There are many ways to “get down,” and Thao and crew seemingly discovered them all on Monday at Sasquatch! Music Festival. Thao and the Get Down ripped through a festival ready set, encouraging the crowd to get down in every possible way. Whether it was through the plucky rhythm the group often hel…
Foals frontman Yannis Phillipakis has 5+ water bottles put out for him every set, and he drinks maybe one of them during the Oxford quintet's set. That's because he kicks or sprays them on the audience, typically while taking a brief break from wailing on guitar or crowdsurfing in the audience. It …
Not sure if it's a compliment to be called a "thinking man's metal band" (or at least, it's not so nice to the other metal bands), but long running alternative metal band Helmet have always made smart music that never loses its punch. Vocalist/guitarist Page Hamilton founded the group back in '89, …
The siblings behind JEFF The Brotherhood are certainly characters, and in the video for the track "In My Mouth" the boys are at the end of their strings. Created, filmed, and edited by Halle Ballard, the clip transforms them into puppets for the track off their latest full-length Wasted On The Dre…
It’s relatively uncommon for contemporary artists to perform entire albums live from start to finish, and it’s even less common for them to play their new albums in their entirety. It takes a certain kind of audacity, one which Feist embodied wholly Wednesday night, as she played her Pleasure album…
Antisocialites, the second album from Toronto's Alvvays, takes all of the charms of their stellar 2014 debut and sharpens them - the songs are catchier, the band's interplay is more sleek, and Molly Rankin's hooks are the kind of emotional echoes that cut deeper than their gauzy swe…
When the seminal shoe gaze group Ride reunited in 2015, a new record was just a matter of when, rather than if. Weather Diaries, the band's first record in over two decades, channels their textural tension with a mature, reflective set of songs that shows few, if any, signs of rust. The band…
John Lennon and Yoko Ono were certainly not the only ones singing for peace, and many have and will join them in the decades to come. As KEXP gathers for a Bed-In for Peace in the Gathering Space, starting at 8:00 AM, here on the blog, we've gathered some of our favorite songs about love and unity.…
Tegan & Sara will drop their eighth studio album, Love You To Death, on June 8. Today, the Canadian sister duo have shared two new, addictive album tracks called "Boyfriend" and "U Turn." Check them both out via Spotify below. [Pitchfork]
It's been three years since we last heard from Olympia, WA-based trio Broken Water. Not only did it take a few years to create their latest album, Wrought, but it took just as long for them to craft this video. KEXP is proud to present the worldwide premiere of the video for "Beach," shot over the …
It's important to note that The Replacements reunion could've been a disaster, and not the kind of shambolic splendor that the Minnesota legends used to thrive off of. When they were perpetually drunk underdogs tossing out half-assed covers and barely recognizable versions of their own material, th…
Recently, KEXP had the opportunity to chat with Galen Disston, lead singer of the Seattle band Pickwick, as he and the group were in the middle of their month-long international tour (Canada and the U.S.). When we got in touch with them, the band was prepping for a show at Local 506 in Chapel Hill,…
King Khan and the Shrines are back at it again - this time with track "Born To Die" and a string of show dates! Supposedly about the "state of the world we live in today" the upcoming album is a psychedelically exciting as you would expect from a band that jams as hard as the King and the Shrines. …
When a 4-year-old, Erik Blood began sneaking 45-rpm records from his sister’s room and listening to them while she slept, a future was being formed. Music shapes us like few elements can. The sounds, words, and images associated with certain songs can leave lasting impressions that often influence …
The compositions of the Iraqi oud composer and performer Rahim AlHaj do not have lyrics, but the tension, force, and vitality of his songs speak volumes about the power of music in the face of terrible strife. Backed by a string quartet and bassist on Wo' Pop, AlHaj speaks boldly about valuin…
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…
I have to remind myself every single year, every time I look at the lineup, every time I hit a single event and walk into work dog tired the next day - Seattle is so lucky to play home to the visionaries that put on Decibel Festival year after year. There are so many electronic music festivals in t…
Hey, it's another Shimmy-Disc release! Apparently I have this unconscious attraction to their catalog. When People Were Shorter and Lived Near the Water is one of those bands whose name I've noticed (how could you not?) and admired for decades, but I don't believe I've ever heard them until just no…
"It's not a perfect record, but then you wouldn't want it to be" - The Quietus' Emily Mackay hits the nail right on the head in her review of Palma Violets' debut album 180: the London quartet's most endearing quality isn't their pop-sensible hooks, psychedelically-tinged guitar hooks, or their sha…
