Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part of our Song of the day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unrealeased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJ’s think you should hear. Today’s song, featured on the …
Fleet Foxes are getting back together. The Seattle indie band went on hiatus five years ago after they released their sophomore album, Helplessness Blues. At the time, frontman Robin Pecknold had decided to go back to Columbia University to earn his degree. Now it seems the hiatus is coming to an …
Amidst the dour lyrical sentiments and ill-fitting raincoats of the '80s UK indie scene, South London quintet The Woodentops injected much-needed bursts of optimism. While Morrissey pissed and moaned about every insurmountable obstacle life pitched in his path, The Woodentops' frontman Rolo McGinty…
Visually, Wampire are a throwback to the 70’s: button-downs with big collars opened at the top, sunglasses, long and wavy hair. If you didn’t know what year it was, you might think the Doobie Brothers just stepped out of the Mystery Mobile. Musically, Wampire proves worthy of their indie buzz. The …
Fans of Seattle's indie-pop act Throw Me The Statue were saddened to see the band's hiatus announcement back in October, but the break has proven its value since frontman Scott Reitherman's new project Pillar Point has completed their debut album, due out in early 2014. However, Pillar Point diverg…
Opening our three-day broadcast during Bumbershoot this past Labor Day weekend, Thao and The Get Down Stay Down brought their brand of entertaining indie folk populism to the Music Lounge. On stage, Thao Nguyen and her bandmates alternate their fairly serious, socially minded songs with an easy and…
Each Halloween we indulge ourselves in our worst fears. Maybe it's ghouls and demons or gore and violence. One of the most disturbing settings for horror has less to do with the paranormal – insane asylums. It's a combination of the fright of our own minds can conjure up as well as the fear of bein…
There's history to bands covering Pavement's "Box Elder." When The Wedding Present recorded their interpretation of the track from Pavement's Slay Tracks (1933–1969) EP track back in '89, it caught the ear of renowned BBC DJ John Peel and helped generate buzz for the release abroad. Nearly three de…
In our series From First to Last, artists with deep discographies discuss the varying differences between making their first record and their most recent record. For our latest, KEXP's Jasmine Albertson chats with Tegan Quin of the beloved Canadian indie-pop duo Tegan and Sara about their latest re…
Swedish rockers Peter Bjorn and John have been proselytizing their pro-60s pop prowess since 1999, but the trio really took the indie world by storm back in 2006 with their dance-floor hit “Young Folks.” Ten years later, they're still artfully writing their whistle-catchy songs like the title…
Sudan Archives shares why she fuses violin with electronic beats on her latest album. Minnesota rapper Dessa describes spending two years working with neuroscientists to train her brain to get over her ex. We’ll explore why only 2% of music producers are women and how some indie artists are working…
KEXP Radio hand selects all of its music, with expert DJs showcasing both established and emerging bands. Rock is generally a broad term for KEXP, as indie and alternative sounds are often blended with a variety of other genres in an innovative music format. KEXP variety mix programming makes up …
Friday evening brought plenty of good sleep. For those at Pickathon who were sung to sweet dreams by Yo La Tengo’s intimate stripped down set the night before, or for those who danced themselves to exhaustion at Ty Segall, a few hours of rest were well appreciated. After all, there is very little o…
Following yesterday's live session with Polish band Hańba!, today we offer the second performance in a soon-to-be weekly series of recordings KEXP captured during the OFF Festival in Katowice, Poland. During our trip there - made possible by the festival and the Adam Mickiewicz Institute's Don’t Pa…
Brooklyn band Caveman continues to evolve on their third album, updating the harmonic indie-folk of 2011's CoCo Beware and the expansive space-prog of their 2013 self-titled LP for a larger, more atmospheric, '80s-steeped pop-rock sound. While the concept story behind Otero War is vaguely sci-fi, t…
As part of KEXP's National Radio Week coverage, on the KEXP Blog we will be spotlighting some of the stories and personal testimonials given by a variety of radio luminaries in interviews done with KEXP DJs John Richards, Kevin Cole, and Morning Show producer Owen Murphy. These interviews articulat…
We closed out our Hood-to-Hood broadcast with a bang, specifically the boisterous crash of Philly-based indie rockers Hop Along. Frontwoman Frances Quinlan has a wild howl of a voice that shook the windows of West Seattle businesses down the California Avenue corridor. With screeching feedback and …
To call a band brimming such powerful emotion Holy Esque is like calling Scottish indie music in general "kind of sad". The Glasgow quartet has already built a ton of buzz with their 2012 EP while touring with the equally impassioned (but sadly defunct) Wu Lyf, but they took time since then to deve…
After 17 years of existence, The Helio Sequence could easily kick back in comfort as a fixture in the Pacific Northwest music scene with their successful signature indie-rock sound. Instead, the duo has been ushered into a new, full-grown style on their fifth full-length album, 2012's Negotiations,…
UK post-punk band The Vaccines took a more somber turn last year with their excellent album Come of Age. After their pitch perfect indie rock masterpiece of a debut, Come of Age was a surprise to most – a melodic turn towards introspection and harsh reality rather than reckless lust for youth. With…
