Live on KEXP

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 sessio...

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 fo...

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 Ow...

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...

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 wo...

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, 20...

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 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 st...

"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...

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 ende...

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 pro...

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 ant...

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 "be...

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 a...

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 Theat...

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,...

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 he...

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...

Peaches stepped away from making albums for a few years to "get her ya-ya's out" – specifically a documentary, a role in an opera, and a one-woman version of "Jesus Christ Superstar" – but she returned in 2015 as vital as ever. After spending a year crafting her sixth LP "Rub" in her garage, the patriarchy-challenging performer takes no prisoners during her fiery retu...

New York duo PWR BTTM visit KEXP to perform a strong set of punkish garage-pop. Recorded 01/22/2016 - 4 songs: West Texas, Ugly Cherries, I Wanna Boy, 1994. Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Baltimore experimental indie-dream-pop group Lower Dens stop by the KEXP studio and play songs from their haunting new record "Escape from Evil" live on KEXP's The Midday Show with Cheryl Waters. Recorded 07/27/2015 - 4 songs: To Die In L.A., Ondine, Sucker's Shangri-La, Société Anonyme. Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informatio...

Thao & the Get Down Stay Down visit KEXP to play songs from their fourth LP, "A Man Alive". Recorded 03/03/2016 - 4 songs: Hand To God, Astonished Man, Guts, Nobody Dies. Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Malian four-piece Songhoy Blues join Cheryl Waters on the Midday Show to perform their inventive desert rock live on KEXP. Recorded 04/05/2016 - 4 songs: Al Hassidi Terei, Sekou Oumarou, Petit Metier, Soubour. Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

London-based artist Floating Points (aka Sam Shepherd) performs a set of intricate textured electronic blends live on KEXP. Recorded 05/03/2016 - 3 songs: Silhouettes, Argenté, Kuiper. Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Portland band STRFKR perform a dance-y set live on KEXP. Recorded 02/18/2016 - 4 songs: YAYAYA, Pop Song, Open Your Eyes, Never Ever. Support the show: https://www.kexp.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.