Armed with a fine assortment of tracks from their new Seattle-recorded release, Ohio band The Sidekicks unleash their brand of hooky rock in the KEXP live room. On Runners in the Nerved World, they've branched out from their punkish roots and now take pleasure in crafting out songs that are invigor…
Seattle's Wishbeard is one of those great bands that keeps the high hat and snare drum going. This is part of what makes them eminently danceable. With etherial guitars and vocal shouts like wolves howling into the night, the drum keeps a tight, pushing rhythm highlighted by the quickly hit snares …
Shut eyes, wide mouth, brow furrowed -- lead singer Tim Wilson’s face reads passion. If there was any doubt about his care for the songs he sings with the five-piece band Ivan & Alyosha, just take a moment to look at his visage. The band, one of the most well-coiffed in the business, took the M…
Congratulations to Mavis Staples, who just won a Grammy last night for Best American Roots Performance. It's great timing as the legendary blues singer will release Livin' On A High Note, on Friday. This, her fourteenth studio album, features songs written by Justin Vernon, M. Ward, Benjamin Booker…
No other group in Seattle has the reach of THEESatisfaction. In creating their unique psychedelic hip hop stylings, local duo Cat and Stas reach as high among the stars as low within the roots below, and place their feet years beyond as eons ago. In fact, critics can't help but describe their new a…
As major labels continue to exist behind the times, artists and labels with little capital and lesser reputations are producing some of the most innovative, interesting, and inspiring music. Whether it’s creating a new niche in digital technology or looking to once obsolete formats, Agitated Atmosp…
If you rolled out a handful of musicians and gave them instruments and told them to all act like toys come to life, you would have the band GROUPLOVE. Equipped with an inclusive, joyous name that also has an intimate connotation, GROUPLOVE plays songs that live up to their moniker. Rainbow guitars,…
Before performing at Capitol Hill’s Neumos, California-based band Rogue Wave stopped by KEXP for an energetic live in-studio. The four-piece played three songs from their new album, Nightingale Floors, released in June (their fifth studio record), as well as a tune from Out of the Shadow. The band’…
Sunscreen for the Eastern Washington sun? Check. Sleeping bag for the few moments you'll be able to sleep? Check? Earplugs for when your 'drums need a break? Check. Booty shorts for dancin'? Check. High energy bars for, uh... energy? Check. Roadtrip music for the journey out to The Gorge? Double an…
In honor of Janet Jackson releasing her highly anticipated Unbreakable album today, Tin Angel Records has dropped a tribute album called Dear Janet. The album features a variety of indie artists, who each cover one of 16 Janet classics. For instance, Deradoorian takes on "The Pleasure Principle", …
"It's not the average, kind of whiny divorce record... You can dance to half the record and cry your eyes out to the rest of it." That's how Sondre Lerche describes his seventh and newest album, Please. Despite the innate heaviness of the subject material, Lerche is eager to explore every facet of …
Our fourth day of live Iceland Airwaves music from Kex Hostel in the volcanic wonderland of Iceland kicked off early and with a high energy middle finger. Oh, are you hung over from Reykjavik's infamously late nightlife? Pink Street Boys don't care. These boys claim to be the loudest band in Icelan…
"You don’t have to be anyone if you don’t want to / You don’t have to get a job if you don’t want to" and you definitely don't have to listen to Howler if you don't want to. But that would be a damn shame because the Minneapolis yeehaw boys have returned with their second album of infectious punky …
With rowdy organ and improvised slide guitar, Tango Alpha Tango is not your typical rock 'n' roll band. Since 2008, the Portland-based musicians have released three albums and a three-track preview. Their newest product, Black Cloud, is a longer, heavier, piece of work, placing Tango Alpha Tango on…
Pioneering hip-hop trio De La Soul share another new track from their forthcoming full-length, and the Anonymous Nobody…. Check out the single "Drawn" below, featuring special guests Little Dragon. Their ninth album hits stores on August 26th, and on that very day, KEXP will go 3 Feet High & R…
Die Kreuzen is one of the many bands of the '80s and '90s about whom my principal awareness derives from having seen their records in the bins at my usual Harvard Square haunts (I've always been much more of a browser than a buyer, alas). Since I studied German for all four years of high school, I …
If you think it'd be hard to bring all seven prolific members of Doomtree together to record, you'd be right. That's why the Minneapolis hip-hop collective called "all hands" for their first album in three years. Fortunately, All Hands is their most collaborative and socially-minded effort yet, sho…
Can we say "finally!"? After nearly two years since their first KEXP performance, Pickwick will release their full-length debut on March 12. The beloved Seattle soul rockers have introduced R&B to a whole new generation with the Myths 7-inch series, including listener favorites like "Window Sil…
Just in time for the sun-soaked dog days of summer, High Pulp are here to bring the heat with their jazz-influenced funky, soulful rhythms.
Today's Song of the Day, as chosen by Larry Mizell, Jr., host of The Afternoon Show on KEXP, is "High Alone" by Sevdaliza, a 2022 single on Twisted Elegance.
