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 songwriting talents. More than a sum of their influences, the Chicago band still finds inspiration in power pop and glam rock but prove themselves adept at creating their own hooky melodies full of ringing guitar riffs, wistful melodies and often-dark lyrics. During their recent in-studio session at KEXP, DJ Cheryl Waters herself proclaimed Soft Will to be "one of the best albums out this year." Watch their entire KEXP performance here:
Full performance:
During our CMJ broadcast last month, KEXP was excited to host a performance from New York's own HAERTS, a band clearly on the brink of something big. With just a couple of singles and one EP to their charmingly-misspelled name, we felt fortunate to share some of their unreleased tracks with the wor…
The history of the band Islands is so rich that it's almost hard to find where to start. Founded in Montreal in 2005, the band relocated to New York and then eventually moved the long distance to Los Angeles, where frontman Nick Thorburn decided to live after a difficult romantic breakup. In 2006, …
