While all you hipsters were at the Capitol Hill Block Party this weekend, I was across town at a completely. different. event. You had man buns, tattoos, ripped jeans. I had mini-vans, lawn chairs, and sensible khaki cargo shorts. To be fair, we both had to endure screaming crazies with drinks spil…
If you've wondered what might happen if you combined the sound and spirit of Bikini Kill or Pavement with the politics (as in none) and slacker mentality of Best Coast or Mac DeMarco then wonder no more, because Vancouver B.C.'s The Courtneys have made this a reality. They make fuzzy slacker rock w…
After a blistering in-studio session at KEXP, young Benjamin Booker has released his self-titled debut album, which KEXP's Music Director Don Yates calls "a powerful blend of energetic garage rock and postpunk with gritty blues and soul, featuring a variety of visceral songs with explosive guitar r…
Seattle's Beat Connection play a wicked combination of live instruments, electronic beats, synths and samples. The guys who comprise the band met at the University of Washington and have stayed local and loyal to the Pacific Northwest as they grow more and more well-known. We had a chance to catch …
From the dance clubs of São Paulo to the Kent Avenue scene in Brooklyn, Montreal-native Thomas Arsenault, a.k.a. Mas Ysa, has found inspiration across the globe to create his rich, beat-driven songs. After discovering techno while in high school in Brazil, Arsenault went on to study Modern Composit…
What a week Cut Copy has had: not only were they live on The Morning Show on KEXP from The Cutting Room Studios NYC, but the next day, they were on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon! Watch them perform the track "We Are Explorers" from their most recent release Free Your Mind below. [Pitchfork]
This Friday, Seattle band The Maldives will be performing an original score for the 1928 film The Wind at The Triple Door June 7th (that’s this Friday!). The event, which includes two performances (one all-ages at 7pm and one 21+ at 9:30pm), is part of the Seattle International Film Festival series.
Brooklyn soul revivalists Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings have announced a new album, Give the People What They Want, and have released a new track from it. Funky and everything the people wanted from a follow-up, "Retreat!" is also sassy - "live with me and you'll play with fire." Check it out. [Pi…
I think it's safe to say that at some point in the history of your life, you watched an infomercial. Be it to fall asleep, out of boredom, or for a laugh. Pissed Jeans "Bathroom Laughter" video is nothing like those infomercials - imagine if that infomercial was a nightmare. Set to their frantic, s…
On Saturday night, a small, but hardcore, audience gathered at The Neptune to enjoy a band that’s been touring steadily for 35 years. The Church is one of the few '80s bands that’s continued to put out new music throughout their long career and this tour is to support their 26th album Man Woman Lif…
Join Midday Show host Cheryl Waters on a musical Ævintýr (Icelandic for adventure) featuring tons of great new songs including many that have yet to be released. Dig in and enjoy! 1. Winnebago - Blinders 2. Other Lives - Reconfiguration 3. Sóley - Ævintýr 4. Sufjan Stevens - Should Have Known Be…
It's impossible to say the name of the Melbourne sextet King Gizzard & Lizard Wizard without conjuring images of fantastical garage fury and on each of their records, the prolific group have only further honed their scuzzy, slashing rock with tones both spacious and slaying. The band with…
After taking time to do projects that allowed him to, in his own words, “take some time off from being Jens Lekman,” the Swedish musician has returned to his day job of being himself with his latest LP, the cleverly-titled Life Will See You Now. Returning to the KEXP Live Room with DJ Stevie Zoom…
Paris Combo's most recent album, this year's Tako Tsubo, is named for the Japanese-named condition of what's commonly known as “broken heart syndrome”, but it's hardly morose. If anything, the colorful, flowing sounds of this session imply that there's anything but sadness…
Next month we celebrate the 20th birthday of High/Low, the timeless full-length debut from New York indie rock stalwarts Nada Surf. The band celebrated the milestone in great fashion, reissuing the record on beautiful orange vinyl through Vinyl Me Please and giving it a fantastic packaging makeover…
If there were baseball cards for Sub Pop bands, Toronto hardcore band METZ would be the 1.0 benchmark for live performance batting average. They just don't make 'em like METZ every day. No matter where they play, whether it be a massive festival stage (like Sub Pop's own Silver Jubilee several year…
A mosh pit of all smiles is a beautiful and wonderful thing. Real mosh pits are great to start with. Not fake circle pits where following the leader dominates any true form of atomic self expression, but a real "I drank a little too much and don't mind being throw around by the couple people who re…
On Friday night, April 7th, local heroes Pearl Jam are being inducted into the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame in a ceremony at Barclays Center in New York. (Other inductees include Joan Baez, Electric Light Orchestra, Journey, Tupac Shakur, and Yes.) HBO will air the event later this month on April 29th…
For a band that's distinctly Scottish, The Vaselines couldn't be more "Northwest", and now more so than ever. Formed by current members, Eugene Kelly and Frances McKee, the Glasgow group released only one album before breaking up in 1989. That might have been the end for their catchy, quirky, charm…
