Brooklyn band The Pains of Being Pure at Heart have been going through some growing pains, indeed. Between their 2011 album, Belong, and their brand new release, Days of Abandon, the band lost longtime members Peggy Wang and Alex Naidus, and though drummer Kurt Feldman played on the album, he decli…
It's only appropriate that his debut album is titled Tremors, because this beautiful, intimate session from SOHN had us all aquiver. Born in South London as Christopher Taylor, he had an early interest in music, but it was the groundbreaking Radiohead release OK Computer that led him into electroni…
Vancouver/Toronto-based band Gold & Youth continue in the Canadian tradition of bands like Stars and Broken Social Scene, combining boy/girl vocals over danceable pop beats. Released on the iconic Arts & Crafts label last year, their debut full-length Beyond Wilderness captures '80s-style s…
Katie Kate stormed Hilliard's Beer Taproom with a performance so stunning, even the children attending were floored. Alongside a live drummer and beat-maker, Katie Kate showed everyone in the audience what she was truly made of. Even if hard beats and surprising rhyme aren't your cup of tea, there…
Ain't no lie: Los Angeles trio Liars wove a captivating web over us with their dark, atmospheric in-studio session. Entwined in a colorful skein of yarn, inspired by the cover for their latest release Mess, the long-running electro-punk band strung listeners along with their dark dance pop. The col…
It's difficult to imagine Iska Dhaaf as only a two-piece, even when they're right in front of you. The sound of their full-bodied post-punk is supported by Benjamin Verdoes' (Mt. St. Helen's Vietnam Band) unique ability to simultaneously play the keyboard and drums. It takes a talented musician to …
Set against the illuminated backdrop of the many pallets of Chrome Satan at the Hilliard's Beer Taproom, The Faint, during their performance, looked like dance-punk dictators, rulers of some Mad Max dystopia in which beer's more valuable than gold. In case you missed it, or in case you just wanted …
Leeds band Eagulls know how to incorporate punk fuzz and poppy hooks into a hard-hitting blend of speedy percussion, chainsaw reverb, and, well, demonic possession. Notorious for their thoughts on the so-called 'beach-bands' out right now, Eagulls aren't looking to make any long-time friends with a…
Between his bluegrass voice, genuine love for performance, and one-man-band resilience, there's just something so authentic about Scott H. Biram. If that weren't enough, in 2004, Biram was involved in a near-fatal car crash, requiring him to have his bones re-connected with metal rods and even nec…
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.
