A Deeper Listen

Description: Emily Fox and KEXP DJ Troy Nelson break down KEXP’s top played songs of the summer. They are:  

• “The Narcissist” by Blur 
• “I’ve Been In Love” by Jungle 
• “Crescent Blade” by Budos Band 
• “Tiny Garden” by Jamila Woods 
• “Odyssey” by Beck & Phoenix  

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Melvins are playing a 40-year anniversary show at The Showbox in Seattle on Friday September 1. Buzz Osborne of Melvins talks about the highlights of the band’s career, being an influence on Soundgarden, Mudhoney and Nirvana, and the songs that define the band. 

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After a short-lived but dramatic hockey residency, Seattle supergroup Who Is She (members of Chastity Belt, Tacocat, and Lisa Prank) return with their second album. ‘Goddess Energy’ finds the band penning odes to Shania Twain, Marianne Williamson, and Anne Hathaway. KEXP’s Dusty Henry talk with the band to learn more about what it means to have “too much goddess energy” and the group’s innovative use of wedding registries for merch sales.

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The Seattle band Brad released their final record following the death of singer Shawn Smith. Brad members Stone Gossard (also of Pearl Jam) and Regan Hager (also of Satchel and Malfunkshun) talk about Shawn’s legacy as a person and as a musician.

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Shamir has released their 9th album, 'Homo Anxietatem.' Each of Shamir’s albums sound very different from one another, showcasing huge sonic and genre leaps and shifts. Shamir looks at each of their albums as “a scrapbook” that represents the sound of their mind state during that time. In this conversation, they walk us through the sonic character of their previous albums and how they came back to indie pop on their newest release. They also discuss the tribute to Sinéad O'Connor on this album, and how they've navigated their own mental health journey and a bipolar diagnosis and made peace with their anxiety.

“Managing mental illness has not been easy but [it’s] worth it. I think that really describes 'Homo Anxietatem' in correlation with this sound sonically. It means anxiety, it means anxious man but it sounds really breezy and easy and has this colorful sound to it and I think it’s me making peace with that anxiety,” Shamir explains.

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Bratmobile was one of the most visible bands of the feminist punk riot grrrl movement in the early 1990s. As part of KEXP’s northwest music column, Throwaway Style, Martin Douglas spoke with founding members Allison Wolfe and Molly Neuman. In this excerpt, they talk about activism, the origins of Bratmobile and the riot grrrl scene.  

Read the full interview here: https://kexp.org/read/2023/7/27/throwaway-style-an-interview-with-bratmobiles-allison-wolfe-and-molly-neuman/

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Arlo Parks’ latest album, 'My Soft Machine,' has been the most played album on KEXP so far this year. Arlo Parks' lyrics read like a diary, or a poetic handwritten note to a close friend or long-distance lover, or even a novel. In this episode, she talks about lyricism but also how she manages burnout, which caused the cancellation of a few of her tour stops last fall.

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The craze with artificial intelligence has continued dominating people’s attention across industries — creating images, deepfake videos and writing essays. KEXP’s Roddy Nikpour gives a rundown on how A.I. has been playing out in the music industry and chats with musician and writer, Kelly Bishop, about her Vice article titled, “Is AI Music a Genuine Threat to Real Artists?” 

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Guitarist Steve Turner had a front row seat to Seattle’s grunge scene. He played in the band Green River, a band which included future members of Pearl Jam and was the first to be described with the word, "grunge." Turner went on to play with Mudhoney, which has been hugely influential to Seattle’s grunge scene. He’s written a memoir about it all called 'Mud Ride: A Messy Trip Through the Grunge Explosion.' He speaks with Emily Fox about the book.

Related content:

• https://www.kexp.org/read/2020/3/24/sound-vision-mudhoneys-mark-arm-still-stuffing-records-his-own-record-label-sub-pop/ 
• https://www.kexp.org/podcasts/sound-vision/2021/11/9/mudhoneys-bassist-being-nurse-during-covid/

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KEXP’s Production Manager Jackson Long has published a booklet called 'Hiding in Plain Sight—Studios of Seattle & Tacoma.' In it, he features nine recording studios in the area that you’d likely miss if you drove by them. Jackson spoke with Emily Fox about the stories behind these spaces that have recorded Seattle artists including Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Death Cab for Cutie, The Sonics, and many more.

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.