Holy Fuck! Noise upon noise, wires upon wires, dance beats upon dance beats - and a dinner knife traversing a slide guitar? Yep, that's how the unconventional Canadian electronica gang Holy Fuck rolls when performing songs off their new album, Congrats, which magnifies their noise-enthusiast, gear-…
Beacon is the project of Brooklyn-based duo Jacob Gossett and Thomas Mullarney III. The two have unveiled a top-notch brand of dark, seductive R&B-tinged electro-pop over two albums and a few EPs for stellar American electronic music label Ghostly International, most recently on their fantastic…
"Cheers to evolution, cheers to knowing where you are going, cheers to the future.” Those were Trevor Power's parting words as Boise and the U.S. said goodbye to Youth Lagoon on the final night of Treefort Music Fest. It was a moment Boise was surely dreading, but after a fun day with acts such as …
The guys from ADHD keep busy with a multitude of projects, but that's not to say they distract easily. In fact, since forming on a whim in 2008, this award-winning Icelandic super-group of sorts has produced five albums of expressive avant jazz. But still, bringing brothers Óskar and Ómar Guðjónsso…
Get drunk in tribute to those who aren't old enough to do so! This week, our friends at the Vera Project kick off the 12th Annual A Drink for the Kids, a lost-weekend-long fundraiser for 21+ music lovers to support the beloved all-ages venue, just by drinking at their favorite bar.The opening night…
Sadly, it sounds like supergroup Wild Flag is now at half-mast. Drummer Janet Weiss tells UK publication The Skinny that the band is pretty much done: “It was great, but I think it just kinda ran its course. It’s hard to have a band when you live five hours apart by plane.” Weiss is currently on t…
Born in Zimbabwe, Oliver “Tuku” Mtukudzi came to Seattle for two shows at Jazz Alley, but before those performances, the songwriter stopped by KEXP for a live in-studio with DJ Darek Mazzone. Accompanied by backup singers and an electric bass, Tuku, who also works with Mahube, Southern Africa’s sup…
As the mythology goes, Trampled By Turtles formed as a side project by the band members in order to get a chance to play acoustic songs together. Now look at them! Featured in mainstream movies and on tour nationally! “The first year of existence of this band was also the last year of existence for…
It seems like forever ago that Toro Y Moi were lumped in with the chillwave movement, but across the last four years and three albums, Chaz Bundick’s music and (and it’s four person live incarnation) have gradually evolved into something bigger than a blogosphere-darling bedroom project: a fully-fl…
With their ridiculous number of side projects and other interests, it's amazing that songwriters and multi-instrumentalists Rob Crow and Armistead Burwell Smith IV continue to make killer albums together as Pinback. As ever, on Information Retrieved, their fifth LP, the San Diego duo expertly craft…
There's not a lot out there in Internet-land about Third Circle - or even about their label, Rouska - despite the fact that pretty much everybody at KCMU in 1986 seemed to agree that their debut release was some version of "good." Discogs and this one other blog post agree that Third Circle was mos…
As a teenager, Jordan Gatesmith fronted the Minneapolis-based band Howler, whose sneering garage-rock sound caught the attention of UK label Rough Trade. (You can check out their KEXP performance during SXSW 2012 here on the blog, and a 2014 in-studio session here.) After two albums, Gatesmith disb…
Grammy Award-winning rapper Kendrick Lamar has shared the fourth installment in the “The Heart” series, which you can stream below. ("The Heart Part 1" appeared on 2010s K. Dot Drops project, "The Heart Part 2" is on Lamar's Overly Dedicated mixtape, and "The Heart Part 3" was released as a stand-…
It almost goes without saying that anything that Marc Ribot touches turns to gold, and Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog is no exception. Aside from his own prolific solo career, Ribot has worked with captains of industry like Elvis Costello, John Zorn, The Black Keys, plus goes back thirty years and seven …
Leave it to a neuroscientist to create an out of body experience. UK's Sam Shepherd blows minds post-doc with his experimental electronic project, Floating Points, combining jazz, space rock, prog, EDM, classical and other genres that can but shouldn't be named into an out of this world experience.…
It's been a while since we've heard from Emily Wells. The NYC-based singer, performer songwriter and producer released her full-length debut, Mama, back in 2012, and surprisingly has yet to follow it up with a proper sophomore LP. But that's not to say she hasn't been busy. Since then, Wells releas…
KEXP faves Parquet Courts share a new video today for the track "Pretty Machines," off the release Content Nausea from their side project "Parkay Quarts." (Still with us?) Guitarist Austin Brown takes to the streets in this clip co-directed by Johann Rashid (of the band East Link). Check out the m…
Seattle's Wishbeard is one of those great bands that keeps the high hat and snare drum going. This is part of what makes them eminently danceable. With etherial guitars and vocal shouts like wolves howling into the night, the drum keeps a tight, pushing rhythm highlighted by the quickly hit snares …
If you happen to break up with someone don’t go on a drinking binge and record emotional songs with the hopes of playing them for your ex. Right? Well, usually. This equation actually worked for Stuart McLamb, however, frontman for the North Carolina-based group The Love Language. McLamb originally…
The Flaming Lips have plans to release a new EP based on the themes from the novel Ender’s Game. Originally, the group had signed on to write a song for the film adaptation of Orson Scott Card’s well-known book, but decided to extend the scope of the project to an album. The name of the record? Pea…
