Zola Jesus is releasing her 6th album Okovi in September via Sacred Bones. She previously shared the lead single "Exhumed" and today the correlating video for the song has been released. Directed by Jacqueline Castel, the creepy black and white footage bears a resemblance to The Ring, with a simila…
Earlier this week New York duo Cults (Madeline Follin and Brian Oblivion) teased a possible new album by sharing a 20-second clip of a song called "Gilded Lilly" on Instagram. Today they announced the new album, called Offering, and shared its title track, their first release in four years after 20…
There are so many excellent Summer music festivals in the Pacific Northwest, it’s hard to know where to invest your time and money. West Seattle Summerfest, July 8-10, is absolutely not one to miss. Besides being completely FREE, it has the best local music lineup you’re likely to find- Seattle fa…
Ontario electronic duo Junior Boys share a clip for the track "No One's Business," off their latest Big Black Coat. The video, directed by Simon Mercer, features time-lapse footage of a man getting ready to perform in his basement. (No, not like in a Silence of the Lambs kinda way.) Watch below, a…
Brooklyn group Yeasayer are an act that cares about the details. From their pleas to “please watch at the 4k setting” on one of their music video’s to the collage of sounds that was their 2016 release, Amen and Goodbye, the group certainly has a knack for thinking about the little things other band…
KEXP's own DJ Kevin Cole (our Afternoon Show host and Senior Director of Programming) has curated a special mix for Nordic Playlist, a site that devoted to the best sounds from the North. As he explains to the site, "I went with a mix of mostly newer releases, like the Samaris track, which I love, …
Since R.E.M.'s 2011 break-up, we haven't seen much of frontman Michael Stipe. But, last night on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, he returned to the spotlight for a haunting performance of David Bowie's "The Man Who Sold the World." He'll likely reprise his cover, or perhaps do a different …
Canadian indie legends Metric have undoubtedly "made it." They're at the glorious stage in a career where they have the commercial success to justify any off-kilter choice they make, while still being independent enough that they have the freedom to make those off-kilter choices without any corpora…
This morning, Pickathon announced its 2016 lineup, and it's a doozy! Wilco's Jeff Tweedy headlines along with Yo La Tengo, Beach House, and Ty Segall & The Muggers, plus so many other KEXP favorites - like Black Mountain, Thee Oh Sees, Dan Deacon, Ibeyi, Fruit Bats, My Bubba, Hurray for the Rif…
Car Seat Headrest came dressed for success to their first KEXP in-studio session. Adorned in suits and ties, the young Seattle band got down to business with a fantastic five-song set of lo-fi epic indie rock. Despite his relatively young age, frontman and songwriter Will Toledo (reportedly just 22…
Opening day two of the Iceland Airwaves broadcast live from Kex Hostel is Icelandic composer, producer, and musician Úlfur Eldjárn. Like many of his Icelandic contemporaries, Úlfur has his fingers in many pots: He plays in Apparat Organ Quartet, he composes music for film, TV, video games, and comm…
Festival season might have just kicked off in the Californian desert, but there's another major musical gathering going on this weekend – the fourteenth annual EMP Pop Conference. This year's conference is titled Get Ur Freak On: Music, Weirdness, and Transgression, and across the numerous roundtab…
What brought two already well known and respected artists together to collaborate on a new project? The internet, of course. Though Aimee Mann and Ted Leo shared a casual friendship and a liking for each other's music, they bonded over things "#dumb" on Twitter. Eventually, a 140-character comedic …
It’s been quite a year for Matthew Hemerlein. The Los Angeles-based musician operating, under the name Lo-Fang, has been piecing together his debut record Blue Film since 2009. First as a mixtape, now as a fully rendered personal work, the collection of songs seen here is awe-inspiring and striking…
Pickathon, an innovative weekend music festival located in the aptly-titled Happy Valley, Oregon, will open on the 1st of August and run through the 3rd. Over the course of the weekend, you can see bands like X, Parquet Courts, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Courtney Barnett, Angel Olsen, Warpaint, Jona…
It's been a few years since Black Joe Lewis has visited the KEXP studios, and during that time, the Austin, TX musician has changed his line-up and dropped "the Honeybears" from the band name. "We never liked the name," Lewis explained to DJ Shannon. "We booked a couple of gigs when we first starte…
While the angular, avant-garde sound of L.A. group No Age hardly conjures up ideas of "flower power," DJ Cheryl Waters couldn't help but notice that she's only ever seen guitarist Randy Randall in tie-dyed shirts. Apparently, Randall's had a long history with this particular shirt, just as KEXP has…
Though they'd been playing reunion shows for the past six years, no one expected the first Redd Kross album in 15 years to be so mind-blowing. The Hawthorne, CA, band, started by brothers Jeff and Steve McDonald, played their first gig opening for Black Flag in 1980, and went on to perform with co…
Last Saturday, our friends at KEX Hostel, hosts for KEXP’s Iceland Airwaves broadcast over the past two years, threw a party under our shared name... all the way in Reykjavik! KEXPort has become both a welcoming landing spot for KEXP as well as a conduit for Icelandic artists to reach the ears of K…
Adult Swim has been on a roll with music lately. If you recognize the name at all, most know Adult Swim from their late night spot on Cartoon Network, giving home to cult classic TV like Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Sealab 2021, and Tim & Eric Awesome Show Great Job!, and also ridiculous parodies in…
