Although they're mostly critical darlings in the United States, Elbow have been headlining stadiums and festivals in their native UK for a few years now, so it's no surprise that their Sunday evening set on the main stage at Sasquatch was a brilliant display of showmanship. Their latest album, Marc…
It's hard to believe it's already been three years since the release of the Fleet Foxes album Helplessness Blues (voted #1 album of 2011 by KEXP listeners). Frontman Robin Pecknold took to Facebook yesterday to share an update:
For anyone who’s curious, this is a short Fleet Foxes update – been a w…
After the band finished ripping through a particularly danceable rendition of "Spirit" off their new record Singles, Future Islands frontman Sam Herring looked down at his sweat soaked shirt and pants. After a failed attempt to wring a piece of it out, he just laughed along with the rest of the cro…
With a career spanning over three decades Billy Bragg has acquired both a massive catalog and fanbase. His engaging stage presence and brilliant songwriting have cemented him as one of the most successful folk rock singers in the world. In fact, this past January he was honored for lifetime achieve…
Throughout the nearly five decades of his career, Aaron Neville has performed and recorded hundreds of songs in a variety of styles, from his Billboard topping 1967 solo R&B classic "Tell It Like It Is" through the creole rock of The Neville Brothers, and he's covered innumerable greats of soul…
Recently, Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn declared February to be Seattle Women Who Rock Month. The announcement was spurred by a new play and history project created by Gretta Harley (Maxi Badd, Danger Dens), Sarah Rudinoff, and Elizabeth Kenny called These Streets, a fictionalized story heavily inspire…
In the late 90's, few bands were like Firewater. The NYC band was mixing Balkan folk with contemporary post-punk for sound that would eventually inspire others like Gogol Bordello, Balkan Beat Box, Devotchka and even Beirut. Led by former Cop Shoot Cop frontman Tod A, Firewater became musical world…
Monotown: it's a name you'll be hearing a lot on KEXP, and hopefully everywhere else, in 2013. Over the past several years, our trips to Iceland have allowed us to discover bands sometimes even before they've released any albums (as was the case with Of Monsters and Men in 2010), or at least before…
Bobbing for hits. Though Death Cab For Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard was making light of the his band's songwriting process during his interview with KEXP's Stevie Zoom, the fact is, with all the songs he's written over nearly the past decade, he'd accumulated enough songs he's grown fond of but never…
Beck has shared a new (but not first) cover of The Velvet Underground's "I'm Waiting For The Man," off The Velvet Underground and Nico. The song is for Spotify's "Music Happens Here" series, which has previously included songs from Local Natives, Twin Peaks, and Allen Stone. Beck previously recorde…
Filigree & Shadow was the second album released by the loose 4AD collective This Mortal Coil. As with the third album, which I covered here eight years ago, label head Ivo Watts-Russel teamed up with some current 4AD artists (including members of Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance, and The Wolfgang …
Summer is nearly over but, on the upside, that means Seattle's biggest music and arts festival is back. Running Friday through Sunday, rather than Saturday through Labor Day Monday, for the first time in its history, Bumbershoot otherwise hasn't changed much else in their formula: a mixture of musi…
There's a great scene in Richard Linklater's film Boyhood where Mason Jr. (Ellar Coltrane) is about 10 or 11 years old and is in Houston sleeping over at his dad's place when he asks him this great question. "Dad, there's no, like, real magic in the world is there?" Mason Sr. (Ethan Hawke) asks him…
Following Sasquatch's lead, this year's Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival has released their schedule, which has done a pretty good job at keeping potential conflicts away from the Farm. (I'm looking at you, "Sigur Ros vs. Phoenix vs. New Order" Coachella.) Traditionally, Thursday has been a showcas…
If there was one Prince tribute to catch at Coachella last weekend, it was "Purple Rain" as done by indie rock god Sufjan Stevens, featuring lead vocals from a mysterious and absolutely wondrous new voice, Gallant. This isn't the first time Sufjan has teamed up with Gallant. At the turn of the new …
They don't call it the land of fire and ice for nothing. Geographically, Iceland is a land of extremes, from its vast glaciers to its active volcanos. But there must be some space in the middle where the two meet. In Norse mythology, that space, between fiery Muspelheim and icy Niflheim, is where l…
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…
It's hard to know where to begin with a legendary rabble-rouser like Jello Biafra (still rousing the rabble with his new band Guantanamo School of Medicine, whose White People and the Damage Done came out this year - actually, that band name and album title probably tell you a lot more about Jello …
It's no surprise Portugal. The Man broke into "Dayman" midway into their set during their Triple Door performance for KEXP last month. Not only has the band been playing their own gorgeous rendition of the song, taken from a classic episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, during shows and hav…
We wrapped up day two of the OFF Festival in Katowice, Poland in the wee hours of the morning, tired but very happy and with the desire to reflect on the many positive aspects of the festival. We have been so impressed with OFF Festival, not just because of the high caliber of the lineup but also i…
