As major labels continue to exist behind the times, artists and labels with little capital and lesser reputations are producing some of the most innovative, interesting, and inspiring music. Whether it’s creating a new niche in digital technology or looking to once obsolete formats, Agitated Atmosp…
Like a modern-day Frank Zappa, LA-based artist Ariel Pink flirts with many genres of music, often times all in the same song. While on tour for his latest 4AD Records release Pom Pom, Pink and his madcap crew stopped by the KEXP studios to tear through a slew of styles: '80s goth-wave, '70s glam-ro…
Like their oddly elastic new album title, Nabuma Rubberband, Little Dragon continues to stretch the limits of electronic music with their eclectic influences. This time, the Swedish group trades the pumping beats of their earlier LPs for glimmering Janet Jackson-inspired slow jams. But even their m…
We celebrate gay pride all the time here at KEXP, but every year, at the end of June, the nation honors those who marched in 1970 in remembrance of the police raid on the Stonewall Inn in New York City. This Sunday, June 29th, Seattle itself celebrates the 40th Anniversary of our own Pride Parades,…
It's that time of the year again: KEXP teams up with Starbucks and STG to present Little Big Show #9, this Friday, May 16th at The Neptune Theatre with Cloud Cult and Benjamin Verdoes. 100% of ticket sales go to the youth programs at Hugo House, which you can read more about here.
It's the kind of thing you're told all the time: "you just have to go there, do it, see it." But it's true: describing the experience of attending Pickathon is kind of like writing about music itself. Too much is lost in translation. That the festival remains a hidden gem in the Northwest seems bot…
Wasn't I just talking about my childhood love of The Charlatans UK? Indeed I was. So it seemed like a fine time to take a moment to check out the debut album from these lovable Mancunians - who, it must be said, are still going strong, having released their 11th studio album in 2010 and rumored to …
KEXP is counting down our listeners top voted albums of the last 50 years in conjunction with our 2022 fall fundraising drive. In conjunction, KEXP's Editorial team is presenting 'For Your Consideration' some of their all-time favorite albums and what they mean to them. Today, Jasmine Albertson det…
On November 5, we learned the horrible news that Mimi Parker of the band Low had lost her battle to ovarian cancer. Mimi was only 55 when she passed, but had done so much in her life as a mother, as a musician, and as a human. She was married to Alan Sparhawk, her bandmate. They met in grade school…
For her final mix of 2016, Cheryl Waters dives into a colorful spectrum of hip-hop, rock, and roots music from the Pacific Northwest and beyond, featuring new tracks from Pond, SISTERS, and Springtime Carnivore. 1. Hiss Golden Messenger – Biloxi2. DRAEMHOUSE – Hard Times For Good Days3. Headwaves …
Tommy Stinson put Bash & Pop on hold for just over two decades before reviving it last year, but the Minneapolis group's raucous, delightfully unhinged energy remains intact because, as the onetime Replacement says, “I'm not pretending to be anything other than what I am.” Stinson and the band…
Well, it is the album that beat out Nevermind in Spin Magazine's Best Albums of 1991 list: Ben Gibbard has announced he'll be covering Teenage Fanclub's Bandwagonesque in its entirety. "Bandwagonesque is my favorite record by my favorite band of all time," he said, via a press release. "It came al…
The last time they were at the Paramount Theatre, Sigur Rós were touring behind their just-released sixth album Valtari, their final LP with founding member Kjartan Sveinsson, who declined to tour with them that year and would fully quit the band not long after. That album remains the most mellow i…
From the second Claire Boucher steps on the main stage at Sasquatch! Music Festival, it seems as if there are two versions of Grimes present during her shows. One, perhaps more reflective of the artist than her art, is the sincere, enthusiastic, slightly awkward person that speaks on the mic in bet…
This week, it's been five years since Drive came out. If, somehow, you've lived under a rock for most of those, Drive is a 2005 novel by James Sallis, adapted into Danish film director Nicholas Winding Refn's most popular (and probably most approachable) film. Starring Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan,…
When frontman Dean Wareham sings, "don't know why I can't stop smiling," he echoes the thoughts of thousands of Luna fans grateful to have the band back together after a decade apart. The beloved New York (well, now L.A.) band called it quits in 2004, but with Captured Tracks reissuing their first …
Singer-songwriter Matthew E. White teamed up with childhood friend Natalie Prass on his new song "Cool Out." This isn't the first time the two have worked together, White produced Prass' self-titled debut album last year. "Cool Out" is a laid back jam that finds perfect balance between the difficu…
The Decemberists waste no time. Earlier this year they released the LP What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World and now they're back at it. Today they've announced plans to release a 5-track EP of songs that didn't make the album, called Florasongs, on October 9. Listen to the album's opening…