Making a truly timeless record is really, really hard. Without the ability to look into the future and see what sounds and styles are going to fall out of fashion, artists often just have to take the gamble and see what happens. With all the knowledge and ability you have as an artist, you need to …
So deep is the pool of local talent these days, there was sparsely room for out-of-town acts on the KEXP Gathering Space stage this weekend. One worthwhile exception was shoegaze four-piece Froth, who traveled from Los Angeles to pay a visit to the crowd at the Bumbershoot Music & Arts Festival…
Minneapolis MC, community activist, and KEXP favorite Brother Ali has been a fixture within the hip-hop community for the past 17 years. He debuted on his long-time label Rhymesayers in the year 2000 with Rites Of Passage, the first of six studio albums that have showcased his deeply personal, soci…
Dusty Henry revisits 1989 with the track “Cha Cha Cha” by MC Lyte.
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Roddy Nikpour and Martin Douglas revisit 2009 with an earworm: the Reese’s Puffs rap.
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Roddy Nikpour talks with Chris Read, head of content at WhoSampled, about four iconic tracks from 1990
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Martin Douglas revisits 2011 with the track “Thuggin’” by Freddie Gibbs and Madlib.
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Janice Headley revisits the Cedar Park Jams, which kicked off in the spring of 1974.
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Dusty Henry dives into Millions of Dead Cops by MDC, a prime example of the powerful fusion between hardcore punk and politics.
Martin Douglas dives into the supreme weirdness of Philosophy of the World by The Shaggs.
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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…
Fleet Foxes are getting back together. The Seattle indie band went on hiatus five years ago after they released their sophomore album, Helplessness Blues. At the time, frontman Robin Pecknold had decided to go back to Columbia University to earn his degree. Now it seems the hiatus is coming to an …
