Ziggy Marley, the multi-Grammy award winning musician and son of Reggae legend Bob Marley, likens being a musician to being a farmer – he waits for the writing season, tends the seeds of ideas, and harvests a crop of songs. "The music comes organically," he says. And what sweet fruit it is. Watch a…
The UK dominates this week of new releases with standout albums from two British duos. The mysterious twosome known as Jungle release their self-titled debut with XL Recordings, which KEXP's Music Director Don Yates describes as "an excellent set of retro-futuristic electro-funk with shimmering key…
Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part 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. This week, all Song of the Day podcas…
Has it really been 23 years since the last Pixies album? On April 29th, the influential band end the streak with the release of Indie Cindy via their own Pixiesmusic label. The full-length compiles the previously-released EP-1, EP-2, and EP-3, all recorded without founding member Kim Deal. Stream …
Recently, Alec Ounsworth, frontman of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, happened to be in the vicinity of the KEXP studio. He wasn't scheduled, and we only learned he was in town the same day, but we grabbed him anyway, sat him down, and asked him to play a few songs on the Midday Show with Cheryl Waters. …
New Zealand band Ghost Wave blew us away with their hypnotic set of moody psych-rock songs at our CMJ broadcast last year, so we're especially thrilled to debut the band's music video for the track "Orb." The closing track off their debut Flying Nun Records release, Ages, "Orb" finds the group of A…
Mychal Cohen, lead singer for Seattle band Campfire OK, seems to always be singing behind a wry smile. In fact, each of the band members seem to share this sense of playing through a wink. From keyboard player, to vocals to banjos, bass and drums, the band imbues an aura of comfort and happiness – …
It's an unlikely cover, but they make it work: downtempo duo Darkside (electronic producer Nicolas Jaar and guitarist Dave Harrington) take on the 1972 Nick Drake track “Things Behind The Sun,” from his classic Pink Moon album. The cover was recorded for Modular’s Modcast podcast: stream their hou…
“It’s like watching a movie,” DJ Cheryl Waters exclaimed during the elaborate in-studio performance by Shugo Tokumaru. The Japanese musician, famous for using more than 100 different instruments in his album recordings, incorporates so many instruments in his music, from the more traditional guitar…
Recently, Seattle songwriter Shelby Earl, fresh off releasing her new album, Swift Arrows, stopped by KEXP for a live in-studio to play four new tracks off the record. Produced by Seattle folk hero Damien Jurado, Swift Arrows is a mix of piano ballads and guitar rock in the lineage of Seattle songw…
Some artists have a real gift for creating worlds. In an interview with Pitchfork talking about Hurry Up, We're Dreaming, M83's Anthony Gonzalez said, "I would rather live in an imaginary world forever. My music is my retreat". You can here the escapism in that record - a neon brilliance of clouds …
California surf rockers Cayucas have been keeping our summer quite lovely. They dropped their delightful debut LP, Bigfoot, back in May and we've been dancing to it ever since. Last month, they played a headlining gig at Barboza in support of the record with JBM to much acclaim. But before they too…
There isn’t a plethora out there on the wide open spaces of the internet about the wild Seattle band Country Lips, so here's a bit of detail: the 7-piece band sounds like a whiskey-infused, shack-swaying barn party. The staple of their music is their fast moving fingers on violin, guitar and keys, …
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. Today’s song, featured on the Afte…
After being pretty quiet for several years, Future Bible Heroes -- one of the projects of The Magnetic Fields mastermind Stephen Merritt and his collaborators Claudia Gonson and Christopher Ewen -- are making a big re-entrance into the music world with their soon-to-be-released box set Memories of …
Okay, let the "slappin da bass" jokes commence! Icelandic disco outfit Boogie Trouble get down to some serious grooves (in the funnest possible way) and really showcase the talent of bass player Ingibjörg Elsa Turchi (also of Rökkurró) as you'll see in the videos. But everyone in Boogie Trouble is …
Seattle songwriter Kris Orlowski has the honesty, voice, and soul needed in a great pop folk songwriter. Since the mid-2000s, Orlowski has been on the Seattle circuit building a reputation for the highest quality songwriting with an equally talented band that seems to understand every turn and moo…
How to destroy angels_, Trent Reznor's collaboration with his wife, Mariqueen Maandig, and Atticus Ross, announced this morning that their debut album is on its way. Welcome oblivion will be out March 5 on Columbia Records, Stereogum reports, but those are all the details we have for now. However, …
Arcade Fire have been touring behind their latest album Everything Now, released earlier this summer. At some of those shows, including Lollapalooza, they've covered John Lennon's 1973 song "Mind Games." They've now done an official studio recording of the cover for the latest installment in the Sp…
We knew that The Besnard Lakes would be on our list to see while we were in Montreal since first, they are one of our favorite Montreal-based bands, but also because frontman Jace Lasek is one of the three founders of Breakglass Studios. It was really fun to see The Besnard Lakes in their element a…
