A Deeper Listen

Chad Ubovich fronts the band Meatbodies, which recently released their fourth album, 'Flora Ocean Tiger Bloom.' The album has been mostly finished for years but it took a medically induced coma to allow Ubovich to complete the record. Ubovich talks with KEXP’s Emily Fox about what led to the coma, the visions he saw while under the coma, and how he was able to complete the album after his health emergency.Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/sound/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Salt Cathedral is a New York via Bogota Colombia duo. Their song, "Terminal Woes," is the most played song on KEXP so far this year. “This song came from that upsetness of thinking, we’re not taking care of our planet. As a woman in my 30s, thinking should I have children? Should we bring more children into this world because it’s a difficult world and it’s warming up and there’s no climate justice,” says Salt Cathedral’s Juliana Ronderos. Ronderos, Salt Cathedral’s Nicolas Losada, and KEXP’s Emily Fox talk more about the future of children in the screen addiction era and how these themes are addressed in Salt Cathedral’s latest album, 'Before It’s Gone.'Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/sound/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Alynda Segarra of Hurray for the Riff Raff talks about their new album, 'The Past Is Still Alive.' They share some of the stories that informed the album, like hitchhiking and train hopping around the country. They also talk about their experience helping those struggling with addiction, and how grief is an act of love. “A lot on this record is about how grief is not a punishment, it’s an act of love and it’s just another expression of love,” Segarra says.Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/sound/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On April 9, we're launching a new podcast right here on this feed. A Deeper Listen will be KEXP's new destination for transformative conversations with artists – the ones you already know and love, and the ones you have yet to discover. We’ll hear from renowned and emerging talents of all musical styles about the stories behind their songs and the life experiences that are inextricable from their work. As we uncover the humanity behind the music, we’ll also gain the tools to listen more deeply. Over the past five years, Sound & Vision has brought you behind the scenes of the music industry through a variety of stories and formats. With A Deeper Listen, we dig deeper into our most popular type of feature: unfiltered, authentic conversations with artists. Each episode will go beyond the surface to bring us into the world of the artist and find new dimensions to their music.  Take a deeper listen with us every Tuesday, right here, starting April 9.Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/sound/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

KEXP’s Morgan Chosnyk talks us through this year’s Trans Musicales festival in France and shares five of her favorite live sessions KEXP captured while at the festival. Those sessions are now available on KEXP’s YouTube channel: Raül Refree Moja Chalk Flore Laurentienne Ana Lua Caiano Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/sound/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Eurosonic Festival features emerging artists from Europe. KEXP Drive Time DJ, Kevin Cole, attended the festival and saw about 50 of the roughly 280 performers there. In this episode, he talks about some of his favorite performances. Songs featured in this episode: "Sluntseto Trepti" by TRIGAIDA "Kota Bandung" by Nusantara Beat "Liberate" by Izzy And The Black Trees "Esto me pertenece" by Dame Area "Found Love" by freekind. "Tristesse" by Zaho de Sagazan Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/sound/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

News about artists battling with record labels to reclaim the master – or original – recordings of their songs has come to the forefront in recent years. But it’s not just big-name artists making those moves. KEXP’s Meerah Powell has the story on musicians from smaller record labels who are pushing to get back their masters.Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/sound/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

John Vanderslice has transformed from indie rock analog purist to electronic experimentalist during his more than 20-year music career. He spoke with Jasmine Albertson about the making of his 2000 debut album, 'Mass Suicide Occult Figurines,' as well as his most recent album, 'CRYSTALS 3.0.' They spoke last year about the jarring differences between the two records, as well as the massive changes in the music industry landscape since the turn of the millennium.Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/sound/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Bam Bam was a Black woman-fronted grunge band in Seattle in the early '80s — before grunge was a defined genre. Larry Mizell Jr. tells the story of Bam Bam and the life of frontwoman Tina Bell. He also explores why we’ve never heard of this group before and why their story has been erased from Seattle music history.Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/sound/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For Women’s History Month, we are revisiting Sound & Vision's 2021 miniseries, Behind the Console, which highlights the stories of women and nonbinary audio engineers who are navigating what is still a very male-dominated field. In this episode we talk with two mastering engineers, who put the final touches on music before it’s released. It’s Seattle’s Rachel Field, who has worked with Eddie Vedder and Pearl Jam, and the Cairo-born, Brooklyn-based engineer Heba Kadry, who has worked with Björk, Lucy Dacus, Slowdive, The Mars Volta and more. They discuss the gender inequities they have seen both at home and abroad, the women who pioneered audio yet were largely left out of the narrative, and what makes them hopeful for positive change.Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/sound/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For Women’s History Month, we are revisiting Sound & Vision's 2021 miniseries, Behind the Console, which highlights the stories of women and nonbinary audio engineers who are navigating what is still a very male-dominated field. Today we meet Susan Rogers, who engineered for Prince for four years, working on albums like 'Purple Rain' and 'Sign o' the Times.' She also has credits with David Byrne, Tricky, and the Barenaked Ladies. She talks about what it was like keeping up with Prince's tireless creativity, and how it could be both exhausting and exhilarating. She also discusses eventually leaving engineering in her 40s to get her PhD in Music Cognition and Psychoacoustics, and how that has influenced her work in unexpected ways.Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/sound/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Totem Star is a recording studio for Seattle area youth ages 14 to 25. The organization recently moved to a new 2,000 square foot space on the second floor of Seattle’s King Street Station in Pioneer Square. That’s where Totem Star will live rent free for the next 60 years, thanks to a lease from the city. KEXP’s Emily Fox talks with Totem Star co-founder Daniel Pak about the impact of Totem star since it launched as a mobile recording studio that could fit in a suitcase 14 years ago. Pak shares how Totem Star was inspired after a mixtape project he did with youth who had just been released from juvenile detention.Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/sound/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Toussaint Morrison is a New Orleans-born, Minneapolis-raised artist. He released an album earlier this year called 'The Very Best of Ricky and Jane.' Ricky and Jane are his parents. Morrison talks with KEXP’s Emily Fox about the activism his parents were involved in and how decades later, he quit his job at a PBS station when he became involved in the protests following the killing of George Floyd. He also shares how the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the death of Daunte Wright in a north Minneapolis suburb are reflected in this latest album.Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/sound/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Seattle’s Brittany Davis has released her debut album, 'Image Issues,' which she calls an "audio movie." It’s a sonic journey that weaves in many musical genres and spoken word vignettes backed by soundscapes. Davis is blind and audio is a heightened sense for her. She also has synesthesia and hears music from smells. Davis talks with Emily Fox about raising her voice in the face of adversity in this album. “Being an overweight Black blind female from the wrong side of the tracks that has no physical capital, no cultural capital, but I do have a message and I had to make a choice to raise my voice despite all of the things that I didn’t have. I had to use the one thing I did have,” Davis says.  Davis also talks about finding a strong musical community in Seattle and shares the stories behind three important tracks on her album.Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/sound/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Feb 29 is Music Heals: Mental Health at KEXP, where all day the station reads stories and plays listener requests of the songs that helped them through their mental health struggles. In honor of Music Heals: Mental Health, we revisit a conversation from 2021 that was originally part of the mini-series, Apparently, focusing on the intersections of parenting and art. On this episode, Ella Vos talks with Rachel Stevens about how getting pregnant inspired her to become a solo artist and how her popular song, "White Noise," was about her struggles with postpartum depression and the loneliness of being a new mom.Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/sound/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Charley Pride was the first Black country music singer to sign to a major record label (RCA) back in 1965. He went on to have 30 number one hits on the Billboard Hot Country chart and sold more than 70 million records. Emily Fox talks with Nashville Historian David Ewing about Charley Pride. They discuss Charley Pride’s baseball career, how he landed a demo and record deal after giving up on baseball, his struggles with mental health and racism, and his legacy in country music.Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/sound/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mia Dyson is an Australia-raised, LA based musician who is an award winner of the Australia version of a Grammy—an ARIA award. She’s opened for Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mack and Bonnie Raitt. She’s releasing her 8th album on Feb 23rd, it’s called Tender Heart. Mia Dyson started writing this album shortly before an earthquake hit her home. Following the earthquake, she experienced an undiagnosed heart arrhythmia which caused her to stop breathing. She almost died. Emily Fox talks with Dyson about the themes on the album including forgiveness and mental health, but first she talked about what she can remember from her near death experience.  Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/sound/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ray Lacorte runs an Instagram page called BIPOC Punk. KEXP’s Martin Douglas caught up with Lacorte to learn more about him, music and his Instagram page.Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/sound/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hazel Scott was a Black pianist who was classically trained at Juilliard at the age of 8 and started making a name for herself as a performer in New York in the 1930s while she was still in high school. She went on to play big concert halls and notable nightclubs. As stated in a biography about her by actor and author Karen Chilton, “She was the first black woman to host her own television show and one of the first to refuse to perform before segregated audiences. She negotiated lucrative contracts with Hollywood studios, becoming one of the highest-paid performers of her era.” Chilton speaks with Emily Fox about Hazel’s life and career and why she might not be a household name today despite her extraordinary career.Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/sound/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mali Obomsawin talks with Emily Fox about how her new album, 'Greatest Hits' with guitarist Magdalena Abrego, is about intimacy under colonialism. Obomsawin also shares Indigenous history from the northeast and stories of her father’s involvement in the Red Power Movement in the 1980’s and how Obomsawin is carrying on his effort today to reclaim Abenaki land.Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/sound/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.