Good music may be one of the few things Iceland and Austin, Texas, have in common. Kaleo is a perfect example of that bond. The Austin-based Icelandic four-piece dance around their influences while delivering songs with such diverse sound you wonder if their songs all come from the same band. But u…
John Lennon and Yoko Ono were certainly not the only ones singing for peace, and many have and will join them in the decades to come. As KEXP gathers for a Bed-In for Peace in the Gathering Space, starting at 8:00 AM, here on the blog, we've gathered some of our favorite songs about love and unity.…
There is only one band in the world that would write a song about racing motorcycles with the infant Jesus in heaven and that band is named Diarrhea Planet. The band's third album, Turn to Gold, turns up the volume on both the Nashville sextet's guitar solos and their humor, and on their second tr…
It's been close to six months since La Luz left Seattle for Los Angeles, so Sasquatch served as a sort of homecoming for the surf rock quartet. (Notably, they were met with weather that was far more Californian than Northwestern.) The move hasn't dulled their reverb-drenched edge one bit however, a…
Like many of the buzzy debut albums in a post-xx world, Wet's Don't You lives in a quiet, emotionally-focused space, so it was fitting that they played in one of the city's more intimate rooms for their debut headline gig in Seattle. But as far as debut gigs go, Wet's was anything but a small affai…
British DJ/producer Simon Green, a.k.a. Bonobo, has been known to tear up the dance floor during his regularly sold-out shows, but when he dropped by KEXP for an in-studio with Cheryl Waters recently, the vibe was breezy and chill. Accompanied by a full band, Green featured songs from his atmospher…
March 8th is International Women's Day, a day to "celebrate the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women because visibility and awareness help drive positive change for women." To celebrate, today, KEXP is only playing music by women, with a packed schedule of special on-air g…
Not only are they today's Song of the Day, but Swedish group The Amazing have one of the best new releases this week. KEXP Music Director Don Yates notes the group's fourth LP is "a somewhat bleaker, more intimate take on the band's atmospheric psych-pop, combining shimmering guitars, celestial key…
In a bizarre act of serendipity, Easter falls on April 20th this year, or, uh, "4/20". So, be careful what kind of "Easter grass" you use to line your baskets, and your kids might have to battle some adults in the Easter candy aisle. In fact, plenty of different treats will be, um, "baked" this we…
Only two songs into the Long Beach rapper's performance and it was clear that the first big crowd of Sasquatch 2016 belonged to Vince Staples' ferocious sunset slot, Dressed in his usual onstage uniform of black pants and a white "Street Justice: Have A Taste", Staples breathlessly ran through cut…
K-vicker? No, K-vaker! Today's release of Sigur Rós' 2013 album, Kveikur, may seem like a speedy turn-around on the heels of their 2012 LP, Valtari, but the ground-shaking sound on the new LP is what the Icelandic band has been building toward over the past few years. While the relatively placid Va…
This week, Seattle electronic duo NAVVI returns with “In Gold”/”Polychrome”, the first new, original material we’ve seen from them since the II EP of last fall, and some of their strongest work yet. NAVVI introduced themselves to us only two short years ago with “Weekends”, and since that minimal, …
Seattle hip-hop has always been vital, maybe even underrated, but these day's it's undeniable. As we saw at Upstream this year, it's poised for an overdue breakout. The only issue at this point is being overwhelmed with the sheer volume of artists to parse through. For those ready to fully immerse …
This Saturday, April 20th, is Record Store Day, which has become like a national holiday for me and my fellow music lovers and record collecting geeks. It’s an annual event to celebrate independent record stores — and tons of artists contribute cool, one-of-a-kind, limited edition releases that are…
It takes a lot for a song to enter the Christmas canon. Most of the songs we sing every year have survived generations, outlasting our memory and seemingly always existing. It's not that new holiday songs aren't still being written -- good ones still emerge constantly, but very few can reach the ub…
Throughout Band of Horses' intimate semi-acoustic set at the KEXP Gathering Space, frontman Ben Bridwell repeatedly mentioned that the group's origins were only a few blocks away in a rehearsal space. "This is one of the first songs I wrote for Band of Horses, and I wrote it right down the street i…
Can someone tell Rustie to slow down, please? His last LP for Warp, Green Language, barely came out a year ago. In the meantime, he's played a world tour, including a Sasquatch! date, dropped a free EP of music, and produced a track from a hospital bed. Russell Whyte does not let up on the gas, eve…
If you're only aware of one Daniel Johnston album, Hi, How Are You is probably that one album - whether you've heard it, heard of it, or seen its cover image on a t-shirt worn by Kurt Cobain. As far as I can tell this was the first of his cassettes to receive wide release as an LP (five years after…
One of Seattle's most notable feminist impetuses is the outfit Tacocat. The Capitol Hill four-piece has not only perfected their glamorously zany fashion, but also how they articulate their outspoken pop punk panache via satirical songs like "I Hate the Weekend" and "The Internet". Having recently …
He doesn't need anyone... except his sound guy. Watch the latest video from Hamilton Leithauser below for the track "I Don’t Need Anyone" from his debut solo album, Black Hours. Leithauser leads his life — getting a haircut, going to a museum, etc. — accompanied by Christopher Colbert, the band's …
