Everything I've ever thought about MØ is wrong. Well, maybe not all of it – I think she put together an incredible debut LP this year with No Mythologies To Follow, and I think that hard work has put her in league with the leaders of the new wave of indie pop like Grimes, Charli XCX, and others. Bu…
Toronto’s BADBADNOTGOOD’s first headlining show in Seattle proved that they have come a long way from their viral-video rap-cover roots, as the three-piece made some serious noise tearing through several familiar covers and even more originals from their debut album, III. With only a drum kit, elec…
Last year, Mike and Jaime made a free record that they expected a handful of Killer Mike and El-P fans to like. After all, the two have been working together for a while – Mike made an appearance on El's Cancer 4 Cure, then El produced Mike's best record ever, R.A.P. Music. Together, the two form R…
As major labels continue to exist behind the times, artists and labels with little capital and lesser reputations are producing some of the most innovative, interesting, and inspiring music. Whether it’s creating a new niche in digital technology or looking to once obsolete formats, Agitated Atmosp…
As major labels continue to exist behind the times, artists and labels with little capital and lesser reputations are producing some of the most innovative, interesting, and inspiring music. Whether it’s creating a new niche in digital technology or looking to once obsolete formats, Agitated Atmosp…
I don't know if there's a UK producer on the scene who has had a bigger 2014 than Hudson Mohawke. The Glasgow native has been riding an unstoppable wave of momentum that hasn't stopped since his collaboration with Lunice, TNGHT, put out their eponymous EP back in July of 2012. Since then, I don't t…
It's funny to say it, but in the last half decade of Kele's work, Bloc Party's comeback LP Four is an outlier amongst an otherwise continuous show of strength in another direction. Sure, Four gave Bloc Party fans another great record to rotate out in their stash, but since the band's electronic-hea…
A good way to see how far a band has come is to look at where they began. Case in point, one of 2013's more enjoyable internet moments was when someone unearthed an old image of Radiohead during their college days. Thom Yorke and co. look goofy, amiable, and exactly the sort of people that would ha…
Some haters will always hate, no matter what gold you throw at them, but Donald Glover sure silenced a multitude of them with last year's out of nowhere sophomore slinger Because the Internet. As Childish Gambino, Glover started a rap career with immediate pushback, with critics claiming that he wa…

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.