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Friday, Apr 4 2014, 2PM
"Poised, tender, and silvery, Poliça’s refreshing blend of indie rock and R&B is both laid-back and urgent, and it’s this dichotomy that drives their slinky and fluid tunes." Read more, plus enjoy videos from their visit to our studios, right here: blog.kexp.org
Life here at KEXP is never boring, as you can see from a previous visit by the English Beat; they autographed not only some records, but also wee mirrors for our bathrooms! www.flickr.com
Dave Portner, also known as Avey Tare of Animal Collective, is currently on tour with his new project, Slasher Flicks. For tour dates, check out the website: entertheslasherhouse.com For Animal Collective fun, enjoy our feature and a free downloadable track from our Song of the Day, "What Would I want? Sky": blog.kexp.org
Tentatively entitled, "Lust for Life," a biopic featuring the friendship of David Bowie and Iggy Pop is currently in the works. To be directed by Gabriel Range, the film's screenplay will be written by Robin French, based partly on Paul Trynka's books "Starman" and "Open Up and Bleed," biographies of Bowie and Pop respectively. www.theguardian.com
Formerly of Helium and Wild Flag, Ex-Hex is a new project from Mary Timony and performed to great reception at SXSW earlier this year. They're hitting a few dates in the US; check out their website for more information: www.exhexband.com/
PV's bass player Alexander Jesson on stage fright: "I used to not be able to look at the crowd. I used to put my back to the crowd, put my microphone in front of me. I don't know what happened, it was a sudden thing. I really don't know when, but I decided to turn around and I kind of enjoyed that. Of course, I get nervous before I get on, but as soon as I'm there, I'm doing my thing, there's nothing that will stop me. There's so much emotion that drives through these songs—they mean a lot to me. They really help me. It's often a very special feeling. Before the show, I'm quite apprehensive like anyone would be, but as soon as I start playing the song, I feel great. All the nerves go. I've got a secret, actually. I've got really bad eyesight, so I can't really see anyone in the audience." For more: www.interviewmagazine.com See him defeat his stage fright in some great performances we shot from last year's SXSW: hhttp://blog.kexp.org/2013/04/
The German post-hardcore group formed in Weilheim, Germany in 1989. A few years ago, they came to Seattle's plush Triple Door, performing a private show for our Amplifier Club members: http://blog.kexp.org/2009/01/07/kexp-video-of-the-week-the-notwist/ To find out to receive invitations to our exclusive member-only shows, click here: www.kexp.org/donate
"Their name spoofs the The Shangri-Las, their songs check the sounds of the 60′s, from British Invasion to West Coast country rock -- the record store rats of Allah-Las have long been interested in contextualizing the history of rock with the music of today, both with their on-going, lost classics-unearthing radio show, Reverberation (now offered online), and by writing their own songs together for the past several years." Read on, and check out a delectable in-studio performance by the band here at KEXP: blog.kexp.org
Born in Duncan, BC, Vernor Winfield McBriare Smith IV aka Mac DeMarco previously recorded under the pseudonym, Makeout Videotape. His album, "Salad Days," was recently reviewed on our blog: blog.kexp.org
While today is the anniversary of Kurt Cobain's death, here is a feature we published on his birthday, highlighting bands on whom Nirvana left an indelible mark. Enjoy some remarkable covers here: blog.kexp.org
Devo's Bob Casale sadly passed away in mid-February from health complications leading to heart failure. Read our tribute to learn more about this great musician, and a huge musical influence on Kurt Cobain: blog.kexp.org
No one is immune to anxiety and tension nightmares, much less Freddie Mercury, who once told The Guardian, "Quite often I have quite vicious nightmares – like the other night just before the Rainbow concert. We were sleeping in the Holiday Inn and I dreamed I went out on to the hotel balcony and the whole thing fell and I was a heap on the pavement. Really I was petrified when I woke up in the morning. And Roger has this nightmare where he's drinking a bottle of Coke and the bottle smashes and he has broken glass all the way down his system. Ridiculous sort of things like that are caused by the tension which builds up." www.theguardian.com
For an adrenalized version of musical multi-tasking, check out Iska Dhaaf's recent visit to our studios, where Benjamin Verdoes (Mt. St. Helens Vietnam Band) certain made more than a few jaws drop during their session: blog.kexp.org
The controversy surrounding Nirvana's potential usage of a Killing Joke song for "Come As You Are", plus an interesting twist of fate, is explored in this Rolling Stone article: www.rollingstone.com
Come find a fun Review Revue of Daniel Johnston's "Yip Jump Music" here: blog.kexp.org
Kurt Cobain was not the only musician heavily inspired and influenced by the Sex Pistols. Before forming Joy Division, members saved up money, attended a show, "and came away convinced that if that bunch of drugged-out, untrained musicians like the Sex Pistols could be a band, then so could they." Read more in our Saturday Afternoon Artist feature on Joy Division: blog.kexp.org
This album by local band, Special Explosion, was produced by Seattle producer Steve Fisk (Nirvana, the Screaming Trees, Soundgarden), and will be having a CD release party at the Vera Project on Friday, April 18th at 7:30pm. For more information, check out their website: specialexplosion.com
By request! "There are few bands in the annals of rock music as star-crossed in their history as Badfinger. Pegged as one of the most promising British groups of the late '60s and the one world-class talent ever signed to the Beatles' Apple Records label that remained with the label, Badfinger enjoyed the kind of success in England and America that most other bands could only envy. Yet a string of memorable hit singles -- 'Come and Get It,' 'No Matter What,' 'Day After Day,' and 'Baby Blue' -- saw almost no reward from that success. Instead, four years of hit singles and international tours precipitated the suicides of its two creative members and legal proceedings that left lawyers as the only ones enriched by the group's work." www.allmusic.com/artist/badfinger-mn0000064303/biography
Kurt Cobain: "We'd been practicing for about three months. We were waiting to sign to DGC, and Dave [Grohl] and I were living in Olympia [Wash.], and Krist [Novoselic] was living in Tacoma [Wash.]. We were driving up to Tacoma every night for practice, trying to write songs. I was trying to write the ultimate pop song. I was basically trying to rip off the Pixies. I have to admit it [smiles]. When I heard the Pixies for the first time, I connected with that band so heavily I should have been in that band – or at least in a Pixies cover band. We used their sense of dynamics, being soft and quiet and then loud and hard." For much, more more, click here: www.rollingstone.com/music/news/kurt-cobain-the-rolling-stone-interview-19940127
Atlanta's Black Lips are currently on the road, and recently stopped by to play a great session in our studios. If you missed it, or simply want a revisit, click here: kexp.org For more tour dates: black-lips.com
Check out our live video feature from Ty Segall's Bunny Glade performance at Pickathon 2013: blog.kexp.org
In his autobiography, "Waging Heavy Peace," Young revealed that when Cobain included in his final note to family, friends, and fans Young's lyrics, "It's better to fade out than burn away," "It struck a deep chord inside of me. It fucked with me... I, coincidentally, had been trying to reach him. I wanted to talk to him. Tell him only to play when he felt like it.'" www.nme.com/news/neil-young/66348
While working on the Nevermind's mixes with Cobain, producer Butch Vig said of the process, "I'd be balancing the drums and the guitars and Kurt would come and say, 'Turn all the treble off. I want it to sound more like Black Sabbath.' It was kind of a pain in the ass." www.rollingstone.com/music/news/inside-the-20th-anniversary-reissue-of-nevermind-20110823
Enjoy this Song of the Day feature by the Hold Steadys! blog.kexp.org
