"I'm just going to test out the sampler." That's what Chaos Chaos drummer Chloe Saavedra says right before she fills the room with a loud piercing tone. ("That's why I always wear earplugs around Chloe," remarks her sister and bandmate Asy Saavedra.) Fortunately for John Richards, the crew, and any…
There's something about the booming sound of an analog synthesizer that excites the imagination. Decades of filmmakers and composers have utilized the mesmerizing power of these instruments, from John Carpenter to Vangelis all the way through Hanz Zimmer and Cliff Martinez. So it made sense that Se…
Next on KEXP’s broadcast live from Kex Hostel at Iceland Airwaves Music Festival was Icelandic electronic band Gus Gus. Formed in 1995 by filmmakers Stefán Árni and Siggi Kjartansson as a film group and acting collective, the group’s purpose quickly changed with the addition of programmer Biggi Thó…
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 …
The southeast region of the US is home to the highest percentage of LGBTQ people in the country. KEXP's Bee Egan spoke with three LGBTQ musicians from the south to find out how southern culture and their sexuality impacted their upbringing and ultimately their music. Musician and poet Jamila Woods …
For the small Barboza crowd that showed up to the Seattle debut of Mas Ysa, along with Lawrence Rothman, Wednesday night was a splendid display of left field musical prodigy. For those that didn’t, the joke’s on you – you most certainly won’t get a chance to see either of these two at such a small …
New York duo Phantogram release their sophomore album, Voices, today, which KEXP Music Director Don Yates claims is a, "sleek set of moody electro-pop with a dark, atmospheric sound featuring buzzing synths, spiky guitars, hip hop-influenced beats, breathy vocals and catchy pop hooks." Another high…
Love him or hate him, you simply cannot call the Billy Corgan of 2014 predictable. For the dedicated Smashing Pumpkins out there, this fact is a wonderful, rewarding thing. Sure, Billy is currently rolling out an extensive set of rereleases and remasters of the classic Pumpkins years, each complete…
On April 15, Sturgill Simpson will release a new album called A Sailor's Guide to Earth, his follow up to 2014's Metamodern Sounds in Country Music. Today he's shared the album's first single, "Brace For Impact (Live a Little)." In a press release, Simpson described his motivation for the album: …
I don't know how much needs to be said about Hasil "Haze" Adkins that wouldn't be better communicated by merely listening to any of the approximately one million songs he recorded to various fidelities of tape over his fifty-ish year career. The first song I ever heard by Mr. Adkins (thanks to a ca…
Northwest singer/songwriter M. Ward stopped by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert last night to share two tracks from his forthcoming full-length, More Rain. Watch a replay of "Confession" and the web exclusive of "Girl From Conejo Valley" below. More Rain hits stores on March 4th via Merge, and f…
Tomorrow, not only will iconic rocker David Bowie celebrate his 69th birthday, but he releases his 25th studio album ★ (pronounced "Blackstar") via Columbia Records. Today, he shares the video for the track "Lazarus," which features the influential artist, well, hallucinating in a mental hospital.…
The middle set of today's broadcast live from Kex Hostel at Iceland Airwaves is British pop artist Lonelady. The pseudonym for british pop artist Julie Campbell, LoneLady combines funky guitar riffs with fun, dancy synths and beats, and influences the likes of “That’s Us/Wild Combination”-era Arthu…
Real Estate frontman Martin Courtney has announced he'll be releasing a solo album, titled Many Moons, out October 30th via Domino. A press release states the full-length, "is squinting-at-the-sun bright, full of subtle introspection, an elliptical document of Courtney’s transition into family lif…
The phrase "music is a universal language" is sometimes overused, but is perfectly fitting when it comes to Joe Driscoll & Sekou Kouyate. New York native Driscoll and Guinea-born Kouyate met at a music festival in Marseilles, France and instantly clicked. Despite the enormous language barrier -…
