It was a session DJ Cheryl Waters had been waiting 20 years for: The Waterboys, a band who are actually celebrating their 30th anniversary this year, despite frontman Mike Scott being a mere 24-years-old, wink. The long-running group are on tour supporting their seven-CD collection, Fisherman's Box…
Next on the KEXP broadcast live from KEX Hostel at Iceland Airwaves is an Icelandic/Swedish folk duo My bubba. Their earlier efforts (released under the moniker “My bubba & Mi”) are deeply rooted in southern americana and folk. The songs are sparse, allowing their pure, delicate voices and entr…
Our next set for the KEXP Broadcast live from KEX Hostel at Iceland Airwaves is New York-based quintet Caveman. Caveman's sound has evolved rapidly in the last few years. An overnight success, their 2011 debut Coco Beware was dreamy indie-pop, with light, floating synths and gentle harmonizing voca…
This past August, Cloud Cult took the stage at scenic Camp Long in West Seattle for the 15th annual Arts in Nature Festival, presented by Nature Consortium. Usually, the native Minnesotans are known for their dynamic live shows with a variety of electric and acoustic instruments, they decided to ma…
On any given weekend in Seattle, there are a million amazing shows to see - from jazz at a coffee shop or theater, to a grunge show at a DIY space, to a major act at any one of our large venues. Maybe this weekend you want to try something new, maybe you heard one song by this small electronic, fol…
Fearlessly dabbling in the gaudy with their electro pop sound, Future Bible Heroes began as a project of The Magnetic Fields' Stephin Merritt and DJ Christopher Ewen, but gradually evolved into a substantial group of talented musicians. Eleven years after the release of their sophomore album, Etern…
The rollout of new Arcade Fire begins! And it truly couldn't happen at a better time. Stream the single "I Give You Power" below, which features guest vocals from legendary vocalist and civil rights activist Mavis Staples. The track is a Tidal exclusive (a company Win Butler and Régine Chassagne a…
This Saturday, KEXP presents Reykjavik Calling, the sister city showcase featuring some of the best bands and artists emerging from Seattle and Reykjavik. It's our seventh year featuring this cross-cultural musical exploration, and one of the two acts traveling here from Iceland is long-time KEXP f…
Beck continues to surprise us as he slowly unveils tracks from his new album, the long-awaited follow-up to 2014's Morning Phase. In addition to the groove of "Wow," today we get the radio-friendly pop song "Up All Night." The track also appears in the new FIFA ’17 video game, hence the YouTube im…
Alvvays are due to release their highly-anticipated sophomore album, Antisocialites, on September 8 via Polyvinyl. Today they've shared the third single from the new album, "Plimsoll Punks." It follows the wistful tracks "In Undertow" and "Dreams Tonite." In a press release the band claims "Plimsol…
Windy City singer/songwriter Ryley Walker shares his third album this week, which KEXP Music Director Don Yates calls, "his strongest and most sophisticated set to date, combining fluid guitar lines, intricate rhythms and elliptical lyrics on expansive songs that masterfully blend elements of folk-…
Pioneering hip-hop trio De La Soul share another new track from their forthcoming full-length, and the Anonymous Nobody…. Check out the single "Drawn" below, featuring special guests Little Dragon. Their ninth album hits stores on August 26th, and on that very day, KEXP will go 3 Feet High & R…
For Bombino, making music is not only a form of expression - it is also a political statement. Born in Agadez, Niger, a small desert town in the Tuareg region of Africa, Omara Moctar creates music under the name Bombino despite the near deadly dangers posed by strict government rule. After having t…
Madison noisemeisters Killdozer certainly had their fans at KCMU, if the reaction to 1986's Burl EP is to be believed, but it seems their loyalty was being tested by the covers collection For Ladies Only. From 25 years in the future, it's hard to remember that heavy, noise-laden (and maybe ironic?)…
They look like sisters, maybe even twins, the way that Lucius co-founders Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig style themselves and dress, but like any pair, they can also be opposites - the yin to each other's yang. That duality forms the core of Good Grief, the now LA-based band's second release, which e…
I love it when I stumble across an album that got regular play in my house growing up in the KEXP stacks - especially when the super-cool college DJs of yore actually thought it was pretty good! I'm certain that by the time my parents were buying records by The Human League they were getting plent…
It's been a few years since we last heard from The Strokes, but today they triumphantly return with not one, not two, but three new tracks! All of 'em will appear on their upcoming EP Future Present Past, out June 3rd via Cult Records. Check out the singles "OBLIVIUS," "The Threat Of Joy," and "Dr…
We've got new music to share from Seattle's own Car Seat Headrest (aka Will Toledo): check out the single "Drunk Drivers/Killer Whales" from their upcoming release Teens of Denial, out May 20th on Matador. It's the first CSH album recorded in a studio with a full-band, and Toledo lucked out to get…
Following a sold out show at The Moore Theatre last week, and a stunning benefit show for KEXP's New Home, José González shares a video for the single "With the Ink of a Ghost" off his most recent Mute Records release, Vestiges & Claws. The stunning clip, directed by Malin Ingrid Johansson, st…
Though there weren't divine circumstances by which HÆLOS formed, the London trio nevertheless seems preordained to make a heavenly sound. While each pursuing careers of their own, Arthur Delaney, Dom Goldsmith and Lotti Benardout turned their casual connections to holy writ as they joined forces to…
