Another light summer week of new releases, but there's a handful hitting shelves today that you'll definitely want to check out. Portland singer-songwriter Alela Diane tops the list with her fourth album of heartbreaking (and broken) folk-pop, highlighting her rich voice and often personal lyrics. …
Seattle duo Crater - Ceci Gomez and Kessiah Gordon - stopped by for an in-studio, both to play us some tracks from their debut, Talk to Me so I Can Fall Asleep, and to talk to DJ Sharlese about drooling in their sleep and The Sims "Hot Date" Expansion Pack. Crater only emerged in 2014 to immediate …
The lyrics "My fingers have shriveled and dropped to the dirt / and two giant talons have grown where they were" sound like a recurring nightmare, but in Chad VanGaalen's song "Monster," that's exactly what he's looking for. Ramshackler extraordinaire, DIY genius, and honestly weird CVG showcased h…
Steamier than a geothermal pool, My bubba write songs that will warm your heart (and other parts) on a cold winter's day. The Icelandic/Swedish folk duo, formerly known as My bubba & Mi, shared their sultry songs for the second year in a row at KEX Hostel in Reykjavik during Iceland Airwaves, t…
Australian band San Cisco’s first time in Seattle included a stop by KEXP for an in-studio with Cheryl Waters. “That was more fun than a barrel of monkeys,” joked Waters, describing the performance. Formed in 2009 in the small city of Fremantle, Australia (the same town home to Tame Impala), San Ci…
Entertainment attorney Dina LaPolt talks about her recent opinion piece in Variety titled, “Rap Lyrics Now Admissible in Court Evidence: A Dangerous Precedent.”
There's a lot of things we love about our KEXP New Home, like having the space to house a beautiful baby grand piano (on permanent loan), and then hearing the gorgeous playing of artist John Grant down the hallways, with each chord reverberating and filling our in-studio space with the purest of so…
Unknown Mortal Orchestra has not slowed down since releasing the spectacular 2015 album, Multi-Love. The band has been on an ambitious world tour since the release of the album, and solved many people’s first world problem of a lack of new UMO music last week by releasing a new single. Aptly title…
Canadian indie legends Metric have undoubtedly "made it." They're at the glorious stage in a career where they have the commercial success to justify any off-kilter choice they make, while still being independent enough that they have the freedom to make those off-kilter choices without any corpora…
We've got more new music to share from Return to the Moon, the highly-anticipated debut of EL VY, a collaboration between Matt Berninger of The National and Brent Knopf of Ramona Falls/Menomena, out October 30th on 4AD. Check out a lyric video, directed by Matt's brother Tom Berninger, for the sin…
Earlier this month, we reported on the fantastic pairing of Matt Berninger of The National and Ramona Falls’ Brent Knopf, recording under the name EL VY (pronounced like the plural of Elvis). Today, Berninger explains a bit more about their forthcoming debut, Return to the Moon, out October 30th o…
What brought two already well known and respected artists together to collaborate on a new project? The internet, of course. Though Aimee Mann and Ted Leo shared a casual friendship and a liking for each other's music, they bonded over things "#dumb" on Twitter. Eventually, a 140-character comedic …
“One of my dreams is about to come true,” DJ Derek Mazzone said, introducing the psychedelic Brazilian rock band Os Mutantes before their performance live on KEXP's Wo'Pop. The band, part of the Tropicália artistic movement that bridged popular culture with the avant-garde in the 1960s in Brazil, c…
Record Store Day may yet be three weeks away, but you'll find a ton of great new music at your favorite record shop today, including the latest from The Black Angels. KEXP listeners have long been fans of this Austin band, and in fact we even had them perform in-studio before the release of their v…
You should expect chaos when a world full of musicians enters your room. Even as the live session began, the twelve members of Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros were still scrambling to find their place and check their tuning. But it fits their neo-hippy vibe. After all, long before Josh Tillm…
CHVRCHES have teamed up with actress Kristen Stewart for a live version of their track "Down Side of Me," which can be found on the box set 7-Inches for Planned Parenthood (with 100% of the proceeds being donated to Planned Parenthood, natch). In a press release, frontwoman Lauren Mayberry says th…
We couldn't be more serious: the latest from longtime singer/songwriter Andrew Bird is the artist's most intimate album yet. Not only has Bird opened his life to a wife and child, but he's opened up his music. "Most of my productions have been very autonomous," he confirms to DJ Cheryl Waters. But …
Minneapolis must have been a magical place in the '80s with bands like Hüsker Dü breaking through the mainstream, and venues like First Avenue and the 7th Street Entry helping hone these rising new stars. A little bit of that magic was in the KEXP studios this day as Hüsker Dü's former frontman, Bo…
When asked how they deal with the stress of extensive touring, Yelle quips, "We are planking. Every day." Maybe we should be taking notes. Hailing from Brittany, France, electropop duo Yelle (Julie Budet) and Grandmarnier (Jean-François Perrier) have captured a wide following in recent years with f…
"I just wanna keep very, very quiet," admits Aly Spaltro (a.k.a Lady Lamb) at the end of the fourth verse of "Billions of Eyes". It's not an inaccurate statement, but it also doesn't mean she won't get loud when she needs to. Spaltro builds intricate songs that move through dynamics and lyrics more…
