3,039Shows
136,967Spins
Friday, Aug 5 2016, 2PM
Slated to play the Showbox Market on Thursday, December 8th, 2016; full ticket information here: www.showboxpresents.com/events/detail/312942 One important life lesson London-born Kiwanuka learned as a teenager: "I remember there was someone on the bus. I was holding my acoustic guitar in a big case, and he comes up to me, I didn't know him, this 18-year-old black guy, to help me get it on board. He said: 'That's a guitar.' I said yeah… He said: 'Isn't that something white kids do?' That happened! I felt I needed someone to say: 'You're allowed to do this.'" http://bit.ly/2aZP975
Featuring vocals by Beth Orton. Chemical Brother Tom Rowlands on the transcendent power of creation and creating: "If you can sit in front of a computer in the studio and feel totally transported by the sound you're making, then that's the most fun there is to be had making music. Sometimes when we're onstage, playing a track like [1997 single] The Private Psychedelic Reel and it's really loud, you just don't feel that you're anything to do with this piece of music. It's just happening and you're holding onto the sound desk, going, 'Fucking hell!' It sounds like there's a plane going over your head. I don't feel, 'Wow, I've created this thing - I'm in an incredible position of power.' I'm just experiencing what the person in the audience who hasn't made the music is experiencing. It's all about giving me dem feelings." bit.ly
Born in Brandon, Manitoba in 1983, raised in Rapid City, North Dakota, and now based in St. Paul, Minnesota, her mesmerizing "Candy Machine Gun" is an archived Song of the Day; enjoy it here: blog.kexp.org
Set to play Barboza on Thursday, September 8th with Chris Pureka opening; ticket info here: thebarboza.com According to their press, "early on in the writing process of this record, band leaders Tim Perry and Rob Oberdorfer traveled to Central America, visiting indigenous ruins, partly engulfed by the surrounding forests – a tangible reminder of the impermanence of human civilization and the resilience of nature. In the meantime, their hometown of Portland, Oregon was being engulfed by something entirely different. Like so many other cities around the country, rapid growth and development were changing both landscape and culture."
The cover for this album was created by Gary Burden, while the album itself was nominated for the 2008 Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album, though it ultimately lost to Radiohead's In Rainbows. "Writing began in Colorado, while recording was done in Manhattan. According to producer Joe Chiccarelli, the demos he was sent, which were 'very groove-oriented with hints of old-fashioned R&B', suggested a more urban record than previous albums, and as such he recommended the band record in an urban environment that had some 'life and vitality'. After looking into various options including Vancouver and San Francisco, the band eventually decided to record in New York. Singer and lead songwriter Jim James said that the band wanted to get away from 'normal rock and roll sounds' and emulate more of the band's live sound. Many of the songs were previewed at the 2008 South by Southwest music festival." bit.ly And... a featured Song of the Day for you: bit.ly
Sub Pop artist Craft was raised in a wee Louisiana town on the banks of the Mississippi, "where he spent most of his time catching alligators and rattlesnakes instead of playing football or picking up the guitar." Though bands never ventured through his town, and his family weren't particularly musical, "it was only a chance trip to K-Mart that gave him his first album, a David Bowie hits compilation that helped inspire him eventually to channel his innate feral energy into songwriting and rock and roll." bit.ly Craft came by with his motley band of talented musicians and played a fantastic set; check it out here: blog.kexp.org
"Sonic Youth was a bond that existed between four of us. I have a tattoo that says ‘SONIC LIFE’ and it’s something that defines me forever. For me, it goes on and won’t end. I write songs now and people say “It sounds kinda like Sonic Youth” - well, that’s my vocabulary, you know. What you’re not hearing is Lee and Kim because they’re not playing the music with me, so it’s a different situation. With the new music, there will never be a democracy like Sonic Youth. I certainly allow musicians that I work with to do what they do, but I do make the final decision on how things are going to sound. Sonic Youth was not that way - it was 8 hands. The band will be forever with me; the fact that we’re not playing at the moment comes down to what happened in our personal lives." Moore played a stunning set with his new band, with SY bandmate Steve Shelley on drums, Debbie Googe of My Bloody Valentine on bass, and James Edwards on guitars, at our Old Home; check it out: bit.ly
The ninth studio album by this prolific Hoboken, New Jersey band, released by Matador in 2000; "The title of the album is likely derived from a Sun Ra quote: '... At first there was nothing... then nothing turned itself inside-out and became something.' The album artwork is made up of photographs by surrealist photographer and Yale professor Gregory Crewdson." Here's footage from their sensational 2013 performance at our Old Home; take a trip in our time machine and relive the magic here: blog.kexp.org
Arguably one of the most popular Dutch bands in the '90s, "Urban Dance Squad first got together in 1986, at a jam session in De Vrije Vloer, a club in Utrecht, a jam which resulted in the first Dutch rock band with a rapper (they borrowed the name from Parliament-Funkadelic's Urban Dancefloor Guerillas); a song, 'Struggle for Jive'; and the blending of white and black music in the Netherlands, at the same time that Fishbone, Living Colour, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers were doing the same in the United States. The band recorded its first album, Mental Floss for the Globe, in Brussels in 1989 (produced by Jean-Marie Aerts, of TC Matic), and came to instant success. It won an Edison Award, and the single 'Deeper Shade of Soul' was a hit in Europe and even in the United States, where it charted at number 21 in the United States on Billboard Hot 100." bit.ly
Unfortunately no tour dates slated yet for Seattle, but if you're lucky enough to be in L.A. for the latter part of August, here you go: bloodorange.nyc Born in London, England as David Joseph Michael Hynes on December 23rd, 1985, he's also known as Devonté "Dev" Hynes, Blood Orange, and formerly Lightspeed Champion, and is a British singer, songwriter, composer, producer and author. "From 2004 to 2006, Hynes was a member of the band Test Icicles, playing guitar, synth, and occasionally performing vocals. They released only one full-length album in 2005. Hynes went on to release two solo studio albums as Lightspeed Champion and subsequently three more as Blood Orange, between 2008 and 2016. He has written for artists such as Tinashe, Solange Knowles, Sky Ferreira, FKA twigs, Florence and the Machine, Carly Rae Jepsen, Diana Vickers, The Chemical Brothers and Kylie Minogue." bit.ly
Always reliable for fruity, sweetly melancholic pop, Stockholm's gentle-mannered Shout Out Louds stopped by our studio the day before their performance at Sasquatch 2013; watch their set here, where keyboardist/vocalist Bebban Stenborg took to the comforts of the floor: blog.kexp.org Bonus treat! A free Song of the Day for you! blog.kexp.org
Seattle's own Brit Hansen with her sophomore release under the Hanssen monkier; read more on Hansen and enjoy this track over and over right here: blog.kexp.org Explore more from this Hush Hush artist: soundcloud.com
One of the best things about Holy Fuck is their sublimely glorious music, which you can enjoy from a recent in-studio the band performed right here in our new Live Room: blog.kexp.org One of the worst is hoping none of our DJs accidentally say their full band name live on air.
For the release of this album, Ugly Duckling developed a fictitious fast food chain called "'Meatshake', that served only meat-based food served in shake form. A web site featuring the restaurant chain was also developed as part of the album's marketing campaign. As a concept album, it was about working at a fast-food chain and its inter-business war with Veggie Hut, an all-vegetarian fast-food stand. When it was operational, Meatshake's Web site appeared to be a fully functional site promoting a small Long Beach-area-based fast food restaurant, whose corporate mission was meat—and lots of it, served in the form of milkshakes. The site also had a list of restaurants (the addresses of which were area McDonald's restaurants), employees of the month, and storefront pictures (one of which appeared to be an In-N-Out Burger). The site is no longer maintained." bit.ly
It started with a joke on their Kickstarter while raising funds for "Run The Jewels II," but soon enough people were pleading with the band to produce a version composed entirely of cat sounds that they complied, with the condition that all monies raised with "Meow the Jewels" ~ which ended up being $40k in total ~ would be given to the families of Eric Garner and Michael Brown, Jr.: www.kickstarter.com/projects/1957344648/meow-the-jewels To hear all about it, and watch some truly demented video, check this out: www.dinnerpartydownload.org/run-the-jewels/
"Growing up in Chicago has greatly impacted the way I approach my art. I grew up singing in the children’s choir at my grandma’s church, and later sang in the Chicago Children’s Choir in high school. My first memories of performing music are with choirs and for a long time I didn’t believe my own voice was strong enough or interesting enough to be heard on its own. It was through writing poetry and participating in youth open mic spaces like Gallery 37 and “Louder Than A Bomb,” that I realized I had something to say and that my voice was something worth hearing. Coming up in Chicago taught me how important an element of community is in making my art. A lot of my music plays with layering my voice in different ways to achieve a choral effect. I also sample a lot with my voice as a way of shouting out my influences and mapping where I come from." bit.ly
L.A.'s Puro Instinct have their self-titled 2010 album available for digital download for the sweet price of $1000 or more! If you're feeling supportive, or just curious, head right this way: www.rachidtahaofficial.com
Enjoy a retrospective of artist/composer/producer Santigold's work from our vaults: http://blog.kexp.org/2011/07/02/saturday-afternoon-artist-santigold/ And... because SUMMER: www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA8z7f7a2Pk
Based in France, and born on September 18, 1958 in Sig, Algeria, Rachid Taha is celebrated both as a singer and activist. www.rachidtahaofficial.com/
Check out a live review and photos from this legendary trio's recent show at Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo: blog.kexp.org
Formed in 1998 in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, Kevin Robinson and Anita Robinson recorded the album "Hooray for Now" that same year, relocated to Nashville, then Portland, and went on to release five more albums until their divorce in 2013.
"I’ve always lived in Vancouver, so it’s very eye opening to go to London, England — these big, big cities where you’re nobody. I guess a lot of it is going around the world and trying to understand the vastness of space and time and feeling very small. We went to the Grand Canyon a couple times and if you ever wanted to feel insignificant, go to the Grand Canyon. It’s amazing. It’s literally awesome." www.vancitybuzz.com/2016/04/interview-jay-arner-gets-glam-continues-look-ahead-sophomore-album/
Formed in Northampton, England, in 2008 by Andy Crofts, formerly of The On Offs. Crofts was in our studio just last year, performing with Paul Weller; watch video from that stellar performance here: blog.kexp.org
San Francisco's Moon Duo played a "special psychedelic blend of astronomically awesome audio that is bound to elevate your mind into an altered consciousness" just last year here at our studio; watch and allow yourself to be transported: blog.kexp.org
"Even when [Paul Westerberg] changed his own scene and quit being the rock ‘n’ roll mad man and started making records in his basement and hanging out with his little son, he still had to make records. I think I would do that too if I had to stop touring, which I don’t want to do. I probably will tour until I’m 70 years old, as long as they can prop me up there." ~ Scott McCaughey www.popmatters.com/feature/minus-five-060419/
Visqueen feature beautifully in our rundown of Seattle Women Who Rock video collection; relish the magic here: blog.kexp.org More fun for you: an exclusive interview with Rachel Flotard: blog.kexp.org
J Mascis on his father being a dentist: "You know how they say, 'The cobbler's son has no shoes'? It's kind of like that scenario. Dad didn't really want to ever see anybody in the family. Like, my mom would make appointments under fake names. So you're in a weird position. You can't go to another dentist, but your dad doesn't really want to deal with it." bit.ly Watch Dinosaur Jr. play MFNW 2012 in exclusive video: blog.kexp.org
Not the same album. but definitely an intriguing read on the Tacoma band's "Despised" release, a Levi Fuller Review Revue: blog.kexp.org
From Columbus, Ohio, Connections has loads to explore on their Bandcamp: connectionsband.bandcamp.com
"You go out with friends and they’re all looking at their iPhones and their iPads. That’s the thing, you see—human interaction has been seriously damaged. Not to mention human attention span. When I started doing lectures in the 80s, you could generally do 20 minutes before you broke the lecture up with visuals or music. Now they won’t last four minutes. [Laughs] So I don’t know that it’s improved our quality of life. I just see people looking like zombies walking down the street, actually. But we’re so far down this path that it doesn’t matter what I say. I just don’t want to be part of it myself... I’m using a cell phone today, but generally I don’t touch them. I don’t dig typewriters or computers or whatever you fucking call them. I don’t think they’ve improved our lives. I think they’ve made our lives worse, frankly. I don’t see any benefits at all. Some people actually stopped communicating with me, but I don’t care." ~ Jaz Coleman bit.ly
Performing at The Moore on Tuesday, October 4th! Born in Manchester on June 17th, 1991 to a Russian actress and English documentary filmmaker, Shura is best known to her familiars as Alexandra Lilah Denton. While in her early teen years, she was so proficient at soccer/football she played on the Manchester City team, and while studying English Literature at University College London, she formed a band with guitarist Patrick Duncombe and collaborated with producer Hiatus. At the end of 2014, she was a nominated act on the longlist for the BBC music poll, Sound of 2015. bit.ly
Revel in Michele Myers' Friday Nite Spotlight on Fatboy Slim's Greatest Hits: Why Try Harder?: blog.kexp.org
"We've become the band we objected to being. We set up the band to be this kind of fey, effeminate art-band that was reacting to hyper-masculine aggressive rock gestures and in a way we've kind of become it... We began to make music with the freedom and the lightness of teenagers again and the guitar and the distortion pedal once more became this weapon against adulthood. Being in a band is a fuck you to adulthood. It's a real denial of age and responsibility." ~ Hayden Thorpe ind.pn
Seattle's own Beat Connection is made up of members Reed Juenger, Tom Eddy, Jarred Katz, and Mark Hunter. Watch them perform in our starry old Live Room just last year: blog.kexp.org
Blood on the best parts of making a record: "There are moments when a song reveals itself in a really strong way and they’re always really special. And others when I find out that I’ve been looking at a song in the wrong way the entire time I’m making it. Little eurekas, really. When the song’s done, that’s my favorite moment. And then two or three months later when I can listen to it with new, or any, perspective. My mind erases the specifics once they’re done. The only things coming to mind right now are from recent works that no one’s heard yet. Won’t make much sense but I’ll just say when I figured out that a piece I was troubled with forever was supposed to be backwards, everything fell into place." bit.ly Watch Blood perform a gorgeous set in our studio: bit.ly
Born in Hamilton, Ontario in 1985, Jessy Lanza is an electronic songwriter, singer, and producer, and was listed as one of the best new artists of 2013 by XLR8R. Enjoy this song as often as you like as part of our featured Song of the Day from back in March: blog.kexp.org
Seattle's own "Voxy" recently curated a DJ set for our Midnight in a Perfect World feature; enjoy his playlist here: blog.kexp.org For more pleasure, watch him perform his own glorious music here: blog.kexp.org
Produced by George Martin and released 50 years ago today! "If there's a key ingredient in Revolver's sonic stew, it's a technique the Beatles and George Martin pioneered called Artificial Double Tracking: ADT, for those in the know. It's what you hear on 'Tomorrow Never Knows,' for instance, when Lennon's voice goes all extra-terrestrial. 'Artificial Double Tracking is taking an image of a sound and delaying it slightly, or advancing it slightly, so that it forms double,' George Martin said in the Beatles' Anthology. 'If you think in photographic terms, it's like having two negatives: when you get one negative exactly on top of the other there's just one picture. So if you have one sound image on top of the other exactly, then it becomes only one image. But move it slightly, by a few milliseconds, and around eight or nine milliseconds it gives you a boxy telephone-like quality.' Lennon put it more succinctly: 'Double-flanging', we call it.'" rol.st
A British supergroup composed jawdroppingly of vocalist Rachel Goswell (Slowdive), guitarists Stuart Braithwaite (Mogwai), Justin Lockey (Editors), and film-maker James Lockey of Hand Held Cine Club. Watch this evocative trailer, introducing the band's music: www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yJl1Zwakxw For further swoon, here's a Pitchfork Classic documentary on Slowdive's Souvlaki: www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yJl1Zwakxw
From Melborne, Australia, explore more from this band right here: campcope.bandcamp.com
First up, a featured Song of the Day! http://blog.kexp.org/2016/07/06/song-of-the-day-thee-oh-sees-plastic-plant/ Next up: Nardwuar the Human Serviette vs. Thee Oh Sees: www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLx8sGM4dhc
Helping us kick off Concerts at the Mural 2016 tonight, which is going on RIGHT NOW! Sit back and enjoy as Acapulco Lips, Mommy Long Legs, and The Thermals perform on the outdoor stage with the Space Needle as a magnificent backdrop. Full details here: blog.kexp.org And for your immediate listening pleasure, here's AL's "Awkward Waltz" for your downloadable pleasure: blog.kexp.org
Enjoy "Green Grass," a featured Song of the Day from our vaults, right here: blog.kexp.org
Dig into our extensive archives with a documentary on Tom Waits from our "Poets and Music" series, hosted by DJ/producer Michele Myers: blog.kexp.org
For a very special treat, here are Alejandro Escovedo (Rank and File, True Believers), Chuck Prophet (Green on Red), and guitarist David Pulkingham performing together at the No Depression Festival 2010: blog.kexp.org
New York's Field Mouse will be playing Barboza on Thursday, October 5th! More info, plus music, from their Bandcamp: fieldmouse.bandcamp.com
The band's eight studio album and first in a decade, since The Woods (2005), it was accidentally streamed three weeks early by Sub Pop on December 22nd, 2014.
Featuring Samuel Fryer (vocals, guitar), Chilli Jesson (vocals, bass), Jeffrey Mayhew (keys), and Will Doyle (drums), watch the Palma Violets rip it up sweetly in our old space: blog.kexp.org
Watch as The Black Angels play a slinky set at the Triple Door: http://blog.kexp.org/2013/08/07/live-video-the-black-angels-at-the-triple-door/ Find out how to get invitations to these invite-only concerts by going to www.kexp.org/donate and find out how to become an Amplifier!
"With an eight-string, robust Kay Vintage guitar and silvery crooning, the two displayed their stripped-down prowess, illustrating not only the group’s talented guitarists, but also the great degree of friendship between the band’s members." Watch as this duo perform a charming set at our old studio: blog.kexp.org
