Family band - it's a term that can evoke either wholesome 70's stereotypes or embittered alt rock rivalries, but London siblings Kitty, Daisy & Lewis seem from a time further removed. Their sound and style recall those carnivalesque clans of dustbowl days with alluringly alliterative names that…
If you weren't one of the lucky few to get into Tuesday's Death Cab for Cutie show, you can now watch videos of the legendary locals performing three new tracks below, via Revolt.tv. The not-so-secret show at The Crocodile sold out in 15 seconds, and was the band's first public performance without…
The otherworldliness of Iceland's landscape is never lost on those who live or travel there. Not just a land of fire and ice, it is also a land of light and dark, starkness and majesty, community and isolation. The only thing that isn't a wonder about Iceland is how artists of all kinds echo its un…
Holy hell, what an epic finish! Legendary Icelandic band HAM took over Kex Hostel for our final show of the day from Iceland Airwaves. And when we say took over, we really mean it. These heavy rockers formed in 1984, but it was a series of opening gigs for The Sugarcubes in 1988 that began to garne…
It’s always interesting when you learn about an artist’s path to recognition – and it’s even more captivating when it involves details and arcs you’d never expect. This is the intriguing life of singer-songwriter Laura Veirs: she was raised in Colorado in the 70s, where she studied geology and Mand…
Since Kim Deal left, iconic band The Pixies have had a public struggle trying to replace her. And in a recent interview with Brooklyn Vegan, drummer David Lovering acknowledges that Deal is irreplaceable: "Basically, no-one can replace Kim Deal. It would be impossible to do." Kim Shattuck of the M…
The Maldives’ Jason Dodson and The Posies’ Ken Stringfellow collaborated recently on a split 7” release, put out by Spark & Shine records. To celebrate the release, the two played a couple shows together, one at Easy Street Records, and another live at KEXP. Prior, Dodson’s band had backed Stri…
Phantogram can't help but fire up your passion. The upstate New York electro pop duo of Sarah Barthel and Josh Carter came on strong with their seductive self-titled EP back in 2009, which they followed with two increasingly alluring LPs quickly in the next two years, but then left us hot and bothe…
Shearwater fans need not worry: they're "not turning into a cover band". So says principle songwriter Jonathan Meiburg, who recently performed a set of covers live in the KEXP studio. Their new album, Fellow Travelers, in fact, consists exclusively of cover songs written by tour companions of the A…
The title for their latest album, Adios I’m a Ghost, fits The Moondoggies aptly – for, who are they, exactly? Always somehow be-shadowed, always off to the side somewhere, always somehow physically obscured. Upon listening, this is the sense they exude. In fact, lead singer Kevin Murphy noted of th…
Robert Glasper was exposed to music at a young age. His mother brought him as a boy out to her jazz and blues gigs, and he also learned much about music in church, where he began to sing and mix gospel and jazz harmonies. Since those humble but enriching beginnings, Glasper has built a strong caree…
The 10th anniversary edition of Decibel Festival begins on Wednesday, September 25, and gathers the crème de la crème of the international electronic music and visual arts community. Holding their own among them are some of Northwest's best electronic artists, like Seattle duo ODESZA. These two you…
Vacation's over, folks. Those last several weeks of light weekly lists with barely a handful of worthwhile new releases are no more. Time to get back to record shopping in earnest. And this week is a doozy! Topping the list is the tenth album from veteran Chapel Hill, NC, group Superchunk. Released…
When Sweden's Shout Out Louds came onstage for their 6:50 p.m. show at Sasquatch Music Festival this year, the weather started to shift from sunny skies to cloudy weather, but where most bands would thrive in a warm-natured festival environment, Shout Out Louds' melancholy pop benefitted from the o…
If you saw them on the street, it's very possible that you'd mistake Black Rebel Motorcycle Club for, well, members of an actual motorcycle gang. Bassist Robert Levon Been and guitarist Peter Hayes have been playing together since high school (drummer Leah Shapiro has been with them since 2007), an…
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. Easter is around the corner, so we are looking at songs about rabbits. So let's talk rabbit facts. A male rabbit is a bu…
Montreal's Suuns make a particular kind of low-drone heavy but never "drone music" - they walk the fine line between being experimental and being simply loud rock music. There's never really been the kind of rock n roll vibes you get from other bands walking that line, but instead an industrial syn…
From the big stadium to the intimate studio, British group Bloc Party, who made a name for themselves with a big Brit Pop influenced guitar sound, recently stopped by KEXP to strip down their sound to bare essentials. What makes this acoustic session even more special and rare is the band's continu…
If it seems like everyone is reuniting lately, it's true, because now The Postal Service is back with a show and a re-release. Today we found out that not only will the band be releasing the Deluxe Tenth Anniversary Edition of Give Up on Sub Pop featuring two new tracks, "Turn Around" and "A Tatter…
Closing out the KEXP stage on Sunday night, you couldn't have asked for a better send off than Smokey Brights. The Seattle rock outfit wasted no time jumping right into what they do best: blaring killer guitar riffs and belting out infectious melodies that are sure to get people up and moving. This…
