A Deeper Listen

The Icelandic band Sigur Rós made a surprise album release on June 16. It’s called 'ÁTTA,' which means “eight” in Icelandic. It’s their eighth studio album, and it features eight tracks heavy with strings. KEXP’s Roddy Nikpour immersed himself in the album and brings us this review.  

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The artist K.Flay lost hearing in one ear last fall and it hasn’t returned since. She’s planning to release a new album in September and is now on her first tour since the hearing loss. She’s performing at Showbox Sodo in Seattle on Friday June 23. Emily Fox caught up with her to talk about her experience and what it’s like performing and making music under her new condition.   

"Just kind of like you need two eyes for depth perception, you need two ears for echolocation. As a consequence, restaurants or concerts, places with lots of ambient noise coming from all directions feel very psychologically overwhelming,” K.Flay says.  

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Erykah Badu will perform at Seattle’s WAMU Theater on Friday June 23rd. Seattle native, writer and interdisciplinary artist Mia Imani reflects on how the high priestess of neo soul has influenced her own artistry, spirituality and Blackness. 

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On this special Father’s Day episode of Apparently—Our series about music and parenthood. On this episode, rapper billy woods talks about fatherhood and his new chidren’s book with M. Musgrove – A Is For Anarchist. Dusty Henry chats with the prolific rapper about the lessons he learned from his academic and revolutionary parents, parenting while touring, and his latest album, ‘Maps,’ with Kenny Segal.  

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This is a special Father’s Day episode of Apparently—Our series featuring musicians who are also parents. This story is about two parents who made music when their daughter was in the womb. A few years ago, Iván Diaz Mathé attached biosonic midi devices to a then pregnant Elizabeth Hart. She and her very pregnant belly sat for hours while her body and fetus created the sounds you hear on the record called “Luca Yupanqui—Sounds of the Unborn”. Luca is the name of their child who was in utero at the time of this recording. Emily Fox caught up with Ivan and Elizabeth to learn more about the project and how biosonic midi technology works.  

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W.I.T.C.H. talks about the elements that came together to form Zamrock in the 60s. They discuss how Zambia’s economic struggles, forced curfews as well as disco caused the band to stop playing in the 80s. Then they talk about how reissues of their albums in recent years, a documentary out about them, and their new album has allowed them to be rediscovered on an international scale, decades later.  

“We belonged to a federation,” frontman Jagari Chanda explains “That was Zambia, Malawi and Zimbabwe. Because of the federation, we did similar things in terms of social amenities and get togethers and it was like a crisscross pollination. People from different countries brought their own cultures and their own traditions. They brought their own dances, and this is where we got the traditional aspect of music. But the international influence came from the western world, from our colonial masters. They brought in the guitar, the jukeboxes, especially the radio.”   

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Everything But The Girl is known for their hit “Missing” from the 90s (“like the deserts miss the rain. . . ”) The duo made up of Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt is back with their first album in 24 years. They talk about making choices that were best for them instead of chasing fame or money, including taking a long hiatus shortly after turning down a stadium tour with U2 in the 90s. 

“We had a feeling that our status as a band got about as big as we were comfortable with it being. Even our own gigs had got bigger. And in some respects, we felt something was lost as well as gained,” Tracey Thorn explains.  

During Everything But The Girl’s long hiatus, Thorn and Watt got married, Thorn spent years being a stay at home Mom, she’s written multiple autobiographical books, published columns and put out some solo records. Watt has worked as a DJ, producer, club owner and runs his own record label. 

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A new documentary about Little Richard, titled 'Little Richard: I Am Everything,' was recently released to rave reviews. One of those reviews came in the form of an essay for the New Yorker written by Hanif Abdurraqib called “What Little Richard Deserved.”  KEXP's Martin Douglas speaks to Hanif about the film, and Little Richard's life. 

“Little Richard is as loud and joyfully brash and bold as they come and that did not stop his achievements from being whitewashed and then washed away,” Abdurraqib says.

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Sound & Vision’s mini series Day Job explores how artists and musicians juggle their craft and day jobs to make it all work. Rachel Stevens caught up with KEXP’s own DJ Yaddy about balancing DJing and being a teacher.  

Check out DJ Yaddy at Seattle’s Lazer Dome: https://pacificsciencecenter.org/events/pacsci-kexp-laser/

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Mix & Match is our miniseries where KEXP’s Jasmine Albertson combines her reporting skills with her bartending skills to craft a cocktail for an artist based on their sound and their story. This week she makes a drink for local band, Racoma. They released their sophomore record, 'Good a Place As Any,' last October. 

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