First there was the Rat Pack, then the Brat Pack, and now... the Mac Pack? The uniforms may have changed – from suits to cardigans to oversized t-shirts and backwards-facing baseball caps – but the life-is-to-be-lived attitude of today's scene makers hasn't. Singer-songwriter Mac DeMarco embodies t…
For creators and fans alike, music has always provided catharsis, relief and healing. But Few artists tap so directly into that power as Tim Showalter, whose project Strand of Oaks goes so far as to name its most recent album Heal. Like pages from a diary, the Philly-based songwriter's lyrics delve…
Elia is the most recent project of Seattle-based singer, musician and producer Ignacio Izquierdo. The name comes from Elia Liut, an Italian aviator, who was the first person to fly over Ecuadorian territory. This reflects both Ignacio's home city of Quito and his life of movement. A son of a diplom…
San Diego-based surf rockers Wavves have announced the release of their fourth album this spring. The LP, tentatively titled Afraid of Heights, will be out March 26 on Mom + Pop, and fellow California crooner Jenny Lewis is slated to make an appearance. "You know the tone of King of the Beach and t…
Perhaps no other artist has brought Eastern music to the West like sitar master Ravi Shankar. His tutelage of George Harrison in the mid-60's kicked off a lifetime of cultural exchange. While rock bands like The Beatles were incorporating Eastern sounds in their music, Shankar himself was composing…
KEXP’s Larry Mizell Jr. sat down with Nabil Ayers recently to talk about his memoir in which he explores issues of race and about being the son of a famous musician, a man he had only met a handful of times in his life.
Already, between the blazing Seattle sunlight and constant music he's been cranking out, it's been a solid summer for Chimurenga Renaissance's front-man and activist Tendai Maraire. After having released his album riZe vadZimu riZe in March, an ambitious collage of contemporary rap and traditional …
"Follow me to hill country," singer-songerwriter Israel Nash invites at the outset of his recent in-studio at KEXP, and you can't help but feel immediately transported not just in place but in time. Born in Missouri, Nash sought his fortune in New York before settling in Texas hill country. In Drip…
Although he's spent the last few months contributing as a vocalist to Hercules and Love Affair, John Grant returned to his day job on Sunday afternoon, performing a stark set of wistful tunes from his two solo albums. At first glance, the massive Sasquatch stage at 1 p.m. on a sunny afternoon isn't…
Last month, Street Sounds went old school, featuring veterans of hip-hop Mobb Deep, who've been keeping it real since the early 90's, when New York MC's Havoc and Prodigy first made a name for themselves depicting hardcore street life and became key players in the East Coast rivalry with West Coast…
case/lang/veirs -- the lowercased super-group of Neko Case, k.d. lang, and Laura Veirs -- share a video for the track "Atomic Number," a highlight from their self-titled debut, out now via Anti- Records. Director Kangmin Kim explains, "This animation is inspired by the search for a soul-mate with …
Northwest noisemakers The Thermals return this Spring with the album We Disappear, out March 25th via Saddle Creek. Check out the first single "Hey You" below. The album was recorded both here and in their hometown of Portland, and produced by ex-Death Cab for Cutie dude Chris Walla. Frontman Hutc…
Next on the KEXP broadcast live from Kex Hostel at Iceland Airwaves Music Festival is the boss MC of Iceland, Emmsjé Gauti. The stage name for Icelandic rapper Gauta Þeyr Mássonar) Emmsjé Gauti is reigning king of Iceland’s burgeoning hip hop scene. Though he’s only in his mid-twenties, he’s been r…
UK quartet Savages share a new single from their highly-anticipated sophomore release, Adore Life, out January 22nd via Matador. The album was recorded in London with producer Johnny Hostile and engineer Richard Woodcraft, and mixed in Copenhagen with Trentemøller. The video for the track "The Ans…
KEXP's Online Content Manager Jim Beckmann celebrates his birthday today, and for the occasion, singer/songwriter Kevin Morby has shared the video for "The Parade," one of Jim's favorite tracks from last year's full-length Still Life on Woodsist. (Okay, that might not be why the video came out tod…
"Let's get heavy," Other Lives frontman Jesse Tabish jokes before launching into the principle dichotomies behind the creation of their latest release, Rituals. But whether they're conflating old and new styles or humanity's primal nature and our technologically isolating modern world, the surprisi…
There have been some great team-ups in the history of popular music and rap. Recently, two of Seattle's own, Grynch & Budo, debuted a new pairing that can’t help but remind listeners of other powerful duos like Brother Ali and Jake One, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis and The Black Keys, but in their…
