As audiences are prone to reflect the shows they are attending, the Decibel Festival crowd at Demdike Stare and Andy Stott was filled with the more experimental seeking fans, those in all black or all white, eyes wide, hair cut expressively in abstract shapes. Demdike Stare, a.k.a. Miles Whittaker,…
Suuns are riding high this year following the release of their second full-length Images Du Futur, and when they showed up to play at KEXP's broadcast in Mellow Johnny's Bike Shop at SXSW the crowd got to see the band burn with confidence through a set of powerful, propulsive post-rock. Suuns alwa…
"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…
At a festival, it's rare to get a performance that feels "intimate." It's something most fans reconcile with before they ever enter the gates and scan their wristbands. So walking into the KEXP Gathering Space on Saturday afternoon at the Bumbershoot Music & Arts Festival and finding the crowd …
There was a very distinct moment at the Ibeyi show last Sunday night where the energy for the evening turned from simply good to really, really great. It happened during the duo's explosive self-titled album single "River", the song most well known by the world and easily the most far reaching in i…
When Seattle hip-hop duo Shabazz Palaces announced an album release show for their sophomore LP, Lese Majesty, there was no question that the event would be a family affair. Ishmael Butler and Tendai Maraire both have deep Seattle roots and have helped assemble a brilliant coalition of artistic min…
The MusicfestNW / Project Pabst teamup makes plenty of sense on paper - one had a great location on the Portland Waterfront last year, and one had a truly unique, interesting lineup - and at the end of day one of the newly-combined fests, it turns out it works in practice too. Despite being sold ou…
Digable Planets is officially back. After announcing their reunion tour at a NYE show in Seattle, the group followed through with the announcement as they took the main stage of Sasquatch! Music Festival by storm Saturday night. Ishmael "Butterfly" Butler, Craig "Doodlebug" Irving and Mary Ann "Lad…
Only two songs into the Long Beach rapper's performance and it was clear that the first big crowd of Sasquatch 2016 belonged to Vince Staples' ferocious sunset slot, Dressed in his usual onstage uniform of black pants and a white "Street Justice: Have A Taste", Staples breathlessly ran through cut…
Last month, KEXP officially opened the doors to our new home. To celebrate, we invited all our friends. Thousands of listeners and supporters showed up to our all-day party, featuring many of our favorite artists performing. Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, Bob Mould and Deep Sea Diver wowed the c…
"I'm going to get all VH1 on you for a minute if you're okay with that, crowd of 85% shirtless men." Colin Meloy may be a bookworm at heart, but he's spent the last fifteen years learning how to be a rock frontman, and during The Decemberists' Saturday evening mainstage set, those skills were put t…
Seven years without a new album. Nearly biannual membership shuffles. Repeated reports of studio sessions without any release. For a minute, Modest Mouse looked like they might have been heading down the lucrative but artistically fruitless legacy act path that a few of their contemporaries are sta…
The good folks over at Decibel Festival have made April of this year really special for Seattle. For those of us who are waiting on pins and needles for this year's lineup to drop, the announcement of DB Micro Fest was a wonderful surprise. All April, we've had incredible shows, from John Talabot &…
Some bands jump into their opening song and some bands literally jump into their opening song. After completing their own soundcheck at Sasquatch, Seattle band Kithkin quietly got into position on the sides of the stage and literally leaped – with Kelton Sears nearly pulling off the best scissor ki…
I had not expected to even make it to Disclosure at the El Chupacabra tent. And I never would have known what to expect from then electronic-music-genius brothers if I hadn't seen the video or "Control feat.Ria Ritchie", which is one of several songs featuring amazing guest vocals that they two hav…
As night came over the Gorge, people began to flock one of two ways - towards mainstage to try and catch good views for Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, or toward the Bigfoot Stage to squeeze a place in for Vampire Weekend. I chose Vampire Weekend almost strictly as a guilty pleasure - though they may c…
When Lorenzo Cherubini began his career in the late 80's, the stage name Jovanotti (derived from giovanotto, meaning "young man") refered to his youth, but now, decades later, the name that increasingly became synonymous with commercial success in his native Italy is being renewed through his rebir…
Seattle duo The Spider Ferns don't make music, they create worlds. Each of their songs is like a new landscape. You may have heard the sounds before -- drums that seem to echo into infinity, bass lines that throb and pulse like they have lives of their own, electronic sounds that shimmer like a cre…
Philadelphia rockers The War On Drugs have been touring tirelessly on the wide success of their third album, 2014's Lost In The Dream. KEXP listeners voted it as their top album of the year, and with good reason. Singer and songwriter Adam Granduciel wrote the songs during a post-tour period of iso…
For all of those in attendance at the Crocodile on Saturday night, rest assured that you got see a show that will never, ever happen again. Tonight, we saw Columbia and RCA's freshest flagship acts play a co-headlining date showing off records that are only crawling up the charts as we speak, and t…
