A Deeper Listen

Sa-Roc’s latest release, ‘The Sharecropper’s Daughter,’ is KEXP DJ Gabriel Teodros’ favorite hip-hop album of 2020. Teodros spoke with Sa-Roc about her song, “Forever." She says her goal for the song was to champion “the individual, particularly individuals that didn’t see themselves reflected within media imagery, or if they saw themselves reflected, it was in a negative light.” 

“Forever" is a song about self-love, but it also explicitly points out that the scars on her wrists are from self-harm. Sa-Roc says it’s an issue that’s not discussed in all communities and her fans responded. “As a Black woman who experienced self-harm, that’s rare or not talked about. So a lot of Black women were coming up to me and saying, ‘Thank you for sharing this, I thought I was the only one.’ Or, ‘My daughter had been experiencing this and I didn’t know how to deal with it because I thought it was something that happened outside of our community.'”

Read about another song from the album, "The Black Renaissance (feat. Black Thought)," on KEXP's Song of the Day feature.

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The new album by the feminist hardcore punk band, War on Women takes on issues of race, gender and politics. It’s called 'Wonderful Hell.'

The theme of the record is encapsulated in the title track with the lyrics, “There’s got to be a better way than giving up and wallowing. Let’s raise some wonderful beautiful hell and make this world worth living in.” As frontwoman, Shawna Potter explains, “You’ll find that theme through the record. Stuff sucks but let’s get to work now.”

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The new album by the feminist hardcore punk band, War on Women takes on issues of race, gender and politics. It’s called 'Wonderful Hell.'

The theme of the record is encapsulated in the title track with the lyrics, “There’s got to be a better way than giving up and wallowing. Let’s raise some wonderful beautiful hell and make this world worth living in.” As frontwoman, Shawna Potter explains, “You’ll find that theme through the record. Stuff sucks but let’s get to work now.”

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Laura Veirs calls her latest album, 'My Echo,' her “my songs knew I was getting divorced before I did" album. Her now ex-husband, Tucker Martine, was her producer of 20 years and produced the record.

Veirs talks about how artist couples handle parenting, going through a divorce, her renewed sense of self and juggling music and motherhood during a pandemic.

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

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Laura Veirs calls her latest album, 'My Echo,' her “my songs knew I was getting divorced before I did" album. Her now ex-husband, Tucker Martine, was her producer of 20 years and produced the record.

Veirs talks about how artist couples handle parenting, going through a divorce, her renewed sense of self and juggling music and motherhood during a pandemic.

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Backxwash was announced the winner of Canada’s prestigious Polaris Music Prize last week. Backxwash describes her music as industrial hip hop and horrorcore.

She talks about how issues of mental health and her identity as a Black trans woman come up on her latest album, 'God Has Nothing To Do With This Leave Him Out Of It,' and how she finds comfort in addressing these issues within the genre of horrorcore.

Check out the recent episode of The Weekly Mix featuring Backxwash's "Spells"

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Backxwash was announced the winner of Canada’s prestigious Polaris Music Prize last week. Backxwash describes her music as industrial hip hop and horrorcore.

She talks about how issues of mental health and her identity as a Black trans woman come up on her latest album, 'God Has Nothing To Do With This Leave Him Out Of It,' and how she finds comfort in addressing these issues within the genre of horrorcore.

Check out the recent episode of The Weekly Mix featuring Backxwash's "Spells"

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jeff Tweedy (of Wilco fame) set a goal for himself during the pandemic—to write one song a day. The resulting work makes up his latest album, ‘Love Is The King.’ He also just released a new book, ‘How To Write One Song,' sharing tips around his creative process.

Tweedy discusses the habits that helped him develop this prolific writing style, sometimes writing a song in just 15 minutes. He also shares the word games he uses to help conjure lyrics when he’s feeling uninspired.

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

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Jeff Tweedy (of Wilco fame) set a goal for himself during the pandemic—to write one song a day. The resulting work makes up his latest album, ‘Love Is The King.’ He also just released a new book, ‘How To Write One Song,' sharing tips around his creative process.

Tweedy discusses the habits that helped him develop this prolific writing style, sometimes writing a song in just 15 minutes. He also shares the word games he uses to help conjure lyrics when he’s feeling uninspired.

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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kevin Morby feels a sense of melancholy when the sun goes down. That feeling inspired his latest album, ‘Sundowner.’ The album was written after Morby moved from LA to his hometown of Kansas City. He says this record was his “attempt to put the Middle American twilight—its beauty profound, though not always immediate— into sound.”

Many of the songs paint a picture of campfires, stars, dead deer on an open road and storms. And while the sunsets mark a darkening chapter of his day, he says they are particularly beautiful in the Midwest.

“They say it’s 'God’s country' or 'big sky country' and the clouds are so big out here and the clouds sort of act as these projectors for the light and just kind of hold on for a really long time,” Morby says.

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