Here Comes Your Man: when Joey Santiago, guitarist for Pixies, answers the phone, he is immediately warm and friendly. Where is My Mind? Well, in utter disbelief that I'm getting to chat with the guitarist for one of the most influential bands of my time.
The lyrics "My fingers have shriveled and dropped to the dirt / and two giant talons have grown where they were" sound like a recurring nightmare, but in Chad VanGaalen's song "Monster," that's exactly what he's looking for. Ramshackler extraordinaire, DIY genius, and honestly weird CVG showcased h…
"You don’t have to be anyone if you don’t want to / You don’t have to get a job if you don’t want to" and you definitely don't have to listen to Howler if you don't want to. But that would be a damn shame because the Minneapolis yeehaw boys have returned with their second album of infectious punky …
Buddy Holly-esque bad boy and KEXP favorite Nick Waterhouse returned to the station to perform songs from his new album, Holly. This time around, he brought two saxophonists, a pianist, and a bassist, as well as another vocalist to complement his R&B milieu, giving his entire in-studio performa…
tUnE-yArDs — even the typography of the name seems to pop off the page like the ecstatic rhythms of the band's new album. For Nikki Nack, Merrill Garbus has traveled far, sonically and literally, expanding upon the conceit of her self-recorded debut and turning tUnE-yArDs into a communal arts tribe…
Emotionally, Lykke Li may be repeating past mistakes, but on her latest album, I Never Learn, the Swedish singer-songwriter is definitely growing. While continuing to work with Björn Yttling (of Peter Bjorn and John), as on her first two albums, Lykke Li decided to take the helm in producing this v…
Last month, Street Sounds went old school, featuring veterans of hip-hop Mobb Deep, who've been keeping it real since the early 90's, when New York MC's Havoc and Prodigy first made a name for themselves depicting hardcore street life and became key players in the East Coast rivalry with West Coast…

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.