Jenny Lewis has always been a voyager. Whether it was way back when penning heartbreak after heartbreak with Rilo Kiley or finding fresh, rocky footing on her own Rabbit Fur Coat and Acid Tongue, she's wandered around like an ongoing cameo in someone else's story. Lewis is a gifted spectator, bless…
It goes without saying that Elliott Smith cannot be replaced. He was a one of a kind talent, a songwriter whose gift for melody often served as the vessel for his often harrowing narratives and disclosures. In the wake of his tragic death at 34, his reputation for intimately capturing deathly stark…
In the 1990’s and early 2000’s, there was a plethora of rapping over rock music. But it didn't long for this amalgamation, which amounted mostly to bad pop music, to fade. Northwest group The Saturday Knights found a formula that really worked, though, avoiding that fleeting (and dare I say, money …
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, …
The range of Major Lazer is vast and extensive. From an Adult Swim TV show, to the radio, to festivals worldwide, the group is quickly becoming a household name. Now a DJ Switch-less trio, the group has offered production to many of the radio’s top played songs (see “Lean On Me,” “Get Free”) yet th…
Grant Hart, drummer and co-founder of the influential punk trio Hüsker Dü, has passed away at the age of 56. His wife, Brigid McGough, confirmed to NPR that he died Wednesday night at the University of Minnesota Medical Center of complications from liver cancer and hepatitis. On Facebook, his forme…
If you're looking for a last-minute Valentine's Day gift for a music lover, look no further than this week's new releases. Brooklyn-based Sudanese multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Sinkane (aka Ahmed Gallab, former Yeasayer/Caribou/Of Montreal sideman) releases his fourth LP. KEXP Music Director Don Y…
Not surprisingly, Valerie June's childhood was steeped in spiritual music at church and R&B and soul music at home. Between her time spent singing with choruses consisting of sometimes hundreds of parishioners and the influence of her father, who booked and promoted concerts near her hometown o…
With a bright blue mantra and neon promise to boot, Cut Copy return this year with their fourth LP Free Your Mind. Dan Whitford and the gang don't seem to be slowing down much in their second decade together. Zonoscope, the band's 2011 award-winning classic, took the band's one of a kind combinatio…
While many people are compiling their year-end lists and shopping for gift-worthy deluxe reissues for the upcoming holidays, some bands are still releasing excellent new albums that you'll want to hear before you make any final decisions. A few of this week's releases see some KEXP favorites making…
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. Thanksgiving is around the corner and it’s time to prepare for feasting. Did you know that the average American eats any…
November '05 through the summertime '06, Vince Staples became a man. He was 12. By the end of the summer, he was 13. There was no celebration of manhood, no joyful birthday parties, with a sense of earned responsibility that comes with adulthood. Age wasn't gifted to Vince Staples. Instead, youth w…
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. While doing some internet surfing this week, I learned that tomorrow marks 25 years since A-ha hit #1 on the top 40 char…
Thomas Arsenault is not afraid of feeling. He did it in droves on his debut EP Worth, and he does it again on this week's full length effort Seraph. On song after song, Mas Ysa brings joy, pain, abandon, doubt, and suffering in quantities that most bands hope to capture once in their career. Meanwh…
As the days get shorter, so do our lists of new releases, but don't give up on 2013 just yet. You may need to revise your own Top Ten list of 2013 after you consider some of the new releases hitting record store shelves today. A definite contender: Purgatory/Paradise by Throwing Muses, their first …
