Back in July, Annie Mac interviewed M.I.A. to announce the official release date for delayed fifth album AIM (formerly called Matahdatah). With the announcement, Maya gave us the bass-heavy single "Go Off" to mask the pain of some bummer news: this is going to be the last M.I.A. album before she go…
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…
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…
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 …
In all the press shots for their new album, Swedish indie rock veterans Peter Bjorn and John are decked out in custom jumpsuits and armed with cartoon tools. They look like they are ready for a day of work at the zaniest garage or gear shop that you've ever seen. And yet, the imagery is fitting, pe…
Before the Fallon performance, FKA Twigs was a pervasive mystery – a voice and an image spun together in perfect unity to create something entirely other worldly that you felt both drawn to and intimidated by. Maybe it was fear, or maybe it was just mystery, but either way, FKA Twigs was impossible…
KEXP listeners vote for their favorite performances from KEXP's YouTube channel.
Domino don't have many missteps in their record of signees. Three years into their third decade, their roster only continues to shine more impressively with time. All of that rings especially true for the label's more recent American indie rock signings, of which tonight's sold out Vera Project spe…
Something felt different in the Neumos basement last week as the crowd packed in to see Shy Girls. The Portland electronic act, led by Dan Vidmar, has been around for a couple years, dropping lush EPs including the lauded Timeshare, making earnest love songs for the introspective bedroom-ridden lis…
Pike is out between Broadway and 12th, the whole block is in a frenzy, and the noise level has almost reached normal weekend levels - it must be time for Capitol Hill Block Party 2015! The layout has adjusted slightly - both Big Mario's Pizza and Vita Coffee sit outside the grounds, making it harde…
There are lots of reasons for two bands to tour with each other. For example, they might have a similar fanbase. Or, they might have a similar sound, and can cater to a single collaborative night of music fairly easily. Or, in the case of Los Angeles pairing Gardens & Villa and De Lux, they mig…
On October 2nd, Nathan Williams will release V, his fifth full-length effort as Wavves. Five albums deep, Williams finds himself at a bit of a crossroads. His 2013 record, Afraid of Heights, found him on a major label for the first time ever, writing bigger hooks, better sing-a-longs, and cutting t…
The problem with cool stuff is there's always a process by which it becomes uncool. A handful of true artists perfect a craft and then an uncanny number of hackneyed copycats sample bits and pieces out of context and bastardize the whole thing to no end. This is maybe no better exemplified than wit…
