Philadelphia band The War on Drugs return with the fourth album. KEXP Music Director Don Yates calls it, "an excellent set of expansive, '80s-steeped rock. Beautifully produced, the band's music has never sounded better than it does here with a bliss-inducing combination of expansive guitar leads, shimmering keyboards, synthetic strings, driving rhythms, scruffy, Dylanesque vocals and anthemic song hooks."
Other highlights this week include the debut from Filthy Friends, a supergroup featuring Corin Tucker (Sleater-Kinney), Peter Buck (R.E.M., The Minus 5), Scott McCaughey (Young Fresh Fellows, The Minus 5), Kurt Bloch (The Fastbacks) and Bill Rieflin (Ministry). It's "a well-crafted blend of energetic garage-rock, jangly post-punk, swaggering glam-rock and more." (You can hear the band LIVE on KEXP this Saturday, September 2nd as part of our Bumbershoot Music & Arts Festival in-studios.)
Dropping the word "Thee" from their name, Oh Sees return with their 19th album, "a continuation of the more experimental sounds of their two 2016 albums. It's a more dynamic and expansive take on the band's motorik psych-garage sound, with adventurous, shape-shifting songs that veer from high-energy guitar freakouts to trippy keyboard dream-pop." Queens Of The Stone Age deliver a "a potent set of streamlined hard-rock inflected with glam, New Wave, '70s guitar boogie and other styles. Produced by Mark Ronson, he helps provide a bit more punch and clarity while mainly staying out of the way of the band's pulverizing rock grooves." Virginia Beach band Turnover present "a strong set of dreamy indie-pop reminiscent at times of Real Estate, combining gently ringing surf guitars, wistful vocals and sunny melodies." And Austin band A Giant Dog bring "boisterous garage-rock and punchy power-pop, combining crunchy guitars, energetic rhythms, often anxiety-fueled lyrics and catchy pop hooks."
LCD Soundsystem is back! James Murphy and company emerge from early retirement with their fourth studio album (and first in seven years). KEXP Music Director Don Yates declares it "a powerful return to form featuring some of Murphy's finest, most deeply felt songwriting with anxiety-fueled lyrics r…
Brooklyn-bred band Grizzly Bear return with their fifth LP, a release KEXP Music Director Don Yates calls "an adventurous set of densely layered and intricately arranged prog-pop, featuring a punchier, more beat-driven sound to more forcefully drive home the band's dark, imagistic lyrics of decay a…
