From the downstroke of the show opener "Bullet" from their new record Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action, Franz Ferdinand had Showbox Sodo off its feet. "Bullet" is an easy highlight off the band's fourth LP, with its furious bass line and scream-along chorus concert ready at impact, and the…
Ty Segall is like the American Horror Story of rock 'n' roll. The now-LA based maniacal, musical polymath constantly reinvents while rotating a cast of characters around a shifting approach to one theme: to rock the living shit out of you. Though his latest album - and what we can assume to be just…
Seattle, you never cease to amaze us with your passion for music, and we love you for it! Despite rare high temperatures in the mid-90s, over a thousand of you came out last Friday for the latest edition of Concerts at the Mural. And, a little heat was so worth it with the great bill we had. Local …
There are many ways to “get down,” and Thao and crew seemingly discovered them all on Monday at Sasquatch! Music Festival. Thao and the Get Down ripped through a festival ready set, encouraging the crowd to get down in every possible way. Whether it was through the plucky rhythm the group often hel…
Describing My Morning Jacket's live show is almost as difficult as describing their music. While tagging it with a reductive broad stroke isn't that hard ("rock music"), listing out the individual elements that play into the band's style can come off as too disparate to make it their music seem com…
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…
British psych pop four-piece Temples have garnered a lot of attention in the short time since their formation in 2012. Their 2014 debut, Sun Structures, made its way onto lots of best-of lists. Consequently, the Bigfoot stage was considerably crowded as they launched into the single "Shelter Song".…
Fisherman's Village Music Festival — you had us at The Helio Sequence, hook, line, and sinker. The Helio Sequence always deliver an amazing show, and this one promises to be extra special, as it's days before the Portland duo release a new record and hit the road for a national tour. New music abou…
Portland quartet Summer Cannibals are hungry for more, returning with their sophomore release Show Us Your Mind, self-released via their own New Moss Records on March 3rd. Recorded and mixed by the famed Larry Crane at Jackpot Recording Studios, the album features the sharp Northwest punk-pop sound…
KEXP, the community of Everett, and the Everett Music Initiative banded together over the weekend of May 16th and 17th to bring some powerful sound (more than 50 bands in total!) to Snohomish County's own sleepy fishing town with the inception of the very first Fisherman's Village Music Festival. A…
A rubber band is the perfect picture to fit Swedish electronic outfit Little Dragon. Up to this point, the band has been carving a unique sound that occupies a haunting modern space somewhere between historical influences like Massive Attack and Bjork. After singer Yukumi Nagano made an appearance …
They don't call it the land of fire and ice for nothing. Geographically, Iceland is a land of extremes, from its vast glaciers to its active volcanos. But there must be some space in the middle where the two meet. In Norse mythology, that space, between fiery Muspelheim and icy Niflheim, is where l…
You'll never hear the sound of yearning like you will through the sonic lens of Daughn Gibson. The one-time trucker from Nazareth, Pennsylvania, is a new signee to Sub Pop, and this week, he releases his second LP, Me Moan, his first for the label. Gibson is a curiosity - his Sub Pop bio reads like…
KEXP is proud to support Pickathon and happy to announce the release of this year's daily schedule. The three-day festival at Pendarvis Farm in Happy Valley, OR (very close to Portland), on August 2-4, includes performances by over 45 artists on 7 stages, but one of its most unique features is that…
Few bands have influenced Seattle's sound like Mudhoney. Twenty five years ago, to this month, Mark Arm and Steve Turner rejoined after leaving Green River to form a group that would weather all storms of the so-called "Grunge" scene. Their initial, poorly selling but highly influential single and …
This week's short list of new releases sees some old names returning with fresh new sounds. 80's electronic alternative icons Depeche Mode return with their thirteenth studio album, perhaps their strongest effort yet in this post Y2K world. Delta Machine contains the familiar tropes: dark eroticism…
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…
