If there's another performer who has received two standing ovations for a single song at the Moore, Jason Isbell should call them and see if they'll go for best two out of three, because chances are that he'll win. The revitalized Southern songwriter is at a career high at the moment, and no other …
With their new release The Wanting, Seattle’s Nightmare Fortress have created the perfect blend of somber and emotionally intense sonic streams of grandiose grave wave soundscapes. Enthralled by this ambiguous and unnerving artwork, KEXP caught up with guitarist Cassidy Gonzales to discuss the maca…
Will Butler, best known as a core member of Arcade Fire, opened up the second day of Sasquatch on the main stage with a fun set of driving rock. Butler is a multi-instrumentalist, and seems equally confident on guitar, keys, or just playing the front man and singing. Indeed, his dynamic stage prese…
The Twilight Sad have always specialized in making the darker side of humanity seem so grandiose and alluring, but they've never made gloom quite so emotive and magnetic as they do on their fourth album, Nobody Wants To Be Here and Nobody Wants To Leave. When the Scottish band brought six cuts from…
It used to be that every year about this time, KEXP would throw the Yule Benefit show, but it's been five years since our last one. This year, music fans were in for a treat as the show returned to Neumos to raise money for the station's new home, being built at the Seattle Center. The lineup inclu…
We are HAM! If you aren't yet, that's okay. HAM is legend. It took years of inactivity to become the rock icons they are today. Following the Icelandic doom metal band's prolific years, from 1988 to 1994, their legion of fans grew, until finally their members stepped aside from their other careers …
In 1998, Old Crow Medicine Show were busking in front of Pike Place Market. In 2014, they're headlining the 2,800-capacity Paramount Theatre. Along the way, the Nashville, Tennessee-based group became one of the primary figures in the 2000s roots music revival, bringing the same energy from their b…
It's hard to imagine a better indie pop dream team than this – a multi-Grammy winning producer Danger Mouse (a.k.a. Brian Burton) and a beloved singer-songwriter James Mercer (of the Shins), each responsible for some of the most infectious songs you've heard in the past ten years, joining to create…
Well, can't say we saw that one coming! In the next phase of the ever-evolving state that has come to define them, experimental indie rock chameleons Liars come to us now as... a synth pop band?! Well, perhaps that's a bit of an exaggeration. But still, on new record Mess, we find Liars a far cry a…
KEXP, STG, and Starbucks kicked off the new year with another fine edition of our benefit series, Little Big Show. On January 31st, we joined together to raise money for Reel Grrls, a program where girls ages 9-21 can learn media production skills from volunteer professionals and voice their indivi…
Each time we've gone back to Iceland over the past five years, we've been fortunate to discover and share with KEXP listeners quite a few bands who might not otherwise leave their shores. For every Sugarcubes and Sigur Rós, we found dozens of others, like Hjaltalín, Ásgeir, Of Monsters and Men (bac…
Our broadcast during Iceland Airwaves isn't always about the Iceland bands. While we do enjoy spotlighting groups that KEXP listeners might not otherwise hear, we also love to share with our Nordic friends some of our own favorites, like NYC's Caveman, whose lush, dreamy indie pop sound translates …
Though her first band, brother-sister duo The Fiery Furnaces, caught a lot of well-deserved internet buzz, Eleanor Friedberger has truly found her voice alone. Over two albums - Last Summer, 2011's acclaimed solo debut, and the recent Personal Record, sure to be a favorite on critics' year-end list…
Nearly 35 years in music and Bob Mould shows no signs of slowing down! From his early punk roots with Hüsker Dü in the 1980s through his alternative pop years with Sugar in the 1990s, and in the years between and afterwards with his ten solo albums, the veteran songwriter has explored a variety of …
2013 is a great year for garage rock. With Oblivians making their return and a whole new wave of young, brash energy on the rise, it’s going to be a summer for blasting shrill, lo-fi guitars out beat up car windows and driving down the highway to camp in your buddy’s ripped tent. Just a couple mont…
After releasing a pretty great teaser (in an era of pretty awful album trailers) for the album last week, Neko Case has released some more concrete details about her sixth studio album, The Worse Things Get, the Harder I Fight, the Harder I Fight, the More I Love You, which will arrive on September…
With roots that stretch back to carefree two person jam sessions at Gasworks Park, the well-rounded Seattle septet Hey Marseilles has grown in the last nine years not just in size, but in the power and scope of their songwriting and performance. In this KEXP live in-studio performance they show wh…
You may remember way back in December when we all were treated to the news that Bonnie "Prince" Billy was releasing his own fragrance (a mix of tobacco and Egyptian Jasmine, combined with the ancient wood of the Assam oud) -- and Sanae Intoxicants, the company releasing it, encouraged fans and cust…
Grant Hart, drummer and co-founder of the influential punk trio Hüsker Dü, has passed away at the age of 56. His wife, Brigid McGough, confirmed to NPR that he died Wednesday night at the University of Minnesota Medical Center of complications from liver cancer and hepatitis. On Facebook, his forme…
First Aid Kit returned last month with the new single "It's A Shame," and today they've announced that a forthcoming album will be released early next year. Entitled Ruins, the album was recorded in Portland with Decemberists/My Morning Jacket producer Tucker Martine and features appearances from R…
