Montreal's Suuns make a particular kind of low-drone heavy but never "drone music" - they walk the fine line between being experimental and being simply loud rock music. There's never really been the kind of rock n roll vibes you get from other bands walking that line, but instead an industrial syn…
Eagles of Death Metal have issued their first statement since last week's terrorist attack at their Bataclan show in Paris that claimed the lives of 89 people, including their merchandise manager Nick Alexander. Via social media, the band wrote: "While the band is now home safe, we are horrified a…
Live in the KEXP studio, Lower Dens presents us with a sound that we didn't know we've been waiting for, half-nostalgic, half refreshing. Formed in Baltimore in 2010, Lower Dens is comprised of Jana Hunter, Geoff Graham, Nate Nelson, and Walker Trent. Their audacious third album, Escape From Evil, …
It all started with four lads from London with a brash attitude and a bone to pick with the system... oh wait, that's what got us started on International Clash Day, a theme show based on a whim that became an annual event for KEXP DJs. As we thought about ongoing impact of The Clash and how their …
While his previous release, Temple Beautiful, looked backwards, particularly at the storied past of San Francisco, Chuck Prophet's latest, Night Surfer (out today!), looks brazenly forward. But even if the future isn't always bright on this, his 13th album, the songs are characteristically punchy, …
It's been six years, but former Rilo Kiley frontwoman Jenny Lewis returns with her third solo album, Voyager, this July on Warner Bros Records. She explained to the Charleston City Paper, "I worked on these songs for a long time so there’s no stone unturned, lyrically. I thought about them while w…
North Carolina's Superchunk have announced a new album called What a Time to Be Alive (not be confused the Drake and Future collaborative album of the same title). They've also shared the album's first single and title track. Frontman Mac McCaughan said of the political messages within new album: …
DJ El Toro shares some of his favorite music of 2015 and previews upcoming releases from Shearwater, ANOHNI, Gazebos, and the Cave Singers. Speaking of next year, don't forget: everything you enjoy on KEXP, including the free podcasts, is made possible by support from music lovers like you. P…
Great Grandpa, Joy Formidable, Cartalk, and Pink Lotion cover eco-themed songs for our Clash For Climate event
Every year, EMP's Sound Off! competition showcases emerging stars in the all-ages music scene. Previous winners have included The Lonely Forest, Dyme Def, Sol, Kithkin, Brothers from Another, Manatee Commune, Fauna Shade, Schoolyard Heroes, Tomten, and Brite Futures, just to name a few. Last week, …
Throughout the history of punk, director Julien Temple was there to film it. His very first short film was Sex Pistols Number 1, a documentary of the band from 1976-1977 that led to the 1980 mockumentary The Great Rock And Roll Swindle, and subsequently The Filth and the Fury. In addition to his fi…
Some artists write songs about themselves, pulling facts from their lives in hopes of finding some mutual truths that can connect with their audience. Others create more from their imagination, searching for the universal within the abstract. Still even more operate in a sort of grey area between t…
You might not know the name Barry Adamson, but if you're a KEXP listener you've likely heard him - if not any of his excellent solo work, then as a member of bands such as Magazine and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. (Those are, in fact, the two things that anybody knows about Adamson, as one of the D…
As frontman and principle songwriter of rock band Eels for over 20 years, Mark Oliver Everett has created a cast of unique characters, but none may be as interesting as the one that is himself. On The Cautionary Tales of Mark Oliver Everett, the band's eleventh studio album, Everett, or just "E", p…
After releasing his debut album, United States of Being, on Saddle Creek Records in 2012, Daniel Pujol, mastermind behind the group PUJOL, stitched together KLUDGE, an epic punk-rock album. In terms of composition, Pujol spent weeks in a Mt. Juliet, Tennessee mall recording from 5pm to 6am. Thus, K…
From their very first single, "Found Love in a Graveyard," London by way of Glasgow band Veronica Falls set the tone of their future releases: their sunny take on gloomy topics makes for happy listening in the darkened Northwest, that's for sure. Their 2011 self-titled debut channeled everyone from…
"Sweep" - that's the command that Parquet Courts give us over and over again on their new single "Dust". In the context of the tune, it's about the dust that accumulates, sitting on everything that doesn't move, marking the time we've spent without motion, watching the wheels go round. The irony of…
Every year, EMP's Sound Off! competition showcases emerging stars in the all-ages music scene. Previous winners have included The Lonely Forest, Dyme Def, Sol, Kithkin, Brothers from Another, Manatee Commune, Fauna Shade, Schoolyard Heroes, Tomten, and Brite Futures, just to name a few. COSMOS took…
"Voodoo in my blood is living" - that's how Young Fathers kick off the third track on Massive Attack's return to the scene after nearly six years away. And after all that time, Young Fathers aren't lying - the voodoo is still strong. Last time we saw them was 2010's fantastic Heligoland, their firs…
