One of the few bands promoting a soon-to-be-released album, Parquet Courts' Sunday night set at Sasquatch was a partially a showcase for their forthcoming second album, Sunbathing Animal. (Interestingly enough, the album went up for streaming just as their set started.) Their debut, 2013's Light Up…
A rubber band is the perfect picture to fit Swedish electronic outfit Little Dragon. Up to this point, the band has been carving a unique sound that occupies a haunting modern space somewhere between historical influences like Massive Attack and Bjork. After singer Yukumi Nagano made an appearance …
Closing out his career as Fruit Bats, Eric D. Johnson has come full circle. Sixteen years ago, he started the folksy project as a personal outlet, but, as these things happen, the singer-songwriter solo effort eventually grew into a full band, first, with support of his tourmates, Califone (one of …
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 …
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 …
This week's short list of new releases sees some old names returning with fresh new sounds. 80's electronic alternative icons Depeche Mode return with their thirteenth studio album, perhaps their strongest effort yet in this post Y2K world. Delta Machine contains the familiar tropes: dark eroticism…
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…
This summer, folk rockers The Lumineers played a special show at Barboza in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood as part of KEXP's VIP Club concert series. The band has gained major momentum in the current thirst for rootsy, soul-stirring music, and this year they're up for two Grammys -- for Best …
Something new's going on in Seattle. Well, something new and something old. This city's musical past is already peppered with its fair share of country rock, folk, psychedelic and metal bands, but several up and coming bands are tapping into those genres and styles with renewed vigor. Ballard was a…
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…
It's Friday night at the Showbox and there's a singer on stage waltzing through "My Favorite Things" from The Sound Of Music and at the end of her final stanza, the band behind her crash in and a Danny Brown verse recited by Spank Rock (perhaps one of the only rappers who could conceivably match Br…
Somewhere between modern dance and an anti-drug campaign sits this new video from Thee Oh Sees for the track "Dead Man’s Gun." Watch as a sweaty, creepy guy concocts drugs while even creepier people "dance" to the track, an eerie, paranoid song off the band's latest A Weird Exits. KEXP presents th…
In what's easily become a summer tradition for many KEXP listeners, the 4th Annual Timber! Outdoor Music Festival kicks off tonight in beautiful Carnation, WA. It's more than just a music festival: it's a beautiful escape to Tolt-Macdonald Park with recreation tree climbing, swimming, kayaking, an…
I would've loved to see the faces on the suburban stay-at-home parents when UK post-punk band Savages took the stage on Ellen yesterday afternoon. "I love finding new, interesting, unique music, and I love this next band," Ellen said in her introduction. Watch them perform the track "Adore" below.…
On the eve of the release of their new EP, False Starts, Seattle band The Young Evils stopped by KEXP to squeeze out their brand of infectious sultry soundscapes until our tiny live room walls were dripping in all elements of retro cool. From the rocking spaghetti western whimsy of "Get Your Guns" …
Mariachi and punk don’t seem like harmonious ingredients for palatable, let alone outstanding, music, but hardcore punk band The Bronx were creative (and brave) enough to try it out. The unprecedented hybrid punk/mariachi band they formed, named Mariachi El Bronx, had enough talent, appeal and nice…
Swedish singer-songwriter Alice Boman's subtle vocals and delicate instrumentals could get a response from even the chilliest of hearts. The minimalist musician, who released her second EP, EP II, this year, creates such an uncluttered sound that it disguises the fact that she is accompanied by thr…
What's the best thing about the Seattle band Country Lips? Is it their name? Maybe. Is it their traditional Americana music? Getting close... Is it that they get people to dance and dance often? Yes! In a city not known for it's folk music, accordion playing and hip shaking, Country Lips bring the …
Since we first heard them four years, Capsula have thrilled us with on blazing performance after another. The Argentinian, by way of Spain, band returned to Seattle his past December and since they had already previewed their stellar 2013 album, Solar Secrets, last time we had them in, this time th…
With all the information passing between people on the internet, I suppose it’s no wonder an amazing band could form via Craigslist – yet, it still comes as a bit of a surprise that JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound came together this way. It’s like hearing the perfect couple met on a dating web site.…
