With 9 LPs under his belt as part of the group Matt Pond PA, Matt Pond has dropped the "PA" to undertake a solo career. This East Coast born-and-raised singer/songwriter began playing music during college and eventually scored gigs opening for bands like Bikini Kill and Superchunk. While his debut …
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, featured on the Morn…
In the classiest move ever, Brooklyn-based queer punk band PWR BTTM played a show in Orlando this past weekend, a mere week after the tragic shootings at gay club Pulse. Proceeds were donated to the GoFundMe Pulse Tragedy Community Fund. And Liv Bruce performed a beautiful solo version of the clas…
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 is “You Can Stay But …
The National were almost cut from the soundtrack for The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, for reportedly "being too dark." Their contribution, which you can hear below, was originally titled "Dying Is Easy." As frontman Matt Berninger revealed to NME, "The song almost didn't make it because it was too…
Summer Cannibals are a band which announces their presence. Since the release of 2016's Full of It record, released on Kill Rock Stars, the band has fine-tuned an impressive live show, as evidenced by their set today at Little London Plane, as part of Day 3 of our Upstream Fest & Summit coverag…
We've been hearing a lot about 2014 releases, but Third Man Records is already talkin' about 2015 -- that's when the new album from The Dead Weather comes out. Can't wait that long? The supergroup of Jack White, Alison Mosshart of the Kills, Dean Fertita of Queens of the Stone Age, and Jack Lawren…
Wolf Parade are releasing their first album in seven years, Cry Cry Cry, on October 6 via Sub Pop. Today they've unveiled the album's second single "You're Dreaming" which was inspired by the shock and confusion following the 2016 U.S. presidential election. It's accompanied by a cut-out visual mad…
Local duo Chimurenga Renaissance (aka Tendai Maraire of Shabazz Palaces and Hussein Kalonji) debut a new track today titled "Girls With Gunz," a song they say was inspired by African assassin Grace Maseva, a woman who fought in the Second Chimurenga, the war that ended white rule in Zimbabwe. Loca…
"Girls to the front!" This was the mantra for feminist artist Kathleen Hanna when she fronted the influential punk band Bikini Kill in the '90s. Twenty-five years later, Hanna is on tour, presenting the lecture Riot Grrl: Then and Now, and the girls were down in front at the Neptune Theatre, excite…
On the show this time, it’s a stripped-down performance from post-garage rockers The Kills.
It's hard to believe it's been 20 years since beloved Northwest singer/songwriter Elliott Smith released his now-classic LP Either/Or. For its anniversary, Kill Rock Stars is releasing an expanded reissue with live tracks from the 1997 Yo Yo A Go Go Festival in Olympia, WA, as well as previously u…
LA garage pop outfit Bleached have been rising strong on the scene in the last year with a number of fantastic singles and well known strong live presence. The band mixes West Coast surf tendencies with the gorgeous melodic punk of bands like Vivian Girls and Dum Dum Girls, delivered through tight …
Sunscreen for the Eastern Washington sun? Check. Sleeping bag for the few moments you'll be able to sleep? Check? Earplugs for when your 'drums need a break? Check. Booty shorts for dancin'? Check. High energy bars for, uh... energy? Check. Roadtrip music for the journey out to The Gorge? Double an…
The first-ever Upstream Music Fest + Summit is just around the corner, on Thursday, May 11th through Saturday, May 13th, in locations all over Pioneer Square. Earlier this year, the first wave of artists were announced (see here), as well as this year's keynote speakers: Quincy Jones, Macklemore, a…
Merge Records rocker Mikal Cronin continues to kill it in the music video realm. Earlier this month, he enlisted comedians Kristen Schaal, Paul Scheer, and Kurt Braunohler to remake a Natalie Imbruglia video (watch here). Today, he tackles the clip for Paul Simon’s “You Can Call Me Al” for his own…
Dazzling D.C. duo GEMS stopped by KEXP’s new home, filling our cavernous live room with their spacious and glimmering dream pop. Singer/keyboardist Lindsay Pitts and singer/producer/multi-instrumentalist Clifford John Usher released their debut LP, Kill the One You Love, after writing together for …
It's another jam-packed week of new releases! Highlights include the latest from London-based artist Adam Bainbridge (aka Kindness). KEXP Music Director Don Yates notes the relase "finds him toning down the disco influences of his promising debut album in favor of an often-gorgeous set of ‘80s R&am…
