Most of the bands playing SXSW 2013 are probably going to play about five shows during their time in Austin. Ozomatli are playing five in one day. Founded in 1995, Ozomatli’s multicultural blend of Latin, funk, reggae, and hip hop (among other things) has made them cultural ambassadors on a number …
First up on day three of the KEXP broadcast live from KEX Hostel at Iceland Airwaves Music Festival was soulful Icelandic-American blues-rock band Moji & The Midnight Sons. Conceived of in a small Reykjavik whiskey bar under the light of the midnight sun, Moji and the Midnight Sons are new face…
Rounding out an unbelievable first day of KEXP’s Iceland Airwaves broadcast live at Kex Hostel are garage rock legends The Sonics. Formed in Tacoma in 1960, The Sonics are widely regarded as the first garage and first punk band, and have had a wide-reaching influence on the course of garage, punk, …
It's not just in name we're alike. KEXP and KEX Hostel have shared a long partnership, going back to our first Iceland Airwaves broadcast in 2011. Since then, they've been gracious hosts and champions of great music, and in the spirit of our ongoing collaboration, they've held the aptly named KEXP…
Next on the KEXP broadcast live from Kex Hostel at Iceland Airwaves Music Festival was wild Japanese psychadelic punk band Bo Ningen. A four-piece acid-punk band all hailing from Japan, but got together as a band in London in 2006-7. Taigen Kwabe (vocal & bass) met Kohhei Matsuda (guitar) in 2…
Next on the KEXP broadcast live from Kex Hostel at Iceland Airwaves Music Festival is the boss MC of Iceland, Emmsjé Gauti. The stage name for Icelandic rapper Gauta Þeyr Mássonar) Emmsjé Gauti is reigning king of Iceland’s burgeoning hip hop scene. Though he’s only in his mid-twenties, he’s been r…
KEXP Song of the Day alumni "The Legend of Chavo Guerrero" by The Mountain Goats receives the music video treatment today. The clip features none other than wrestling legend Chavo Guerrero himself alongside the band and actor Rob Corddry. Watch below. The Mountain Goats are playing a sold out show…
Well, that was a sure way to wake up the neighborhood! Kicking off KEXP's 2013 CMJ broadcast was New York's own Bear Ceuse, a band whose pounding drums, searing guitars, and loud, belted vocals definitely woke up the group of caffeinated New Yorkers who gathered at Judson Memorial Church for their …
At his most vitriolic, Billy Bragg is still a softy. The now legendary British singer-songwriter has made a name for himself since the 80's through crooning romantic ballads and biting political critique. Both originate from the same place; for Bragg, as for his hero Woody Guthrie, love for humanki…
Telekinesis is the name of Seattle's own Michael Benjamin Lerner and his soft-spoken, incredibly charming indie-rock solo act. Since his 2009 self-released debut EP, Lerner has garnered a reputation for himself blending 80's pop sensibilities with mellowed-out vocal stylings, a tried and true dynam…
As Kaoru Ishibashi himself admits, a year ago no one knew who he was. Now, with his musical project Kishi Bashi, he's selling out shows with his intricate and ecstatic performances. Inspired by as much by free jazz as bluegrass, hip-hop, and classical music, Kishi Bashi's baroque indie pop easily d…
Had they come around some 25 years ago, Nashville's Wild Cub would surely have been "pretty in pink." Formed only a year ago by singer/songwriter Keegan DeWitt and multi-instrumentalist Jeremy Bullock, the Nashville group sounds less like their Music City contemporaries and more like they belong on…
Another Icelandic band whose debut we are eagerly looking forward to is Mr. Silla, a "supergroup" of sorts, led by Sigurlaug Gísladóttir (a.k.a. Silla) of of múm, and members of Sin Fang, amiina, Seabear, Tilbury and other great bands. We caught them in their studio a year ago, when they had just a…
Second on today's broadcast live from KEX hostel at at Iceland Airwaves Music Festival was Icelandic singer-songwriter Axel Flóvent. Axel has achieved recent international prominence after years playing in his hometown of Húsavik (a small fishing village in the north of Iceland), and all around his…
It's that time of year again: MoPOP’s Sound Off! has been pitting local bands against each other for 16 years now. The all-ages "battle of the bands" has introduced us to acts like The Lonely Forest, Naked Giants, Manatee Commune, and more. Every Friday night this month, a new band will progress to…
Rounding out our last day of the KEXP broadcast live from Kex Hostel at Iceland Airwaves Music Festival is Icelandic dream-pop band Vök. Formed in 2013 as a duo (singer Margrét Rán Magnúsdóttir and saxophonist Andri Már Enoksson) to enter Músíktilraunir (or "Musical Experiment Contest")--a battle o…
Next on KEXP's Iceland Airwaves broadcast live from Kex Hostel was Icelandic band Low Roar. Low Roar is the brainchild of American Ryan Karazija, who moved to Reykjavik from Oakland, CA in 2010. To combat the loneliness of moving to a strange new place, he recorded his self-titled debut on his lapt…
Opening day two of the Iceland Airwaves broadcast live from Kex Hostel is Icelandic composer, producer, and musician Úlfur Eldjárn. Like many of his Icelandic contemporaries, Úlfur has his fingers in many pots: He plays in Apparat Organ Quartet, he composes music for film, TV, video games, and comm…
It's shoegaze, not navelgaze. Oyama may have a strong My Bloody Valentine-streak, but the Icelandic five-piece have followed up their initial EP with an invigorated their sound on their debut LP, Coolboy, whose woozy, pitch-bending melodies range between airy dream pop and fuzzy psychedelia. We rec…
