After 14 years together, San Fransisco band Thee Oh Sees have announced an "indefinite hiatus." They've been consistently turning out loads of fresh material over the last five years, but things recently got hectic when frontman John Dwyer decided to move from San Fan to Los Angeles. Their manager…
A few days after releasing their excellent debut album Amok, Atoms For Peace have revealed the first live dates behind their new LP. In addition to the DJ sets Thom York and Nigel Godrich announced for last week, the whole band has been confirmed for three European festivals in mid-July. According …
Every year, the holiday season seems to inspire some of our favorite bands to write new music. KEXP has rounded up some of our favorites below. Need even more songs for rockin' around your Christmas tree? Be sure to check out previous round-ups for 2015 and 2014. Happy holidays from everyone at KEX…
As you'd expect after 20 years of performing together, Atmosphere bring a boatload of topics to their new LP, Fishing Blues. The personal and political wind throughout the hip hop duo's emotive songs, which flow between Slug's sharp rapping and Ant's soulful production. Recently, the Minneapolis v…
A band is like a marriage; the divorce rate for groups started two decades ago is high. Add in more members, each with significant side projects, and the odds of a split only climb higher. By all estimates then, The New Pornographers, formed twenty years ago in Vancouver, B.C., by players from a ha…
Ms. Sharon Jones! is a new documentary that follows Sharon Jones (and her Dap-Kings) through 2013, the year she and the band released their amazing Give the People What They Want and when she was diagnosed with cancer. The film was directed by two-time Oscar winner Barbara Kopple and will premiere…
The Decemberists waste no time. Earlier this year they released the LP What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World and now they're back at it. Today they've announced plans to release a 5-track EP of songs that didn't make the album, called Florasongs, on October 9. Listen to the album's opening…
Earlier this year, Swedish sister duo First Aid Kit released their third album, Stay Gold, and the siblings do just that in the video for the title track, streaming below. In the clip, Klara and Johanna Söderberg wander dreamily around the island of Gotland. Check it out, and tune in on Saturday, …
Sadly, we lost Chicago footwork pioneer DJ Rashad earlier this year, but before he passed, he and his Teklife crew did this remix of the Sleigh Bells track "Young Legends," off their most recent release, Bitter Rivals. Check it out below. [Stereogum]
Dance label LuckyMe is releasing a new, free song a every day until Christmas as a part of their own amazing advent calendar. Today's offering (Day 17) is "Terra Star" from Scottish producer Rustie. It's a more intense version of his song "City Star" that he released last year. Download it here, a…
Love him or hate him, you simply cannot call the Billy Corgan of 2014 predictable. For the dedicated Smashing Pumpkins out there, this fact is a wonderful, rewarding thing. Sure, Billy is currently rolling out an extensive set of rereleases and remasters of the classic Pumpkins years, each complete…
Earlier this week, UK trio alt-J released the single "3WW" as a video game; today, we get an actual video. Directed by Young Replicant (aka L.A.-based artist Alex Takacs), the band describe it as "a beautifully shot story of love and loss in Mexico." The new album Relaxer is out June 2nd via Canva…
Even without all Black Flag related nonsense that’s been happening on and off for two years, Keith Morris has recently enjoyed a compelling and visceral return to the spotlight. He hosted his own punk station on the new Grand Theft Auto game and has returned to present tense conversation for all th…
It's been hard for us to forget the beautiful and intimate session we had with Ólafur Arnalds during our Iceland Airwaves broadcast last year at KEX Hostel. This year, when we saw that the young Icelandic composer and songwriter would be performing at SXSW, we wanted to get him live on air again, n…
As we mentioned earlier this week, Yeasayer are releasing the Cold Night EP this Friday, which features two versions of the title track: the original off their latest album, Amen & Goodbye, and a "Dirge Version" which you can hear in this new video below. It's a particularly special song, as b…
I have covered Soul Asylum in this space a couple of times before, but it's been almost exactly four years since the last time. I have had four years to dig back into the earlier, and I presume cooler, albums by this long-running Minneapolis alt-rock mainstay (They still exist! They put out a new a…
It's mind-boggling how a place so small can create so much terrific music. This year, as I was compiling my list of top Icelandic releases, I couldn't help but wonder if I'd find as many great albums as last year and the year before. Would I find ten? Twenty? Actually, as it turns out, a lot more! …
Congrats is one of the most aptly titled records to come out in the past few years. Truly, Toronto electronic band Holy Fuck face a very welcome return to the scene with this year's record. Given the strength of the band's discography and the influence they've held on the Toronto electronic scene, …
Get ready, Seattle. Radiohead play a sold out show next door to the station at Key Arena this Saturday. And last night, at Kansas City, MO’s Sprint Center, they dug out the track "Where I End and You Begin" for the first time in nine years. Watch fan shot footage of them performing the Hail to the…
"Bigger, better, faster, stronger" – that's what we said of Voices, this year's release by Phantogram. The Saratoga Springs, NY duo certainly upped the ante with their anticipated second album, making the nearly five years between well worth the wait. As always, Josh Carter's dark dance hooks and S…
