Portugal. The Man is out with a new album called SHISH. Emily Fox caught up with the band’s singer, songwriter and founder, John Gourley at Seattle’s Showbox SoDo to hear how his off-the-grid childhood in Alaska as well as his daughter’s genetic conduction influenced the album. “My mom and dad both became Iditarod mushers and finishers, and it took us off grid. We didn’t have power until I was 16, 17,” Gourley said.

photo by Nathan Perkel

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Seattle’s Brandi Carlile recently released her eighth studio album — it’s called “Returning to Myself.” Carlile stopped by KEXP recently to speak with DJ Kevin Cole about the themes of togetherness, confronting middle age, and watching her daughters slowly grow up and become more independent. She tells the story about how writing a poem in a barn started the album writing process, and how she managed to become very close friends with Joni Mitchell. 

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Neko Case is out with a new album called Neon Grey Midnight Green. In conversation with Emily Fox, Case breaks down what spiderwebs can teach us about self-importance, what female and non-binary folks in the music industry have taught her about confidence and not caring about the male gaze and rock n’ roll’s mythology of “you’re lucky to be here.”

“The mythology of you're lucky to be here of rock n’ roll… is very harmful and it's often leveraged to make people think that that theater wasn't built to play music in,” Case says. “Like really? That's weird because I don't know, there's a stage and you have a huge sound system in here. Gosh, I guess we could probably get together and make this happen.”

photo by Ebru Yildiz

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The Seattle-based jazz musician Kassa Overall released CREAM in September 2025, an album that showcases new, original takes on some of the most classic tracks in 90s rap — from Wu Tang to Biggie and beyond. Overall spoke with KEXP’s Dusty Henry about his work.

"As we're recording these songs, I'm realizing this is actually a response record to my other records," Overall says in the interview. "This is actually a commentary on the whole jazz hip-hop conversation. This is a commentary on my own career."

Overall adds historical context: "Jazz musicians always would take songs that were popular in the public sphere and just use them as materials — not so much a cover, but just as a starting point for the listener. The idea that you remain faithful to the original — maybe some people think about that as a sign of respect to the music, but I don't see it like that. The respect comes from studying the original and then finding your own way to approach it."

Photo Credit: Erik Barden

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Jay Som is the moniker of Melina Duterte, a songwriter and producer originally based out of the Bay Area now living in Los Angeles. After producing music for other artists for so many years, she’s back with her fourth studio album, Belong, named for her quest to figure out her place in the indie music scene. While her tracks take you across various genre explorations from straight-up pop to downright experimental, she masterfully curates a cohesive experience. 

KEXP’s Dusty Henry spoke with Duterte about the expansive sound of the record, including collaborations with emo idols Jim Adkins of Jimmy Eat World and Hayley Williams of Paramore. 

“I’m always desperate for connection and understanding other people,” Duterte says in the interview. “When I get to have that experience, I feel closer to myself. That’s what this album helped me with.” 

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Photo Credit: Daniel Topete

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In 2024, the Scottish-Danish artist Clarissa Connelly put out an album called World of Work. It doesn’t exactly deal with “work” the way that you might imagine in a 21st-century context. On the contrary, Connelly’s opus dives deep into philosophical concepts regarding our relationship with our mortal world, bodily movement, and what’s known as “religious ecstasy.” 

KEXP contributor Isabel Khalili spoke with Connelly about the themes she taps into, which are as timeless as the sound of the music itself. The album centers around the use of bells, circularity, and death as a form of revelation. 

“The feeling of being part of something bigger — what is that?” Connelly asks in the interview, nodding to the first existential questions of our human ancestors. “Connecting with the past gives me a feeling of getting really high. Bells have always been a way of connecting to that. They are our structure of society.” Her hope for the listener is that the album can create space, peace, and “even just a brief moment of clarity or wanting to let go and being brave.” 

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Izzy Glaudini, Halle Saxon, and Lola Dompé make up the Los Angeles post-punk trio Automatic. They released their third album Is It Now? last month on Stones Throw Records. 

KEXP’s Martin Douglas spoke with all three members of the band about the new album, how touring influenced their new sound, and finding joy in a polarized political climate. 

“The worse things become politically, it becomes even more important to have a vision of what you want the world to be like,” Glaudini says in the interview. “There’s not much room for self-pity and cynicism. That’s a luxury that we don’t have. So, when your back’s against the wall, you have to get your dukes up,” she laughs. 

“It’s inspiring to feel active and believe in something — which sounds hokey but seems to be the truth. When push comes to shove, people don’t want to see injustice or fascism take over.” 

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photo by Erica Snyder

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KEXP’s Fall Fundraising Drive is happening right now. Our goal this week is to raise $1.1 million to help make up for the loss of funds from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. This podcast — as well as all our programming on the air, online, and in our communities — relies primarily on financial contributions from individuals. Our amplifiers give money to the station on a monthly basis, and we couldn’t do what we do without you.

Between the loss of CPB funding and the questions raised by streaming platforms and artificial intelligence, we’re at a critical juncture to determine the future of the music industry. It’s in your hands. Please give now at kexp.org/deeper!

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The photographer Bootsy Holler is releasing a book next month called “Making It: an intimate documentary on the Seattle indie rock and punk scene, 1992 to 2008.” Those were the years when Bootsy was living in the city.

She captures behind-the-scenes moments with artists who have defined Seattle’s reputation, from Nirvana to Fleet Foxes. In addition to revealing moments with lesser-known artists, Bootsy also shares pieces of own life as a photographer trying to “make it” in this creative business.

“Part of what I love about Seattle is that everyone is making their own art,” Bootsy says in the interview. “There’s nobody telling you what to do. Once I realized that, I started to look at myself even differently — like, ‘yeah, you have lived on your own terms.’”

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photo by Bootsy Holler/Seth Gordon

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Algernon Cadwallader is a midwest emo band originally from Pennsylvania. They took a hiatus back in 2012, and now they’re officially back with their first full-length album in more than a decade, Trying Not to Have a Thought.

KEXP’s Meerah Powell spoke with some of the members about the band’s revival, their newfound connections to the Pacific Northwest, and how their lyrics leave little room for ambiguity.

“I think we’re at a point where there needs to be a little more ‘get pissed’ in everything that people are making,” drummer Nick Tazza says in the interview. “Everyone feels it, and I think we need to stop shying away from it.”

On this record, Algernon Cadwallader directly confronts complicated events in America’s political history, from the 1985 bombing of the Philadelphia organization MOVE to the more recent placement of boulders under freeway bridges in Portland to deter homeless people from camping there.

“We used to spend so much time in between songs talking about [political issues],” vocalist Peter Helmis says. “Well, now, it just comes along with the music. Anytime someone plays it, they’re hearing the message.”

Tazza adds: “We’ve all put a record together that stands for something and it means something. All the bands we loved growing up were super political, and that’s what we cut our teeth on, so to see it come full circle is kind of cool.”

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Photo credit: Scott Troyan

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