Monday afternoon may not be the ideal time for a loud, full-force rock show, but it is, however, the perfect setting for a set of winding, country-colored jams, which is what the audience received when Israel Nash and his band took the stage. The Dripping Springs, Texas musician's lush, almos…
The highly-anticipated tenth full-length from experimental-pop group Animal Collective hit stores last Friday. The album features contributions from John Cale and Colin Stetson. Brooklyn band Wild Nothing return with their third LP. KEXP Music Director Don Yates notes, "this Brooklyn-via-Virginia p…
A mere week after we aired his KEXP in-studio session, and Boise-based artist Trevor Powers, a.k.a. Youth Lagoon, has announced he's calling it quits. In a statement on Twitter, the bright young artist writes, "there is nothing left to say through Youth Lagoon. It will exist no more." Read the com…
Danish post-punk band Iceage have been pretty quiet since last year's sophomore release You're Nothing on Matador Records, but today they break the ice with a new track, "The Lord's Favorite", which you can stream below. They've also shared dates for a North American tour, with no Seattle date... …
For as good natured a duo as you're like to find, Cary Ann Heart and Michael Trent can get darker and more dangerous than you can imagine. As Shovels & Rope, they play gritty boot-stompin' roots-rock that spans between rousing sing-alongs, heartwarming ballads and harrowing tales of vengeance. …
There is nothing extinct about The Dodos. In fact, they've been playing music together consistently since 2005 and are continually evolving. While playing, The Dodos are always changing speeds, messing with time, all the while imbuing an unassuming – yes – confidence, as on their recent single of t…
Last Monday, at the first of two sold-out shows at The Moore, Philly's The War on Drugs delivered nothing short of a visually and viscerally stunning display of dream rock dopeness with their cascading waterfall of sound. It's like multiple shots of Nixon-defying dope coursing through your veins th…
Capturing the energy in The Showbox SoDo is a difficult task. The venue’s high ceiling stretches for a great distance overhead, and without the proper performance, momentum can dissipate from front to back. Luckily, Run the Jewels are nothing if not seasoned performers. From El-P’s first project, C…
Half an hour into one of Refused's first performances of 2015, singer Dennis Lyxzen laid out their current manifesto. "You know how when you're teenagers playing music and saying you're revolutionaries everyone just kinda thinks you'll grow out of it?" He grinned. "This is how you know we're just f…
The Seattle International Film Festival has had a succulent series of movies based on sounds for a while, sponsored by KEXP and called Face The Music. Whether they be documentaries or fictional narratives or band concerts or somewhere in between, up to a dozen independent and/or international films…
We've recorded a lot of unique performances during Pickathon over the past few years, but there's nothing quite like lush orchestration and natural harmonies to complement the gorgeous wooded oasis that is the Bunny Glade. Two of the bigger ensembles this year were also two of the most enjoyable, i…
January ends on a bang as many long-awaited albums hit stores this past Friday. Cleveland's Cloud Nothings return with their fourth LP, which KEXP Music Director Don Yates calls, "their most polished and measured set to date of punkish power-pop. Produced by John Goodmanson, the album combines a dy…
The crushing news of Prince's untimely death has rocked the music industry. Artists all over the world have been paying tribute to the icon. On Broadway, Jennifer Hudson and The Color Purple cast ended their show with a powerful cover of "Purple Rain," and the cast of Hamilton had an impromptu dan…
Seattle's Megan "Emecks" Xaybanha is a triple threat as a musician, DJ and professional dancer and may be best known as a core member of the wildly fun and genre-smashing local group Don't Talk To The Cops! In addition to her work in DTTTC! (be on the lookout for their new album, Forevers, dropping…
Music That Matters, Vol. 398 - Don't Break Your Promise At KEXP, we never break our promise to bring you the best music possible and, hopefully, to turn you on to some new music that you love. Our latest Music That Matters podcast from Midday Show host Cheryl Waters offers up a sampling of wonderf…
The Afternoon Show's Kevin Cole presents a final year-in-review podcast featuring some of the best local releases of 2013. Excellent choices! 1. Big Eyes - Nothing You Could Say 2. Cumulus - Hey Love 3. La Luz - Sure As Spring 4. Mudhoney - Slipping Away 5. Pearl Jam - Mind Your Manners 6. ODESZ…
Moby has announced that he is releasing his 15th album and third in the past 14 months, Everything Was Beautiful, And Nothing Hurt in March of next year. He's also shared the lead single for the album, "Like A Motherless Child" and comes with a black and white video. Moby released These Systems Are…
When it comes to whimsical multi-instrumentalist Kishi Bashi, we should've known we had nothing to worry about. A couple of years had passed since his beloved debut release, 151a, and as DJ Cheryl Waters said to a co-worker a few months before the release of his latest, Lighght (pronounced "Light")…
HAIM introduced themselves to Seattle Wednesday night with a show at Neumos, and if you’ve been following anything about this band for the last year, you know that’s no small event. The sold out gig had lines starting up outside in the cold more than an hour before doors (that’s pretty much unheard…
