After years of extensive touring, Seattle band Ivan & Alyosha released a new album called All the Times We Had. The group celebrated its release by hanging with DJ Cheryl Waters earlier this year and playing a live set at the KEXP studios. “I want to be the man who understands his woman and you…
Divine Fits tore it up on late night TV's Jimmy Kimmel Live! with their own "Like Ice Cream" and a cover of Tom Petty's "You Got Lucky". Even though Britt Daniel seemed like he was forgetting the words at one point, the performance is the kind of powerhouse one, complete with a creative cover (whi…
Natalie Mering, better known as Weyes Blood, has had a busy year. She released her latest (and very good) LP Front Row Seat To Earth late last year and followed that up a few months later with a collaborative EP with Ariel Pink called Myths 002. Next on her agenda is a 7" of two covers of two songs…
Swedish sister act First Aid Kit are releasing their first album in three years, Ruins, at the beginning of the new year. Today they've shared the third single from the album, "Fireworks." They've previously shared the songs "It's a Shame" and "Postcard." The duo also shared a one-off single for I…
The endlessly prolific Ty Segall has released a new track today called "The Main Pretender." The song is the latest in a stream of songs including "Alta," "Meaning," "My Lady's on Fire," and a cover of the Squidbillies theme. Mikal Cronin is featured on the song, playing sax. All the new singles s…
Paris-based French-Cuban sister duo Ibeyi share their sophomore LP. KEXP Music Director Don Yates calls the latest from Naomi and Lisa-Kainde Diaz "another stunning, beautifully crafted blend of electro-pop, soul, hip-hop and traditional Cuban percussion, combining a spacious, beat-driven sound wit…
It's been, like, eleven months -- we're overdue for a new Ty Segall album! All kidding aside, the prolific artist has announced a new self-titled LP coming out January 27th via Drag City. Check out the first single, "Orange Color Queen," below. The track is quite a departure from January's Emotion…
It's morbid, but you're probably thinking it, too: after losing so many musical icons in 2016 (see here and here), I felt it was important to see Brian Wilson in concert. Now 74 years old, the brilliant but troubled songwriter celebrated the 50th anniversary of The Beach Boys' landmark album Pet So…
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…
Animal Collective added their voices to Shabazz Places' "#CAKE." They're calling this intensely chaotic remix the "Animal Collective Premature Deflirt Mix." Special shout-out to I Want You magazine's Christian Peterson for some exotic and trippy artwork. Shabazz Places perform this Saturday at Th…
Our second live Iceland Airwaves show of the day at Kex Hostel was friend of the station and amiable funny man Júníus Meyvant. This lanky ginger haired songster is a bit of an enigma, with no album and scant online presence. Unnar Gísli Sigurmundsson, his given name, began performing music a bit la…
Beloved Chicago label Bloodshot Records are celebrating their 20th anniversary with the 2CD or 3LP compilation called While No One Was Looking, featuring bands covering artists from their roster. Indie rock veterans Superchunk chose the Ryan Adams track "Come Pick Me Up," which frontman Mac McCaug…
In an industry where auto-tune is often synonymous with lack of talent, the vocals of Channy Leaneagh, frontwoman of Minneapolis electro-pop group Poliça, are boldly filtered through reverb and auto-tune on each of their albums. But the use of these tools is an overt stylistic choice for Leaneagh a…
When Aaron Dessner of The National hands you the keys to his recording studio, you don't say no. That's exactly what happened when Australian indie-folk duo Luluc relocated to Brooklyn to record their second album, Passerby, out now on Sub Pop Records. The duo of Zoë Randell and Steve Hassett had b…
It’s always interesting when you learn about an artist’s path to recognition – and it’s even more captivating when it involves details and arcs you’d never expect. This is the intriguing life of singer-songwriter Laura Veirs: she was raised in Colorado in the 70s, where she studied geology and Mand…
The Maldives’ Jason Dodson and The Posies’ Ken Stringfellow collaborated recently on a split 7” release, put out by Spark & Shine records. To celebrate the release, the two played a couple shows together, one at Easy Street Records, and another live at KEXP. Prior, Dodson’s band had backed Stri…
Shearwater fans need not worry: they're "not turning into a cover band". So says principle songwriter Jonathan Meiburg, who recently performed a set of covers live in the KEXP studio. Their new album, Fellow Travelers, in fact, consists exclusively of cover songs written by tour companions of the A…
The 10th anniversary edition of Decibel Festival begins on Wednesday, September 25, and gathers the crème de la crème of the international electronic music and visual arts community. Holding their own among them are some of Northwest's best electronic artists, like Seattle duo ODESZA. These two you…
Vacation's over, folks. Those last several weeks of light weekly lists with barely a handful of worthwhile new releases are no more. Time to get back to record shopping in earnest. And this week is a doozy! Topping the list is the tenth album from veteran Chapel Hill, NC, group Superchunk. Released…
Divine Fits, a super-group of sorts featuring Britt Daniel from Spoon, New Bomb Turk's Sam Brown, and Wolf Parade's Dan Boeckner, played their first show together in Austin last year before going on to release one of the best LPs of 2012 with A Thing Called Divine Fits. The came full circle last n…
