Opening our final day of the KEXP broadcast live from KEX Hostel at Iceland Airwaves is singer-songwriter John Grant. Though he is currently based in Iceland, he is one of only two American acts featured on this year's broadcast. Grant first gained notoriety as the lead singer of Denver-based shoeg…
Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part of our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJ’s think you should hear. Today’s song, featured on the Mid…
Seattle's Beat Connection seem to evolve with grace. As is the case with most young bands, they've had plenty of that evolution in the last three years. Their journey from the early house-driven days of 2010's Surf Noir to the vast, green sound of their 2012 debut LP Palace Garden and even through …
Morning Show host John Richards presents an upbeat mix of cutting edge rock, beats, soul and more as your soundtrack for the summer. Featuring Major Lazer, Don't Talk to the Cops, and Har Mar Superstar. 1. Pigeonhed - The Power Come Over Me 2. Child of Lov - Fly 3. Major Lazer - Watch Out For Thi…
The instrumentation in Radiation City tends to add up to more than the sum of its parts, so if the droves of passersby drawn towards the Fisher Green stage early in the Bumbershoot afternoon weren’t sure of the cause for their attraction, that might’ve been why. Instead of screaming guitar solos, c…
Can someone tell Rustie to slow down, please? His last LP for Warp, Green Language, barely came out a year ago. In the meantime, he's played a world tour, including a Sasquatch! date, dropped a free EP of music, and produced a track from a hospital bed. Russell Whyte does not let up on the gas, eve…
The Replacements may have broken up 25 years ago (and then gotten back together, and broken up again), but their influence grows larger every year. Wilco's Jeff Tweedy once declared that everything his band does is based on The Replacements. Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day calls them his favorite…
KEXP in-studio performances continue on Day 2 of Bumbershoot with Jagwar Ma. The Sydney psych band may have blown the world away with their 2013 debut Howlin’, but with the first few singles from upcoming album Every Now & Then, it looks like they are bent on maintaining their skyrocket traject…
"This is an instrumental about weed," Acapulco Lips bassist Maria-Elena Juarez said pointedly as the band started their set at the KEXP stage. It got giggles at first, but the second they started leaning into their psych-meets-surf jam, the laughter turned into dancing and some serious vibing. It w…
The second act up for our live streaming broadcast from Kex Hostel at Iceland Airwaves was rock and post-punk band Börn. They have a darker, gloomier sound influenced by the Icelandic punk movement of the 80s. Lead singer Alexandra is a total badass. She came adorned in black lipstick, a bright gre…
Wow, another year of Bumbershoot action already over, and what a ride it was! This year's festival was truly a different beast. With the new overhead having a full year to strategize and plan logistics, it seemed like by day 3, a lot of these were starting to go out the window. Crowd rushing in the…
Bumbershoot 2016's middle day was an interesting one. With a line management fiasco at the Key Arena the day before, police ran the line down the main drag, roping off necessary crosswalks and rerouting people trying to get their chicken burrito on at Chipotle into tree beds and bushes. And while s…
Despite the surprise appearance of (perennial Bumbershoot headliner) rain on Satuday evening, the dedicated crowd of Babes in Toyland fans seemed completely indifferent to the downpur. And from Kat Bjelland's first snarling guitar chord, it was clear that she was too. In a set front-loaded with one…
If the city of Seattle created a position for a house band, The Cave Singers would immediately top the shortlist. Across their eight-year run, Peter Quirk, Derek Fudesco, and Marty Lund (along with sometimes-member Morgan Henderson) have steadily become one of the city's more reliable bands across …
Middle kids, in general, struggle for attention. Middle Kids (the band), on the other hand, have had little trouble getting noticed during their short career. The Sydney trio released their first single, the Ryan Adams-esque “Edge of Town," before they had even played a show. Shortly thereafter, po…
It didn't take long for Merchandise frontman Carson Cox's dry sense of humor to set in with his band's Saturday afternoon crowd. "So we're from Florida," he deadpanned. "Can you believe it?" On a hot afternoon, the hazy qualities of Merchandise's music were brought to the forefront, an effect that …
