Unless you've got a bad case of phonophobia, Big Scary isn't too terrifying. Featuring Joanna Syme on percussion and heavenly-voiced Tom Iansek on guitar and keyboards, the Melbourne-based duo has broken the mold for Australian music. Their 2013 album, Not Art, was nominated for the triple j Austra…
Recently, Wo' Pop favorites Tinariwen played a live set for KEXP while moving through Seattle on their sold-out international tour to promote their new album, Emmaar. Drawing influence from West African music, traditional Tuareg assouf stylistics, and bootlegged albums by western artists, Tinariwen…
Oh, Cinco de Mayo, you poor, misunderstood holiday. As KEXP's own DJ Chilly, host of El Sonido, explains, May 5th is not "Mexican Independence Day," like so many believe. It actually commemorates the 1862 Battle of Puebla when a small Mexican army defeated the French. That's worth celebrating, righ…
Ever since Warpaint first made their mark around 2008, the words "hypnotic", "atmospheric" and "brooding" have been applied by critics and fans in the most appealing ways. Their recent self-titled, sophomore full-length finds the LA band no less ethereal yet stretching further out with their minima…
We caught up with Nila K Leigh and Sam Ford of Goodbye Heart to converse about some new projects, gain a little insight into the band's history and, of course, discuss their fascination with Tina Turner. The Seattle-based synth-pop duo just recorded an album, Restless Nights, with Shawn Simmons at …
Paul Janeway's vocal range is some kind of miracle. For the young Alabama-based soul stirrer and his band, St. Paul & The Broken Bones, the sounds of Memphis and Muscle Shoals go marrow deep. On Half The City, their unbelievable mature debut, Janeway channels '60s R&B greats like Otis Reddi…
It's been about two years since Hugo Manuel, a.k.a. Chad Valley, last released a record. "I've written a lot over the last year, I've just got to hone it down," says the angelic-voiced Hugo, who recently spent time in a house in France writing and writing (and biking to the nearest town for bread a…
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.
