned Myself into Myself on Mello Music Group.

Queens-based artist Shirt carries many titles – rapper, conceptual artist, experimentalist. These are all titles that are easy to call yourself and harder to live up to. Shirt, of course, rises to the occasion. On his Bandcamp page he describes his latest album, I Turned Myself Into Myself, as “an album that understands that the devil’s greatest trick is mobilizing our collective fear, to render us catatonic and indifferent to so much possibility around us.” With that in mind, the opening track “Dave Chapelle Is Wrong (Beef With God)” comes out blazing without mincing his words. It’s a song that dares to up to our heroes and push for the right way forward.

Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

SAULT - Money Dec 26, 2022

Show notes

SAULT - "Money" from the 2022 album Today & Tomorrow on Forever Living Originals.

Ever-mysterious and always reliably great, SAULT capped off 2022 by dropping five albums simultaneously on Nov. 11. “Money” is a raucous standout from one of those album, Today & Tomorrow. While the whole album digs into the grittier side of the anonymous collective’s work, “Money” is the band at their most distorted and tenacious. It’s a punk rock squall to getting your due – mainly cold hard cash.

Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Zahara Elan - Dear Santa (NAUGHTY) Dec 23, 2022

Show notes

Zahara Elan - “Dear Santa…(NAUGHTY),” a 2022 self-released single.

This week, we are continuing a long-held tradition of featuring Christmas-themed songs selected by Brian Foss, host of KEXP’s punk show Sonic Reducer. He will be hosting his 18th annual Punk Rock Xmess on Saturday, December 24th from 9pm -12am and then jump back on the mic Christmas day from noon - 9pm for his no standards, non-traditional Christmas broadcast, including a special holiday edition of Sunday Soul.

Zahara Elan is a young musical prodigy who’s been posting her covers and, recently, original songs on YouTube the past couple of years. Born in 2008 with Malignant Infantile Osteopetrosis (MIOP), a very rare and fatal genetic bone disorder in which the bones grow unchecked, Zahara (formerly known as Zoe) required serious medical procedures to save her life. Early videos on her YouTube channel, made by her parents, focused entirely on her therapies and development but recently they’ve shifted to focus on her main passion: creating and performing music.

Her latest original song is, to put it lightly, an absolute banger. “Dear Santa…(NAUGHTY)” is, indeed, bawdy, with the Seattle-based pre-teen not holding back on the curse words. “Mind your fucking business,” Elan declares in one verse to the nosy and judgemental Saint Nick. But it’s the chorus that packs the biggest punch with, “WHAT THE FUCK, Santa?! /Don’t tell me to be good /I blow off steam from time to time /Because I’m misunderstood.” It’s about time someone gave Santa the middle finger.

Watch the adorably creative video for “Dear Santa…(NAUGHTY),” written, directed, filmed, and edited by Elan’s mother Kellie Newton, and read the full post at KEXP.org.

Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We Are the Union - Yr Always Alone (On Christmas) Dec 22, 2022

Show notes

We Are The Union - “Yr Always Alone (On Christmas)” from the 2022 album I Surrender Sleighs on I Surrender Records.

We Are The Union have been making ska-infused pop punk since 2005 with five full-length records to their name. After multiple lineup changes, original members vocalist/guitarist Reade Wolcott and bassist Brandon Benson have remained and added Ricky Weber on lead guitar and Jer Hunter on the ska-important trombone.

Their latest single “Yr Always Alone (On Christmas)” centers on the idea of loneliness and how especially excruciating the feeling is around the holidays. “Nuclear holiday /Oh, oh, oh, oh, detonate, set me free,” Wolcott sings with a nasally snarl. “Venom in your head, brandy on your breath /'Tis the season to be vile and mean.” The band had this to say about the song:

“Yr Always Alone (On Christmas)' is almost not a holiday song. It's a fairly cynical take on loneliness as a consequence of selfishness, but it's centered around Christmas as a focal point.”

The song was released on a compilation album of original, non-traditional Christmas songs via I Surrender Records titled I Surrender Sleighs. Watch the video for “Yr Always Alone (On Christmas),” directed by Rae Mystic, and read the full post at KEXP.org.

Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected