History was made (and relived) this weekend in Portland with the first ever Project Pabst. The festival, a testament to the PDX+PBR love affair, tossed Portland into a beer-fueled time warp. Along with newer acts, Zidell Yards hosted some 80s and 90s greats like Tears for Fears, Violent Femmes, GZA…
Opening Decibel Festival 2013 at Neumos was a show that set the bar so high that it's going to be hard to compete with it for the next four days. Peter Hook & The Light headlined the Factory Pop Showcase with a double header of classic New Order albums: Movement and Power, Corruption, & Lie…
A couple times a year, Starbucks, STG, and KEXP team up to put on the Little Big Show - a little show with a big impact - where 100% of the proceeds go towards helping the arts stay alive for young people. This evening's sold out show raised over $14,000 for The Vera Project, the non-profit all age…
This Friday, Scottish band Belle and Sebastian are releasing the first EP in a series of three that they're calling How To Solve Our Human Problems. Today the band has shared a video for the previously released single "I'll Be Your Pilot" via TIDAL. Frontman Stuart Murdoch explained in an intervie…
When Seattle hip-hop duo Shabazz Palaces announced an album release show for their sophomore LP, Lese Majesty, there was no question that the event would be a family affair. Ishmael Butler and Tendai Maraire both have deep Seattle roots and have helped assemble a brilliant coalition of artistic min…
It's with great sadness that KEXP reports Dave Rosser, guitarist for The Afghan Whigs, passed away yesterday, Tuesday, June 17th, at the age of 50. Late last year, Rosser was diagnosed with inoperable colon cancer. The band state on their Facebook page:
On Saturday afternoon, Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio debuted three new songs to a capacity crowd at Little London Plane in Pioneer Square. Though the trio finished some of new tunes, including the ironically named "I Don't Want to Play This," as recently as Monday afternoon, there was no way that anyone…
One surefire way to break through the gloomy weather of Seattle is with some sunny rock and roll. Lucky for us and all those at our Occidental Stage yesterday, local the Killroom Records power-pop rockers Bread and Butter came to the rescue! The rain that struck Upstream was long-forgotten once the…
It was exciting enough when Slowdive reunited in 2014 for a worldwide tour, but now the Berkshire-based shoegazers will release a self-titled LP tomorrow, Friday, May 5th, via Dead Oceans. It's their fourth album, and first new music in 22 years. Founding member, multi-instrumentalist, and vocalist…
James Blake is sly as a fox. While everyone was completely distracted by Kanye West's album drop and fashion nonsense, Blake debuted a gorgeous new song called "Modern Soul" during his BBC Radio 1 show. It's such an incredible song and Blake's effortlessly stunning vocals will blow you away. Serio…
On September 11, Minnesota band Low will release their 11th studio album, Ones and Sixes via Sub Pop. The album was co-produced by the band and BJ Burton at Bon Iver frontman Justin Vernon's studio in Wisconsin. Listen to the record's first single "No Comprende" below. [CoS]
Daevid Allen pioneer of psychedelic rock and founding member of Soft Machine and Gong lost his battle with cancer today, he was 77. His son, Orlando Monday, broke the news on Facebook, saying "You have left such a beautiful legacy and we will make sure it forever shines in our children and their c…
Former Grandaddy frontman Jason Lytle shares a new live album today via Bandcamp. The release — appropriately titled House Show — was recorded back in May at his friend Stephan Bayley’s home in Portland. It's an intimate, casual affair, with great in-between song banter left in the recording. Stre…
Obviously, my parents did way too good of a job raising me, as I have pretty much no familiarity with the woman who, according to the Internet, was "widely considered the most controversial and radical female singer of her day" – Wendy O. Williams' day being more or less the first twelve years of m…
There's an exterior section of the EMP where, when there's an ongoing performance in the Sky Church, the blue aluminum panels rattle and reflect the street lighting in a way that makes it seem like a small light show of its own. Of course, the more interesting light show is always inside the EMP, a…
Jack White looks very dapper and mysterious in his video for Lazaretto track "Would You Fight For My Love." Directed by Robert Hales, the video was filmed at Denver's Oxford Hotel, and according to a press release, "conceived and created within 24 hours." Now that's impressive. [Pitchfork]
Frankly, every damn day should be National Senior Citizens Day (sorry for the language, gramma), but August 21st is officially the day we honor the elders in our community. The day was designated in 1988 by then-president Ronald Reagan, who added, "For all they have achieved throughout life and for…
Last week, on Thursday, July 10th, music lovers from all across town poured into Seattle Center to help us celebrate All In: The Rally for KEXP’s New Home. It was our first-ever event at the site of our future station, and we were humbled by the outpouring of love and support we received that eveni…
The National frontman Matt Berninger has teamed up with singer-songwriter Andrew Bird for a rework of a classic English folk song called "A Lyke Wake Dirge." This deep, intense version was recorded for AMC's Turn, a drama about Revolutionary War spies. [Stereogum]
It turns out I have previously blogged in this space about a Dead Moon album, but I'm going to do it again, because 1) that was over four years ago, which on the Internet is like a whole nother geological age; 2) they have fourteen albums, I think I can write about two of 'em for crying out loud; 3…
