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, all Song of the Day podcas…
"You don’t have to be anyone if you don’t want to / You don’t have to get a job if you don’t want to" and you definitely don't have to listen to Howler if you don't want to. But that would be a damn shame because the Minneapolis yeehaw boys have returned with their second album of infectious punky …
Catch up on new music this holiday weekend: NPR Music is currently streaming the forthcoming debut from The Walkmen frontman Hamilton Leithauser, which hits stores on June 3rd. Titled Black Hours, this solo release features contributions from fellow Walkman Paul Maroon, as well as Vampire Weekend'…
With rowdy organ and improvised slide guitar, Tango Alpha Tango is not your typical rock 'n' roll band. Since 2008, the Portland-based musicians have released three albums and a three-track preview. Their newest product, Black Cloud, is a longer, heavier, piece of work, placing Tango Alpha Tango on…
Paul Janeway's vocal range is some kind of miracle. For the young Alabama-based soul stirrer and his band, St. Paul & The Broken Bones, the sounds of Memphis and Muscle Shoals go marrow deep. On Half The City, their unbelievable mature debut, Janeway channels '60s R&B greats like Otis Reddi…
It's said the brightest flame casts the darkest shadow, but in the case of Brooklyn's Twin Shadow, that there's plenty of light there too. On his past two albums, filled with 80's synths, danceable rhythms and crunchy hooks, Brooklyn's George Lewis Jr. crooned stories of grief and heartbreak. Live …
Recently, Alec Ounsworth, frontman of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, happened to be in the vicinity of the KEXP studio. He wasn't scheduled, and we only learned he was in town the same day, but we grabbed him anyway, sat him down, and asked him to play a few songs on the Midday Show with Cheryl Waters. …
La Luz has been through a lot since their debut EP Damp Face hit the airwaves and internets. From a U.S. tour, to playing with Of Montreal and The Head and the Heart, to sustaining serious injuries after getting hit by a semi while on the road, to releasing their new LP, It's Alive, to replacing th…
The Los Angeles band, Las Cafeteras, named themselves after a community space in El Sereno, L.A. where group members met one another and started to learn and play Son Jarocho music together, influenced by regional Mexican folk music. The band feminized the name to honor women, they note. Modern day…
It's always a delight when psychrock voyagers Wooden Shjips return to dock in the KEXP studios. The band have just released their fourth album, Back to Land, on Thrill Jockey Records, an album that captures the feelings of home from frontman Erik "Ripley" Johnson, who has just thrown down anchor in…
Leave it to an Australian band to save Brit Pop. Actually, they may be destroying it because reportedly Noel Gallagher is too busy listening to Jagwar Ma to get the old band back together. In truth, the young Aussies have revitalized the Madchester sound, though rather than sustain one long bacchan…
If rock and roll music – specifically punk rock – is a genre for the young, then The So So Glos have done as much as anyone to help foster and support that spirit. Not only does the Brooklyn-based band -- comprised of brothers Alex and Ryan Levine, their step-brother Zach Staggers, and Matt Elkin -…
Rounding out tonight’s broadcast live from KEX Hostel at Iceland Airwaves is Borko. Though it is not uncommon for Icelandic musicians to have their fingers in many pots, Borko (Björn Kristiansson) takes the idea to a whole new level. He immerses himself in essentially every aspect of local music, …
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. It’s Halloween season again. Time for all things spooky like witches, spiders, and bats which all tie in together. The i…
Seattle band Ivan & Alyosha, in the lineage of local powerhouses the Head and the Heart and the Fleet Foxes, are masters of the bright, jangly guitars, tight, soaring harmonies and steady kick-drum rhythms. But there is something distinct about them, too – the band has more joy to it than maybe…
California surf rockers Cayucas have been keeping our summer quite lovely. They dropped their delightful debut LP, Bigfoot, back in May and we've been dancing to it ever since. Last month, they played a headlining gig at Barboza in support of the record with JBM to much acclaim. But before they too…
The love NYC drummer Miles Arntzen holds for the music of Nigerian legend Fela Kuti is so great it can't be contained by just one band. Arntzen, who drums for well-known funksters Antibalas, also started yet another 10+ member afrobeat-inspired group in EMEFE. Formed a year before his joining Antib…
Conceived originally as a duo by singer/guitarist Brian Harding and singer/keyboardist Amalie Bruun (ex-Hymns and ex-Minks respectively), Ex Cops explore the depths of pop through a psych-tinged haze. Influences on their aptly titled 2013 debut, True Hallucinations, range from early 80's NZ jangle …
While we're all waiting for the warm weather to officially take hold (we've been given an enticingly cruel taste of it here in Northwest), Vampire Weekend has created the perfect summer album to fuel your anticipation. At times wistfully nostalgic, percolatingly peppy and even fiercely energetic, M…
There isn’t a plethora out there on the wide open spaces of the internet about the wild Seattle band Country Lips, so here's a bit of detail: the 7-piece band sounds like a whiskey-infused, shack-swaying barn party. The staple of their music is their fast moving fingers on violin, guitar and keys, …
