As anyone who's ever listened to The Midday Show on KEXP knows, DJ Cheryl Waters loves her Canadian music. And, in what's become an annual Canada Day tradition, Cheryl will play only music from our neighbors to the north today from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM PT. Not only is Cheryl our Midday Show host, bu…
KEXP Music Director Don Yates has declared the debut release from Ibeyi as his "Pick of the Week." He notes, "the debut album from the young Paris-based French-Cuban twin-sister duo of Naomi and Lisa-Kainde Diaz (who are also both daughters of the acclaimed Cuban percussionist Miguel “Anga” Diaz) i…
Y'know how some families have the tradition of opening just one present on Christmas Eve, and then the rest on Christmas Morning? Trent Reznor is doing the same with the new Nine Inch Nails EP, giving us just one track before its December 23rd release. Check out the single "Burning Bright (Field o…
This Saturday, April 5th, both The Recording Academy: Pacific Northwest Chapter and the EMP Museum are collaborating to create a symposium of regionally-specific songwriters in an event titled, The Second Annual Songwriter's Summit. According to their website, the Summit will "bring together a dive…
Where Brooklyn at? No, really. Where is Brooklyn, PA? Because that's where the band Hunters calls home (not the more famous borough of New York City). Nevertheless, the four-piece Hunters incorporates many different influences in their music, from straight up rock and roll to a pinch of metal to a …
Hunter Hunt-Hendrix cannot catch a break. With his work as Liturgy, he has crafted some of the most vivacious, jarring metal records we've heard in recent years. Take 2011's Aesthetica as an example. The record operates between quiet and loud like little else on the market. Its use of black metal t…
One of Wo'Pop host Darek Mazzone's most anticipated sessions in recent memory, Le Mystery des Voix Bulgares fill the KEXP Live Room with the power of a 23-person choir using open-throat singing to perform traditional Bulgarian music with contemporary arrangements. Running through a half …
Sigur Rós frontman Jónsi has shared a new solo track -- stream the single "Simple Gifts" below, a take on a traditional Shaker song originally written in 1848 by Elder Joseph Brackett. This modern version will appear on the upcoming soundtrack for the movie The Circle, starring Tom Hanks and Emm…
The latest from Australian band Royal Headache doesn't hurt KEXP's ears: our Music Director Don Yates calls it, "another first-rate set of urgent, soul-steeped garage-rock and post-punk, combining buzzing guitars and energetic rhythms with emotive lyrics and lead singer Shogun’s gritty, soulful voc…
How does K Records label impresario Calvin Johnson feel about Pink Floyd? DJ Sharlese may not get the local legend to reveal how he feels, but one thing we know for sure is that he loves Portland surf-rockers The Shivas. Not only has he released the young band's fourth album You Know What To Do on …
Holy Fuck! Noise upon noise, wires upon wires, dance beats upon dance beats - and a dinner knife traversing a slide guitar? Yep, that's how the unconventional Canadian electronica gang Holy Fuck rolls when performing songs off their new album, Congrats, which magnifies their noise-enthusiast, gear-…
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…
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 …
Vancouver/Toronto-based band Gold & Youth continue in the Canadian tradition of bands like Stars and Broken Social Scene, combining boy/girl vocals over danceable pop beats. Released on the iconic Arts & Crafts label last year, their debut full-length Beyond Wilderness captures '80s-style s…
Congratulations to Bob Dylan, winner of the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature! Also a critically acclaimed memoirist, Dylan was awarded the prize "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition", and he's the first American to win the prize in over 20 years! The 75-…
There is something both completely Polish and non-Polish about Lautari, the band featured this week in our series of Polish bands KEXP recorded while at the OFF Festival in Katowice. The award-winning ethno-jazz quartet, whose members hail from central and southern Poland, draw their name from the …
The weather was still shades of gray on Sunday, but overall promised to cooperate a bit more than the deluge of Saturday. The second day of Bumbershoot kicked off with the big, warm country rock sounds of Israel Nash. Nash plays very much in the tradition of Neil Young, and marries swelling rock wi…
When asked to describe his music, Zach Saginaw, operating under the pseudonym Shigeto, urges prospective fans to "have a listen". Drawing on his jazz background, instrumental hip-hop and years of drumming to create beat-heavy electronic tracks, Shigeto's music does indeed transcend traditional genr…
