This fall, Cults will release their first new record in four years, Offering. "I Took Your Picture" is the second single shared from the forthcoming LP, after the title track. The band says they were inspired by the Motels and the Cars for the track. “It’s a song about fleeting moments and how we l…
During hour six of KEXP's live broadcast from Upstream Fest + Summit, The Maldives brought their harmonic alt-country to our performance space at Little London Plane in Pioneer Square. The Maldives played five tracks from their latest record, Mad Lives, a concept album about a man's life and death …
It's Cinco De Mayo today, or as we've coined it “Gringo de Mayo.” (Read our history lesson on the KEXP Blog here.) In addition to DJ Cheryl Waters' on-air celebration on The Midday Show on KEXP, we're spotlighting some of favorite bands from Mexico with a round-up below. You can always discover mor…
Brooklyn band The So So Glos lead this week's new release with their fifth full length. KEXP Music Director Don Yates says the LP, "finds them bringing a bit more diverse and hook-filled sound to their anthemic garage-punk, with often-politically charged lyrics contrasting anxiety, political extrem…
This past week, L.A. rapper Kendrick Lamar unleashed his latest, untitled unmastered, seemingly out of nowhere. The album consists of eight previously unreleased outtakes from his To Pimp A Butterfly recording sessions, which KEXP Music Director Don Yates notes "holds together remarkably well, comb…
Formerly known under the alias Spazzkid, Mark Redito is a Los Angeles-based electronic artist creating an energetic and emotional sound that finds a perfect middle-ground between pop perfection and club bangers. Recent releases on Cascine, Magical Properties, and IHC 1NFINITY have displayed his evo…
It's hard to lament The Strokes hiatus when their guitarist Albert Hammond, Jr. keeps putting out such great solo releases. On his third full-length, Momentary Masters, he delves into an unintentional new wave inspiration ("I don't really know how to put it into categories," he tells DJ Troy Nelson…
All this year, KEXP has been hosting a series of unique fun events to raise money for our New Home campaign! Back in October, we hosted a two day showcase in Portland, one at Holocene and the other at Doug Fir. While there, we were fortunate to work with Louie Herr and Aaron Colter of Banana Stand …
There's been heavy speculation that LCD Soundsystem would be reuniting this year for Cochella. Well, frontman James Murphy has confirmed the reunion, and a new album, in a statement on the band's website. Murphy writes, "we’re not just playing Coachella. we’re playing all over. we’re not just havi…
Indie rockers Ra Ra Riot will release their fourth studio album Need Your Light on February 19. Today, the band has shared the video for the album track "Water," which was directed by Vampire Weekend's Rostam Batmanglij. They have an extensive promotional tour planned for early next year, and on M…
Brooklyn-based popsters The Pains of Being Pure at Heart announce a new EP today, Hell, out November 13th via their own cleverly-named label, Painbow. Today, they share a track from that, a cover of the 1993 single "Laid" from Manchester band James, which you've surely heard on The Morning Show on…
It's been a few years since we've heard from Denver band DeVotchKa, and in that time they've been doing the usual - you know, gardening, making babies, growing beards, writing ballets - just not releasing new material... at least not yet. Between occasional shows and a handful of concerts with the …
Longtime KEXP faves Low return with their 11th album, Ones and Sixes, on September 11th via Sub Pop. The latest from the pride of Duluth, MN was co-produced by the band themselves along with engineer BJ Burton at Justin Vernon’s April Base Studios in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. Stream the full-length b…
Brittany Howard, the powerhouse frontwoman of Alabama Shakes, has released a new album under the moniker Thunderbitch. The group, which has been around since 2012, includes members from the bands Clear Plastic Marks and Fly Golden Eagle. The album is a 10-track offering and is available to stream …
The main reason I pulled this album out is because Richard Lloyd! Television! Not only did I recently see his legendary old band, sadly without him, but it turns out that the man himself is embarking on a very rare solo tour which will bring him to our own beloved Columbia City Theater this Septemb…
Portland-via-New Zealand band Unknown Mortal Orchestra stopped by Late Night With Seth Meyers last night. From atop a white piano, frontman Ruban Nielson delivered a soulful rendition of the title track from their latest release Multi-Love below, out now on Jagjaguwar. Watch their performance belo…
Canada had their day. Of course, America did. And now France celebrates their independence on Bastille Day, or "La Fête Nationale" as they call it. It was on this day in 1789 that the Parisian prison The Bastille was stormed, culminating in the French Revolution. France, and Paris in particular, ha…
Fireworks, indeed! The Dead Weather - the supergroup of Alison Mosshart, Jack White, Dean Fertita and Jack Lawrence - have announced their third album, Dodge & Burn, will be out in September via White's Third Man Records. A press release claims the band will not be touring in support of the al…
Synthpop pioneers New Order return this fall with their first new album in a decade, appropriately titled Music Complete. Founding member Peter Hook does not appear on the release, but Gillian Gilbert, another original member, returns to the fold for the first time since 2001’s Get Ready. The band…
Joe Jackson has never been an easy artist to pin down. His first album's lean, edgy, punk-leaning pop sound has aged incredibly well and influenced a thousand bands (without Look Sharp!, I maintain, there is no Spoon), but over the 35-plus years since then he has constantly played with different fo…
