In Our Headphones

The KVB - "Labyrinths," a 2024 single on Invada Records UK

Manchester coldwave duo The KVB share the lead single off their forthcoming full-length, Tremors, to be released April 5th via Invada Records. Band members Nicholas Wood and Kat Day describe today's Song of the Day as "the most aggressive track on the album and a nod to some of our early releases." They add, "Lyrically, it was inspired by the collection of short stories by Jorge Luis Borges and its references to historical subjectivity; the flexibility of truth and construction of narratives."

They describe the new album as "dystopian pop," noting that they've "expanded on previous album themes of dystopia, apocalypse, and the human condition, but with a more pessimistic outlook and deeper distrust than before. It also touches on themes of loss, and the resistance, lament and acceptance of inevitable change.”

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Day Soul Exquisite - "Mosaic" from the 2024 album Sanguine & Cardamom on La fem Records

Seattle-based, QTBIPOC-ledsextetDay Soul Exquisite released their debut EP last month viaLa fem Records, an indie label founded by the band's vocalist/guitarist Francesca Eluhu. Today's Song of the Day is, indeed, a work of art, pieced together byJosh Pehrson's gentle percussion,Lillian Minke Tahar's hypnotic keyboard riff, andSeboulisa's soulful vocals, just to name a few of the elements that comprise this languid lullaby.

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Salt Cathedral - "Terminal Woes" from the 2024 self-released album Before It’s Gone

With today's Song of the Day, New York-based Colombian duoSalt Cathedral share a sneak peek at their forthcoming full-lengthBefore It’s Gone, to be self-released on March 22nd. In a press statement, the band share:

“”Terminal Woes” are the woes that will bring us (humanity) to our demise – in this song, climate change. How do I bring a child into a world that is getting, by all predictions, physically worse? How is capitalism/corporate interest & greed steering the wheel (or not steering the wheel?). We live in bubbles where we forget nature and animals exist too. Powerful people making decisions have their wallet, not the planet in mind. The only solution is reaching a point where the planet and the wallet align, where the most profitable business plan is to be sustainable. Sonically, it’s a march of sorts, a chorus that bursts into stacks of voices to show collectivism and a lot of inspiration from Ravi Shankar’s music.”

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Seven Davis Jr - "Soul Music" from the 2024 album Stranger Than Fiction on Secret Angels

Singer/songwriterSamuel Lonnelee Davis— known to us asSeven Davis Jr. — dug into the vault for today's Song of the Day. The track was originally recorded back in 2016 around the time of his LPUniverses. As he explains on Bandcamp, "It was supposed to go on the next album but did not match the tracklist. It was released on an underground EP but never officially. Detroit's Kyle Hall began playing this track out in 2022 which led to us deciding to officially release it."

The soulful (no pun intended) single can now be found on new albumStranger Than Fiction, which came out last month via his ownSecret Angels imprint. "I wanted to make a tribute album reflecting all the music that has played a huge role in forming who I am as an artist and as a person," he writes. "Each track showcasing a different audio aesthetic but connecting to the next like scenes in a film, creating my own world."

"This project is for others like me who fit into multiple categories and none at the same time," he concludes. "While bringing it back to an old school-ish energy, simply about humble songs, good vibes and fun beats."

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Art Feynman - "Chasing My Life" from the 2023 album Be Good The Crazy Boys on Western Vinyl

Long-time KEXP faveLuke Temple has been recording under the aliasArt Feynman for a few albums now; his press release says, as a way to "explore surprising sonic landscapes without the burdens of identity." And now, on his third LP under the pseudonym,Be Good The Crazy Boys, he's joined by a full band, and the release was recorded live in the studio."Sonically, I was inspired by records that were recorded at the late Compass Point Studios in the Bahamas such as Grace Jones’Private Life, Lizzy Mercier Descloux’sMambo Nassau, and Talking Heads’Remain in Light,” he shares.

He adds, “To me, there was a lot of energy that needed to be released as the result of living in isolation for six years. It also seems to speak to a general anxiety we’re all holding, but it’s expressed in a cathartic way.”

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Butcher Brown - "Down With the King" a 2024 single on Concord Jazz

For today's Song of the Day, Virginia-based jazz/hip-hop collective Butcher Brown brings their take on the 1993 Run DMC classic “Down With the King.” The track was created in collaboration with the ACC Network, ESPN’s 24/7 national network dedicated to Atlantic Coast Conference sports, and the song can be heard in promotional spots that kicked off last month.

“Virginia music is one-of-a-kind, and always has been, just like the ACC,” said Butcher Brown’s lyricist and horn player Marcus Tennishu in a press release. “The Richmond aesthetic comes from a place where everyone is really diehard and blue collar — you work for what you get. We wanted this remake to be derivative of the original, but we had to put our own twist on it.”

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Lesser Angels - "Burn it Away," a 2024 self-released single

Lesser Angels is a goth/darkwave project out of Eugene, OR, that brings dreamy musical vibes from a trans-feminine perspective. Today's Song of the Day examines the duality of life, as they explain on Bandcamp:

"'Burn It Away' is a song meant to evoke the meditative concept of fire as a type of rebirth and the cycle of positive and negative experiences in life. A beautiful day can't last forever or it wouldn't be beautiful, just like how a terrible day seems more terrible in contrast to better days. No light without shadow."

"We go through these things in life like a rosebush. In that moment the thorns get caught on our blue jeans but on the outside we get to look back and see the beauty of it. And we must singe the frayed edges of our jeans so that we can keep going and stay unfettered."

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TISIPHONE - "The Sound of His Voice," a 2024 single on Icy Cold Records

French coldwave trioTisiphone returned this month with their sophomore LPRiot Puppets.

Band membersLéo and Suzanne met as music students at theConservatoire de Lyon, withClara later meetingLéo in the drumming program. In an interview with Threshold Magazine, Clara explains, "We love rock, jazz, classical, but is true that we wanted to make this band around this coldwave thing, post-punk. It was also an aesthetic style that we loved."

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Zanias - "Earthborn" from the 2024 album Ecdysis on Metropolis Records

Today's featured track comes from a KEXP Song of the Day veteran, the Berlin-based projectZanias, led by Australian-born multidisciplinary artistAlison Lewis.

"Earthborn" is the first single off her forthcoming full-lengthEcdysis, out this Friday, February 16th. The album was created around the same time as 2023's LPChrysalis, but Lewis points out on Instagram that these tracks have a "far more alien quality to them." She continues, "This one’s a serious healing venture, a spiritual exercise, a deep dive into all those things we feel and have no words for (hence, there are no words)."

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Glaring - "Burn the Snow" from the 2024 self-released EP DR666

Over the past few years. Germany-based coldwave artist Anna Nin has been recording her melancholy medleys under the name Glaring. Her latest EP — the self-released DR666 — reflects the cold winter month of January in which it was released: chilly synths, glacial pacing, and a vapor-breath vocal delivery.

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