photo by Renata Stenier
Photo by Sandlin Gaither
To name her newest record, Halo, Argentina's Juana Molina sorted through her lyrics word by word before deciding “halo” was the correct way to describe this collection of rhythmic, kinetic electronic music. Joining Darek Mazzone on Wo' Pop, Molina and her band return to KEXP to perform …
“In order to be big, we need a lot of players.” Jungle Fire guitarist bassist Joseph Reina lays it out pretty clear: to be able to create muscular afro funk workouts, the Los Angeles outfit need at least ten musicians. But even with a guitarist missing, the nonet sound bold and kinetic when they j…
Vieux Farka Touré's latest record, Samba, may mean “second boy” in Songhai, but the dazzling guitar work he displays in this session on Wo' Pop is second to none. Playing songs from Samba and paying tribute to his family with his music, Touré brings a snapshot of Mali's rich music…
During her latest session in the KEXP Live Room, Laura Marling speaks of her music in film metaphors when describing her new record, Semper Femina, to Cheryl Waters. The London songwriter's sixth LP has all the touches of a classic film, filed in with rich scenery (a tight, expansive band) an…
For their fourth album, Amen and Goodbye, Yeasayer spent the longest time they've spent to date working on writing songs, and the end result contains some of their richest, most nuanced music yet. The Brooklyn outfit brings four Amen and Goodbye tracks into this session with Troy Nelson and discus…
KEXP's Owen Murphy and Troy Nelson break down a cover song for Mariah Carey's Fantasy. Frontman of the band Sky Cries Mary talks about rubbing elbows with the rising stars of the Seattle grunge scene in the late 80s and going on to make treehouses for the rich and famous. Rapper Perry Porter discus…
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. The show to be at tonight is going to be Tom Petty way over in George, Washington, at the Gorge. Yeah, I said it. I ofte…
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 Midd…
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…
"This is our first rap song." Sharon Van Etten may have an extraordinary talent for extracting every last excruciating detail of her romantic failings, but it can't be said that she doesn't have a sense of humor. One of a handful of acts to play during Monday's brief period of cloudy skies, Van Ett…
We just can't get enough of shoegazey band Oyama, who we featured this morning for our Song of the Day podcast. Later this month, the young Icelandic group is about to release their full-length debut, recorded with friend of KEXP Pétur Ben at Sigur Rós' Sundlaugin studio. And also today, they share…
If you caught the most recent episode of HBO's Girls, you may have heard the previously unreleased track from St. Vincent. If not, stream the song below. The track is said to be a demo left over from last year's self-titled fourth studio album. Girls music supervisor Manish Raval told Billboard: “…
It hasn't been that long since Seattle band The Cave Singers performed songs from their excellent 2013 album, Naomi, live in the KEXP studio, so when we asked them to perform a special session as part of KEXP's VIP Club Concert series just three months later, they went back to their own studio and …
Faith Healer, out of Edmonton, Alberta, released their latest release Try;) ahead of our trip out to Montreal so I was able to spend some time with it before they did their session. This was one that I was most looking forward to seeing. Jessica Jalbert, the primary songwriter and guitar player, ha…
Brooklyn rap duo Run The Jewels have a new song featured in EA Sport's new FIFA 18 video game called "Mean Demeanor." The game comes out tomorrow and today a commercial has been released that features the "El Tornado Mix" of the song. The full soundtrack for FIFA 18 includes The War On Drugs, The N…
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…
On July 18, Tame Impala will drop their latest album, Currents. They have already shared a few album tracks and it seems like each song keeps getting better and better. "Eventually" is a stunningly smooth piece of psychedelic music. [Pitchfork]
