Lots of great local releases this week, including the sophomore full-length from Seattle supergroup Childbirth, featuring members of Chastity Belt, TacocaT and Pony Time. KEXP Music Director Don Yates calls it, "a strong set of snarky garage-punk with primal, grungy guitar lines and pounding rhythm…
On Sunday, August 23, KEXP proudly presents Raw Power KEXP, an all-star tribute to proto-punks Iggy and the Stooges. This week we’re asking the members of the Raw Power band - Mike McCready, Duff McKagan, Mark Arm, and Barrett Martin - why they love The Stooges.
If you're anything like me (and who isn't?), the first Icelandic band you ever heard of was The Sugarcubes. If you were a college radio DJ in the early '80s, though, you might have gotten wind of Þeyr (pronounced "Theyr," more or less) before the rest of the U.S. got wind to the crazy stuff going d…
Isaiah "Ikey" Owens, Jack White's keyboardist and member of the Mars Volta, has passed away. Ownes was currently touring with Jack White in Mexico. The following statement was posted on Third Man Record's website: [Pitchfork]
Highlights for this sleepy summer week include the debut from Toronto-based band Alvvays (pronounced "always," if you were wonderin'). KEXP Music Director Don Yates describes the release as "a promising set of hazy, surf-inflected dream-pop. Produced by Chad VanGaalen, the album features a reverb-d…
Last year, alt-rock veterans Buffalo Tom released a 25th Anniversary Edition of their breakout album Let Me Come Over. And now in 2018, the long-running band are releasing their first new album in six years, Quiet and Peace, due March 2nd via Scrawny/Schoolkids Records.
It’s been almost two months since Washington State lifted it’s COVID mask mandate. Hospitalizations are down to the low we saw last summer before the Delta variant peak. Bands are starting to tour again but not without risk. We caught up with three musicians who shared their stories of touring afte…
To name her newest record, Halo, Argentina's Juana Molina sorted through her lyrics word by word before deciding “halo” was the correct way to describe this collection of rhythmic, kinetic electronic music. Joining Darek Mazzone on Wo' Pop, Molina and her band return to KEXP to perform …
“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…
During her latest session in the KEXP Live Room, Laura Marling speaks of her music in film metaphors when describing her new record, Semper Femina, to Cheryl Waters. The London songwriter's sixth LP has all the touches of a classic film, filed in with rich scenery (a tight, expansive band) an…
During the Norwich songwriter's four-year gap between releases, Beth Orton took the biggest stylistic leap of her career, springing from her most traditional folk album to her most electronic LP, 2016's Kidsticks, with seamless, deft splendor. Orton and her band join Cheryl Waters in this session …
KEXP's Owen Murphy and Troy Nelson break down a cover song for Mariah Carey's Fantasy. Frontman of the band Sky Cries Mary talks about rubbing elbows with the rising stars of the Seattle grunge scene in the late 80s and going on to make treehouses for the rich and famous. Rapper Perry Porter discus…
The fragrance of adventure and poetry endlessly pervades DJ Kevin Cole’s new music mix featuring new sounds from Vanishing Twin, KOKOKO!, Khruangbin, girl in red, Sleater-Kinney, and more bands to delight and inspire.
Natalie Hemby of the supergroup The Highwomen says their new album pushes for more female representation and narratives in country music. Sean Carey and Jenn Wasner of Bon Iver talks about the band’s change in sound. Plus, a panel discussion about how many music venues in Seattle are at risk of clo…
There's very little surprise in seeing a two night Growlers stint at the Crocodile sold out as can be. The California surf rock band has seen some pretty stellar years of growth as of late, culminating in their excellent latest LP Chinese Fountain, seeing the band at their strongest and cleanest ye…
Marshall Law Band has been the de-facto house band for the ongoing Seattle protests that began following the death of George Floyd. The band is out with a new album, 12th and Pine, representing their experience at the heart of the protests and the resounding messages they carry.
Each Tuesday for the next two months, KEXP will present recordings we captured during the OFF Festival in Katowice, Poland. Our excursion there in the hot days of August - made possible by the festival and the Adam Mickiewicz Institute's Don’t Panic! We’re from Poland! initiative - introduced us to…
If there has been a moment where the now-common phenomena of massive reunion tours jumped the shark, it was in January, when Outkast announced that they'd be getting back together for the express purpose of playing their storied catalog at 40 festivals. More so than Pavement, My Bloody Valentine, o…
For the fourth year, KEXP is proud to sponsor the Macefield Music Festival, happening this weekend, Friday, September 30th through Sunday, October 2nd, throughout Ballard. As always, the line-up looks like a KEXP playlist, with this year's headliners including Zola Jesus, legendary UK art-rock band…
