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, chosen by Afternoon Show host Cheryl Waters, is “The Wanting Comes In Waves/Repaid” by The Decemberists from their recently released album The Hazards of Love available on Capitol Records.

Let’s face it. You’re either a fan of The Decemberists or you’re not. If you belong in the first category, you are generally willing to go along with whatever unusual concept comes out of Colin Meloy’s brain and into your speakers because it sounds good for some reason. I personally never thought I would be driving down the freeway singing sea chanteys at the top of my lungs, but there you go. It happened(s). What I’m curious about is if their latest effort, The Hazards of Love, will be the album that pulls non fans into the other category. Today’s song rocks. Literally (pun intended). I know their last album, The Crane Wife, had a tinge more rock elements than previous efforts, but Meloy, et al, have gone full on rock as today’s song is over 6 minutes of wailing guitar riffs and features My Brightest Diamond’s Shara Worden rocking out a la Grace Slick opposite Meloy for more of a Jefferson Airplane sound than their usual nerdy lit rock. Other guests smattered throughout the album include Becky Stark (Lavender Diamond), Jim James (My Morning Jacket), Robyn Hitchcock, and Rebecca Gates (The Spinanes).

Some of the more nerdy details of the album’s concept and background story may as well be lost on the masses (but several folks recommend reading the lyrics when you listen to the album) but are well documented. One thing you might find curious is how Meloy got from British folk artist Anne Briggs-whose album The Hazards of Love originally inspired Meloy to write songs based on old folk songs, to classic metal sound heard throughout the album. A quick look at her wiki page shows that Ms. Briggs was also inspirational to one Mr. Jimmy Page… and voila!

The Decemberists begin their full on tour in support of the album with a little performance at Marymoor Park on July 17th with Andrew Bird and Blind Pilot. This show just might make me forget I hate festival/outdoor concerts/the Eastside. What an amazing line up. More dates and clever travelogues can be found on their website. Get your tickets early! They also recently donated a song to Causes 2, where 100% of the proceeds benefit several charities doing work in Africa. Other artists on this comp include LCD Soundsystem, My Morning Jacket, Diplo, Gnarls Barkley, Devendra Banhart and Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings. Digital downloads are available here.

Here’s a video of The Decemberists performing today’s song on The Colbert Report:

Jim Bennett

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. Today’s featured selection, chosen by Midday Show host Cheryl Waters, is “Easy” by Deer Tick from the group’s 2009 album Born on Flag Day released via Partisan Records.

Northeasterners Deer Tick tap into Route 66 rock and roll throughout “Easy,” a cut from the band’s latest album, Born on Flag Day. Stuffed with the pseudo-Patriotism and hard luck of blue collar America, the gruffness overtakes your every sense. No matter how many shots at the bar, how many hours put in at work, and how much time wasted in traffic jams, the sense that what we envision as America is hiding just beyond our stool, our cubicle, and the last bend. “Easy” isn’t wistful — it won’t make you dream of an idealized country in which economic and social struggles are non-existent — but it does a damn good job of letting you drown your sorrows in the sort of folksy storytelling of Tom Petty and the rugged folk of modern line-crossers like The Cave Singers. Livin’ is hard, so if a band is daring to tackle the rough and tumble landscape from sea to shining sea, the melody better pack a rugged punch and the vocals should sound like the warbles of 1,000 cigarettes. No matter the pro-American holiday you call your birthday or the one we all celebrate that sits just in front of our windshield, songs like “Easy” make it… easy… for us all to see each other’s lives if just for a few minutes.

Lucky for the alt-country rocker in all of us, Deer Tick’s MySpace is loaded with tour dates, allowing you to soak up the band’s road warrior mentality live and in person. The lengthy tour includes a stop within Seattle’s city limits at Ballard’s very own Tractor Tavern on June 25th, and they’ll be live on KEXP at noon that very same day. While you wait, may we provide some video fun? At this year’s South By Southwest festival, John McCauley of Deer Tick performed an intimate acoustic set of new songs and included the song “Cake & Eggs,” which he wrote with Nikki Darlin of Those Darlins as an intentional homage to great songwriters like John Prine:

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. Today’s featured selection, chosen by Midday Show host Cheryl Waters, is “Fresh Blood” by EELS from from the 2009 album Hombre Lobo on Vagrant Records.

Mark Oliver Everett or “E” experienced his first bit of commercial success back in 1996 following the formation of EELS with Jonathan “Butch” Norton and Tommy Walter. Their debut album — the first to be released by a fledgling Dreamworks — Beautiful Freak cruised to #5 on the UK charts in large part due to the strength of its now famous singles “Novocaine for the Soul and “My Beloved Monster.” E’s special brand of pop torment immediately garnered the attention of fans around the world earning the band a “Best International Breakthrough Act” award at the 1998 BRIT Awards and inclusion on such high-profile film soundtracks as Shrek and Scream.

Though not the commercial smash of its predecessor, E’s follow-up, Electro-Shock Blues, is an intensely moving account personal hardships experienced in the years following Beautiful Freak. Often seen as depressing to the point of morbidity, Electro-Shock’s frank depiction of suicide, cancer and depression is peppered with glimmering jewels of hope. While the album remains a defining moment in EELS history, the breadth of its sadness has never really been matched since. Over the course of the next five albums, beginning with Daisies of the Galaxy, E has moved in an increasingly light, upbeat direction. This movement away from the dreary moments in life in favor of a more rockin’ positivity continues with EELS most recent release, Hombre Lobo. Grungy and poppy all at once, this new batch of songs were written from the perspective of the werewolf character depicted in his song “Dog Faced Boy.” About his having supposedly not shaved his beard since writing the song (um, 1992!?), Hombre would on the surface appear autobiographical –- and it most definitely is — just not as blatantly so as albums like Beautiful Freak and Electro-Shock Blues. Like so many great artists, including Bowie, Reed, Oldham, Dylan, Jurado, and just about anyone with a longish career, E sings through the mask of another in an effort to shed attachment and free himself to cut deeper. The results are refreshing. Today’s Song of the Day, “Fresh Blood,” is a goofy, lighthearted blend of E’s blues-infused guitar, brooding rhythms and loveable voice. Some musical combination of “Cancer for the Cure” and “Last Stop: This Town,” the song is cinematic and shadowy, lending itself nicely to a blood red Jacob Dylan-directed music video depicting a slow-moving E in hot pursuit of love:

Don’t forget to catch EELS on The Late Show with David Letterman, on CBS tonight, June 17th, at 11:30pm Eastern/Pacific. So far, there are no shows scheduled to support the album, but keeping checking their MySpace page because judging by past history, they most certainly will.

Aaron Mackenzie Fraser

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. Today’s featured selection, chosen by Midday Show host Cheryl Waters, is “Soul Unwind” by Apostle of Hustle from their 2009 album, Eats Darkness, available on Arts & Crafts.

Andrew Whiteman (also lead guitarist for Broken Social Scene) is the creative genius behind Canada’s Apostle of Hustle. Sharing the stage with him are fellow Canadians Dean Stone on drums and Julian Brown on upright bass. On the new album, Eats Darkness, Whiteman references an extended trip to Cuba. In fact, Apostle of Hustle started out playing quite a bit of Cuban folk music since it formed in 2001, after he spent a bit of time in Cuba himself and learned to play the tres, a Cuban guitar. Now, however, the band has evolved wonderfully into a much more traditional indie rock group… in a good way. Eats Darkness, their third full length, may be their best yet. Recorded in Toronto and produced by Martin Davis Kinack (Broken Social Scene, Hayden), the new album does away with any hints of Cuban folk and instead sticks to a more traditional rock trio approach. “Soul Unwind,” today’s Song of the Day, is a perfect example of their new work, with its wicked bass line, an endless supply of echoing guitars, and a fantastic if not haunting horn section. The music is still adventurous and there are a lot of different layers to keep track of. Who knew eating darkness could be good?

The band is currently doing some television performances to promote the new album but has no upcoming tour information posted yet. You can read more about the band on their website or listen to additional tracks on their MySpace page, and hopefully you’ll see them turn up in your town sometime soon. Last year, when Broken Social Scene performed live on KEXP during the CMJ Music Marathon, they played what was then a new song called “Xerxes,” which is now on the new Apostle of Hustle album. Check it out:

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. Today’s featured selection, chosen by Midday Show host Cheryl Waters, is “One Day” by The Juan MacLean from their 2009 album, The Future Will Come, available on DFA.

It’s an interesting relationship that spawned DFA’s new act The Juan MacLean: lead singer John MacLean started his musical career in Rhode Island band Six Fingered Satellite. DFA head and LCD Soundsystem frontman James Murphy joined the band late in its existence as a sound engineer. Eventually, though, the members of Six Fingered Satellite went their separate ways. MacLean got a degree in sound engineering and Murphy moved to New York, but their friendship continued. After Murphy started his label, DFA, and his own band, LCD Soundsystem, he urged MacLean to step back into the music spotlight as well. Thus The Juan MacLean was born. However, the process wasn’t so easy. The Future Will Come is only his second album since his 2005 debut, Less Than Human, as he spent the last four years performing live with a band, including LCD Soundsystem keyboardist/vocalist Nancy Whang, and DJ’ed whenever he could. Ultimately, though, he claims The Future Will Come is the best album he’s ever worked on. When you listen to “One Day,” you’ll get a taste of the DFA dance-punk aesthetic lingering on the edges the song, a sort of up-tempo push that’ll get your feet moving. At its core though, the song is a more traditional bit of electronica, a pulsing low-key bit of dance music you might find blasting from the speakers of a dance club.

If you didn’t catch The Juan MacLean when they were at Nectar in Seattle last week, you really missed out! They’re wrapping up their North American tour this week — Webster Hall this Saturday for all you New Yorkers — before they head over to Europe for a bit. Follow their tour blog on their MySpace page and hold your breath ’til they come back again. For now, here’s the video for today’s Song of the Day:

Alex Crick

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, chosen by Morning Show host John Richards is “Ancestors” by Throw Me The Statue from their forthcoming album Creaturesque available on Secretly Canadian.

This week, Seattle band Throw Me The Statue (rumored to have gotten their name from the 1984 film Romancing the Stone) offer up a new track from their forthcoming album, Creaturesque, which hits stores August 4th. Since the group expanded from a solo project of frontman Scott Reithermanto a quartet last year with the Purpleface EP, they have been building their sound and their fanbase. Their latest effort was produced by TMTS and legendary Seattle producer Phil Ek (Built to Spill, Modest Mouse, etc.). Today’s song, “Ancestors,” continues their brand of lo-fiindie pop with fuzzy guitars but has a decidedly less upbeat feel than Moonbeams, but still has the danceable beat and infectious melodies that TMTS fans will appreciate. One funny thing to note while doing some “what have they been up to research”: I found out that Throw Me The Statue and other artists like Apostle of Hustle, The Long Winters, Panda & Angel, and the Pale Pacific are contributing covers to a Huey Lewis & the News (yes, dad rock at its best) tribute album. TMTS has their cover of “If This Is It” up on their MySpace page. Also, Stereogum has some tracks from the album if you do a bit of searching.

Throw Me The Statue just played in Seattle last night as part of the Noise for the Needy benefit and don’t have any more Seattle dates scheduled at this time, but they are heading south to Portland for a gig at Mississippi Studios on June 24th with Here We Go Magic. For now, here’s a very special acoustic performance at the Reverb Festival last fall:

Pogo

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. Today’s featured selection from Morning Show host John Richards is “Muscle Cars” by Wussy from the band’s self-titled 2009 album on Shake It Records.

It reckons that in that Rolodex you call a brain, you’ve forgotten quite a few bands and songs. It happens — more important information dares to fill up the space in your skull, pushing out past trivial pursuits for new adventures in learning (or useless bar room tidbits for pub games). With this in mind, you may look up and down at Wussy and skim over the name Chuck Cleaver and not give it a second thought — that is, unless you’re like me and continually sing “Little Bastard” from the Ass Ponys at every idiot that crosses your path.

If you happened to be a fan, don’t expect “Muscle Cars” to contain the obvious barbs of that neglected 90s cult classic. However, one look at the band name combined with the song title of “Muscle Cars” and you can imagine that Cleaver’s sense of humor — however subtle — remains intact. Yet you’ll find this re-introduced piece of information moot as it is pushed out of your head by the magnificent wisps of Lisa Walker’s vocals and the catchy, albeit alternative melody proving there is still a place for the 1990s in modern indie. And don’t you forget it.

While Wussy may be hitting the road hard, only those fortunate readers located in or traveling to the Eastern seaboard and the Midwest shall be lucky enough to hear the Cincy-based band deliver their brand of heartland rock and roll. They’ll be in Manhattan and Brooklyn next week. Check for dates on their MySpace page. For now, enjoy this video of the band chatting and performing “This Will Not End Well” in a 70’s era RV:

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. Today’s featured selection, chosen by Morning Show host John Richards, is “All Thoughts Are Prey To Some Beast” by Bill Callahan from his 2009 album Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle on Drag City.

It’s crazy to think that Bill Callahan put out his first Smog album nearly 20 years ago. To say that the records created during this span of time have had an impact on me would be an epically understated understatement. Over the years, Callahan’s prolific and meandering vision has provided me with the soundtrack to days both difficult joyous. Smog has always felt alive to me in its songs’ heartbreaking bitterness and disparity or blooming positivity and inspiration — there is a humanity to Callahan’s moodiness that is impossible to deny. It’s tough to imagine getting through some of life’s shittier moments without the support of The Doctor Came At Dawn (1996), Wild Love (1995), and Kicking a Couple Around (1996) crackling in the background. On the flipside, albums like 1999’s Knock Knock and Dongs of Sevotion (2000) are a testament to the simple beauty found just around life’s next corner (”B-L-double-oh-D-F-L-oh-W, BLOODFLOW! BLOODFLOW!”).

Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle, Bill Callahan’s second album since shedding the Smog moniker, is his most ambitious work to date. Populated with all of the Smog mainstays — acoustic guitar, piano, cello and of course Callahan’s amazing deadpan vocals — Eagle is tighter and more focused in its instrumentation than previous efforts. While some may question an apparent loss of rawness in his new work, Callahan is simply maturing as an artist. The bent unpredictibility of the past has given way to purposeful arrangements and elegance. Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle contains some of the most amazingly understated guitar work I’ve heard in, like, forever. Country infused acoustics lay atop stringed arrangements to create a comfortingly orchestral musical backdrop. Callahan’s lyrics are accessible, yet delicate and introspective, as evident in the opening song, “Jim Cain”:

I ended up in search of ordinary things
Like how can a wave possibly be?
I started running, and the concrete turned to sand
I started running, and things didn’t pan out as planned

Today’s Song of the Day, “All Thoughts Are Prey to Some Beast,” is an Eastern influenced, dramatic throwback of sorts to the grittiness of Smog’s earlier albums. Lurching drums build below Callahan’s baritone and hints of distortion that recall “When the Power Goes Out” (Julius Caesar, 1993). Just as the song appears to near full-blown explosion, strings bring ‘er back down to earth and remind us of just how far Mr. Callahan has come.

While Bill Callahan’s MySpace page isn’t entirely up to date, you can find his current tour dates on his Drag City profile page. There’s not a better place to see him in Seattle than at The Triple Door, where he’ll be on Saturday, June 27, with labelmates Bachelorette. For now, enjoy this amazing performance filmed by Austin’s KUT of Bill performing the Smog song “Vessel in Vain” atop Mt. Bonnell:

Jim Bennett

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. Today’s featured selection is from Morning Show host John Richards; “The River” by Akron/Family from their 2009 album Set ‘Em Wild, Set ‘Em Free on Dead Oceans.

You could simply call Akron/Family a psych-folk band, a term they seem to try to avoid, and be done with it. Their music does have a certain experimental feel to it (a la Animal Collective), but this three-piece uses just as much traditional training to complete their sound as they do wacky creative genius. Although they try hard not to wear the weird experimental label prominently, it’s hard to shake the image when they’ve been known to drag just about anything on stage they can find to play during their live shows, including driftwood, pine cones, metal, and various other pieces of junk they’ve collected. These are definitely guys who are just as comfortable with Gamelan music as with the Grateful Dead, with hipsters as with hippies, not that there’s anything wrong with that of course. Noticeably absent on their latest album, Set ‘Em Wild, Set ‘Em Free, are the vocals and guitars of Ryan Vanderhoof, whose departure is alluded to in the title, but that doesn’t seem to slow down the rest of the band at all — in fact, his departure has allowed them to move toward further experimentation. Today’s Song of the Day, “The River,” while being one of the less adventurous songs to showcase their new sound as a trio, happens to be one of their catchiest. It’s great to know a bearded band of gentleman like the Akron/Family are made in the U.S.A.!

You can find out more about the band on their website and listen to additional tracks on their MySpace page, and even follow them on Twitter. The band is currently on tour in Japan but returns to the States in July and is scheduled to play Bumbershoot in Seattle on September 7th. Here’s a clip of their performance live on KEXP during SXSW ‘09 from ME Television studios in Austin:

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. Today’s featured selection is “Animal” by Miike Snow from their album Animal available through Downtown Records.

It isn’t surprising to me that a band like Miike Snow is formed under the auspices of so many varied influences. Sporting a name influenced by renowned Japanese horror master Takashi Miike, featuring two producers best known for top-40 hits like Britney Spear’s “Toxic” and created under the wings of Downtown Records (home of artists like Art Brut and Mos Def), it’s easy to say that this trio of musicians has, well, a lot going on. And that’s readily apparent in the mish-mash of styles on display in a song like “Animal.” At least to this listener, when the first sound drops there’s a hint that this might be a hip-hop song — something in the shake and rattle of that opening synth, makes me think Lil’ Wayne might start staccato stuttering. Measures later, as the background is suddenly filled with a distinctly Euro sounding flutter of electronica, you might think you’re en route to a spiced-up dance track, but then the song turns with a melodic bit of electro-pop in the vein of Passion Pit, and you realize that no matter what these three gentlemen mix and mash, this is a catchy, downright enjoyable bit of music.

Unfortunately, Miike Snow had to cancel their Canadian dates this weekend because of visa issues, but they will carry on with their current tour, which includes a stop in Seattle at Neumos this Saturday, June 13. Check their MySpace page for more dates. For now, here’s a video for the Punks Jump Up Remix of their song “Animal”: