The sun was beating down on the Gorge and the wind was sweeping dangerously through the canyon- but walking into the Sasquatch! Music Festival this year was magical to say the very least. It was apparent that things were going to get crazy with this year's genre spanning lineup - including everybod…
Last year, alt-rock veterans Buffalo Tom released a 25th Anniversary Edition of their breakout album Let Me Come Over. And now in 2018, the long-running band are releasing their first new album in six years, Quiet and Peace, due March 2nd via Scrawny/Schoolkids Records.
Albina Cabrera from El Sonido and all the Latin 'cosas' at KEXP selected 50 must-listen albums, EPs, and compilations of the year. Take a look at the eclectic music of 2023 that once again demonstrates the musical prowess of Latin America, Spain, and the global diaspora in creating generational ant…
The New Year has its own special meaning in the world of music. While most of the world is looking forward, it's a time for many audiophiles to luxuriously look back as they compile lists of their favorite records, concerts and memorable moments from the year past. In this sense, Shabazz Palaces ma…
It used to be that every year about this time, KEXP would throw the Yule Benefit show, but it's been five years since our last one. This year, music fans were in for a treat as the show returned to Neumos to raise money for the station's new home, being built at the Seattle Center. The lineup inclu…
The hip-hop pioneer was 52-years-old.
All throughout the Midday Show on KEXP today, DJ Cheryl Waters has been sharing tracks from the forthcoming Cymbals Eat Guitars album, Pretty Years. Miss a few songs? Had to go into a meeting? You can stream the entire album here, via NPR Music. The band will be crashing through (argh, puns! I can…
We may never know what 1984 KCMU DJs thought of Joe Jackson's Body and Soul, the follow up to Night and Day (on which we have plenty of input from the contemporaneous DJs). It's pretty likely that many of those who loved his early stuff remained less than pleased with his doubling-down on the highl…
The 43rd annual Bumbershoot Music Festival will be taking place this upcoming Labor Day weekend from Saturday, August 31st through Monday, September 2nd. This year's edition of KEXP's Music That Matters Bumbershoot Podcast is curated by variety mix DJ Melissa Trejo who brings you a mix o…
Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival was in a time of fairly major transition in 2015, as it entered its 44th year. Many long time fans of the festival wondered how the beloved event would change under the new management of AEG, which penned a five year deal with the nonprofit OneReel after the orga…
Although the musicians surrounding them aren't always the same, the couple of Amadou Bagayoko and Mariam Doumbia's impeccable chemistry has kept their Malian rhythms dazzling for more than 30 years. Their first record in five years, La Confusion, is as vibrant as any of their previous wo…
After a few years off, Beach Fossils returned earlier this year with Somersault, the band's finest set of songs to date and also the first to be written and recorded as a band. Dustin Payseur and co. bring four new tracks to the KEXP Live Room with Kevin Cole and talk about Somersault, peopl…
Seven years is a long time between albums, but Land of Talk's Liz Powell took that time to walk away from music and recharge, returning with some of her most affecting songs yet on this year's Life After Youth. Joining John Richards in the KEXP Live Room, Powell plays four new songs and …
Considering their output (3 albums in 13 months), you won't be surprised to learn that Wand are pals with Ty Segall. The LA trio released their debut, Ganglion Reef, in August last year on Segall’s Drag City imprint, GOD?, which they followed up in March this year with Golem, on Ty's sometime label…
It's been hard for us to forget the beautiful and intimate session we had with Ólafur Arnalds during our Iceland Airwaves broadcast last year at KEX Hostel. This year, when we saw that the young Icelandic composer and songwriter would be performing at SXSW, we wanted to get him live on air again, n…
KEXP 50th Anniversary Top Albums Listener Poll
Cymbals Eat Guitars - Wish - from the 2016 album Pretty Years on Sinderlyn.
First, A Tribe Called Quest released a new album after 18 years. And, now, Scottish siblings The Jesus and Mary Chain are one-upping them, so to speak, with their first LP in 19 years, out in March 2017. The news was announced by Creation Records founder and longtime manager Alan McGee, who excite…
DJ Alex shines a spotlight on 16 artists performing at this year's 11th annual Decibel Festival, Seattle's premier electronic music and arts event, happening all over the city from September 24th to September 28th! As with years past, tune in to get a taste of this year's massive, diverse internat…
If you’ve seen any of their paper ads or television commercials this year, Bumbershoot's marketing slogan goes along the lines of “Possibly the most amazing lineup in the universe”. Roll your eyes if you must, but we think Bumbershoot isn’t too far off the mark. This year brings one of the best sch…
