Shabaka Hutchings is a celebrated saxophone player and a major figure in London’s contemporary jazz scene.
Barboza, the intimate venue underneath Neumos, feels cut off from the rest of the world, with no sight or sound of the rest of the world. In some ways, it's the perfect venue for a band like Hælos, whose particular brand of UK club R&B feels wholly detached from the rest of the world, cinematic…
The best collaboration projects seem to happen effortlessly. When two masters of their craft come together, both bringing all their respective elements to the table and begin mixing them, oftentimes, they end up with a heterogenous mixture, swinging unevenly between two opposing poles. Some pieces …
It's funny to say it, but in the last half decade of Kele's work, Bloc Party's comeback LP Four is an outlier amongst an otherwise continuous show of strength in another direction. Sure, Four gave Bloc Party fans another great record to rotate out in their stash, but since the band's electronic-hea…
It’s time again for Friday on My Mind. Our weekly blog post where we look at videos centered around one common theme. This is a collaborative effort between KEXP and King 5 News. We here in Seattle are very lucky in that we always have the opportunity to see amazingly talented musicians, both natio…
How is walking through the woods on a foggy, chilly late spring day similar to strolling past the closed fun houses and ferris wheels on a boardwalk at the end of summer? You could just as easily listen to the melancholic surf bee-bop of Seattle's La Luz in both of the situations. What started at a…
Forget anything you might already think about Northwest electronica. For all of our gloomy and rain-sodden days and our fern-covered evergreen terrain, we sometimes produce bubbly and even tropical music. Take, for instance, Bellingham producer/multi-instrumentalist Grant Eadie, who with his projec…
Day 2 of KEXP's visit to the OFF Music Festival in Katowice, Poland was a perfect reflection of what founder Artur Rojek is aiming for: diversity not only in sound but in origin. KEXP's DJ Morgan spent time chatting with musicians from around the globe: up-and-coming Warsaw band Bastard Disco, Toky…
Local electronic duo ODESZA had a meteoric rise in 2014 with their sophomore album In Return and it shows with their new large-scale cinematic video for "Line of Sight" off of their upcoming third album A Moment Apart. Directed by Daniel Brown, the video tells the story of a young boy wandering a …
The final day of Upstream Music Fest & Summit finished off with a set from local favorites NAVVI, who continued their run of excellent live performances with a compelling, atmospheric set. Headlining the Hush Hush Records showcase at the Weyerhaeuser Woodshed stage, NAVVI provided an ideal soun…
We're just a week away from PJ Harvey's first Seattle show in five years, and just when we thought we couldn't be more excited, she goes and drops a new single outta nowhere. Stream the track "A Dog Called Money" below, arriving tomorrow via a double-A side digital single with "I’ll Be Waiting." B…
Tonight, Pearl Jam are being inducted into the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame in a ceremony at Barclays Center in New York, and we couldn't be prouder. (Other inductees include Joan Baez, Electric Light Orchestra, Journey, Tupac Shakur, and Yes.) HBO will air the event later this month on April 29th, bu…
UK trio The xx are heading out on tour soon (including a Monday, April 24th stop at CenturyLink Field), but before they go, they've shared a video for the track "Say Something Loving." Director Alasdair McLellan captures young Londoners caught in lazers and love. On Facebook, the band state, "We w…
The alias of Portland-based musician Douglas Appling, Emancipator has become well-known for his blissful, lush, and cinematic style of music that organically fuses downtempo, trip-hop, and instrumental hip-hop elements into his own enveloping style. A stellar live performer that's a staple on the f…
The 2016 Summer Olympics kick off this Friday in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. More than 200 nations will compete 28 different categories: synchronized swimming, table tennis, canoe slalom, and many others (that seem less fun to me). Rio de Janeiro beat out Madrid, Chicago, and Tokyo to host, and in hono…
British outfit The Big Pink burst on the scene with their 2009 debut album, A Brief History Of Love, for 4AD, propelled by the massive pop single Dominos that showcased their widescreen fusion of rock, pop, and electronic styles. The band recently released their new EP, Empire Underground, signalin…
