Yesterday, we lost the iconic New Orleans musician Allen Toussaint. The legendary composer, performer and producer passed away at 77 years-old from cardiac arrest in Madrid while on tour. In his life, Toussaint carried the New Orleans R&B traditions of Professor Longhair and others through to …
Earlier this year, we got a sneak peek at the new alt-J album as the UK trio stopped by KEXP for an in-studio session. Now, the entire LP is out -- a release KEXP Music Director Don Yates calls, "their most adventurous, ranging from catchy prog-pop and solemn atmospheric folk ballads to decidedly o…
You'd be hard pressed to find a list of 2016's most anticipated albums without Porches on it. The moniker of New York's Aaron Maine and friends makes its Domino debut this year with Pool, a record that sounds and feels like a breakout ready to happen. Here, Maine ditches the lo-fi indie rock baseme…
Seattle's Megan "Emecks" Xaybanha is a triple threat as a musician, DJ and professional dancer and may be best known as a core member of the wildly fun and genre-smashing local group Don't Talk To The Cops! In addition to her work in DTTTC! (be on the lookout for their new album, Forevers, dropping…
London's William Doyle creates innovative, beautifully-constructed, critically-acclaimed music under the name East India Youth. While he's only been active for a few years at this point, he's quickly turned heads with his 2014 Mercury Prize-nominated debut, Total Strife Forever, and his recent 2015…
San Francisco has been doing the shoegaze revival right for a while now. There's something about the way bay area indie rock meshes with the sounds of My Bloody Valentine and Ride to give the classic, noisy 80s textures a brisk, airy sensibility, and the denseness of the classics is made new throug…
No other group in Seattle has the reach of THEESatisfaction. In creating their unique psychedelic hip hop stylings, local duo Cat and Stas reach as high among the stars as low within the roots below, and place their feet years beyond as eons ago. In fact, critics can't help but describe their new a…
We began our broadcast at Iceland Airwaves from KEX Hostel in Reykjavik with familiar faces in a brand new group. Ólafur Arnalds and Janus Rasmussen have both been featured several times live on KEXP, and not just from Iceland in years past – Ólafur also in Seattle and Austin during SXSW and Janus …
After over a decade, Fruit Bats is, um, flying away into the sunset, as mastermind Eric D. Johnston announced this morning: "Hey All. So, after 13 years, 5 albums, bunch of tours, and lots of laughs, Fruit Bats is calling it a day. There is no major or dramatic reason – I’m not gonna launch into o…
It’s rare that a band has three songwriters. But camaraderie oozes from the Seattle group Hounds of the Wild Hunt – and it seems each member truly appreciates when another can show his stuff on the mic. Ryan Devlin, Jonny Henningson, Nikki O Anderson and drummer Cary Davis make up the band that ca…
Apart from their various shows around the U.S. and Europe, we haven't heard much from Texan lo-fi indie rock band The Baptist Generals since their debut Sub Pop album, No Silver/No Gold ten years ago, but the band is back with the highly anticipated Jackleg Devotional to the Heart. The Baptist Gene…
DJ Kevin Cole presents a mix of highlight artists performing during this year's Sasquatch! Music Festival. Soundtrack your road trip out to the Gorge, or, if you're unable to attend in person, enjoy this awesome musical companion for your Memorial Day Weekend. 1. Temples - Shelter Song 2. S…
It almost goes without saying that anything that Marc Ribot touches turns to gold, and Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog is no exception. Aside from his own prolific solo career, Ribot has worked with captains of industry like Elvis Costello, John Zorn, The Black Keys, plus goes back thirty years and seven…
It's real. After teasing fans on and off for the better part of 22 or so years, guitarist/vocalist Kevin Shields has delivered the third full-length My Bloody Valentine album, m b v. (Take a deep breath.) Since its release on Saturday night (which resulted in the cancellation of the evening plans o…
Last year, Zola Jesus returned to the scene with a new look, a new label, and new vastness that she's never shown off before. Taiga, her first LP on Mute, puts Nika on a new plane of existence, much more natural and much stronger than she's ever presented herself to be before. And with it, she has …
KEXP can never get enough of Sóley. The charming Icelandic songstress has a knack for covering a deep emotional range and some occasionally morbid subjects in the most disarming and endearing way. In fact, we've recorded her six out of the past seven years we've been covering Iceland Airwaves, and …
The UK electronic dance music scene is just divine this fall. I know, I know, you can pretty much say that year round any year and it would be at least partially true, but this is especially true right now. Just last month, we got a full length masterpiece by up-and-coming Glasgow pioneer Rustie. T…
When it comes to long-lived makers of weird music, Einstürzende Neubauten is a fair match for Pere Ubu. Pere Ubu was founded a couple of years earlier, but as far as I can tell Neubauten has never had an officially inactive period. Pere Ubu is arguably the poppier of the two bands (most of their so…
"Everybody wants to be in a big black coat", Jeremy Greenspan sings on the title track from new Junior Boys LP, Big Black Coat (read our review, "everybody wants to have your style". Truly, few electronic bands have style like this Ontario duo. While Greenspan sings softly, Matt Didemus stands in h…
