On the show this time, it’s the avant-garde sitar of Anoushka Shankar.
After an incredible first day of Iceland Airwaves, this cold, wet Reykjavik morning has bleary-eyed festival-goers seeking coffee and comparing schedules for the day. Here at KEX Hostel, guests and staff are enjoying the calm before the storm of Airwaves activity, and the KEXP is setting up for ano…
This weekend, in our backyard of Seattle Center, it's BITE of Seattle, a three-day food festival featuring over 50 local restaurants and over 30 food product companies. It's free to attend, and fun to walk around and explore all the different styles of cuisine. And, there's even a multi-course meal…
In what's easily become a summer tradition for many KEXP listeners, the 4th Annual Timber! Outdoor Music Festival kicks off tonight in beautiful Carnation, WA. It's more than just a music festival: it's a beautiful escape to Tolt-Macdonald Park with recreation tree climbing, swimming, kayaking, an…
“There’s so many kinds of music I’m interested in that I just never let into my own songwriting, so in a way with this record, it was kind just of like opening the curtains and letting stuff come in,” Jack Tatum of Wild Nothing says of Life of Pause. Continuing with his style of creating a new worl…
Twins Kim and Kelley Deal celebrate their 54th birthday today, which got us thinking about twins in bands. It's no wonder it works so well: researchers have found that twin babies interact in the womb, so they're collaborating from even before birth. Twins have also been known to exhibit a sensitiv…
This past week, L.A. rapper Kendrick Lamar unleashed his latest, untitled unmastered, seemingly out of nowhere. The album consists of eight previously unreleased outtakes from his To Pimp A Butterfly recording sessions, which KEXP Music Director Don Yates notes "holds together remarkably well, comb…
All this year, KEXP has been hosting a series of unique fun events to raise money for our New Home campaign! Back in October, we hosted a two day showcase in Portland, one at Holocene and the other at Doug Fir. While there, we were fortunate to work with Louie Herr and Aaron Colter of Banana Stand …
Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. This week, we are featuring songs by …
Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. This week, we are featuring songs by …
Labor Day weekend is upon us, which in Seattle means Bumbershoot Music & Arts Festival! This long-running festival enters its 45th year of music, comedy, literary events, and more at Seattle Center. As we prepare to move into that location ourselves, this year KEXP won't be broadcasting from th…
Soak up some serious summer vibes this weekend by checking out Cairo's VIBRATIONS, an annual community focused arts and music festival. The festival takes place at Volunteer Park this Sunday, August 16th! The music headliner is local favorite Chastity Belt; others on the lineup include So Pitted, i…
In the liner notes of her latest album, Ivy Tripp, Katie Crutchfield — better known by her recording alias Waxahatchee — has a photo of none other than Dolly Parton. She laughed when KEXP DJ Stevie Zoom asked her about it. "I have Dolly everywhere I go," she smiled. Like Parton, the Alabama-born Cr…
This week, soulster Matthew E. White unleashes his sophomore full-length Fresh Blood, which KEXP Music Director Don Yates describes as "a well-crafted set of soul-inflected pop, featuring a warm, full-bodied though intimate sound, impeccably arranged with lush strings, soulful horns, piano, soft vo…
Swedish singer-songwriter Alice Boman's subtle vocals and delicate instrumentals could get a response from even the chilliest of hearts. The minimalist musician, who released her second EP, EP II, this year, creates such an uncluttered sound that it disguises the fact that she is accompanied by thr…
Forget the big sales and weekend trips, KEXP spends Labor Day at Bumbershoot every year, where once again we returned to the "secret space" of the Music Lounge to present 14 exclusive live sessions with many KEXP listener favorites, including an otherworldly set of live and electronic instrumentati…
In an act of hometown pride, Aussie sweetheart Courtney Barnett performed INXS’ 1987 album Kick in its entirety. The performance was part of the “Summer Of Classic Albums” concert series initiated by Melbourne label Pure Pop Records. Watch the great stripped-down set below, and hear an exclusive K…
One of the most exciting new releases of the week comes from Oakland artist Merrill Garbus, better known as tUnE-yArDs. KEXP Music Director Don Yates describes her third album as "an inventive set of visceral, rhythm-driven avant-pop with consistently strong, brightly melodic songs featuring a dens…