Kexp Live Performances Podcast

There's a wave of fantastic music coming out of Sydney at the moment, but Australia's Middle Kids never get overshadowed by their scene siblings. The silvery rock trio's knack for steely hooks and gleaming tones made them a breakout artist in summer 2016, and nine months later, they're continuing to realize their potential. Joining DJ Troy Nelson in the KEXP Live Room, the youthful Aussie trio show off how much they've grown since their debut single and hint at things yet to come. Recorded 2/21/2017 - 4 songs: Edge of Town, Your Love, Fire In Your Eyes, Old RiverSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The first thing that jumps out listening to Seattle's Maiah Manser is her loping, almost acrobatic vocals. But as the session goes on, it's just as impressive to see how her electronic compositions work themselves around her evocative voice to create swirling, hypnotic sounds. Joining DJ Sharlese on Audioasis, Manser displays the enrapturing characteristics that have made her debut EP such an anticipated release.  Recorded 2/3/2017 - 4 songs: Sweet Hell, Top of My Lungs, I Put A Spell On You, Second SkinSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Howe Gelb's multiple-decade catalog is hard to pin down, but the one current that runs through it all is the Tucson, Arizona musician's warm-burning songwriting. The sometime Giant Sand leader pares down to a piano for his latest record, Future Standards, and accompanied only by a bassist, Gelb doubles down on the songwriting skills he's honed over his decades in this incandescent session with DJ Morgan. Recorded 2/4/2017 - 4 songs: Irresponsible Lovers, Sweet Confusion, A Book You've Read Before, Impossible ThingSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There's a reason Seattle's Nail Polish called their most recent release Authentic Living. The trio's rapid-fire punk pulls no punches when it comes to documenting the struggle for finding authenticity in an ever-evolving Emerald City. Joining DJ Sharlese on Audioasis, the band cuts straight to the point with their ferocious six-song set and an interview where they expand on their observations of the changing Capitol Hill neighborhood that formed the record. Recorded 1/18/2017 - 6 songs: Selected Comments, Visual Presence, Chromophobia, Body Double, Paper Houses, Authentic LivingSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Greta Morgan went into an “intense headspace” for her latest album as Springtime Carnivore, and the result was Midnight Room, her most finessed and melodic set of songs to date. Morgan returns to the KEXP studios for a semi-acoustic session featuring four Midnight Room tracks and a conversation with Cheryl Waters about the process of working with producer Chris Coady to make a song “sound like cobalt blue". Recorded 1/12/2017 - 4 songs: Raised By Wolves, Double Infinity, Midnight Room, Nude PolaroidsSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Including her rich new album Impossible Dream, Haley Bonar has released seven albums of resonant, roots-refined rock and in her debut session in the KEXP studios with fellow Minnesotan DJ Kevin Cole, her experience as a songwriter and performer shines through. Playing four Impossible Dream tunes, Haley and her band tell the story of her songwriting evolution from a high schooler putting out an album with graduation money to the journeywoman she is today. Recorded 12/8/2016 - 4 songs: Hometown, Your Mom Is Right, Skynz, Kismet KillSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For their fourth album, Amen and Goodbye, Yeasayer spent the longest time they've spent to date working on writing songs, and the end result contains some of their richest, most nuanced music yet. The Brooklyn outfit brings four Amen and Goodbye tracks into this session with Troy Nelson and discuss what goes into a Yeasayer record, working with Joey Waronker, and making an effort to play the Dakotas. Recorded 10/24/16 - 4 songs: Cold Night, Silly Me, Sunrise, I Am ChemistrySupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hamilton Leithauser is a veteran of the KEXP studios by this point in his career, but his rough and tumble brand of doo wop-damaged rock has never sounded as rich as it has on his 2016 collaborative album with Rostam, I Had a Dream That You Were Mine. The New York City songwriter is in fine form as he and a three-piece band run through four tracks from the album in this session with DJ Morgan. Recorded 1/21/2017 - 4 songs: You Ain't That Young Kid, A 1000 Times, In A Black Out, Sick as a DogSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

"This is the music of the spirit," proclaims host John Gilbreath ahead of Jaimeo Brown's Transcendence's majestic set. It's high praise, certainly, but the trio of percussionist Jaimeo Brown, guitarist Chris Sholar, and saxophonist Jaleel Shaw create music that is truly impossible to box into any one category. Dive into this three-song performance transcendent performance on Jazz Theatre. Recorded 10/28/2016 - 3 songs: Happy Serving, For Mama Lucy, Power of GodSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With three songwriters and a wave of melodic guitars behind them, LVL UP have more depth and nuance than most of their peers, but their music is never ostentatious about its DIY majesty. The Brooklyn quartet join Cheryl Waters in the KEXP studio to tell the story of how they went from being three musicians' side project to a unified band and to play a vibrant, expressive set of indie rock on the Midday Show. Recorded 10/17/2016 - 4 songs: Spirit Was, Pain, The Closing Door, Five Men On The RidgeSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

They're wearing clothes and are normally sized (at least in this session), but make no mistake - Naked Giants rip and roar as powerfully as they would even if they were the unclothed titans their name implies. The Seattle trio enter the KEXP studio, plug in, and charge ahead so hard that two out of the three members don't finish the session with their headphones on (only because the third member taped his to his head) in this session featuring out a pair of tunes from their debut EP R.I.P. and two as-yet-unreleased ones on the Morning Show with John Richards.  Recorded 01/11/2017 - 4 songs: Twist, Dead/Alien, Slow Dance II, Ya YaSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Moscow-via-New York songwriter Regina Spektor has been writing songs to capture a wide spectrum of vivid anecdotes, observations, and narratives for more than 15 years now, but for her latest record, 2016's Remember Us to Life, she atypically anchored herself to one inspiration: her pregnancy and the subsequent birth of her son. Performing solo on a grand piano, Spektor joins Larry Rose in the KEXP studio for a four-song set of songs from Remember Us to Life and a conversation about writing songs with “imaginary production” in mind.  Recorded 01/6/2017 - 5 songs: The Grand Hotel, Older and Taller, Black and White, Bleeding Heart, The Trapper and the FurrierSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's always a special night (or day) when the soul journeymen Lee Fields enters KEXP's studios. Fields' energy is as infectious as that of any frontman half his age, to say nothing of the explosive, colorful sounds of his backing band the Expressions. Joining Larry Rose in the KEXP studio, Fields walks in and conquers the room moments after starting his first song with a confidence that only a man who's been doing it for decades has. Recorded 12/6/2016 - 4 songs: Special Night, I'm Coming Home, Let Him In, Make The WorldSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Their name implies that they have bad posture, but Sloucher are definitely not slackers leaning back in their desks at the back of the classroom. The Seattle outfit's locktight songwriting shows they've been paying attention to their Pacific Northwest indie rock predecessors in this brilliant session on Audioasis with Sean Nelson. Recorded 10/2/2016 - 6 songs: Flower Girl, Constant Questions, Dreams, Certainly, Dear, Waiting To StartSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When Finn Andrews first entered the KEXP studios in 2004, he was barely 20 years of age, but his evocative songwriting was already fully-formed. Returning in 2017, The Veils leader is more refined and potent than ever on the Auckland-via-London group's fifth album Total Depravity. Embracing "the chaos of not knowing what going on", Andrews shines through the dark in his return to the KEXP studios with Cheryl Waters. Recorded 11/14/2016 - 4 songs: Swimming With The Crocodiles, Low Lays The Devil, Do Your Bones Glow At Night?, AxolotlSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

"With the challenges in our lives, sometimes you have to go in order to truly blossom." That's the theme behind Industrial Revelation's "No Way Out But In", but it could really apply to the musically adventurous Seattle jazz outfit's entire ethos. Their energetic, unpredictable, and beautiful performances have only sharpened over their decade-plus as a group, which is on full display in this session on the Midday Show with Cheryl Waters. Recorded 11/23/2016 - 4 songs: Wait. No. Sound., No Way Out But In, Lord, Let This Be the Last Time, PopKingSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ragged, scrappy, and gloriously unfiltered, Tucson, Arizona's Foxx Bodies only play one kind of music: loud. Leading with the dual-pronged attack of guitarist Bailey Moses and singer Bella Vanek, the punk quartet conjure a magnetically-jagged riot in this eruptive set with Troy Nelson in the KEXP Studio. Recorded 12/1/16 - 4 songs: The Walk, New Recording 25, Annie, HauntingSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Grant Eadie's loping, colorful electronic compositions have been bubbling on tastemaker radars for some time now, but with his self-titled debut LP, the Bellingham-via-Seattle musician has crafted his most kinetic set of songs to date. Accompanied by vocalist Moorea Masa, Eadie joins Cheryl Waters in the KEXP Studio to perform a flowing, aqueous set. Recorded 12/9/2016 - 4 songs: What We've Got, Clay, The Garden Song, Pull Me In, Pts. 1 & 2Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You may not be able to expect how little time the prolific Californian garage rock luminaries will take between albums or what their lineup will look like, but you can always be sure that you'll end up feeling like frontman John Dwyer looks: frenzied, smiling, and seemingly perpetually covered in sweat. Setting up as a trio for a rip-roaring, career-spanning set in the KEXP Gathering Space, Thee Oh Sees burn with so much scrappy energy you can practically hear the mosh pit before it begins. Recorded 11/25/16 - 6 songs: I Come From The Mountain, Tidal Wave, The Dream, Sticky Hulks, Gelatinous Cube, Encrypted BounceSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

To name your debut LP The Epic takes quite a bit of confidence, but in the case of Kamasi Washington, it's the only title that would make sense. The Californian saxophonist, composer, and bandleader's sweeping style of jazz is nearly overwhelming in its scope and scale, but Washington's virtuoustic performance (and those of his impeccable band) captures its stirring energy with aplomb in this two song (but 20+ minute) set from the KEXP studios with DJ Larry Rose. Recorded 12/2/2016 - 2 songs: Re Run, The Rhythm ChangesSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.