The Suffers have earned their name: it took them about five years of running the Houston circuit before jumping overnight to national attention. Houston is one of the cities that often gets overlooked in the discussion of the American music scene, partially because neighboring New Orleans dwarfs it…
Los Angeles' Adrian Younge is a self-taught musician and highly sought-after analogue soul/funk/R&B/hip-hop producer. Bursting onto the music scene with his soundtrack to the 2009 blaxploitation parody/homage flick Black Dynamite, Younge has emerged as a distinctive artist and recording enginee…
Elliott Smith fans, rejoice! KEXP presents the Seattle premiere of Nickolas Rossi's Elliott Smith documentary, Heaven Adores You at Northwest Film Forum, Friday, May 15, with an extended run by popular demand through May 26. Heaven Adores You follows the beloved musician's musical evolution, from p…
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, …
There's been one name on the lips of every credible music news source for the last two weeks: Disclosure. The band has been gaining buzz with excellent singles and some great international dance chart action in the six months, but two weeks out from their album's release, the duo - Surrey brothers …
The National gave Brussels a treat last night by performing their beloved fourth studio album Boxer in its entirety for the first time ever. The band just wrapped up a European tour behind their latest album Sleep Well Beast, with Brussels as their final stop. Boxer celebrated its 10th anniversary …
This year's Oscar nominations rolled out this morning and some very familiar names to KEXP are on the list. Indie-folk genius Sufjan Stevens is nominated in the Best Original Song category for one of the two songs he contributed to Luca Guadagnino's Call Me Be Your Name, "Mystery Of Love." Stevens …
Yet again I find myself stumbling in way over my head, with the "discovery" of a band that I'd really love to read a whole book about. Portland band Theatre of Sheep was quite the local phenomenon 30+ years ago but never quite made it, leaving behind some self-released, hand-packaged records, a lot…
In his interview with Stereogum, Kip Berman historically described The Pains of Being Pure At Heart as a project about writing songs and playing them with friends. Now, almost five years since the band’s divine eponymous debut, with a new backing lineup that helped record the new LP out in a week a…
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…
Radio stations worldwide are celebrating International Clash Day on February 7. See which stations in your area may be participating.
The past half-decade has seen Jessica Dobson powering through an alt-rock dream career: touring with and joining The Shins, touring with Beck, Spoon, and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and starting local cult favorite Deep Sea Diver with her husband Peter Mansen on drums. The first DSD release was the '09 EP…
Friday night of Decibel Festival 2015 not only continued the celebration of its 10th anniversary but also festival founder Sean Horton's birthday. And while the night provided many enticing showcases, one was hard pressed to find a more entertaining one than Body Language at Q Nightclub. Mr. Horton…
For a moment there, it looked like The National's headlining set at Sasquatch – one of the band's biggest shows to date – was going to be underwhelming. For the first twenty minutes, the band felt too mellow, and frontman Matt Berninger, disinterested. And then, after "Don't Swallow The Cap", a swi…
2011's Hurry Up, We're Dreaming didn't just turn M83 into a triple-A critical darling and unexpected commercial success, it pushed the band to become one of the biggest and outright best acts on the live circuit. Taking their records' widescreen ambitions and bringing them to life with a huge, bord…
It is with a heavy heart that KEXP reports Charles Bradley has cancelled his upcoming tour dates after doctors found a cancerous tumor in his stomach. The 67-year-old singer released the following statement:
In the past few months, I have had to cancel a number of shows due to illness, taking me a…
