Song of the Day

Jessica Manning - "Safe Another Day" from the 2021 self-released You Are Here EP. Raised by a father who loved singing soul, Minneapolis-based R&B artist Jessica Manning grew up with a love for music and would sing Broadway show tunes in the privacy of her childhood bedroom. By the age of 15, she began playing guitar, posting covers (and sometimes an original!) on YouTube. She's come a long way since then, beginning with the 2013 release of her self-titled EP. On her most recent release,...

Khingz (Over The World) x Ujjy - "Rainy Morning," a 2021 self-released single. Seattle hip-hop veteran Khingz teams up with Canadian artist Ujjy on this touching track, written during a dark time. Khingz states on his Bandcamp, he "wrote this when I did not know when I would see my son again and the world was heavy on my shoulders." Khingz broke out as a battle emcee in the early 2000s, named "Best MC Of The Year" in 2009 by the Seattle Weekly readers poll. In 2001, he formed Abyssinian...

Felicia Douglass - "Continuation," a 2021 self-released single. Felicia Douglass's voice is all around us: not only is she a solo artist, she's also a member of Ava Luna, Gemma, and Dirty Projectors; and she has lent her gorgeous vocals to Lushlife, BAILE, Toro y Moi, Helado Negro, and others. "There was a point a few years ago where I was like, 'Okay, I feel like I'm in too many bands,'" the Brooklyn-based artist jokingly toldGARAGE last year. Thanks to her home studio set-up, Douglass has...

King Khazm - "Superpowerz (feat. Kane Smego & Jessica Care Moore)" from the 2021 album Pangea: Hip Hop Heals on MADK Productions. King Khazm has a long history as an emcee, artist, and community organizer in Seattle's underground hip-hop scene, and with the compilation Pangea: Hip Hop Heals, he gathers 50 emcees, producers, DJs, and artists representing 17 countries to share their perspectives on the coronavirus pandemic. Today's Song of the Day features National Poetry Slam finalist Kane...

Farhot - "Yak Sher" from the 2021 album Kabul Fire Vol. 2 on Kabul Fire Records. “This is one of my goals,” hip-hop producer Farhot (real name: Farhad Samadzada) toldAcclaim, “to help make Afghanistan a little bit more seen.” It's been seven years since the release of Kabul Fire Vol. 1, and with the follow-up, he wanted to continue to celebrate his birthplace. "When it was time for Vol 2, I had to do some homework. I was thinking of the title Kabul Fire, and I thought, ‘I need to make a...

Bad Colours - “Feelin' Like (feat. Jarv Dee)” from the 2021 album Pink on Bastard Jazz Recordings. London-born, Maryland-raised, Brooklyn-based DJ, songwriter, producer, and instrumentalist Ibe Soliman (aka Bad Colours) was inspired by lockdown to record a debut album, using rough ideas and samples that friends sent him to spur on new ideas. One of the samples he used was from Seattle's own Jarv Dee. Today's Song of the Day began with a sampled vocal hook, and then after the first draft,...

Jeff Parker - "Build a Nest (feat. Ruby Parker)" from the 2020 album Suite for Max Brown on International Anthem. With his 2016 album The New Breed, guitarist Jeff Parker paid tribute to his Dad, who passed away while he was recording it. With his latest release, Suite For Max Brown, he wanted to dedicate something to his Mom while she was still alive to hear it. "Maxine Brown is her maiden name and everybody calls her Max," Parker explained in a press statement. "The picture on the cover is...

Madison McFerrin - "Hindsight," a 2020 single on Mexican Summer. Brooklyn-based artist Madison McFerrin says she wrote today's Song of the Day as “a love letter to Bernie Sanders.” She explained the inspiration for the track toAfropunk.com: It was back in May when it was clear that both A) this pandemic wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon, and B) Bernie Sanders, the only Democratic Presidential candidate advocating for Medicare for All (something that seems beyond important in the middle of a...

Navy Blue - "224" from the 2020 album Song of Sage: Post Panic! on Freedom Sounds. Skateboarder/graphic designer/streetwear model Sage Elsesser explores his musical side under the alias Navy Blue. Last year's full-length, Àdá Irin, was a confident debut (read KEXP's Martin Douglas' review here), and less than a year later, he returned with his sophomore album, Song of Sage: Post Panic!, another collection of introspective hip-hop. As Martin describes it in the February edition ofIn Our...

Gary Bartz, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Adrian Younge - "Spiritual Ideation" from the 2020 album Gary Bartz JID006 on Jazz is Dead. Last year, Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad (of A Tribe Called Quest) launched the label and series Jazz Is Dead, where the duo pair up with a legendary jazz musician, recording new music using the vintage studio equipment that artist originally used in their discography. So far, they've collaborated with Roy Ayers, Marcos Valle, Azymuth, and several others, and...

Dark Time Sunshine - "Familiars" from the 2021 album LORE on Fake Four Inc. Dark Time Sunshine combines the talents of Seattle's own Onry Ozzborn (of Grayskul and Oldominion) and Chicago producer Zavala. It's been nine years since their last album, ANX, but they return this month with Lore. While the lyrics on the new album mostly reflect on trauma and recovery, today's Song of the Day looks at resilience. In a track-by-track withFlood Magazine, the duo describe the meaning behind today's...

Yazmin Lacey & Congi - "Follow Me" from the 2020 self-released Two Takes EP. Nottingham-based duo Congi have teamed up again with vocalist Yazmin Lacey for another soulful set of R&B jams. Their latest EP, titled Two Takes, is the result of just that: the artists did everything from home — "production and songwriting to the recording and mixing." Then, they kept things minimal in the studio, explaining, "by finishing each song in 'two takes' we kept the process as raw and organic as...

Grove - "Ur Boyfriend's Wack," a 2021 single on Memorials of Distinction x Spinny Nights. Bristol-based producer Grove celebrates their "queerness" in today's Song of the Day. In a press release, they claim the song is “part satire about wack boyfriends who do The Bare Minimum, part informed by the experience of rejecting my own sexuality when younger. It is a steezy reclaiming of pride in that queerness, and departing the space where shame was part and parcel of my lived experience.” Grove...

Jasik - "Black Sands" from the 2021 album Forest of Spirit on Preference Records. Pianist/producer Jamael Dean is only in his early 20s, but he already boasts a lengthy discography, both as Jira >< and, for his rap/spoken word material, as Jasik, a combination of "jah", the creator, and "seek," as in, a disciple or student. He uses this alias "for writing," he explains, "to pay homage to the students of creation seeking to leave something of service in their wake." The grandson of legendary...

SPELLLING - "Secret Thread" from the 2019 album Mazy Fly on Sacred Bones Records. Oakland-based artist Tia Cabral, who records under the name Spellling, found inspiration for today's Song of the Day in both a children's book and her dog. She toldCulture Collide: I remember reading this book called Brown Angels. It’s a little book of poetry, and it has these old photos of black kids just being joyful. There’s a poem in there called "Secret Thread," about the unspoken bond between people and...

Jason McCue - "First Time," a 2021 single on Fluff and Gravy Records. Back in 2017, Seattle singer/songwriter Jason McCue won the annual Sound Off! competition at MoPop, stunning audiences with his solo performance on acoustic guitar. Since then, he's grown as an artist, evidenced by his most recent releases WASTELAND and PANGAEA. Today, our Song of the Day is his latest single "First Time," his first new music since last year's Apocalypse EP. Read the full post on KEXP.org Support the show:...

The Lounge Society - "Burn the Heather," a 2020 single on Speedy Wunderground. Last year, Yorkshire-based band The Lounge Society released their debut single, which ended up being the fastest-selling 7” on their label Speedy Wunderground. The teenage quartet returned back in November with today's Song of the Day. “‘Burn the Heather’ is a song deeply rooted in where we come from,” they say in a press release. “The lyrics are our interpretation of some of the darker aspects of where we live,...

Cherry Glazerr - "Rabbit Hole," a 2020 single on Secretly Canadian. “‘Tried too hard not to be distasteful but it led me down a rabbit hole’ That line sums it up.” On her latest single “Rabbit Hole,” Cherry Glazerr frontwoman Clementine Creevy reflects on her tendency to be someone she's not. “‘Rabbit Hole’ is about clawing back my identity,” Creevy says in a press release. “I often find myself acting a certain way to get someone else’s approval. Then it’s hard for me to find myself again. I...

Sevdaliza - "Wallflower" from the 2020 album Shabrang on Twisted Elegance. Iranian-born, Dutch-based artist and producer Sevdaliza began her career as a professional basketball player before turning her discipline and talent to music, combining Persian mythology with trip-hop, crafting sensual soundscapes with hypnotic vocals. She describes her second full-length, Shabrang, as "kind of like a letter that I wrote to myself." She continues to French fashion magazine L'Officiel, "It is my own...

Claud - "Soft Spot" from the 2021 album Super Monster on Saddest Factory. This Friday, February 12th, singer/songwriter Claud Mintz (who records as Claud) will release their debut album Super Monster via Phoebe Bridgers’ Saddest Factory Records, and what could be a better endorsement than being the first album released by Bridgers’ new imprint for Dead Oceans? Today's Song of the Day is a dreamy rumination on a relationship gone. Claud confirms in a press release, stating “‘… Sigh. I have a...