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…
Across the last three years, Project Pabst has quietly become one of the more reliably interesting festivals in the Pacific Northwest, which is no small feat considering its large-scale competition to the north of its site in Portland, Oregon. It's essentially the Room on Fire of Northwestern music…
It's real. After teasing fans on and off for the better part of 22 or so years, guitarist/vocalist Kevin Shields has delivered the third full-length My Bloody Valentine album, m b v. (Take a deep breath.) Since its release on Saturday night (which resulted in the cancellation of the evening plans o…
John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats is on a creative streak. His second novel Universal Harvester just placed on the New York Times Bestseller List, and now we have news about a new album, the fantastically-titled Goths, out May 19th via Merge. The band will be talking more about the album at 1:0…
Dan Snaith may have started Caribou as a sample-heavy solo project, but after his set at Sasquatch! Music Festival, it is hard to think of Caribou as anything but a live band. Such was the effect of Snaith and his three touring companion’s show Sunday. While Caribou’s more recent work contains a be…
Drenched in color from the LED screens behind him, Chet Faker began his Friday closing set at Sasquatch! Music Festival in style with the help of his four piece band. Alternating between a full band and playing solo on his keyboard and mixer, Chet visually displayed the duality in his music. Often …
If everything else in the world seems to be going crazy at the moment, take solace knowing that The Joy Formidable still shamelessly tour with a gong. The Welsh trio's stage presence has always been one that's far larger than whatever venue they're playing in – inside or outside – and the gong that…
The fact that Theoretics remixed the Blade Runner theme a few months back automatically backs up drummer Adam Gross' statement, "We're all sort of sci-fi nerds." A five-piece livetronica band from our very own city, Theoretics certainly deliver sound-wise, taking us on a funky space-age aural explo…
A hot sun is shining down through mostly blue skies, revealing sweeping views of the spectacular Columbia River Gorge from which this venue takes its name. Sasquatch 2015 is officially getting underway, and tens of thousands of music fans are streaming in from far and wide today to catch bands like…
Toronto indie rock band Alvvays introduced themselves to Seattle in quite a dazzling fashion Tuesday night. This was the band's last US show on the tour supporting their fantastic self-titled debut (out now on Polyvinyl) before heading up across the border to finish things off before the end of the…
Twenty-plus years into a varied and universally celebrated career, Spoon can still surprise and delight us. They Want My Soul, the Austin-based band's follow-up to 2010's Transference, has all the Spoon hallmarks you expect: the fiery voice of frontman Britt Daniel, the wry if sometimes bittersweet…
