Harpist and composer Nailah Hunter released her debut EP, Spells, in May of this year. She discusses how her music is an act of magical healing, her fascination with mythology, the importance of rest, and her choice to remain soft amidst the hard realities of 2020.
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Nearly two years ago, Toronto’s Royal Mountain Records became what might be the first label to offer a mental health fund for its artists. Label founder Menno Versteeg discusses why musicians may be more likely to struggle with mental health, why the industry should support them, and ultimately why…
Iceland’s Sigur Rós recently released their first album in seven years, titled Odin’s Raven Magic. Much of the project sounds like something out of Medieval times. Bassist Georg Holm talks about the apocalyptic story behind the Norse Mythology poem that inspired the project, and how it resonates to…
Santa Barbara synthpop group Gardens & Villa have been on the road for nearly four months straight. Ever since their sophomore LP Dunes dropped on Secretly Canadian, they’ve been road-tripping around this county and others, showing off what a new batch of tunes and a refined live show have to o…
When a supergroup becomes a band, magic happens. For German electronic figureheads Modeselektor and Apparat, their work together as Moderat qualifies as a full time gig. Now that they're three albums deep, it's no secret that these three gentlemen enjoy working together and challenging each other c…
KEXP has a special love for Operators in the live setting. Sure, synth-heavy brainchild of Dan Boeckner (Wolf Parade, Handsome Furs, Divine Fits) would fit on KEXP's airwaves regardless, but we have history together. Three days after the band announced it existed, they played on KEXP and later in t…
Since the mid-'90s Omaha, Nebraska natives, The Faint, have been composing within the dance-punk tradition, but not without a distinctive tinge. On their website, they state that, they're "disinterested in making anything except what their own inspiration drives them to make." This philosophy, albe…
From the downstroke of the show opener "Bullet" from their new record Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action, Franz Ferdinand had Showbox Sodo off its feet. "Bullet" is an easy highlight off the band's fourth LP, with its furious bass line and scream-along chorus concert ready at impact, and the…
There's only so many ways I can say it: Brooklyn dance outfit Body Language deserves to be twice as big as they are in every way. Almost seven years into their band's career, two LPs and a handful of excellent EPs and singles to their name all with massively different character and direction, Body …
Sometimes, you don't know how good you have it in Seattle. Just last month, Sheffield garage rock duo Drenge packed the John Peel stage tent so full at Glastonbury that you'd have to fight your way through about 10,000 bodies to get even a reasonable view of the band. This past Monday, you could ca…
A student at Virginia Tech has to be giving credit for creating on of the most random news stories to surface in a while. This student sent an amusing and confusing email to local label Sub Pop, urging Nirvana to reunite and record a school-spirited video for Virginia Tech's homecoming. To fully u…
We’re back for our second and final day at the Halle de la Courouze for another day of filming bands during the 39th annual Trans Musicales Festival in Rennes, France. It’s another cold day here, but it turned out to be bright at sunny this morning, so we decided to take advantage of the light and …
