We woke up Kex Hostel this morning with a surprise dorm room performance by DJ flugvél & geimskip, who rolled in all her equipment on a cart equipped with a speaker, lit incense, turned on some DJ lights, and greeted the sleepy travelers with charming electronic backed songs about evil cats, ma…
We just can't get enough of shoegazey band Oyama, who we featured this morning for our Song of the Day podcast. Later this month, the young Icelandic group is about to release their full-length debut, recorded with friend of KEXP Pétur Ben at Sigur Rós' Sundlaugin studio. And also today, they share…
Our third Iceland Airwaves performance at Kex Hostel was Uni Stefson, who shortened his name Unnsteinn Manuel Stefánsson for his first solo outing earlier this year. This solo project is a marked departure from his past eight years fronting electro pop band Retro Stefson. His new album, Enginn Græt…
Dude York, the power trio from Seattle, play music that rocks, music that makes you move, music you've never quite heard before. They are an amalgamation of musical inspirations and this has never been more evident than on their new record, Dehumanize. KEXP caught up with drummer Andrew Hall to tal…
One song from The Clash is hardly ever enough. That's what DJ John Richards admitted to himself last year on this day when one Clash song became two, and then became the rest of The Morning Show on KEXP, and thus International Clash Day was born. And there's no better band to honor worldwide than t…
If Waxwing broke up in 2003, then what are they doing playing live at KEXP? Let’s put this query aside for now –- for, why question the good fortune of hearing the Seattle band, which first got together in 1996, play again? Waxwing, who last released an album in 2002 (but whose members have release…
Join KEXP on August 10th and 11th at Camp Long in West Seattle for the 15th annual Arts in Nature Festival, presented by Nature Consortium! Experience music and nature in a multifaceted, interactive way this weekend with a variety of genres, installations and activities for all ages. Headlining th…
The 43rd annual Bumbershoot Music Festival will be taking place this upcoming Labor Day weekend from Saturday, August 31st through Monday, September 2nd. This year's edition of KEXP's Music That Matters Bumbershoot Podcast is curated by variety mix DJ Melissa Trejo who brings you a mix o…
I don't know if there's a UK producer on the scene who has had a bigger 2014 than Hudson Mohawke. The Glasgow native has been riding an unstoppable wave of momentum that hasn't stopped since his collaboration with Lunice, TNGHT, put out their eponymous EP back in July of 2012. Since then, I don't t…
After a short-lived but dramatic hockey residency, Seattle supergroup Who Is She (members of Chastity Belt, Tacocat, and Lisa Prank) return with their second album.
Next month we celebrate the 20th birthday of High/Low, the timeless full-length debut from New York indie rock stalwarts Nada Surf. The band celebrated the milestone in great fashion, reissuing the record on beautiful orange vinyl through Vinyl Me Please and giving it a fantastic packaging makeover…
Looks like new Spoon is on the way! The Austin-via-Portland-via-Who Knows band shared a mysterious image on social media that looks like a possible album cover. Adding to the mystery, Matador Records shared it as well. Viewers of the Showtime TV series Shameless were treated to a new song last Sun…
First, A Tribe Called Quest released a new album after 18 years. And, now, Scottish siblings The Jesus and Mary Chain are one-upping them, so to speak, with their first LP in 19 years, out in March 2017. The news was announced by Creation Records founder and longtime manager Alan McGee, who excite…
I can't think of many one-hit wonders who have careers with the length and breadth of Chris Isaak. If you were alive in the late '80s, the song (and video!) "Wicked Game" is probably what comes to mind when you hear Isaak's name. That song was on his third album, though (a testament to Warner Broth…
Forget anything you might already think about Northwest electronica. For all of our gloomy and rain-sodden days and our fern-covered evergreen terrain, we sometimes produce bubbly and even tropical music. Take, for instance, Bellingham producer/multi-instrumentalist Grant Eadie, who with his projec…
This Sunday, February 26th, not only can you hear new music from beloved local band Pickwick, but it will be for a great cause! Over at The Crocodile, Galen Disston and crew will perform tracks from their highly-anticipated upcoming LP LoveJoys. And, also on this impressive bill are Beat Connection…
If the gender politics of the Raunch Hands were controversial 30+ years ago (and they were, as you will see below), I'm not surprised you don't hear them much on the air these days. In fact, I can't find reference to a single Raunch Hands spin on KEXP in recent years - even on Shake the Shack, whic…
Sylvan Esso released their sophomore LP What Now in April and today the band has shared a video for the song "The Glow." The song is a celebration of young love and the video directed by Elise Tyler follows the lives of various young couples in New York who end up at a Sylvan Esso concert. Sylvan E…
Charles Bradley is one of those rare artists who can bring a crowd to tears, and that’s exactly what he did as he played a free public show in the gathering space at KEXP's new home. A longtime James Brown impersonator, Bradley began performing as himself at the age of 62, emerging just in time to …
The bass-wielding demigod known as Jah Wobble (né John Wardle, renamed by Sid Vicious, who also allegedly gave him his first bass) should need no introduction, especially around these parts, but here's the quick version: First heard holding down the low end with PiL, he soon moved on to his own var…
