It's about as difficult to claim a favorite Nick Cave album as it is to claim a Tom Waits one. That the two artists get compared so frequently by critics and fans isn't due so much to their similar penchant for the seedier aspects of life but rather to their shared mastery of the album's form. Each…
KEXP Charts, Top Charts, Rock, Hip-Hop, World Music
From his hardcore punk days to being called one of the most "important dance music figures" by AllMusic, Richard Melville Hall has led an interesting life under the moniker Moby. This Thursday, June 23rd, he'll be reading and signing from his new memoir, Porcelain, at the downtown branch of the Sea…
Although there was plenty of star power on the final day of Sasquatch, there was a clear standout during the early afternoon on Monday, and it wasn't just because brought a Godzilla figurine onstage with her. When an assured Natalie Prass opened with an electric version of "Bird Of Prey", it was cl…
That True Believers' posthumously released second is called Hard Road is no joke. The Alejandro and Javier Escovedo-led Austin band hit the major pitfalls of the 80's music industry starting with a big local buzz that led to a rushed and underproduced first album, a lineup change dictated by their …
While their name sounds like the kind of exclamation you hear on the streets of London, the darlings of Allo Darlin' hail from Brisbane, Australia, and the London suburb of Kent. Earlier this year, when they played Three Imaginary Girls' tenth anniversary show at The Vera Project, they stopped in t…
The eternally mysterious Frank Ocean has posted yet another (semi-confusing) hint about a forthcoming album via his Tumblr. The post features a person wearing a baseball cap that says, "If you liked 2017, you'll love 2018" (which feels comical because we're pretty sure no one liked 2017). The photo…
Even for a band that’s made a career out of reinterpreting styles from the 50s, 60s, 70s, and beyond, Dr. Dog’s latest release, Psychedelic Swamp, (ANTI- Records), is more meta you might think. The album is a rehashing of their first unreleased demo, originally recorded in 2000, and as such, it mak…
It's hard to believe that next month will be the one year anniverary of Scottish electronic band CHVRCHES releasing their first LP. At this point, it seems like the trio has been dominating indie and pop airwaves for ages. Every track on The Bones of What You Believe oozes with pristine pop majesty…
At KEXP, we get excited about a lot of Icelandic bands, and we're thrilled to watch so many of them reach the wider audiences they deserve, but few seem as immediately poised for arena rock stardom as Mono Town. The trio's emotive and often explosive songs draw heavily from a shared love for Britp…
Nicolas Jaar is one of those young musicians who you can already imagine in 10, 15, 20 years as being an staple who is looked up to by musicians who are young when he is older. Not only did his most recent album, Space is Only Noise, reflect a seeping depth of influences, but it was incredibly matu…
Justin Vernon had a pretty ridiculously awesome 2011. It was the year he dropped his self-titled second LP as Bon Iver, receiving widespread critical acclaim, a Grammy, and securing his place in the indie rock spotlight for as long as he wanted. Among plenty of others, his work as Bon Iver garnered…