Earlier this month, KEXP returned to the magical space of the Bunny Glade during Pickathon 2014 to capture intimate acoustic sessions in this wooded oasis. Each of the 17 exclusive performances were special, but we couldn't have asked for a better way to end our final day than with the charming sla…
It's been a year since we heard from Ty Segall, which, for the prolific Bay Area songwriter, may as well have been a decade. But don't worry, he's hardly been slacking off. Following up his two albums from last year, Sleeper and his self-titled debut with Fuzz, Segall is finally offering his newest…
Here's a killer word for your next round of Scrabble: Divisionary. You can thank delightful Portland band Ages and Ages for that knock out; it's the title of their second album. What does it mean? Splice together "division" and "visionary" and you can explain how even the best intentions sometimes …
"I'm sorry, I have to interrupt. My mind was just blown," DJ Cheryl Waters revealed after Milagres opened their recent in-studio session at KEXP with "The Letterbomb." With its funky drums and shifts between baritone and falsetto, it's easy to see why Milagres' music made her feel this way. In fac…
It’s been quite a year for Matthew Hemerlein. The Los Angeles-based musician operating, under the name Lo-Fang, has been piecing together his debut record Blue Film since 2009. First as a mixtape, now as a fully rendered personal work, the collection of songs seen here is awe-inspiring and striking…
Is it any wonder that Spanish electronic wunderkind John Talabot kept Q Nightclub packed beyond reasonable comfort until 1:30am on a rainy Tuesday night in Seattle? No. Absolutely not. Talabot has some kind of insane black magic power over the groove in a room and can keep nearly 300 people dancing…
Every Saturday evening, I look forward to playing you some of my favorite songs. I remember discovering our Northwest music scene: I was lucky enough to stumble on a host opening on the local show at my college station, KGRG FM. I trained with the original hosts of the show a couple of times, and t…
On any given weekend in Seattle, there are a million amazing shows to see - from jazz sets at coffee shops and orchestras at theaters, to a grunge shows in DIY spaces and major touring acts at any of our larger venues. Maybe this weekend you want to try something new; maybe you heard one song by th…
San Francisco garage rock band Weekend have been doing some serious growth over the last couple years. On their 2010 debut Sports, Weekend gave us an enjoyable, noisy introduction that put them in tune with the scene and its direction. Now, with a couple years under their belt and a fresh batch of …
Though he'd been playing a variety instruments and styles for years, Oakland music Luis Vasquez never intended his current project, The Soft Moon, to catch on. A true bedroom project, The Soft Moon was originally meant to be a device of self-exploration, a spelunking of the depths, as it were, of V…
Though named for a popular British toy company, Chad Valley is more than just a plaything Oxford, UK's Hugo Manuel. Also the frontman for the group Jonquil, Manuel has turned a couple of lo-fi solo EPs into a fully realized project of lush, summery synth-pop. Like Jonquil, Chad Valley features Manu…
The Replacements were one of the most original and influential rock bands of the 1980s. Their hard-drinking ways made them infamous to many clubs in the Twin Cities and around the country -- including the time when they got themselves famously banned from Saturday Night Live after a particularly i…
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…
"This is an instrumental about weed," Acapulco Lips bassist Maria-Elena Juarez said pointedly as the band started their set at the KEXP stage. It got giggles at first, but the second they started leaning into their psych-meets-surf jam, the laughter turned into dancing and some serious vibing. It w…
My Morning Jacket frontman Jim James is releasing an album of covers at the beginning of next month called Tribute To 2. The album follows 2009's George Harrison-focused cover album Tribute To, will also be reissued with extra bonus tracks on the same day as Tribute To 2. James previously shared h…
There's very little surprise in seeing a two night Growlers stint at the Crocodile sold out as can be. The California surf rock band has seen some pretty stellar years of growth as of late, culminating in their excellent latest LP Chinese Fountain, seeing the band at their strongest and cleanest ye…
Inspired by Sufi poetry, their obsessions with writing, and limitation, Benjamin Verdoes and Nathan Quiroga, the creative masters behind Iska Dhaaf (a Somali phrase which roughly translates to "let it go"), have been collaborating for the past couple of years with impressive results. At first glanc…