Song of the Day: Shigeto - Detroit Part 1

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part of our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. This week, we're featuring songs by artists performing at the 10th annual Decibel Festival. Today's song is “Detroit Part 1” by Shigeto from the 2013 album No Better Time Than Now on Ghostly.

Shigeto - Detroit Part 1 (MP3)

The stage name of Zachary Shigeto Saginaw, Ann Arbor's Shigeto creates melodic and rhythmic electronic music that incorporates elements of jazz, 2000s sub-bass and early IDM to create a colorful and evocative style. Taking his grandfather's name as a moniker, Saginaw studied music in New York and London before moving to Brooklyn to create electronic music. After some early independent work, Saginaw joined Ghostly's roster in 2010, releasing a pair of EPs, his first LP, Full Circle, was released in 2010, with this year's No Better Time Than Now emerging as its full-length successor. "Detroit Part 1" doesn't evoke the city's techno history as much as it embodies the city's mood. Whirring and percussive, Shigeto's warm electric piano and twinkling chimes capture the city's industrial nature along with its buzzing nightlife. In some ways, "Detroit Part 1" is a spiritual successor to the pioneering techno movement; lively and nuanced, it brings the sounds of the city to life in the ways a Chrysler commercial can't quite reach.

Shigeto plays The Crocodile on September 27th as part of the Ghostly Showcase at Decibel Festival. You can get tickets and more information about that all-ages show here. Keep up with Zach at his website and Facebook, and watch the video for "Detroit Part 1" below.