As major labels continue to exist behind the times, artists and labels with little capital and lesser reputations are producing some of the most innovative, interesting, and inspiring music. Whether it’s creating a new niche in digital technology or looking to once obsolete formats, Agitated Atmosp…
Philadelphia band The War on Drugs return with the fourth album. KEXP Music Director Don Yates calls it, "an excellent set of expansive, '80s-steeped rock. Beautifully produced, the band's music has never sounded better than it does here with a bliss-inducing combination of expansive guitar leads, …
Can you believe there was once a time where Reggae wasn’t a word everyone recognized? In the musical world you have to really be in awe of how a sound from a tiny island in the Caribbean has propelled itself into the Global Consciousness. The legendary Reggae singer Winston Jarrett can clearly reme…
Deerhunter lead the pack of this week's new releases with the seventh full-length, Fading Frontier. KEXP Music Director Don Yates calls it, "one of their most direct and melodic releases. It’s also one of their best, featuring beautifully crafted songs of atmospheric psych-pop combining a warm, oft…
Highlights for this sleepy summer week include the debut from Toronto-based band Alvvays (pronounced "always," if you were wonderin'). KEXP Music Director Don Yates describes the release as "a promising set of hazy, surf-inflected dream-pop. Produced by Chad VanGaalen, the album features a reverb-d…
KEXP is welcoming a new, but to some familiar, name as the host of Sunday Soul. Supreme La Rock was once the host of KEXP’s hip hop show, now heard on Friday nights. Midday host Larry Mizeell, Jr. (who is also a former host of Street Sounds), reintroduced Supreme to KEXP audiences in an interview o…
Variety mix host and general renaissance man Troy Nelson paints a portrait of his latest musical tastes with new tracks from Sneaks, Kelley Stoltz, and Curtis Harding. 1. Sneaks - Look Like That 2. Mux Mool - Oh Yeah 3. Frankie Rose - Trouble 4. Cherry - Buttoned Up 5. Timber Timbre - Grifting 6. …
“In order to be big, we need a lot of players.” Jungle Fire guitarist bassist Joseph Reina lays it out pretty clear: to be able to create muscular afro funk workouts, the Los Angeles outfit need at least ten musicians. But even with a guitarist missing, the nonet sound bold and kinetic when they j…
Close Eyes to Exit is the title of the Klangstof's debut album, and listening to their debut session in KEXP's Live Room, it's easy to be inclined to close your eyes and dive into the Amsterdam group's expansive sound. Alternating between echoing post-punk and crashing guitars,…
Embodying the sounds and spirit of New Orleans' French Quarter for more than four decades, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band is nothing short of an institution of American jazz music. Still touring extensively, the energy of the New Orleans-style jazz compositions is as vibrant as ever, certain…
The fragrance of adventure and poetry endlessly pervades DJ Kevin Cole’s new music mix featuring new sounds from Vanishing Twin, KOKOKO!, Khruangbin, girl in red, Sleater-Kinney, and more bands to delight and inspire.
Natalie Hemby of the supergroup The Highwomen says their new album pushes for more female representation and narratives in country music. Sean Carey and Jenn Wasner of Bon Iver talks about the band’s change in sound. Plus, a panel discussion about how many music venues in Seattle are at risk of clo…
Sound & Vision’s series, “Northwest Classics,” dives into the stories behind iconic records from the Pacific Northwest. In today’s edition, KEXP DJ Marco Collins and music journalist and author, Charles R. Cross discuss Heart’s album Dreamboat Annie, and Soundgarden’s record Superunknown.
You'll wish you could say you were there. It was just one of those shows that all in attendance knew they were blessed by some kind of angelic beings to attend, as HÆLOS played for a respectably sized, though not packed, crowd at The Sunset Tavern last week. The UK trio decided to advance their for…
Com Truise gave Seattle exactly one week with his interstellar new record Wave 1 before his show here Tuesday night. This is producer Seth Haley's first Seattle stop since Sasquatch! Music Festival in 2012, where he rocked the roof off the dance tent in middle of the day. If Tuesday night's sold ou…
As the sun set on KEXP's 2016 Hood to Hood broadcast from the Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, the party headed a few miles away to the Skylark Cafe where DJ Troy Nelson was hosting an evening of local music. It's a good thing the show was All Ages, because we had the winners of this year's youth-o…
Dan Snaith may have started Caribou as a sample-heavy solo project, but after his set at Sasquatch! Music Festival, it is hard to think of Caribou as anything but a live band. Such was the effect of Snaith and his three touring companion’s show Sunday. While Caribou’s more recent work contains a be…
The fact that Theoretics remixed the Blade Runner theme a few months back automatically backs up drummer Adam Gross' statement, "We're all sort of sci-fi nerds." A five-piece livetronica band from our very own city, Theoretics certainly deliver sound-wise, taking us on a funky space-age aural explo…
