Kexp Live Performances Podcast

A modern journeyman of sorts, 28 year-old songwriter Kevin Morby has spent close to a decade releasing music while moving through different musical outfits and cities. Now based in Los Angeles, Morby and his band return to KEXP to share the traveler's tales on the Kansas City native's third album, Singing Saw, and discuss its creation in Woodstock, NY with Cheryl Waters. Recorded 06/08/2016 - 4 songs: Cut Me Down, Dorothy, Destroyer, I Have Been to The MountainSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Maria-Elena Juarez, Christopher Garland, and Jordan Adams have been slaying Seattle clubs as Acapulco Lips with their cataclysmic six-string hurricane of a sound for a few years now, but with the release of their self-titled debut this year, they're loaded with even more tunes that highlight their kinetic, explosive sound. In this session, the trio surf through a massive, reverb-soaked wave of garage rock with Kevin Cole on the Afternoon Show. Recorded 07/01/2016 - 4 songs: Shoes On, Gotta Know, Awkward Waltz, My TimeSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When Omara Moctar first started picked up a guitar, he was merely having fun with his friends. Fast forward to 2016, and the musician better known as Bombino has made albums with The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach and Dirty Projectors' Dave Longstreth, who produced his reggae-influenced 2016 album, Azel. The dazzlingly talented Tuareg guitarist returns to KEXP's studios for an electric and joyous session on the Afternoon Show with Kevin Cole. Recorded 04/29/2016 - 5 songs: Akhar Zaman, Timidiwa, Iwaranagh, Tar Hani, TimtarSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

London-via-Köln psychedelic outfit Desert Mountain Tribe were a lock-tight live unit well before they started work on their first album, so when they entered the studio for what would become 2016's Either That or the Moon, they sought to capture the sprawling, resonant feel of their live performances. Recorded during their first US tour, the Anglo-Germanic trio tapped into a spacious, hazy tone for twenty minutes of psychedelic bliss when they joined Cheryl Waters in the KEXP studios to perform four cuts from Either That or the Moon. Recorded 04/21/2016 - 4 songs: Coming Down, Take a Ride, Heaven and Hell, Way DownSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Representing his experience as the son of Zimbabwean musicians, a father, a soon-to-be husband, and a man from Seattle's South End, Draze poured himself into Seattle's Own, the Emerald City MC's proper debut that finds him reflecting on his changing life and his changing hometown. Joining Larry Mizell, Jr. on a special Juneteenth edition of Street Sounds, Draze shares four tracks from Seattle's Own and shares his thoughts on the changing landscape of Seattle. Recorded 06/19/2016 - 4 songs: The Hood Ain't The Same, Seattle Sweeties, Irony on 23rd, Children of the LightSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Frightened Rabbit frontman Scott Hutchinson's move from his native Scotland to Los Angeles forced both the songwriter and his bandmates to rethink their work process, but their email-driven writing process led the Glasgow quintet to refine their penchant for anthemic choruses and evocative lyrics with an electronic edge on their fifth LP, Painting of a Panic Attack. In this session, Hutchinson and co. play four songs from the album to KEXP's studios and tell Cheryl Waters about recording the album with The National's Aaron Dessner. Recorded 04/19/2016 - 4 songs: Get Out, Woke Up Hurting, I Wish I Was Sober, BreakSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From his first appearance with the station during SXSW 2011, Charles Bradley has been a longtime KEXP favorite, and it's easy to see why. Talking love, loss, and style with Cheryl Waters in this stunning performance in the KEXP Gathering Space, The Screaming Eagle of Soul shows that only thing bigger than his voice is his heart as he leads his Extraordinaires through three soul-stirring R&B workouts and an emotional cover of Black Sabbath's "Changes". Recorded 5/23/2016 - 4 songs: Nobody But You, Things We Do For Love, Ain't It A Sin, ChangesSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From their beginnings as Capitol Hill basement party staples to their current status as one of Seattle's most popular local bands, Tacocat have continually achieved their original goal of simply having fun, not least when they're doing it with their trademark sugar-sweet hooks and whip-smart lyrics. Recorded with fellow Emerald City treasure Erik Blood behind the boards, the band's third album, 2016's Lost Time, contains some of their most incisive and addictive songwriting to date. Cheryl Waters welcomes the band back to the KEXP studios for a session that's equal parts punk and pop, with anecdotes about recording the theme to the rebooted Powerpuff Girls series and the struggle of cat-themed t-shirts being unpopular in Europe accompanying four Lost Time cuts. Recorded 06/15/2016 - 4 songs: I Hate The Weekend, The Internet, You Can't Fire Me, I Quit, TalkSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The psych- and Tropicalia-inflected rock of Boogarins is so intriguing that when their earliest recordings had been picked up by music fans all over the globe, the band hadn't even played any gigs. Only becoming a live band shortly afterwards in early 2013 hasn't prevented the Goiânia, Brazil quartet from quickly adapting to an onstage unit, however, which is showcased in this session on El Sonido with DJ Chilly. Recorded during the band's first trip to Seattle, the band play songs from their 2015 sophomore effort Manual and discuss what it's like to leave Brazil for the first time to play 11 shows at SXSW. Recorded 05/10/2016 - 4 songs: Falsa Folhade Rosto, Tempo, Cuerdo, AuchmaSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With literally hundreds of songs filling her numerous self-released albums, it could be somewhat intimidating to jump into Greta Kiline's catalog if it weren't for the New York City songwriter's clever wordplay and instantly accessible twinkling melodies. Pulling from her two most recent releases, 2016's Next Thing and 2015's Fit Me In EP, the songwriter now known as Frankie Cosmos and her band stop by KEXP's studios to share the story of how Kiine went from making songs in her bedroom to managing a tour with a full band. Recorded 04/20/2016 - 5 songs: Fool, Outside with the Cuties, Korean Food, O Contest Winner, SinisterSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

"Bedrooms and bars... and the road" – that's where the stories that make up Kyle Craft's debut album come from, to quote the Louisiana-born, Portland, Oregon-based musician. With the help of his five-piece band, Craft's singular wail underscores the glammy, melodic edges of the songs on his debut full-length, Dolls of Highland, in this session with Cheryl Waters where he tells the story of how he went from tracking the album in a Shreveport laundry room to where he is today. Recorded 04/28/2016 - 4 songs: Pentecost, Future Midcity Massacre, Eye of a Hurricane, Lady of the Ark  Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With a laid-back, poetic cadence and a bevy of hazy hip-hop beats, Seattle's DoNormaal – the stage name of Christianne Karefa-Johnson and a play on a Dutch phrase that means "stop acting weird" - creates music that has a futuristic quality to its adventurous sound. Recorded during a special, DJ El Toro-hosted Pride edition of Audioasis, DoNormaal discusses the genesis of her musical endeavors and airs two unreleased tracks alongside a pair of songs from her 2015 debut LP, Jump or Die. Recorded 04/16/16 - 4 songs: Dodo Call, Wide Awake, Adja, StandingSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After pointing her songwriting perspective inward for two albums, spending some time at home in Minneapolis while pregnant caused Poliça frontwoman Channy Leaneagh to start looking outward while composing the group's third album, United Crushers. In the Minneapolis outfit's third session on KEXP, the quartet perform a set of United Crushers tracks that showcases Leaneagh's personal and lyrical progression over some of the most kinetic music the mellifluous electronic group have ever written. Recorded 3/31/16 - 4 songs: Lime Habit, Someway, Lose You, Baby SucksSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There is only one band in the world that would write a song about racing motorcycles with the infant Jesus in heaven and that band is named Diarrhea Planet. The band's third album, Turn to Gold, turns up the volume on both the Nashville sextet's guitar solos and their humor, and on their second trip to KEXP's studios, they join Cheryl Waters to deliver some of the year's best air guitar-worthy anthems. Recorded 04/06/2016 - 4 songs: Ain't a Sin to Win, Bob Dylan's Grandma, Life Pass, Heat WaveSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Reflecting on American pathologies during the creation of the band's eighth album, Shearwater leader Jonathan Meiburg sought to make what David Bowie once called an oblique protest record. The result, this year's Jet Plane and Oxbow, is some of the Austin, Texas group's most expansive and impactful music to date. Meiburg and his bandmates join Cheryl Waters to play and discuss songs about "being against something that you're for at the same time" and finding solace in Bowie's 1979 album, Lodger. Recorded 03/25/16 - 4 songs: Pale Kings, Wildlife in America, Backchannels, Boys Keep SwingingSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Splitting the difference between bursts of lo-fi energy and ragged psychedelia, the Brooklyn trio Sunflower Bean channel a number of sounds from the storied lineage of their home city into their 2016 debut album, "Human Ceremony". Drawing equally from their pair of lead singers, the group join Troy Nelson in the KEXP studio for a set of tunes that highlight Nick Kivlen's rapturous howl and Julia Cumming's kinetic punch. Recorded 03/29/2016 - 4 songs: Come On, I Was Home, Easier Said, Space Exploration DisasterSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Four years after the Denver, Colorado trio made the leap from small, sweaty clubs to massive outdoor stages, the Lumineers have retained their breezy, rustic charm on their sophomore effort, "Ophelia". Returning to an intimate venue not unlike the ones they cut their teeth on, the folk rock unit perform new tunes and old favorites during a special hour-long set at the Columbia City Theater in Seattle, WA. Recorded 04/01/2016 - 15 songs: Sleep On The Floor, Ophelia, Flowers In Your Hair, Ho Hey, Cleopatra, Slow It Down, Dead Sea, Angela, Big Parade, Submarines, Scotland, Gun Song, My Eyes, Charlie Boy, Stubborn LoveSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After spending some time apart to work on other projects, Black Mountain eased back into the void between heavy and haunting that they've long occupied for their fourth LP, 2016's "IV". Their crunchy sludge now a potent force for over a decade, the Vancouver quintet join Cheryl Waters for a heady half-hour of tunes from "IV" that bask in acid-soaked riffs, copious guitar solos, and Amber Webber's otherworldly voice. Recorded 04/22/2016 - 4 songs: Mothers of the Sun, Defector, Line Them All Up, Space To BakersfieldSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One of the most prominent Romani language singers of all time, Esma Redžepova's half century-plus career has seen the Skopje, Macedonia singer preserve and promote Roma culture to a global audience with her music and humanitarian efforts. Backed by the colorful rhythms of Folk Masters, "The Queen of Romani Songs" joins Darek Mazzone on Wo' Pop for a career-spanning set that highlights her singular, vibrant voice. Recorded 04/26/2016 - 4 songs: 1001 Nights, Rushly Game, Zošto Si Me Majko Rodila, Čaje ŠukarijeSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Twelve solo albums into his career, Bob Mould's "Patch The Sky" captures the Minnesota songwriter at his darkest and most reflective. His emotional and sonic fury remains just as impactful – and loud – in this blistering live session where Mould discusses "the darkness behind the sunshine" of his new album and his reaction to the death of fellow Minnesotan Prince with DJ Kevin Cole. Recorded 05/10/2016 - 5 songs: The End of Things, Losing Time, You Say You, The Descent, Black ConfettiSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.