We knew The Baseball Project would be a hit at our MusicFestNW broadcast, especially with this line-up of ringers. Scott McCaughey, Steve Wynn, Mike Mills, and Linda Pitmon brought their A-game to the Doug Fir Lounge with an exuberant lunchtime session.
Gorillaz is a project that was birthed from Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett’s long nights of subjecting themselves to MTV music videos. The idea was that the band would be a comment on the lack of substance in the videos that they repetitively sacrificed their eyes and minds to. That was in 1998, an…
Artificial intelligence is still making headlines for all the ways it can make our lives easier, taking care of tedious tasks like helping you coordinate multiple schedules and providing budgeting tips. Increasingly, though, AI is making its way into the music industry — not just through production…
After leaving your rock band and abandoning your faith, you're bound to come back with some kind of statement or not come back at all. Mikko Joensuu chose the former path, creating an ambitious trilogy of albums with songs that often live in spiritual, transcendent moments. Performing with a…
Considering the members' other projects, Filthy Friends' collective resume is completely stacked - having Corin Tucker, Peter Buck, and Scott McCaughey in your ranks will do that - but it's remarkable how loose and low-stakes this performance of ripping guitars and pounding drums so…
There are moments during Valerie June's return to KEXP where she steps away from the mic and simply begins dancing to the rhythm, regardless if the song in question is a blues rocker or a sparse, country crawl. Performing four varied tracks from The Order of Time, the Tennessee songwriter an…
The Kyiv folk quartet DakhaBrakha created their latest album Шлях (English: The Road) as a tribute to their Motherland, and in this vital session, it's easy to hear the multitude of voices both figurative and literal that make up a stirring snapshot of a people pushing forward during a diffic…
The music of Explosions in the Sky has always lived up to the expectations set by the band's evocative name, and on their seventh studio album, The Wilderness, the Austin, Texas outfit continues to create singular, cathartic, and often breathtaking instrumental compositions. Joining host Tro…
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…
Second on today's broadcast live from KEX Hostel at Iceland Airwaves music festival was the incomparable Digable Planets. Formed in Brooklyn in 1992, the poet-rappers, comprised of Ishmael "Butterfly" Butler, Mary Ann "Ladybug Mecca" Vieira and Craig "Doodlebug" Irving, continue to push the limits …
Raising money is fun! As we think of new ways to connect KEXP supporters with their favorite artists during our KEXP's New Home campaign, no idea is off the table - not even bowling with Shakey Graves. As it turns out, the young Texas troubadour and his band are big-time bowlers, so much so that th…
At KEXP, we like to brag a little bit that we were among the first radio stations to express undying love for HAERTS. After "Wings" dropped at the beginning of 2013 and we put it on repeat for weeks, we knew we had to grab them later in the year at CMJ. But just a few weeks ago, HAERTS finally emba…
It's going to take a little practice, but you'll be saying the name Ásgeir like a true Icelander soon enough. When we first introduced the young singer-songwriter to Seattle audiences two years ago, we knew his ethereal falsetto and captivating songs would appeal to KEXP listeners even if his songs…
"Don't tell any other festivals, but this miiiiiight be my favorite festival." That's how Merrill Garbus began her campaign to win over the Gorge on Sunday afternoon at Sasquatch, and it certainly worked. tUnE-yArDs' live show has always demanded a participatory audience, if only to dance to Garbus…
Former Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band frontman Benjamin Verdoes came out to the KEXP studio to perform some of the new songs off his latest, 11-track solo project, The Evil Eye. From the unhinged, experimental undertones of Where The Messengers Meet to the structured melancholy of his new-found colla…
Closing out his career as Fruit Bats, Eric D. Johnson has come full circle. Sixteen years ago, he started the folksy project as a personal outlet, but, as these things happen, the singer-songwriter solo effort eventually grew into a full band, first, with support of his tourmates, Califone (one of …
Much has been made of The Ruby Suns' globetrotting tendencies, both internationally and musically. American born band founder, Ryan McPhun, left California for New Zealand in the mid '00s and joined Auckland group The Brunettes before forming The Ruby Suns to make blissful, psychedelic multicultura…
Thao Nguyen is a voice of the people. While her music leans a bit more toward peppy indie pop than hippy folk rock, Thao's songs on her fourth LP, We The Common, are about the individual experiences and personal interactions we all have. As she says about the new Thao & The Get Down Stay Down a…
Seattle super-group Walking Papers played a killer session in the KEXP studio for Audioasis, where they shared three songs off their Mike McCready (of Pearl Jam)-produced self-titled debut from October last year, released on Sunyata Records. Such an assured sound from a band that just released a d…
This summer, folk rockers The Lumineers played a special show at Barboza in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood as part of KEXP's VIP Club concert series. The band has gained major momentum in the current thirst for rootsy, soul-stirring music, and this year they're up for two Grammys -- for Best …
