Swedish rockers Peter Bjorn and John have been proselytizing their pro-60s pop prowess since 1999. The trio really took the indie world by storm back in 2006 with their dance-floor hit "Young Folks," and ten years later, they're still artfully writing their whistle-catchy songs like the title track…
It hasn't even been a week since the release of their latest full-length, but Japandroids are adding to their discography with a limited edition 7-inch vinyl. Side A is "Near to the Wild Heart of Life," the title track of the new LP, and on side B is this cover of the Talking Heads’ 1977 single “L…
Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part of our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJ’s think you should hear. Today’s song, featured on The Mid…
Bloc Party frontman Kele Okereke has announced a new solo album called Fatherland to be released in October. Back in May, he shared a new solo song "Yemaya" and now he has shared the single "Streets Been Talkin" which he describes as “a bittersweet ode to romance and the passing of time.” Okereke's…
Pulling this album from my digital pile of photos brought up an interesting (to me, anyway) bit of synchronicity. The last time I posted about the Smiths, I wasn't yet a father - being an adoptive dad, I didn't even know that I would have a son in a matter of weeks. Now I have a boy who will turn …
Going into Jagwar Ma’s Saturday night set at the Yeti Stage at Sasquatch, fans had plenty of reasons to be excited about the Australian trio’s hour-long set. The group has opened for Tame Impala and the xx, two other bands who have made being an introvert sound very cool again, and they've released…
There is something both completely Polish and non-Polish about Lautari, the band featured this week in our series of Polish bands KEXP recorded while at the OFF Festival in Katowice. The award-winning ethno-jazz quartet, whose members hail from central and southern Poland, draw their name from the …
When it comes to Mike Krol, it's not three strikes and you're out. For the LA based, Milwaukee born songwriter, the third time's a charm, or rather, a Turkey. His third LP, and recent Merge Records release, avoids incarceration with a liberating blast of hook-filled garage rock, smart self-reflecti…
It's only 73 seconds long, but this mini-trailer has us very excited for the eagerly-awaited sophomore release from UK group Savages. In the clip, none other than Henry Rollins (??!!) reads from Phyllis Rose’s Jazz Cleopatra: Josephine Baker In Her Time as new music from the band plays in the back…
Mac DeMarco's mini-LP Another One (out August 7) is streaming over at NPR. He's previewed several songs over the last few weeks, but now all 8-tracks are available for your listening pleasure. The album closer, "My House By The Water," features DeMarco's home address. According to DeMarco, anyone'…
The DJ comments on this LP call us back to a dark time when not every album was available everywhere in the world instantly upon its release. Many well-loved bands could only be heard by spending way too much money on physical objects that had been transported in small batches from another country …
San Francisco has been doing the shoegaze revival right for a while now. There's something about the way bay area indie rock meshes with the sounds of My Bloody Valentine and Ride to give the classic, noisy 80s textures a brisk, airy sensibility, and the denseness of the classics is made new throug…
This first day of live broadcasting from Iceland Airwaves ended with a bang. Kex Hostel was packed to the gills with eager fans of quintessential Icelandic singer songwriter Mugison (full name Örn Elías Guðmundsson). Raised in the small village of Isafjordur and now living in another tiny village, …
We began our broadcast at Iceland Airwaves from KEX Hostel in Reykjavik with familiar faces in a brand new group. Ólafur Arnalds and Janus Rasmussen have both been featured several times live on KEXP, and not just from Iceland in years past – Ólafur also in Seattle and Austin during SXSW and Janus …
The lore of Seattle's Motopony begins not in a dense, leafy forest in the rainy Pacific Northwest (a scene which heavily inspires their music), but in a warehouse in Tacoma. Frontman Daniel Blue set the story of the now acclaimed band in motion when, at 27, he picked up his ten year-old guitar. Wit…
It's always a good time to celebrate Lucinda Williams, but now is an even better time than usual: She just released a new album, Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone, which seems to be universally adored and is currently in rotation here at KEXP (she's still got her spot in M). This album has a loc…
Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part of our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. Today’s song, featured on the Morn…
Right now you can stream Kimbra's entire new album thanks to the folks at NPR. The New Zealand songstress has some serious talent joining her on the album - Matt Bellamy of Muse and Mark Foster of Foster the People - just to name a few. The Golden Echo won't be officially released until August 19.…
I last wrote about founding grungefathers Green River in this space over six years ago, if you can believe that. At the time Seattle was buzzing with gossip that they might be playing the Sub Pop 20th birthday celebrations that summer. I can now tell you that they did indeed play that weekend, and …
We've already shared a couple of new tracks from the upcoming solo release from Broken Social Scene frontman Kevin Drew, but now you can stream the whole darn thing, thanks to NPR Music. Drew's album, Darlings, hits stores on March 18th on Arts & Crafts. [NPR Music]
