Michele MyersBio: Hosts: Saturdays 3-6pm on KEXP 90.3 FM in Seattle. Producer: KEXP Documentaries Music Style: The music I choose for the shows is a mix of cutting-edge flavors and legendary favorites. I love anything that’s brainy, circulatory or soulful. The idea is to mix diverse genres like: alt-rock, electronic, hip-hop, soul, pop, punk, funk, international, roots and more – and to make it all fit together. Matching the newest music with cuts from the library, so that you hear the latest band but also something familiar next to it. Job: I started out as a DJ at KALX after graduating from the University of California at Berkeley. In 1995 I moved to Seattle and joined the staff at KEXP. My full time gig at the station is as producer of KEXP Documentaries. These short radio stories are 5-8 minutes long and all about music. My passion is to create visuals and sound scenes that take you on the spot with a band or an era. Interactive: I run a sort of cyber radio station with news, music and videos through my facebook and twitter feeds. You can also sign up for my Mailing List to get a weekly link to the Saturday show and playlist, along with a quote of the day and upcoming shows. To see a detailed list of my favorite albums check out my Record Collection. Social:
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KEXP Documentaries bring you a musical subject in the time it takes to play just one song. This week it’s an episode on funk mastermind George Clinton and one band with two names: “Parliament” and “Funkadelic.” In 1956, George Clinton formed a doo-wop group in the back of a barbershop in Plainfield, New Jersey. He named this band The Parliaments. He loved R&B, and the harmonizing sound of the 1950s, but in the 60s his band started listening more to Jimi Hendrix than to Ray Charles. He threw out the suits the band performed in and exchanged them for torn jeans. The Parliaments hit the R&B charts in 1967 with their first official single, “(I Wanna) Testify.”
Popular R&B artist James Brown invented funk music by changing the accents and voicings in soul music. He released the first known funk single, “Papa’s Got A Brand New Bag,” in 1965. This new kind of music drew from gospel, jazz and R&B and would lay the foundation for future genres of music like hip-hop, electronic dance, funky rock and neo-soul.
Today on the Afternoon Show with Kevin Cole, at 3pm we finish our current KEXP Documentary series, Electronic Innovators, with a profile of the inventors of techno, The Belleville Three.
Pop icon Björk started out as a child star in her home country of Iceland when she released an album of covers in 1976. She was only 11 years-old. The album was called Björk, and even though it brought her fame, Björk was ashamed of the record. “I felt funny about having anRead more…
Our current KEXP Documentary series is Electronic Innovators, featuring profiles of acts like Portishead, Amon Tobin, Kraftwerk, Daft Punk and more. This week we look at an artist who is the quintessential example of the inventor-musician. The “Godfather of Ambient Music,” Brian Eno started out as a rock star in the glam-pop band Roxy MusicRead more… |
