Today, legendary singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen celebrates his 82nd birthday, and we're the ones who get a present. Check out the title track from his upcoming release, You Want It Darker, out October 21st via Sony. A press release explains, "Cohen created this hypnotic groove with the addition o…
Of Montreal's frontperson Kevin Barnes talks with Roddy Nikpour about their vision for their latest release..
Both Friday and Saturday's Decibel Festival festivities were stacked top to bottom with incredibly good sets, at pretty much every venue in the greater Seattle area. And somehow this year, the festival organizers have done an incredible job at giving each set an incredible sense of creative continu…
Dan Boeckner may have followed his own advice to “start again”, but even with a new moniker, a new band, and a self-released debut EP released four days after its announcement, there seems to be nothing preventing Boeckner from shining through the darkness, no matter how often he disappears back in…
Montreal DJ/producer Jacques Greene has emerged as an integral and innovative artist within the underground electronic music scene since the release of his pivotal debut single, "(Baby I Don't Know) What You Want", in late 2010, displaying a cutting-edge style that uniquely infused R&B, progres…
Many in the area have known Seattle's Success for a while, but it was last year that these hometown heroes got some love on a national level. Their breakout LP, Radio Recovery, was released by Chicago indie label Red Scare Industries and the quartet accepted tour offers from bands like Masked Intr…
The history of the band Islands is so rich that it's almost hard to find where to start. Founded in Montreal in 2005, the band relocated to New York and then eventually moved the long distance to Los Angeles, where frontman Nick Thorburn decided to live after a difficult romantic breakup. In 2006, …
Moderat is the collaborative team-up between German electronic heavyweights Modeselektor (Gernot Bronsert and Sebastian Szary) and Apparat (Sascha Ring). Longtime KEXP favorites with three stellar albums under the Moderat name as well as deep individual catalogues, the trio will be joining forces o…
Essaie Pas is Marie Davidson and Pierre Guerineau, a married singer and engineer from Montreal, who have worked as individual artists as well as making three prior Essaie Pas records before this one. Demain marks a special milestone for them as their first for DFA, a label which continues to give h…
If you're looking for a last-minute Valentine's Day gift for a music lover, look no further than this week's new releases. Brooklyn-based Sudanese multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Sinkane (aka Ahmed Gallab, former Yeasayer/Caribou/Of Montreal sideman) releases his fourth LP. KEXP Music Director Don Y…
For Plants and Animals, growth can take time. The adventurous Montreal trio took four years to release their fourth album, double the time between each of their previous ones. After years of prolonged touring and rapid recording, the childhood friends Nic Basque, Matthew Woodley, and Warren Spicer …
Toronto’s BADBADNOTGOOD’s first headlining show in Seattle proved that they have come a long way from their viral-video rap-cover roots, as the three-piece made some serious noise tearing through several familiar covers and even more originals from their debut album, III. With only a drum kit, elec…
You might never expect this to happen to you: strolling through the woods, lulled by an enchanting melody, sorrowful yet sweet, and finding not some wandering minstrel strumming in a sun-dappled clearing but a 5-member band set up with an organ, an upright bass, and a full-sized harp. That's the sc…
Suuns are riding high this year following the release of their second full-length Images Du Futur, and when they showed up to play at KEXP's broadcast in Mellow Johnny's Bike Shop at SXSW the crowd got to see the band burn with confidence through a set of powerful, propulsive post-rock. Suuns alwa…
Montreal experimental band Suuns have grown in leaps and bounds in the last couple years. No doubt, their debut LP Zeroes QC was a solid entry point, with a clever mixture of noise and pop and a good sampling through the various electronic derivations of alternative rock we’ve seen in the last 20 y…
There are few moments in rock 'n' roll as iconic as the opening drum-and-breath line in "Time of the Season." Yet unlike many of their British Invasion co-horts (like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who and The Moody Blues), The Zombies never reached the same level of success. Maybe it was tha…
On the show this time, it’s the compelling “collage-rock” of Montreal’s TEKE::TEKE.
Montreal 7-piece psych-rock band TEKE::TEKE expand on the wide array of influences that led to the name of their band before floating into a flute-filled, surfy set.
As the very first Francophone band signed to Sub Pop, Corridor prove that they’re worth their salt with their third studio album, Junior. In this episode, Troy Nelson explores the history of the Montreal band and the swift making of the 2019 record.
It’s time again for Friday on My Mind. Our weekly blog post where we look at videos centered around one common theme. This is a collaborative effort between KEXP and King 5 News. Hey, everybody! The weekend is here and we need to get out in the sun while the sun is still out for gettin’. This week …