"Product of partition" - that's how Himanshu Suri, a.k.a. Heems, defines himself on Eat Pray Thug closer "Patriot Act". On that track, he talks about how growing up as a man of Indian descent in post-9/11 NYC was a nightmare. "From then on they called all of us Osama", he recalls towards the end, "…
Listening to In A Dream, the new LP from DFA powerhouse The Juan MacLean, we're reminded that it's been a long five years since John MacLean dropped his last proper record, The Future Will Come, back in 2009. That fantastic dance record was laden with Human League-esque back and forth narration bet…
The world is never ready for a new Jamie Lidell album. Jamie Lidell is his fourth record following his work as Super Collider with Cristian Vogel, and ever since Multiply, his 2005 return to solo work, Lidell has been pushing the envelope of his music landscape further and further into oblivion. At…
It's real. After teasing fans on and off for the better part of 22 or so years, guitarist/vocalist Kevin Shields has delivered the third full-length My Bloody Valentine album, m b v. (Take a deep breath.) Since its release on Saturday night (which resulted in the cancellation of the evening plans o…
KEXP faves First Aid Kit have announced the follow-up to their beloved release, 2012's The Lion's Roar. The Swedish folk sisters will release the full-length Stay Gold on June 10th via Columbia Records, produced by Bright Eyes producer Mike Mogis. Sample the single "My Silver Lining" below. The gi…
Often touted in 2013 as one of the bands you should know, KINS are quickly becoming one of the bands you do know. The Brighton-based band's well-received debut was several years in the making, starting from the original demos Australian transplant Thomas Savage brought with him from Melbourne, and …
One song from The Clash is hardly ever enough. That's what DJ John Richards admitted to himself last year on this day when one Clash song became two, and then became the rest of The Morning Show on KEXP, and thus International Clash Day was born. And there's no better band to honor worldwide than t…
If you were to define a sub-genre for Julianna Barwick's ambient music, it might be something like "polar pastoralism" as the young church-raised singer and composer evokes both the southern straw dust farmland of her youth and the glacial fields that surrounded the recording of her latest release.…
On any given weekend in Seattle, there are a million amazing shows to see - from jazz at a coffee shop or theater, to a grunge show at a DIY space, to a major act at any one of our large venues. Maybe this weekend you want to try something new, maybe you heard one song by this small electronic, fol…
Apart from their various shows around the U.S. and Europe, we haven't heard much from Texan lo-fi indie rock band The Baptist Generals since their debut Sub Pop album, No Silver/No Gold ten years ago, but the band is back with the highly anticipated Jackleg Devotional to the Heart. The Baptist Gene…
"How is it," longtime readers of this series might wonder," that you've covered two David Sylvian solo albums, but not a single Japan album? Or even Rain Tree Crow!" You know, I have no good answer to that beyond the fact that this pulling-records-off-the-shelves game is a fickle one. Maybe I spent…
In a belated Christmas present for electronic music fans everywhere, record label Dymaxion Groove are releasing a double-LP concept album, fantastically-titled I Said No Doctors!, that spotlights the use of unconventional instruments. The collection features tracks from Silver Apples, Oval, Jad Fa…
Earlier this year, everyone's favorite bald vegan returned with a new project, Moby & the Pacific Void Orchestra. A track from their debut LP These Systems Are Failing was already a KEXP Song of the Day pick (listen here), and today, we've got a video for the track "Break. Doubt." Watch below.…
Congratulations to Bob Dylan, winner of the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature! Also a critically acclaimed memoirist, Dylan was awarded the prize "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition", and he's the first American to win the prize in over 20 years! The 75-…
We may never know what 1984 KCMU DJs thought of Joe Jackson's Body and Soul, the follow up to Night and Day (on which we have plenty of input from the contemporaneous DJs). It's pretty likely that many of those who loved his early stuff remained less than pleased with his doubling-down on the highl…
Bloc Party frontman Kele Okereke has announced a new solo album called Fatherland to be released in October. Back in May, he shared a new solo song "Yemaya" and now he has shared the single "Streets Been Talkin" which he describes as “a bittersweet ode to romance and the passing of time.” Okereke's…
Last year, legendary singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen passed away at the age of 82. Today, his son Adam shares a posthumous video for the track "Traveling Light" using previously unseen footage of his father. The video was co-directed with Sammy Slabbinck, who also worked on Cohen's final album You…
When Vancouver-based band Black Mountain stepped in the studio, we got a contact high. Not necessarily from their clothing, but definitely from their heavy, sludgy, psychedelic sound. Vocalists Stephen McBean and Amber Webber trade verses over a Black Sabbath-inspired wave of droning guitar and key…
The crushing news of Prince's untimely death has rocked the music industry. Artists all over the world have been paying tribute to the icon. On Broadway, Jennifer Hudson and The Color Purple cast ended their show with a powerful cover of "Purple Rain," and the cast of Hamilton had an impromptu dan…
Congratulations to Mavis Staples, who just won a Grammy last night for Best American Roots Performance. It's great timing as the legendary blues singer will release Livin' On A High Note, on Friday. This, her fourteenth studio album, features songs written by Justin Vernon, M. Ward, Benjamin Booker…
