There’s an art to first impressions. As an artist, you really only get to make one first step onto the scene, and whether everyone cares or no one cares, that’s the point from which you take every single step after. For Thomas Arsenault, that first step has been a long time in the making. He’s been…
"I brought tissues." That's what the girl next to me told her friends as she reached into her bag and started dishing out Kleenex. At any other show, the action might have been silly, but not tonight. Tonight, Volcano Choir, the spectacular collaboration between Bon Iver and Collections of Colonies…
I don't know if there is a physical, mental, or spiritual way to come away from a Darkside show unaffected. Nicolas Jaar and Dave Harrington brought their two-man gateway to musical nirvana to Neumos Wednesday night for a sold out show and wowed the room from the first second to the last. The build…
Dee Dee Penny is a woman who cannot be held down. With pretty much every album she's crafted with Dum Dum Girls, she's pushed forward the cutting edge of the Brooklyn indie rock scene. That case was especially evident with 2011's Only In Dreams. Together with its phenomenal coda EP, End of Daze, De…
The guy from The Long Winters, and the guy from The Decemberists... when you put it like that, it's not exactly the most attractive double-bill during an already-cold, dark season in the Pacific Northwest. Were Coldplay, Snow Patrol, or Iceage not available? They should have billed it "The Seasonal…
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…
When we saw Pixies return to the scene last summer, everything moved in a bit of a blur. With the departure of Kim Deal came the immediate release of "Bagboy", the first new Pixies offering since the Kim-led "Bam Thwok" single of 2004 (which was the only original release from Pixies since they brok…
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.
