It's looking like we'll have a new Arcade Fire album in 2017! Drummer Jeremy Gara confirmed to Red Bull Poland that they've finished recording all the tracks for the new LP, and it "should come out this year." He adds, the band are "still mixing and trying to decide which songs will end up on the …
Seattle native Joey Butler (a.k.a. Kid Smpl) has been constantly evolving his atmospheric and immersive style of abstract electronic music over the past five years, shifting away from a more tranquil and atmospheric sound for a more visceral and physical aesthetic. Now based in San Francisco, Kid S…
Recent losses getting you down? The weather seeming too bleak? Then come down to the Tractor Tavern this Wednesday for My bubba. The Nordic duo might not cure all your ills, but their infectious "sensual folk" is sure to offer at least one night of bliss. Their last (and first!) show in Seattle thi…
A sizable crowd gathered at KEX Hostel quite early in the day to catch strange and wonderful music from young English experimental electro-pop duo Let's Eat Grandma. The teenage band is comprised of lifelong best friends Rosa and Jenny, who display wisdom and musical prowess well beyond their years…
Brooklyn-bred band Grizzly Bear return with their fifth LP, a release KEXP Music Director Don Yates calls "an adventurous set of densely layered and intricately arranged prog-pop, featuring a punchier, more beat-driven sound to more forcefully drive home the band's dark, imagistic lyrics of decay a…
DJ Toya B is the alias of Seattle-via-Tacoma DJ Toya Harris, a longtime lover of cutting-edge club music and fashion that's recently propelled onto the local scene as a party-starting DJ making dancefloors bounce and vibe to seductive mixes of hip-hop, R&B, pop, and progressive club selections.…
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…
