The nominees are in for this year's prestigious Mercury Prize, unfortunately now known as the "Hyundai" Mercury Prize. Heavy hitters David Bowie and Radiohead lead the shortlist, alongside Michael Kiwanuka (above), Anohni, Savages, and more. Not only has the name slightly changed, but so has votin…
For the better part of a year, Thunderpussy has been going through a list of local Seattle clubs and conquering them one by one. For their second Sasquatch consecutive appearance (they explosively opened the small Yeti stage at last year's fest), the quartet roared the main stage open on Monday aft…
It's been close to six months since La Luz left Seattle for Los Angeles, so Sasquatch served as a sort of homecoming for the surf rock quartet. (Notably, they were met with weather that was far more Californian than Northwestern.) The move hasn't dulled their reverb-drenched edge one bit however, a…
Like many of the buzzy debut albums in a post-xx world, Wet's Don't You lives in a quiet, emotionally-focused space, so it was fitting that they played in one of the city's more intimate rooms for their debut headline gig in Seattle. But as far as debut gigs go, Wet's was anything but a small affai…
What happens when you strip away the feedback and distortion that defines a genre like shoegaze? Without all the fuzz, what of value remains? In the case of British band Ride, apparently quite a lot. Somewhat like shaving a cat only to find a bigger one underneath, we discovered during an acoustic …
Unlike a lot of teenagers out there, 19-year-old Bridie Monds-Watson, a.k.a. SOAK, seems to handle success with a modest and casual confidence. Her career has taken off rather quickly, from writing songs in the basement of her home in Derry, Northern Ireland, to flying from country to country perfo…
Who could forget that impassioned performance from Future Islands on the Late Show with David Letterman last year? (Watch it again here.) Letterman was so wow'ed, he brought the guys back last night where they performed their single "The Chase," just released the other week for Record Store Day. A…
Sometimes a record excites you so much that you lose your critical and verbal faculties, and all you can do is jump up and down and shout "Woooooo-hooooo!" - or perhaps control your muscles just enough to write "Wooooooo-hooooo!" on a little sticker and slap it on said record. Executive Slacks' Nau…
There's a lot of buzz about Viet Cong right now, and for a lot of reasons, but while their pedigree, controversial name, and recognizable post-punk influences make for easy talking points, it's their ferocious energy and novel songwriting that seems to resonate so strongly with fans and critics ali…
2015 has now officially seen its first perfect debut of the year, and the award goes to Ibeyi. Last year, we got a wonderful double A-side introduction to the twin duo of Lisa-Kaindé and Naomi Diaz with the Oya EP, together with "River". Now, we have a full 46 minutes of pure magic and mystery that…
It’s time to blast off to 1992... in 2015! Cairo’s EXPO 92 mini-festival takes place this Thursday through Saturday at the Capitol Hill all-ages venue and vintage store, showcasing exciting and vital local talent. Now in its seventh year, EXPO’s three day lineup is as much an opportunity to let you…
Some frontmen were born to brood across the stage with enigmatic allure, but Merchandise's Carson Cox is not one of them. When the Tampa, Florida, quintet arrived in the KEXP studio in October, Cox's loquacious charm outfitted the session with a series of one-liners, ad-libs, and shoutouts to fello…
It's gusting something fierce out in the dark Reykjavik night. But it's warm and cozy here in Kex Hostel as our live broadcast continues. Our fourth Iceland Airwaves act of the day was rock trio Kimono, heavy, loud, and a bit dark. They formed in 2001 as an instrumental post-rock band, but have evo…
Steve Fisk, not unlike Jack Endino, is a figure in the Seattle rock universe who has had an enormous influence on the sounds coming out of this city, despite not being a household name to those who don't often peruse album credits. As a producer and engineer he's worked with everyone from Screaming…
Swedish singer-songwriter Anna von Hausswolff's experimental performances continually captivate audiences and listeners alike, offering them extraordinary and sophisticated forms of aural solace. Her newest album, Ceremony, is an ominous yet poignant journey into grief and darkness. Von Hausswolff'…
As festival organizers can tell you, sometimes everything doesn't go to plan. With all of the moving pieces involved in a fest, it's not too uncommon that you have to replace an act, and occasionally cancel parts of the festival. (In one recent case, one festival had to evacuate 60,000+ people in t…
And then every once in a while you find a record that garners unfettered adoration from seemingly all corners. Going through the comments on Savage Republic's 4th LP (please don't make me type the title again), I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop - for someone to cry "overrated" or "pretentio…
A little internet detective work, combined with reading between the lines in our DJs' comments, leads me to believe that this is not the first LP copy of Sandra Bernhard's double LP Without You I'm Nothing to grace the shelves at KCMU. There's no date on this record, but it was originally released …
There's one aspect to booking Man or Astro-Man? for an in-studio session that the band didn't reveal until they were on air. "We steal one thing from you guys, and if you figure out what it is, we'll give it back." Well, we don't think they took anything when they stopped by KEXP's studio in March,…
If Killer Mike had my favorite show at Sasquatch, Chvrches gets to take favorite pop show of the weekend. Where their albums are already pretty perfect in the realm of pop - the live performance blew them out of the water. Lauren Mayberry's vocals are so close to sweet that it's almost bitter - she…
