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. Today we are fundraising for only 12 hours, thanks to our Amplifier Monthly Giving Club. Amplifiers have made it possib…
Is it weird that I actually noticed that singer Jason Bartell was wearing the same star studded shirt today at Sasquatch that he was wearing during Fang Island's session in 2010 at KEXP? I only notice because that's one way I think of their music - the sincerity of their power chord power stance pe…
Fans of The Joy Formidable are used to seeing guitarist and vocalist Ritzy Bryan thrashing about wild-eyed on stage, practically destroying her guitar, her amps and the audience's ears. She and bassist/vocalist Rhydian Dafydd and percussionist Matthew James Thomas always seem to keep it together, …
Telekinesis is the name of Seattle's own Michael Benjamin Lerner and his soft-spoken, incredibly charming indie-rock solo act. Since his 2009 self-released debut EP, Lerner has garnered a reputation for himself blending 80's pop sensibilities with mellowed-out vocal stylings, a tried and true dynam…
As Kaoru Ishibashi himself admits, a year ago no one knew who he was. Now, with his musical project Kishi Bashi, he's selling out shows with his intricate and ecstatic performances. Inspired by as much by free jazz as bluegrass, hip-hop, and classical music, Kishi Bashi's baroque indie pop easily d…
Had they come around some 25 years ago, Nashville's Wild Cub would surely have been "pretty in pink." Formed only a year ago by singer/songwriter Keegan DeWitt and multi-instrumentalist Jeremy Bullock, the Nashville group sounds less like their Music City contemporaries and more like they belong on…
Deep Sea Diver have been kicking around in one form or another since 2007, but last year, the Jessica Dobson-led group spent a fair amount of time outside of the studio, taking the kinetic pop songs from their album History Speaks on the road while Dobson wasn't playing with another guitar-centric …
Dee Dee, songwriter and main force behind the Dum Dum Girls, stopped by the KEXP studio to chat with Stevie Zoom and perform alone with just her heavy-tremolo-ed guitar. Her Girls-less performance is a throwback to the early 2008 to 2010 years, which saw Dee Dee's first CDR release on her own label…
Another Icelandic band whose debut we are eagerly looking forward to is Mr. Silla, a "supergroup" of sorts, led by Sigurlaug Gísladóttir (a.k.a. Silla) of of múm, and members of Sin Fang, amiina, Seabear, Tilbury and other great bands. We caught them in their studio a year ago, when they had just a…
It's not every day a musical legend walks through your door. At age 70, with some 50 years in the music industry as a performer, composer, and producer, John Cale has made an indelible stamp on the history of music alone and alongside fellow legends like Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground, The Sto…
Perhaps no other duo has collaborated, toured with or been covered by as wide a range of artists as Tegan and Sara. Canadian twin sisters Tegan and Sara Quin, who have been making music together since they were in high school, have toured with the likes of Neil Young, whose label they were first si…
While it's hard to begrudge Alt-J their winning the Mercury Prize, many of us at KEXP were also rooting for another young U.K. group, Django Django. These London-based Scots have also created a stunning art-pop debut, though on their self-titled release, Django Django tend to favor warmer, more Ame…
The crowd at Kex Hostel is abuzz with excitement in anticipation of the triumphant return of Icelandic indie-rock band SUÐ (appropriately, Icelandic for “Buzz”). The band originally formed in the late 90’s, releasing only one album, 1999’s Hugsunarvélin, and played together until 2003. After reconn…
Imagine a pair of bell-bottoms. A suede vest. A wide collar, strutting leather boots. Similarly, imagine sequins and elongated lashes. Pearls and sly eyes. If you can imagine this, you can begin to sense the spirits that inspired the newest record from Seattle soul and funk group, The True Loves. T…
West coast rapper Tyler, The Creator shares his fourth LP, which boasts the FCC-unfriendly title Scum Fuck Flower Boy. (A representative for TTC says the "official title" is just Flower Boy.) The album features guest appearances by Frank Ocean, ASAP Rocky, Anna of the North, Lil Wayne, Jaden Smith,…
Father John Misty stopped by Jimmy Fallon this weekend to promote his latest release Pure Comedy, which has been in near-constant rotation at KEXP since it was released. He played the track "Total Entertainment Forever" which also happened to be one of our Songs of the Day last week. Donning a pair…
April ended strong with new releases from some of our favorite artists. It's been five years since the last album from Feist, and the Canadian songstress returns with what KEXP Music Director Don Yates calls "a powerful set of dark, intimate folk-rock. Recorded mostly live, the album features a sta…
Many in the area have known Seattle's Success for a while, but it was last year that these hometown heroes got some love on a national level. Their breakout LP, Radio Recovery, was released by Chicago indie label Red Scare Industries and the quartet accepted tour offers from bands like Masked Intr…
The Suffers have earned their name: it took them about five years of running the Houston circuit before jumping overnight to national attention. Houston is one of the cities that often gets overlooked in the discussion of the American music scene, partially because neighboring New Orleans dwarfs it…
