Our third act at our awesome off venue stage at Kex Hostel show of the day live from Iceland Airwaves in Reykjavik was Prins Póló (this also happens to be the name of a Polish chocolate bar here in Iceland, but we assure you it was the artist, not the candy, that we broadcast live). Svavar Pétur Ey…
Saturday night is the night for dancing - Decibel Festival fans have known that for 10 years. You'll dance every other night of the festival too, no doubt. But Saturday is where you can bank on the fact that you will work up a sweat on the dance floor and at one point consider buying drinks for eve…
It's hard to imagine a better indie pop dream team than this – a multi-Grammy winning producer Danger Mouse (a.k.a. Brian Burton) and a beloved singer-songwriter James Mercer (of the Shins), each responsible for some of the most infectious songs you've heard in the past ten years, joining to create…
It's difficult to imagine Iska Dhaaf as only a two-piece, even when they're right in front of you. The sound of their full-bodied post-punk is supported by Benjamin Verdoes' (Mt. St. Helen's Vietnam Band) unique ability to simultaneously play the keyboard and drums. It takes a talented musician to …
KEXP, STG, and Starbucks kicked off the new year with another fine edition of our benefit series, Little Big Show. On January 31st, we joined together to raise money for Reel Grrls, a program where girls ages 9-21 can learn media production skills from volunteer professionals and voice their indivi…
Each time we've gone back to Iceland over the past five years, we've been fortunate to discover and share with KEXP listeners quite a few bands who might not otherwise leave their shores. For every Sugarcubes and Sigur Rós, we found dozens of others, like Hjaltalín, Ásgeir, Of Monsters and Men (bac…
Our broadcast during Iceland Airwaves isn't always about the Iceland bands. While we do enjoy spotlighting groups that KEXP listeners might not otherwise hear, we also love to share with our Nordic friends some of our own favorites, like NYC's Caveman, whose lush, dreamy indie pop sound translates …
It had to be one of the stranger pairings we heard about this year: acclaimed electronic producer Nicolas Jaar and the relatively unknown Dave Harrington. That the two might be friends from their Brown University connection (both studied there) mades sense, but what would a composer of heady ambien…
UK indie pop trio London Grammar have been causing quite a stir lately, and the fact that they don’t even have a record out in the United States yet didn’t deter a single member of the full house they met Monday night at the Crocodile. Their debut LP, If You Wait, has soared towards the top of the …
Brooklyn indie synth rock band Small Black stopped by Seattle this past weekend in support of their great new record Limits of Desire (you can grab the lead single "Free At Dawn" from our Song of the Day podcast here). With Limits of Desire, Small Black grow the fuzzy enveloped psychedelia of their…
Easily one of the best albums of the year so far, Muchacho most fully realizes the ideas, sound and aesthetic that Brooklyn (by way of Alabama)'s Matthew Houck has been developing for the past decade as Phosphorescent. Whether spare, lush, atmospheric or raucously barn-burning, the songs on Muchach…
With roots that stretch back to carefree two person jam sessions at Gasworks Park, the well-rounded Seattle septet Hey Marseilles has grown in the last nine years not just in size, but in the power and scope of their songwriting and performance. In this KEXP live in-studio performance they show wh…
Two Seattle bands top this week's list of new releases. Since 2011's full-length No Witch, The Cave Singers added Blood Brothers/Past Lives/Fleet Foxes (among others) member Morgan Henderson to their lineup and teamed up with Fleet Foxes producer Phil Ek for their fourth LP Naomi out on Jagjaguwar.…
Grant Hart, drummer and co-founder of the influential punk trio Hüsker Dü, has passed away at the age of 56. His wife, Brigid McGough, confirmed to NPR that he died Wednesday night at the University of Minnesota Medical Center of complications from liver cancer and hepatitis. On Facebook, his forme…
Categorization systems are important for us as humans. It's how we make sense of this sometimes nonsensical world we live in. Which is why as soon as radio delivered us a bevy of different styles of music, we immediately had to put everyone into categories, starting with the basics: jazz, rock, cla…
First Aid Kit returned last month with the new single "It's A Shame," and today they've announced that a forthcoming album will be released early next year. Entitled Ruins, the album was recorded in Portland with Decemberists/My Morning Jacket producer Tucker Martine and features appearances from R…
Tune-Yards have returned with a brand new song that comes alongside an announcement that they'll be following up 2014's Nikki Nack with a brand new album called I can feel you creep into my private life, due January 19th via 4AD. The LP is produced by longtime collaborator Nate Brenner, who is now …
