Super-ambient Icelandic duo Kiasmos brought their very space-y minimalist brand of techno to the new KEXP live room in support of their Swept EP, the second they dropped in 2015. The two longtime friends began working professionally together when Ólafur Arnalds was the touring sound engineer for Ja…
Though there weren't divine circumstances by which HÆLOS formed, the London trio nevertheless seems preordained to make a heavenly sound. While each pursuing careers of their own, Arthur Delaney, Dom Goldsmith and Lotti Benardout turned their casual connections to holy writ as they joined forces to…
OK, you're all in trouble. Why am I only just now learning about Happy Flowers? Noisy, disturbing/hilarious songs written from the perspective of a toddler? Band members named Mr. Anus and Mr. Horribly Charred Infant? Covers of Big Star, Michael Schenker, and Silver Apples on the same album? These …
It was on this day in 1977 that soft rock icons Fleetwood Mac released their most successful album ever, Rumours. The now-classic LP won the Grammy Award for "Album of the Year" in 1978, and is easily one of the best-selling albums of all time. With this generation growing up on their parents' beat…
Jack White's Third Man Records is teaming up with Seattle's own Light in the Attic Records for the children's compilation, This Record Belongs To __________. As the press release boasts, "You won’t find boy bands, princesses, or purple dinosaurs here." Instead the collection features tracks from N…
Despite a music career that's lasted half a century, Iggy Pop is just now being nominated for a Golden Globe. Instead of honoring him for his persona-defying role as Nona's Dad in The Adventures of Pete & Pete, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association have given him and collaborator Danger Mous…
It's surely no coincidence that a couple of these new releases came out on the eve of the 2016 Presidential Election. Veteran Chicago rapper Common shares his 11th full-length, an album KEXP's Music Director Don Yates calls, "a powerful set of politically charged hip hop with gritty, cinematic, sou…
See that sweater Robin Pecknold is wearing? Apparently, the Fleet Foxes frontman took to wearing it so often that a fan created the Tumblr, "Fuck Yeah Robin Pecknold’s Sweater." This past Spring, during a Reddit AMA, he mentioned he'd been trying to get in touch with the site's "editor in chief"..…
When you talk about independent radio stations that have championed Northwest music, you'd be remiss to leave out Olympia's KAOS 89.3 FM. A hybrid of community radio and college radio with nearby Evergreen State College, KAOS has been a massive force in spotlighting artists outside of the mainstrea…
Ask any musician who's made the rather courageous attempt to take their career seriously and they'll tell you how confusing and complicated the music industry is. Especially in 2017, where the rules are changing at a near-constant speed in an effort to keep up with technology. it can be easy to thr…
Next Tuesday, June 13th, journey to the land of the midnight sun as the Iceland-based trio Moji & the Midnight Sons lights the skies of the Laser Dome at Pacific Science Center. We were thrilled to discover this blues-rocking US/Icelandic trio while at Iceland Airwaves last years, and even more…
Back in 2010, David Byrne and Fatboy Slim collaborated on the concept album and "disco musical" Here Lies Love, which tells the story of former First Lady of the Philippines, Imelda Marcos. Following award-winning runs in New York, London, and Adelaide, Australia, the project has now arrived in Sea…
Windy City singer/songwriter Ryley Walker shares his third album this week, which KEXP Music Director Don Yates calls, "his strongest and most sophisticated set to date, combining fluid guitar lines, intricate rhythms and elliptical lyrics on expansive songs that masterfully blend elements of folk-…
From heartbreak to the end of the world: that's how DJ Troy Nelson describes the trajectory of albums from singer/songwriter Marissa Nadler. "I think this is album seven or something? I don't know," she says with a smile and a shake of her head. Over the past 16 years, this ethereal singer/songwrit…
Hugger-extraordinaire Charles Bradley shares a clip today for the track "Ain't It a Sin," a single off his brand new album Changes, which hit stores last week. Directed by Poull Brien, the video features the Screaming Eagle of Soul dancing in a warehouse with his band The Extraordinaires. See him …
When a band self-titles an album midway through their career, it's usually for one of two reasons: they've either run out of ideas or they've taken a significantly new tact. For Portland duo The Helio Sequence, the reason is obvious. Rather than mull over songs in their usual slow-going and contemp…
As we announced earlier this year, Sam Beam (better known as Iron & Wine) is digging through his archives and releasing the findings on his own Black Cricket Recording Company label. Archive Series Volume No. 1 is out now, featuring demos and unreleased material recorded around the same time a…
If you think it'd be hard to bring all seven prolific members of Doomtree together to record, you'd be right. That's why the Minneapolis hip-hop collective called "all hands" for their first album in three years. Fortunately, All Hands is their most collaborative and socially-minded effort yet, sho…
Not only has he taken his haircut, Jack White will now be re-releasing the first vinyl record ever cut by Elvis Presley himself. A press release from Third Man Records explains: "Utilizing the actual unrestored audio as it currently exists on the sole original copy of 'My Happiness' b/w. 'That's W…
