Seiji Oda pays respect to his Oakland roots in his 2025 album HUMAN + NATURE. He not only samples Bay Area titans like Mac Dre and Trunk Boiz — the record also features numerous collaborations with local artists making waves in the scene today, like the producer ClayDough. 

 

KEXP’s Dusty Henry spoke with Oda about his signature “lofi hyphy” sound, blending raw nature sounds with party-ready beats. 

 

“Starting with the natural environment first, I’m like, ‘Okay, what fits there?’” Oda says of his creative process in the interview. “What chords do I hear in this environment? What drums do I hear in this environment? Whose vocal sound could sound good in this environment? It doesn’t have to be perfect. As long as it feels right and people are moving, that’s what matters.” 

 

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Open Mike Eagle’s tenth studio album, Neighborhood Gods Unlimited, continues the rap legacy that he started in the late 2000s when he cofounded the trio Thirsty Fish. From there, he made a bigger name for himself as a solo artist, starting with his 2010 debut, Unapologetic Art Rap. Along the way, he even appeared in the cartoon Adventure Time as a rapping gingerbread cookie.

On top of his music career, Open Mike Eagle has also started multiple multimedia endeavors, like the artist collective Hellfyre Club and an alt-comedy TV series called The New Negroes (both of which have since ended). These days, he’s running his own podcast network, Stony Island Audio.

KEXP’s Martin Douglas spoke with Open Mike Eagle about the years leading up to his newest album, which included a divorce and various collaborations with other rappers. Neighborhood Gods Unlimited draws heavily on Black surrealism, similar to movies like Sorry to Bother You and Get Out.“

I felt challenged and inspired by these pieces of media,” Open Mike Eagle says in the interview. “I want to tell an absurd story in a rap album. I want people to feel the depths where it might be trying to go emotionally and the questions it might be trying to ask — but I don't want to say all the answers.” He continues, “At every step of that process, I have to deal with self-doubt. I want to make art that is able to contend with that.”

Photo credit: Robert Adam Mayer

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When Kay Redden moved to Seattle from Garland, Texas, she made it her mission to connect with her newly adopted home through music. So, in searching for meaning after mother’s death in April 2015, she launched Den Tapes, spending countless hours hand-dubbing cassettes. It wasn’t long before local bands gravitated toward her down-to-earth, community-oriented approach to music distribution. 

This year, she’s marking the label’s tenth birthday with a compilation titled What Else is Sacred? A Compilation of Grief, as well as a curated two-day lineup at Den Fest on August 8 and 9 at Sunset Tavern. 

KEXP’s Dusty Henry spoke with Redden to explore the label’s ten-year history through five standout albums. 

“I am anti Seattle Freeze,” Redden says in the interview. “I don't believe in it. There are too many transplants here now for it to be real. I want to make a community that actually welcomes you with open arms.” On that note, when it comes to Den Fest, she advises showgoers: “Come and be prepared to dance a little bit. If you don't like dancing, stand at the back,” she laughs. 

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Redden's picks for must-listen Den Tapes albums:

New Album by Happy Times Sad Times

Switch Hits by Various Artists

Skin by Wild Powwers

Passe by Oruã

Pistons of the Ages by M.A. Sampson

Photo Credit: Ashley Dickerson

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Michael Imperioli, the actor known for his roles in The Sopranos and The White Lotus, is also the guitarist of a three-piece indie band called Zopa. Their latest album, Diamond Vehicle, came out in early 2025. 

KEXP’s Martin Douglas spoke with Imperioli about how he started playing music, the influence of Buddhism in his songwriting, and his fondness of The Beatles, Lou Reed, and The Smiths. 

“When you play with people for a long time, hopefully something gels,” Imperioli says of Zopa’s music. “It took a while to get there, but I’m happy with how it came out.”

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photo by Kayla Rocca

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July 18, 2025 was the last day of Wu-Tang Clan’s farewell concert tour, The Final Chamber. One of their stops was at Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena, where KEXP’s Dusty Henry, Martin Douglas, and Larry Mizell, Jr. rapped alongside thousands of fans. We recap the concert and pay tribute to the group’s decades-long legacy.

“Wu-Tang Clan is our generation’s equivalent of the Beatles — it’s not even close,” Martin asserts in the conversation. “They basically created an entirely new style out of an existing form of music. They wrapped up this whole mythology inside of it, from the use of samples to the aliases to, of course, the logo.” 

Photo Credit: Kyle Christy

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Marlon Williams, singer-songwriter from New Zealand, uses his deep vibrato on more than a dozen new original songs written entirely in the Indigenous language Te Reo Maori. It was a years-long endeavor, with songs featuring collaborators like KOMMI and Lorde. 

KEXP contributor Celine Teo-Blockey spoke with Williams in Sydney, Australia last month. He was attending the premiere of the album’s accompanying documentary, Marlon Williams: Ngā Ao E Rua – Two Worlds. 

“A big goal for the record was to see what Maori is capable of across different musical worlds,” Williams says in the interview. “Where can this language prove itself? Having now made this record, this makes me want to push it into other areas, too. It feels like a real starting point, not a finish.” 

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Cincinnati-based trio Artificial Go released their sophomore album, Musical Chairs, in May 2025. Their blend of post-punk riffs, danceable rhythms, and faux British accents has made them one of the most exciting groups on the scene. During their live shows, singer Angie Willcut wears a marching band uniform and literally marches around the audience. Their patently unserious attitude is exactly what we need right now.

KEXP’s Dusty Henry teams up with his 3-year-old daughter to drill down on the big themes in this music project. 

“My favorite color is red,” Willcut asserts in the interview. “If I did drive a convertible, I would want red because every day I like to wear the color red, so the convertible would match all my outfits.” When pressed, Willcut added: “Periwinkle wouldn’t match my red outfits as well.”

Photo Credit: Paul L Carter

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Music journalist Jeff Weiss recently wrote a book titled Waiting for Britney Spears, documenting the pop stars rise and fall from the public eye. But the book isn’t a historical account, it’s an “allegedly true” story that blurs fact and fiction, putting Weiss himself in the middle of the action. His writing takes a playful tabloid-style tone — a commentary on the tabloid-style news that moved her story along and his own experience working in that industry.

KEXP’s Martin Douglas talked with Weiss about how Britney Spears not only influenced modern music, but also symbolized a collective loss of innocence among millennials.

“I wanted to tell the story of the death of the millennial American dream,” Weiss says in the interview. “Who more symbolic than Britney Spears? She was such a martyr for our cultural sins in so many respects. All the themes that Britney Spears embodies, we’re still grappling with in the eye of pop culture today."

Photo Credit: Krista Schlueter

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Natalie Lew, also known as Sea Lemon, released her debut album Diving for a Prize in June 2025 on Luminelle Recordings. Across 12 songs, reverb-heavy guitars wash underneath vocals that allude to made-up stories and unhealthy obsessions. For example, “Stay” draws inspiration from the real-life antics of an elderly security guard at a thrift store while “Rear View” pulls from Lew’s original fiction about a naive baseball player’s failing career. She proudly likens her sound to shoegaze pioneers Cocteau Twins.

KEXP’s Roddy Nikpour talks with Sea Lemon about launching her music career in New York and moving back to her hometown of Seattle. She has since opened for American Football in two sold-out shows and collaborated with Northwest music legend Ben Gibbard — all within five years of picking up a guitar for the first time.

“I was an insanely big Death Cab fan as a kid,” Lew says in the interview. “Ben reached out to me over Instagram. Somehow, he had found my music outside of realizing the fact that I was in Seattle. Then we played a show together, and we did a song together, ‘Crystals,’ which was the first song that I recorded for my album. It all came together so funnily, and it felt like the smallest world.”

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Photo Credit: Rachel Bennett

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Max Perla and Vincent John make up Eraserhood Sound, the duo that scores the animated PBS Kids series Carl the Collector. In the spirit of Vince Guaraldi’s signature sound in Peanuts cartoons, show creator Zach Ohora says that Eraserhood’s “synth and soul” formula provides the perfect soundscape for the everyday happenings of an autistic raccoon and his neurodiverse friend group in Fuzzytown.

KEXP’s Roddy Nikpour spoke with Perla, John, and Ohora to learn more about the show, their shared interest in collecting vinyl, and how their pride as fellow Philadelphia-based artists led them to creating the show’s low-stimulus soundtrack.

“You know that opening scene from Reservoir Dogs when they’re walking down the alleyway?” Ohora says in the interview, describing one of the music cues. “It’s like that for four-year-olds. It’s like, ‘This is my gang that I want to hang out with, and they’re the cutest, nicest, fuzziest animals.’”

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