Today's Song of the Day, as chosen by Cheryl Waters, host of the Midday Show on KEXP, is "Madrugada" by Xenia Rubinos & El Individuo, a 2022 single on ANTI-.
Last year's album, Una Rosa, was so fantastic, artist Xenia Rubinos is revisiting it with reimagined versions of those tracks. Last year's single "What Is This Voice?” has been reworked into today's Song of the Day, "Madrugada," adding guest vocalist, Cuban rapper El Individuo. She told Stereogum:
El Individuo had just arrived to NYC from Habana for the first time and came straight into this session without us ever having met and just blew us all away.
It feels like the thaw of Spring, like the last frost leaving, like the first flower buds starting to poke through. In the lyrics he talks about dawn and the mysterious vale of those hours right before the morning light hits. I added in a Rhodes line in post production at the end of the track that kind of reminded me of the melody that clocks play, “Westminster Quarters” and the main riff from Mt. Airy Groove by Pieces of a Dream. Creating this rework in a whirlwind cypher with this supergroup of musicians felt like opening a secret trap door we found in the original song.
