From Rihanna to Springsteen to LCD Soundsystem to Smashing Pumpkins to -- well, you get the idea -- everyone paid tribute to music legend Prince over the weekend. One of the more poignant performances came from fellow Minneapolis musician Bob Mould, who took the stage with reunited Twin Cities pun…
Elia is the most recent project of Seattle-based singer, musician and producer Ignacio Izquierdo. The name comes from Elia Liut, an Italian aviator, who was the first person to fly over Ecuadorian territory. This reflects both Ignacio's home city of Quito and his life of movement. A son of a diplom…
Brooklyn-via-Alabama singer/songwriter Katie Crutchfield, better known as Waxahatchee, shares a lovely new video for the track "La Loose," a single from her recent Merge Records release, Ivy Tripp. The clip was directed by Naomi Yang (Galaxie 500, Damon & Naomi) who says in a statement: "I wan…
Last month, Brooklyn via Sydney, Australia, duo High Highs announced their long awaited sophomore LP with a debut of the title track to Cascades, due February 5th next year. The gentle yet lively "Cascades" glowed brightly through the song's haze, promising an upbeat return to the dreamy harmonic s…
Of the sessions we've presented so far in our weekly series of Polish bands KEXP recorded while at the OFF Festival in Katowice, the music so far has been either experimental (Kristen and Olo Walicki Kaszebe II) or re-interpretations of traditional sounds (Hańba and Sutari), but as terrific as thos…
What happens when you strip away the feedback and distortion that defines a genre like shoegaze? Without all the fuzz, what of value remains? In the case of British band Ride, apparently quite a lot. Somewhat like shaving a cat only to find a bigger one underneath, we discovered during an acoustic …
It's hard to pick just a few highlights this week, as there's tons of great new albums in shops now. Seattle-based project Hibou (led by Peter Michel) releases their debut self-titled full-length on beloved local label Barsuk Records. KEXP Music Director Don Yates calls the long-awaited album, "an …
Unlike a lot of teenagers out there, 19-year-old Bridie Monds-Watson, a.k.a. SOAK, seems to handle success with a modest and casual confidence. Her career has taken off rather quickly, from writing songs in the basement of her home in Derry, Northern Ireland, to flying from country to country perfo…
Although they hit you immediately, the depth of Unknown Mortal Orchestra's songs belies their urgency. Underneath a pulsating rhythm or Ruban Nielsen's expressive vocals is always a subtle, just-as-infectious keyboard melody or a texture that alters Nielsen's voice. On the Portland group's latest a…
"We could be in an igloo inside of a cave of ice," gasped a sweaty Dan Deacon. "And I would still be a puddle." To be fair, the KEXP studio's ventilation was only partially the reason why the Baltimore-based musician was drenched in sweat. The other reason was that he was two songs into a breakneck…
Who could forget that impassioned performance from Future Islands on the Late Show with David Letterman last year? (Watch it again here.) Letterman was so wow'ed, he brought the guys back last night where they performed their single "The Chase," just released the other week for Record Store Day. A…
There's a lot of buzz about Viet Cong right now, and for a lot of reasons, but while their pedigree, controversial name, and recognizable post-punk influences make for easy talking points, it's their ferocious energy and novel songwriting that seems to resonate so strongly with fans and critics ali…
Aussie sweetheart Courtney Barnett has shared another track from her upcoming full-length debut, Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit. Check out the lovely, lilting ballad "Depreston" below, along with its accompanying video of many front lawns. When Courtney was in town last Octobe…
It’s time to blast off to 1992... in 2015! Cairo’s EXPO 92 mini-festival takes place this Thursday through Saturday at the Capitol Hill all-ages venue and vintage store, showcasing exciting and vital local talent. Now in its seventh year, EXPO’s three day lineup is as much an opportunity to let you…
He's never lived so far away, yet he's never sounded so much like himself. After a move to London, former Sonic Youth frontman Thurston Moore reclaimed his place as a ranking don of noise-rock while reassembling his band with some true ringers, namely former SY bandmate Steve Shelley on drums and D…
Some frontmen were born to brood across the stage with enigmatic allure, but Merchandise's Carson Cox is not one of them. When the Tampa, Florida, quintet arrived in the KEXP studio in October, Cox's loquacious charm outfitted the session with a series of one-liners, ad-libs, and shoutouts to fello…
It's gusting something fierce out in the dark Reykjavik night. But it's warm and cozy here in Kex Hostel as our live broadcast continues. Our fourth Iceland Airwaves act of the day was rock trio Kimono, heavy, loud, and a bit dark. They formed in 2001 as an instrumental post-rock band, but have evo…
First there was the Rat Pack, then the Brat Pack, and now... the Mac Pack? The uniforms may have changed – from suits to cardigans to oversized t-shirts and backwards-facing baseball caps – but the life-is-to-be-lived attitude of today's scene makers hasn't. Singer-songwriter Mac DeMarco embodies t…
For creators and fans alike, music has always provided catharsis, relief and healing. But Few artists tap so directly into that power as Tim Showalter, whose project Strand of Oaks goes so far as to name its most recent album Heal. Like pages from a diary, the Philly-based songwriter's lyrics delve…
Unless you've got a bad case of phonophobia, Big Scary isn't too terrifying. Featuring Joanna Syme on percussion and heavenly-voiced Tom Iansek on guitar and keyboards, the Melbourne-based duo has broken the mold for Australian music. Their 2013 album, Not Art, was nominated for the triple j Austra…
