Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. Today’s song, featured on the Midday …
There's a new pop-savvy sheriff in Sub Pop town, and he goes by the name of Cullen Omori, and instead of having to wield a Smith Western to corral a crowd's attention, all he has to do is coo his name. Omori quickly became a wunderkind as one of the instrumental brains of the Chicagoan outfit Smith…
Where does a young band go after making a name for themselves with a gorgeous album like Dye It Blonde, of Nuggets-mining jangly psych pop? They dig deeper. At least, that's what Smith Westerns did on their followup, Soft Will, as they dig deeper both into the history of rock and their own songwrit…
Midday Show host Cheryl Waters presents the latest Music That Matters podcast featuring a mix of new songs from Mono Town, Pixies, Summer Aviation and more! 1. Grizzly Bear - Listen and Wait 2. The Besnard Lakes - People of the Sticks 3. Holograms - Meditations 4. Mono Town - Jackie O 5. Ásgeir -…
While Cullen Omori pursues a solo career with Sub Pop Records, two of his former bandmates in Smith Westerns have formed the group Whitney. KEXP Music Director Don Yates calls the Chicago band's debut "an excellent set of '70s-influenced folk-pop featuring a consistently strong set of beautifully a…
Bobbing for hits. Though Death Cab For Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard was making light of the his band's songwriting process during his interview with KEXP's Stevie Zoom, the fact is, with all the songs he's written over nearly the past decade, he'd accumulated enough songs he's grown fond of but never…
Topping this week's list of new releases is the third album by Chicago band Smith Westerns. While the band's 2011 release, Dye It Blonde, drew tons of comparisons (and a tiny bit of flak) for its fuzzy glam nods to Nuggets-era gems, their new release finds the band aiming for what our Music Directo…
