Each week, KEXP’s Music Director Don Yates shares brief insights on new and upcoming releases. See what's coming up this week below, including reviews for new releases from Black Belt Eagle Scout, The Murder Capital, Bon Iver, and more.
They've been teasing us with the news for a while now, but today, we finally have new music from Bon Iver to share! Two new songs, in fact. Check out the creatively-spelled tracks "22 (OVER S∞∞N)" and "10 d E A T h b R E a s T ⚄ ⚄" below. (Your move, M.I.A.!) Both will appear on their forthcoming …
On September 11, Minnesota band Low will release their 11th studio album, Ones and Sixes via Sub Pop. The album was co-produced by the band and BJ Burton at Bon Iver frontman Justin Vernon's studio in Wisconsin. Listen to the record's first single "No Comprende" below. [CoS]
James Blake has dropped his highly anticipated album The Colour In Anything, his first full-length release since 2013's outstanding Overgrown. The track "I Need a Forest Fire" is a collaboration with Bon Iver's Justin Vernon and Frank Ocean earned writing credits on the songs "Always" and "My Will…
Sharon Van Etten is one of many great artists contributing singles to the 7-Inches For Planned Parenthood compilation, released today. "Passion and Love" is the name of her contributed song, which is simple and sparse, with her vocals being accompanied by acoustic guitar. The 30-track compilation i…
The Shins have shared a new song "So Now What," their contribution to the soundtrack for Zach Braff's upcoming film Wish I Was Here. The band's participation makes sense, because a decade ago Braff's film Garden State put The Shins on the map. A brief snippet of the song was featured in the film's…
Despite the miles between songwriters Ivan Howard and Kelly Crisp, The Rosebuds continue to bloom on their sixth full-length album, Sand + Silence. Crisp currently resides in New York as Howard continues to live in North Carolina, but the two met up in the woods of Wisconsin to record with their fr…
Dream-pop quartet Enchanted Hunters was formed in Gdańsk, in north Poland, by Małgorzata Penkalla. What originally started as a solo project truly flourished with the addition of new band members: in 2012, they released their debut Peoria, followed by the Little Crushes EP last year. Their music ha…
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…
This summer we were treated to an early look at Indians, a new one-man project by Denmark’s Søren Løkke Juul, who dropped by KEXP to preview four new songs during a recent in-studio session. Already, with just a rough demo, the Copenhagen-based artist had thrilled so many with his wholly accessible…
A student at Virginia Tech has to be giving credit for creating on of the most random news stories to surface in a while. This student sent an amusing and confusing email to local label Sub Pop, urging Nirvana to reunite and record a school-spirited video for Virginia Tech's homecoming. To fully u…
Before most of the festival’s attendees have even arrived at Seattle Center, KEXP’s Bumbershoot was already underway. Setting a high bar right from the get-go, gospel legends Blind Boys of Alabama opened the festival with an intimate set at KEXP's Secret Stage. From their humble beginnings nearly 8…
It seemed like just yesterday that Icelandic singer/songwriter Ásgeir was in Seattle and sitting on a park bench next to Kurt Cobain's house on Lake Washington. Just over a year ago, he was performing from his glorious debut, Dýrð í dauðaþögn, and revealed that he had been working with U.S. born, I…
The Sasquatch mainstage in the Gorge has a way of elevating great vocal performances even further – ask Bon Iver, The Head and The Heart, or any other vocal powerhouse who's performed on it. Now, Johanna and Klara Söderberg of First Aid Kit can add their names to that list after their beautiful Sat…
A quick glance at the stage set up for Sunday evening’s show might’ve tipped one off as to the type of music they’d hear for the night. With no drums, no amps, and mostly classical instruments surrounding chairs and music stands neatly arranged in a semi circle across the stage, a rock show was cle…
Now here's an interesting one. Ry Cuming dropped his first full length album back in 2010, top to bottom filled with coffee shop ready singer-songwriter wanderings, guest spots on the record going to Sarah Bareilles and Jesse Carmichael. Then in 2013, we got a complete reintroduction with the Austr…
In only a few quick years, James Blake's name and reputation have grown exponentially. Back in 2010, he pioneered the "post-dubstep" genre (consisting of pretty much just him back then) with the much-loved CMYK EP. His mixture of jazz, soul, and bassy undertones made for a rich and unique listening…
September closed out with a really strong week of new releases, including the long-awaited new album from Bon Iver. KEXP Music Director Don Yates calls it, "his most adventurous, forward-looking recording to date, combining spacy, digitally warped electro-pop with folk, gospel and other styles on s…
"I brought tissues." That's what the girl next to me told her friends as she reached into her bag and started dishing out Kleenex. At any other show, the action might have been silly, but not tonight. Tonight, Volcano Choir, the spectacular collaboration between Bon Iver and Collections of Colonies…
