L.A. dance music duo Classixx is band who gets what they want: when the pair decided they wanted LCD Soundsystem vocalist Nancy Whang for their track "All You're Waiting For," they flew out to New York, and as explained to KEXP DJ Cheryl Waters during a recent session at KEXP, they had to "kidnap h…
Drangar: their name translates roughly in English to “pillars of rock”, and it's about as apt a description you'll find for this Icelandic group, whose members — Mugison, Jónas Sigurðsson and Ómar Guðjónsson — are each highly respected musicians with their own projects. Thanks to the chance occurre…
Vikesh Kapoor is chasing the American Dream. Born to immigrant parents in rural Pennsylvania, he traveled cross-country going west, where he started work on his new album, The Ballad Of Willy Robbins, influenced by newspaper headlines, stories of the working class and ideas of loss. It’s nearly imp…
There's strength in numbers, and that's certainly true in the case of Portland mini-orchestra Typhoon, who swept through the KEXP studios last fall in support of their most recent album White Lighter. Ironically recorded in Happy Valley, Oregon, the new album is a chronological musical diary of fro…
Five years is way too long for a visit from Midlake, but let's just say the hauntingly-beautiful folk-rock group from Denton, Texas had a good reason. After spending two years recording in the farm, frontman and founding member Tim Smith announced he was leaving the band. Rather than break-up, the …
Immediately upon hearing Hurray for the Riff Raff, a number of important songstresses whoosh to mind: Dolly Parton, Fiona Apple, First Aid Kit, Jolie Holland and many others. What distinguishes Hurray for the Riff Raff's Alynda Lee Segarra from all these others? Perhaps it’s simply the specific loo…
It's always a delight when psychrock voyagers Wooden Shjips return to dock in the KEXP studios. The band have just released their fourth album, Back to Land, on Thrill Jockey Records, an album that captures the feelings of home from frontman Erik "Ripley" Johnson, who has just thrown down anchor in…
Watching Shovels & Rope perform is almost like stepping into their living room. Married Charleston, SC, duo Michael Trent and Cary Ann Hearst perform so lovingly together and write some very intimate ballads that at times you feel like you might be intruding on them. But we've also hosted them …
"Sin Fang in a box", Cheryl Waters called it. It's how Sindri Már Sigfússon solved the problem of taking his Sin Fang project on the road, especially outside of his native Iceland, when he couldn't manage to bring a full band with him. But more importantly, it's also a creative interpretation of hi…
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.
