Low are back with the less Tweedy influenced track "So Blue" from their upcoming album, The Invisible Way. Building to a humble intensity with piano and guitar alike, the track demonstrates that they're still creating moving slowcore/indie music and not just slow music. Their album will be out Marc…
Indie folk darling Angel Olsen kicked off her North American tour last night in Charlottesville and treated the audience to a surprise cover of beloved icon David Bowie's "Five Years." The song comes from 1972's classic The Rise and Fall Of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars. Olsen recently …
One of the most exciting releases this week comes from Brooklyn-via-Jersey band Real Estate. KEXP's Music Director Don Yates describes their third album, Atlas, as "another masterful set of dreamy, surf-inflected indie-pop, featuring a more pristine sound this time around for their warm blend of ja…
We end our broadcast during Musicfest NW today with another great lineup at the Doug Fir in Portland. Tune in today starting at noon for four great bands performing live on air starting with New Jersey indie punks Titus Andronicus, followed by melodic Bay Area folk-pop duo The Dodos, Portland's own…
“There’s so many kinds of music I’m interested in that I just never let into my own songwriting, so in a way with this record, it was kind just of like opening the curtains and letting stuff come in,” Jack Tatum of Wild Nothing says of Life of Pause. Continuing with his style of creating a new worl…
Indie rockers Ra Ra Riot will release their fourth studio album Need Your Light on February 19. Today, the band has shared the video for the album track "Water," which was directed by Vampire Weekend's Rostam Batmanglij. They have an extensive promotional tour planned for early next year, and on M…
Majical Cloudz' new album Are You Alone? drops today and is now available to stream via Spotify. This 12-track offering is the Canadian indie pop outfit's first album since 2013's Impersonator. They recently expanded their winter tour, and will land in Seattle at Barboza on January 23. [CoS]
Bonnaroo started its first full day on Friday, but the audience was more than warmed up from the night before. The day would mark the weekend's first headlining performance (Paul McCartney), the first you-had-to-be-there moment (Wu-Tang's surprise appearance at the hip-hop Superjam), and the weeken…
You won't find many wallflowers growing among the hills and dales of Scotland. Even in their quieter moments, Scots tend to go big. Witness Glasgow band Frightened Rabbit, who on their latest album, Pedestrian Verse, play "folk rock" at its most anthemic. The impassioned lads are no strangers to KE…
Afternoon Show host Kevin Cole and Online Content Manager Jim Beckmann preview the 2015 Iceland Airwaves Music Festival with a diverse mix of hip-hop, indie rock, electro pop and punk from 17 Icelandic artists including GusGus, Sóley, Júníus Meyvant and Low Roar. 1. Vök - Waterfall 2. GusGus - O…
As DJ Cheryl Waters declared, “Let’s welcome one of the greatest bands to see live, Superchunk!” And boy, did their Bumbershoot Music Lounge performance live up to her introduction. The veteran indie rockers attacked their set with the energy and intensity of bands half their age, tearing through 2…
New York indie outfit Cymbals Eat Guitars have premiered a new video for their third single "Have a Heart," off of last year's album Pretty Years. The overtly political video, directed by Geoffray Barbier, is framed like a fake TV newsreel, featuring footage of protestors in front of Trump Tower, a…
Seattle-based DJ Joey Webb has been bringing his charismatic energy to the turntables as a steady sound selector behind a wide variety of house, funk, and soul nights. Gaining wisdom and a deep collection holding down parties in previous home bases of New York, Texas, and California, Joey is curren…
Twenty two years is a long time to wait for a group's second album, but The Juliana Hatfield Three have not missed a beat on the new songs from their recently released, Whatever, My Love. Unlike the vast majority of '90s bands currently slugging it out on the road, this trio does not have to rely o…
Our first live Iceland Airwaves show of the day from Kex Hostel in Reykjavik was Icelandic indie-folk quintet Árstíðir. Formed in 2008 as a guitar-based group, they've since added piano, violin, and cello to the mix. They incorporate classical, minimalist, and even some prog rock elements into thei…
Day two of Portland's first ever Project Pabst began with Portland psych-pop band Grandparents, then a Heart-meets-Led Zeppelin performance from 2014's Thelma & Louise, a.k.a. rock band Deap Vally, as well as a set from Massachusetts indie rock band Speedy Ortiz. The beer was once again aflowin…
Few band names are as apt as The Cave Singers. Not quite a folk band and definitely not your typical indie rock band, The Cave Singers seem to have hatched their sound in seclusion, as if alone amid darkness and firelight. Their songs are rustic in style but not necessarily in execution, airy but a…
KEXP's Variety Mix host Sean invites you to space out and get vulnerable with Late Night Lachrymosity, a mix of sumptuous synth pop, cosmic R&B, cassette-smeared techno, sneering indie pop and a song about teenaged vampires. Dig in! You won't get too sad, we promise. 1. Braids - Victoria 2. C…
