COSMOS kicked off KEXP's Live Broadcast at Upstream Music Fest + Summit with an undeniable style and presence, establishing the all-ages presence at the festival, and further cementing the band's place within the local music scene. Upstream marks another junction on the rising career of COSMOS, fol…
We love when one of our favorite bands remixes another favorite band, and that's just what we've got with the track below: hear Wye Oak's take on "Need A Friend," a single from EL VY, the collaboration of Matt Berninger of The National and Brent Knopf of Menomena and Ramona Falls. Find the origina…
It seems the thing people at KCMU most wanted to talk about regarding this 12" single by the Northern Irish band (with an American singer) That Petrol Emotion was the graphic statement on the back of the record regarding the strip searching of female prisoners at Armagh Prison in Northern Ireland. …
Dos, the fearsome bass duo of Mike Watt and Kira Roessler, belongs to that rarefied class of bands that I know I love without ever having knowingly heard them. Their music is played entirely on two basses, the charmingly low-key punk rock hero Mike Watt is half of the band, they seem to love what t…
The Jazz Butcher have always seemed like an intimidating band to get into. There's the large catalog (10 LPs and countless singles by the time I was flipping through the bins at independent record stores), the multiple names (The Jazz Butcher, The Jazz Butcher Conspiracy, The Jazz Butcher & His…
Simon Stålhamre may be the creative force behind Small Feet, but it was not until he found the assistance of his band mates Jacob Snavely and Christopher Cantillo along with the inspiration of an island cabin residence that he was able to create music without self-sabotaging. It's a good thing he f…
Few groups span the ages like Preservation Hall Jazz Band. Though not nearly as old as they music they play, the New Orleans ensemble first formed in the early 60's to renew interest in traditional jazz. Over the past five decades, many of the Crescent City's finest musicians have performed for vis…
It's not often you get to say you saw a three band gig where all three bands blew you away for completely different reasons. Luckily for those crammed in Neumos basement at the sold out Pallbearer, Sólstafir, and Mortals show Thursday night, that was 100% the case. Each with an entirely different f…
This is one of those records where reading the DJ reviews from 1987 really makes me want to hear the album (without having to do anything so crazy as, say, buy it on iTunes or Amazon, cheapskate and preferrer-of-physical-media that I am). A lot of tantalizing phrases and references get thrown aroun…
Our second Iceland Airwaves band of the day live from Kex Hostel in downtown Reykjavik was Icelandic trip hop and electro pop group Young Karin, played Bumbershoot in Seattle this year. They are a new band, having formed just last year. But they are already garnering attention at home and abroad. T…
Paul Janeway's vocal range is some kind of miracle. For the young Alabama-based soul stirrer and his band, St. Paul & The Broken Bones, the sounds of Memphis and Muscle Shoals go marrow deep. On Half The City, their unbelievable mature debut, Janeway channels '60s R&B greats like Otis Reddi…
The love NYC drummer Miles Arntzen holds for the music of Nigerian legend Fela Kuti is so great it can't be contained by just one band. Arntzen, who drums for well-known funksters Antibalas, also started yet another 10+ member afrobeat-inspired group in EMEFE. Formed a year before his joining Antib…
The Sumner Brothers, the Vancouver B.C.-based alt-country band, co-led by brother Bob and Brian Sumner, stopped by KEXP to play a moving set on The Roadhouse with Greg Vandy. Looming with almost nightmarish instrumentation, but calming, yearning vocals, the band finds the listener’s ear immediately…
We knew that The Besnard Lakes would be on our list to see while we were in Montreal since first, they are one of our favorite Montreal-based bands, but also because frontman Jace Lasek is one of the three founders of Breakglass Studios. It was really fun to see The Besnard Lakes in their element a…
Funk music isn't just heard, it's experienced. You can have a great time playing a funk article at home on your stereo, but it takes on a whole new life when it's right in front of your face. Seattle future funk-fusion act High Pulp gets this. With a staggering 10 members in the group, they push an…
Back in August, KEXP traveled to Katowice, Poland for our third year at the OFF Festival. In addition to our live broadcast and on-site interviews with bands like Silver Apples, Beak>, and more, we were also able to capture some field recordings with Polish band L.Stadt.
Moon King is the project of Daniel Benjamin originally from Toronto, and now spending most of his time in the Detroit area. When Benjamin released his first tape as Moon King in 2011, he caught the attention of fellow Toronto band Fucked Up’s guitarist Mike Haliechuk who released his first two EPs.…
Senior Video Producer Jim Beckmann joins DJ Kevin Cole to preview some of the great Icelandic bands playing Iceland Airwaves 2016, featuring psych rock, hip hop, indie pop and more, from bands like Sin Fang, Singapore Sling, WESEN, SUÐ and JFDR. 1. Ljóðfæri - Intro 2. Andy Svarthol - Ofbirta 3. Si…
True to style, every year, there are one or two bands that manage to navigate the Sasquatch! Music Festival contracts and squeeze in a Seattle date right before they head east. For 2015, that band was UK electronic showcase Jungle. While they absolutely wowed crowds with their Sasquatch! set on Day…
Indie rock stalwarts Interpol returned to the scene earlier this year with a fantastic new LP, El Pintor, ten tracks of ageless Interpol mastery, heavy on the guitar hooks and light on filler. After a brief foray on a major label with 2007's impossibly underrated Our Love To Admire, tumultuous band…
