Live on KEXP

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.