Good morning! How about a little funky Afropop, all the way from Iceland, to start your morning? That's how we began our broadcast from Iceland Airwaves last month, with the 13 member Samúel Jón Samúelsson Big Band blasting you awake at 6AM. Now you have the luxury to enjoy the SJS Big Band wheneve…
Icelandic singer-songwriter Snorri Helgason is known for his gentle voice and seductive ballads, but when he returned to play live on KEXP during Iceland Airwaves this year, he went big and bold. Previously, we've featured Snorri in Iceland and even in Seattle, but for his set live at KEX hostel la…
Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part of our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. Today’s song, featured on the Afte…
Concluding the KEXP broadcast live at KEX Hostel for Iceland Airwaves 2013 is Icelandic singer-songwriter Ásgeir. His father is a poet and his brother a musician (in another Icelandic favorite, Hjatalin). He's not short on any of the family talent, and lucky for his listeners, an adolescent injury …
The penultimate act of the KEXP broadcast live from KEX Hostel at Iceland Airwaves was Icelandic yacht rock band Moses Hightower. Named for the character played by the late Bubba Smith in the Police Academy movie series, the band draws from a lot of influences, including funk, jazz, and psych.
Next on KEXP live from KEX Hostel at Iceland Airwaves was an insane set from Icelandic band Grísalappalísa. The band, whose name means "pig-legged Lisa," plays raucus music that genre-jumps like nothing I've ever seen before. Vocalists Gunnar Ragnarsson and Baldur Baldursson scream and grunt, with …
Next on KEXP's broadcast live from KEX Hostel at Iceland Airwaves was a stellar set from Icelandic band Vök. The band was formed just this year to compete in (and then win) the Icelandic Music Experiments, a competition focusing on helping young and emerging bands advance their careers, much like S…
Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part of our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. This week, we present songs by art…
Opening our final day of the KEXP broadcast live from KEX Hostel at Iceland Airwaves is singer-songwriter John Grant. Though he is currently based in Iceland, he is one of only two American acts featured on this year's broadcast. Grant first gained notoriety as the lead singer of Denver-based shoeg…
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.
