"Holy shit." That's what DJ Cheryl Waters exclaimed as Scottish hip-hop trio Young Fathers finished their KEXP session. Thanks to Cheryl's booking, KEXP gets hundreds of in-studio sessions a year, but it's rare when our entire staff is unanimously blown away like we were that day. DJ Larry Rose, a …
"How about this?" Julie Edwards screamed from the drum set halfway through Deap Vally's set, "Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and DFA 1979! This is the friggin' rock n roll circus man!". Edwards remark couldn't be more true - truly, tonight's sinfully good double feature is a match made in heaven. At f…
Wildfire haze hangs over Olympia on the first day of August. Naomi Punk is stowed away in their lofted practice space in the back of Dumpster Values, a thrift shop in the center of town. It's 89 degrees but the air in the room feels even more ghastly and claustrophobic.
On Wednesday, Chop Suey will host the Doe Bay Fest 6 Announcement Party, where the lineup for the upcoming music festival will be announced. The evening will include special guest performances from Doe Bay Fest 2013 performers and is free to the public – a touch typical for the outstanding festival…
Noah Gundersen’s music is often personal – even confessional. In Gundersen’s latest album, Lover (Cooking Vinyl), he again turns his focus inward, but with more self-awareness. Sound & Vision host Emily Fox spoke with Gundersen about his new album and how aging has affected his music.
If you’ve spent any time on social media lately or keep up with music news in general, you’ve probably heard people talk about NFTs. Non-fungible tokens, they’re called, and their rise is linked to the world of cryptocurrency. While they’re not an entirely new phenomenon, as digital artists and eve…
“In order to be big, we need a lot of players.” Jungle Fire guitarist bassist Joseph Reina lays it out pretty clear: to be able to create muscular afro funk workouts, the Los Angeles outfit need at least ten musicians. But even with a guitarist missing, the nonet sound bold and kinetic when they j…
Over 2,000 music fans descended upon the Seattle Center's Mural Amphitheater last week -- thank you! All of you and more are invited back this Friday as we continue the Concerts at the Mural series with another killer line-up. As always, these shows are FREE and all ages, with a beer garden for tho…
Although they're mostly critical darlings in the United States, Elbow have been headlining stadiums and festivals in their native UK for a few years now, so it's no surprise that their Sunday evening set on the main stage at Sasquatch was a brilliant display of showmanship. Their latest album, Marc…
Monotown: it's a name you'll be hearing a lot on KEXP, and hopefully everywhere else, in 2013. Over the past several years, our trips to Iceland have allowed us to discover bands sometimes even before they've released any albums (as was the case with Of Monsters and Men in 2010), or at least before…
It's the Fourth of July, aka "Independence Day," and KEXP is celebrating our freedom to play all the independent music we want! This great country has inspired songwriters over the years, even ones in other countries from Sweden (First Aid Kit) to Iceland (FM Belfast). While you're firing up the BB…
If you happened to have watched KEXP's Live Video stream of Ty Segall & the Muggers earlier this day, you'd have a pretty good sneak preview of the evening's coming attractions at the Neptune Theatre: creepy baby mask, plenty of saliva, and some of the catchiest darn garage-punk out there today…
Summertime is the perfect season to chill out, and our friends at Decibel Festival helped bring an amazing evening of electronic bliss to Seattle Center last Friday as part of the 2014 Concerts at the Mural Series!
Support Northwest Folklife — a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating opportunities for people to appreciate and participate in the evolving folk traditions of the Pacific Northwest, and presenter of the Northwest Folklife Festival since 1972 — and celebrate the season with a full day and eve…
Ben Bloom is a talented Seattle guitarist with his hands in a number of funky bands, from the Polyrhythmics to Rippin Chicken to the Unsinkable Heavies (and he's even starting a new project!). KEXP had a chance to chat with Mr. Bloom about his music, his influences, his favorite Seattle venues and …
Once again, Capitol Hill Block Party has come to a close. In the dark of the night, the cleaning crew will hit the devastated block on Pine between 12th and Broadway and by the morning, you won’t even know there was a festival there at all. But for those of us lucky enough to make it out to Sunday’…
Even if the definition of "Northwestern band” has to be stretched a little to include the Alaskan outfit Portugal. The Man, they have plenty of Northwest ties. Returning to the KEXP studios for a session featuring songs from their last three albums (all of which had a portion recorded in Seat…
Raising money is fun! As we think of new ways to connect KEXP supporters with their favorite artists during our KEXP's New Home campaign, no idea is off the table - not even bowling with Shakey Graves. As it turns out, the young Texas troubadour and his band are big-time bowlers, so much so that th…
There's nothing pretty about Girl Band. In fact, the Dublin-based four-piece play some of the most abrasive pop songs you're likely to hear. But it hadn't always been that way. Singer Dara Kiely and guitarist Alan Duggan had played together in more conventionally "indie" type bands before hitting u…
