Anxiety, nausea, discord - they're not just the frequent subjects of Parquet Courts' songs, but the feelings their fans get while waiting between albums. Usually, the wait's never too long, as the Brooklyn group eases jitters by alternating albums and EP's in quick succession. The extra months it t…
Parquet Courts go on location in this clip for "Berlin Got Blurry," a single from their forthcoming fifth full-length Human Performance, out April 8th via Rough Trade. Director Claes Nordwall follows frontman Andrew Savage as he meanders about the scenic European city, riding the train, using pay …
Former Fiery Furnaces frontwoman Eleanor Friedberger returns next year with her third solo full-length, New View, out January 22nd on Frenchkiss Records. The album was recorded "live to tape" with her backing band, Icewater, and producer Clemens Knieper in a converted barn studio in Germantown, Ne…
The last time I posted on The Smiths in this space, I was pretty bummed about the disappearance of various local businesses and the gloomy weather. Good thing those days are behind us, right? Hahahahaha! Ha! Ha. Suffice it to say it's been a while, and there are a number of fine Smiths albums with …
If Chaz Bundick, a.k.a. multi-instrumentalist/producer Toro Y Moi, is one of the founding fathers of chillwave, he seems to have defected in recent years to a rogue nation operating under somewhat looser rules and conditions. In this new land, framed by Bundick’s most recent LP, What For?, a greate…
In a manner of speaking, frontmen Tim Jenkins and Tom Crandles are master tightrope walkers. The duo behind Au.Ra balance shared singing duties, varying music styles, and even hometowns (shuttling often between Sydney and London) with striking ease and control. Take “You’re On My Mind”, the first s…
Portland awoke to the resounding hiss-and-crack of PBR tallboys and the camp-tastic house party vibes of local band Wampire Sunday afternoon at Project Pabst. Their hazy psych rock medley was followed by charmingly twee local pop group Wild Ones, who delivered meticulously jammy indie pop. Lead sin…
Matt Johnson's The The is yet another band (or musical project, if you prefer, since it seems to have been Johnson and whatever troupe of brilliant musicians he could round up when it came time to make a record) that I never listened to in their heyday/my youth, and I can't quite figure out why. Ma…
I'm very excited to announce the launch of Immigrant Songs, a cool new series that highlights foreign-born musicians and their music along with unique stories of the immigrant experience. I'll be curating the series alongside Wo' Pop host Darek Mazzone. While Derek and I have always championed a wi…
It's hard to live up to a name like theirs, and harder still to shine brightly for over fifteen years, but Stars have not only lost none of their shimmering allure - they've somehow turned an amorphous Canadian collective, on par and in cahoots with Broken Social Scene, into a consistently producti…
It's difficult to imagine something Steve Earle hasn't done yet, but, believe it or not, until recently, the Texas-raised singer, songwriter, performer, actor, writer and teacher had yet to sing the blues. On his new LP, Earle pays overdue tribute to those who preceded and inspired him, and like th…
Carrying on the long tradition of the Motor City's vast musical heritage, Jessica Hernandez & the Deltas drop by KEXP to electrify our live room with their exhilarating and captivating energy. The Detroit’s rockers are in dazzling form - Hernandez' voice, with its vibrato and quality a bit more…
Remember when The Decemberists performed on the NBC show Parks & Recreation? Well, now one of the stars of that TV show, Nick Offerman, stars in the video for the Portland band's track "Make You Better." Watch their hilarious spoof on a '70s German interview show below. The Decemberists' upcom…
Our fourth day of live Iceland Airwaves music from Kex Hostel in the volcanic wonderland of Iceland kicked off early and with a high energy middle finger. Oh, are you hung over from Reykjavik's infamously late nightlife? Pink Street Boys don't care. These boys claim to be the loudest band in Icelan…
"You don’t have to be anyone if you don’t want to / You don’t have to get a job if you don’t want to" and you definitely don't have to listen to Howler if you don't want to. But that would be a damn shame because the Minneapolis yeehaw boys have returned with their second album of infectious punky …
With rowdy organ and improvised slide guitar, Tango Alpha Tango is not your typical rock 'n' roll band. Since 2008, the Portland-based musicians have released three albums and a three-track preview. Their newest product, Black Cloud, is a longer, heavier, piece of work, placing Tango Alpha Tango on…
Has it really been 23 years since the last Pixies album? On April 29th, the influential band end the streak with the release of Indie Cindy via their own Pixiesmusic label. The full-length compiles the previously-released EP-1, EP-2, and EP-3, all recorded without founding member Kim Deal. Stream …
Conceived originally as a duo by singer/guitarist Brian Harding and singer/keyboardist Amalie Bruun (ex-Hymns and ex-Minks respectively), Ex Cops explore the depths of pop through a psych-tinged haze. Influences on their aptly titled 2013 debut, True Hallucinations, range from early 80's NZ jangle …
Toro y Moi kicked off his world tour with a performance at Sasquatch to the increasingly tired but never lacking in excitement crowd (see exhausted dancing). His set was between the PNW's Odesza in the morning and Disclosure's in the afternoon - a line-up of three amazing and impossible to not danc…
While we're all waiting for the warm weather to officially take hold (we've been given an enticingly cruel taste of it here in Northwest), Vampire Weekend has created the perfect summer album to fuel your anticipation. At times wistfully nostalgic, percolatingly peppy and even fiercely energetic, M…
