When a 4-year-old, Erik Blood began sneaking 45-rpm records from his sister’s room and listening to them while she slept, a future was being formed. Music shapes us like few elements can. The sounds, words, and images associated with certain songs can leave lasting impressions that often influence …
It seems popular these days to hate on Valentine's Day - what's wrong with a day committed solely to being totally stoked about another person? It's like a birthday, but way less arbitrary. These posts always lean 80's nostalgic, as if The Cure had exclusive rights to "feelings." But this year we'r…
How appropriate that I should be blogging about this album on the very week KEXP (formerly KCMU)'s vinyl library is being disintegrated, the records removed from their dusty shelves and boxed up to be transported to the shiny, sexy new home. (I hope you guys are careful with those little paper labe…
Yo La Tengo will release their latest album Stuff Like That There on August 28. The album will include covers of the Cure, Hank Williams, and others, as well as some reworkings of Yo La Tengo's own music. Today you can hear their cover of Special Pillow's "Automatic Doom" and an updated version of…
Aesop Rock has your cure for the Monday blues: just watch the video for "Kirby," an ode to cats and cat-parents everywhere off his latest The Impossible Kid. The video stars Dina, a spunky tortoiseshell kitten rescued from downtown LA, and a puppet-ized version of the west coast rapper (real name:…
El-P and Killer Mike - it's a combo that we've only known for a year and a half, but feels like it's been around forever. "I got paid to make a friend", said Michael Renders of their work together back in 2012. Though Mike had been killing it on the ATL scene for years (he's a long time Outkast aff…
Presenting Songbook: KEXP’s Music & Literature Series, bringing together authors and artists for engaging discussions in the KEXP Gathering Space.
The DJ comments on this LP call us back to a dark time when not every album was available everywhere in the world instantly upon its release. Many well-loved bands could only be heard by spending way too much money on physical objects that had been transported in small batches from another country …
Veteran indie rock trio Yo La Tengo tackle iconic goth-poppers The Cure on their forthcoming covers album Stuff Like That There, out August 28th on Matador Records. Check out their rendition of the 1990 hit "Friday, I'm in Love" in this video directed by Jason Woliner. As drummer/vocalist Georgia …
More than a band, Savages is an idea. Guitarist Gemma Thompson said it herself during an in-studio session at KEXP: "We had the idea originally and wanted to put everything we'd all accumulated individually into creating a performance that had a sonic representation of the name Savages." Their deli…
Recent losses getting you down? The weather seeming too bleak? Then come down to the Tractor Tavern this Wednesday for My bubba. The Nordic duo might not cure all your ills, but their infectious "sensual folk" is sure to offer at least one night of bliss. Their last (and first!) show in Seattle thi…
If you, like myself, live in 2014 but still can't get over 80s new wave, you can't get much better than Berlin band Ballet School. The band is a godsend for new wave diehards and make some of the most incredible synth pop around. But tribute isn't Ballet School's only trick in the cards - the band …
Last year, Mike and Jaime made a free record that they expected a handful of Killer Mike and El-P fans to like. After all, the two have been working together for a while – Mike made an appearance on El's Cancer 4 Cure, then El produced Mike's best record ever, R.A.P. Music. Together, the two form R…
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…
Though he'd been playing a variety instruments and styles for years, Oakland music Luis Vasquez never intended his current project, The Soft Moon, to catch on. A true bedroom project, The Soft Moon was originally meant to be a device of self-exploration, a spelunking of the depths, as it were, of V…
While gale winds canceled some early main stage shows, a different force of nature was met with far warmer reception on the Bigfoot stage. Yo La Tengo is certainly a force of nature in the indie music scene and a walk back through their discography is a long one, as the group have consistently rele…
Post-punk gods Savages have done the unthinkable with their second outing: they made their sophomore record an unabashed anthem to embracing life and love. "Love is the answer" - this is the message of Savages' first single off of Adore Life, their second LP and follow up to the highly acclaimed 20…
