Only a year or two after establishing itself as the first NYC music festival to actually pull off an event with the caliber and scope fitting of the city, The Governors Ball Music Festival is at a crossroads. Stereogum's Michael Nelson does an excellent job explaining it in depth, but due to the em…
Though it's the first album released solely under his own name, there is a strong argument to be made that Everyday Robots is not the official solo debut of English legend Damon Albarn. That could be the soundtrack to the 1999 film Ravenous, which was the first music outside of his then-main band B…
Baltimore synth-pop group Future Islands found a new home on 4AD for their fourth LP, Singles. Though their prior years at Thrill Jockey have given us some incredible music over the years, whoever it is over at 4AD that got the wonderful task of marketing this band and this record for a Future Isla…
"Oh London moon, help me stumble home, help me lose myself along the way." So begins the return of Broken Bells, the all-too-perfect team up between now legendary producer Danger Mouse (Brian Burton) and the genius songwriter who gave us the Shins, James Mercer. After The Disco is the soundtrack to…
Nicolas Jaar is one of those young musicians who you can already imagine in 10, 15, 20 years as being an staple who is looked up to by musicians who are young when he is older. Not only did his most recent album, Space is Only Noise, reflect a seeping depth of influences, but it was incredibly matu…
Justin Vernon had a pretty ridiculously awesome 2011. It was the year he dropped his self-titled second LP as Bon Iver, receiving widespread critical acclaim, a Grammy, and securing his place in the indie rock spotlight for as long as he wanted. Among plenty of others, his work as Bon Iver garnered…
On this International Clash Day, Dusty Henry dives into Combat Rock by The Clash.
"Everybody wants to be in a big black coat", Jeremy Greenspan sings on the title track from new Junior Boys LP, Big Black Coat (read our review, "everybody wants to have your style". Truly, few electronic bands have style like this Ontario duo. While Greenspan sings softly, Matt Didemus stands in h…
At long last, this week, LA noise rock act HEALTH drop their third proper LP. It's a record I've been wanting to hear for almost six years i.e. as soon as their second, Get Color, left heavy rotation in the fall of 2009 after weeks and weeks of repeat listens. But HEALTH haven't left us completely …
It's been an interesting couple years for Henry Laufer, a.k.a. Shlohmo. Just about this time last year, we were all waiting on pins and needles for a collaborative EP to drop between Shlohmo and R&B singer Jeremih, spinning the new single "No More" to death and begging for a set in stone releas…
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This Sunday, January 15th, KEXP is proud to present the 17th Annual Expansions MLK Unity Party, taking place this year at the Northwest African American Museum! The celebration begins at 6:00 PM and will be all ages from 6:00 – 9:00 PM, with the LIVE Broadcast happening from 9:00 PM to Midnight and…
Next on the KEXP video stream live from KEX Hostel at Iceland Airwaves Music Festival were genre-bending Icelandic post-punk band Mammút. Formed as a trio called ROK in 2003, the band expanded in 2004 and changed their name before winning Iceland’s Músiktilraunir (a battle of the bands similar to S…
Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part of our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. Today’s song, featured on the Afte…
She's already ruled in the guitar world, and now St. Vincent is trying her hand at film directing. XX is an all-female directed anthology collecting four short horror films. St. Vincent's clip is titled The Birthday Party, and captures an 8-year-old’s birthday party gone wrong. Watch below for an …
More new music from The Shins: stream the very Wilco-esque single "Mildenhall" below (frontman James Mercer is even singer lower than ever before). The band's fifth LP Heartworms will be out March 10th via Aural Apothecary/Columbia. Catch them at this year's Sasquatch! Music Festival, 5/26-5/28 at…
The last time I saw Sylvan Esso was over two years ago, in a much smaller room about 2,500 miles away. It was a cold January night in Charlotte, North Carolina (my hometown), about three hours outside of Sylvan Esso’s hometown of Durham. It was just a few months after the release of their debut sel…
Seeing Gazebos in the daytime feels a rare occurrence. Usually found in a dimly-lit club, the Seattle band graced the Yeti Stage on Day 1 of this year's Sasquatch Music Festival, largely playing tracks from their 2016 debut record Die Alone. As the opening band of Sasquatch, Gazebos earned the dubi…
"Welcome to the show (We Missed You)", the projector screen read before Fleet Foxes made their homecoming on a warm May evening. From the chatter and mingling happening in the crowd ahead of the set, it was clear that the feeling was mutual. It'd been five years since the Seattle group played their…
