Fearlessly dabbling in the gaudy with their electro pop sound, Future Bible Heroes began as a project of The Magnetic Fields' Stephin Merritt and DJ Christopher Ewen, but gradually evolved into a substantial group of talented musicians. Eleven years after the release of their sophomore album, Etern…
Iron and Wine, the music project of singer/songwriter Samuel Beam, delivers simple, folk ballads that evoke powerful complex emotions. With each album Beam seems to be reinventing himself; from the minimalistic, soulful melodies of The Creek Drank the Cradle and Our Endless Numbered Days to the mor…
Last week, the Houston-born, Venezuelan debonair Devendra Banhart graced Showbox at the Market’s sold-out crowd with his charismatic charm, knee-weakening vibrato, and sultrily multicultural freak pop - or as his bandmate Josiah Steinbrick (one of the openers) put it, “all the best of unpopular pop…
Irene F. Barber has led many musical lives. She's lent her vocals and multi-instrumental talents to various projects in Seattle — from the heavy distortion of Dust Moth to the psych-production of Erik Blood. She's an artist that constantly embraces change, pushing her sonic ventures into varying di…
While local dream-pop project Lemolo is often talked about as a Seattle band, its roots stretch across Elliott Bay to Poulsbo, WA. Songwriter Meagan Grandall's affection for her hometown is on full display in Lemolo's new video for "One to Love", the opening track to her 2015 LP, Red Right Return. …
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…
Levi's has produced a short documentary, titled Skateboarding In Pine Ridge, which features an original score by Slint's David Pajo, and a brand new song from Cat Power, titled "Anthem." Watch the 17-minute film below to hear both. Director Greg Hunt captures two skatepark-building projects in Sou…
As Oli Bayston, a.k.a. Boxed In, says, "Everyone who creates something is a product of their influences" - and he should know. The British record producer certainly has had a wide of array of influences, growing out of his previous work as frontman for the four-piece Manchester rock band Keith and …
Everyone's recovering from the long Memorial Day weekend, including the music industry, but there are still some excellent new releases awake today. One of the highlights is the third full-length from Portland band Unknown Mortal Orchestra. KEXP Music Director Don Yates calls it "an adventurous, im…
This Saturday, November 1st, KEXP’s Audioasis Community Partnerships Concert features local hip-hop acts Gifted Gab, Hightek Lowlives, and Nu Era. They'll bring the beats to the Vera Project for an all-ages show to benefit East African Community Services. East African Community Services prepares K…
It's not like Conor Oberst needs much help sounding great. The Omaha, NE, native has been writing and performing with various projects, most notably with Bright Eyes, since his early teens, and he is a co-founder of not one but two independent labels: Saddle Creek and Team Love. In other words, we …
If Dean Wareham's own name isn't familiar, his previous projects most likely are. Galaxie 500 and Luna may never have quite reached the commercial success to match their critical acclaim, but both bands inspired a generation to follow of dream-pop wanderers and romantic rock dreamers. And both were…
A few years ago, "chill wave" seemed all anyone could talk about, and Washed Out was among the first on the scene with the ubiquitous single "Feel It All Around". But while the fad died out, the Georgia-based bedroom composer Ernest Greene developed the his free-floating sound into a full live proj…
For the second night of Decibel Festival 2013, I headed down to the Showbox SoDo for the Moby & Friends showcase, featuring of course Moby doing a DJ set, along with Blondes and the Loops of Fury. And Decibel Festival's own Assistant Visual Director, Zach Walker, provided the very cool video pr…
Highlights this week include the latest from Swedish singer/songwriter Jens Lekman. KEXP Music Director Don Yates calls Lekman's fourth LP, "a smartly crafted set of buoyant orchestral dance-pop inflected with disco, calypso, samba and other styles, combining bouncy dance beats and a variety of ins…
Though at this point a remarkable DoNormaal performance is no unusual occurrence, Friday's set from the artist (as part of the 2017 Upstream Music Fest + Summit) found DoNormaal in quite good form, the artist's enthusiasm returned by a sizable audience in the Court in the Square venue. Since before…
Raica is the alias of Seattle-based artist Chloe Harris, a lifelong passionate music lover, record store employee, and veteran DJ with 20 years of experience behind the decks. She was involved in the early days of Groovetech, one of Seattle's first online radio stations, right at the turn of the mi…
My Dad Is Dead is one of those band names that might just sound like a one-liner or an attempt to grab your attention, but in the case of Mark Edwards's solo recording project, legend has it that the music on this debut LP was in fact created in direct response to the loss of his father. With so mu…
The Wedding Present is one of those bands whose catalog I always found daunting when I browsed the record store bins. So many albums, and singles, and EPs, and Peel sessionses! I ended up just buying Seamonsters and sticking with it, but I knew they had much more to offer. And that was before I hea…
