Next on the live video broadcast from Kex Hostel at Iceland Airwaves Music Festival was popular Icelandic rap group Úlfur Úlfur. Comprised of rappers Arnar Freyr and Helgi Sæmundur with a rotating group of musicians, they combine hard rock, post rock, melodic choruses and hard rap. They debuted wit…
One prominent feature of Decibel Festival is the way its schedule breaks down into rather meticulously set showcases. Unlike most other festivals, in which entry to one location likely grants access to every stage, Decibel also sells individual tickets to each show as an alternative to more expensi…
It's Friday night at the Showbox and there's a singer on stage waltzing through "My Favorite Things" from The Sound Of Music and at the end of her final stanza, the band behind her crash in and a Danny Brown verse recited by Spank Rock (perhaps one of the only rappers who could conceivably match Br…
Director Brandon Vedder settled in for a long drive, coming home from a shoot. He was in the process of finishing his short film A Certain Kind of Light and had his sensors out for the next story he wanted to tell. He turned on an episode of Pete Holmes’ You Made It Weird podcast and heard a famili…
I would've loved to see the faces on the suburban stay-at-home parents when UK post-punk band Savages took the stage on Ellen yesterday afternoon. "I love finding new, interesting, unique music, and I love this next band," Ellen said in her introduction. Watch them perform the track "Adore" below.…
It's true: Sleater-Kinney are back! The beloved Northwest trio went on hiatus in 2006, but will release their eighth full-length album, No Cities to Love, on January 20th via Sub Pop. Get a sneak peek with the lyric video to the first single "Bury Our Friends," featuring director/actor Miranda Jul…
Did somebody say Jack Endino? Here's one of those Endino-produced classics I was talking about last week. If Mudhoney needed no introduction by the time they released their self-titled debut LP in 1989, at this point they should be, I don't know, playing on top of the Space Needle or something? Oh,…
Michael Benjamin Learner is the singer, songwriter and recording artist extraordinaire for the band Telekinesis - he writes all the parts, plays all the instruments and treats the project with a fatherly-like care. Learner, as Telekinesis, also has the pleasure of playing this year's inaugural Timb…
Not ones to wait for official announcements, Arcade Fire let the citizens of Barcelona know that they'd be playing next year's Primavera Sound via a large format poster raised along the city's main shopping street, Portal de l'Àngel, on Monday. The festival just confirmed the resulting social medi…
Earlier this year, it was reported that Sharon Jones was diagnosed with stage-one bile duct cancer, but thankfully, she is said to be "doing much better," and she and her Dap-Kings have announced a January 14th release date for their next album on Daptone Records. To celebrate, they've shared a ne…
Directed by bandleader Danny Mekonnen, the Boston-based Debo Band take inspirations from 1960s Ethiopian jazz music, elements of klezmer, funk and rock and roll. They combine these into original instrumentation and create a rhythmic, thoughtful, often trans-like musical narrative. Adding to Mekonne…
Last night, Beck finally performed his first concert of material from last year's full sheet music album, Song Reader. Franz Ferdinand, the Staves, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Jarvis Cocker, and so many more joined him on stage in London. Check out the performances below (click on the next link for more…
The Internet doesn't seem to know a whole lot about Somerset anarcho-punks Thatcher on Acid. (Can you think of a band name that more specifically places a band in time, place, and genre? I sure can't.) One thing I appreciate about this gig is that these posts often serve as a way to add to the know…
It's been a while since we've heard from Emily Wells. The NYC-based singer, performer songwriter and producer released her full-length debut, Mama, back in 2012, and surprisingly has yet to follow it up with a proper sophomore LP. But that's not to say she hasn't been busy. Since then, Wells releas…
"Discover new music". In all we do, KEXP seeks to fulfill that mission and share with you the best new music we can find. But it's a big world! We're fortunate to have many resources at our fingertips, and a lot of great artists come directly to us, yet sometimes we rely on fellow curators whose pa…
Next on the KEXP broadcast live from Kex Hostel at Iceland Airwaves 2016 was incredibly talented American singer Adia Victoria. Hailing from South Carolina, Adia was raised by a devout seventh-day-adventist family, and was isolated from much of popular culture for most of her childhood. In high sch…
Yesterday, Grimes unearthed a previously unreleased track that she recorded in 2009 with Devon Welsh of Majical Cloudz. At the time, the pair were on bad terms with their obese cat, Voignamir, who weighed somewhere between 20-30 pounds. His dieting angst inspired this song, which you can stream on…
For Christmas, PDX-via-NZ group Unknown Mortal Orchestra gave us the gift of song: stream the track "SB-03" below, written by frontman Ruban Nielson and his brother, Kody Nielson (aka Silicon). The twelve-minute-long track was released on December 25th, following the singles "SB-01" and "SB-02," r…
KEXP made Seattle music history last weekend by featuring the first band ever to play on the roof of the historic Pike Place Market: Raw Power KEXP! The Seattle supergroup featured local legends Mike McCready, Duff McKagan, Barrett Martin and Mark Arm covering the classics of Iggy Pop and the Stoog…
Coming off a great Neumos set the night before, Tanlines arrived at the KEXP studio early the next morning to deliver a flawless live performance as a four piece. The addition of a live drummer and second guitarist to the Brooklyn duo's always refreshing version of pop filled out their live sound w…
