Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part 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. Each and every Friday we offer songs by local artists. Today’s selection, featured on the Morning Show with John Richards, is “Musow” by Bassekou Kouyaté & Ngoni Ba from the 2010 album I Speak Fula on Next Ambiance/Sub Pop.

Inspired by the history of his native Mali, Bassekou Kouyaté creates a blend of traditional West African and American roots music primarily performed on the ngoni, a distant relative of the banjo and a previously under-appreciated instrument of West African music. Kouyaté has spent the last two decades bringing more attention to the ngoni, and has since become one of the most recognizable and skilled players alive. With his groug, Ngoni Ba, featuring four ngoni players, all members of his family, Bassekou Kouyaté has brought the same respectability to the instrument as his predecessors have with the kora.

In comparison to their first album, Segu Blue, which was voted Best Album of the year by BBC Radio Awards of World Music, I Speak Fula, released last month in the U.S., attempts to capture more of the spirit of Ngoni Ba’s live performances. Their music is a tribute to traditional music of West Africa but also reflects rhythms from around the world, felt though rapid melodies and dance beats. In fact, the album’s title itself is a reference to bridging the gap between the Bamana and the Fula people (Kouyaté is of the former, but he plays music of the latter).

While Bassekoi Kouyaté is the main creator of this project, he collaborates with different composers and performers, including well known Malian musicans like Toumani Diabaté, Kassé Mady Diabaté, and Vieux Farka Touré. Kouyaté’s wife, Amy Sacko, lends vocals to the album, as she does on today’s Song of the day.

“Musow (For Our Women)” elevates the role women have in society, praising them for taking care of the children, theirs husbands, their houses, their food, and for being more than mothers and wives, but also friends. The melody, performed mostly on the ngoni, of course, combines Arabic and Hindu sounds and adds a funky groove, all in the joyous spirit of the song’s thankful praise.

If you want to catch Bassekou Kouyaté and Ngoni Ba live, you are in luck! The group will perform tomorrow night (March 16) at The Triple Door in Seattle. They’re heading down the West Coast and then over to the East, so be sure to check out their MySpace page for specific dates. For now, here’s Bassekou Kouyaté and Amy Sacko, along with Calabash player Alou Coulibaly and Ngoni bassplayer Moussa Bah, performing “Jonkoloni” on a rooftop in Timbuktu:

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part 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. Each and every Friday we offer songs by local artists. Today’s featured selection, is “Microphone Killa” by Freeway & Jake One from their album The Stimulus Package available from Rhymesayers Entertainment.

Once again local producer (and G-Unit and Dr. Dre alum) Jake One has teamed up with Roc-A-Fella (Jay-Z’s label) veteran MC Freeway to bring you a selection from their latest effort-The Stimulus Package. Billed as the Hip Hop Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the collaboration was produced entirely by Jake One who blends soulful sounds, hard pounding beats, and old school scratches to build a canvass for Freeway’s hood-hardened rhymes. Today’s song “Microphone Killa” is more tasteful than the lead single “She Makes Me Feel Alright” off the album which talks a lot about the “cootchie” (which no doubt inspired the album’s title) but is less uplifting than their 2008 collaboration with Brother Ali on “The Truth.”

Jake One perusing vinyl at KEXP
photo by Dave Lichterman

Seattle hip hop is increasingly becoming a part of the national consciousness thanks in part to artists like Jake One and Shabazz Palaces. KEXP’s Street Sounds with Larry Mizell Jr. is a front-runner in showcasing our local hip hop talent on a local, national, and even international platform; but it’s not the only place you’re going to hear artists like Jake One, Fresh Espresso, Blue Scholars, or Common Market. Our variety show DJs weave local musicians of all genres into their programs each and every day and spotlight them with in-studio performances and Audioasis showcases. Help KEXP keep giving these artists a voice with your donation today at www.kexp.org.

You can find out more about Jake One and Freeway at their myspace pages. In the meantime, here’s the video for “You Know What I Mean” also off The Stimulus Package:

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part 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. Each and every Friday we offer songs by local artists. Today’s selection is “Everyday” by Twin Tigers from the 2010 album Gray Waves on Old Flame.

If Athens, Georgia, band Twin Tigers was a meteorological phenomena, they’d be a tropical cyclone. With a low-pressure shoegaze core, and plenty of thunderous feedback, the four-piece will knock you over and drench you in wonder. Their new album, Gray Waves, features the same universe-expanding noise and neo-psychedelia as their debut EP, Curious Faces/Violet Future, but with more epic airiness of what is lyrically a “true story.”

Matthew Rain (singer/guitarist) and Aimee Morris (bassist) remain the band’s vertebrae in sound and structure. The two met while waiting tables and formed Twin Tigers in the winter of 2007. A few months of basement song writing is all it took before the two (along with past members Enoch Bledsoe and Richard Young) cranked out their debut and played their first show in December 2007. After some rearranging, Forrest Hall and Doug Crump completed the final lineup, and the four member noise machine set off to tour, hitting up 40 out of the 50 states with bands like Deerhunter, Minus the Bear, and A Place To Bury Strangers.

“Everyday” shows off the quartet’s softer and more polished side. Rain immediately opens with his sugar-sweetened black coffee of a voice, crooning in romance, “I’ll take my time with you. Everyday, with you.” Upbeat guitar matches his starry-eyed state, and then again when he suddenly shifts to bitter aggravation. Low reverbed-strings enfold his voice as he flares, “What was that about?! Too much noise? Destroyed the joy!” Drums and guitar come back full fold to the song’s infatuated beginning, leaving the lingering taste of a stinging relationship.

Twin Tigers are playing SXSW in Austin, Texas March 17-20. In the meanwhile, here’s a super raw, lo-fi video of Twin Tigers performing “Everyday” in the lobby of WUOG 90.5 FM, the all-volunteer student radio of The University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia:

photo by Hilary Harris

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. Each and every Friday we deliver songs by local artists. Today’s selection is “Odessa” by Caribou from their 2010 album Swim on Merge.

There’s really nothing in the world better than discovering a new piece of music that moves you. Like a lot of the people probably reading this, an amazing song, album or artist is the quickest way to find yourself on the business end of my good side. You can really mess up and I’d still care -– all because you turned me on to Nick Drake and The Velvet Underground. It’s a bit of a get-out-of-jail-free card with me (it’s a sliding scale though so watch it). I mean, really, friends are easy to come by, but friends with excellent taste? Those are keepers!

A few months ago, I posted my top 10 albums of 2009. Despite my own excellent taste most of these records were brought to me by my tight bro/music provider KEXP SEATTLE –- you know him –- he lives over at 90.3 on the FM dial? Best taste ever and really never lets you down. He is of the firm belief that “the music matters.” Dude, he hooks it up proper! Well, with any good friendship there comes a time to give back –- my friends and fellow KEXP fans, that time is upon us in the form of the Spring Membership Drive. You see, KEXP cannot continue to shower our ears with new music without the proper funding. That funding comes from you and I. In short, I am asking you -– on behalf of the collective talent and stellar taste of KEXP to please MAKE IT RAIN LIKE YOU’VE NEVER MADE IT RAIN BEFORE. Now through March 15th your donation (of any amount) to KEXP will power the station in the months to come and guarantee an abundance of lovely sounds inside your ear-holes.

Perhaps today’s Song of the Day podcast, Caribou’s “Odessa,” from the forthcoming Merge Records release Swim (out 4/20), will instantly transform itself into your soon-to-be favorite artist/album/song of 2010. Stranger things have been known to happen. Caribou is the post-Manitoba project of Canadian born mathematician Dan Snaith. As one might expect Snaith’s music lends itself nicely to descriptors like “dance” and “electronica,” but these genre-specific terms are really just the beginning. On Swim, the highly anticipated follow-up to 2007’s Andorra, Snaith supplements his talent for beat-making and catchy structures with those of a variety of guests, including a Toronto-based free form jazz horn quartet. About the new record, Snaith has said that he imagined musical components as liquid, flowing freely between seemingly mismatched melodies, pitches and timbres. The end result is a freshly contagious psychedelic noise maelstrom that swirls back and forth in the space between your ears. “Odessa” seems to separate itself from the pop-triumphs of Andorra, opting instead to exploit the electronic wizardry of Snaith’s earlier work. The house-y rhythm, warm vocal track and infectious bass line envelopes the listener like a warm bath.

Snaith almost always plays with a live band (often behind one of the two drum kits), accompanied by intricately trippy video projections that add yet another layer to the Caribou experience. Sound fun? Well, an $84/month donation to KEXP gets you a three-day pass to this year’s Sasquatch Festival… and… Caribou plays Sunday!! Find out other dates on their website and check the brand new video for “Odessa” here:

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. Each and every Friday we deliver songs by local artists. Today’s selection is “Prieto” by Choc Quib Town from their 2010 album Oro on Nacional Records.

Choc Quib Town are Columbia’s entry into the next generation of Latin Hip-Hop. Taking cues from just about every Caribbean style and rhythm available, the 3 piece group take American Hip-Hop, Jamaican Reggae, Salsa, and Electronica sounds, mixing old and new with urban and traditional. Named after the poor Afro-Columbian region of Columbia (Choco) and its Capital city (Quibdo), Choc Quib Town simply make music that represents the afro-columbian neighborhoods they grew up in and the various musical styles that surround them.

Their debut US album Oro (”Gold”) is a combination of two previous Columbian releases Somos Pacifico and Oro and was good enough to earn the band a Latin Grammy nomination and tours across Europe and South America. The Columbian trio of Tostao, and fellow emcees Goyo and Slow have been going strong for a decade, but just now getting the rest of the world to take notice. Choc Quib Town is a good excuse to learn more about Pacific Afro-Columbian culture and get a little geography lesson in the process.

You can find out more about the band on their MySpace page or their website. The band made waves last year at SXSW; be sure to check them out again this year! Right now, check out the official video of their song “Oro”:

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part 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. Each and every Friday we offer songs by local artists. Today’s selection is “Warm Heart of Africa” by The Very Best from their 2009 album Warm Heart of Africa on Green Owl Records.

Back in 2008, a London-based Malawi immigrant hooked up with a notable European production duo to create one of the most buzzed about mixtapes in recent memory. “Esau Mwamwaya and Radioclit Are The Very Best” was all over the blogosphere, building upon recent cross-cultural successes as M.I.A. and Vampire Weekend. In fact, Mwamwaya and Radioclit (aka Etienne Tron and Johan Karlberg) had earlier produced a “remix” of M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes” called “Tengazako,” which featured lyrics in Mwamwaya’s native Chichewa. Unlike with traditional remixes, Mwamwaya and Radioclit built upon songs like “Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa,” “Birthday” by the Ruby Suns, or even Michael Jackson’s “Will You Be There” with original lyrics by Mwamwaya, leaving just a baseline of the sources and making “…Are The Very Best” a unique creation in its own right.

Mwamwaya and Radioclit’s underground success eventually led to the trio officially taking on the name The Very Best and releasing an album of original tunes. While the mixtape globe-hopped like mad, Warm Heart of Africa focuses on the continent of Mwamwaya’s birth, laying African styles like highlife, marabi, and kwaito onto a backdrop of Western electronic textures and beats. The result is indeed a warm blend that isn’t entirely new (I keep thinking of Peter Gabriel and Paul Simon cross-continent excursions), but is one of the most uplifting albums you’re likely to hear. On the album’s title track, today’s Song of the Day, Mwamwaya is joined by Vampire Weekend’s Ezra Koenig for one of the most danceable tracks on the album (”Rain Dance” featuring M.I.A. also stands out). “Warm Heart of Africa” could easily have appeared on VW’s latest release, but the song is really Mwamwaya’s show as he soars above Koenig’s near-falsetto — not that it’s a competition, mind you. The two compliment each other quite well actually in their voices as well as their roles. It’s almost a cliched pairing as a self-conscious Koenig ponders whether hip-hop is hereditary and if dancers need to be told what to do, while Mwamwaya sings of himself dancing in Africa’s warm heart, Malawi, and the other gifted dancers there who set the floor ablaze. In the end, this mesh of Western/African, urban/rural, individual/community, and heart/mind is all really uncomplicated when comes down to dancing, and the music, and feeling good.

The Very Best will be performing LIVE on KEXP during our broadcast from SXSW this year. Tune in on Thursday, 3/18, at 5:30PM PST to hear Mwamwaya and Radioclit perform live. They’re also playing a few show beforehand on the East Coast, and later in May, Seattle-area listeners will be able to catch them at Sasquatch. Check their MySpace page for specific dates. For now, here’s their take on Architecture In Helsinki’s “Heart It Races,” which they call “Kamphopo”:

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part 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. Each and every Friday we offer songs by local artists. Today’s selection, featured on the Midday Show with Cheryl Waters, is “Western Haunts” by silOHs from the self-released, self-titled debut.

If you’ve ever wondered what would happen if you locked Neil Young in a studio with My Bloody Valentine, you just might get your answer from local singer/songwriter Jake Witt (The Uprights, Ex. Romance). SilOHs reunites Witt with long-time collaborator and Soda Farm Studios owner Jonas DeVarona (The Uprights, Ex Throw Me the Statue, Ex Romance) who are in turn joined by members of Sun Sirens. It originally started out as a solo project for Witt but after falling into the familiar territory of Soda Farm Studios with his long time cohort last summer, it evolved into a fully-fledged project as it became necessary for more musicians to help Witt layer his original folk tunes with shoegazey ambiance. SilOHs treads into the realms of folkadelica similar to fellow Seattle band The Duchess & The Duke, but with more of an alt-country flavor.

You can catch SilOHs at the Rendezvous this Sunday March 7th or live on KEXP at noon on March 29th. Check out their MySpace page for more details and dates.

photo by Hilary Harris

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. Each and every Friday we deliver songs by local artists. Today’s selection, featured on the Midday Show with Cheryl Waters, is “Marlene” by Lightspeed Champion from the 2010 album Life Is Sweet! Nice To Meet You on Domino.

Driving Highway 1 along the California coastline is an erratic affair in which one minute you’re conquering straight-aways at breakneck speeds, and the next you’re cautiously making your way around the unpredictable s curves and treacherously steep climbs. All this with nothing but a guardrail protecting you and your vehicle from going off the cliffs into the breaks of the Pacific hundreds of feet below. Lightspeed Champion’s “Marlene” depicts such a drive with its hodge podge of styles and influences, craggy guitar riffs, and an erratic pace that keeps you on your toes between the song’s three primary movements. Opening with an infectious beat that ominously advances toward the listener, the song gives way to a mysterious western-influenced violin wail. Before you get used to it, the melody shifts gears and the guitar licks go off like wild dance moves all over the bass line. After a quiet interlude with nothing but Devonte Hynes’ buttery, pleading vocals, enters gritty electric guitar fuzz to bring “Marlene” into the homestretch.

A self-proclaimed synesthete, Hynes says he can literally see sounds, and that makes a lot of sense listening to Marlene, where the melodies seem so tangible you can sink your teeth in them.

After the dissolution of the moderately successful punk-inspired Test Icicles, the Texas born, UK raised Hynes traded London for Omaha, and adopted the moniker Lightspeed Champion. His second release from Domino trades in whatever acousticly based “Americana” from Falling Off the Lavender Bridge for dramatically structured, and musical theater-influenced tunes. Life is Sweet! Nice to Meet You! is also rife with classical music influences. A profound understanding and passion for his idols is evident in each track. A multi-instrumentalist since the age of 7, Hynes applies this expertise to his textural, often complicated, orchestral pop arrangements, and the heart-on-the-sleeve, bare-naked lyrics nod to his admiration of solo artists such as Todd Rundgren, Harry Nilsson, and Marvin Gaye.

Lightspeed Champion’s tour plans remain on the UK side of the pond for now, but stay tuned to his MySpace page for updates. For now, here’s the video for today’s Song of the Day:

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photo by Lydia Daniller

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. Each and every Friday we deliver songs by local artists. Today’s selection, featured on the Midday Show with Cheryl Waters, is “Careful With That Hat” by Citay from the 2010 album Dream Get Together on Dead Oceans.

Citay - Careful With That Hat (MP3)

Citay is a 7-piece band living and working out of my previous home of San Francisco, California. Have you been there? It’s a beautiful city — alive and kicking with every branch of culture you could ever want to hang from. The city as it is affectionately referred to is a musical mecca of past and present, consistently spawning some of the left coast’s most intriguing new voices. Citay, formed in 2004 by Ezra Feinberg (Piano Magic) and Tim Green (The Fucking Champs), is one of these bands. Built up around some of the hipp(y)er moments of the past Citay’s sound harnesses the core tools of pop music (guitars, keyboards, percussion) to create melodic Beach Boys-esque psychedelic rock that lingers on the fringes of the modern day Haight-Ashbury strip mall. Dream Get Together marks the band’s third proper release ( an additional album of remixes appeared last year) and second for the ever expanding Dead Oceans label (Dirty Projectors, Califone, Phosphorescent). Something of a concept album the title refers to a songwriting project in which band members and friends (Jens Lekman, Bishop Allen & Stephen McBean to name a few) concocted fantastical meetings of folks both alive and dead. This creative framework coupled with Citay’s propensity for drug-rock’s mellowed atmosphere boils down to a record that is both diverse and, well, at times kinda trippy.

“Careful With That Hat” jumps to life immediately with boppily pleasant bongos and happily tapped xylophone keys that act as a calm, cool breeze before the storm of guitars you just know are on the way. Before you can pull out your umbrella fuzzy electric guitars hit you sideways with the confidence of a coked up 70’s rock god. Initially grounded in the nearly twee ethereal female/male vocals “Careful With that Hat” eventually cuts the cord, exploding into controlled abandon replete with meandering layers of synth, GUITAR and percussion that flirt with disintegration but never see it come to pass –- and that my friends is what we call the sweet spot.

Citay start a new tour at the end of the month. No Seattle date yet exists on their MySpace page, but according to the band’s website, where you can follow the progression of Dream Get Together and the Remix project, they’ll be in the Pacific Northwest in May. For now, here’s a live clip from ‘08 of their song “Little Kingdom”:

]]> http://blog.kexp.org/blog/2010/03/03/song-of-the-day-city-careful-with-that-hat/feed/ 0 http://blog.kexp.org/blog/2010/03/02/song-of-the-day-pepper-rabbit-none-shall-sleep/ http://blog.kexp.org/blog/2010/03/02/song-of-the-day-pepper-rabbit-none-shall-sleep/#comments Tue, 02 Mar 2010 14:00:06 +0000 Jason Kinnard http://blog.kexp.org/blog/?p=34346

photo by Brittney Bush Bollay

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. Each and every Friday we offer songs by local artists. Today’s selection, featured on the Midday Show with Cheryl Waters, is “None Shall Sleep” by Pepper Rabbit, from their set of 2009 self-released EP Shakes & Clicks on Daq Shaq.

Pepper Rabbit - None Shall Sleep (MP3)

Hailing from Silver Lake, California, Xander Singh and Luc Laurent have created one hell of a songwriting duo. It’s a good thing too; with a relatively long line of good rabbit-named bands in the past year (see White Rabbits/Frightened Rabbit), there was a pretty high bar already set for Pepper Rabbit.  Despite their common names, however, they couldn’t be more different than the other bands who share the rabbit moniker. The band has also drawn some comparisons to bands like Mercury Rev and Atlas Sound, but lo-fi isn’t the hook for these guys; it’s their haunting melodies.

In addition to singing, the band uses just enough technology and live looping to keep their sound fresh, while also enlisting just about every instrument in the book. From trumpets, accordions, banjos, ukulele, and even the piano —  these guys can and do play it all. How would we describe the sound? Avant-garde folk would be a good place to start.

With a well received live act and a great set of self-released EP’s last year (Shakes and Clicks, now available together), Pepper Rabbit is quickly becoming one of the hottest acts of 2010 — be sure to watch for them at SXSW this year!

You can find out more about the band and listen to additional tracks on their MySpace page. You can also find the band on Twitter: @pepper_rabbit Just a week ago, the band played an in-studio performance at KEXP, of which you can view photos and listen on our Live In-Studio Performances page. Also, be sure to check out this video of the band performing “Red Wine”:

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