What better way to get out of the sun than to spend a bit of time digging crates at your local record shop? While the summer weeks tend to be slow for new releases, you'll find plenty of excellent new albums in stores this week. Among them is the second album from Seattle's Shelby Earl, whose Damie…
2017 is off and running with some long-awaited LPs out now, like the latest from The xx. KEXP Music Director Don Yates says, "This London trio's excellent third album brings a brighter, more varied and pop-inflected sound to their spectral electro-pop courtesy of band member/producer Jamie xx, thou…
Wolf Alice closed out their American tour at Sasquatch! Music Festival Friday night, leaving all venues in their rear-view in flames. The Yeti Stage was no different, as the group alternated between the heavy dissonance of their squealing guitars and the angelic pop-hooks of lead woman Ellie Roswel…
Donning a red jump suit, Olivia Merilahti, vocalist of The Dø, looked as if she took the spacey ambiance of the KEXP studio to heart and, based on the sonic transformation The Dø's sound undertook in the creation of their third album, it was a fitting sentiment. Leaving acoustic instruments behind,…
He's never lived so far away, yet he's never sounded so much like himself. After a move to London, former Sonic Youth frontman Thurston Moore reclaimed his place as a ranking don of noise-rock while reassembling his band with some true ringers, namely former SY bandmate Steve Shelley on drums and D…
Remember how Modest Mouse hinted at a new song earlier this month? Well, here it is! Stream the track "Lampshades on Fire" (via The Current) below, a sneak peek at their upcoming album Strangers to Ourselves out March 3rd. As you'll hear, it doesn't stray far from the trademark Mouse sound you kno…
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 …
By Justin Farrar Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part of our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. Today’s song, fea…
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…
The exhibit Like a Hammer has just opened at the Seattle Art Museum. KEXP talks with the artist Jeffrey Gibson about his influences: music, queer identity, and his worldly travels.
Seattle-raised, Brooklyn-based artist Kassa Overall delivers a captivating Midnight In A Perfect World DJ mix that displays his unique intersection of hip-hop and jazz that reflects the visionary sound of his new album I Think I'm Good.
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.
Conceived just ahead of releasing their new album Loving In Stereo, London duo Jungle piece together a groovy guest DJ mix for Midnight In A Perfect World that showcases their eclectic taste and sharp ears for cutting-edge contemporary sounds.
Channeling sounds both neon and nocturnal, NAVVI's precisely languid take on electronic pop tempers its dark undercurrents with a subtle pop sensibility. The Seattle duo of Brad Boettger and Kristin Henry perform four songs from their debut, 2016's Omni, and explain the genesis of the project on t…
Australian psych-rock band Pond blow the doors off the KEXP studio in this heavy performance on The Midday Show. Pond sound simultaneously out-of-control and perfectly tight in this performance including a debut song from their forthcoming 2015 release “Man, It Feels Like Space Again.” Recorded 10…
KEXP DJ Kevin Cole talks with Andrea Swensson, author of the book Got to Be Something Here: The Rise of the Minneapolis Sound.
As part of Sound & Vision’s mini-series on the history of hip hop in Seattle, we look back at the city's first rap group, Emerald Street Boys.
KEXP's Larry Mizell Jr. profiles Vitamin D’s story, how he bridged Seattle's funk and soul era with the beginnings of its rap scene, and eventually created the unmatched sound that persists today.
