M. Ward’s 2016 release, More Rain, sounds as advertised, offering a perfect soundtrack for rainy days. Ward has admitted to writing it for that particular reason, and while at first listen it doesn’t sound like a festival ready album, it was perfect for Sasquatch! Music Festival. For the songs off …
This morning, John Richards celebrates the 68th birthday of composer, producer and performer Brian Eno, featuring four hours of ambient and other music created, produced and inspired by the all-around musical mastermind. While he's most directly connected to the genre of "ambient", a term he coined…
"That’s how it’s DONE!" -- As Conan O’Brien recognized, Charles Bradley & his Extraordinaires brought a fantastic performance to Conan last night. Watch the 67-year-old showman perform "Ain’t It a Sin" off their latest Changes, and you'll most likely agree. Keep up with all the late-night TV h…
Luminescent electronic lady Julianna Barwick shares her new album, Will, next Friday, May 6th via Dead Oceans, but you can stream it now in its entirety via NPR Music. The latest from this Brooklyn-based songstress features guest appearances from Thomas Arsenault (Mas Ysa), Dutch cellist Maarten V…
Who doesn't want to learn how to play guitar like Bob Mould? The veteran musician has certainly honed his chops over the last 40 years with previous projects Hüsker Dü and Sugar, and last night on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, he broke down his technique. Watch below. He and his fantastic ba…
Today, we conclude our weekly series of Polish bands KEXP recorded while at the OFF Festival in Katowice with a bang. Wrocław trio Ukryte Zalety Systemu, whose name translates to "Hidden Benefits System", clearly reference bands like Gang of Four as they decry the erosion of individualism in the fa…
Opening the third day of KEXP’s broadcast live from Kex Hostel at Iceland Airwaves Music Festival was Icelandic singer-songwriter and KEXP favorite Sóley. Previously a member of Seabear and Sin Fang, the soft-voiced multi-instrumentalist has had a very successful solo career. She released her debut…
The middle set of today's broadcast live from Kex Hostel at Iceland Airwaves is British pop artist Lonelady. The pseudonym for british pop artist Julie Campbell, LoneLady combines funky guitar riffs with fun, dancy synths and beats, and influences the likes of “That’s Us/Wild Combination”-era Arthu…
Avant-garde electronic music is probably the last thing people think of when they hear “dinner theater”, but that’s exactly what Decibel Festival attendees got if they were lucky enough to snag a spot at the sold out Optical 1 showcase. After fine dining courtesy of the famed Wild Ginger kitchen, a…
The gaudy, sterile synths, the contrapuntal guitar and bass, the party ready drums, and especially the high-ranging, free-wielding, devil-may-care vocals - if you were there in 2005 when Clap Your Hands Say Yeah rose to indie-stardom with their self-titled, self-released debut, you remember it all.…
The phrase "music is a universal language" is sometimes overused, but is perfectly fitting when it comes to Joe Driscoll & Sekou Kouyate. New York native Driscoll and Guinea-born Kouyate met at a music festival in Marseilles, France and instantly clicked. Despite the enormous language barrier -…
Israeli shoegaze - it's no idle navel-gazing. Even amid intense political struggle and ongoing war, daily life has a way of proceeding in its usual vagaries, making mundane moments as likely as impassioned ones. Boredom, in fact, is a much part of Israeli life as it is anywhere else and is maybe of…
Hot on the heels of the Capitol Hill Block Party announce, the Timber! Outdoor Music Festival share their initial lineup for their 2015 event, and it sounds like it's gonna be fun times in the forest this summer! This July 16th through 18th, head out to the rural splendor of Carnation, Washington f…
You might not know the name Barry Adamson, but if you're a KEXP listener you've likely heard him - if not any of his excellent solo work, then as a member of bands such as Magazine and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. (Those are, in fact, the two things that anybody knows about Adamson, as one of the D…
Christopher Owens makes for one of the most interesting characters on the indie scene. His band former band, Girls, garnered mass critical acclaim in the late aughts, with a bright, unique rock sound and Owens' brilliant albeit dark assessment of the modern context of youth and progression in the c…
Anyone who's ever seen a show at Fremont Abbey could tell you that it's a beautiful, intimate setting; it's one of a handful of music venues in Seattle that is available to rent for wedding receptions, and when it does host gigs, they're primarily acoustic shows and songwriter showcases. But Deep S…
Coinciding with the rise in popularity and influence of American roots music, a new generation of songwriters has cropped up to transcend the stories and culture that inspired their predecessors and paint pictures of modern American life. At the forefront of this new chapter is Hurray For The Riff …
It took losing her voice for Wye Oak to rediscover theirs. On the heels of their successful previous album, Civilian, the Baltimore duo were playing arenas, opening for acts like The National and The Decemberists. And then, sadly, frontwoman Jenn Wasner developed vocal-cord nodules, and under docto…
Jenny Lewis has always been a voyager. Whether it was way back when penning heartbreak after heartbreak with Rilo Kiley or finding fresh, rocky footing on her own Rabbit Fur Coat and Acid Tongue, she's wandered around like an ongoing cameo in someone else's story. Lewis is a gifted spectator, bless…
tUnE-yArDs — even the typography of the name seems to pop off the page like the ecstatic rhythms of the band's new album. For Nikki Nack, Merrill Garbus has traveled far, sonically and literally, expanding upon the conceit of her self-recorded debut and turning tUnE-yArDs into a communal arts tribe…
