Theoretically, if you asked me what show would constitute my ultimate pipedream throwdown in a basement by an active, living band, I think I'd pick METZ. The Ontario group signed to Sub Pop in 2012 and immediately took throneroom space aside some of North America's finest punk names. Two albums dee…
Sufjan Stevens is an artist who doesn't make many whimsical steps. Whether it be a proper record or a side project or a live tour or a Christmas album, each time Sufjan steps into the spotlight, you are almost guaranteed a proper glance at the current state of the artist. When we last saw Sufjan at…
If there's a band member sweating on stage during Philip Selway's sets, how is it not going to be the drummer? Selway's work with Radiohead through the late 90s, 2000s, and even the 2010s continuously reinvents how we see and hear the art of drumming in the modern rock and electronic atmosphere. Th…
Since he broke his band up in the most grandiose way possible, James Murphy has stayed incredibly busy - maybe busier than he was when he was in LCD Soundsystem. It seems like every couple months, there's word of a new project from James, though not necessarily musical in nature. Sure, James has co…
From September 15 to October 15, KEXP will center voices from some of our favorite Latinx and Latinx-American artists.
Beloved New York dance-punks LCD Soundsystem have announced their first show of 2017: headlining the Forecastle Festival, taking place July 14-16 in Louisville, Kentucky. Also on the bill are Weezer, Odesza, PJ Harvey, Run the Jewels, to name just a few. Founder/frontman James Murphy announced ear…
This is the third album by The Jazz Butcher I've covered in this blog series (see also here and here), and I'm embarrassed to admit I have yet to properly spend time getting acquainted with this long-running English band's deep discography. Something tells me that the next several years will be a g…
Before most of the festival’s attendees have even arrived at Seattle Center, KEXP’s Bumbershoot was already underway. Setting a high bar right from the get-go, gospel legends Blind Boys of Alabama opened the festival with an intimate set at KEXP's Secret Stage. From their humble beginnings nearly 8…
The career of Midnight Faces frontman Matthew Doty feels like scrolling through the KEXP Blog. He began making music as a teenager with childhood friend Jonny Pierce of The Drums (who was recently in town and who we interviewed). And as a young adult, he co-founded the band Saxon Shore with Josh Ti…
No stranger to the KEXP Blog or airwaves, DoNormaal took Sasquatch Music Festival by storm, playing a collaborative set which featured additional performances from close collaborators including Raven Matthews, Taylar Elizza Beth, Guayaba, and Astro King Pheonix. DoNormaal remains a magnetic, distin…
In a sharp contrast from years past, this year's Sasquatch! Music Festival lineup has considerably less folk-inclining music on the main stage, making Lord Huron one of the weekend's folk rock acts that would play directly in front of the Columbia River Gorge. The Michigan-via-Los Angeles quintet s…
Starbucks, STG, and KEXP collaborate once again to bring you the next installment in their Little Big Show series. I can't believe we are already on #13! Every show in this series does the same thing, each time with a different beneficiary. 100% of tickets sales benefit a Seattle area organization …
What's better than a surprise free album from one of your all time favorite bands? A surprise free album from one of your favorite bands that puts them at the top of their two decades and running game. Wilco wrapped up their contract with Nonesuch back in 2010, after their fourth release on the lab…
Even though Little Dragon were billed before the festival-standard massive DJ on the Bigfoot Stage on Friday night, they might have secretly been the night's best dance party. The common thread between each of the songs in the Swedish band's set was their innate danceability. Moving from elastic fu…
18 year old Swedish rapper Yung Lean (Jonatan Håstad) may be one of the most polarizing, confusing faces on the independent hip-hop scene of the last few years. Pitchfork hates him. Fader loves him. The rest of us find ourselves somewhere in between, trying to balance all of the bizarre parts of th…
There is no group of people more passionate at festivals than Australians. Ineffably, Aussie bands and fans always give notable performances and serve as fervent audience members, which is why Cloud Control felt like they were playing the steps of the Sydney Opera House instead of the much-smaller …
"Seriously? Another song?" Kristin Hersh, frontwoman for Throwing Muses, teased KEXP's DJ El Toro (a.k.a. Kurt Reighley) in mock-exasperation during their in-studio session, "We are so old, Kurt -- why are you doing this?" The veteran alt-rock legends are doing it for their latest release, Purgator…
What is Iron and Wine anyway? A man? A band? A concept? A sound? For the past decade, Sam Beam has used his stage name to mean all of those things. The Southeastern raised songwriter first caught people's attention in the Northwest, actually, through a demo featured in Yeti Magazine and followed by…
Yes, yes, we're all excited that the Postal Service is playing tonight at Key Arena. But did you know that long before the Postal Service there was a band from Chicago called The Service? Neither did I until just now, but based on Trouser Press's description, this sounds like an '80s college radio …
At 60 years old, Robyn Hitchcock has experienced a longevity that would be the cause for many musicians' envy. He began his career as a member of several small, local London bands until 1976 when he founded the psychedelic folk rock group The Soft Boys. In 1981 (about a year after The Soft Boys bro…
