Seattle's Wishbeard is one of those great bands that keeps the high hat and snare drum going. This is part of what makes them eminently danceable. With etherial guitars and vocal shouts like wolves howling into the night, the drum keeps a tight, pushing rhythm highlighted by the quickly hit snares …
The very first band we had in during our residency at Breakglass Studios for POP Montreal was Montreal-via-Beirut duo Wake Island. Comprised of Philippe Manasseh and Nadim Maghzal, the two grew up in war-torn Beirut before coming to Montreal where they ended up meeting in college and bonding over t…
Moving homes can be hard. Even if you're staying in the same city, there's a sense of emotional attachment that can be hard to let go of — after all, you're making a major adjustment to the functionality of your everyday life. If you're making a cross-country move, well, you can imagine the interna…
In March 2012, Girls mastermind Lena Dunham told NY Mag, that "[Millennial] lostness and that questioning — I wish I could say that it completely went away when you were getting to do the thing you wanted to do, but unfortunately, that’s not the truth." The most recent season of Girls featured a nu…
As we previously noted, Brooklyn band Parquet Courts make a sound whose exact genre is hard to nail down. Settling comfortably into a blend of seventies and eighties punk, avante rock, 80s pop, and no wave, their songs harken to indie rock's humble beginnings -- think Blonde Redhead but less sad, a…
Tegan and Sara have been writing beautiful, heart-breaking music for quite a few years now. Different fans swear by them for different reasons, but a common thread runs through them all: Tegan and Sara evoke the dynamic emotion of real relationship better than nearly any other band. Ever. Fans used…
If you call yourself an Arcade Fire fan and have seen the band at least once in the live setting, there's a good chance that you need absolutely no introduction to Will Butler. When Arcade Fire skyrocketed to the moon amongst the Reflektor hype of 2013, it was clear that the one facet of their musi…
On the show this time, it’s the powerful 60’s and 70’s influenced instrumentals of the mighty Budos Band.
Dusty Henry and Martin Douglas dive into the three albums by the Portland band Wipers, the band with the most entries on Kurt's list (unless you count "anything by Kleenex").
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Theoretically, if you asked me what show would constitute my ultimate pipedream throwdown in a basement by an active, living band, I think I'd pick METZ. The Ontario group signed to Sub Pop in 2012 and immediately took throneroom space aside some of North America's finest punk names. Two albums dee…
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 …
Sunscreen for the Eastern Washington sun? Check. Sleeping bag for the few moments you'll be able to sleep? Check? Earplugs for when your 'drums need a break? Check. Booty shorts for dancin'? Check. High energy bars for, uh... energy? Check. Roadtrip music for the journey out to The Gorge? Double an…
On September 10, The Clash will release a huge box set called Sound System. According to guitarist Mick Jones this will be "the greatest box set ever." The set will include all five LPs, three disks of singles, a DVD of the band's music videos, and SO MUCH more. As if this wasn't cool enough, the…
London-based group The Veils stopped by KEXP for a live session rich in gorgeous textures and thoughtful, lyrical compositions. Immediately, even before bandleader Finn Andrews' vocals begin, the joyous production strikes listeners via jaunty piano runs, bright brass melodies, and lively guitar rhy…
Few artists resonate so strongly with KEXP listeners and all Seattle music fans as Kurt Cobain. His band, Nirvana, wasn't the first to break out of the Northwest nor did their groundbreaking breakthrough, Nevermind, sell the most among their contemporaries, but Cobain probably represented more of t…
If you're like me, odds are you hear the name Lene Lovich (or, as I recently did, find a copy of this very album in the bins at Goodwill) and instantly hear her distinctively playful yet unabashedly Teutonic voice squeaking out the hook to her best-known song, "Lucky Number." Like so many brilliant…
Last week, Toro y Moi showed the Crocodile an excellent time with their Seattle tour stop in support of the fantastic new record Anything In Return. Accompanied by eclectic New York dance act Sinkane and rising Georgia shoegaze band Dog Bite, the show was an all-round excellent bill full of good vi…
Radiohead recently released a 20th-anniversary reissue of OK Computer called OKNOTOK. A lot of excitement surrounded the inclusion of three previously unreleased tracks, one of those being a fan-favorite that the band had played a number of times live but had never released a studio version of, cal…
January ends on a bang as many long-awaited albums hit stores this past Friday. Cleveland's Cloud Nothings return with their fourth LP, which KEXP Music Director Don Yates calls, "their most polished and measured set to date of punkish power-pop. Produced by John Goodmanson, the album combines a dy…
All throughout the Midday Show on KEXP today, DJ Cheryl Waters has been sharing tracks from the forthcoming Cymbals Eat Guitars album, Pretty Years. Miss a few songs? Had to go into a meeting? You can stream the entire album here, via NPR Music. The band will be crashing through (argh, puns! I can…
