Today's Song of the Day, as chosen by Larry Rose, host of Larry's Lounge, in honor of Pride, is "Marea (We’ve Lost Dancing)" by Fred again.. & The Blessed Madonna, from the 2021 album Actual Life (April 14 - December 17 2020) on Atlantic.
This week's Song of the Day were selected by KEXP DJ Larry Rose in honor of Pride. Tune in Pride Weekend, Saturday and Sunday June 26th and 27th, from Noon to 6PM PT for a special lineup throughout the weekend with DJ Riz, Reverend Dollars, Michele Myers, and DJ Kennady, creating an On-Air Pride Party for us all to stay connected. More info here.
When the clubs shut down during the pandemic, London producer Fred again.. wrote today's Song of the Day as a eulogy to the dancefloor, sampling a voice mail message from his dear friend The Blessed Madonna (real name: Marea Stamper).
"Marea and I met in Palestine around 5 years ago now. I call her my rave shaman," Fred again.. said in a press release. "I think she’s that for a lot of other people too to be honest! Her ability to tell stories and share things has always been a particularly beautiful part of her beautiful mind so I guess it makes sense that I ended up making a song out of sampling one of our conversations! She's a real hug of a human."
Stamper continues, "Right from the second I met Fred there was a real closeness and even though I didn’t know him at all, I always felt like 'this is gonna be a person in my life.' On this particular night in lockdown, Fred asked how I was feeling and I just talked to him like I normally would. Somehow he digs in all my babble and makes it into something beautiful and personal. Fred is a singular artist. He had such a tender way of looking at sound. You can’t fake it. You gotta have real heart. No one has a heart like that."
