Last night Death Cab For Cutie played a benefit show for the ACLU and Planned Parenthood at the Paramount. During their performance they paid tribute to Chris Cornell by covering Soundgarden's "Fell On Black Days." Before launching into the song, Ben Gibbard shared a few words about Cornell: “What …
Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part of our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. All this week we are celebrating S…
It's been four years since Owen Pallett stopped by KEXP for a live in-studio, four long years. Although he's grown a beard, Pallett's new music could be described as clean-shaven, bare in its autobiographical revelations. His latest material even includes his phone number! In between performances o…
Swedish singer-songwriter Alice Boman's subtle vocals and delicate instrumentals could get a response from even the chilliest of hearts. The minimalist musician, who released her second EP, EP II, this year, creates such an uncluttered sound that it disguises the fact that she is accompanied by thr…
It's only fitting that he's on a record label called Truth & Soul Records, because that's exactly the kind of music the legendary Lee Fields creates. The 63-year-old music veteran is still going strong after 43 years in the business, and his most recent release, Emma Jean, is just as vital as e…
Born out of the humid Athens, Georgia, southlands, the music of Futurebirds washes over the ears like a welcomed rain. Utilizing pedal steel and a myriad of other instruments on their studio albums - the most recent of which is Baba Yaga, a tight, catchy collection - the band writes songs like acti…
The Postal Service has spent this year celebrating the 10 year anniversary of Give Up, with a re-release and a huge world tour. Now, director Justin Mitchell has brought us a 14 minute documentary about the band called, Some Idealistic Future. The documentary features interviews with each band memb…
The Seattle International Film Festival has had a succulent series of movies based on sounds for a while, sponsored by KEXP and called Face The Music. Whether they be documentaries or fictional narratives or band concerts or somewhere in between, up to a dozen independent and/or international films…
Before legendary soul singer Sharon Jones died last year from pancreatic cancer, she recorded a final album with the Dap-Kings. Today the album has been officially announced and the lead single has been shared. The LP is called Soul Of A Woman and will be out November 17 via Daptone. The single is …
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…
It's been over three years since Annie Clark released the last St. Vincent album but it looks like good news is on the horizon. Today she shared a new song called "New York" that many are hoping is a precursor to a new album. The song itself is far more stripped back than Clark's previous work and …
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…
While most of the well-known Minnesota bands hail from Minneapolis, out on the shores of beautiful Lake Superior is the city of Duluth, hometown to the band Low. In the early '90s, the local sound was loud, abrasive, and grunge-inspired. Someone made the joke, what if a band were to play quiet musi…
Proof that Jack White has always been inventive with his musical releases: back in 2004, White and his friend Brian Muldoon were part of a band called The Upholsterers, named for their actual day job professions. Inspired by their own name, White and Muldoon, um, upholstered 100 copies of their fi…
There's lots to love in the record stores this Valentine's Day week, like the aptly titled Hotel Valentine, the first release in fifteen years from New York City duo Cibo Matto. If you're in a more somber mood, check out the album Benji from Sun Kil Moon aka Mark Kozelek (ex-Red House Painters), fe…
As clouds began to gather (though they wouldn't actually be super ominous until Earl Sweatshirts set) El-P took stage to a large audience totally ready to get down with the talented east coast rapper. He would later be called a brother to Killer Mike - and his ability to get the crowd moving whethe…
Angel Olsen is following up 2016's MY WOMAN with a new album of B-sides, rarities, and demos called Phases. Due out November 10 via Jagjaguwar, the album will also include some previously unreleased tracks, including the song "Special," shared with us today. Other unreleased tracks on the album inc…
The very first band we had in during our residency at Breakglass Studios for POP Montreal was Montreal-via-Beirut duo Wake Island. Comprised of Philippe Manasseh and Nadim Maghzal, the two grew up in war-torn Beirut before coming to Montreal where they ended up meeting in college and bonding over t…
Oneohtrix Point Never and Shabazz Palaces' Ishmael Butler have teamed up to form a new project called 319. Shared via the Adult Swim Singles Series, "The Rapture" is the first taste we've gotten of the collaboration. It's an unsurprisngly glitchy, experimental track that holds promise. In the past …
MGMT are releasing the follow-up album to their 2013 self-titled called Litte Dark Age sometime this year, with estimates being at some point in February. Today they've shared the third single from the album, "Hand It Over." The groovy synth-psych song follows previous singles "Little Dark Age" and…
