Kexp Live Performances Podcast

Xenia Rubinos' evocative, electrifying voice is a singular one to say the least, and in her sophomore album, this year's Black Terry Cat, she has a set of songs that have just as broad of a musical spectrum. Painting with a hard-to-categorize set of sounds drawing from R&B to punk, Rubinos' return to KEXP is an engaging and rhythmic gem that vividly captures the musical and social experiences of the Brooklyn songwriter's Afro-Caribbean heritage. Recorded 09/15/2016 - 4 songs: Lonely Lover, Black Stars, Mexican Chef, Don't Wanna BeSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One of 2016's breakout artists, Margo Price has been hailed as a champion for traditionalist country, but that tag doesn't do her justice. The songs on the Illinois-via-Nashville songwriter's 2016 album Midwest Farmer's Daughter certainly have echoes of her predecessors, but the songwriting is too affecting and the performances too sharp to try and box Price in with the past. Joining Greg Vandy in the KEXP studio, Price isn't afraid to look back, but she's clearly set on moving forward. Recorded 09/04/16 - 5 songs: Tennessee Song, Hands of Time, This Town Gets Around, Four Years of Chances, No ExpectationsSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The music of Explosions in the Sky has always lived up to the expectations set by the band's evocative name, and on their seventh studio album, The Wilderness, the Austin, Texas outfit continues to create singular, cathartic, and often breathtaking instrumental compositions. Joining host Troy Nelson during Bumbershoot 2016, the post-rock titans play five of the most expansive and, in every meaning of the word, epic songs that the KEXP studio has seen to date. Recorded 09/03/16 - 5 songs: Wilderness, Infinite Orbit, The Ecstatics, Colors In Space, Disintegration AnxietySupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Brooklyn band Caveman continues to evolve on their third album, updating the harmonic indie-folk of 2011's CoCo Beware and the expansive space-prog of their 2013 self-titled LP for a larger, more atmospheric, '80s-steeped pop-rock sound. While the concept story behind Otero War is vaguely sci-fi, the songs traverse more human terrain lyrically, focusing on existential topics like relationships and personal satisfaction. Whatever you take from them, there's no doubt that Caveman, in-studio at KEXP, sounds all too real. Recorded August 12, 2016 - 4 songs: Lean On You, Never Going Back, Life Or Just Living, All My LifeSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Those Pretty Wrongs frontman Jody Stephens was a key member of the seminal Memphis band Big Star, but while he was behind the drum kit in that outfit, he's front and center on his new project with Luther Russell (The Freewheelers). In this acoustic performance, Stephens and Russell's songwriting takes center stage, riding the line between intimate and expansive with its rich melodiousness. The band performs four songs from their self-titled debut album and discusses the virtues of starting band practice early in the day in this session with DJ Troy Nelson. Recorded 07/09/16 - 4 songs: Ordinary, Lucky Guy, Thrown Away, Never GoodbyeSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If Thao and the Get Down Stay Down and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs were related and they had a uniquely uncompromising third sibling it would be vocal-and-guitar-wailing Weaves. The Toronto four-piece isn't afraid to push the envelop in an free form, experimental effort to expand their own style of indie rock. Having been a band for two years and just released their self-titled debut album this summer, Weaves have already struck it rich in music scenes around the world with their mercurial song arcs, devious display of offbeat distortions, and playful panache. Watch as they play it up, live in-studio at KEXP with DJ Cheryl Waters. Recorded 08/16/16 - 4 songs: Birds & Bees, Sentence, Hulahoop, One MoreSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Swedish rockers Peter Bjorn and John have been proselytizing their pro-60s pop prowess since 1999, but the trio really took the indie world by storm back in 2006 with their dance-floor hit “Young Folks.” Ten years later, they're still artfully writing their whistle-catchy songs like the title track to their latest album, Breakin' Point. Live in the KEXP studio, Peter, Bjorn, and John hammer out four bright, upbeat songs and chat gregariously with DJ Cheryl Waters about a “secret society of Swedish pop” and the four years of trials and tribulations in making it to Breakin' Point. Recorded 08/31/16 - 4 songs: Breakin' Point, Do Si Do, In This Town, DominosSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Monday afternoon may not be the ideal time for a loud, full-force rock show, but it is, however, the perfect setting for a set of winding, country-colored jams, which is what the audience received when Israel Nash and his band took the stage. The Dripping Springs, Texas musician's lush, almost psychedelic desert jams reached a new peak on his latest LP, 2015's Israel Nash's Silver Season, but nothing captures the loose, free-flowing energy of Nash's best work like snapshots of his live sets like this one recorded at the Triple Door on a breezy July afternoon. Recorded 07/25/16 - 7 songs: Rexanimarum, Mansions, LA Lately, Lavendula, Parlour Song, Rain Plans, Isn't It A PitySupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

CHVRCHES' synth-powered anthems took the Glaswegian trio from basement Soundcloud phenoms to festival-conquering stars in the span of about 18 months, so it's to their credit that they withstood that rapid rise and channeled that velocity into their catchier, denser, and overall sharper sophomore effort Every Open Eye. More dynamic than ever as an onstage unit, the group join Stevie Zoom in the KEXP studio for a set of reworked tracks from Every Open Eye and the single that started their meteoric climb. Recorded 07/24/2016 - 4 songs: Never Ending Circles, Leave a Trace, Afterglow, The Mother We ShareSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Montreal-formed band Wolf Parade, now mostly based in Vancouver, make up for 13 years of not performing live on KEXP with an extra-long set in our new studio, covering their entire 2016 EP plus two classics harking back to their very first recording. Co-songwriters Spencer Krug and Dan Boeckner, drummer Arlen Thompson and multi-instrumentalist Dante DeCaro have never sounded better than they do in this howlingly great performance. Recorded August 8, 2016 - 6 songs: Floating World, C'est La Vie Way, Automatic, Mr. Startup, Modern World, Dinner BellsSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If the Rolling Stones had started their career in 2014 Chicago, they might have been called Twin Peaks. The warm, laid-back chemistry exuded by this crew of bluesy rockers is so over-the-top fun to watch that it's almost hard to not want to just shoot the breeze with them all night over drinks instead – almost! Recorded 06/16/2016 - 4 songs: Butterfly, Getting Better, Walk To The One You Love, Wanted YouSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

During the Norwich songwriter's four-year gap between releases, Beth Orton took the biggest stylistic leap of her career, springing from her most traditional folk album to her most electronic LP, 2016's Kidsticks, with seamless, deft splendor. Orton and her band join Cheryl Waters in this session highlighting two tracks from Kidsticks and two Orton classics. Recorded 06/23/2016 - 4 songs: Moon, She Cries Your Name, Wave, Stolen CarSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Channeling sounds both neon and nocturnal, NAVVI's precisely languid take on electronic pop tempers its dark undercurrents with a subtle pop sensibility. The Seattle duo of Brad Boettger and Kristin Henry perform four songs from their debut, 2016's Omni, and explain the genesis of the project on this session on Audioasis with DJ Sharlese. Recorded 07/15/2016 - 4 songs: Polychrome, In Gold, What Reason Do We Need?, CloseSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Even though there was no explicit goal in mind when Jayhawks frontman Gary Louris started work on the songs that would eventually make up the Minneapolis group's ninth album, Paging Mr. Proust, he ended up with a set of songs that rank among the band's most gorgeous tracks. In their latest KEXP session, Louris and co. join their longtime friend Kevin Cole to showcase four songs in semi-acoustic fashion and discuss the path to their latest album. Recorded 07/19/2016 - The Devil Is In Her Eyes, Lovers Of The Sun, Comeback Kids, Stumbling Through The DarkSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With three album released in the span of 13 months across 2014-15, there was a lot of musical ground for Wand to cover when they made their KEXP debut in July 2016. But across four songs and countless crushing riffs, the Los Angeles outfit ran through the rapidly-expanding "story of Wand”, as Cheryl Waters puts it, in this ferocious, career-spanning set. Recorded 07/20/2016 - 4 songs: Fire on the Mountain (I-II-III), Floating Head, Lower Order, Growing Up BoysSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For a glorious sixteen minutes, Boss Hog's garage rock fever barely stays on its rails, with Jon Spencer's guitar twisting and turning at every whiplashed step. Touring behind their first music in 16 years (this year's Brood Star EP), Spencer, frontwoman Cristina Martinez, and the rest of the band enter KEXP's studios for a wild, frenetic session that features an impromptu solo from DJ Troy Nelson as a result of Spencer leaving the room and handing off his guitar to the unsuspecting host. Recorded 07/12/2016 - 4 songs: Wichita Grey, Winn Coma, Fix Me, DisgraceSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Without even an album under their earth-shaking name, Thunderpussy shred like no other outfit... and outfits they have aplenty. The Seattle four-piece bring their theatrical, sex-fueled, high-octane, bluesy rock show to the KEXP studio for an extended session, complete with "pussyfooting" dancers, live on the Afternoon Show with Kevin Cole. Recorded 07/22/2016 - 5 songs: Speed Queen, Fever, The Cloud, Welcome To The Disco, ThunderpussySupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A native of Red Bluff, California, Margaret Glaspy moved across the country to Boston, where she cut her teeth with master classes at Berklee (regardless of whether or not she was a student at the time) and local gigs. A few years – and one set of studio sessions redoing her original, iPad-recorded version of the album – after her cross-coastal move, Glaspy's ragged, blues-affected guitar playing and sharp, watertight songwriting is at the forefront of her debut LP, this year's Emotions and Math. Joined by a two-piece band, Glaspy joins Cheryl Waters in KEXP's studios to play songs from her debut and tell the story of how her songs went from bedroom sketches to full band recordings. Recorded 07/13/16 - 4 songs: Emotions and Math, You and I, No Matter Who, Memory StreetSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

"It was like being in a car that hit the brakes and suddenly we had all this stuff to say." After spending nearly two years on the road behind their 2013 debut Wildewoman, Lucius had plenty of stories to tell on what would become their 2016 sophomore effort Good Grief, resulting in their most expansive and vivid songs to date. The quintet make their second appearance in the KEXP studios to join Cheryl Waters and tell the tale of how they wrote outside of the figurative box with the help of a literal shoebox. Recorded 05/11/16 - 4 songs: Madness, Gone Insane, Dusty Trails, Better Look BackSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It almost goes without saying that anything that Marc Ribot touches turns to gold, and Marc Ribot's Ceramic Dog is no exception. Aside from his own prolific solo career, Ribot has worked with captains of industry like Elvis Costello, John Zorn, The Black Keys, plus goes back thirty years and seven records deep with Tom Waits. He's been lauded as one of the best living guitar players and is now trying his hand at a new project pregnant with absurdist jazz, free form punk, and garage-y overtones. As Ceramic Dog, Marc Ribot is joined in-studio at KEXP with bassist Shahzad Ismaily and drummer Ches Smith. Check out their unbelievably raw session hosted by Jazz Theater's John Gilbreath. Recorded 06/22/2016 - 4 songs: Red Bully, Lies My Body Told Me, Your Turn, You're My Personal Nancy SpungenSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.