Easily one of this year's biggest breakouts, FKA twigs is no mere singer, songwriter, or dancer. She's all those things, actually, plus a director, a producer and much more. In fact, it's twigs' ability to combine all of those elements into a multi-sensory feast of performance art that has propelle…
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…
Michael Benjamin Learner is the singer, songwriter and recording artist extraordinaire for the band Telekinesis - he writes all the parts, plays all the instruments and treats the project with a fatherly-like care. Learner, as Telekinesis, also has the pleasure of playing this year's inaugural Timb…
Born in Zimbabwe, Oliver “Tuku” Mtukudzi came to Seattle for two shows at Jazz Alley, but before those performances, the songwriter stopped by KEXP for a live in-studio with DJ Darek Mazzone. Accompanied by backup singers and an electric bass, Tuku, who also works with Mahube, Southern Africa’s sup…
British rock group The Heavy, rumored to be the only band David Letterman has asked to perform an encore on his show, stopped by the KEXP studios to deliver their own brand of rock and soul. The band effortlessly exudes cool, from lead singer Kelvin Swaby’s shades and grey tank top to Chris Ellul’s…
Long standing but ever moving Gypsy punks Gogol Bordello are almost constantly on the road. Like wandering Gypsies of yore, the band travels from city to city, festival to festival, throughout the world, on a mission to provoke audiences to dance -- and open their minds -- through infectious and of…
Before legendary soul singer Sharon Jones died last year from pancreatic cancer, she recorded a final album with the Dap-Kings. Today the album has been officially announced and the lead single has been shared. The LP is called Soul Of A Woman and will be out November 17 via Daptone. The single is …
Next on the KEXP broadcast live from Kex Hostel at Iceland Airwaves 2016 was incredibly talented American singer Adia Victoria. Hailing from South Carolina, Adia was raised by a devout seventh-day-adventist family, and was isolated from much of popular culture for most of her childhood. In high sch…
Kyle Craft leads a storied life. The Portland-based singer-songwriter trails with him a cast misfit characters and messed up relationships from his former home in Shreveport, Louisiana, to populate is his rollicking full-length debut, Dolls Of Highland. He also carries with him a sound with a past …
While promoting his third album, Radius, smiling soul Allen Stone stopped by the new KEXP offices to grace us with his second in-studio performance. The Seattle singer-songwriter peddles in pure analog: there isn't a drop of electronic on the third album, and he brings the danceable retro of Leon B…
Austin-based group Shearwater, led by singer/songwriter Jonathan Meiburg (above), share a clip for the track "Quiet Americans," off their forthcoming ninth full-length Jet Plane And Oxbow. Director Alex Rapine captures a dapper Meiburg at his most sinister. Jet Plane And Oxbow will be out January …
It's been a while since we've heard from Emily Wells. The NYC-based singer, performer songwriter and producer released her full-length debut, Mama, back in 2012, and surprisingly has yet to follow it up with a proper sophomore LP. But that's not to say she hasn't been busy. Since then, Wells releas…
The debut album, I Never Meant It To Be Like This, from Seattle's Cumulus has been a long time coming. After establishing themselves in the local music scene playing alongside fellow Northwest artists like Wild Flag, Gold Leaves and Pickwick, honing their sound and piquing fan interest, the trio la…
Shut eyes, wide mouth, brow furrowed -- lead singer Tim Wilson’s face reads passion. If there was any doubt about his care for the songs he sings with the five-piece band Ivan & Alyosha, just take a moment to look at his visage. The band, one of the most well-coiffed in the business, took the M…
When recording, San Fermin is the creative project of Ellis Ludwig-Leone, a Brooklyn-based composer who began shifting away from classical arrangements to pop ones towards the end of his college years. On tour, San Fermin is an eight-musician tour de force that brings those compositions to life. Wr…
It's hard to believe it's been 20 years since beloved Northwest singer/songwriter Elliott Smith released his now-classic LP Either/Or. For its anniversary, Kill Rock Stars is releasing an expanded reissue with live tracks from the 1997 Yo Yo A Go Go Festival in Olympia, WA, as well as previously u…
Country Music Hall of Fame artist Glen Campbell has died at the age of 81. His family has written online: "It is with the heaviest of hearts that we announce the passing of our beloved husband, father, grandfather, and legendary singer and guitarist, Glen Travis Campbell, at the age of 81, followin…
Last year, legendary singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen passed away at the age of 82. Today, his son Adam shares a posthumous video for the track "Traveling Light" using previously unseen footage of his father. The video was co-directed with Sammy Slabbinck, who also worked on Cohen's final album You…
Congratulations to Mavis Staples, who just won a Grammy last night for Best American Roots Performance. It's great timing as the legendary blues singer will release Livin' On A High Note, on Friday. This, her fourteenth studio album, features songs written by Justin Vernon, M. Ward, Benjamin Booker…
If the recent rainy weather is getting you down, take a musical vacation with Beach Day. Formed in 2011 in an uncannily-named place called Hollywood, Florida, it would be impossible for the bright sunshine of their locale not to radiate into their retro-tinged songs. A shared love of surf-rock brou…
