First up on day four of KEXP's live stream from Kex Hostel at Iceland Airwaves Music Festival is Icelandic hip hop artist Sturla Atlas. The stage name for singer Sturla Atlason, Sturla Atlas makes 90's-style hip hop and RnB injected with Icelandic humor that manages to be both over-the-top and tota…
The thrill is gone. Yesterday, B.B. King passed away at age 89. Born Riley B. King in 1925 in Itta Bena, Mississippi, the legendary guitarist and songwriter became known worldwide for his distinctive voice and nimble finger picking, particularly on his constant companion, the Gibson guitar he named…
All throughout her conversation with Stevie Zoom, Mary Timony kept mentioning how Ex Hex "just came together". You'd be forgiven for thinking a band so fierce and tight could never be assembled so serendipitously, but when you've got a trio of D.C. punk lifers in the same room, there's no other pos…
Montreal natives The Luyas have been around since 2006 and have put out some really great records over the years, two of which -- Too Beautiful To Work and Animator -- were included on the long list for the 2011 and 2013 Polaris Music Prize respectively. Their sound is hard to pinpoint, using tons …
Before the Fallon performance, FKA Twigs was a pervasive mystery – a voice and an image spun together in perfect unity to create something entirely other worldly that you felt both drawn to and intimidated by. Maybe it was fear, or maybe it was just mystery, but either way, FKA Twigs was impossible…
There are lots of reasons for two bands to tour with each other. For example, they might have a similar fanbase. Or, they might have a similar sound, and can cater to a single collaborative night of music fairly easily. Or, in the case of Los Angeles pairing Gardens & Villa and De Lux, they mig…
When recording, San Fermin is the creative project of Ellis Ludwig-Leone, a Brooklyn-based composer who began shifting away from classical arrangements to pop ones towards the end of his college years. On tour, San Fermin is an eight-musician tour de force that brings those compositions to life. Wr…
UPDATE 12:00 PM PT: the first half of a track has been shared via BBC Radio 1; listen below.
LCD Soundsystem are releasing two new songs tonight, titled “Call the Police” and “American Dream”! No, we don't actually have the songs yet, but midnight EST (or 9:00 PM PST), both tracks will become avail…
Last year, Odd Future (a.k.a. OFWGKTA) really stepped up its game. Although it has always been more than the negative headlines that circulated around co-founder Tyler, the Creator, who nonetheless held critics' praise, the LA hip hop collective proved to be more than a gimmick with the huge succes…
It's that time of year again: MoPOP’s Sound Off! has been pitting local bands against each other for 16 years now. The all-ages "battle of the bands" have introduced us to acts like The Lonely Forest, Naked Giants, Manatee Commune, and more. The 2017 competition kicks off tonight, Friday, February …
The gaudy, sterile synths, the contrapuntal guitar and bass, the party ready drums, and especially the high-ranging, free-wielding, devil-may-care vocals - if you were there in 2005 when Clap Your Hands Say Yeah rose to indie-stardom with their self-titled, self-released debut, you remember it all.…
This week, Seattle lost a shining star as legendary producer Rick Parashar passed away on Thursday. With his brother Raj, Rick Parashar founded London Bridge Studios, where many of Seattle's iconic records were recorded, including Pearl Jam's Ten, Soundgarden's Louder Than Love, Alice in Chains' Di…
After a while, it's easy for a British indie pop band to fall into sense of safety and sameness, but Bombay Bicycle Club stay true to their name with their most adventurous and exotic album to date. The newly released So Long, See You Tomorrow channels singer and principle songwriter Jack Steadman'…
Opening day two of the KEXP broadcast live from KEX hostel at Iceland Airwaves is Icelandic singer-songwriter Snorri Helgason. His music has classic American folk sensibilities, reminiscent of the likes of Harry Nilsson and Nick Drake. some with sparse instrumentation, and words sung so quietly and…
There's no denying Surfer Blood's love for 90's indie rock. Fragments of Pavement, Pixies and Weezer are undeniable elements in their sound, but the band made a space for themselves on their 2010 debut, Astro Coast, by adding breezy surf melodies blown off the beaches of their Florida home. Since t…
Seattle emcee DoNormaal offers surprise after lyrical surprise in the tightly packed, staccato rhymes brimming on her latest LP, Third Daughter. The rapper, who burst on the Emerald City scene in November 2015 with the release of her beloved first full-length Jump Or Die has maintained status as on…
San Francisco experimental indie band Deerhoof have contributed a cover of Madonna's "Live to Tell" to a new benefit compilation called Post - Trash: Volume Three. The proceeds of the compilation are benefitting the Maria Fund, which is a relief agency to help those affected by the hurricane in Pue…
Greg Vandy explores that summer feeling on this two-hour mix and nod to Barna Howard's new album, plus 18 other road trip worthy songs from up-and-comers like Banditos, Leyla McCalla, The Deslondes, Benjamin Booker, Saun & Starr, Steve Gunn, and Spirit Family Reunion, to name a few. 1. Benja…
