On Saturday, December 12, KEXP presents the 7th annual Yule Benefit with a great lineup including two bands from Portland and two from Seattle: representing the Rose City, The Thermals and the ghostly The Builders and The Butchers, and hometown heroes The Cave Singers and Grand Hallway. The Seattle...

After testing her acting chops with guest runs on the revamped “Melrose Place” and “CSI,” Ashlee Simpson has made her way to Broadway. The pop singer is currently starring in Chicago as Roxie Hart, a role she previously tackled during on London’s West End in 2006. [MTV.com] The popularity of...

You know it’s a slow week for new releases when there aren’t even any box sets to promote… and it’s the week after Black Friday! However, that’s no reason to skip out of shopping this week because there are a few worthwhile new releases hitting the shelves, most notably the first new album in three...

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part of our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. Each and every Friday we offer songs by local artists. Today’s selection, featured on the [...]

Shinko Pier For those who saw it, the two-night run of the TeidenEXPO (Blackout Expo) performance was one of the highlights of the opening weekend of the recently launched International Festival for Arts and Media Yokohama 2009. Conceived by a group of young artists and dancers – Tetsuya Umeda, Megumi Kamimura, Neji Pijin, Kanta Horio and a collective named ‘contact Gonzo’ – the performance took the form of an absurdist initiation rite, generating a communal experience of the humour and violence that underpin communal interactions. The performance was staged in dead space surrounding a freestanding cube-shaped theatre that had been constructed in the centre of the expansive Shinko Pier...

Established in Reykjavik in 2006, Sequences is an independent annual arts festival that was founded by four of the city’s many artist-run galleries: The Living Art Museum (which has been active for more than 30 years); Kling & Bang (established by a group of ten artists in 2003); Dwarf Gallery (an tiny space open several months a year); and the now-defunct Bananananas, along with the support of The Center for Icelandic Art (CIA.IS). With a focus on performance, though also incorporating a programme of seminars, lectures and screenings, Sequences remains the only festival in Iceland dedicated to contemporary art – an important position given the harsh recession that followed last...

Bobby Reed: Time Is Right From 7" (Bell, 196?) Tek and Steele: We Came Up (Crystal Stair) (feat. Talib Kweli) From Reloaded (Duck Down, 2005) Tek and Steele: We Came Up (Bobby Reed Section) My man Hua hepped me to this Smif N Wessun cut from 2005 that missed my radar and the first thing I noted was, "oh schnap, they're looping up Bobby Reed's "Time Is Right For Love," aka "one of the few records I'd current break the $300 mark to cop". I can't believe I didn't already write about Reed for the site (I got brief mention before but never a dedicated thread.) Best. Thing. Ever. Seriously. This song is one of the best two minutes you'll ever enjoy. It's so good I'm not even...

White Witches Genre: Alt / Pop From: London, United Kingdom I received an email out of the blue from Dave Barnett (alumni of The New Royal Family, Luxembourg, Pure, Greenheart) about his new and as yet little known London band White Witches (not to be...