"There are so many mountains in the world, but not all of them are on the top 10 list... but if you stand on top of one, you feel like you're on the highest point on earth." This is the concept behind super-duo Minor Alps. Multi-talented musicians Matthew Caws of Nada Surf and Juliana Hatfield do j…
Drum machines, laptops and keyboards don't generally lend themselves to physical expression in music. In many cases, the minute adjustments that can change an entire track are invisible to audiences during electronic performances. The Seattle group Kingdom Crumbs, on the other hand, is captivating …
Crystal Antlers is hard to pin down. With each release, the energetic band leaves genre behind, making fans uncertain of their future endeavors, yet they manage to avoid slipping into frustrating unpredictability. Recently, Crystal Antlers wrapped up their North American tour with a stop in Seattle…
29-year old Gary Clark Jr. may seem young to be a Grammy-nominated blues artist – and he is – but the Austin, Texas, native has been winning awards for his stellar blues guitar playing for most of his life. After all, how many teenagers have a day named after them by their city's mayor? (May 3, 200…
The guys in Iska Dhaaf are overachievers. Not only do they write and record music together with a meticulous eye for detail, but they both maintain separate projects besides. Seattleites will recognize guitarist/vocalist Nathan Quiroga from his word slinging antics as Buffalo Madonna from Mad Rad a…
The Maldives’ Jason Dodson and The Posies’ Ken Stringfellow collaborated recently on a split 7” release, put out by Spark & Shine records. To celebrate the release, the two played a couple shows together, one at Easy Street Records, and another live at KEXP. Prior, Dodson’s band had backed Stri…
If you were to define a sub-genre for Julianna Barwick's ambient music, it might be something like "polar pastoralism" as the young church-raised singer and composer evokes both the southern straw dust farmland of her youth and the glacial fields that surrounded the recording of her latest release.…
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…
What kind of music would a futuristic space colony of Seattleites create? Seattle producer Kid Smpl gives us an idea with his pleasantly subtle, weather-infused tracks. The 23 year-old artist has been busy over the last few years, releasing a series of EPs since 2011, along with his debut album, Sk…
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.
