Looks like new Spoon is on the way! The Austin-via-Portland-via-Who Knows band shared a mysterious image on social media that looks like a possible album cover. Adding to the mystery, Matador Records shared it as well. Viewers of the Showtime TV series Shameless were treated to a new song last Sun…
Next on the KEXP live video stream from KEX Hostel at Iceland Airwaves Music Festival was brand-new band Andy Svarthol. Comprised of brothers Egill and Bjarki Hreinn Viðarsson). Andy Svarthol came together in 2015 after Egill’s other project Nóra went on hiatus. They aren’t even in the festival’s o…
This Sunday, February 26th, not only can you hear new music from beloved local band Pickwick, but it will be for a great cause! Over at The Crocodile, Galen Disston and crew will perform tracks from their highly-anticipated upcoming LP LoveJoys. And, also on this impressive bill are Beat Connection…
Day 2 of KEXP's visit to the OFF Music Festival in Katowice, Poland was a perfect reflection of what founder Artur Rojek is aiming for: diversity not only in sound but in origin. KEXP's DJ Morgan spent time chatting with musicians from around the globe: up-and-coming Warsaw band Bastard Disco, Toky…
If the gender politics of the Raunch Hands were controversial 30+ years ago (and they were, as you will see below), I'm not surprised you don't hear them much on the air these days. In fact, I can't find reference to a single Raunch Hands spin on KEXP in recent years - even on Shake the Shack, whic…
Sylvan Esso released their sophomore LP What Now in April and today the band has shared a video for the song "The Glow." The song is a celebration of young love and the video directed by Elise Tyler follows the lives of various young couples in New York who end up at a Sylvan Esso concert. Sylvan E…
As previously reported, Chris Cornell of the legendary band Soundgarden has passed away. We now have footage of the very last song Soundgarden played before Cornell's death last night in Detroit. "Slaves and Bulldozers" was a deep cut from the album Badmotorfinger and is an interesting choice in l…
UK trio The xx are heading out on tour soon (including a Monday, April 24th stop at CenturyLink Field), but before they go, they've shared a video for the track "Say Something Loving." Director Alasdair McLellan captures young Londoners caught in lazers and love. On Facebook, the band state, "We w…
The 2016 Summer Olympics kick off this Friday in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. More than 200 nations will compete 28 different categories: synchronized swimming, table tennis, canoe slalom, and many others (that seem less fun to me). Rio de Janeiro beat out Madrid, Chicago, and Tokyo to host, and in hono…
Peter Michel seems to be living in the breezy midpoint in between lying in bliss and getting lost in the moment, so it's fitting that the Seattle' musician and his comrades in Hibou opened the Bigfoot stage on a day that fell into that same feeling. Most of Hibou's catalog runs at a midtempo pace a…
British outfit The Big Pink burst on the scene with their 2009 debut album, A Brief History Of Love, for 4AD, propelled by the massive pop single Dominos that showcased their widescreen fusion of rock, pop, and electronic styles. The band recently released their new EP, Empire Underground, signalin…
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…
