Second on today's broadcast live from KEX hostel at at Iceland Airwaves Music Festival was Icelandic singer-songwriter Axel Flóvent. Axel has achieved recent international prominence after years playing in his hometown of Húsavik (a small fishing village in the north of Iceland), and all around his…
It is with a heavy heart that KEXP reports Charles Bradley has cancelled his upcoming tour dates after doctors found a cancerous tumor in his stomach. The 67-year-old singer released the following statement:
In the past few months, I have had to cancel a number of shows due to illness, taking me a…
Yumi Zouma are four friends that originally grew up together in Christchurch, New Zealand, found themselves in three cities (New York, Paris, Auckland) upon graduating from high school, yet reconnected over the internet to create their charming debut EP in 2014. Their romantic, nostalgia-tinged dre…
Canadian indie legends Metric have undoubtedly "made it." They're at the glorious stage in a career where they have the commercial success to justify any off-kilter choice they make, while still being independent enough that they have the freedom to make those off-kilter choices without any corpora…
Rounding out our last day of the KEXP broadcast live from Kex Hostel at Iceland Airwaves Music Festival is Icelandic dream-pop band Vök. Formed in 2013 as a duo (singer Margrét Rán Magnúsdóttir and saxophonist Andri Már Enoksson) to enter Músíktilraunir (or "Musical Experiment Contest")--a battle o…
Northern soul? How about arctic soul? That's yet to be a thing, but if young Icelandic singer-songwriter Júníus Meyvant has anything to do with it, you'll be hearing a lot more similarly soul-stirring melodies from way up north. Júníus Meyvant -- real name Unnar Gísli Sigurmundsson -- has yet to re…
"There are some people in tinsel costumes around me... uh... that's what's happening." When Helado Negro is asked to describe his "bandmates" in the studio, that's how he does it, smirking with just enough hesitation to leave a sense of intrigue. On his latest album, Double Youth, the artist someti…
“One of my dreams is about to come true,” DJ Derek Mazzone said, introducing the psychedelic Brazilian rock band Os Mutantes before their performance live on KEXP's Wo'Pop. The band, part of the Tropicália artistic movement that bridged popular culture with the avant-garde in the 1960s in Brazil, c…
New York based Freelance Whales may have gotten their start playing on subway platforms in 2008, but now they are one of the most critically acclaimed indie rock bands in years. Judah Dadone, Doris Cellar, and company stopped by the KEXP studio in October to play some tracks off of their Diluvia al…
Thurston Moore has nothing to prove after decades spent as part of one of the most influential bands of all time, Sonic Youth. The guitarist, singer, and songwriter has long been worshiped by SY fans and adored by critics as Sonic Youth evolved from brash indie upstarts in the 80s, to semi-commerc…
We're always excited to feature Oklahoma singer-songwriter, vintage rock and roller JD McPherson any time he comes to town. Not only was he one of the highlights of our SXSW broadcast, but he and his smoking-hot band tore up the KEXP studio this past summer. Right now, JD is celebrating the holiday…
Closing out a fantastic week of music live from KEX Hostel at Iceland Airwaves Music Festival were London-based power-pop trio Dream Wife. The band is comprised of London-based musicians Alice and Bella, and Icelandic singer Rakel, who are known for their super-fun performances and strange, beautif…
Anyone who's seen the video where a meteor falls during a Modest Mouse show while they're playing "Dark Center of the Universe" knows that it was a perfect synchronization of life and music, coincidental or not. And while there's no footage of it – yet – let it be known that case/lang/veirs summone…
We couldn't be more serious: the latest from longtime singer/songwriter Andrew Bird is the artist's most intimate album yet. Not only has Bird opened his life to a wife and child, but he's opened up his music. "Most of my productions have been very autonomous," he confirms to DJ Cheryl Waters. But …
Following a carefree, celebratory set at the Sasquatch! Music Festival as Big Grams, Sarah Barthel and Josh Carter strip back down to Phantogram for their forthcoming full-length, Three. Get a taste with a video for the first single "You Don’t Get Me High Anymore," directed by Grant Singer (the We…
Essaie Pas is Marie Davidson and Pierre Guerineau, a married singer and engineer from Montreal, who have worked as individual artists as well as making three prior Essaie Pas records before this one. Demain marks a special milestone for them as their first for DFA, a label which continues to give h…
There's always drama with Tame Impala, according to frontman and band mastermind Kevin Parker, but this time, it's only relative to the backstage amenities: the refrigerator holding their beer is leaking. But considering that Parker and his bandmates have their light show and all of their gear – wh…
The Twilight Sad have always specialized in making the darker side of humanity seem so grandiose and alluring, but they've never made gloom quite so emotive and magnetic as they do on their fourth album, Nobody Wants To Be Here and Nobody Wants To Leave. When the Scottish band brought six cuts from…
Sóley is the cutest creeper out there. The Icelandic singer-songwriter is so disarmingly charming, and her voice so exquisite, that even her songs about killer clowns, murderers and weird, one-eyed ladies are quite soothing. She's also an expert looper and a snappy dresser. In other words, there's …
It's hard to imagine a better indie pop dream team than this – a multi-Grammy winning producer Danger Mouse (a.k.a. Brian Burton) and a beloved singer-songwriter James Mercer (of the Shins), each responsible for some of the most infectious songs you've heard in the past ten years, joining to create…
