Spiritualized - "The Mainline Song" from the 2022 album Everything Was Beautiful on Fat Possum.

Long-running space rock pioneers Spiritualized return with their ninth studio album, the appropriately titled Everything Was Beautiful. Founding and sole constant member Jason Pierce (aka J. Spaceman) plays 16 different instruments on the recording, which was done at 11 different studios (not including his home), and employing 30 different collaborators. 

“There was so much information on it that the slightest move would unbalance it," he admits in a press release, "but going around in circles is important to me. Not like you’re spiraling out of control but you’re going around and around and on each revolution you hold onto the good each time. Sure, you get mistakes as well, but you hold on to some of those too and that’s how you kind of... achieve. Well, you get there.” 

Read the full post on KEXP.org

Spiritualized - "The Mainline Song" from the 2022 album Everything Was Beautiful on Fat Possum.
Long-running space rock pioneers Spiritualized return with their ninth studio album, the appropriately titled Everything Was Beautiful. Founding and sole constant member Jason Pierce (aka J. Spaceman) plays 16 different instruments on the recording, which was done at 11 different studios (not including his home), and employing 30 different collaborators.&nbsp;
&ldquo;There was so much information on it that the slightest move would unbalance it," he admits in a press release, "but going around in circles is important to me. Not like you&rsquo;re spiraling out of control but you&rsquo;re going around and around and on each revolution you hold onto the good each time. Sure, you get mistakes as well, but you hold on to some of those too and that&rsquo;s how you kind of... achieve. Well, you get there.&rdquo;&nbsp;
<a href="https://www.kexp.org/podcasts/song-of-the-day/2022/5/4/spiritualized-mainline-song/">Read the full post on KEXP.org</a>

KEXP’s Song of the Day podcast features stand-out tracks from independent and emerging talent alongside the best new music from more established artists. Curated by KEXP DJs with listeners’ adventurous taste in mind, Song of the Day is delivered daily, Monday through Friday. Finding new music can be hard. Let KEXP help!

KEXP&rsquo;s Song of the Day podcast features stand-out tracks from independent and emerging talent alongside the best new music from more established artists. Curated by KEXP DJs with listeners&rsquo; adventurous taste in mind, Song of the Day is delivered daily, Monday through Friday. Finding new music can be hard. Let KEXP help!

Song of the Day

Spiritualized - The Mainline Song

Nabihah Iqbal - Dreamer from the 2023 album DREAMER on Ninja Tune.

In late April, Nabihah Iqbal dropped her long-awaited sophomore record Dreamer via Ninja Tune. Five years after the release of her debut, Weighing of the Heart, and six since Iqbal’s last EP under her former moniker Throwing Shade, the record is a resplendent re-introduction to the London-born artist, curator, broadcaster and lecturer. Blending elements of early ‘80s electronica, shoegaze, and trance with ruminative lyricism, it’s a record that hits the heart as much as it does the body.

The story behind the record starts in agony, as many great records do, with Iqbal’s studio being burglarized in early 2020 and all her work lost, including what was supposed to be her sophomore record. Piling onto the trauma, her grandfather suffered a brain hemorrage leading Iqbal to fly to Pakistan shortly before the pandemic hit and stranding her there as the world shut down. But as all creatives know, what doesn’t kill you, gives you better material for your work. It was there that the first seeds of Dreamer appeared, with just an acoustic guitar and a harmonium.

Our Song of the Day is the album’s title track “Dreamer.” One of less trancey songs on the album, the song is a combination of Best Coast breeziness and Cocteau Twinsian dreaminess. The lyricism is pure unadulterated bliss, “Dream of me /And I'II dream of you,” Iqbal coos. “Sun so soft /And sky so blue /This love is happy love.”

The song comes with a video shot in 700-year old palace in Old Lahore, Pakistan and directed by Zayan Agha, who said this of the video, “Taking a documentarian's approach to directing the music video, I gave Nabihah the freedom to discover the vibrant chaos of Lahore. I filmed her navigating through the city's mundane cacophony, resulting in a surreal and dreamy visual experience that vividly portrays the city's essence.”

Watch the video and read the full post at KEXP.org.

Nabihah Iqbal - Dreamer from the 2023 album DREAMER on Ninja Tune.
In late April, Nabihah Iqbal dropped her long-awaited sophomore record Dreamer via Ninja Tune. Five years after the release of her debut, Weighing of the Heart, and six since Iqbal’s last EP under her former moniker Throwing Shade, the record is a resplendent re-introduction to the London-born artist, curator, broadcaster and lecturer. Blending elements of early ‘80s electronica, shoegaze, and trance with ruminative lyricism, it’s a record that hits the heart as much as it does the body.
The story behind the record starts in agony, as many great records do, with Iqbal’s studio being burglarized in early 2020 and all her work lost, including what was supposed to be her sophomore record. Piling onto the trauma, her grandfather suffered a brain hemorrage leading Iqbal to fly to Pakistan shortly before the pandemic hit and stranding her there as the world shut down. But as all creatives know, what doesn’t kill you, gives you better material for your work. It was there that the first seeds of Dreamer appeared, with just an acoustic guitar and a harmonium.
Our Song of the Day is the album’s title track “Dreamer.” One of less trancey songs on the album, the song is a combination of Best Coast breeziness and Cocteau Twinsian dreaminess. The lyricism is pure unadulterated bliss, “Dream of me /And I'II dream of you,” Iqbal coos. “Sun so soft /And sky so blue /This love is happy love.”
The song comes with a video shot in 700-year old palace in Old Lahore, Pakistan and directed by Zayan Agha, who said this of the video, “Taking a documentarian's approach to directing the music video, I gave Nabihah the freedom to discover the vibrant chaos of Lahore. I filmed her navigating through the city's mundane cacophony, resulting in a surreal and dreamy visual experience that vividly portrays the city's essence.”
Watch the video and <a href="https://kexp.org/podcasts/song-of-the-day/2023/6/1/nabihah-iqbal-dreamer/">read the full post at KEXP.org.</a>

Nabihah Iqbal - Dreamer

mui zyu - "Demon 01" from the 2023 album Rotten Bun for an Eggless Century on Father/Daughter Records

With her solo project mui zyu, London-based musician Eva Liu (also of Dama Scout) sought to capture the sounds she heard growing up at her family's Chinese restaurant. As she explains to Talkhouse: 

My debut record, Rotten Bun for an Eggless Century, is about self-exploration and identity, at times told through a lens inspired by fantasy video-games and Chinese folklore. In the process of pulling together the themes for this collection of songs, I reflected on my own childhood and began to uncover sounds from my memory... Since we worked on this record, I feel even more tuned in to sounds around me all the time. For the most part, this has been a wonderful shift in my consciousness. Abrasive sounds that used to cause me stress are now intriguing — I’ll think about how they are made, what is causing the friction, how the air is moving, and I might even try to find rhythms in the chaos. I have welcomed this newfound relationship with my sonic surroundings and wonder if it’s played a role in my overall wellbeing.

Read the full story at KEXP.org

mui zyu - "Demon 01" from the 2023 album Rotten Bun for an Eggless Century on Father/Daughter Records
With her solo project mui zyu, London-based musician Eva Liu (also of Dama Scout) sought to capture the sounds she heard growing up at her family's Chinese restaurant. As she explains to <a href="https://www.talkhouse.com/reference-library-mui-zyu-wanted-to-sample-the-sounds-of-her-familys-restaurant/">Talkhouse</a>: 
My debut record, Rotten Bun for an Eggless Century, is about self-exploration and identity, at times told through a lens inspired by fantasy video-games and Chinese folklore. In the process of pulling together the themes for this collection of songs, I reflected on my own childhood and began to uncover sounds from my memory... Since we worked on this record, I feel even more tuned in to sounds around me all the time. For the most part, this has been a wonderful shift in my consciousness. Abrasive sounds that used to cause me stress are now intriguing — I’ll think about how they are made, what is causing the friction, how the air is moving, and I might even try to find rhythms in the chaos. I have welcomed this newfound relationship with my sonic surroundings and wonder if it’s played a role in my overall wellbeing.
<a href="https://www.kexp.org/podcasts/song-of-the-day/2023/5/31/mui-zyu-demon-01/">Read the full story at KEXP.org</a>

mui zyu - Demon 01

Sessa - "Vento a Favor" a 2023 single on Mexican Summer

São Paulo-based musician Sessa returns with his first new single since last year's enchanting LP Estrela Acesa. The track is co-produced by Brazilian artist Biel Basile and American musician Mikey Coltun, who also plays bass in Mdou Moctar. 

"'Vento a Favor' started as a track meant to be on Estrela Acesa," he tellsStereogum. "It was recorded, mixed, and mastered in the same sessions as the whole LP but somewhere along the way, when putting the pieces together, I started to feel that its energy was different from the story I was trying to tell with the record. The track was a bit too sure of its force and movement forward, outwards, while Estrela Acesa’s gesture was something more of an inward look, a whisper to the soul. But you know, nothing wrong with that, breathing goes both in and out."

Read the full story at KEXP.org

Sessa - "Vento a Favor" a 2023 single on Mexican Summer
São Paulo-based musician Sessa returns with his first new single since last year's enchanting LP Estrela Acesa. The track is co-produced by Brazilian artist Biel Basile and American musician Mikey Coltun, who also plays bass in Mdou Moctar. 
"'Vento a Favor' started as a track meant to be on Estrela Acesa," he tells<a href="https://www.stereogum.com/2215325/sessa-vento-a-favor/music/"> Stereogum</a>. "It was recorded, mixed, and mastered in the same sessions as the whole LP but somewhere along the way, when putting the pieces together, I started to feel that its energy was different from the story I was trying to tell with the record. The track was a bit too sure of its force and movement forward, outwards, while Estrela Acesa’s gesture was something more of an inward look, a whisper to the soul. But you know, nothing wrong with that, breathing goes both in and out."
<a href="https://www.kexp.org/podcasts/song-of-the-day/2023/5/30/sessa-vento-a-favor/">Read the full story at KEXP.org</a>

Spiritualized - The Mainline Song

In 1 playlist(s)

Song of the Day

Social links

Follow podcast

Recent clips