Since its construction in 1962 for the World's Fair, Seattle Center has been the site for many memorable music moments. With music festivals like Bumbershoot and Folklife, and venues like Key Arena and the Vera Project, some amazing bands have traveled through this local landmark... and when KEXP m…
Every summer, the streets of Capitol Hill fill with thousands of fans screaming for their favorite bands. The Seattle neighborhood is wild enough, but when the Capitol Hill Block Party takes over in late July (25th-27th), it's a heck of a good time. Today, the celebrated local festival offers the f…
Mindie Lind has a timeless voice. She has a silky, sultry, smokey sound that transports you to the place of dark night clubs, cigarette smoke and charm. She also fronts the new Seattle band Inly. KEXP caught up with Mindie to see what was up with the new project, what singers inspire her and how Ca…
Yesterday, we shared that The Pains of Being Pure at Heart will be releasing their third album, Days of Abandon, on April 22nd, and today we've got the first single to share with you. The band are playing The Vera Project on May 3rd with Fear of Men. [Spin]
Ben Bloom is a talented Seattle guitarist with his hands in a number of funky bands, from the Polyrhythmics to Rippin Chicken to the Unsinkable Heavies (and he's even starting a new project!). KEXP had a chance to chat with Mr. Bloom about his music, his influences, his favorite Seattle venues and …
These beautiful days of summer won't last forever. You might as well make the most of them. The Metropolitan Improvement District, in cooperation with Downtown Seattle Association, is here to help. Their Out to Lunch Summer Concert Series features a diverse lineup of bands and artists performing fo…
Seattle band The Teaching has the distinction of being the only group featured on an instrumental track from Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’ album, The Heist, a 5-minute song called “BomBom”, full with dramatic rises and falls that has the listener feeling like he’s in a musical storm at sea.
In conjunction with the 20th anniversary of Death Cab For Cutie's 1998 session on KCMU, KEXP looks back on the band's remarkable debut which also came out two decades ago next month.
Afternoon Show host Kevin Cole delivers an explosive set of his favorite new music and new bands including The Fireworks, POW! and Pinkshinyultrablast. 1. Pinkshinyultrablast - Holy Forest 2. The Tamborines - Black and Blue 3. The Fireworks - Runaround 4. POW! - Liquid Daydream 5. Doldrums - Loo…
Influenced by the year he spent on the road while writing the record, Simon Green's latest record, Migration, is Bonobo's most progressive album to date, with a wider spectrum of sounds bursting into his electronic compositions. Joined by a full band in his return to KEXP's Live Ro…
Pieces of Sky, Tomo Nakayama's latest record, is one of the Seattle veteran's most delicate and powerful works, reflecting on the nature of traveling and going through life during chaotic times. Backed by a full band in this session on the Morning Show with John Richards, Nakayama and hi…
“I'm just writing to write and to let that be heard.” Luz Elena Mendoza says she processes events and experiences pretty quickly, and it shows in her songs, full of musical ideas with vibrant energy. The Y La Bamba leader clearly has a lot to say, and in this session with DJ Sharlese on Audio…
Underneath shimmering textures and spiky rhythms, The Drums have always kept their heart on their musical sleeves, with Jonathan Pierce effortlessly dropping sentimental expressions alongside darkly-tinted humor alongside each other. That's no different on the band's latest album “Abysmal Though…
Twenty two years after its release, Jeremy Enigk's Return of the Frog Queen continues to enrapture with its baroque arrangements and Enigk's inimitable songwriting. Performing four cuts from the album alongside a new song on KEXP's broadcast from the Upstream Music Festival with a …
Even if the definition of "Northwestern band” has to be stretched a little to include the Alaskan outfit Portugal. The Man, they have plenty of Northwest ties. Returning to the KEXP studios for a session featuring songs from their last three albums (all of which had a portion recorded in Seat…
Hamilton Leithauser is a veteran of the KEXP studios by this point in his career, but his rough and tumble brand of doo wop-damaged rock has never sounded as rich as it has on his 2016 collaborative album with Rostam, I Had a Dream That You Were Mine. The New York City songwriter is in fine form a…
To name your debut LP The Epic takes quite a bit of confidence, but in the case of Kamasi Washington, it's the only title that would make sense. The Californian saxophonist, composer, and bandleader's sweeping style of jazz is nearly overwhelming in its scope and scale, but Washington's virtuousti…
A modern journeyman of sorts, 28 year-old songwriter Kevin Morby has spent close to a decade releasing music while moving through different musical outfits and cities. Now based in Los Angeles, Morby and his band return to KEXP to share the traveler's tales on the Kansas City native's third album,…
Melbourne, Australia-based seven piece fuzz-driven psychedelic garage band King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard deliver a mindbogglingly amazing performance of songs from their new record "Quarters" and the out-of-this-world record "I'm In Your Mind Fuzz" live on KEXP's The Mid…
The night after the end of this year's Capitol Hill Block Party, Waxahatchee played the Neptune Theater, joined by Cayetana and Snail Mail. This timing dig beg the question of why the Block Party bookers did not snag Crutchfield & co. Either way, the bands played spirited sets, filling the thou…
