There's nothing pretty about Girl Band. In fact, the Dublin-based four-piece play some of the most abrasive pop songs you're likely to hear. But it hadn't always been that way. Singer Dara Kiely and guitarist Alan Duggan had played together in more conventionally "indie" type bands before hitting upon, quite literally, their aggressive sound. With bassist Daniel Fox and drummer Adam Faulkner, the all-male group heaps loads of distortion over a driving beats, sounding at times like chainsaws attacking a DJ rig, with Kiely's deadpanning Mark E. Smith-style voice barely audible above it all... until he screams. On an early Saturday afternoon at Kex Hostel in Reykjavik during Iceland Airwaves, a full house yelled back. Perhaps even louder than their own sound, Girl Band was one of the most buzzed about acts at the festival, and during this session for KEXP’s broadcast, they proved that without even an official release to their name, they could rise above the din.
When Sólstafir plays for KEXP, the gods take notice. Two years ago, during KEXP's broadcast at Iceland Airwaves, hurricane-level gales swept across Reykjavik as the hard rocking band brewed up their own storm inside Kex Hostel. Last month, on their first tour of the West Coast, heavy winds followed…
Mirel Wagner has an uncanny ability to conjure haunting atmospheres with little more than an acoustic guitar and her chilling, sparse vocals, but what's even more striking is the narratives she chooses to craft with those talents. Mortality, family, and love are just some of the themes that colored…
The swagger that often accompanies natural talent was on full display as Seattle’s Shaprece dropped by KEXP to showcase a handful of heartfelt tunes from her new Molting EP. Juxtaposed between the electronic and the organic, Shaprece’s silky, soulful vocals paint alluring visuals over a minimal but…
It's mind-boggling how a place so small can create so much terrific music. This year, as I was compiling my list of top Icelandic releases, I couldn't help but wonder if I'd find as many great albums as last year and the year before. Would I find ten? Twenty? Actually, as it turns out, a lot more! …
