All the way back in August, when Father John Misty was on his Pure Comedy tour, he recorded an episode of Austin City Limits for PBS. Recorded at The Moody Theater in downtown Austin, he delivered a shorter set than the other shows on his tour (his Seattle show at the Paramount was over two hours l…
It was a year ago today that KEXP celebrated our annual Intergalactic Bowie Day celebration on what was David Bowie's 69th birthday, sadly followed by an on-air mourning of his passing mere days later. While the passing of time has done nothing to dull the pain, the power and influence of his music…
If something was happening in the Minneapolis music scene, writer Jim Walsh was there to cover it. A former City Pages music editor (think, The Stranger) and award-winning columnist for the Pioneer Press, Walsh writes about music and culture. He is the author of the oral history The Replacements: A…
Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part of our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJ’s think you should hear. Today’s song, featured on the Aft…
South African anti-apartheid icon Nelson Mandela has sadly passed away today at the age of 95. The revered statesman was imprisoned for 27 years, eventually released in 1990 after an international campaign fueled by many prominent musicians. Mandela was elected the first black president of South Af…
It was one of the most highly-anticipated sessions of our Musicfest NW broadcast: Scottish electropop group CHVRCHES had been blowing up the music blogs for months, yet their debut album, The Bones of What You Believe hadn't hit stores at the time. From the packed audience of the Doug Fir Lounge t…
DJ Morgan presents the latest installment of the KEXP Music That Matters mixtape-style podcast, featuring new music from Goldfrapp, Washed Out, and Stres, that acts as the perfect soundtrack as we segue from Summer into Fall. 1. Volcano Choir - Byegone 2. Okkervil River - It Was My Season 3. Gold…
When Finn Andrews first entered the KEXP studios in 2004, he was barely 20 years of age, but his evocative songwriting was already fully-formed. Returning in 2017, The Veils leader is more refined and potent than ever on the Auckland-via-London group's fifth album Total Depravity. Embracing "…
Much was made of Nao's jazz backgroud when she was a buzzy artist in 2015, but the London musician's debut full length, this year's For All We Know (named for a jazz standard) displays a singer with significant funk credentials and forward-thinking, electronic-tinged production. In this kinetic se…
Next on the KEXP broadcast live from Kex Hostel at Iceland Airwaves was Icelandic art-rock band Agent Fresco. Formed in 2008, mere weeks before playing in the Icelandic battle of the bands (Músíktilraunir), at which they won best guitar, best drumming, and best bass playing. The four-piece band inc…
KEXP is excited to premiere a new video from Superchunk-frontman Mac McCaughan for the track "Box Batteries," off his debut solo full-length Non-Believers, out now on Merge Records. The clip brings you face-to-face with its director, Brooklyn-based performance artist Anya Liftig, whose big blue eye…
As Jamie Lidell started into his Neumos set Monday night, he recalled the Multiply tour, where at his Neumos stop back in 2006, he wore a leopard print suit that was blistering hot on stage. Here, he was dressed more akin to an R&B Dr. Who, with a dark full body coat over a simple v-neck. But t…
The club-based video was directed by her partner Max Vitali
The renowned South African artist was 78 years old.
The prolific artist and Paisley Underground icon was 61.
Legendary recording engineer and musician Steve Albini has died of a heart attack. He was 61.
In a wonderful example of "you never know unless you ask," powerhouses Neko Case, k.d. lang, and Laura Veirs are teaming up for a collaborative album, titled case/lang/veirs, out June 17th via ANTI- Records. Check out their first single "Atomic Number" below, as well as an album trailer. A few yea…
I have no idea what this album from 1959 was doing being added to the KCMU library in 1990, but I'm sure glad it was - and it seems like I would have been in good company at the time. Tom Lehrer is (and let me just jump in for a second to say how happy it makes me to type that "is," having establis…
Montreal natives The Luyas have been around since 2006 and have put out some really great records over the years, two of which -- Too Beautiful To Work and Animator -- were included on the long list for the 2011 and 2013 Polaris Music Prize respectively. Their sound is hard to pinpoint, using tons …
"I feel like all 4,000 people in this room should hug right now," the mid-30s woman beside me says to me as the house lights go on after The xx show last Monday night. I nod my head in approval. I understand what she means - not hugs of comfort but hugs of recognition of community and of the beauti…
