What's better than beer and music? Beer, music, and supporting all ages venues; that's what. This Saturday, Elysian Brewery brings their Search Party festival to Seattle Center and they're donating all the proceeds from the event to The Vera Project. Not just that, but you'll get to see fiery perfo…
Leading up until the Upstream Music Fest + Summit, a Northwest regionally focused festival with over 300 acts, KEXP will be featuring a new local artist from the lineup with an interview and suggested tracks for where to start. Today’s post features Seattle indie rock songwriter Emma Lee Toyoda, pe…
Mary Timony is back with a new project, Ex Hex, whose debut album is appropriately titled Rips, 'cause this does. The former Helium frontwoman/Wild Flag guitarist brings her trademark shred to the single "Don’t Wanna Lose." Rips comes out 10/7 on Merge Records. [Stereogum]
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…
After spending some time apart to work on other projects, Black Mountain eased back into the void between heavy and haunting that they've long occupied for their fourth LP, 2016's "IV". Their crunchy sludge now a potent force for over a decade, the Vancouver quintet join Cheryl Waters fo…
Sometimes, random happenstance can lead to wonderful things - the entire existence of Got A Girl exists as a testament to this. While on set during the filming of the Edgar Wright film adaption of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead got a chance to meet Dan The Automator, w…
We were afraid when Eric D. Johnson announced the demise of the beloved indie pop band Fruit Bats that we'd heard the last of him. But as he put that project to bed, during a recent in-studio, he assured KEXP listeners he'd be back with more music. We just had no idea how soon! Barely six months si…
New York indie rock gods Yeah Yeah Yeahs make their long awaited return this year with a bludgeoning of contradictions. The trio - made up of singer Karen O, guitarist Nick Zinner, and drummer Brian Chase - has made the books in recent history with indie rock anthems like "Zero", "Phenomena", and "…
Seattle songwriter Raven Matthews goes by many names, from his birth name to RVN and now Raven Hollywood. With each new moniker, you can feel his progression as an artist. On his latest EP, IRL, the Raven Hollywood name aptly embodies the grand and murky folk noir visions. Following up last year's …
Dan Bejar is releasing his 12th solo album as Destroyer. The National will deliver their 7th album Sleep Well Beast. Erika M. Anderson has a new album as EMA. The Shins put out Heartworms. English indie rock band Daughter have an interesting new project about the be released, a video game soundtrac…
To state the obvious, The Fabulous Downey Brothers know how to put on a hell of a show. The sextet's costume changes, frenetic dual vocals, prop comedy (industrial shrub material; see below), and themes of extraterrestrial body modification killed at the Vera Project-curated Buttnick Building space…
Since the release of his debut 7" single in 2010, this project spearheaded by Seattle native Justin Vallesteros has steadily won over fans with a lush and bittersweet style of dream-pop that has shone brightly on two albums released via premiere NYC-based indie label Captured Tracks. Craft Spells' …
Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys shares a new track from his side project The Arcs: stream the song "Outta My Mind" below, which will be released on 7" on July 7th. Hopefully side A and side B will tide you over for the summer: The Arcs' debut album Yours, Dreamily doesn't hit stores until September…
Yes, it’s about to occur again: The Experience Music Project’s Pop Conference, where the best minds of our music journalist generation melt into a whorl of theory, debate, fussy details, bold assertions, bizarre reveals, and loving feels. Papers are given by salty academics, biz workers, scribe-ner…
British electronic duo Orbital have announced their retirement. Brothers Paul and Phil Hartnoll have been making music together since the 80's, but according to their official statement: "Nothing lasts forever and it’s time to stop." Phil wasted no time announcing his own solo project called 8:58.…
UK label Transgressive Records celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, and all month long, they'll be sharing free downloads spanning their decade of musical awesomeness. Today, they share the Record Store Day track "Jupiter" by The Antlers, which was originally recorded for the compilation The…
We've got another track from Ex-Hex, a new project led by Mary Timony, formerly of Wild Flag, Helium, and (let's just throw it out there 'cause they were awesome) Autoclave. Stream the bad-ass track "Beast" below. The debut full-length from this DC power-trio is titled Rips, and comes out 10/7 on …
The second day of the KEXP broadcast from Mellow Johnny’s Bike Shop in Austin during SXSW. Today, we have another killer lineup starting with folk rock icon Billy Bragg, followed by Thurston Moore's new project Chelsea Light Moving, Sam Beam of Iron & Wine, Icelandic composer Ólafur Arnalds, an…
As I walked into The Paramount, soft shades of yellow and orange illuminated the stage, as shapes slowly changed and morphed into other forms. The colors reflected off of The Paramount’s chandeliers and ornate decorations, and the crowd stood and stared at various points through the venue that glow…
