As festival organizers can tell you, sometimes everything doesn't go to plan. With all of the moving pieces involved in a fest, it's not too uncommon that you have to replace an act, and occasionally cancel parts of the festival. (In one recent case, one festival had to evacuate 60,000+ people in t…
And then every once in a while you find a record that garners unfettered adoration from seemingly all corners. Going through the comments on Savage Republic's 4th LP (please don't make me type the title again), I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop - for someone to cry "overrated" or "pretentio…
Guitar wizard/singer/songwriter Adrian Belew (remember him?) has popped up in the music news quite a bit lately, partly for things he is and will be doing, and partly for things he won't be doing. He plays all over the excellent new Nine Inch Nails album and was going to play guitar on the current …
After wrapping up Saturday brunch Capitol Hill was again swarmed for the Capitol Hill Block Party. Luckily, the line-up was jam packed with great music. Taking full advantage of the easy-going mid-afternoon crowds that make early time slots so enjoyable for fans, we were able to get right in front …
Right around the time they were selling out two shows at Seattle's Neptune Theatre, Local Natives took an afternoon to treat KEXP VIP Club members to a special, stripped down show at The Triple Door. Though it's hard to call anything these Californians do "stripped down", they at least stuck to mai…
If Killer Mike had my favorite show at Sasquatch, Chvrches gets to take favorite pop show of the weekend. Where their albums are already pretty perfect in the realm of pop - the live performance blew them out of the water. Lauren Mayberry's vocals are so close to sweet that it's almost bitter - she…
After playing an excellent lunchtime set live on KEXP, British dub pioneer James Blake moved down to the Neptune for a sold out gig in support of new record Overgrown. Fans were lined up more than an hour before the show and the place packed out quickly once doors were open, and all for good reason…
Now in its 15th year, Oregon music festival Pickathon has announced its lineup, dates and location for 2013 -- and it's one of their best lineups yet! On August 2-4 at the Pendarvis Farm in Happy Valley, OR, the festival will host Feist, Andrew Bird, Divine Fits, The Devil Makes Three, Sharon Van …
Today on the Afternoon Show, Kevin Cole will be debuting a new 78 rpm single by The Head and the Heart. Recorded using all vintage analog gear by Seattle's groove-O-matic, who operate under the premise that "Recordings made from 1953 to 1965 tend to sound better than recordings made before or since…
Perhaps no other artist has brought Eastern music to the West like sitar master Ravi Shankar. His tutelage of George Harrison in the mid-60's kicked off a lifetime of cultural exchange. While rock bands like The Beatles were incorporating Eastern sounds in their music, Shankar himself was composing…
Just off of the 99 overpass, Feed stowed themselves away in their practice space affectionately referred to as the Dank Dungeon. Armed with a Tascam 488 tape recorder, the trio of guitarist Chase Hoyt, bassist Matt Kolhede, and drummer Pat Schowe spent months crafting their self-titled debut album,…
Even with the most voracious of music fans, there's still likely a certain feel or sound that comes to mind when you see the word "jazz." Maybe it's the swing of the music or that magical feeling of seventh chords walking down a piano. For others, it might be the drone of smooth jazz or the coolnes…
DJ Taye -- the alias of Chicago native Dante Sanders -- is a member of the revered Teklife crew, joining the influential collective of juke/footwork artists in 2010 at the age of 16. His head-spinning beats, booming bass, and frantically cut-up samples proudly exemplify Teklife's genre-defining sou…
North Carolina indie rock legends Superchunk have dropped a new limited edition 7" featuring the anthemic original track "Break the Glass" on the A-side (featuring vocals from A Giant Dog's Sabrina Ellis), and a cover of Corrosion of Conformity's "Mad World" on the B-side. The band released another…
“How much is your 15 year old self flipping out right now?” That’s the text I got from Brittany right after we saw the date go up. She Wants Revenge, celebrating the 10th birthday of their 2006 debut by playing the album in its entirety at the Showbox. Wait, 10 years? Has it already been that long?…
Today's Song of the Day — as chosen by DJ Gabriel Teodros and special guest, indigenous art-ivist Calina Lawrence, as part of KEXP’s Indigenous Peoples’ Day programming — is "All Turn Native" by Of Mexican Descent, from the 2006 self-released album Exitos Y Mas Exitos (Edicion De Lujo).
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. So there is this band that is going to be stopping by my show next Tuesday. Maybe you’ve heard of them - Pixies? Yeah. T…
