Recently, Alec Ounsworth, frontman of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, happened to be in the vicinity of the KEXP studio. He wasn't scheduled, and we only learned he was in town the same day, but we grabbed him anyway, sat him down, and asked him to play a few songs on the Midday Show with Cheryl Waters. …
It would be great to construct this write-up as a complete palindrome, but probably only Tacocat could pull that off! Instead, let it suffice that this Seattle four-piece is hella charming — from the new ice cream flavor coming out under their name all the way down to their latest album title, NVM,…
The boozy blues of obsession and regret never sounded so good... at least not in the last 16 years. It's been that long since The Afghan Whigs released an album and its members turned their attention elsewhere. Yet, while other 90's bands are now cashing in on their notoriety with 20- and 25-year a…
"It happens to be the most played album on the Afternoon Show this year", Kevin Cole gushed about Sun Structures, the shimmering debut by Temples. The young UK group has been touted by Brit pop luminaries no less than Johnny Marr and Noel Gallagher, and though they may not yet be Top of the Pops, T…
For a two piece group, Solids never ceases to thrash around. The Montréal based band, comprised of Xavier Germain Poitras on guitar and Louis Guillemette on drums, already has quite a following. In 2010, Solids released an EP, Generic Dogs, and would later disseminate two 7"s, one titled Fog Friend…
Swedish singer-songwriter Anna von Hausswolff's experimental performances continually captivate audiences and listeners alike, offering them extraordinary and sophisticated forms of aural solace. Her newest album, Ceremony, is an ominous yet poignant journey into grief and darkness. Von Hausswolff'…
It's hard to believe that the album Dizzy Heights is only the third solo release from beloved singer/songwriter Neil Finn. From Split Enz to Crowded House to the Finn Brothers and his soundtrack work, the New Zealand icon hasn't stopped making music for the past 30 years. "It's confusing for the ge…
Former Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band frontman Benjamin Verdoes came out to the KEXP studio to perform some of the new songs off his latest, 11-track solo project, The Evil Eye. From the unhinged, experimental undertones of Where The Messengers Meet to the structured melancholy of his new-found colla…
If Fanfarlo's right, there'll be a definite beauty in our demise. Their third album, Let's Go Extinct, looks at both the big and small pictures of our lives -- who are we? what are we made of? what are we doing? where are we going? how will we end? And by the sound of it, there's a joy in singing 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.