Dan Boeckner may have followed his own advice to “start again”, but even with a new moniker, a new band, and a self-released debut EP released four days after its announcement, there seems to be nothing preventing Boeckner from shining through the darkness, no matter how often he disappears back in…
It started as part-joke, part-challenge. The Austin-based band Brownout were exploring different themes during an extended club residency, and one night they chose to cover Black Sabbath, as many of their members of the grew up listening to the godfathers of darkness. Almost immediately, the 8-piec…
Like their oddly elastic new album title, Nabuma Rubberband, Little Dragon continues to stretch the limits of electronic music with their eclectic influences. This time, the Swedish group trades the pumping beats of their earlier LPs for glimmering Janet Jackson-inspired slow jams. But even their m…
"Bigger, better, faster, stronger" – that's what we said of Voices, this year's release by Phantogram. The Saratoga Springs, NY duo certainly upped the ante with their anticipated second album, making the nearly five years between well worth the wait. As always, Josh Carter's dark dance hooks and S…
For creators and fans alike, music has always provided catharsis, relief and healing. But Few artists tap so directly into that power as Tim Showalter, whose project Strand of Oaks goes so far as to name its most recent album Heal. Like pages from a diary, the Philly-based songwriter's lyrics delve…
Earlier this month, KEXP returned to the magical space of the Bunny Glade during Pickathon 2014 to capture intimate acoustic sessions in this wooded oasis. Each of the 17 exclusive performances were special, but we couldn't have asked for a better way to end our final day than with the charming sla…
Shabazz Palaces sound like no one else. Whether you call it "sci-fi", "way-out", "weirdo" or even "planetarium" rap, the Seattle duo's music might as well be in outer space considering how far off they sound from their contemporaries. But it's not like they don't want anyone else to follow. In its …
Despite the miles between songwriters Ivan Howard and Kelly Crisp, The Rosebuds continue to bloom on their sixth full-length album, Sand + Silence. Crisp currently resides in New York as Howard continues to live in North Carolina, but the two met up in the woods of Wisconsin to record with their fr…
Decked out in polychromatic tees, unabashedly hip San Francisco band Painted Palms lit up KEXP with a vibrant live set back in July. The band, brainchild of Louisiana-born cousins Christopher Prudhomme and Reese Donohue, released their new album, Forever, on Polyvinyl Records earlier this year. The…
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.
