Tres Leches - Nieve

Tres Leches - “Nieve,” a 2020 self-released single. The latest track from Seattle's Tres Leches is a beautiful example of community, featuring guest appearances from fellow Northwest artists Terror/Cactus, Rachael's Children, and Medejín. The band describe the song as an attempt to "stay alive once more through music." They point to a quote from poet Audre Lorde: “Implicit in survival is joy, mobility and effectiveness… if we do what we need to be doing then we will leave something that continues beyond ourselves." While the band recently had to cancel their spring tour due to the coronavirus, they're using this period of self-quarantine to work on new music. Read the full post on KEXP.org Support the show.

Lucinda Williams - Man Without a Soul

Lucinda Williams - “Man Without a Soul” from the 2020 album Good Souls Better Angels on Highway 20/Thirty Tigers. "All the money in the world / Will never fill that hole / You're a man bought and sold / You're a man without a soul" Over the past 40 years, Lucinda Williams has built a name for herself with her vivid storytelling, which has earned her four Grammy Awards throughout her career. But her forthcoming full-length, Good Souls Better Angels, will "forgo the personal and narrative-based songcraft that has become synonymous with her name and instead speaks to some of the injustices permeating our society." Today's Song of the Day perfectly illustrates this shift. And while she never directly names who the subject of the song is, it's not hard to guess who she's referring to. Read the full post on KEXP.org Support the show.

Archers of Loaf - Raleigh Days

Archers of Loaf - “Raleigh Days,” a 2020 single on Merge Records. It's been over 20 years, but indie rock kings Archers of Loaf have returned with the single "Raleigh Days," their first new music since 1998's LP White Trash Heroes. Originally formed in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, in 1991, the band exploded on to the scene with their debut album Icky Mettle and the hit single "Web in Front", which landed them a highly-coveted appearance on MTV's Beavis & Butthead. Read the full post on KEXP.org Support the show.

Steve Earle & The Dukes - Devil Put the Coal in the Ground

Steve Earle & The Dukes - “Devil Put the Coal in the Ground” from the 2020 album Ghosts of West Virginia on New West Records. In 2010, the Upper Big Branch coal mine in Raleigh County, West Virginia exploded, killing twenty-nine of the thirty-one miners present at the time. It's been called one of the worst mining disasters in American history. And it inspired the latest album from veteran singer/songwriter Steve Earle, titled Ghosts of West Virginia. The project originated with the off-Broadway play Coal Country, written by playwrights Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen, who approached Earle to compose the score. While the play had to cancel its run in New York City due the coronavirus, Earle will release the songs as his 20th studio album on May 22nd via New West Records. Read the full post on KEXP.org Support the show.

Throwing Muses - Dark Blue

Throwing Muses - “Dark Blue” from the 2020 album Sun Racket on Fire Records. Alt-rock icons Throwing Muses return with their first new album in seven years, the fiery tenth full-length Sun Racket, out September 4 via Fire Records. The group originally formed in the early '80s, with it's current line-up of Kristin Hersh, drummer David Narcizo, and bassist Bernard Georges holding steady since the '90s. Recording the new album brought everybody back together from their respective coasts. “Sun Racket has always been geographical," Narcizo confirms in a press release. "...a transplanted southerner in New England crash landing in California. A West Coast sound at New England scale, dragged back down to the south where the elements got more aggressive but now with deeper roots.” Read the full post on KEXP.org Support the show.

The B-Band - Kavire Del

B-Band - "Kavire Del” from the 2013 self-released album Napichideh (Uncomplicated) B-band formed in Tehran, Iran in 2009, combining alt-rock with Persian folklore. Dr. Nasim Niknafs, Assistant Professor of Music Education at the University of Toronto, points out in an interview with Ethnotes that "when you transliterate this name into Farsi, it has another meaning, which translates roughly to 'without any boundaries.' In addition, B-Band is the name of a guitar pickup company. One name, many layers!" Today's featured track is a cover of the '70s-era single “Kavire Del” by Marjan, which itself was a cover of a French/Turkish song performed by Ajda Pekkan. Read the full post on KEXP.org Support the show.

Liraz - Zan Bezan

Liraz - “Zan Bezan” from the 2020 album Zan on Dead Sea Recordings Liraz Charhi's family emigrated to Israel during the '70s at the brink of the Iranian Revolution. Nearly 50 years later, it's still a major influence in the music she writes under the name Liraz. "Music in Iran in the ’70s was characterized by resistance to traditional music and a desire to find a universal sound," she explained to the Haaretz Newspaper. Today's Song of the Day translates to "Women, Sing" — it's a call to action for women to join her personal revolution. According to Liraz, "The fight for women’s freedom of expression is in my DNA." Read the full post on KEXP.org Support the show.

Bahram - Goosht

Bahram - “گوشت (Goosht)," a 2019 single on Peeleh Records The Huffington Post declared him one of the "50 people shaping the culture of the Middle East." Bahram Nouraei — who records simply as Bahram — uses hip-hop to call out the current political climate of Iran. His breakout single was titled "Nameyee Be Rayees Jomhour" (translating to "A Letter to the President"), which openly criticized the sixth president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Bahram has since relocated to Stockholm, Sweden. Earlier this year, he launched today's featured track, titled “گوشت (Goosht),” produced by Peymandegar and featuring album artwork by Setareh Malekzadeh. On March 20th, he released a new EP titled Gozaar (Transition), out now via Peeleh. Real the full post on KEXP.org Support the show.

Salome MC - Odium

Salome MC - “Odium” from the 2017 self-released album Excerpts from Unhappy Consciousness Salome MC is Iran's first female rapper, and her LP Excerpts from Unhappy Consciousness is the first full-length Persian hip-hop album produced by a woman. This is all the more impressive when you learn that in 2007, the Iranian government denounced rap, with the Ministry of Culture shutting down recording studios where these albums are made, raiding record stores where this music might be sold, blocking websites, and even arresting the artists themselves. Released in 2017, Excerpts from Unhappy Consciousness is the culmination of two years work, said to be an "autobiographical concept album that explores a woman's journey in the light of Hegel's Unhappy Consciousness, with each track correlating to a stage of dialectical life of spirit." Read the full post on KEXP.org Support the show.

SarrSew - Farewell, Warden

SarrSew - "Farewell, Warden.” from the 2018 album Girih: Iranian Sound Artists on Zabte Sote When Tehran-born, Paris-based artist Sara Bigdeli Shamloo isn’t recording as half of the duo 9T Antiope, she records solo under the name SarrSew. While previous SarrSew tracks were composed for theatre and film (Shamloo was studying Theatre Directing at Tehran University before she dropped out), today’s Song of the Day marks her solo debut single, a haunting, somber chant sung in English over an eerie, yet meditative lullaby until it culminates in an erratic blur of feedback. Read the full post on KEXP.org Support the show.