Thao Nguyen is a voice of the people. While her music leans a bit more toward peppy indie pop than hippy folk rock, Thao's songs on her fourth LP, We The Common, are about the individual experiences and personal interactions we all have. As she says about the new Thao & The Get Down Stay Down a…
Portland's Moon Duo made maybe one of their most surprising moves yet: showing up and playing a set as a trio. Alright, that's not totally true. They did play with a third member on the KEXP Stage at the Bumbershoot Music & Arts Festival, but the band is constantly taking surprising new avenues…
Punk trio Dude York has made a name for themselves in Seattle for being a guarantee for at least a half hour of overflowing joy. As "America's Band," they cannot tell a lie and totally followed through on the promise on Day One of the Bumbershoot Music & Arts Festival. Even when they had techni…
Welcome to Review Revue, where every Thursday I dig through the KEXP stacks to share DJ reviews and comments written on the covers of LPs (and occasionally CDs) in the ’80s and ’90s, when the station was called KCMU, the DJs were volunteers, and people shared their opinions on little white labels i…
Last year's Six Degrees honoree Robyn Hitchcock releases his 21st album this Spring. Check out the first single below, titled "I Want To Tell You About What I Want." In an interview with NPR, Hitchcock explains, "The original title of the song was 'My Vision Of World Empathy.' Either we will event…
Tonight, KEXP will open the Gathering Space for the fourth annual Death & Music. It's a special event, hosted by The Morning Show DJ John Richards, that really goes beyond a traditional concert experience. It's a time to reflect on grief, on the people we've lost, and heal with our community. A…
For the past few weeks, we’ve been sharing with you KEXP DJs’ Top 10 Albums of 2015 lists, and last Friday, we counted down KEXP listeners’ top 90.3 albums of 2015 (see the results here). KEXP is also supported by many dedicated people who work behind the scenes as staff, volunteers and interns, an…
What was already a heavy bleeding track by METZ, "Wasted" has been given a suitable and totally screwy video. As the guitars scream through the three minute long track, people in a photo studio are waiting to have their pictures snapped while digital distortion begins to play with their faces. Eyeb…
Legacy is such a weird concept. "We tried so hard", Wilco sing on Schmilco closer "Just Say Goodbye", "as if I have the answers". Back in a July 2009 interview with SPIN mag, describing the band's self-titled record contract wrap-up seventh album, frontman Jeff Tweedy told the world, "I think peopl…
A 12:30 a.m. timeslot on the final day of a four-day Sasquatch! Music Festival is a daunting test. You're either playing to whoever's passed out on the lawn or people who are, for any number of personal and chemical reasons, not ready to let their festival experience end. Jamie xx wasn't the most e…
Hey, it's another Shimmy-Disc release! Apparently I have this unconscious attraction to their catalog. When People Were Shorter and Lived Near the Water is one of those bands whose name I've noticed (how could you not?) and admired for decades, but I don't believe I've ever heard them until just no…
A couple times a year, Starbucks, STG, and KEXP team up to put on the Little Big Show - a little show with a big impact - where 100% of the proceeds go towards helping the arts stay alive for young people. This evening's sold out show raised over $14,000 for The Vera Project, the non-profit all age…
What began as a humble way of getting people to shop mom-and-pop record stores is now an international celebration: it's Record Store Day, and this Saturday, April 22nd marks its 10th Anniversary. April also happens to be KEXP's 45th anniversary as a station, and to celebrate both, KEXP DJs will be…
I used to have a regular gig reviewing album covers, so I can say with some confidence that D.O.A.'s fourth album possesses one of the greatest album covers ever printed. Look how terrified those rich jerks are, and how the crazy punkers are blowing their minds and smashing their dinners, while sim…
It turns out I have previously blogged in this space about a Dead Moon album, but I'm going to do it again, because 1) that was over four years ago, which on the Internet is like a whole nother geological age; 2) they have fourteen albums, I think I can write about two of 'em for crying out loud; 3…
I knew nothing about ESG before starting to write this blog post, but my quick research made it clear that they really should have been on my radar for at least the past twenty years, if not thirty. Their releases in the '80s, and then after their reformation in the early '90s, impressed a lot of p…
Broken Social Scene’s second night at the Neptune Theatre last Monday was an absolute lovefest. The Canadian indie rock vets rocked, grooved, and, later, hugged it with a sold-out crowd during their celebratory two-hour set. Beginning the night with the driving, post-rock blast of “KC Accidental,” …
90.TEEN is curated by the participants of the KEXP Youth Radio program.
The aim of the program is to empower young people by building confidence, supporting career development, fostering positive thinking, honing curation skills, and providing hands-on experience in both technical and programmati…
A collaboration with the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance Proton Therapy Center dedicated to the power of music to lift our spirits and heal our souls.
