A Deeper Listen

The Seattle band Acid Tongue released a new album earlier this month called 'Arboretum.' It’s an ode to Seattle’s Arboretum, where band member Guy Keltner came to terms with drug and alcohol abuse, as well as his struggles with his bipolar diagnosis, during the pandemic.

Keltner and fellow member Ian Cunningham talk about their paths to sobriety and how collaborating with many musicians on this album was necessary during a low point in the band’s career.

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Social media feeds were filled with fans' and musicians' “Spotify Wrapped” results last week. The feature shows listeners what artists they streamed the most this year, and musicians get a breakdown of how many times they were streamed, for how long and from how many countries.

KEXP’s Gabriel Teodros, who is an artist himself, walks us through his "Spotify Wrapped" numbers and showcases just how little musicians make on the streaming site. He reads his post on the subject.

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Seattle’s historic Crocodile theater had its stage graced by Pearl Jam, Mudhoney and Nirvana early in their careers. Last year, the music venue’s lease was up and the landlord didn’t want to renew. With the commercial real estate market down due to the pandemic, The Crocodile decided it would shut its doors and reopen in a bigger space a few blocks away.

The new space has multiple stages and comes with a boutique hotel on the top floor. After more than 20 months without live music, The Crocodile reopened its doors at its new location last week. Reporter Grace Madigan gives us a tour of the new spot.  

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In the year 2000, David Bowie recorded an album made up of songs he created decades prior. That album was called 'Toy.' It was never officially released until now.

Emily Fox catches up with the producer and mixer of 'Toy,' Mark Plati, who also played guitar on the record. They talk about David Bowie and why it took the album so long to get an official release.

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The British band Wet Leg swept KEXP by storm with their singles, “Wet Dream” and “Chaise Longue” this year. They dropped two new singles Monday and announced their self-titled debut album will be released in April 2022.

KEXP’s Larry Mizell Jr. sat down with founding members Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers, and realized just how silly this band really is.

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The First Nations Hip Hop duo Snotty Nose Rez Kids talk about addressing generational trauma in their music and being the change they want to see in their community. 

“Our people were stripped of a lot of things in the past—our culture, our traditions, opportunities. We’re the seventh generation, we’re trying to gain everything that not only we lost but the opportunities that they never had,” says Darren “Young D” Metz.  

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In 2018, Canada’s prestigious Polaris Music Prize was awarded to Jeremy Dutcher for his album, 'Walastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa.' It fused classical music and his operatic voice with old wax cylinder recordings of the Walastoqiyik singing in their Indigenous language, Wolastoqey. There are only around 100 native speakers of Wolastoqey today. Jeremy Dutcher talks about trying to keep the language alive through music and through a new language immersion school his family has been working to create.

You can contribute to the GoFundMe for Dutcher's language immersion school here.

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John Flansburgh of They Might Be Giants talks about their new album, 'BOOK,' and the playful things the band has done during their 40-year career, including their Dial-A-Song music answering machine service.

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Today, we bring you an episode of the Live on KEXP podcast, featuring the recent session with José González. 

For over 18 years, José González has been a master at constructing soft, contemplative guitar tunes. While, sonically, his latest album ‘Local Valley’ sounds much like his prior work, KEXP’s Larry Mizell Jr. chats with the Swedish/Argentinian musician about how his two children influenced him to inject more playfulness and creativity into his tunes, as well as write songs in his mother tongue of Spanish for the first time.

Watch the full Live on KEXP session on YouTube

For a new KEXP session delivered to your feed every week, including recent favorites like Ya Tseen, Japanese Breakfast, Yu Su, and Little Simz, subscribe to Live on KEXP wherever you listen to podcasts.

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After being part of the bands Blur and Gorillaz, Damon Albarn is out with a new solo record called 'The Nearer The Fountain, More Pure The Stream Flows.' Damon Albarn talks about how the project was originally intended as an orchestral piece inspired by the landscapes of Iceland. 

“I’ve been staring out of my window at this amazing landscape for years and years and years in Iceland and [thought] it would be amazing if I could get like-minded orchestral musicians to sit there with me and play the landscape. Play the movement of the clouds and the transference of rain into snow and the birds and the sea and the ravens flying outside,” Albarn says.

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