Founding member Chris Walla has announced he's leaving Death Cab for Cutie. In a statement he shared with The Stranger, Walla says "Deciding to leave the band was not, and is not, easy. It’s really, really sad. I love my bandmates, and I’m proud of what we’ve done, and mercifully, those things don…
I got my first dose of Young Fathers after I bought a t-shirt from the Anticon Record Label’s online store. To promote them, Anticon slipped a copy of Tape Two with every shipped order, resulting in widespread dissemination of the new band's developing sound. Luckily, I was one of the many to recei…
Beacon is the project of Brooklyn-based duo Jacob Gossett and Thomas Mullarney III. The two have unveiled a top-notch brand of dark, seductive R&B-tinged electro-pop over two albums and a few EPs for stellar American electronic music label Ghostly International, most recently on their fantastic…
Fireworks, indeed! The Dead Weather - the supergroup of Alison Mosshart, Jack White, Dean Fertita and Jack Lawrence - have announced their third album, Dodge & Burn, will be out in September via White's Third Man Records. A press release claims the band will not be touring in support of the al…
Seattle’s own Nightmare Fortress crash the KEXP live room with their stronghold of sound to unveil a handful of unheard harmonics from their upcoming full length, ‘The Wanting’. Drowning in their heralded Grave Rave otics - guitar strings of tension are mixed with dark, sublime computer manipulatio…
Kristen Dalen is a Seattle-based visual artist, DJ, and classically-trained violinist known for their versatile and deft talents behind the decks, dynamically weaving through the finest in minimal techno, dub, and dark warehouse jams. Also an affiliate of the underground label and collective Blanks…
It's winter in Seattle and although the sun is scarce, the music continues to shine at KEXP. Midday Show host Cheryl Waters brings you a new mix with some early 2015 tracks along with a handful of faves from last year. Dig in and enjoy! 1. Low Roar - Easy Way Out 2. Wye Oak - The Tower 3. Dam Gi…
Next on the KEXP broadcast live from Kex Hostel at Iceland Airwaves 2016 was incredibly talented American singer Adia Victoria. Hailing from South Carolina, Adia was raised by a devout seventh-day-adventist family, and was isolated from much of popular culture for most of her childhood. In high sch…
There's lots to love in the record stores this Valentine's Day week, like the aptly titled Hotel Valentine, the first release in fifteen years from New York City duo Cibo Matto. If you're in a more somber mood, check out the album Benji from Sun Kil Moon aka Mark Kozelek (ex-Red House Painters), fe…
Few band names are as apt as The Cave Singers. Not quite a folk band and definitely not your typical indie rock band, The Cave Singers seem to have hatched their sound in seclusion, as if alone amid darkness and firelight. Their songs are rustic in style but not necessarily in execution, airy but a…
Just a couple weeks away from the release of Floating Coffin, Thee Oh Sees have dropped a new video for the album closer they shared with us last month "Minotaur". And, wonderfully, the video actually features a Minotaur holding a young woman captive in a deep dark dungeon in the forest, where two…
The best collaboration projects seem to happen effortlessly. When two masters of their craft come together, both bringing all their respective elements to the table and begin mixing them, oftentimes, they end up with a heterogenous mixture, swinging unevenly between two opposing poles. Some pieces …
It is likely safe to say that the Fuel Sports Beer Garden has never been fueled with more grooviness than when Poliça took the stage for Upstream on Thursday night. The Minneapolis electro-pop group has their sound and aesthetic on complete lock. Their sleek, contemporary looks are in total unison …
When Vancouver-based band Black Mountain stepped in the studio, we got a contact high. Not necessarily from their clothing, but definitely from their heavy, sludgy, psychedelic sound. Vocalists Stephen McBean and Amber Webber trade verses over a Black Sabbath-inspired wave of droning guitar and key…
London's William Doyle creates innovative, beautifully-constructed, critically-acclaimed music under the name East India Youth. While he's only been active for a few years at this point, he's quickly turned heads with his 2014 Mercury Prize-nominated debut, Total Strife Forever, and his recent 2015…
The DJ comments on this LP call us back to a dark time when not every album was available everywhere in the world instantly upon its release. Many well-loved bands could only be heard by spending way too much money on physical objects that had been transported in small batches from another country …
