What was it like to discover The Replacements and surprise them with a record deal? Or hear John Peel talk about your label? Or hear the first Ramones album before 99.9% of the world? One guy, Twin/Tone Records co-founder Peter Jesperson can, and does, answer all those questions posited by KEXP pro…
If you’ve spent any time on social media lately or keep up with music news in general, you’ve probably heard people talk about NFTs. Non-fungible tokens, they’re called, and their rise is linked to the world of cryptocurrency. While they’re not an entirely new phenomenon, as digital artists and eve…
KEXP's Owen Murphy and Troy Nelson break down a cover song for Mariah Carey's Fantasy. Frontman of the band Sky Cries Mary talks about rubbing elbows with the rising stars of the Seattle grunge scene in the late 80s and going on to make treehouses for the rich and famous. Rapper Perry Porter discus…
Natalie Hemby of the supergroup The Highwomen says their new album pushes for more female representation and narratives in country music. Sean Carey and Jenn Wasner of Bon Iver talks about the band’s change in sound. Plus, a panel discussion about how many music venues in Seattle are at risk of clo…
Did all the new lights in the KEXP Live Room get to him? Because Will Toledo of Car Seat Headrest is talking about collaborating with... Smash Mouth. Yeah, the band behind karaoke go-to "All Star." In an interview with Australia's Triple J radio, he says a project "kind of remains a mysterious fro…
Sometimes it’s the simplest words that stop you cold. Soft-spoken Tuareg artist Omara ‘Bombino’ Moctar proved this to me on a stiflingly hot summer evening at the 2012 Pickathon Festival backstage. I was talking to him for their post-performance video interviews, aided by French-Canadian guitarist…
For our inaugural edition of From First to Last, Jasmine Albertson talks with John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats about Taboo VI: The Homecoming and Bleed Out
When Brandi Carlile and her cohorts Tim and Phil Hanseroth (a.k.a. The Twins) take the stage this Friday night at the Moore Theatre for a sold-out “Pin Drop” show to benefit KEXP’s New Home, you can expect to hear new songs crackling with energy and emotion. That’s a direct outcome of the real life…
A Moment Apart is exactly what Harrison Mills and Clayton Knight haven't had much of lately as ODESZA released their much-anticipated LP, played late night talk shows, enjoyed Grammy nominations, and is set to embark on tour, beginning this weekend at the WaMu Theater in Seattle.
After a few years off, Beach Fossils returned earlier this year with Somersault, the band's finest set of songs to date and also the first to be written and recorded as a band. Dustin Payseur and co. bring four new tracks to the KEXP Live Room with Kevin Cole and talk about Somersault, peopl…
Sound & Vision’s Emily Fox talks with Pai about Enso and delves into some of the particular stories she relates in the book. From the legacy of Seattle cabaret and musical theater singer Pat Suzuki as well as her own experiences with racism and micro-aggressions. Pai also reads a recent work she pu…
Not surprisingly, Valerie June's childhood was steeped in spiritual music at church and R&B and soul music at home. Between her time spent singing with choruses consisting of sometimes hundreds of parishioners and the influence of her father, who booked and promoted concerts near her hometown o…
Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson stopped by The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on Tuesday to talk about his memoir Mo' Meta Blues. He's such a musical genius so you've got to love the fact that he attributes a huge pivotal change in music to The Cosby Show. Watch the hilarious and incredibly insightful int…
After a several year gestation period, Beck finally released his long-awaited album Colors. Written and produced with Greg Kurstin, Colors (out now via Capitol Records) is the most upbeat, relentlessly danceable album he's made in more than a decade. The shapeshifting artist recently talked to KEXP…
Singer Ann Wilson appreciates people. The powerful-voiced frontwoman for the legendary rock ‘n’ roll band, Heart, which has sold tens of millions of records over four decades, continues her career in the music industry so that she might continue to engage in honest, even primal expressions and conn…
Chris Ballew made a name for himself fronting the Seattle-based band, The Presidents of the United States of America. For the last 10 years however, Ballew has been a prolific children's musician – releasing 16 albums for kids under the pseudonym Caspar Babypants. Sound and Vision host John Richard…
Antisocialites, the second album from Toronto's Alvvays, takes all of the charms of their stellar 2014 debut and sharpens them - the songs are catchier, the band's interplay is more sleek, and Molly Rankin's hooks are the kind of emotional echoes that cut deeper than their gauzy swe…
Your band has been practicing in your basement non-stop. You know your songs inside and out. Now you're ready to finally load up your gear and play a show. But where do you start? When you're first starting to play live music around town, it can be hard to get your bearings and know who to talk to,…
