Seattle based hip-hop artist and KEXP DJ Gabriel Teodros, who is of Ethiopian and Scottish descent, tells us about Black August and shared insight into an artist who was very influential in inspiring his 2014 album Children of the Dragon.
KEXP’s DJ Riz Rollins and former Street Sounds host Larry Mizell Jr. discuss their own experiences not just living through the release of the record, but living in the world Public Enemy was talking about on the record.
El Sonido DJs Albina Cabrera and DJ Chilly returned to Mexico after three years to experience the Latin American music festival Vive Latino. In addition, KEXP's Latin alternative music show was broadcast live from Mexico for the first time, thanks to CDMX's radio Aire Libre. Here we’ll review our f…
Aside from the table topped with laptops, controllers, and a mixer, there was only one thing adorning the Sunset stage on Monday night, and that was a giant blow-up swan pool float (you can cop your own for a cool $25 over at Amazon). As experimental pop singer Kitty burned through her forty minute…
It’s time again for Friday on My Mind. Our weekly blog post where we look at videos centered around one common theme. This is a collaborative effort between KEXP and King 5 News. Anyone who follows football or has been to The Clink for a Hawks game knows that hands down it is the loudest stadium in…
I don't know about you, but I feel like it's been a long time coming for Phantogram. Maybe that's just because the New York two piece has found a way to write songs that stick with you and make a deeper, lasting impact on the heart and mind than their counterparts. Or, maybe they've just spent thei…
It’s time again for Friday on My Mind, our weekly blog post where we look at videos centered around one common theme. This is a collaborative effort between KEXP and King 5 News. As you’ve probably already heard, 2013 marks the 25th Anniversary of Seattle’s Sub Pop Records, and we've been celebrati…
To look at Jonathan Wilson, you know where he's coming from, or more likely when. His long straight hair tied back, his well but not too neatly kept beard, the worn army green coat over a very well-worn low neck DIY band t-shirt, the beaded jewelry, the knit hat -- it all evokes a 70's hippy chic t…
Summer's gonna be steamy! The initial lineup for this year's Capitol Hill Block Party was announced this morning, and it's hot! On Friday, July 22nd through Sunday, July 24th, in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle, celebrates the festival's 20th anniversary!
When I'm not playing records or working behind-the-scenes at KEXP, I love doing crafts. Right now, I'm reproducing Lou Reed's Transformer in needlepoint. And yesterday, I convinced Chris and Cheryl to make thank-you cards by hand for Midday Show donors because I was inspired by this message from My…
It was reported on Facebook yesterday, Ian Allen, longtime member of influential group Negativland, passed away on January 17th at the age of 56 following complications from a heart valve replacement surgery. The band's founding member Mark Hosler writes:
What I'm about to write sounds corny — let's just get it out of the way right now that I know that. I know the Kraftwerk catalog like the back of my hand, but, I have to say, despite this lifelong familiarity, seeing them live for the first time ever, and in 3-D, no less, I felt like I was experien…
KEXP writers Jasmine Albertson and Martin Douglas turn back the clock a decade along with Fleet Foxes, whose stellar box set First Collection: 2006-2009 was released on Friday.
Some Washington State venues and musicians are breathing a small sigh of relief after the new COVID relief bill was signed into law on December 27th. It includes $15 billion in relief for independent music venues, movie theaters, and similar cultural spaces. But how exactly will the bill impact con…
KEXP's Sound & Vision speaks to Nobuko Miyamoto, whose latest album, 120,000 Stories, was named after the approximate number of people who were sent to Japanese internment camps during World War II.
Wherever Chickfactor goes, I will follow. The premiere indiepop zine, Chickfactor began in 1992, around the same time the east coast pop scene was starting to explode. Labels were forming, like Slumberland and Teen-Beat, and founders Gail O'Hara and Pam Berry were on the scene, interviewing bands, …
In the 1990’s and early 2000’s, there was a plethora of rapping over rock music. But it didn't long for this amalgamation, which amounted mostly to bad pop music, to fade. Northwest group The Saturday Knights found a formula that really worked, though, avoiding that fleeting (and dare I say, money …
A little internet detective work, combined with reading between the lines in our DJs' comments, leads me to believe that this is not the first LP copy of Sandra Bernhard's double LP Without You I'm Nothing to grace the shelves at KCMU. There's no date on this record, but it was originally released …
As Americans we are no longer surprised by European artists who bring their amazing music to our humble shores. The Joy Formidable is another among the ever-growing list of impressive British talent that has taken the US by storm. In 2007, childhood best friends Rhiannon "Ritzy" Bryan and Rhydian D…
