Bamboo is known for its uncanny ability to spring up from the ground, growing tall against all odds while covering everything in its path. With each sprout though, the stalks' compositions change, and an altogether different group of shoots emerge. Like the plants themselves, The Bamboos, a resilie…
With his eighth album, Infinity, on store shelves, international sensation Yann Tiersen, with his current collaborative outfit and a dazzling array of multicolored bells, toy pianos, and obscure woodwinds, cleverly crammed themselves into the studio for a cinematic live set, bringing the highly-acc…
Mutual Benefit's Jordan Lee has lived in various locations throughout the United States from Austin, Texas to Boston, Massachusetts. While traveling around America, Lee discovered and performed with many other musicians, eventually convincing them to join his music project. In fact, save for Lee, t…
I don't know how much needs to be said about Hasil "Haze" Adkins that wouldn't be better communicated by merely listening to any of the approximately one million songs he recorded to various fidelities of tape over his fifty-ish year career. The first song I ever heard by Mr. Adkins (thanks to a ca…
Guillermo Scott Herren's early releases under his Prefuse 73 alias at the turn of the century proved to be groundbreaking, his fusion of intricate electronic production with high-quality instrumental hip-hop beats yielding a refreshingly innovative and highly influential sound. The current NYC-base…
Are you going hungry... for Seattle grunge nostalgia? Supergroup Temple of the Dog (comprised of Chris Cornell of Soundgarden, Eddie Vedder, Jeff Ament, Stone Gossard, and Mike McCready of Pearl Jam, and drummer Matt Cameron of both bands) are reuniting for the 25th anniversary of their self-title…
Sunday night was a great one for Seattleites pretty much every kind. The Seahawks’ final playoffs game against the Forty-Niners stayed tight throughout, but in the end, the Hawks emerged victorious and everyone in Seattle jumping and shouting in the streets. But perhaps the luckiest of the these ma…
It’s great to see that excellent, keenly questioning, perennially rebellious, truly inspiring, and high quality reading/viewing/listening materials keep being published and produced in this extremely DIY economy. Forged in the fires of pre-economic collapse in 2007, Oakland, CA-based PM Press is a …
"There are some people in tinsel costumes around me... uh... that's what's happening." When Helado Negro is asked to describe his "bandmates" in the studio, that's how he does it, smirking with just enough hesitation to leave a sense of intrigue. On his latest album, Double Youth, the artist someti…
The Replacements were one of the most original and influential rock bands of the 1980s. Their hard-drinking ways made them infamous to many clubs in the Twin Cities and around the country -- including the time when they got themselves famously banned from Saturday Night Live after a particularly i…
Today marks the birthday of James Yancey, better known as J Dilla, one of the most influential hip-hop artists of this century. Just days after his 32nd birthday, back in 2006, the Detroit-based DJ and producer passed away, leaving an enduring legacy for others to follow. Above the nine albums he p…
DARKSIDE, a brilliant pairing of electronic producer Nicolas Jaar and guitarist Dave Harrington, is getting a ton of buzz on the internet lately and in fact yesterday earned a "Best New Music" rating of 9.0 on Pitchfork. Our Music Director, Don Yates, describes their debut album, Psychic, as "a moo…
Earlier this month, Alice Russell graced KEXP’s studios with her breathy, soulful style. With a rhythmic push tempered like a slow-build, her set kicked off with the song “For A While.” Donning a gold heart-shaped ring on her left hand, Russell belted her heart-felt “Ooos” and “Yeahs” that clutched…
Hamilton Leithauser recently shared a new song with folk chanteuse Angel Olsen called "Heartstruck (Wild Hunger)" and today that song has an official video. Directed by Peter and Nick Simonite and created by Austin based full-service creative company Preacher, the video follows Leithauser as a wand…