It’s not every night that you get to enjoy the sounds of two beautiful, local artists and donate to a good cause simultaneously. KEXP’s 19th Little Big Show at the Neptune Theatre was one such exception. The show, whose proceeds benefited Lambert House, a community center in Seattle for LGBTQ youth…
Before legendary soul singer Sharon Jones died last year from pancreatic cancer, she recorded a final album with the Dap-Kings. Today the album has been officially announced and the lead single has been shared. The LP is called Soul Of A Woman and will be out November 17 via Daptone. The single is …
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…
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…
Danger Mouse, a.k.a. Brian Joseph Burton, and The Shins' James Mercer have united once again under the name Broken Bells. They've shared their video for their dazzling new track "Holding on for Life". The visual features actress Kate Mara (American Horror Story, House of Cards) and Anton Yelchin (…
KEXP's Variety Mix host Sean invites you to space out and get vulnerable with Late Night Lachrymosity, a mix of sumptuous synth pop, cosmic R&B, cassette-smeared techno, sneering indie pop and a song about teenaged vampires. Dig in! You won't get too sad, we promise. 1. Braids - Victoria 2. C…
Listening to In A Dream, the new LP from DFA powerhouse The Juan MacLean, we're reminded that it's been a long five years since John MacLean dropped his last proper record, The Future Will Come, back in 2009. That fantastic dance record was laden with Human League-esque back and forth narration bet…
Roughly 2% of producers are women. Femme House is trying to change that.
Going into Jagwar Ma’s Saturday night set at the Yeti Stage at Sasquatch, fans had plenty of reasons to be excited about the Australian trio’s hour-long set. The group has opened for Tame Impala and the xx, two other bands who have made being an introvert sound very cool again, and they've released…
Detroit's Zach Saginaw, a.k.a. Shigeto, has been crafting immaculate and unique music over the past half-decade, most notably and consistently for revered American electronic music label Ghostly International. With a heavy jazz background, a strong love for hip-hop, and prodigious skills as an elec…
Mac DeMarco's mini-LP Another One (out August 7) is streaming over at NPR. He's previewed several songs over the last few weeks, but now all 8-tracks are available for your listening pleasure. The album closer, "My House By The Water," features DeMarco's home address. According to DeMarco, anyone'…
Videos views, that is! KEXP's YouTube channel just surpassed 300,000,000 video views of our own in-house produced content. With a very small team of dedicated producers and volunteers, we uploaded over 350 individual sessions in 2014 alone and are still working on more that we've filmed! Among them…
Seattle's Beat Connection seem to evolve with grace. As is the case with most young bands, they've had plenty of that evolution in the last three years. Their journey from the early house-driven days of 2010's Surf Noir to the vast, green sound of their 2012 debut LP Palace Garden and even through …
It hasn't been that long since Seattle band The Cave Singers performed songs from their excellent 2013 album, Naomi, live in the KEXP studio, so when we asked them to perform a special session as part of KEXP's VIP Club Concert series just three months later, they went back to their own studio and …
It’s Sunday night, July 6, 2014, and I’m front and center at the Paramount Theater waiting for New Order to hit the stage. The lights are dim as techs move back and forth across the stage, checking guitars and synthesizers and making sure everything’s in its right place. Meanwhile, the tour DJ play…
If the gender politics of the Raunch Hands were controversial 30+ years ago (and they were, as you will see below), I'm not surprised you don't hear them much on the air these days. In fact, I can't find reference to a single Raunch Hands spin on KEXP in recent years - even on Shake the Shack, whic…
Seattle's Jason Baxter & Kyle Hargus craft colorful electronic music under the moniker USF, rising up with the pioneering chillwave album Ocean Sunbirds in 2009 as Universal Studios Florida. They've been unleashing more club-inspired jams on a string of EPs under the shortened alias, most recen…
Next on the Iceland Airwaves broadcast live from Kex Hostel was Icelandic indie-rock artist Júníus Meyvant. Hailing from the remote Vestmann Islands, Júníus Meyvant (the pseudonym used by Unnar Gísli Sigurmundsson) started playing music later than most, after finding a beat-up guitar at his parents…
Portland awoke to the resounding hiss-and-crack of PBR tallboys and the camp-tastic house party vibes of local band Wampire Sunday afternoon at Project Pabst. Their hazy psych rock medley was followed by charmingly twee local pop group Wild Ones, who delivered meticulously jammy indie pop. Lead sin…
The Sumner Brothers, the Vancouver B.C.-based alt-country band, co-led by brother Bob and Brian Sumner, stopped by KEXP to play a moving set on The Roadhouse with Greg Vandy. Looming with almost nightmarish instrumentation, but calming, yearning vocals, the band finds the listener’s ear immediately…