18 year old Swedish rapper Yung Lean (Jonatan Håstad) may be one of the most polarizing, confusing faces on the independent hip-hop scene of the last few years. Pitchfork hates him. Fader loves him. The rest of us find ourselves somewhere in between, trying to balance all of the bizarre parts of th…
The kids may be off to school but former teen group Arctic Monkeys is all grown up. Now on their fifth full-length, out this week, the British-born, LA-based band have left behind any brattiness for what our Music Director, Don Yates, calls "a slower, thicker and more atmospheric rock sound, while …
From his hardcore punk days to being called one of the most "important dance music figures" by AllMusic, Richard Melville Hall has led an interesting life under the moniker Moby. This Thursday, June 23rd, he'll be reading and signing from his new memoir, Porcelain, at the downtown branch of the Sea…
Among the Polish artists we discovered during the recordings KEXP captured while at the OFF Festival in Katowice, Poland, perhaps none better exemplifies the country's musical diversity as Olo Walicki. The Gdansk-born composer, performer and bass player has recorded many albums of his own throughou…
KEXP is excited to present another special all-electronic edition of Audioasis this Saturday, September 5th! This weekend's show is a celebration of this year's upcoming Decibel Festival that will be held all across the city of Seattle from Wednesday, September 23rd through Wednesday, September 27t…
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 selection, featured on The…
KEXP listeners vote for their top albums of the year in 2021.
Most bands start by writing songs at home and recording in their basements. For David Bazan, it took nearly two decades to get there. The former Pedro the Lion bandleader and subsequent solo artist has long been a local treasure, appealing to a generation of Northwest indie kids in the 90s and 2000…
The best collection of rock and roll comics of late recently premiered at the Emerald City Comic Convention in Seattle this past weekend, but won’t be available en masse from publisher Fantagraphics Books Inc. till May 17. Be sure to pre-order Peter Bagge’s Other Stuff soon though, because it is an…
Today's Song of the Day, as chosen by Albina Cabrera, co-host of El Sonido, is "Boca Chica" by Jarina de Marco, from the 2023 album Caribbean All-Inclusive Luxury on 3rd Culture Kid.
You won’t believe the golden light you wake up to crawling out of your tent at Pickathon. The tree-lined hills of the Pendarvis Farm in Happy Valley, Oregon make you feel like you are in an other-worldly paradise. Taking a light walk around the Back 40 to enjoy the surroundings, among the sleepy co…
Barboza, the intimate venue underneath Neumos, feels cut off from the rest of the world, with no sight or sound of the rest of the world. In some ways, it's the perfect venue for a band like Hælos, whose particular brand of UK club R&B feels wholly detached from the rest of the world, cinematic…
It’s Sunday night, July 6, 2014, and I’m front and center at the Paramount Theater waiting for New Order to hit the stage. The lights are dim as techs move back and forth across the stage, checking guitars and synthesizers and making sure everything’s in its right place. Meanwhile, the tour DJ play…
The whole time I drove home from the Trust show, I kept looking in the rearview expecting to see cops trying to get me to pull over. In fact, I don't think the strobing reds and blues have stopped in my brain since the show ended, even two days later. Red and blue and red and blue and red and blue …
For Live on KEXP, Troy Nelson details Mackenzie Scott’s unique trajectory from Southern Baptist band kid to the subversive indie rocker best known as TORRES.
The kids are coming up from behind - James Murphy called it 12 years ago and not much has changed since then. Seen nowhere stronger than in the realm of dance music, youthful vigor and forward thinking to an increasingly younger audience seems to dominate the scene as the spectrum of influences see…
