Just about the last thing we'd ever ask for in Seattle is "more rain" - unless of course that's the name of the latest album by M. Ward. On his eight studio LP, the Portland based musician doesn't let the Pacific Northwest's soggy gloom get him down, and dares the clouds away with his initially doo…
Portland band Battleme are lovers not fighters. Frontman Matt Drenik may have fueled his project's perpetually punchy new LP with hard-hitting beats and muscular rhythms, but Habitual Love Songs is Battleme's billet-doux to '70s-steeped power-pop and glam guitar rock, populated with characters from…
It's Leap Day, a strange overage of 24 hours that occurs in the Gregorian calendar every four years. Or, if you believe Tina Fey and the TV show 30 Rock, it's a day when a mythical gilled-man named "Leap Day William" trades candy for children's tears. Either way, KEXP has compiled this list of song…
New Zealand singer-songwriter Marlon Williams brought his band and their foot-pounding vintage folk to the KEXP studios in support of his first solo record. Longtime the front-man of The Unfaithful Ways, Williams relocated to Melbourne to record and release his eponymous solo album. The rocksteady,…
On what would've been his 84th birthday, KEXP celebrates the 2nd Annual International Cash Day, a day of music honoring the legendary Johnny Cash. Tune in to KEXP all day, from 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM PT, as KEXP DJs play songs by The Man in Black himself, as well as covers by those who revered him and …
Musical lore has it that Ladysmith Black Mambazo, the iconic South African mbube group, was founded by Joseph Shabalala after having a series of dreams in which he heard their sounds. It goes unmentioned whether or not Joseph dreamt of 50 years of worldwide success as perhaps the most well-known cu…
Elia is the most recent project of Seattle-based singer, musician and producer Ignacio Izquierdo. The name comes from Elia Liut, an Italian aviator, who was the first person to fly over Ecuadorian territory. This reflects both Ignacio's home city of Quito and his life of movement. A son of a diplom…
Though there weren't divine circumstances by which HÆLOS formed, the London trio nevertheless seems preordained to make a heavenly sound. While each pursuing careers of their own, Arthur Delaney, Dom Goldsmith and Lotti Benardout turned their casual connections to holy writ as they joined forces to…
Dazzling D.C. duo GEMS stopped by KEXP’s new home, filling our cavernous live room with their spacious and glimmering dream pop. Singer/keyboardist Lindsay Pitts and singer/producer/multi-instrumentalist Clifford John Usher released their debut LP, Kill the One You Love, after writing together for …

In 2018, KEXP celebrated the 30th anniversary of local record label Sub Pop with a four-month retrospective, "counting up" every catalog number in their vast discography of over 1,200 releases. Dig into the archives of our catalog coverage, featuring in-depth coverage on the history of their releases.