Before a closing performance from Twenty One Pilots, MGMT played a packed set at Sasquatch Music Festival's Main Stage, playing tracks from each of their past records, including several to be featured on the forthcoming Little Dark Age. As evidenced by past live performances, MGMT are unafraid of s…
The Replacements may have broken up 25 years ago (and then gotten back together, and broken up again), but their influence grows larger every year. Wilco's Jeff Tweedy once declared that everything his band does is based on The Replacements. Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day calls them his favorite…
Macefielders, come out and play! That's the rallying cry for the independent music and arts festival in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood each fall. Good news for those ready - the Macefield Music Festival, named for Edith Macefield, the fiercely-independent Ballard resident who refused to sell her ho…
Fauna Shade is on a hot streak. After releasing their fantastic debut album, Baton Rouge, last year, the group followed it up in March with the equally good Floral Hall EP. Combining psych rock with pop-esque melodies, the group from Everett brought an excellent balance of dark garage-tinged instru…
Seattle's silver-haired soul singer and her backing band, Grace Love & The True Loves stopped by KEXP to perform a few tracks off of their eponymous debut album, and the nine of them filled our live room to beautiful capacity. Their performance was pure vintage - her rich baritone echoing the i…
Like many of the buzzy debut albums in a post-xx world, Wet's Don't You lives in a quiet, emotionally-focused space, so it was fitting that they played in one of the city's more intimate rooms for their debut headline gig in Seattle. But as far as debut gigs go, Wet's was anything but a small affai…
Ever since their Iceland Airwaves KEXP session, we've been excited for more new music from Operators (featuring Dan Boeckner of Wolf Parade, Divine Fits, and Handsome Furs), and today they share the single for "Cold Light," which you can stream below. It's a sneak peek at their forthcoming sophomo…
Earlier this year, KEXP premiered the title track from David Bowie's 25th studio album ★ (pronounced "Blackstar"). Today, we've got another single to share, "Lazarus," which appears in Bowie’s off-Broadway play of the same name. (Tune in tonight to The Late Show With Stephen Colbert as the cast pe…
Brooklyn-via-Alabama singer/songwriter Katie Crutchfield, better known as Waxahatchee, shares a lovely new video for the track "La Loose," a single from her recent Merge Records release, Ivy Tripp. The clip was directed by Naomi Yang (Galaxie 500, Damon & Naomi) who says in a statement: "I wan…
Last month, Brooklyn via Sydney, Australia, duo High Highs announced their long awaited sophomore LP with a debut of the title track to Cascades, due February 5th next year. The gentle yet lively "Cascades" glowed brightly through the song's haze, promising an upbeat return to the dreamy harmonic s…
Sometimes a record excites you so much that you lose your critical and verbal faculties, and all you can do is jump up and down and shout "Woooooo-hooooo!" - or perhaps control your muscles just enough to write "Wooooooo-hooooo!" on a little sticker and slap it on said record. Executive Slacks' Nau…
There's a lot of buzz about Viet Cong right now, and for a lot of reasons, but while their pedigree, controversial name, and recognizable post-punk influences make for easy talking points, it's their ferocious energy and novel songwriting that seems to resonate so strongly with fans and critics ali…
Some frontmen were born to brood across the stage with enigmatic allure, but Merchandise's Carson Cox is not one of them. When the Tampa, Florida, quintet arrived in the KEXP studio in October, Cox's loquacious charm outfitted the session with a series of one-liners, ad-libs, and shoutouts to fello…
It's gusting something fierce out in the dark Reykjavik night. But it's warm and cozy here in Kex Hostel as our live broadcast continues. Our fourth Iceland Airwaves act of the day was rock trio Kimono, heavy, loud, and a bit dark. They formed in 2001 as an instrumental post-rock band, but have evo…
Both Friday and Saturday's Decibel Festival festivities were stacked top to bottom with incredibly good sets, at pretty much every venue in the greater Seattle area. And somehow this year, the festival organizers have done an incredible job at giving each set an incredible sense of creative continu…
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…
Steve Fisk, not unlike Jack Endino, is a figure in the Seattle rock universe who has had an enormous influence on the sounds coming out of this city, despite not being a household name to those who don't often peruse album credits. As a producer and engineer he's worked with everyone from Screaming…
The penultimate act on our roster for day one of KEXP's Iceland Airwaves broadcast, live from KEX Hostel in Reykjavik is another fantastic Icelandic band, Valdimar. Both of Valdimar’s albums, Undraland (2010) and Um Stund (2012), have seen quite a lot of commercial success in their native Iceland, …
Another light summer week of new releases, but there's a handful hitting shelves today that you'll definitely want to check out. Portland singer-songwriter Alela Diane tops the list with her fourth album of heartbreaking (and broken) folk-pop, highlighting her rich voice and often personal lyrics. …
Like goths on a beach, the dark sounds of Daughter may seem out of place on sunny summer day, but few bands make "moody" music that's not downright depressing as well as this UK trio. Their atmospheric debut LP, If You Leave, arrives just in time for the warmer weather, and you may find yourself, w…
