We've got new music to share from local fave Manatee Commune: check out the single "Clay" below, featuring gorgeous guest vocals from Marina Price. The track will be released on 7" single tomorrow, November 6th via Bastard Jazz. Manatee Commune plays Saturday, November 14th at The Showbox with Blo…
Seattle’s DJ Explorateur (vinyl enthusiast Valerie Calano) has been a key figure in Seattle’s thriving underground music scene as a DJ, promoter, and curator. Her deep knowledge of psychedelia, electronic, ambient music, funk, jazz, and other genres has led to gigs with Animal Collective, Faust, an…
KEXP Radio hand selects all of its music, with expert DJs showcasing both established and emerging bands. Rock is generally a broad term for KEXP, as indie and alternative sounds are often blended with a variety of other genres in an innovative music format. KEXP variety mix programming makes up …
Detroit's Zach Saginaw, a.k.a. Shigeto, has been crafting immaculate and unique music over the past half-decade, most notably and consistently for revered American electronic music label Ghostly International. With a heavy jazz background, a strong love for hip-hop, and prodigious skills as an elec…
It's a throwdown for album of the week, and The Mountain Goats just might come out on top with their fifteenth full-length Beat the Champ. KEXP Music Director Don Yates calls it, "a fascinating set inspired by professional wrestling though often dealing with notions of identity, justice, death and …
Stephen Bruner, a.k.a. Thundercat, teamed up with artists Jolly Mare and Rudi Zygadlo for his contribution to the upcoming Red Bull Academy compilation (available January 15). "Vulnerable People" is a jazz fusion track that really utilizes Bruner's funky bass playing prowess. [Pitchfork]
KEXP's Expansions host, Masa, has done a radio special on Detroit's Electronic Music Festival for many years and now brings you his very first podcast focused on the festival. It's a 12 track celebration and spotlight on Detroit based and inspired electronic artists performing at the festival this…
"With the challenges in our lives, sometimes you have to go in order to truly blossom." That's the theme behind Industrial Revelation's "No Way Out But In", but it could really apply to the musically adventurous Seattle jazz outfit's entire ethos. Their energetic, unpredictable…
Directed by bandleader Danny Mekonnen, the Boston-based Debo Band take inspirations from 1960s Ethiopian jazz music, elements of klezmer, funk and rock and roll. They combine these into original instrumentation and create a rhythmic, thoughtful, often trans-like musical narrative. Adding to Mekonne…
Last Friday gave us a new LP from veteran hip-hop band A Tribe Called Quest, their first in 18 years, and their last, with the passing of founding member Phife Dawg due to complications with diabetes. KEXP Music Director Don Yates says, "It's a strong return to form of often-politically charged hip…
Leading up until the Upstream Music Fest + Summit, a Northwest regionally focused festival with over 300 acts, KEXP will be featuring a new local artist from the lineup with an interview and suggested tracks for where to start. Today’s post features Seattle jazz and neo soul songwriter Falon Sierra…
Next on the KEXP broadcast live from Kex Hostel at Iceland Airwaves 2016 was incredibly talented American singer Adia Victoria. Hailing from South Carolina, Adia was raised by a devout seventh-day-adventist family, and was isolated from much of popular culture for most of her childhood. In high sch…
It's only 73 seconds long, but this mini-trailer has us very excited for the eagerly-awaited sophomore release from UK group Savages. In the clip, none other than Henry Rollins (??!!) reads from Phyllis Rose’s Jazz Cleopatra: Josephine Baker In Her Time as new music from the band plays in the back…
Brooklyn’s brassy big band Red Baraat stopped by on their way across the country on a national tour to bring their infectious world music into the KEXP live room. Led by percussionist Sunny Jain, the eight members draw on a Bhangra blend of North Indian rhythms mixed with hip-hop, funk and New Orle…
When asked to describe his music, Zach Saginaw, operating under the pseudonym Shigeto, urges prospective fans to "have a listen". Drawing on his jazz background, instrumental hip-hop and years of drumming to create beat-heavy electronic tracks, Shigeto's music does indeed transcend traditional genr…
KEXP Music Director Don Yates has declared the debut release from Ibeyi as his "Pick of the Week." He notes, "the debut album from the young Paris-based French-Cuban twin-sister duo of Naomi and Lisa-Kainde Diaz (who are also both daughters of the acclaimed Cuban percussionist Miguel “Anga” Diaz) i…
Categorization systems are important for us as humans. It's how we make sense of this sometimes nonsensical world we live in. Which is why as soon as radio delivered us a bevy of different styles of music, we immediately had to put everyone into categories, starting with the basics: jazz, rock, cla…
