According to Rumi, “The Wound is the place where the Light enters you.” Iranian American band Habibi know this better than most and use their simple, catchy songs that blend garage, psych and surf with the Middle Eastern influences they grew up adoring to spread love, positivity and change. Led by Brooklyn-via-Detroit duo Rahill Jamalifard and Lenny Lynch, activism plays an integral role in the spirit and ethos of the band. Troy Nelson delves into how the Michigan music scene shaped their influe...
Nov 03, 2020•20 min
Seattle-based collective Polyrhythmics specializes in a flavorful blend of progressive funk, psychedelic rock and modern afro-beat. As Troy Nelson explains in this week’s episode of Live on KEXP, it’s music for the "heads.” Their songs take time to unravel, rewarding patient listeners with a lush and intricate experience that defies the current song trends for something more gratifying. When the world is a whirlwind, don’t forget– take the time to let something develop. Listen to Troy Nelson wax...
Oct 27, 2020•28 min
You know that feeling you get when you hear something that's just the right kind of new? Seattle-born, Brooklyn-based Kassa Overall is redefining jazz for a new era, chopping and screwing live improvisations to make his own densely experimental and colorful world. In May, he unveiled his third release in less than two years, 'SHADES OF FLU,' a play on Madlib's iconic 'Shades of Blue' that has been called "a gift for the Corona-weary masses." For Live on KEXP, Troy Nelson explores the influences ...
Oct 20, 2020•29 min
Singer/songwriter Andy Shauf is a master storyteller who adeptly weaves complex stories and tenderly realistic emotions with softly strummed folk rock. Earlier this year, he released his sixth studio album, ’The Neon Skyline,’ via Anti- and received critical acclaim for his skillful songwriting that centered around the concept of one man’s perspective of a particular night in a dive bar. For Live on KEXP, Troy Nelson details Shauf’s upbringing in a tiny town in Saskatchewan, from Radio Shack to ...
Oct 13, 2020•20 min
Chicago poet and R&B songstress Jamila Woods is a budding phenom and self-love champion who radiates radically positive energy. Last year, she released her sophomore full-length, 'LEGACY! LEGACY!' Each of the 13 tracks on the album is named after and inspired by an influential cultural figure who has made an impact on Woods, including people like poet Nikki Giovanni, singer/actor/activist Eartha Kitt, and influential author and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston. This episode of Live on KEXP ...
Oct 06, 2020•22 min
Over the past 14 years, Metronomy has released 6 albums that span such a diverse range of genres and sonic textures that it’s tough to pin down exactly how to categorize them. If you must, then you could call them indietronica (or electro-indie, if you prefer). Created and led by English musician Joseph Mount, the band technically includes Oscar Cash, Anna Prior, Olugbenga Adelekan, and Michael Lovett but in its embryonic stage, it's actually a solo project. Delve into why that’s the case and ho...
Sep 29, 2020•23 min
Philadelphia’s Dr. Dog have spent two decades specializing in bright, jaunty sing-along tunes that have captured the hearts of a large and rabid fanbase. Troy Nelson delves into the history of our favorite riff-rockers, from bassist Toby Leaman and guitarist Scott McMicken’s high school band Raccoon to the lore of Dr. Dog’s first album The Psychedelic Swamp and all the way up to their most recent record, 2018’s Critical Equation. Along the way, Nelson educates us on the merits of analog recordin...
Sep 22, 2020•23 min
Listening to Yīn Yīn , you might expect the band to hail from the country from which their main source of inspiration is derived: Thailand. Instead, the quartet were surprisingly born and bred in the city of Maastricht in the Netherlands. That doesn’t stop them from skillfully employing their twist on 1960s psychedelia from South East Asia, alongside a long list of other inspirations including disco, rock, dub, funk, and western. HAW PIN! This expression of unity is posted everywhere in Maastric...
Sep 15, 2020•29 min
Burien’s biggest musical export Travis Thompson has been building buzz since signing a record deal with major label Epic last year to release his latest album Reckless Endangerment. Filling the KEXP stage with a full band, the young rapper spits his flows gracefully and effortlessly like a seasoned pro. Troy Nelson traces Thompson’s trajectory from spitting rhymes over Lil Wayne beats to open mics to Macklemore to major label signing. For those unfamiliar, Nelson also explains the geographical r...
Sep 08, 2020•23 min
Brother band Moundrag brag about their lack of guitars, which may not seem like a big deal, but you try making heavy progressive psych without it! Camille and Colin Goallen created the band from a former 4-piece project called Smooth Motion. Troy Nelson dives into a history lesson on other notable bands that have spawned from less-notable projects while also giving us the 411 on Moundrag, who hail from a small town outside of Rennes, France. The capital of the region of Brittany is where KEXP ca...
Sep 01, 2020•28 min
Swiss six-piece L’Eclair make eccentric grooves inspired by an eclectic combination of sources including dub, funk, krautrock, ambient, and prog. A jam band at heart, the Geneva band can stretch sets out for hours at a time, if the audience so desires. Which, they usually do. We hop the pond for a dash of European culture on this week’s Live on KEXP. Witness Troy Nelson attempt to educate listeners on the history of and difference between L’Eclair, the band, and eclairs, the French pastry, while...
Aug 25, 2020•28 min
Welsh band The Joy Formidable have spent the past decade making stadium-ready indie rock opuses that sound larger than life itself. In 2019, after releasing four great albums, the band celebrated the 10-year anniversary of their debut EP, 'A Balloon Called Moaning,' with a deluxe re-issue and a major tour behind the album. That’s when the band found themselves amongst the glimmering lights of KEXP’s in-studio session room to play four songs. Troy Nelson details the history of the band, from the ...
Aug 18, 2020•28 min
Veteran electronic producer Matthew Dear is a self-described “tinkerer” and “loop-obsessed” musician who is known for crafting eclectically varied and mesmerizingly strange sounds under a number of various names including Audion, False, and Jabberjaw alongside his government name. Dear’s most recent album, 2018’s Bunny, was described by KEXP (aka myself) as having “moments of buoyancy that verge on sheer pop (granted, a twisted and discombobulated type of pop).” Things get weird on today’s Live ...
Aug 11, 2020•25 min
Time warp with us to a year that’s *not* 2020 to settle into the sultry sounds of Joey Quiñones and Thee Sinseers. The East Los Angeles band takes their inspiration from the soulful ‘60s of SoCal to bring some seriously sexy heat. Despite having only released a string of singles, Thee Sinseers are one of the most popular groups in SoCal, in-demand for parties up and down the California coast. Singer, songwriter, and man-who-can-play-any-instrument Joey Quiñones’ extraordinary vocals make a stron...
Aug 04, 2020•21 min
Just in time for the sun-soaked dog days of summer, High Pulp are here to bring the heat with their jazz-influenced funky, soulful rhythms. The Seattle-based band is a giant collective ranging anywhere between 6 and 11 skilled musicians at any time who believe that collaboration is key. Troy Nelson details the band’s growth from the basement to Bad Juice and name-checks the local luminaries that have added their flavor to the High Pulp dish. Sometimes you gotta add more hot sauce.. Recorded 01/1...
Jul 28, 2020•29 min
Mexican-Panamian artist Michelle Blades brings a vast range of influences to her unique transcontinental post-psych. Born into a family of salsa musicians, Blades has a rich musical history that includes the Arizona-based noise rock band called North Dakota and the French synthpop group Fishbach. Troy Nelson journeys down “the rabbit hole of French awesome” and digs into her continent-hopping past, present, and, likely, future. Our connection with Michelle Blades has been a tale of festivals. Re...
Jul 21, 2020•26 min
For over 15 years, Emily King has been showcasing her gorgeously soulful vocals and prize-winning songwriting on platforms both minor and major. The daughter of two musicians kicked off her career in a major way by signing to J Records, being a featured vocalist on Nas’ 2004 album Street Disciple, and spending the next few years opening for legendary artists like Alicia Keys, Chaka Khan, John Legend, and Erykah Badu. Now on indie label ATO Records, King still has Major Label Energy which can be ...
Jul 14, 2020•21 min
If fiery fuzzed-out riffs and tireless headbangable energy is your thing then SONS is your band. The Belgian four-piece has spent the past couple of years introducing their brand of blistering garage rock to the world via nonstop touring. This performance of SONS finds them in the wintery wonderland of Reykjavik for Iceland Airwaves, where the band turns the heat up to tropical levels to melt both faces and minds. Troy Nelson takes us through the short history of the longtime good buds and the m...
Jul 07, 2020•24 min
Palestinian-Jordanian band 47Soul are making waves around the world in a cultish way with their completely unique take on traditional Palestinian street music infused with electronic, hip hop, dancehall, and dabke that they call Shamstep. This trailblazing new genre is named after the province Bilad Al-Sham, with their lyrics focusing on themes of displacement and community. Troy Nelson takes you through a brief history of life in the Middle East before and after the Arab-Israeli War in 1948, wh...
Jun 30, 2020•30 min
You may know composer, singer, and producer Caroline Polachek best as the frontperson of the iPod-hawking band Chairlift. But, as Troy Nelson details on this episode of Live on KEXP, the New York-based artist has long been busily churning out music for herself as well as a wide list of artists including the Queen Bee herself. Her latest record, 2019’s 'Pang,' is the first to be released under her own name and is a sweepingly bold proclamation of an artist who’s never been afraid of innovation. F...
Jun 23, 2020•21 min
A prolific musical force, Georgia Anne Muldrow has released 19 albums since 2006 and has worked with everyone from Erykah Badu, Mos Def, Brittany Howard, and Blood Orange. Her latest release, 2019’s 'Black Love & War,' is a collaboration with husband Dudley Perkins that sees the poetic geniuses explore the funky depths of Afrofuturism. Troy Nelson expands on Muldrow’s rich history while presenting a symbolic and timely analogy of the plight of a caterpillar’s transformation into a butterfly,...
Jun 16, 2020•20 min
Instead of releasing a new session today, we are continuing our station-wide pause on new content to hold space for anti-racist education and action . Meanwhile, we are using our platform to amplify Black voices in music. Today, we revisit one of our favorite KEXP sessions by Seattle group, The Black Tones. Their 2019 debut full-length album, 'Cobain and Cornbread,' is an invigorating blend of blues and punk, produced by Jack Endino of Seattle grunge fame. Their song, "The Key of Black (They Wan...
Jun 09, 2020•35 min
Hailing from Portland, The Shivas make surfy psychedelic that takes a massive amount of inspiration from the 1960s. For this episode of Live on KEXP, Troy Nelson draws parallels from artists of that era like the Beatles, Little Richard, and The Kingsmen to the explosive shake-n-shimmy of The Shivas. For the past 14 years, the quartet has charmed audiences with their bombastic live performances and this one is no different. Performing the first four songs off their latest record, Dark Thoughts, t...
May 26, 2020•18 min
Formed by brother/sister duo Jack and Lily Wolter on a small island called Isle of Man, Penelope Isles channels salty seas and flowing currents for their eclectic and lustrous style of fuzzy dream pop. Now Brighton-based, the band is rounded out by Brighton locals Becky Redford on bass and Jack Sowton on drums. For this Live On KEXP session, Troy Nelson gives some background on the Isle of Man, which Jack Wolter calls a “special” and “safe” place where “80,000 alcoholics are clinging to a rock i...
May 12, 2020•29 min
Fourteen years ago, Latin-infused Americana band Calexico teamed up with folk singer-songwriter Sam Beam, better known as Iron & Wine, for an EP called In the Reins. After much delay, the old friends reunited in 2018 to work on their debut full-length, Years to Burn, which was unveiled last year. The chemistry between the good chums is unmistakable during this KEXP performance, recorded at 2019’s inaugural Thing Fest at Fort Worden. DJ Troy Nelson takes us through the history of the band and...
May 05, 2020•19 min
For his third KEXP in-studio performance as Hiss Golden Messenger, folk-rocker M.C. Taylor brought a whole gang of talented musicians to join him. Flanked by Phil Cook, Chris Boerner, Erin Rae, Alex Bingham, and Al Smith, the sextet played a stunning set of songs off Hiss Golden Messenger’s latest record, 'Terms of Surrender.’ Recorded 10/11/2019. I Need A Teacher Down At The Uptown Bright Direction (You’re a Dark Star Now) Terms Of Surrender Watch the full Live on KEXP session on YouTube Suppor...
Apr 28, 2020•21 min
Greek-Sudanese musician Marina Satti and her ever-present all-female polyhphonic vocal group Fonέs wowed the audience at the La Chapelle by le Studio in Rennes, France during Trans Musicales this past December with their modern take on Greek, Balkan, Arabic, and Middle-Eastern sounds. After having gone viral in 2017 with her single-shot video for “Mantissa,” Satti has become a beloved figure and inspiration to young people across Greece. Recorded 12/04/2019. Koupes (Cups) Chichovite Konye Mantis...
Apr 24, 2020•16 min
Are you wondering about changes you've noticed to the KEXP podcasts lately? In addition to the name change (from "Live Performances" to simply "Live on KEXP") and the new graphic that nods to KEXP's iconic Live Room lights, we've got some more exciting updates in store... Sit back and let your new host, KEXP's own DJ Troy Nelson, tell you all about the changes that will go into effect starting Tuesday, April 28th . Here's a summary: The publishing schedule will move to once per week New episodes...
Apr 22, 2020•59 sec
Burien’s biggest musical export Travis Thompson has been building buzz since signing a record deal with major label Epic last year to release his latest album Reckless Endangerment. Filling the KEXP stage with a full band, the young rapper spits his flows gracefully and effortlessly like a seasoned pro. Thompson and Audioasis host Eva Walker chat about their common history of starting out in local arts program Youth Speaks, the joy of making music videos, and working with Macklemore. Recorded 01...
Apr 22, 2020•28 min
The Bandcamp page housing Kikagaku Moyo’s discography simply describes the band as “feeling good music.” It’s succinct and perhaps reductive to the intricate tapestry of sounds the Japanese band weaves but nonetheless completely accurate. In November, they made a crowd of VIP donors at The Triple Door feel very good while basking in the haze of Kikagaku Moyo’s free flowing psychedelic folk for KEXP’s VIP Club Concert series. Recorded 11/29/2019. Old Snow, White Sun Cardigan Song Green Sugar Nazo...
Apr 17, 2020•51 min
