History was made (and relived) this weekend in Portland with the first ever Project Pabst. The festival, a testament to the PDX+PBR love affair, tossed Portland into a beer-fueled time warp. Along with newer acts, Zidell Yards hosted some 80s and 90s greats like Tears for Fears, Violent Femmes, GZA…
There is no group of people more passionate at festivals than Australians. Ineffably, Aussie bands and fans always give notable performances and serve as fervent audience members, which is why Cloud Control felt like they were playing the steps of the Sydney Opera House instead of the much-smaller …
In a sharp contrast from years past, this year's Sasquatch! Music Festival lineup has considerably less folk-inclining music on the main stage, making Lord Huron one of the weekend's folk rock acts that would play directly in front of the Columbia River Gorge. The Michigan-via-Los Angeles quintet s…
Besides deliberate misspellings and prodigious capitalization in band names, we hope that one of the trends people will note about the music of 2013 is the ascendency of female voiced indie pop. CHVRCHES, HAERTS, HAIM (okay, a few bands fall into both categories!) as well as London Grammar, Lorde, …
Yes, yes, we're all excited that the Postal Service is playing tonight at Key Arena. But did you know that long before the Postal Service there was a band from Chicago called The Service? Neither did I until just now, but based on Trouser Press's description, this sounds like an '80s college radio …
There are always one or two potentially great albums that get snuck in at the eleventh hour (or twelfth month), just as music critics and fans are putting together their year end lists. (Did you vote for yours yet, by the way?) Our Music Director, Don Yates, couldn't wait to hear the new Big Boi al…
Each week, The Cobain 50 podcast digs into albums Kurt Cobain listed in his journal as his "Top 50" and how they may have influenced him and Nirvana.
There's an exterior section of the EMP where, when there's an ongoing performance in the Sky Church, the blue aluminum panels rattle and reflect the street lighting in a way that makes it seem like a small light show of its own. Of course, the more interesting light show is always inside the EMP, a…
Your support of listener-powered KEXP not only brings you music from all over the world via specialty shows like El Sonido and Wo’ Pop, but you also enable music lovers all over the globe to enjoy the great sound of Seattle no matter where they live and work. This summer the Pena family (pictured a…
Oh, hey, lookie here, U2 sprung a new album on us! The Irish superstars surprised the world with the release today at an Apple press conference for the new iPhone 6, which concluded with a performance of the opening track "The Miracle (of Joey Ramone)." The thirteenth album (and their first in five…
It turns out I have previously blogged in this space about a Dead Moon album, but I'm going to do it again, because 1) that was over four years ago, which on the Internet is like a whole nother geological age; 2) they have fourteen albums, I think I can write about two of 'em for crying out loud; 3…
If you've ever seen Seattle's Naked Giants live, you know just how passionate and rabid they can be. Even the drummer can barely contain himself to his throne while the trio is churning out furious, excitable riffs. They feel like they were born to be wild, which is why they're the perfect fit cove…
The Gorge's rust-colored cliffs are about as far from the city as you can get, but, with the right artist onstage, they can feel just like home. On Sunday afternoon at Sasquatch's main stage, Seattle electro-pop outfit SISTERS captured the warmth and informality of a cozy family gathering (sans dru…
Strand of Oaks and KEXP have history together, and as they took the stage they were immediately sincere and earnest in their thanks: not being from Seattle can be hard on folks, and they explained that their long involvement with the station, in particular with DJ John Richards, have been what has …
Need to chill? Moby's got you covered with this four hour mix titled Long Ambients 1: Calm. Sleep. He explains, "it's really quiet: no drums, no vocals, just very slow calm pretty chords and sounds and things for sleeping and yoga and etc." Hey, if it works for a busy dude like Moby...! Download i…
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…
Though they hail from the small village of Castleton, UK duo Drenge is anything but quaint. Brothers Eoin and Rory Loveless load an explosive arsenal of potent hooks to their 2015 release, Undertow, featuring a surprising mixture of metallic riffs and Morrissey-like melodicism. Recently in-studio a…
Just enough hip? More like just enough hooks. If you've ever heard BRONCHO's "Class Historian", you know catchy their songs can be. Recently, the Oklahoma band cast the contagious indie jams of their new album, Just Enough Hip to Be Woman, into KEXP studio, luring us with their raw garage pop melod…
Based out of Lititz, PA, The Districts drop by our starry live room to share a selection of sincere sounds from their new release, A Flourish and a Spoil. Fans of the band's lo-fi aesthetics will be pleased to know the lads haven’t forgotten what a good melody sounds like underneath the cascading f…
