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…
Among the many great new releases out this week is our own annual benefit collection, Live at KEXP Volume Nine. Featuring 18 stellar tracks culled from the over 500 amazing live sessions we recorded in the past year, Volume Nine contains some serious heavy hitters like Macklemore & Ryan Lewis a…
I might not have gotten on the Odd Future bandwagon back when it began, but that doesn't mean I was going to miss Earl Sweatshirt this year at Sasquatch. He took stage simply - his black Supreme sweatshirt (hood up of course), OF DJ Syd backing him up close behind. Lucky for the audience ("Hey Coac…
Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. This week, we are featuring Christmas…
We're a week away from the release of the new Father John Misty album, the highly-anticipated Pure Comedy, out April 7th on Sub Pop Records. He's been sharing tracks left-and-right all year, including a 13-minute opus titled "Leaving L.A." Today, he offers up the Radio Edit, which whittles it down…
KEXP’s Song of the Day podcast features stand-out tracks from independen…
Dee Dee Penny is a woman who cannot be held down. With pretty much every album she's crafted with Dum Dum Girls, she's pushed forward the cutting edge of the Brooklyn indie rock scene. That case was especially evident with 2011's Only In Dreams. Together with its phenomenal coda EP, End of Daze, De…
A lot has happened in the five years since Yoni Wolf (of WHY? fame) and Chicago rapper Serengeti last collaborated. That last time was on Serengeti's statement of an LP Family & Friends, produced entirely by Wolf and Owen Ashworth (of Advance Base and Casiotune for the Painfully Alone). Between…
To call James Blake's second LP "greatly anticipated" may be a bit of an overstatement, but only because it's been hardly two months that we've even known that a new album would be available some time this year. Despite the short time to process the news, fans certainly were eager to hear what the …
Making a truly timeless record is really, really hard. Without the ability to look into the future and see what sounds and styles are going to fall out of fashion, artists often just have to take the gamble and see what happens. With all the knowledge and ability you have as an artist, you need to …
Minneapolis MC, community activist, and KEXP favorite Brother Ali has been a fixture within the hip-hop community for the past 17 years. He debuted on his long-time label Rhymesayers in the year 2000 with Rites Of Passage, the first of six studio albums that have showcased his deeply personal, soci…
While gale winds canceled some early main stage shows, a different force of nature was met with far warmer reception on the Bigfoot stage. Yo La Tengo is certainly a force of nature in the indie music scene and a walk back through their discography is a long one, as the group have consistently rele…
As Cheryl Waters jokes, it's taken over ten years to get Trevor Powers' band Youth Lagoon in the KEXP studio. Really, the band has only been around since 2010 - it just feels like we've all been waiting that long. We were all happy finally to have wrangled Youth Lagoon come grace us, and the timing…
It's an impressive week for new releases! Beloved Northwest band Sleater-Kinney end their hiatus with the release of No Cities To Love. KEXP Music Director Don Yates notes, "The recently reunited trio’s eighth album (and first in 10 years) is a strong return-to-form, with an intense blend of punk, …
West coast rapper Tyler, The Creator shares his fourth LP, which boasts the FCC-unfriendly title Scum Fuck Flower Boy. (A representative for TTC says the "official title" is just Flower Boy.) The album features guest appearances by Frank Ocean, ASAP Rocky, Anna of the North, Lil Wayne, Jaden Smith,…
Are you going hungry... for Seattle grunge nostalgia? Supergroup Temple of the Dog (comprised of Chris Cornell of Soundgarden, Eddie Vedder, Jeff Ament, Stone Gossard, and Mike McCready of Pearl Jam, and drummer Matt Cameron of both bands) are reuniting for the 25th anniversary of their self-title…
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…
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…
David Bowie played his last concert (to date) on June 25th, 2004 in Scheeßel, Germany. On one of the final legs of his tour behind 2003's Reality, Bowie began dealing with a series of health problems, which caused the dates following the Scheeßel performance to be scrapped. Afterwards, Bowie slowly…
It’s time again for Friday on My Mind. Our weekly blog post where we look at videos centered around one common theme. This is a collaborative effort between KEXP and King 5 News. If you haven’t already called in sick to work on Friday yet, then do it now and get over to Ballard for Hood-to-Hood Day…
