It's another chilly morning in Reykjavík, with the sun shining on the iconic snow-capped Mt. Esja, and the KEXP road crew is here at Kex Hostel getting ready for another great day of live music at Iceland Airwaves Music Festival. We'll be starting the day with exquisite Finnish singer-songwriter Mi…
Summer is nearly over but, on the upside, that means Seattle's biggest music and arts festival is back. Running Friday through Sunday, rather than Saturday through Labor Day Monday, for the first time in its history, Bumbershoot otherwise hasn't changed much else in their formula: a mixture of musi…
To know Kanye West is to love him, but to be in an endless mosh pit fifteen feet under him is something even more. It's limitless devotion to the church of Yeezus. It's agreeing wholeheartedly when Ye compares himself to Steve Jobs, Walt Disney, or, most notably, God. And in turn, much like I Am fe…
Y'all. It finally happened. Last night, Frank Ocean dropped Endless, a new visual album exclusively on Apple Music. And that's not even the best part. According to Rolling Stone, a SECOND "official" album will be released some time this weekend. We don't know the name of this upcoming LP, because …
A full bill of local punk rocked Chop Suey Thursday night in a debaucherous whirlwind of moshing bodies. Presented by Sonic Reducer, KEXP's Saturday night punk and hardcore show, the evening was sure to exhibit all the gems Brian Foss brings to any event: great music, great people, and great attitu…
British psych pop four-piece Temples have garnered a lot of attention in the short time since their formation in 2012. Their 2014 debut, Sun Structures, made its way onto lots of best-of lists. Consequently, the Bigfoot stage was considerably crowded as they launched into the single "Shelter Song".…
Saturday night in West Seattle, history was made... or remade... when Northwest legends The Sonics performed a special set at Easy Street Records on Record Store Day to benefit KEXP's New Home. The iconic Tacoma band alone were a huge draw to the legion of fans inside and surrounding the store, but…
It's going to take a little practice, but you'll be saying the name Ásgeir like a true Icelander soon enough. When we first introduced the young singer-songwriter to Seattle audiences two years ago, we knew his ethereal falsetto and captivating songs would appeal to KEXP listeners even if his songs…
Even though he's not on a proper tour at the moment, Bob Mould (and his partners in crime drummer Jon Wurster and bassist Jason Narducy) can pump out a set of punk rock seemingly on a moment's notice. Right as Mould's set at Sasquatch was starting, black sheets of rain started to drizzle down, but …
Next on the KEXP Iceland Airwaves broadcast live from KEX Hostel in Reykjavik was spectacular Icelandic singer Emilíana Torrini. Even if you do not know her name, you are still very likely familiar with some of her work. Torrini has participated in a wide variety of projects, including writing and …
It's hard to know where to begin with a legendary rabble-rouser like Jello Biafra (still rousing the rabble with his new band Guantanamo School of Medicine, whose White People and the Damage Done came out this year - actually, that band name and album title probably tell you a lot more about Jello …
It's no surprise Portugal. The Man broke into "Dayman" midway into their set during their Triple Door performance for KEXP last month. Not only has the band been playing their own gorgeous rendition of the song, taken from a classic episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, during shows and hav…
You'll never hear the sound of yearning like you will through the sonic lens of Daughn Gibson. The one-time trucker from Nazareth, Pennsylvania, is a new signee to Sub Pop, and this week, he releases his second LP, Me Moan, his first for the label. Gibson is a curiosity - his Sub Pop bio reads like…
Seattle super-group Walking Papers played a killer session in the KEXP studio for Audioasis, where they shared three songs off their Mike McCready (of Pearl Jam)-produced self-titled debut from October last year, released on Sunyata Records. Such an assured sound from a band that just released a d…
For the past 12 year, EMP's Sound Off! battle of the bands competition has helped many young artists in the Northwest realize their dreams. Quite a few -- like The Lonely Forest, Kithkin, Dyme Def, Brite Futures, Sol, Tomten, and many others -- have gone on to reach wider acclaim and even regular r…
David Bazan has a knack for writing dark pop songs. Control, an album he released ten years ago with his former band, Pedro the Lion, is filled with lies, adultery, murder, and some melodies that you'll want to hear over and over again, even while the lyrics give you chills. Bazan and his band perf…
From last week's Spud War, we continue our tuberous theme with Tater Totz, which you might think would be even more contentious than Devo's synth-heavy fifth album, but which seems to have been more well received at KCMU. What is the deal with Tater Totz? I think just attempting to explain this pro…
Punk trio Dude York has made a name for themselves in Seattle for being a guarantee for at least a half hour of overflowing joy. As "America's Band," they cannot tell a lie and totally followed through on the promise on Day One of the Bumbershoot Music & Arts Festival. Even when they had techni…
"I felt a blue wave coming on." If there were any way to sum up the trying events that led up to the amalgamation of Dan Boeckner's latest project Operators, the album's title track does it pretty well. Dan Boeckner, responsible for Wolf Parade (alongside Spencer Krug) and Handsome Furs (alongside …
Halfway through the American Football show at Neptune Theatre, the band is tuning up guitars and getting ready to launch into another number, and there's a small, singular moment of silence. Then, from somewhere in the throng of voices, someone yells out, "I still can't believe this is even happeni…
