Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part of our Song of the day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unrealeased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJ’s think you should hear. Today’s song, featured on the Af…
BSH. BSH. BSH. BSH. The sound of four defiant cymbal crashes spreads out across Pike Street. It's Seattle band COSMOS’ turn at the main stage. Melding hip hop, jazz, and funk in a high-energy set, the Seattle band proves yet again why they won last year’s Sound Off! contest, an annual battle of the…
A year after his debut album release, it is no doubt that Benjamin Booker is a rockstar. He's played the festival main stages, toured across the country, and even guitar dueled with Jack White. It's deserved notoriety for a man who makes such a unique blend of punk, rock, blues and folk. And even w…
Half an hour into one of Refused's first performances of 2015, singer Dennis Lyxzen laid out their current manifesto. "You know how when you're teenagers playing music and saying you're revolutionaries everyone just kinda thinks you'll grow out of it?" He grinned. "This is how you know we're just f…
Conor Oberst has spent an entire career fighting against expectations. Even if he wasn't saddled with the "new Dylan" tags upon his emergence in the early 2000s, there undoubtedly still would have been a focus on his age (20 at the release of Bright Eyes' 2000 breakthrough Fevers and Mirrors), his …
The fact that Turn Blue, the eighth album by The Black Keys, is full of songs about being hurt by a woman shouldn't be all that surprising. Although they, sonically speaking, haven't been a dirty, traditionalist-leaning blues band in a few years now, they remain one at heart, which is why Dan Auerb…
"I heard today was the first nice day in quite a while, right?" As his band Cayucas starts in on another track of bright, warm, surf pop gold, he banters with a Seattle winter crowd who got to go out in the sun in early March - a near miraculous event by any account. "Coincidence? I don't think so,…
At KEXP, our love for post-punk sirens Savages knows no bounds. Their debut LP Silence Yourself is without a doubt one of the best introductions of the year. These four women have put together a sound and a vision whose fury and vigil have no equal. Listening to Savages is an experience - it goes p…
Whether you're feeling moody or in a mood to dance, you'll find what you need among this week's new releases. Topping the list of must-buys in record stores today comes from U.K. trio Daughter, who were a standout during our CMJ broadcast last year with their highly emotive and engaging performanc…
Don't be fooled by the inflatable tube dancer guy on the front cover – behind that hapless smile is a maniacal, beastly force waiting to be unleashed. Chaz Bundick continues to prove himself as one of the most capable, surprising, and provocative producers on the scene today. Last year, he dropped …
Now that they've played a number of shows on their much-publicized reunion trek, it's fair to judge whether or not the Outkast festival tour is merely a opportunistic cash grab or an enthusiastic celebration of the Atlanta duo's massive legacy (during which they will inevitably get real paid). At f…
It’s Friday again so it’s time for Friday on My Mind, our weekly blog post we look at videos centered around one common theme. This is a collaborative effort between KEXP and King 5 News. With a sound more accessible than, but derived from metal and punk, grunge took the world by storm during the e…
Buzz Osborne of Melvins talks about the highlights of the band’s career.
It was a big year for Latin music and Mexican music in particular.