It's been four long years, but folk-rock band Beirut will return with their fourth album, titled No No No, on September 11th via 4AD. Founding member and frontman Zach Condon reveals in a press release that the past years of touring and a messy divorce resulted in his hospitalization in Australia …
It's that time again: KEXP & Seattle Center are teaming up to bring you Concerts at the Mural! Now in its 8th year, the concert series continues the KEXP and Seattle Center tradition of starting the summer weekends off with a blast of engaging, all-ages culture. This August, join us at the Mura…
I love this record. Barna Howard is my new favorite artist. His previous, acoustic self-titled debut, which I played some last year, only hinted at this Missouri native, now Portland based artist's easy songwriting skills. His latest, Quite A Feelin', is already in the running for my album of the y…
The New Pornographers have always had a knack for explosive, shining melodies, but after two relatively experimental, more mellow albums, they've returned to playing to their strengths – multi-part harmonies and agile, punchy performances – on their new album, Brill Bruisers. The Vancouver supergro…
Pinch yourself, because this is really happening. Not only are The Dream Syndicate back in Seattle for the first time in 25 years - they also are playing an additional set for the KEXP Music Lounge to bring us as close as possible to this timeless and influential act. From their debut EP through fo…
Sometimes life's journeys lead us back home matter how far away we travel. It's been nearly eight years since U.K. born producer Will Holland released a solo album as Quantic. He was certainly busy the whole time, producing records, collaborating with Alice Russell, and most significantly, moving t…
It's been about two years since Hugo Manuel, a.k.a. Chad Valley, last released a record. "I've written a lot over the last year, I've just got to hone it down," says the angelic-voiced Hugo, who recently spent time in a house in France writing and writing (and biking to the nearest town for bread a…
The boozy blues of obsession and regret never sounded so good... at least not in the last 16 years. It's been that long since The Afghan Whigs released an album and its members turned their attention elsewhere. Yet, while other 90's bands are now cashing in on their notoriety with 20- and 25-year a…
At last year's Decibel Festival, as part of the Optical series, there was a live scoring to an incredibly absurdly spliced film from the 70s, unfortunately missing this year. Luckily, Optical 4 made up for it, featuring the doom electro-acoustics of London duo Raime, the terrifying ambient textures…
KEXP and Seattle Center present the final night in this year's series of Concerts at the Mural of 2013 this Friday with a special Decibel Festival lineup! This free show at Seattle Center's Mural Amphitheater will feature some of the awesome talent at this year's Decibel Festival. Lusine, Natasha K…
2013 has been a good year for guitarists. Chelsea Light Moving's Thurston Moore, Savages' Gemma Thompson, My Bloody Valentine's Kevin Shields, Marnie Stern, and Mikal Cronin have spent the year reminding listeners why the six-stringed instrument remains rock's weapon of choice. Playing with the pro…
Divine Fits, a super-group of sorts featuring Britt Daniel from Spoon, New Bomb Turk's Sam Brown, and Wolf Parade's Dan Boeckner, played their first show together in Austin last year before going on to release one of the best LPs of 2012 with A Thing Called Divine Fits. The came full circle last n…
Seattle's Earshot Jazz Festival is respected for its massive and adventurous artistic legacy. Now in its 26th year as Seattle's major annual jazz festival, Earshot is known for presenting creative masters and important emerging artists, and for finding fresh synergies between international artists…
Fresh from her feature on this week's episode of "Twin Peaks," Sharon Van Etten has shared a remix to a track she wrote and released last year in honor of the victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting, which happened one year ago yesterday. Titled "Not Myself," Etten explained the reasoning for its r…
Now in its sixth year, KEXPort celebrates KEXP’s ongoing relationship with Kex Hostel in Reykjavik, where we broadcast every year during Iceland Airwaves. Typically, it's a music marathon consisting of 12 bands in 12 hours, but this year they've expanded the program to feature 15 bands over two da…
There's not a ton to say about the last year of CHVRCHES' career that hasn't already been said. Anyone who's even occasionally read Stereogum or Pitchfork in the last six months probably knows the story by now: the Scottish trio of singer Lauren Mayberry and multi-instrumentalist Iain Cook, and Ma…
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…
For nu disco bands, there is no greater home than Italians Do It Better. Johnny Jewel and his cohorts have been driving the genre in daring, exotic directions since 2007. Back then, Jewel released a stellar DJ mix of his signees called After Dark. The collection sparkled with all the glitter and fi…
While their name sounds like the kind of exclamation you hear on the streets of London, the darlings of Allo Darlin' hail from Brisbane, Australia, and the London suburb of Kent. Earlier this year, when they played Three Imaginary Girls' tenth anniversary show at The Vera Project, they stopped in t…
KEXP staff make the case for some of their favorite albums of the year ahead of our Top 90.3 Countdown. Jasmine Albertson reflects on WILLOW's underrated 'lately i feel EVERYTHING,' and the joy of pristine heart-on-its-sleeve pop punk.
