It is proving quite difficult to find out much information about Che (pronounced, we are informed here, "Shay") or Alix Plain, the person behind this project. The very minimal Allmusic entry mentions that Plain was the odd man out when his previous band, Modern Eon, broke up and the other four memb…
With a career spanning over three decades Billy Bragg has acquired both a massive catalog and fanbase. His engaging stage presence and brilliant songwriting have cemented him as one of the most successful folk rock singers in the world. In fact, this past January he was honored for lifetime achieve…
Throughout the nearly five decades of his career, Aaron Neville has performed and recorded hundreds of songs in a variety of styles, from his Billboard topping 1967 solo R&B classic "Tell It Like It Is" through the creole rock of The Neville Brothers, and he's covered innumerable greats of soul…
Recently, Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn declared February to be Seattle Women Who Rock Month. The announcement was spurred by a new play and history project created by Gretta Harley (Maxi Badd, Danger Dens), Sarah Rudinoff, and Elizabeth Kenny called These Streets, a fictionalized story heavily inspire…
Christopher Owens took us all by surprise last year when he randomly announced that he was leaving his own band, Girls. Girls started back in 2007 with Owens and Chet JR White, but they really got off the ground and running in the last couple years with 2009's very popular Album and 2011's pitch pe…
Monotown: it's a name you'll be hearing a lot on KEXP, and hopefully everywhere else, in 2013. Over the past several years, our trips to Iceland have allowed us to discover bands sometimes even before they've released any albums (as was the case with Of Monsters and Men in 2010), or at least before…
Bobbing for hits. Though Death Cab For Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard was making light of the his band's songwriting process during his interview with KEXP's Stevie Zoom, the fact is, with all the songs he's written over nearly the past decade, he'd accumulated enough songs he's grown fond of but never…
From a patio overlooking the foothills of the Cascade Mountains near Leavenworth, WA, Seattle musician, Josh Rawlings, prepares himself for a month-long writing session with famed Seattle music producer, Ryan Lewis. Rawlings, who has toured with the golden-voiced Allen Stone and is one-fourth of th…
Only last year, legendary shoegaze band Ride released their first album in 21 years, Weather Diaries. Thankfully, we won't have to wait another 21 years for their next release. Today the band has announced a new EP entitled Tomorrow's Shore that will be dropping next month. It'll include the single…
Eva Walker is your host for Early on KEXP! Start your early mornings with eclectic and surprising song choices whether it’s to wake you up, get you ready for your big day or, to make your segmented sleep schedule just a bit more enjoyable. Enjoy new KEXP discoveries and the classics every morning, …
To know Kanye West is to love him, but to be in an endless mosh pit fifteen feet under him is something even more. It's limitless devotion to the church of Yeezus. It's agreeing wholeheartedly when Ye compares himself to Steve Jobs, Walt Disney, or, most notably, God. And in turn, much like I Am fe…
The unstoppable Kristin Hersh is at it again. Earlier this Spring, the Throwing Muses frontwoman released a new EP with her noise project 50 Foot Wave, and now she has a solo full-length out this Fall, a double CD/hardcover book combo titled Wyatt at the Coyote Palace. Stream the first single "Som…
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 DJ’s think you should hear. Today’s song, featured on the M…
There's a new pop-savvy sheriff in Sub Pop town, and he goes by the name of Cullen Omori, and instead of having to wield a Smith Western to corral a crowd's attention, all he has to do is coo his name. Omori quickly became a wunderkind as one of the instrumental brains of the Chicagoan outfit Smith…
The Cure celebrate their fortieth anniversary this year. Let that soak in for a second. Then consider that the English quintet are playing three-plus hour sets with multiple encores night after night. Needless to say, Robert Smith and the current Cure lineup are doing right their legacy night after…
Shamir began his set in relatively mellow fashion, dragging from a cigarette as he and his backing band began the song “Vegas.” The calm at Sasquatch! Music Festival was brief, as by their second song, the El Chupacabra tent became a full blown dance party. Shamir bares himself completely in his mu…
Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba are set on changing the way we think about world music. Pushing the limits of traditional West African instruments themselves to embrace western styles and a more versatile melodic range, Bassekou Kouyate is proud of the modern innovations he's made with the ngoni, a…
Following their soulful set at last weekend's Capitol Hill Block Party, the Northwest's own Unknown Mortal Orchestra share a very theatrical video for "Ur Life One Night," off their latest release, Multi-Love. The clip was directed by Manoj Leonel Jahson, who told Rolling Stone, "I am deeply inspi…
