Sometimes it’s the simplest words that stop you cold. Soft-spoken Tuareg artist Omara ‘Bombino’ Moctar proved this to me on a stiflingly hot summer evening at the 2012 Pickathon Festival backstage. I was talking to him for their post-performance video interviews, aided by French-Canadian guitarist…
Looking at the lineup of Bonnaroo over the past few years, it seems as if the organizers booked their roster by throwing everything at the wall and seeing what stuck. Well, this year, everything stuck. On the top two lines of the bill, there’s a Beatle, an Icelandic electronic music goddess, the gu…
Seattle band The Teaching has the distinction of being the only group featured on an instrumental track from Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’ album, The Heist, a 5-minute song called “BomBom”, full with dramatic rises and falls that has the listener feeling like he’s in a musical storm at sea.
Bassist Kim Deal has left the Pixies, the band announced today on their Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/pixiesofficial?rf=106226122747445) page. “We are very proud to have worked with her on and off over the last 25 years,” the statement read. “Despite her decision to move on, we will always con…
It’s time again for Friday on My Mind, our weekly blog post, where we look at music videos centered around one common theme. This is a collaborative effort between KEXP and King 5 News.
As record companies continue to exist behind the times, artists and labels with little capital and lesser reputations are producing some of the most innovative, interesting, and inspiring music. Whether it’s creating a new niche in digital technology or looking to once obsolete formats, Agitated At…
Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part 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, selected by Midday Show…
Recently, David Schelzel of The Ocean Blue stopped by the KEXP studios to play a live acoustic set, which included a cover of Billy Idol’s “Eyes Without A Face.” Stripped down – accompanied only by one other guitarist for the final tune (Schelzel’s friend Michael Morris) – and in preparation for a …
Following in the wake of their reunion-EP-of-sorts Songs for Slim, which benefited guitarist Slim Dunlap's recovery from a stroke, The Replacements have announced they will be performing together again as The Replacements for the first time since 1991's infamous "It Ain't Over 'Til The Fat Roadie P…

In 2018, KEXP celebrated the 30th anniversary of local record label Sub Pop with a four-month retrospective, "counting up" every catalog number in their vast discography of over 1,200 releases. Dig into the archives of our catalog coverage, featuring in-depth coverage on the history of their releases.