I guess this year I'm making up for the previous lack of XTC posts in this series. The Dukes of Stratosphear were XTC in all but name, working under a different moniker to crank out a couple albums of pop genius that heavily mined some of their favorite sounds of the '60s, from Barrett-era Pink Flo…
We've recorded him several times in the woods, but for his first in-studio at KEXP, Shakey Graves shook the dust off (unfortunately, on our floor) for a rowdy set of blues fueled rock live on the Morning Show. Sure, it was early for Alejandro Rose-Garcia and his co-producer and collaborator Chris B…
By taking their name from the annual festival held in Pamplona, Spain, San Fermin presents their musical philosophy outright. Like the running of the bulls, San Fermin's music bewilders, delights, and intimidates. Surprisingly, the Brookyln-based Baroque-poppers have only released one album, San Fe…
Watching Shovels & Rope perform is almost like stepping into their living room. Married Charleston, SC, duo Michael Trent and Cary Ann Hearst perform so lovingly together and write some very intimate ballads that at times you feel like you might be intruding on them. But we've also hosted them …
After over a decade, Fruit Bats is, um, flying away into the sunset, as mastermind Eric D. Johnston announced this morning: "Hey All. So, after 13 years, 5 albums, bunch of tours, and lots of laughs, Fruit Bats is calling it a day. There is no major or dramatic reason – I’m not gonna launch into o…
It’s rare that a band has three songwriters. But camaraderie oozes from the Seattle group Hounds of the Wild Hunt – and it seems each member truly appreciates when another can show his stuff on the mic. Ryan Devlin, Jonny Henningson, Nikki O Anderson and drummer Cary Davis make up the band that ca…
It hasn't been that long since Seattle band The Cave Singers performed songs from their excellent 2013 album, Naomi, live in the KEXP studio, so when we asked them to perform a special session as part of KEXP's VIP Club Concert series just three months later, they went back to their own studio and …
On September 10, The Clash will release a huge box set called Sound System. According to guitarist Mick Jones this will be "the greatest box set ever." The set will include all five LPs, three disks of singles, a DVD of the band's music videos, and SO MUCH more. As if this wasn't cool enough, the…
Few artists resonate so strongly with KEXP listeners and all Seattle music fans as Kurt Cobain. His band, Nirvana, wasn't the first to break out of the Northwest nor did their groundbreaking breakthrough, Nevermind, sell the most among their contemporaries, but Cobain probably represented more of t…
If you're like me, odds are you hear the name Lene Lovich (or, as I recently did, find a copy of this very album in the bins at Goodwill) and instantly hear her distinctively playful yet unabashedly Teutonic voice squeaking out the hook to her best-known song, "Lucky Number." Like so many brilliant…
Nashville's Mackenzie Scott, known musically as Torres, is gearing up to release her first album for 4AD called Three Futures. So far, we've heard "Skim" and the title track, and today she's shared "Helen In The Woods." The single comes with a slightly creepy, deranged video directed by Ashley Conn…
Faith Healer, out of Edmonton, Alberta, released their latest release Try;) ahead of our trip out to Montreal so I was able to spend some time with it before they did their session. This was one that I was most looking forward to seeing. Jessica Jalbert, the primary songwriter and guitar player, ha…
King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard are having possibly the most prolific 2017 than anyone else in music. They set a goal at the beginning of the year to release five studio albums just this year and so far they've released three albums: Flying Microtonal Banana, Murder Of The Universe, and Sketch…
During the recording process of Phantogram's third album, Three, members Sarah Barthel and Josh Carter experienced a devastating loss. Barthel's sister and Carter's close friend Becky died by suicide. While the electro-pop duo has always explored dark themes in their songwriting, they weren't prepa…
Get your KEXP 50th Anniversary tile personalized with your name or other inscription, and see it at KEXP's Seattle Center home at KEXP50.
Love him or hate him, you truly cannot say that Mac DeMarco isn't consistent. The indie rock songwriter is barely three years into his public career and he is already at the point of selling out the Neptune Theatre with ease, garnering a massive fanbase both young and old, and rocking every night w…
It's a very short list of new releases this holiday week, so you can probably tie your record store shopping to your quest for 4th of July BBQ supplies. While you're stocking up on burgers, weiners, beer and soda, you might stop to grab the latest from British producer Zomby, whose third album, our…
It's real. After teasing fans on and off for the better part of 22 or so years, guitarist/vocalist Kevin Shields has delivered the third full-length My Bloody Valentine album, m b v. (Take a deep breath.) Since its release on Saturday night (which resulted in the cancellation of the evening plans o…
Filigree & Shadow was the second album released by the loose 4AD collective This Mortal Coil. As with the third album, which I covered here eight years ago, label head Ivo Watts-Russel teamed up with some current 4AD artists (including members of Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance, and The Wolfgang …
