"I'm going to get all VH1 on you for a minute if you're okay with that, crowd of 85% shirtless men." Colin Meloy may be a bookworm at heart, but he's spent the last fifteen years learning how to be a rock frontman, and during The Decemberists' Saturday evening mainstage set, those skills were put t…
There are some people that say there is art in restraint. Those are the types of people Sleigh Bells eat for breakfast. Derek Miller and Alexis Krauss are back for round three this week with Bitter Rivals, and they are going even harder and even heavier. And it’s a good thing too – now more than ev…
I had not expected to even make it to Disclosure at the El Chupacabra tent. And I never would have known what to expect from then electronic-music-genius brothers if I hadn't seen the video or "Control feat.Ria Ritchie", which is one of several songs featuring amazing guest vocals that they two hav…
Among all the new releases this week, it's hard to escape the one from Daft Punk. Their new album, Random Access Memories, is the first by the band in eight years. The 13-track record begins with a bang via its track "Give Life Back to Music", a funky, 70's-inspired song with trademark robot-style …
It's hard to believe, but LAKE are celebrating their tenth anniversary as a band this year. The charming Northwest outfit formed in Olympia, debuting at frontman Eli Moore's birthday party, and since then, have released eight full-lengths, four of those on legendary local label K Records. Over the …
Philadelphia rockers The War On Drugs have been touring tirelessly on the wide success of their third album, 2014's Lost In The Dream. KEXP listeners voted it as their top album of the year, and with good reason. Singer and songwriter Adam Granduciel wrote the songs during a post-tour period of iso…
For a band that's distinctly Scottish, The Vaselines couldn't be more "Northwest", and now more so than ever. Formed by current members, Eugene Kelly and Frances McKee, the Glasgow group released only one album before breaking up in 1989. That might have been the end for their catchy, quirky, charm…
Early last month, we were thrilled to present R&B musician Cody ChesnuTT at the Triple Door as part of our VIP Club Concert series. His sound is a fresh kind of soul-R&B-rock hybrid that excellently displays his raw, natural talent as an entertainer. ChesnuTT's powerful and expressive vocal…
We're a week away from the release of the new Father John Misty album, the highly-anticipated Pure Comedy, out April 7th on Sub Pop Records. He's been sharing tracks left-and-right all year, including a 13-minute opus titled "Leaving L.A." Today, he offers up the Radio Edit, which whittles it down…
The kids may be off to school but former teen group Arctic Monkeys is all grown up. Now on their fifth full-length, out this week, the British-born, LA-based band have left behind any brattiness for what our Music Director, Don Yates, calls "a slower, thicker and more atmospheric rock sound, while …
It's an eclectic mix of new releases this week, including some moody music out of the UK, led by trip-hop pioneer Tricky, whose latest album is, according to our Music Director, Don Yates, "his most focused effort in years" featuring the sounds he's most known for, i.e. "gloomy, mostly downtempo be…
A couple of months ago, we were able to tease the forthcoming album by Fruit Bats, the "reunited" project of one Eric D. Johnson, who broke from his 16-year career under that name, recorded briefly as EDJ, and now is back. His forthcoming album's first song, "From A Soon To Be Ghost Town", which we…
If their lyrics give any sense of how tough the ladies of Warpaint are, the Los Angeles quartet aren't a band so much as they are a gang. Not in the organized crime sense, but in the "don't mess with us" sense. Case in point: On "Elephants", the second track on the band's 2008 debut EP Exquisite C…
For a moment there, it looked like The National's headlining set at Sasquatch – one of the band's biggest shows to date – was going to be underwhelming. For the first twenty minutes, the band felt too mellow, and frontman Matt Berninger, disinterested. And then, after "Don't Swallow The Cap", a swi…
“Hey Joe, sorry to hurt you, but they say love is a virtue, don’t they?” On The National’s new single “Sea of Love”, this quiet apology to a friend is a battle cry for affirmation of love. At this point, The National are indie rock legends, and themes of terrible love and trying relationship are no…
I've probably said this before, but this is kind of the perfect Review Revue album. Released on RR favorites Shimmy Disc (see also here and here and here and here and oh yes, over here), featuring members of Half Japanese, partially recorded at Inner Ear studios (okay, that's more of a me thing), b…
As the days grow shorter, the list of exciting new albums seems to grow longer. Though none of the big year-end blockbusters are out yet, there's a lot to choose from on the new release shelves at your favorite record store, including the latest from Moderat. This second LP by the collaboration of …
"You got your peanut butter on my chocolate?" No, we got your chocolate on Thurston Moore! Or maybe it was the other way around! Either way, a simple chocolate bar wrapper was the inspiration for a brand new song, written on the spot, by Thurston and his new project Chelsea Light Moving. No doubt …
Damn, 2013, you are looking good! You just keep hitting us week after week with one killer list of new releases after another. This week, there's no way we're not going to run out to pick up the latest from long-time KEXP favorite Frightened Rabbit. As if there was any doubt that this would land hi…
Whether you're feeling moody or in a mood to dance, you'll find what you need among this week's new releases. Topping the list of must-buys in record stores today comes from U.K. trio Daughter, who were a standout during our CMJ broadcast last year with their highly emotive and engaging performanc…
