Celebrating their fourth LP, A Man Alive, Thao and the Get Down Stay Down stopped by KEXP to throw a little pre-release party. Though the new songs are energetic and completely accessible, as Thao explains to the Midday Show's Cheryl Waters, recording A Man Alive was an incredibly personal, at times difficult, and ultimately cathartic experience as she grappled with the prolonged impact of having a father that wasn't a part of her life. Deeply personal isn't new territory for frontwoman Thao Nguyen - their 2013 release, We the Common, was written in response to Thao's time working with incarcerated women in California. This time, her decision to turn the lens towards her own life yielded incredible results - the album perfectly straddles the line between being quick-listening radio friendly and emotionally rewarding upon closer review. The deep lyrics lay perfectly atop folk-rock instrumentation, and as Thao correctly points out, their live show has been refined and honed after ample touring, to the point that when her headphones fall off during the first song she doesn't miss a single beat or sing an off note. Get close and personal with Thao and the Get Down Stay Down by watching their live set now:
A review of Fauna Shade's single "Marzipan" described their sound as "Floydian... zapping electronic wiggles." This simultaneously whimsical yet vague description fits the band perfectly: their sound bounces through all the psychedelic subgenres, with droning stoner fuzz meeting some of Tame Impala…
Now in its fifth year, the Treefort Music Fest brings its biggest line-up yet to Boise, Idaho. Over the next five days, over 400 bands will take the stage across multiple venues in downtown Boise, including Built to Spill, Charles Bradley & His Extraordinaires, Youth Lagoon, Thundercat, Thee Oh…
Minneapolis' ubiquitous underground hip hop figure P.O.S has a long list of credentials: guitarist for Building Better Bombs, vocalist and keyboard player for Marijuana Deathsquads, member of well-populated supergroup Gayngs, and a founding member of the Doomtree collective. All of these were runni…
Portland synth pop legends STRFKR are no strangers to KEXP, but they came through the studio once again after returning stateside from a quick jaunt over to Japan and played a quick set that included cuts spanning their whole career. Their sound has often been difficult to define: at times straight…
