A Deeper Listen – Details, episodes & analysis

Sunny Day Real Estate came out of the hardcore scene in Seattle in the 90s and eventually became a major influence on “emo” music.

KEXP’s Dusty Henry talks with guitarist Dan Hoerner and drummer William Goldsmith about the band’s history, their take on "emo," their recent reunion tour, and the re-release of their 1994 debut album, 'Diary.'

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The Canadian hardcore band, F*cked Up is out with a new record, called Another Day. The band’s last three records were all written and recorded in a total of 24 hours. Emily Fox speaks with F*cked Up’s frontman Damian Abraham about these 24-hour projects, how Toronto marijuana politics comes up on Another Day and how medical marijuana has helped his panic attacks.  

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Shabaka Hutchings is a celebrated saxophone player and a major figure in London’s contemporary jazz scene. He was the bandleader for Sons of Kemet and Shabaka and the Ancestors, and part of the electronic jazz group The Comet Is Coming. But on New Year's Day of 2023, he announced he'd be putting down the saxophone for good and focusing on a new instrument: the flute. Starting with the Japanese shakuhachi and expanding to a variety of traditional flutes, he's now out with his first full-length album under his solo moniker of Shabaka. The album is called 'Perceive Its Beauty, Acknowledge Its Grace,' and features collaborations with Carlos Niño, Laraaji, Andre 3000, Floating Points, Esperanza Spalding, Moses Sumney, and more.

Shabaka talks with KEXP’s Isabel Khalili about his transition from saxophone to flute and how it’s helped him learn to release tension and relax into playing. He also discusses his thoughts on the term "Afrofuturism," how he’s embraced Octavia Butler's ideas on the inevitability of change, what it means to heal through music, and his search for meaning outside of a Western colonial paradigm.

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Roughly 2% of producers are women. Femme House is trying to change that number by providing free online workshops to teach women and gender expansive individuals how to produce and DJ. LP Giobbi is a producer and DJ behind the project. She talks about the training sessions, her process for getting more femmes booked on festival stages and the impact her first piano teacher had on her life and career.

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Danielle Ponder talks about leaving her job as a public defender to pursue music full time at 40. She talks about the clients she worked with as a public defender and how restorative justice and resources were needed instead of jail time. She also breaks down what it takes to make a living in music today. 

“I had a mother whose [four-year-old] daughter was in an apartment hallway. . .  running up and down. The mother went to the corner store. She thought her older daughter was watching her, she wasn’t. The mother was arrested for endangering the welfare of her child. The child wasn’t hurt, but it was the fact that she wasn’t home and the daughter was in the hallway. We all can have our opinions about what the mother should have done and shouldn’t have done, but the reality is she was a single mom trying to provide for her kids, trying to go grocery shopping for her kids and ended up in jail instead of looking at how she could have been supported with things like daycare and things of that nature,” Ponder said.

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Protomartyr released their sixth album, titled 'Formal Growth in the Desert,' in June. Prior to their performance at Treefort Music Festival in March, KEXP’s Martin Douglas caught up with vocalist Joe Casey to talk about the new album, Protomartyr’s musical evolution, and being so closely associated with their hometown of Detroit. 

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Nabihah Iqbal’s latest album, DREAMER, is a lush and atmospheric meditation on love and loss. It incorporates elements of shoegaze and dance music and weaves in instrumentation that nods to her Pakistani roots. 

Nabihah speaks with KEXP’s Isabel Khalili about how a studio burglary led her to a more stripped-down approach to songwriting for this album, the first poem that made her cry, and how her practices with karate, DJing, and poetry all relate to her music-making.

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Seattle’s summer music festival season is upon us. KEXP’s Emily Fox, Dusty Henry, Jasmine Albertson, Martin Douglas, and Leah Capindo give their recommendations for which artists and bands to see at Capitol Hill Block Party, Timber, Day In Day Out, THING, and Bumbershoot. They also discuss the different vibes and audiences you may find at each festival.

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Janelle Monáe dropped her latest album, 'The Age of Pleasure' on June 9th. Contributor Mia Imani has this review of Monáe’s journey of sensuality, queerness, and joy.

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Brandy Clark and Brandi Carlile are both gay Americana and Country artists from Washington State. The two have teamed up on Brandy Clark’s new solo album with Carlile on production credits. Emily Fox caught up with Brandy Clark to talk about the record, her Tony award winning musical, songwriting for other country stars and gay representation in country music.  

“What went along with being an artist, I just didn’t think I could ever really be. One of those things being that I was openly gay and I just didn’t see a lot of space for that in commercial country music. . . and right about the time I thought ‘that’ll never happen,’ boom, I got the opportunity to make a record,” Clark says.   

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