Kexp Live Performances Podcast

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.