Under a blue light on the Music Lounge stage, the New Zealand-born (and, now, New York native) Tamaryn sang a collection of pulsingly-mellow tunes for the Bumbershoot audience. The songs were an interesting mix, with the rhythms almost over-powering the singer’s ghostly, etherial vocals. In this wa…
Easily one of the most popular bands to perform during our broadcast from the Bumbershoot Music Lounge, The Joy Formidable have blown up since the first time they played for KEXP back in 2010. Their second and most recent album, Wolf's Law, amps up their shoegazery rock sound to epic proportions, y…
“I don’t care what you think,” sings the red-dressed Portland native Sallie Ford. The lyric is definitely in line with the spirit of her newest album, which has as much to do with the idea of freedom, of not being captured in any genre box, as it does with the huge punching sound of Sallie Ford and…
Side by side, Trampled By Turtles took the stage during KEXP's broadcast from the Bumbershoot Music Lounge. One can only imagine the roller coaster ride it’s been from the band’s first days to their recent Bumbershoot performance. “The first year of existence of this band was also the last year of …
Shut eyes, wide mouth, brow furrowed -- lead singer Tim Wilson’s face reads passion. If there was any doubt about his care for the songs he sings with the five-piece band Ivan & Alyosha, just take a moment to look at his visage. The band, one of the most well-coiffed in the business, took the M…
Given the number of groups to perform at the Bumbershoot music festival and to pass through the KEXP halls, you’d think we’d seen everything. Well, it still comes as a surprise to see a band featuring a belly dancer balancing a jug on her bejeweled brunette head while doing the splits. And that is …
"Nine Inch Numan" -- it was a comment left on the KEXP Facebook page, and echoed among the audience from our Bumbershoot Music Lounge session. Who knew synthpop pioneer Gary Numan had taken such a darker, more industrial turn in his later career! Even his 1979 new wave hit "Cars" took on a harder…
Nearly 35 years in music and Bob Mould shows no signs of slowing down! From his early punk roots with Hüsker Dü in the 1980s through his alternative pop years with Sugar in the 1990s, and in the years between and afterwards with his ten solo albums, the veteran songwriter has explored a variety of …
Robert Glasper was exposed to music at a young age. His mother brought him as a boy out to her jazz and blues gigs, and he also learned much about music in church, where he began to sing and mix gospel and jazz harmonies. Since those humble but enriching beginnings, Glasper has built a strong caree…
In 2018, KEXP celebrated the 30th anniversary of local record label Sub Pop with a four-month retrospective, "counting up" every catalog number in their vast discography of over 1,200 releases. Dig into the archives of our catalog coverage, featuring in-depth coverage on the history of their releases.
