The most anticipated performance of the weekend was also the most divisive, and as the biggest audience of the weekend walked away from the Gorge one last time, everyone had something to say about Kendrick Lamar's closing set. As the first show played since the release of his instant classic To Pim…
Every year, Seattle gets a small taste of Sasquatch! Music Festival at home four months before the festival takes place. Sasquatch! Launch Party is a great event every single year, both with or without context. As the rain beats down on the dreariest months of the Seattle year, we all dream of Memo…
When the most recent Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds album, Skeleton Tree, hit stores earlier this fall, it was accompanied by the release of the documentary, One More Time With Feeling, a gorgeous, if heart-wrenching, feature-length film on the making of the album. The film returns to theaters on D…
There are so many excellent Summer music festivals in the Pacific Northwest, it’s hard to know where to invest your time and money. West Seattle Summerfest, July 8-10, is absolutely not one to miss. Besides being completely FREE, it has the best local music lineup you’re likely to find- Seattle fa…
Backed by swaying chains of light that were only made to look more grandeur by the high winds that accosted Sasquatch! Music Festival throughout Sunday, Purity Ring captivated the Bigfoot stage from start to finish. Generating the largest crowd (at Bigfoot) of the weekend, the duo did not disappoin…
While most Seattleites were glued to our television sets this weekend, local duo Shabazz Palaces went to Jack White's infamous Third Man headquarters to record a direct-to-acetate album in front of a live audience. Holy shit. A representative from Third Man said, "Very few records from last year g…
The Nocturnal Showcase at Decibel Festival kept things moving right along Friday night with one of the best beginning to end bills we saw all weekend. Headlining the night was a solid set from British synth pop goddess Little Boots. Preceding her were stellar sets from Light Asylum, Young Galaxy, a…
Though they'd been playing reunion shows for the past six years, no one expected the first Redd Kross album in 15 years to be so mind-blowing. The Hawthorne, CA, band, started by brothers Jeff and Steve McDonald, played their first gig opening for Black Flag in 1980, and went on to perform with co…
While the official website remains mum about Lollapalooza 2013 lineup confirmations, rumors and confirmations as to who will play the Chicago music festival are popping up every day. But now the artists have started confirming appearances themselves, and it looks like the headliners this year will…
While the Saturday lineup of Capitol Hill Block Party leaned heavily on Seattle's DIY punk and electronic strengths, Sunday was where got to see the city's pop strengths shine through. And truly, our fair city is not lacking in this department. On the Vera stage, Sassyblack put her incredible voice…
This weekend, on July 31st through August 2nd, Pickathon, the Northwest’s premiere roots festival, returns to the Pendarvis Farm in Happy Valley, Oregon. And once again, you’ll be able to watch the whole thing happen thanks to the festival’s live video webcast. From your very own porch, couch or of…
The timing of this couldn't be more perfect with David Bowie's 70th birthday (and sadly, the anniversary of his passing) right around the corner: listen to a cover of "Sorrow" from Jenny Lewis below, which is actually a cover of a cover since it's originally by The McCoys, but then popularized by …
For the fourth year, KEXP is proud to sponsor the Macefield Music Festival, happening this weekend, Friday, September 30th through Sunday, October 2nd, throughout Ballard. As always, the line-up looks like a KEXP playlist, with this year's headliners including Zola Jesus, legendary UK art-rock band…
This weekend, Pizza Fest returns to El Corazon and Funhouse for a seventh year of greasy punk, rock, metal, and of course, pizza. The three-day festival is appropriately headlined by the long-running, Ramones-inspired, "original" pizza-themed punk band Personal & the Pizzas. This year's lineu…
From a KEXP Song of the Day in 2013 to a Grammy nomination and Saturday Night Live in 2016 -- it's been fantastic watching the rise of our beloved Courtney Barnett! Over the weekend, the Aussie superstar made her first live TV appearance in the U.S. with "Nobody Really Cares If You Don’t Go to the…
When's the last time you listened to a record and thought to yourself, "Wow, that's a sound you don't hear every day". Calgary based post-punk quartet Viet Cong (featuring members of now-defunct Calgary act Women) drop their self-titled first LP this week on Jagjaguwar, and it's one of those record…
Brooklyn indie synth rock band Small Black stopped by Seattle this past weekend in support of their great new record Limits of Desire (you can grab the lead single "Free At Dawn" from our Song of the Day podcast here). With Limits of Desire, Small Black grow the fuzzy enveloped psychedelia of their…
As you read this, Pickathon is gearing up for the first weekend of August (2nd-4th). Staff and volunteers are already out in the field clearing brush, blazing trails and building stages for the 15th Anniversary of the festival on Pendarvis Farm outside of Portland. This year's lineup aims to be its…
He might look like a tough guy in the photo above, but 28 year old Swedish singer-songwriter Linus Lutti performs under the disarming moniker Little Children and creates lush, calming pop in the vein of Junip and Nick Drake. The songs on his recently released EP, In Hau, tend to be somber without s…
As we head towards this weekend’s Little Big Show #20 with Pickwick and Porter Ray, we’re looking back at previous editions of this concert series hosted by KEXP, Starbucks, and STG Presents. (Look back at Shows 1-5 and 6-11, and stay tuned as we continue our retrospective on the KEXP Blog all week…
