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Seattle Film and Music Blog

KEXP’S SONG OF THE DAY: HEAD AND THE HEART’S ‘SOUNDS LIKE HALLELUJAH’

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KEXP
KEXP’s popular podcast, KEXP Song of the Day, is dedicated to showcasing local music. Every Friday they profile the hard work and rocking jams of Seattle by choosing a local act as the song of the day. Today is local six-piece band The Head and The Heart. They’ve been getting a lot of buzz on the blog-o-sphere and playing some solid shows around town. Oft-compared to the likes of Rufus Wainwright, The Beatles and Bon Iver, their twangy, melodic, super sweet songs belie the intensity of their lyrics. You can check out The Head and the Head at the Capitol Hill Block Party Vera Stage on Saturday, at the Doe Bay Music Festival on August 13-14 and at the Columbia City Theater with kay Kay and his Weathered Underground on August 6th. As if that wasn’t enough, you can also see them for free as part of KEXP’s Concerts at the Mural series on August 27th. Until then, check out the mp3.

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NEW INSTALLMENT OF KEXP DOCUMENTARY SERIES “HIP-HOP: THE NEW SEATTLE SOUND”

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KEXP
This week’s installment of the KEXP 10-part series “Hip-Hop: The New Seattle Sound” features Ra Scion, the rapper/frontman/lyricist for Seattle hip-hop bands Common Market and Victor Shade. His raps are conscious, collegiate even, and are sometimes written in a kind of code, so the listener has to listen several times and pay close attention to get his meaning. Originally from Kentucky, Ra got his first radio airplay in 2003 when he submitted his self-released solo debut, The Apostrophe, to KEXP. Since then, he’s worked with Sabzi (the producer from Blue Scholars) on the project Common Market. He’s recently dropped a new release with producer MTK under the name Victor Shade. Taking the new band name from the alter-ego of a comic book hero called Vision. Victor Shade’s sound is based on funky soul samples. And Ra Scion sounds better than ever. Check out the show after the link.

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CHECK OUT THE NEWEST INSTALLMENT OF KEXP DOCUMENTARY SERIES: “HIP-HOP: THE NEW SEATTLE SOUND”

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KEXP
This week’s installment of the KEXP 10-part series “Hip-Hop: The New Seattle Sound” features local duo Fresh Espresso. The four elements of hiphop, graffiti, dancing, beats and rhymes have expanded to include a whole host of artistic outlets including fashion design, photography and multimedia. The duo Fresh Espresso, made up of Rik Rude and P Smoov, consider themselves to be part of a collective of artists working all kinds of creations. In this interview P Smoov talks about getting his start making beats, how he wrote one of his most popular songs while homeless and living in an abandoned building and also gives advice to artists who just starting out. You can listen to the documentary after the link and you can catch fresh Espresso at the Capitol Hill Block Party on July 25.

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SEATTLE CENTER PUBLIC MEETING TOMORROW NIGHT

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The Stranger
The future of Seattle Center is up in the air. With submissions from nine organizations vying for the open space, Seattlites have lots of choices. Of particular note is the proposal called Open Platform, which seeks to provide free green, artistic space for local creators. Open Platform would be governed loosely by a nonprofit organization that would invite performances from nearby Seattle Center organizations as well as non-Center artists and designers. KEXP, another submitting organization, would also be included. Space would be provided for the radio station’s operations and live in-studio performances within the framework of Open Platform. However, the public debate rages about how this Seattle Center space would best be used. Add your two cents at tomorrow night’s open meeting at the Seattle Center.

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CHECK OUT THE NEWEST INSTALLMENT OF KEXP DOCUMENTARY SERIES: “HIP-HOP: THE NEW SEATTLE SOUND”

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KEXP
This week’s installment of the KEXP 10-part series “Hip-Hop: The New Seattle Sound” features DJ/Producer/MC Vitamin –D. Vitamin D’s band The Ghetto Children and Tribal Music label laid the foundation for today’s new hip-hop scene and were a huge influence on acts like Blue Scholars, Jake One, D. Black and more. Vita’s studio, The Pharmacy has had an open-door policy, welcoming anyone from the community who was willing to put in the work. In addition to his talents as a DJ, producer, composer and engineer, Vitamin D also mentors youth in the community, giving kids from hard neighborhoods a chance to make music. To listen to the documentary follow the link.

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CHECK OUT THE KEXP DOCUMENTARY SERIES: “HIP-HOP: THE NEW SEATTLE SOUND”

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KEXP
This week KEXP launched a new 10-part series “Hip-Hop: The New Seattle Sound.” They picked ten of Seattle’s hottest local acts and are doing short radio stories on them. These ten talented performers will be profiled in the coming weeks: Blue Scholars, D Black, Vitamin D, Jake One, Fresh Espresso, RA Scion, THEESatisfaction, Macklemore, Dyme Def, and Shabazz Palaces. In these episodes, producer Michele Myers sits down with each artist and asks them to tell stories, talk philosophy or just rap. Then in the editing room, they illuminate the most memorable points with their music. The first episode is on the duo Blue Scholars, made up of MC Geologic and DJ/Multi-instrumentalist Sabzi. They talk about how their music is based on storytelling, what the “Seattle Sound” is for hip-hop and also give props to local producer Vitamin D and his former band The Ghetto Children, the people who laid the foundation for today’s new hip-hop scene. The intro to each episode is a rundown of Sea-town’s hip-hop history, told by the “Mayor of Seattle Hip-Hop,” Jonathan Moore. To listen to the first episode, follow the link.

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KEXP PROFILES 2010 SIFF’S MUSIC FILM SERIES, FACE THE MUSIC

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KEXP
KEXP recently spoke with SIFF’s Beth Barrett and Clare Canzoneri (former Office of Film + Music intern!) about 2010 Seattle International Film Festival’s lineup of music films and live performances that are part of their Face The Music series. Started in 2005, this year’s series will feature the deep histories on Brazilian music; the gospel and reggae music cultures; a loving ode to Stephin Merritt of the Magnetic Fields; an examination of David Byrne’s and Brian Eno’s creative partnership and live energy; and a pair of identical twin lesbian yodelers from New Zealand. Canzoneri, programming coordinator who focused specifically on curating Face The Music says of this year’s selections, “As a whole, the eight films in Face the Music this year are both an insight into the private lives and public personas of iconic musicians, and a broad celebration of the joys of music, as cheesy as that may sound – from yodeling twins to the bond between Stephin Merritt and Claudia Gonson to the joy that hits like “Rivers of Babylon” still bring to its creators and fans almost 40 years after its conception.” Read the full interview at the above link.

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KEXP ANNOUNCES SUMMER INTERNSHIPS

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KEXP
KEXP offers internships in all areas of radio broadcasting. Interns will gain experience in a broad array of fields including non-profit fundraising, marketing, sales, web design, sound engineering, and music programming. KEXP interns will learn skills in business communication, project management, problem solving, audio technology, database management and more. These skills and experiences offer our interns a unique ground-level glimpse of the day-to-day life of a community radio station, while offering relationship building and networking opportunities that will aid in securing future employment in the music industry. Internship openings include: music business, administration, sales and fundraising; online, blogging and web services; and audio and video production. The deadline to apply for these summer internships is May 28. For a full description of these opportunities and to apply, follow the above link.

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HALF OF SPIN’S 10 BEST LIVE PICS OF THE WEEK ARE SEATTLE-RELATED

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Spin Magazine
Spin Magazine choose this picture of Cat and Stasia of rap duo Thee Satisfaction performing some of their spacey sci-fi sounds at KEXP as one of the ten best live pictures of the week. Also in last week’s Top 10 Best Live Pics are Mudhoney, Alice in Chains and People Eating People. Check them all out by following the above link.

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GET IT NOW: THE OFFICIAL KEXP IPHONE APP!

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KEXP
You can now stream KEXP to the iPhone with the official KEXP iPhone app. The first version of the KEXP app allows you to stream either 38k or 128k live stream, keep track of songs you’ve heard with the playlist, favorite the ones you do like or even purchase them on iTunes, and request songs from the on-air DJs! You can head over to iTunes right now and download the app. Use this link or just search for “KEXP” in iTunes.

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