Do you like to rock the hell out? Fuzz certainly does. As the last of the sunset faded, a large crowd of people gathered at the Yeti stage at Sasquatch to have their heat stroke blasted away by waves of distortion heavy guitar, fat bass, and driving drums. This three piece does not mess around. Ty …
Courtney Barnett may prefer the mundane, but that doesn't mean we have to. In the songs on her debut album, The Double EP: A Sea of Split Peas, really two early EPs mashed together, the young Australian singer-songwriter relates with hyperfocus the details of a day or of moments of average signific…
Not all of the magical places in Iceland are majestic glaciers, crystal waterfalls, bubbling thermal springs, or the lava field dwellings of the so-called hidden folk -- some are as common as public swimming pools. Sundlaugin, for instance, was for some sixty years a local pool just outside Reykja…
It is proving quite difficult to find out much information about Che (pronounced, we are informed here, "Shay") or Alix Plain, the person behind this project. The very minimal Allmusic entry mentions that Plain was the odd man out when his previous band, Modern Eon, broke up and the other four memb…
Throughout the nearly five decades of his career, Aaron Neville has performed and recorded hundreds of songs in a variety of styles, from his Billboard topping 1967 solo R&B classic "Tell It Like It Is" through the creole rock of The Neville Brothers, and he's covered innumerable greats of soul…
Recently, Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn declared February to be Seattle Women Who Rock Month. The announcement was spurred by a new play and history project created by Gretta Harley (Maxi Badd, Danger Dens), Sarah Rudinoff, and Elizabeth Kenny called These Streets, a fictionalized story heavily inspire…
Opening today’s broadcast live from Kex Hostel at Iceland Airwaves was Finnish singer-songwriter Mikko Joensuu. Over the course of the last year and half or so, Mikko has released a series of three records over the course of a year or so, called Amen 1-3 (Svart records) exploring coming into faith,…
People have strong opinions about things they love, and college radio DJs are no exception. Just ask KEXP blogger Levi Fuller. For the last ten years, Fuller has transcribed comments and conversations hashed out by DJs at KCMU -- KEXP's old call letters -- on the covers of LPs from the station's vi…
Beck has shared a new (but not first) cover of The Velvet Underground's "I'm Waiting For The Man," off The Velvet Underground and Nico. The song is for Spotify's "Music Happens Here" series, which has previously included songs from Local Natives, Twin Peaks, and Allen Stone. Beck previously recorde…
Only last year, legendary shoegaze band Ride released their first album in 21 years, Weather Diaries. Thankfully, we won't have to wait another 21 years for their next release. Today the band has announced a new EP entitled Tomorrow's Shore that will be dropping next month. It'll include the single…
Sufjan Stevens, Nico Muhly, Bryce Dessner, and James McAlister have teamed up for a collaborative album called Planetarium and Stevens has directed a new music video for the song "Venus" off the album. Stevens shared the stop-motion cut-out video to his Tumblr with the note, "Peace to you! Stay bod…
Ty Segall is like the American Horror Story of rock 'n' roll. The now-LA based maniacal, musical polymath constantly reinvents while rotating a cast of characters around a shifting approach to one theme: to rock the living shit out of you. Though his latest album - and what we can assume to be just…
There's a new pop-savvy sheriff in Sub Pop town, and he goes by the name of Cullen Omori, and instead of having to wield a Smith Western to corral a crowd's attention, all he has to do is coo his name. Omori quickly became a wunderkind as one of the instrumental brains of the Chicagoan outfit Smith…
They don't call it the land of fire and ice for nothing. Geographically, Iceland is a land of extremes, from its vast glaciers to its active volcanos. But there must be some space in the middle where the two meet. In Norse mythology, that space, between fiery Muspelheim and icy Niflheim, is where l…
Not sure if it's a compliment to be called a "thinking man's metal band" (or at least, it's not so nice to the other metal bands), but long running alternative metal band Helmet have always made smart music that never loses its punch. Vocalist/guitarist Page Hamilton founded the group back in '89, …
Few bands have influenced Seattle's sound like Mudhoney. Twenty five years ago, to this month, Mark Arm and Steve Turner rejoined after leaving Green River to form a group that would weather all storms of the so-called "Grunge" scene. Their initial, poorly selling but highly influential single and …
Well, that Paul McCartney/Nirvana thing happened. Macca "jammed" with former grunge-rockers Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic (plus Foo Fighter Pat Smear) at the 12-12-12 Hurricane Sandy benefit show at Madison Square Garden last night. The quartet (or "Sirvana," as Spin has dubbed them) debuted a new…
Irish songwriter Dolores O'Riordan, most famously of The Cranberries, has passed away at the age of 46. A statement from her publicist says that O'Riordan was in London for a recording session, but not further details are available at this time. O'Riordan was born and raised in Limerick, Ireland, a…
Calling Brooklyn dance outfit Future Brown's debut LP an album is almost depressing. Future Brown is less of an album and more of a flawless collection of singles curated in the most listenable form possible for maximum sonic impact. There is no slow middle section. There's no one track you'll pass…
