The alias of Seattle's Allen Huang, DJ Hojo has been forging a unique lane in the local music and nightlife scene as the driving force behind the diverse and progressive CUSTOMS parties as well as being the co-founder of the beloved JK Pop DJ night. Combining a deep knowledge of music from all over…
This week, as we continue to post KEXP DJs’ Top 10 Albums of 2015 lists, we also want to share the favorites of KEXP's staff, volunteers and interns, the many many dedicated people who work behind the scenes at KEXP, and who are all passionate music fans themselves. Yesterday, we shared Part 1, whi…
All week long on the KEXP Blog (here and here), we've been celebrating the release of Israel Nash's latest, Israel Nash’s Silver Season. KEXP Music Director Don Yates calls it "another impressive set of psych-tinged folk-rock reminiscent of Neil Young, featuring a warm, ‘70s-steeped sound with expr…
When it comes to Mike Krol, it's not three strikes and you're out. For the LA based, Milwaukee born songwriter, the third time's a charm, or rather, a Turkey. His third LP, and recent Merge Records release, avoids incarceration with a liberating blast of hook-filled garage rock, smart self-reflecti…
Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. This week, we are featuring artists p…
Mac DeMarco's mini-LP Another One (out August 7) is streaming over at NPR. He's previewed several songs over the last few weeks, but now all 8-tracks are available for your listening pleasure. The album closer, "My House By The Water," features DeMarco's home address. According to DeMarco, anyone'…
On Sprinter, the latest album by TORRES, Mackenzie Scott does not run away from the big issues. The 24-year old Brooklyn-based artist has clearly grown from her Southern Baptist upbringing, outpacing the usual "country girl meets big city" timeline but not so quickly that she dodges heavy themes of…
Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part of our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. This week, we’ll be featuring song…
From pin dropping to firewatching, Brandi Carlile has lately shown a lot of range. On the heels of her unamplified Pin Drop Tour, the Northwest roots rock troubadour has released her fifth and and most rocking LP. The Firewatcher's Daughter is the first since the birth of her own daughter, but this…
KEXP and Goodwill have been teaming up all month in celebration of Earth Day. The result has been an April focused on recycling and reuse. KEXP DJ's even played a full day of tracks that had been "recycled" (remixed, covered or sampled). The month long partnership is culminating in a special night …
Surfer Blood guitarist Thomas Fekete has reached out to the public for funding for his battle against cancer. Fekete underwent surgery a few months ago to have a large tumor from his abdomen, but unfortunately, this rare and aggressive form of cancer has since spread to his lungs and spine. Since …
San Francisco has been doing the shoegaze revival right for a while now. There's something about the way bay area indie rock meshes with the sounds of My Bloody Valentine and Ride to give the classic, noisy 80s textures a brisk, airy sensibility, and the denseness of the classics is made new throug…
No other group in Seattle has the reach of THEESatisfaction. In creating their unique psychedelic hip hop stylings, local duo Cat and Stas reach as high among the stars as low within the roots below, and place their feet years beyond as eons ago. In fact, critics can't help but describe their new a…
All hail Father John Misty, whose sophomore release I Love You, Honeybear comes out tomorrow on Sub Pop. Watch the charismatic performer turn out an acoustic rendition of "I Went to the Store One Day" in a French café, via La Blogothèque's famed "Take Away Show" series. And tune in to KEXP tomorro…
Reading's Slowdive were one of the bands that defined the shoegaze sound of the early '90s, although their career suffered somewhat in that their first album, Just for a Day, was released just as the British press was tiring of the scene and ready for some backlash. Today, they're remembered as a k…
I guess this year I'm making up for the previous lack of XTC posts in this series. The Dukes of Stratosphear were XTC in all but name, working under a different moniker to crank out a couple albums of pop genius that heavily mined some of their favorite sounds of the '60s, from Barrett-era Pink Flo…
Well, that's a wrap on another year! Bumbershoot 2014 closed out with yet another incredible day on Monday, seeing the last good weather before a big rain and the last tour appearance by several bands before heading back to the studio. But the farewells were all in great spirits - fantastic sets ab…
When a crowd is truly, ruthlessly in love with the band they are about to see, you can tell from the moment they walk in the room. You don’t see it often, but when it happens, it’s a spectacle that you wouldn’t trade the world for. Friday night’s show with Warpaint at Neumos had one of those crowds…
If you rolled out a handful of musicians and gave them instruments and told them to all act like toys come to life, you would have the band GROUPLOVE. Equipped with an inclusive, joyous name that also has an intimate connotation, GROUPLOVE plays songs that live up to their moniker. Rainbow guitars,…
Watching Shovels & Rope perform is almost like stepping into their living room. Married Charleston, SC, duo Michael Trent and Cary Ann Hearst perform so lovingly together and write some very intimate ballads that at times you feel like you might be intruding on them. But we've also hosted them …
