After releasing his debut album, United States of Being, on Saddle Creek Records in 2012, Daniel Pujol, mastermind behind the group PUJOL, stitched together KLUDGE, an epic punk-rock album. In terms of composition, Pujol spent weeks in a Mt. Juliet, Tennessee mall recording from 5pm to 6am. Thus, K…
In sad news, drummer Scott Asheton, a.k.a. "Rock Action" Asheton, of The Stooges passed away over the weekend at the age of 64. Along with his brother, guitarist Ron Asheton, he helped form the influential punk band in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1967. In a statement on the band's Facebook page, front…
In March of this year, post-punk legends Wire threw a fantastic party in London with the introduction of DRILL, a festival they curated featuring the band themselves and a legion of sounds all without a doubt influenced by this stalwart band. The end of the festival coincided with the release Wire'…
By now most have heard about Superchunk titling their new album I Hate Music, that it is the “dark twin” of their 2010 release, Majesty Shredding. But the only reason to care about an album name is if you like the band that’s naming it. And who doesn’t like Superchunk?? The lively rock group that r…
Cleveland post-punk band Cloud Nothings are following up this year's Life Without Sound with a new track, "Relief." The previously unreleased demo is a contribution to a forthcoming benefit compilation, Taking It To Heart, Volume Two, which is raising money for the Heart And Stroke Foundation. Fron…
As part of International Clash Day, Larry Mizell Jr. chatted with The Clash’s videographer Don Letts about the band’s legacy and the culture clash of punk and reggae.
KEXP celebrates the female-fronted bands of the time, who were truly making a revolution in the male-dominated late-‘70s London punk scene.
After a two year wait, and a rescheduled release date, we've finally got the latest from Phantogram on our hands. KEXP Music Director Don Yates says, the "New York duo's third album is a sleeker, more polished take on the band's moody electro-pop inflected with hip hop, funk and other styles." Swed…
Now on their seventh album, The Thermals show no sign of fading away, despite the title of their latest We Disappear, out now on Saddle Creek. With beloved producer Chris Walla behind the boards for the fourth time, the Portland punk trio continue to incite riots with their anthemic, fist-pumping s…
From Rihanna to Springsteen to LCD Soundsystem to Smashing Pumpkins to -- well, you get the idea -- everyone paid tribute to music legend Prince over the weekend. One of the more poignant performances came from fellow Minneapolis musician Bob Mould, who took the stage with reunited Twin Cities pun…
Record Store Day is monumental in Seattle in a way that isn't seen in the rest of the country: we crawl out of whatever grunge holes we live in and slither over to the nearest record stores and start feeding on vinyl, eating 45s, and rubbing the sleeves all over our bodies, happily rolling around i…
"Sweep" - that's the command that Parquet Courts give us over and over again on their new single "Dust". In the context of the tune, it's about the dust that accumulates, sitting on everything that doesn't move, marking the time we've spent without motion, watching the wheels go round. The irony of…
There's a lot of buzz about Viet Cong right now, and for a lot of reasons, but while their pedigree, controversial name, and recognizable post-punk influences make for easy talking points, it's their ferocious energy and novel songwriting that seems to resonate so strongly with fans and critics ali…
There's one aspect to booking Man or Astro-Man? for an in-studio session that the band didn't reveal until they were on air. "We steal one thing from you guys, and if you figure out what it is, we'll give it back." Well, we don't think they took anything when they stopped by KEXP's studio in March,…
With a list of influences that including Dire Straits, Napalm Death, Beat Happening and Ol' Dirty Bastard, it's not an easy task to define the straightforward and honest sound of indie rock four-piece Parquet Courts. Their clean and simple guitars accompanied with in-your-face and incredibly smart …
Every year that Capitol Hill Block Party returns, I can't wait to be uncomfortable with a bunch of sweaty people in the red-lit basement that is Cha Cha Lounge. That's not sarcasm. This year's lineup boasts some incredible headliners like Run The Jewels, Angel Olsen, Thundercat, Wolf Parade, and mo…
April ended strong with new releases from some of our favorite artists. It's been five years since the last album from Feist, and the Canadian songstress returns with what KEXP Music Director Don Yates calls "a powerful set of dark, intimate folk-rock. Recorded mostly live, the album features a sta…
Many in the area have known Seattle's Success for a while, but it was last year that these hometown heroes got some love on a national level. Their breakout LP, Radio Recovery, was released by Chicago indie label Red Scare Industries and the quartet accepted tour offers from bands like Masked Intr…
