Wolf Alice closed out their American tour at Sasquatch! Music Festival Friday night, leaving all venues in their rear-view in flames. The Yeti Stage was no different, as the group alternated between the heavy dissonance of their squealing guitars and the angelic pop-hooks of lead woman Ellie Roswel…
"Sweep" - that's the command that Parquet Courts give us over and over again on their new single "Dust". In the context of the tune, it's about the dust that accumulates, sitting on everything that doesn't move, marking the time we've spent without motion, watching the wheels go round. The irony of…
"Voodoo in my blood is living" - that's how Young Fathers kick off the third track on Massive Attack's return to the scene after nearly six years away. And after all that time, Young Fathers aren't lying - the voodoo is still strong. Last time we saw them was 2010's fantastic Heligoland, their firs…
He's never lived so far away, yet he's never sounded so much like himself. After a move to London, former Sonic Youth frontman Thurston Moore reclaimed his place as a ranking don of noise-rock while reassembling his band with some true ringers, namely former SY bandmate Steve Shelley on drums and D…
There's a lot to unpack here. There's the fact that despite my teenaged fondness for Black Flag, Rollins Band, and Pigface, I completely missed the existence of this project produced by Mr. Rollins, a key member of the first two bands, and Andrew Weiss, a key member of the latter two. There's the u…
There's one aspect to booking Man or Astro-Man? for an in-studio session that the band didn't reveal until they were on air. "We steal one thing from you guys, and if you figure out what it is, we'll give it back." Well, we don't think they took anything when they stopped by KEXP's studio in March,…
Not many bands can successfully transition from performing a heartfelt lament into a vicious murder ballad, much less on a sunny April morning, but that's exactly what Dublin's Little Green Cars did this past April. Since the last time they played KEXP, the quintet has not only grown by leaps and b…
The moment we all waited for finally came at the very end of Sasquatch - The Postal Service took the mainstage to uproar from a massive audience. Lights erupted, everyone infamous entered the stage, and they started off with "The District Sleeps Alone Tonight". Every song was greeted with audience …
British DJ/producer Simon Green, a.k.a. Bonobo, has been known to tear up the dance floor during his regularly sold-out shows, but when he dropped by KEXP for an in-studio with Cheryl Waters recently, the vibe was breezy and chill. Accompanied by a full band, Green featured songs from his atmospher…
Alejandro Escovedo - that's all I knew about the True Believers when KEXP's lineup for SXSW at Mellow Johnny's Bike Shop was first announced. OK, then someone mentioned it was his mid 80's band, a crew that had a brush with fame, but never quite broke through. They had label issues, personnel cha…
Who would be in your dream band? If you could put together some of your favorite musicians into a fantasy project, you might very well have come up with Divine Fits. Britt Daniel of Spoon and Dan Boeckner of Handsome Furs and Wolf Parade have teamed up up with powerhouse drummer Sam Brown of New Bo…
During a two-night stand at Manchester’s O2 Apollo this past weekend, The National paid tribute to hometown heroes New Order with a cover of the band's 1985 single “Love Vigilantes.” Watch as frontman Matt Berninger does his best Bernard Sumner impersonation, and even walks down to the audience. T…
For almost five years now as Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Ruban Nielson has been learning how to give himself away. On his eponymous debut, it was from behind the closed door of a bedroom, where we heard psychedelic funk gems muffled through the wall and wanted to know more. On 2013's II, the door cra…
If the Fremont Abbey and its team are known for anything, it's for finding new visions for how we see intimate shows in Seattle. For a singular example, earlier this year, the Abbey hosted Baltimore dream pop band Beach House for the smallest show the band has put on in Seattle almost a decade. Sho…
The deeper we get into Animal Collective's Painting With chapter, the more it feels like a real renaissance for the band. As the band themselves described it, the process for the new record felt natural and fun - a far cry for the laborious process it took to put forth Centipede Hz. Spending time i…
Just as their name is a consonant away from that of an iconic British candy, Palma Violets's sound is just shades removed from the late 70's UK punk bands like The Clash and those who followed years later like The Libertines and Arctic Monkeys. The young rock quartet has already caused a scene in t…
With so many indie rock legends on one stage, you wouldn't be faulted for being a little overwhelmed during Filthy Friends' set at the Mural Stage during Day One of the Bumbershoot Music & Arts Festival. The band boasts -- deep breath -- Sleater-Kinney’s Corin Tucker, R.E.M.’s Peter Buck, The F…
It’s Tuesday afternoon here in charming Reykjavik, Iceland, and the city is gearing up for one of its biggest events of the year: Iceland Airwaves Music Festival. People are talking about new bands, comparing notes and schedules, and are preparing for five full days jam-packed with live music from …
Led by Toronto veteran Katie Stelmanis, Austra's emotionally expressive brand of dance-driven pop has taken the band from the Canadian art-rock scene onto an international stage. Emotionally commanding but never diva-esque, Stelmanis' classically-trained voice is a Corin Tucker-like siren that she …
