Scottish indie band Franz Ferdinand are releasing their first album in five years, Always Ascending, in early 2018. Today they've shared the video for the title track and lead single. Directed by Parisian collective AB/CD/CD, the slick video features the band members quite literally ascending thro…
The endlessly prolific Ty Segall has released a new track today called "The Main Pretender." The song is the latest in a stream of songs including "Alta," "Meaning," "My Lady's on Fire," and a cover of the Squidbillies theme. Mikal Cronin is featured on the song, playing sax. All the new singles s…
It's been, like, eleven months -- we're overdue for a new Ty Segall album! All kidding aside, the prolific artist has announced a new self-titled LP coming out January 27th via Drag City. Check out the first single, "Orange Color Queen," below. The track is quite a departure from January's Emotion…
We've got more new music to share from Brooklyn-based duo Sleigh Bells (check out another single here). Stream the track "I Can Only Stare" below, from their forthcoming fourth full-length, Jessica Rabbit, out November 11th via Torn Clean/Sinderlyn. Founding member Derek E. Miller tells DJ Zane Lo…
Irene F. Barber has led many musical lives. She's lent her vocals and multi-instrumental talents to various projects in Seattle — from the heavy distortion of Dust Moth to the psych-production of Erik Blood. She's an artist that constantly embraces change, pushing her sonic ventures into varying di…
In what seems like the longest album rollout of 2017, Arcade Fire have revealed some more information about their forthcoming album Everything Now. We now know the full tracklist via a video that shows the new album cover with scrolling words revealing each song, as well as a list on the pre-order …
Now in its third season, the Amazon.com original series The Man in the High Castle has an excellent soundtrack thanks to Danger Mouse and producer Sam Cohen. This spring, those songs are being collected for Resistance Radio, a compilation featuring tracks from Angel Olsen, Beck, the Shins, MGMT’s …
Portland synth pop legends STRFKR are no strangers to KEXP, but they came through the studio once again after returning stateside from a quick jaunt over to Japan and played a quick set that included cuts spanning their whole career. Their sound has often been difficult to define: at times straight…
Brix Smith seems to have led a fascinating existence. Perhaps having been a member of the Fall isn't a huge claim to fame (not many bands have Wikipedia pages specifically dedicated to listing their past members, after all). But how many people can say they've played with the Fall, the Bangles, and…
Of Monsters and Men are no longer the undiscovered artists who charmed audiences across the web back in 2010 with their intimate, stripped back living room performance, recorded by KEXP, of “Little Talks”. Since signing to a major label subsidiary, Republic Records, for their debut album in 2011, t…
I've covered a few Australian bands in this space over the years, the majority of whom appear to have been related to this Australian band. The Eastern Dark, the Internet tells me, contained ex-members of both The Celibate Rifles (Eastern Dark founder and singer James Darroch) and The Lime Spiders …
It's been three long years, but Bon Iver is back with a single for the new Zach Braff film, Wish I Was Here. (The soundtrack also boasts a new song from The Shins, as reported on last month.) You can stream the haunting track "Heavenly Father" via NPR Music. The soundtrack will be out digitally an…
Graduating high school early to pursue music, The Orwells have been rocking the Chicago suburbs since 2009. The release of Remember When on Autumn Tone Records jettisoned them into the spotlight, eventually leading to their appearance on The Late Show With David Letterman. Like the many apartment c…
A few years ago, "chill wave" seemed all anyone could talk about, and Washed Out was among the first on the scene with the ubiquitous single "Feel It All Around". But while the fad died out, the Georgia-based bedroom composer Ernest Greene developed the his free-floating sound into a full live proj…
From the big stadium to the intimate studio, British group Bloc Party, who made a name for themselves with a big Brit Pop influenced guitar sound, recently stopped by KEXP to strip down their sound to bare essentials. What makes this acoustic session even more special and rare is the band's continu…
James Blake announced the release of his highly-anticipated new album today. Overgrown, the follow-up to his critically-acclaimed self-titled debut, is due out April 8 on Republic, and Blake will be kicking off a North American tour with an appearance at Coachella the following week. Blake's new si…
Björk has shared the enchantingly vivid video for recently-released single "The Gate" off her forthcoming full-length Utopia. Directed by frequent artistic collaborator Andrew Thomas Huang, the clip features the Icelandic songstress in a custom Gucci gown by by Alessandro Michele (who also collabor…
Previous Mercury Prize-nominees Django Django have shared the second single from their forthcoming album Marble Skies. The track is called "In Your Beat" and comes with a pop-art inspired collage video directed by SKG (Sophie Koko-Gate) with art direction by Brodie Kaman. The band's producer/drumm…
Today's Song of the Day, as chosen by Kevin Cole, host of Drive Time on KEXP, is "(Nothing You Can Do) To End This Love" by Split Single, from the 2021 album Amplificado on Inside Outside Records.
Father John Misty continues to roll out new music from his forthcoming full-length Pure Comedy, out April 7th via Sub Pop/Bella Union. (Check out the title track on the KEXP Blog here.) Today, he shares a video for the single "Two Wildly Different Perspective" -- again directed by Matthew Daniel S…
