Though the new album is called Lost in the Dream, The War on Drugs' Adam Granduciel seems like he's just woken up from one. While it's only the band's third LP since forming nine years ago, Lost in the Dream is leaps and bounds ahead of its predecessors, as Granduciel transforms his oft-meandering …
Justin Vernon, James Blake, Thom Yorke, Pat Grossi — all artists whose voices soar happily in the upper register. Add to them James Vincent McMorrow. With his gorgeously produced new LP, Post Tropical, the Irish singer-songwriter left his folky debut in the dust, choosing instead horns, synths, and…
2014 is off to a great start for new music! Highlights include the long-awaited sophomore release from LA band Warpaint. KEXP Music Director, Don Yates, declares it a "more subtle and minimalist take on the band’s brooding dream-pop, featuring a dark, atmospheric sound with swirling guitars and key…
"It's your natural place", Sarah Versprille whispers, as the steady groove of "Scotty" beckons you on to the wonderful b-side of Pure Bathing Culture's debut record, Moon Tides. It sounds like she could be singing to David Hindman, the other half of Pure Bathing Culture, who is responsible for the …
There's a posthumous Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings video out today, but I can't get through it without tearing up. The song "Please Come Home For Christmas" was recorded last year for the Daptone Records holiday collection, It’s A Holiday Soul Party!, and takes on an even more aching poignancy …
In a town as small as Reykjavik, densely packed with so much talent and collaboration, the term "supergroup" gets thrown around so much that it starts. That being said, Icelandic electronic band Gangly is a true supergroup. The band is a collaboration between three Icelandic powerhouse musicians: S…
Today, legendary singer/songwriter Leonard Cohen celebrates his 82nd birthday, and we're the ones who get a present. Check out the title track from his upcoming release, You Want It Darker, out October 21st via Sony. A press release explains, "Cohen created this hypnotic groove with the addition o…
For fans of '90s shoegaze, the past few years have been a rush of reunions: Slowdive. Ride. Lush. Swirlies. Okay, hear me out. Unlike their UK contemporaries, the at-the-time Boston-based band followed a more lo-fi path, combining a DIY, punk aesthetic with their swoony, well, "swirly" guitars. In …
Grizzly Bear dropped their fifth album, Painted Ruins, today via RCA but before it released they stopped by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to perform lead single "Mourning Sound." Ed Droste & Co played the beautiful, mellow song under a halo of red lights while Droste looked relaxed in a st…
Noga Erez is a Tel Aviv-based singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer creating smart, catchy, colorful global electro-pop packed with vibrant instrumentation and politically-charged lyrics. Her debut album Off The Radar was released earlier this year on City Slang Records, introducing…
The War On Drugs also have a highly-anticipated forthcoming album, A Deeper Understanding. In promotion for the album, the band has recorded a cover of Warren Zevon's "Accidentally Like A Martyr" for the Spotify Singles series. They also recorded a live version of lead single "Holding On." A Deeper…
On the one month anniversary of the death of guitarist Dave Rosser of The Afghan Whigs, the band is paying tribute by releasing a cover of Pleasure Club's "You Want Love," one of Rosser's favorite songs. “Pleasure Club was a legendary New Orleans band and Dave Rosser and I had spoken for years abou…
You read that right. We're just as surprised to learn of his passing as you are. Chris Cornell, who was found dead in his Detroit hotel room late last night, has been a Seattle institution for decades, having formed Soundgarden in 1984 and predating in popularity nearly all of the so-called "grunge…
It's a good week for comebacks. UK band Slowdive return with their first new album in 22 years. KEXP Music Director Don Yates calls it "a strong return-to-form of shoegazerish dream-pop with swirling, reverbed guitars, ethereal vocals, hazy harmonies and blissed-out melodies." It's been 17 years si…
k2k is the alias of Wellington, New Zealand, DJ, electronic producer, and vocalist Katherine Anderson. An alumnus of Red Bull Music Academy Paris 2015 and currently part of the Inky Waves collective that's taking over dancefloors around her home country, her love for highly-melodic, pop-tinged, hou…
