BSH. BSH. BSH. BSH. The sound of four defiant cymbal crashes spreads out across Pike Street. It's Seattle band COSMOS’ turn at the main stage. Melding hip hop, jazz, and funk in a high-energy set, the Seattle band proves yet again why they won last year’s Sound Off! contest, an annual battle of the…
"I feel like all 4,000 people in this room should hug right now," the mid-30s woman beside me says to me as the house lights go on after The xx show last Monday night. I nod my head in approval. I understand what she means - not hugs of comfort but hugs of recognition of community and of the beauti…
Every great comic book hero has a memorable arc or story where they team up with an unlikely ally - maybe even a former archrival - for some exciting hijinks towards a common goal. That’s a bit how it feels with The Claypool Lennon Delirium. Bass wizard Les Claypool and wizard-looking guitar virtuo…
2011's Hurry Up, We're Dreaming didn't just turn M83 into a triple-A critical darling and unexpected commercial success, it pushed the band to become one of the biggest and outright best acts on the live circuit. Taking their records' widescreen ambitions and bringing them to life with a huge, bord…
"I heard today was the first nice day in quite a while, right?" As his band Cayucas starts in on another track of bright, warm, surf pop gold, he banters with a Seattle winter crowd who got to go out in the sun in early March - a near miraculous event by any account. "Coincidence? I don't think so,…
At KEXP, our love for post-punk sirens Savages knows no bounds. Their debut LP Silence Yourself is without a doubt one of the best introductions of the year. These four women have put together a sound and a vision whose fury and vigil have no equal. Listening to Savages is an experience - it goes p…
The best collection of rock and roll comics of late recently premiered at the Emerald City Comic Convention in Seattle this past weekend, but won’t be available en masse from publisher Fantagraphics Books Inc. till May 17. Be sure to pre-order Peter Bagge’s Other Stuff soon though, because it is an…
If there is one singular takeaway from 25 25, it's this: Factory Floor are done introducing themselves. A lot of young bands feel immense pressure coming into their first full-length record, and there's no doubt that the duo of Gabe Gurnsey and Nik Colk Void (then also joined by Dominic Butler) fel…
If you're committed to going to Capitol Hill Block Party it's difficult to pick just one day of music. Saturday was by far the most packed day of the weekend thus far with rumors that Block Party sold out twice once the overlords decided to release more tickets upon demand. But before the evening, …
There are few producers on the scene today with as much silent sway as Clams Casino. Over the last six years especially, the New Jersey beat-maker has completely changed the approach to emotion and empathy in beat-making. Artists like A$AP Rocky, Mac Miller, and Vince Staples have been able to thri…
Each Tuesday for the next two months, KEXP will present recordings we captured during the OFF Festival in Katowice, Poland. Our excursion there in the hot days of August - made possible by the festival and the Adam Mickiewicz Institute's Don’t Panic! We’re from Poland! initiative - introduced us to…
Now that they've played a number of shows on their much-publicized reunion trek, it's fair to judge whether or not the Outkast festival tour is merely a opportunistic cash grab or an enthusiastic celebration of the Atlanta duo's massive legacy (during which they will inevitably get real paid). At f…
As we previously noted, Brooklyn band Parquet Courts make a sound whose exact genre is hard to nail down. Settling comfortably into a blend of seventies and eighties punk, avante rock, 80s pop, and no wave, their songs harken to indie rock's humble beginnings -- think Blonde Redhead but less sad, a…
Nada Surf have made a career out of finding their place in the world. When they were just kids, they wrote the teenage guide to popularity, navigating a close proximity between love and lust and insecurity. When they grew up and into real relationship, they found the inside of love, discovering tha…
You'll wish you could say you were there. It was just one of those shows that all in attendance knew they were blessed by some kind of angelic beings to attend, as HÆLOS played for a respectably sized, though not packed, crowd at The Sunset Tavern last week. The UK trio decided to advance their for…
