Today, Bruce Springsteen turns 65 years old. SIXTY-FIVE. After a seven-year-old Bruce saw Elvis Presley performing on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1956, he knew he wanted to be a musician. Even as a teenager, he played concerts at Jersey trailer parks and at the Elks Lodge. And, somehow, over fifty year…
Emotionally, Lykke Li may be repeating past mistakes, but on her latest album, I Never Learn, the Swedish singer-songwriter is definitely growing. While continuing to work with Björn Yttling (of Peter Bjorn and John), as on her first two albums, Lykke Li decided to take the helm in producing this v…
Hailing from Brooklyn, NY, but represented by Seattle's own Sub Pop Records, Obits came by the KEXP studios for a live — part tribal, part rock — set to celebrate the release of their new album, Bed & Bugs. Lead singer Rick Froberg mixed his Jack White-style singing voice with a penchant for sc…
It’s always interesting when you learn about an artist’s path to recognition – and it’s even more captivating when it involves details and arcs you’d never expect. This is the intriguing life of singer-songwriter Laura Veirs: she was raised in Colorado in the 70s, where she studied geology and Mand…
The title for their latest album, Adios I’m a Ghost, fits The Moondoggies aptly – for, who are they, exactly? Always somehow be-shadowed, always off to the side somewhere, always somehow physically obscured. Upon listening, this is the sense they exude. In fact, lead singer Kevin Murphy noted of th…
"Only 340 more songs to go," said Icelandic soul singer Júníus Meyvant, hiding a sly grin under a thick red beard at the start of his set at the KEXP Gathering Space Stage on Saturday evening. Fans on the concrete floor in front of him, sitting like children arranged around a teacher, chuckled. Tho…
If you're wondering about the irresistibly funky house track behind the latest iPhone X ad, we've got you covered. KEXP recently spoke to Grammy-nominated, New York-based duo SOFI TUKKER, whose new song, "Best Friend," soundtracks the new Apple ad out last week. Before their Saturday night set at t…
Sudan Archives is the alias of Cincinnati-bred, LA-based singer, songwriter, violinist, and producer Brittney Denise Parks. Recently releasing her self-titled debut EP this past summer on Stones Throw Records, her mesmerizing blend of Sudanese and West African influences with R&B and electronic…
Topping this week's list of new releases is the third album by Chicago band Smith Westerns. While the band's 2011 release, Dye It Blonde, drew tons of comparisons (and a tiny bit of flak) for its fuzzy glam nods to Nuggets-era gems, their new release finds the band aiming for what our Music Directo…
Today, legendary singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen celebrates his 82nd birthday, and we're the ones who get a present. Check out the title track from his upcoming release, You Want It Darker, out October 21st via Sony. A press release explains, "Cohen created this hypnotic groove with the addition o…
Highlights this week include the latest from Swedish singer/songwriter Jens Lekman. KEXP Music Director Don Yates calls Lekman's fourth LP, "a smartly crafted set of buoyant orchestral dance-pop inflected with disco, calypso, samba and other styles, combining bouncy dance beats and a variety of ins…
Noga Erez is a Tel Aviv-based singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer creating smart, catchy, colorful global electro-pop packed with vibrant instrumentation and politically-charged lyrics. Her debut album Off The Radar was released earlier this year on City Slang Records, introducing…
On the one month anniversary of the death of guitarist Dave Rosser of The Afghan Whigs, the band is paying tribute by releasing a cover of Pleasure Club's "You Want Love," one of Rosser's favorite songs. “Pleasure Club was a legendary New Orleans band and Dave Rosser and I had spoken for years abou…
This week, French band Phoenix rises with their sixth album to date, KEXP Music Director Don Yates loves Ti Amo enough to call it "another sharply crafted set of buoyant pop-rock with a warm, streamlined sound featuring fizzy synths, glistening guitars, bouncy beats and sunny pop hooks". Brooklyn b…
2016 is off to a great start for M. Ward. The beloved Northwest singer/songwriter made a surprise appearance at the Sasquatch! 2016 Launch Party earlier this week, and today, he shares a video for "Girl From Conejo Valley," a single from his upcoming release, More Rain. The clip, directed by Ward …
First up on day four of KEXP's live stream from Kex Hostel at Iceland Airwaves Music Festival is Icelandic hip hop artist Sturla Atlas. The stage name for singer Sturla Atlason, Sturla Atlas makes 90's-style hip hop and RnB injected with Icelandic humor that manages to be both over-the-top and tota…
It's a song we've recently featured as a podcast and one that's gorgeously captured on their new LP, but to hear Israel Nash perform "LA Lately" live is like visiting the galaxy rather than viewing it from afar. This summer, KEXP caught up to the Dripping Springs, Texas-based singer-songwriter at P…
A quick look at the Restorations tour schedule might have your eyes glazing over. After releasing their third studio album (LP3) in only four years at the end of 2014, the Philly indie-rockers have spent most of 2015 tirelessly touring across the U.S., the U.K., and even Jamaica. Or as singer/guita…
We've been teasing tracks from the upcoming Courtney Barnett album on the air, and now UK listeners can hear the whole dang album. Listeners overseas can stream the Australian singer/songwriter's debut album Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit below, which hits stores on March 24th…
It's hard to believe that the album Dizzy Heights is only the third solo release from beloved singer/songwriter Neil Finn. From Split Enz to Crowded House to the Finn Brothers and his soundtrack work, the New Zealand icon hasn't stopped making music for the past 30 years. "It's confusing for the ge…
