Last year, Sasquatch! Music Festival quite arguably had one of the best festival lineups in all of North America. Not counting the headliners, featuring leading voices in hip-hop, punk, and rock, the lineup was rich from bottom to top, covering a wide breadth of genres with a precisely-timed, (most…
It's mind-boggling how a place so small can create so much terrific music. This year, as I was compiling my list of top Icelandic releases, I couldn't help but wonder if I'd find as many great albums as last year and the year before. Would I find ten? Twenty? Actually, as it turns out, a lot more! …
It goes without saying that David Bowie was an inspiration to generations: his influence can be heard in every genre from grunge to new wave to classical. Bowie transcended every style over the past 50 years, and there will truly be no one else like him in music history. As KEXP pays tribute to Dav…
R.E.M., who released Reckoning, their second album, almost exactly 31 years ago, were a band for 31 years. They began as a quirky group of Athens weirdos beloved by college radio DJs, and became one of the biggest rock bands in the world, and then they decided to stop being a band, which you have t…
The new releases list gets smaller and smaller as we get closer and closer to the end of the year. A few highlights do stand out, especially the long-awaited new album from R&B artist D'Angelo. After 15 years, he returns with his third album, Black Messiah, featuring production by ?uestlove. (S…
Just over twenty years after their initial dissolution, Digable Planets took the stage for their longest reunion to date in 2016 and it's not only remarkable how in step with each other Butterfly, Ladybug Mecca, and Doodlebug are, but also how prescient their astute, complex lyrics and aqueous, gr…
Save for the jam band-heavy lineup of the festival's inaugural year – it's weird to think about now, but in the early 2000s, jam bands were as prominent at festivals as EDM is now – Sasquatch has long been an indie rock heavy festival, and even though this year's lineup is slightly less heavy on gu…
Grimes reveals a new album coming this year plus new music from Dan Auerbach, Thurston Moore, Mark Kozelek, and Girlpool.
Upstream Music Fest + Summit is back, and this year's full lineup is an embarrassment of riches.
The Soundgarden, Temple of the Dog, and Audioslave vocalist may be gone, but leaves behind an astounding legacy.
A 44-story tower has been planned where this venue has stood for the past 79 years.
Martin Douglas' short fiction series is back, using three of the year's best songs as an exploration of grief.
Helado Negro looks back at 2020, his solo music, and making it through a very tough year
4AD's label head reflects on music from Sault, Algiers, and Taylor Swift.
Iconic New York rapper DMX has died following hospitalization from an apparent drug overdose. He was 50-years-old.
In this session, the Pacific Northwetern electronic music pioneer creates dense, highly-refined layers of sonic textures developed through years of dedicated listening.
A packed house, a stiff drink and Dik Dickerson at the organ highlights this piece of Seattle history from 1994.
Another year, and another amazing analysis by KEXP volunteer and Tableau product manager Jewel Loree! Below, you can explore and discover the artists, albums, and songs that mattered most to KEXP DJs in 2016 with this interactive data visualization. Sadly, in a year of so much loss, it's no surpris…
For the better part of a year, Thunderpussy has been going through a list of local Seattle clubs and conquering them one by one. For their second Sasquatch consecutive appearance (they explosively opened the small Yeti stage at last year's fest), the quartet roared the main stage open on Monday aft…
Unlike a lot of teenagers out there, 19-year-old Bridie Monds-Watson, a.k.a. SOAK, seems to handle success with a modest and casual confidence. Her career has taken off rather quickly, from writing songs in the basement of her home in Derry, Northern Ireland, to flying from country to country perfo…
