DJ Sharlese hosts a podcast featuring bands competing in the 2015 Sound Off! competition, the premiere Northwest battle of the bands hosted by the Experience Music Project (EMP) Museum. 1. Bleachbear - Astoria 2. Champagne Babylon - Lost In Eden 3. Nightspace - Insecure 4. Super Soaked - Wannabe…
If you've wondered what might happen if you combined the sound and spirit of Bikini Kill or Pavement with the politics (as in none) and slacker mentality of Best Coast or Mac DeMarco then wonder no more, because Vancouver B.C.'s The Courtneys have made this a reality. They make fuzzy slacker rock w…
As we're sure everyone in Seattle knows by now, the Seattle Seahawks are heading to the Super Bowl! Yesterday's halftime show was provided by none other than Macklemore x Ryan Lewis, and while we haven't been able to locate video of the performance (aside from shaky fan-made smartphone videos), yo…
The fourth annual Project Pabst descended upon the Tom McCall Waterfront Park in Portland over the last weekend of August. Since its inception, the festival has been set like a variety jukebox arrangement one would listen to over a few cold beers or, in this case, cold PBRs. Yet, the best quality a…
It's not so bright Underneath the Rainbow — at least not the way Black Lips tell it — but their seventh LP still has its share of sonic gold. The Atlanta garage-punks continue to sharpen their songwriting with a bluesier take on their sound while losing none of their attitude or swagger. During a r…
They may not have made the majors like The Replacements and Hüsker Dü did, but Minneapolis-based band Arcwelder were more than a perennial local favorite, cracking John Peel's Festive Fifth countdown in 1992 and getting crowned NME's "Punk Rock Single of the Week" by none other than guest editors, …
In a video previewing the twelfth annual Sasquatch! Festival, comedian Nick Offerman (better known as Ron Swanson from Parks and Recreation) claims that the fest's 2013 lineup will feature Merle Haggard, the original lineup of Menudo and "the great Gloria Robertson-Smith". As we know now, none of t…
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…
For the first time ever, First Aid Kit got to perform their hit single "Emmylou" for none other than Emmylou Harris herself, and, not surprisingly, it was an emotional affair. Harris was in Sweden to accept the Polar Music Prize (described as "the Noble Prize of Music"). Klara Söderberg, half of t…
Fleet Foxes are getting back together. The Seattle indie band went on hiatus five years ago after they released their sophomore album, Helplessness Blues. At the time, frontman Robin Pecknold had decided to go back to Columbia University to earn his degree. Now it seems the hiatus is coming to an …
In the liner notes of her latest album, Ivy Tripp, Katie Crutchfield — better known by her recording alias Waxahatchee — has a photo of none other than Dolly Parton. She laughed when KEXP DJ Stevie Zoom asked her about it. "I have Dolly everywhere I go," she smiled. Like Parton, the Alabama-born Cr…
Holy shit. St. Vincent played a show last night at Le Poisson Rouge in New York, dressed as toilet. The evening also included performances from Father John Misty and Rufus Wainwright, Martha Wainwright, Joan As Police Woman, and more, although none of them dressed as a sanitation fixture. Proceeds…
You'd be forgiven for asking why Conor Oberst, M. Ward, and the Felice Brothers were playing the Moore this September. They were on a brief, West Coast-only jaunt, none of them have records out this year, and because of it, there was barely any publicity for the show. But even for those who walked …
It's only 73 seconds long, but this mini-trailer has us very excited for the eagerly-awaited sophomore release from UK group Savages. In the clip, none other than Henry Rollins (??!!) reads from Phyllis Rose’s Jazz Cleopatra: Josephine Baker In Her Time as new music from the band plays in the back…
KEXP just wrapped up our annual Iceland Airwaves Music Festival broadcast this past weekend, including an off-air session with Múm. And today, the band have premiered a remix from none other than fellow Icelander, Jónsi of Sigur Rós! Check it out below, and check out all our Iceland Airwaves cover…
It's hard to live up to a name like theirs, and harder still to shine brightly for over fifteen years, but Stars have not only lost none of their shimmering allure - they've somehow turned an amorphous Canadian collective, on par and in cahoots with Broken Social Scene, into a consistently producti…
Veteran Tucson-based band Calexico share a video for the track "Tapping on the Line," featuring none other than beloved chanteuse Neko Case on guest vocals. The clip, directed by Jason Roark, was filmed at Portland's Flora Recording & Playback studios during the band's recent tour with The Dec…
Back in 2010, David Byrne and Fatboy Slim collaborated on the concept album and "disco musical" Here Lies Love, which tells the story of former First Lady of the Philippines, Imelda Marcos. Following award-winning runs in New York, London, and Adelaide, Australia, the project has now arrived in Sea…
'90s-revivalists Speedy Ortiz go all the way back to the '70s for their cover of the Sibylle Baier song "Lost Something In The Hills." The obscure German folk-singer had recorded songs at home on a reel-to-reel recorder, and when none other than J Mascis got his hands on a copy, he helped Baier's …
If Dean Wareham's own name isn't familiar, his previous projects most likely are. Galaxie 500 and Luna may never have quite reached the commercial success to match their critical acclaim, but both bands inspired a generation to follow of dream-pop wanderers and romantic rock dreamers. And both were…
