Today's Song of the Day, as chosen by John Richards, host of The Morning Show on KEXP, is "Ritchie Sacramento" by Mogwai, from the 2021 album As the Love Continues on Temporary Residence Ltd.
Today's Song of the Day gets its title from someone's mispronunciation of the name Ryuchi Sakamoto, famed Japanese composer. Scottish post-rock band Mogwai transformed the flub into a tribute for David Berman, the musician behind the Silver Jews who passed away in 2019.
“I was inspired by a story that Bob Nastanovich put online on the anniversary of the death of Dave Berman from Silver Jews,” frontman Stuart Braithwaite told NME. “When they were students, Dave threw a shovel at a sports car. That’s the first line of the song: ‘Rise crystal spear’. Obviously Dave was an amazing poet, songwriter and musician. I took the lead from there. I wouldn’t pretend to be able to write songs as good as him, but he’s definitely a huge inspiration.”
Braithwaite continued: “It’s been a hard few years. There are a lot of people that we played with and were friends with that just aren’t around now. This songs is about those people, imagined conversations… and Dave Berman throwing a shovel at a sports car!”
Mogwai’s tenth album, As the Love Continues, will be out February 19th via Temporary Residence Ltd./Rock Action.
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