There is a place where the sounds and sights of summer are always abounding and where you can sing about the beach all year long. That place, according to Zach Yudin, is Cayucos, California. His project Cayucas (formerly called Oregon Bike Trails) is an unapologetic love letter to the feeling given…
The sun was beating down on the Gorge and the wind was sweeping dangerously through the canyon- but walking into the Sasquatch! Music Festival this year was magical to say the very least. It was apparent that things were going to get crazy with this year's genre spanning lineup - including everybod…
This Thursday, January 21st, join us in beautiful Ballard for the 4th Annual Benefit for MusiCares at the Tractor Tavern. A cavalcade of local musicians will perform the songs of beloved alt-country artists Uncle Tupelo and Jason Molina, with proceeds going to benefit this great non-profit which pr…
If you're anything like me (and who isn't?), the first Icelandic band you ever heard of was The Sugarcubes. If you were a college radio DJ in the early '80s, though, you might have gotten wind of Þeyr (pronounced "Theyr," more or less) before the rest of the U.S. got wind to the crazy stuff going d…
A new group has been chosen to take over Seattle's Bumbershoot Music & Arts Festival. Co-organizer Steven Severin talks about how they want to make tickets more affordable, less dependent on big name headliners, and they want the festival to go beyond just Labor Day weekend.
KEXP's Owen Murphy and Troy Nelson break down a cover song for Mariah Carey's Fantasy. Frontman of the band Sky Cries Mary talks about rubbing elbows with the rising stars of the Seattle grunge scene in the late 80s and going on to make treehouses for the rich and famous. Rapper Perry Porter discus…
I've covered Beat Happening records in this space before, but it's been just over six years, so I figure the time is ripe to go back to that well. For my previous post, I compared the reactions to the Oly DIY heroes' first and fourth albums. Today we'll split the difference (sort of) and go back to…
Every once in a while, I post an album from a band that's been so minimally documented on the Internet that I feel I'm adding significantly to the body of public knowledge about them with one little blog post. This is dangerous because usually I know next to nothing about these bands. Take Ism, for…
Howe Gelb is a goddamn institution. Over the past three decades he has released 25 albums with the mercurial outfit Giant Sand (originally known as Giant Sandworm, most lately known as Giant Giant Sand), and almost as many albums under his own name (#20, Dust Bowl, is available right now). His care…
Seattle's own experimental hip hop outfit, Shabazz Palaces take on a dark, post-apocalyptic wasteland in their new "#Cake" video. There's an intense game of chase going on while beautiful, yet terrifying, giants roam the city. Check it out below. [Pitchfork]
I'm really glad I was born when I was. The idea of going through teenagerdom without the blistering, angst-laden pounding of Ministry (particularly late '80s and '90s Ministry) as a soundtrack seems too awful to imagine. Apparently billions of pre-gen-Xers managed it just fine and grew into perfect…
Pieces of Sky, Tomo Nakayama's latest record, is one of the Seattle veteran's most delicate and powerful works, reflecting on the nature of traveling and going through life during chaotic times. Backed by a full band in this session on the Morning Show with John Richards, Nakayama and hi…
Arto Lindsay, the guitaring/singing half of the art-pop duo Ambitious Lovers, is one of my favorite - and one of the most underrated - musical artists of the late 20th century (he has gone relatively quiet in the past decade or so, although some recent posts on his facebook page instill hopes that …
This summer, folk rockers The Lumineers played a special show at Barboza in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood as part of KEXP's VIP Club concert series. The band has gained major momentum in the current thirst for rootsy, soul-stirring music, and this year they're up for two Grammys -- for Best …
Chalk it up to: You'll never see that again. Last week, Mercury Prize winners and KEXP fan-favorites Alt-J performed their headlining Seattle debut at the Crocodile, a venue whose size they've long outgrown. While previously they opened for Grouplove at the Moore (and I'd say at least half the full…
Finally! A reason to go to Spokane! This weekend, September 5th through 7th, launches the First Annual Bartfest, a music festival organized by a new all-ages venue in the small Washington town, The Bartlett. Together, with Nyne Bar located next door, they'll host a three-day indoor festival smack-d…
Our thoughts go out to members of the band and crew of Twin Shadow, who were injured this morning as their tour bus was part of a multi-vehicle crash in Aurora, Colorado, with heavy fog to blame. Rescuers have brought a dozen individuals to a local hospital to treat minor to severe injuries. [The …
As major labels continue to exist behind the times, artists and labels with little capital and lesser reputations are producing some of the most innovative, interesting, and inspiring music. Whether it’s creating a new niche in digital technology or looking to once obsolete formats, Agitated Atmosp…
Morning Show host John Richards presents the 6th installment of KEXP's Runner Powered Podcast. 1. LUH - I&I 2. onDeadWaves - Blue Inside 3. Hammock - Everything and Nothing 4. School of Seven Bells - Ablaze 5. Fly Moon Royalty - Grown Man 6. Cullen Omori - Cinnamon 7. Minor Victories - Folk …
