"Girls to the front!" This was the mantra for feminist artist Kathleen Hanna when she fronted the influential punk band Bikini Kill in the '90s. Twenty-five years later, Hanna is on tour, presenting the lecture Riot Grrl: Then and Now, and the girls were down in front at the Neptune Theatre, excite…
Uncanny! DJ Kevin Cole's favorite band has written a song about his favorite grocery store: listen to a live version of The Replacements performing "Whole Foods Blues" at a recent show in Los Angeles. Frontman Paul Westerberg displays his usual wicked way with words, lamenting his journey to get a…
West coast weirdo Ariel Pink shares a video today for the track "Jell-O" off last year's stellar full-length Pom Pom. The psychedelic clip, directed by Dan Kapelovitz, showcases vintage meat industry footage interspersed with the band making Jell-O shots. The video is dedicated to the late Kim Fow…
Twenty two years is a long time to wait for a group's second album, but The Juliana Hatfield Three have not missed a beat on the new songs from their recently released, Whatever, My Love. Unlike the vast majority of '90s bands currently slugging it out on the road, this trio does not have to rely o…
Everyone seems to have a story about their love for Elliott Smith. For Seth Avett and Jessica Lea Mayfield, theirs might have started with a dog. The two friends bonded over Smith's songs after Mayfield introduced Avett to her adopted pooch, Elliott. Ongoing conversations about their shared reveren…
KEXP faves Parquet Courts share a new video today for the track "Pretty Machines," off the release Content Nausea from their side project "Parkay Quarts." (Still with us?) Guitarist Austin Brown takes to the streets in this clip co-directed by Johann Rashid (of the band East Link). Check out the m…
December kicks off with another slew of great reissues, including a deluxe version of Yo La Tengo's 1994 release Painful. As frontman Ira Kaplan delightfully quips, "Anyone who ever said they liked our older records more than Painful, I just told them they’re wrong." The deluxe version, titled Extr…
Our first live Iceland Airwaves show of the day from Kex Hostel in Reykjavik was Icelandic indie-folk quintet Árstíðir. Formed in 2008 as a guitar-based group, they've since added piano, violin, and cello to the mix. They incorporate classical, minimalist, and even some prog rock elements into thei…
Day two of Portland's first ever Project Pabst began with Portland psych-pop band Grandparents, then a Heart-meets-Led Zeppelin performance from 2014's Thelma & Louise, a.k.a. rock band Deap Vally, as well as a set from Massachusetts indie rock band Speedy Ortiz. The beer was once again aflowin…
Dinosaur Jr. frontman J Mascis has cut his acting chops on IFC’s Portlandia, and he's joined by the show's co-creator Fred Armisen in his video for the track "Every Morning." (Keep an eye out for a cameo from James Mercer of The Shins!) J will be LIVE on KEXP from NYC this Friday, August 29th at 9…
"It's what turns the kids on," guitarist and vocalist Chuck Cleaver said, defending a bit of questionable narrative during a recent in-studio. We've been fans of Wussy since their first LP, but this year's Attica! is easily one of the year's best. Even if the kid's aren't listening to it, we're gla…
With their latest album, Shiver & Shake, local trio My Goodness shrug off earlier comparisons to the White Stripes and The Black Keys with their dynamic new songs. During their recent in-studio performance at KEXP, frontman Joel Schneider explained to DJ Cheryl Waters that they were really able…
Originally, he didn't want to do it, but Joseph Arthur was eventually convinced to record Lou, a full album of songs by his friend and mentor, the late Lou Reed. Reluctant to turn the modern legend's memory into "an opportunity", Joseph Arthur approached the songs cautiously, simply, and unplugged …
atTentIoN, huManS of eArtH. Hightek Lowlives bring greetings and great sounds from the distant future. The Seattle duo of Otieno Terry and Kjell Nelson toss everything you know about R&B, beat-making, hip-hop and rap, throw it into a time-machine, and send it careening like a bizarre blast from…
It would be great to construct this write-up as a complete palindrome, but probably only Tacocat could pull that off! Instead, let it suffice that this Seattle four-piece is hella charming — from the new ice cream flavor coming out under their name all the way down to their latest album title, NVM,…
Seattle's Wishbeard is one of those great bands that keeps the high hat and snare drum going. This is part of what makes them eminently danceable. With etherial guitars and vocal shouts like wolves howling into the night, the drum keeps a tight, pushing rhythm highlighted by the quickly hit snares …
With the fate of Sonic Youth up in the air, founding guitarist Lee Ranaldo has found steady ground with his group, The Dust. Backed by fellow SY orphan Steve Shelley on drums, along with guitarist Alan Licht and bassist Tim Lüntzel, Ranaldo's tenth album, Last Night on Earth, is his most collaborat…
If you happen to break up with someone don’t go on a drinking binge and record emotional songs with the hopes of playing them for your ex. Right? Well, usually. This equation actually worked for Stuart McLamb, however, frontman for the North Carolina-based group The Love Language. McLamb originally…
Brooklyn-based (formerly San Francisco) shoegaze band Weekend came into the picture at the turn of the decade with Sports, a strong introductory statement that could have seen the band go in plenty of different directions in the future. But in the form of Jinx, their sophomore step mixes dense text…
Following up his latest album, Help Is On The Way, scratchy-voiced local songwriter Gerald Collier stopped by the KEXP studios to play some new songs. Accompanied by friend and collaborator, Anna Horvitz, the duo harmonized over an unassuming acoustic guitar, singing narrative songs about women, fo…
