Live on KEXP

A trio of Pacific Northwestern veterans gathered together to give thanks for angular rhythms and chrome-streaked guitars, The Gods Themselves' ineffable cool is only matched by their space-smart songwriting. Joining Sean Nelson on Audioasis, the band run through four cuts from their latest LP, Be My Animal with stylish, kinetic aplomb. Recorded 3/25/2017 - 4 songs: Be My Animal, Tech Boys, Dance With Me, LoveSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For their fifth session (and first in KEXP's new Live Room), longtime station favorites Alt-J went intimate to match the insular tone of their latest LP, Relaxer. With a pared-down semi-acoustic setup, the English trio play a pair of new tracks and a trio of old favorites in reworked fashions on the Afternoon Show with Kevin Cole. Recorded 4/28/2017 - 5 songs: 3WW, Tessellate, Warm Foothills, Dissolve Me, In Cold BloodSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One of Wo'Pop host Darek Mazzone's most anticipated sessions in recent memory, Le Mystery des Voix Bulgares fill the KEXP Live Room with the power of a 23-person choir using open-throat singing to perform traditional Bulgarian music with contemporary arrangements. Running through a half hour of intricate and mellifluous vocal arrangements, the Prof. Dora Hristova-led ensemble perform a stunningly beautiful set alongside an interview between Hristova, Mazzone, and Jazz Theater's John Gilbreath. Recorded 4/21/2017 - 12 songs: Moma Houbava, Sama Li Si Den Zhanala, Horo. Shops Napevi, Izlel E Delyo Haidutin, Mehmetyo, Dai Mi Bothe, Yova, Vito Horo, Douda E Bolna, Dilmano Dilbero, Ergen DedaSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Even if the definition of "Northwestern band” has to be stretched a little to include the Alaskan outfit Portugal. The Man, they have plenty of Northwest ties. Returning to the KEXP studios for a session featuring songs from their last three albums (all of which had a portion recorded in Seattle), they join Cheryl Waters for a recap of their last few years, including stories from working with Danger Mouse and Mike D. Recorded 3/6/2017 - 4 songs: Purple Yellow Red and Blue, So American, Modern Jesus, Feel It StillSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Mellifluously melodious and dripping with rich vocals, Front Row Seat to Earth, Weyes Blood's latest album, is her most shimmering and accomplished to date. Laced with intimate lyrics and an atmospheric shine, Natalie Mering and her band enter the KEXP Live Room to play four songs and discuss the art of wild herb crafting with DJ Troy Nelson. Recorded 2/24/2017 - 4 songs: Used To Be, Seven Words, Generation Why, Do You Need My Love Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sometimes the simplest recipes are the best and Seattle's Bread & Butter like to keep it free and easy with big, crunchy chords and juicy power pop hooks. The quartet are no joke though - the crashes and choruses on their debut album are plenty effective and sound best turned up loud. Palling around with DJ Kevin Cole on the Afternoon Show, the group discuss making their debut LP, pressing “butter” colored vinyl, and post-practice Youtube parties. Recorded 4/14/2017 - 5 songs: Worst Of Times, Cool In The Water, Shoot My Mouth Off, Keys To The City, DesperationSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Father John MIsty's songs have always been filled with vivid (and often flawed) characters, but he's never been as starkly human as he is on his latest full length, 2017's stunning Pure Comedy. The longtime KEXP favorite's newest LP is a sprawling, sometimes dark opus, but in this stripped down session on the Midday Show with Cheryl Waters, the artist sometimes known as Josh Tillman is more revealing than he often is in conversation and across four Pure Comedy songs. Recorded 5/24/2017 - 4 songs: Pure Comedy, Total Entertainment Forever, Things It Would've Been Helpful To Know Before The Revolution, Ballad of the Dying ManSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Loud and proud, Seattle queer punk band waste no time with introductions, blasting out hardcore tales of love, loss, and queer life in Seattle at a hundred miles a minute. Joining DJ Larry Rose in the KEXP Live Room, the Seattle quartet thrash through four songs from their forthcoming debut with equal parts speed and style. Recorded 6/9/2017 - 4 songs: Call Me Tania, Rainbow Crosswalks, Brosexual, SkinnySupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The compositions of the Iraqi oud composer and performer Rahim AlHaj do not have lyrics, but the tension, force, and vitality of his songs speak volumes about the power of music in the face of terrible strife. Backed by a string quartet and bassist on Wo' Pop, AlHaj speaks boldly about valuing different cultures and keeping an empathetic, open mind towards them in the face of challenges, both in conversation with Darek Mazzone and through songs from his latest collection, Letters From Iraq.Recorded 3/17/2017 - 3 songs: Letter 5. Going Home, Letter 6. Unspoken Word, Letter 4. The Last Time We Will Fly BirdsSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Embodying the sounds and spirit of New Orleans' French Quarter for more than four decades, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band is nothing short of an institution of American jazz music. Still touring extensively, the energy of the New Orleans-style jazz compositions is as vibrant as ever, certainly during this performance in KEXP's Gathering Space to a packed room. Recorded 4/17/2017 - 6 songs: So It Is, Santiago, Convergence, La Malanga, One Hundred Fires, MadSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Louder, Faster, Better, and More Romantic, Cataldo leader Eric Anderson took a few cues from the bliss of his long-term relationship on his new album Keepers, and the LP's rich, buoyant tone both embodies the satisfaction Anderson has in his own life while carrying the torch of Pacific Northwestern indie rock. Returning to the KEXP studios, Anderson joins Sean Nelson on Audioasis for four Keepers tracks with a full band. Recorded 4/8/2017 - 4 songs: Photograph, Person You'd Be Proud Of, Little Heartbeat, Straight Up Western (White Noise)Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“This is my work. This is what I do.” Mitski Miyazaki lays her manifesto out early on in her return trip to the KEXP Live Room with a full band to follow up the solo session she performed shortly after the release of 2016's masterful Puberty 2. A year on the road has only made her sharper, and the results of her touring show in this session with DJ Morgan where Mitski plays three Puberty 2 tunes, an old favorite and discusses the advantages of playing a portable instrument. Recorded 4/8/2017 - 4 songs: I Bet on Losing Dogs, Francis Forever, Your Best American Girl, HappySupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Kyiv folk quartet DakhaBrakha created their latest album Шлях (English: The Road) as a tribute to their Motherland, and in this vital session, it's easy to hear the multitude of voices both figurative and literal that make up a stirring snapshot of a people pushing forward during a difficult time in their country's history. The Ukrainian folk outfit return to KEXP's Live Room for a moving set of kinetic songs on Wo' Pop with Darek Mazzone. Recorded 4/23/2017 - 4 songs: Vesna, Carpathian Rap, Monakh, BabySupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's impossible to say the name of the Melbourne sextet King Gizzard & Lizard Wizard without conjuring images of fantastical garage fury and on each of their records, the prolific group have only further honed their scuzzy, slashing rock with tones both spacious and slaying. The band with the best name in the world returns to KEXP's live room to play four songs from their new (also well-named) album Flying Microtonal Banana and talk about the pronunciation of the word “banana” with DJ Cheryl Waters. Recorded 4/10/2017 - 4 songs: Doom City, Sleep Drifter, Billabong Valley, Nuclear FusionSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The long-running group Tinariwen hail from Mail, but there's nothing lost in translation with the collective's spiraling, sprawling guitar visions that glide across headphones with as much richness as the languid works of Kurt Vile or Alain Johannes (who also guest on the group's latest album, Elwan.) The desert guitar masters return to the KEXP Live Room for a striking set of tunes from Elwan and an interview between Wo' Pop host Darek Mazzone and bassist Eyadou Ag Leche. Recorded 4/04/2017 - 4 songs: Talyat Girl, Assàwt (The Voice of Tamashek Women), Sastanàqqàm (I Question You), Nànnuflày (Fulfilled)Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

When Sera Cahoone moved to Seattle, forcing herself to play open mic nights at the (now-defunct venue) OK Hotel was only the beginning of a career that would lead her to literally play on top of the Space Needle. In her far-closer-to-the-ground return to the KEXP Live Room, Cahoone joins John Richards to talk about her new record From Where I Started, talk about where she literally started, and writing tributes to loved ones passed on. Recorded 3/30/2017 - 4 songs: Better Woman, Ladybug, Up To Me, Time To GiveSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Although they've been constant staples in Seattle venues, it had been more than four years since Dude York's last KEXP session, but with the release of their sophomore LP Sincerely, the self-styled “America's Band” have triumphantly returned with a new set of catchy garage jams. Joining Sharlese on Audioasis, the group play four Sincerely tracks and tell the process of writing their latest “hits” with the help of Netflix and the value of eschewing DMs to praise bands publicly on Twitter. Recorded 2/22/2017 - 4 songs: Black Jack, Tonight, The Way I Feel, Love IsSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kate Tempest's performance of the first half of her 2016 opus Let Them Eat Chaos at KEXP's broadcast from Iceland Airwaves 2016 was a highlight of both the festival and the whole year, so it's no surprise that her return trip to KEXP's Seattle studio is yet another furious rapture of a session. Joining Cheryl Waters in the Live Room, Tempest lives up to her namesake with four more rapid-fire Chaos songs that demand to be heard. Recorded 3/28/2017 - 4 songs: Pictures on a Screen, Perfect Coffee, Grubby, Breaks Tunnel VisionSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With his previous record, Timothy Showalter sought to look inward. On his latest LP as Strand of Oaks, Hard Love, Showalter is looking outward with his most expansive and expressive songs to date. Opening with the crushing, lengthy, and affecting “Taking Acid and Talking To My Brother”, the Philadelphia group's latest session is a stunning performance of four Hard Love tracks and a discussion between Kevin Cole and Showalter on how making shows sacred led Strand of Oaks to its next chapter. Recorded 3/1/2017 - 4 songs: Taking Acid and Talking To My Brother, Radio Kids, Rest Of It, EverythingSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

From his beginning with a pen and paper in 2009 to the release of his 2017 full-length debut Watercolor, Porter Ray has been one of the increasingly prominent, hardest-working talents in Seattle for some time. His art has never been more fully realized than it is on Watercolor, which finds him meditating on his life in Seattle and the death of his brother with poignance and incision laid across smoky, almost-levitating beats. In this session on Street Sounds with Stas THEE Boss, Porter Ray tells his story up to Watercolor and highlights five tracks from the album. Recorded 3/14/2017 - 5 songs: Waves, East Seattle, Sacred Geometry, Navi Truck, BeautifulSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

There's a low-key nuance to Haley Heynderickx's silvery guitar-based songs, but their brilliance radiates through stronger at a quieter level. That's to say nothing of the Portland-based artist's positivity-seeking outlook (“We saw a bald eagle and five rainbows on the way up here!”) and the colorful additions of the brass and horn arrangements she brings to this session on Audioasis with DJ Sharlese. Recorded 3/1/2017 - 4 songs: The Bug Collector, Fish Eyes, Untitled God Song, Ride a Pack of BeesSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Tommy Stinson put Bash & Pop on hold for just over two decades before reviving it last year, but the Minneapolis group's raucous, delightfully unhinged energy remains intact because, as the onetime Replacement says, “I'm not pretending to be anything other than what I am.” Stinson and the band run through five cuts from their 2017 LP Anything Could Happen and tell the story of why the band came back together after the Replacements' brief reunion to DJ Kevin Cole in this session where, at moments, it really feels like anything could happen. Recorded 2/28/2017 - 5 songs: Not This Time, On The Rocks, Bad News, Anything Can Happen, Anybody ElseSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After taking time to do projects that allowed him to, in his own words, “take some time off from being Jens Lekman,” the Swedish musician has returned to his day job of being himself with his latest LP, the cleverly-titled Life Will See You Now. Returning to the KEXP Live Room with DJ Stevie Zoom, Lekman and his band play a quartet of dance-friendly tunes from Life and discuss how interviewing others led Jekman back to his own artistic vision. Recorded 3/05/2017 - 4 songs: What's That Perfume That You Wear?, Hotwire The Ferris Wheel, Our First Fight, How We Met, the Long VersionSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With their latest album HeartTones, Julia Massey and the Five Finger Discount have sharpened their kinetic pop-rock more than ever before, building their latest batch of songs with an agile energy that belies their emotional resonance. The Seattle trio return to KEXP on a cold February day for a session on Audioasis featuring four songs from HeartTones. Recorded 2/4/2017 - 4 songs: A Bit Of Hard Time, Wrapped, This is How We're Gonna Say Goodbye (feat. Chris Blount), Wish You WellSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ranging from searing heat to sludgy gravel, Meatbodies' powerful, muscular, and meaty (of course) garage rock is an immediate rush of blood to the head, more than ever on their latest album, Alice. Joining DJ Morgan in studio, the band runs through six Alice tracks, discusses their guilty pleasures, and helps Morgan name her potential Meatbodies cover band. Recorded 2/23/2017 - 6 songs: Kings, Creature Feature, Disciples, Alice, Gyre, Haunted HistorySupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Paris Combo's most recent album, this year's Tako Tsubo, is named for the Japanese-named condition of what's commonly known as “broken heart syndrome”, but it's hardly morose. If anything, the colorful, flowing sounds of this session imply that there's anything but sadness in the multinational group's spirit. The vibrant, jazz-influenced outfit join Darek Mazzone on Wo' Pop in a long-awaited session featuring three songs from Tako Tsubo and an old favorite. Recorded 2/16/2017 - 4 songs: Anémiques Maracas, Tako Tsubo, Living Room, Je suis partieSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

While everyone else in Seattle was decked out in rain boots and all-weather jackets, the dapper Los Angeles quartet Chicano Batman returned to the KEXP studio dressed to the nines, bringing a bit of psychedelic sunshine to one of the wettest Seattle winters in recent memory. The band's ebullient tropicalia- and psychedelia-tinged rock has only grown sharper on their latest album, Freedom is Free, which shines through in this contagiously bright session with Troy Nelson. Recorded 2/08/2017 - 4 songs: La Samoana, Freedom is Free, Right Off The Back, RunSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“Well, we couldn't get faster.” That's how Cloud Nothings frontman Dylan Baldi explains the (relatively) slower tunes on their latest album Life Without Sound, but the Ohio crew has hardly slowed down. The quartet join Cheryl Waters in the KEXP Live Room to play four searing songs and talk about the process of making Life Without Sound, as well as why bands should stop in for the green room cold brew when at KEXP. Recorded 2/17/2017 - 4 songs: Modern Act, Sight Unseen, Enter Entirely, Darkened RingsSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Cherry Glazerr's rip-roaring rock and roll documents, to paraphrase band leader Clementine Creevy, “the struggles of a 17 year-old”, at the only volume that makes sense for that age - loud. Cherry Glazerr's latest album, 2017's perfectly-named Apocalipstick, is loaded with guitar-heavy jams that channel that youthful energy with a barely-contained chaos that shines through in this frenetic session in the KEXP Live Room with Cheryl Waters. Recorded 2/08/2017 - 4 songs: Told You I'd Be With The Guys, Only Kid On The Block, Trick or Treat Dance Floor, Chewing CudSupport the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The last time Ty Segall was in KEXP's studio, he ripped off a baby mask and squealed into the mic before he'd even played a single song. About a year later, he's definitely more coherent in his interview - he doesn't ask Cheryl Waters to be his mommy this time around - but he's still anything but boring in this explosive session. Joining his “surrogate mommy” Cheryl Waters in the KEXP Live Room, Segall and The Freedom Band rip through three songs, the lessons a musician can learn from Steve Albini, and why EQs are not your friend. Recorded 3/2/2017 - 3 songs: Break a Guitar, Freedom, Warm Hands (Freedom Returned)Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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.