Video: Japandroids - The House That Heaven Built

Quickly becoming one of the years strongest festival line-ups, Beacons Festival  - set in the stunning surroundings of the Yorkshire Dales - has once again come up trumps with its most varied and interesting rosters to-date. Although boasting a superb array of talent across the weekend (August 17th-19th), we've done our best to pick out what we believe will be this years highlights... Friday 17th Mount Kimbie In a real coup for the [...]

photo by Brittney Bollay Seattle can now claim a hold on summer as we reach post-80 degree weather this week! (Sorry, rest of the country, but we've earned this!) No matter where you are, though, or whether you're sitting out on the beach, picnicking in a park, heading out on a long roadtrip or just chilling at home, you're going to want to soundtrack these hot summer days with some hot new jams. To help beef up your playlists, we've asked KEXP DJs and staff what's in their heavy rotation this summer. Carol [...]

When our friends over at BBC 6 Music asked us for our "Top 3 artists of the year so far" we exhaled much more air than could've possibly been in our lungs at the time. Its the kind of question that requires serious care and attention before producing an answer, like upon saying the name you are committing yourself, upon saying the name you cannot take it back. We get the same look of perplexed serenity on our faces for similar questions, such as "What music do you like?" "Who is your favourite band?" "What is the best all time [...]

Fun Song That Everyone Knows is a prestigious title to hold, and with the right combination of tunesmithery, marketing, and a well-timed release date, a pop artist can land his/her/their song in the extremely fortunate position of holding that title in the summer, which is of course the time of year when being the Fun Song That Everyone Knows is a surefire route to crossover success and year-end countdowns in the short-term, and nostalgic playlists in the long-term. Inevitably, of all the anthems churned out by urban warehouse scenesters, white-bread indie rockers, and Top 40 svengalis, only a [...]

“What if I sat here complimenting you? Something like - John, everything about you is perfect,” says Brian King of Japandroids to The Line of Best Fit. Sadly, he’s not being entirely serious and is merely responding to some fawning comments about their new album, Celebration Rock . “Being complimented never gets not weird.” Maybe The Line of Best Fit should have lied and spoken of our disbelief at the utter shitness of the duo’s third album. King’s ears prick up: “That would be refreshing – ‘so, [...]

Dust off your air guitar. 2012, Polyvinyl Records 8.6 / 10.0 Noise rock duo Japandroids’ newest album, Celebration Rock, begins and ends with fireworks, both literally and metaphorically. Seemingly drawing inspiration from classic rock bands, Celebration Rock is a fitting title for [...]

It used to be that the coming of summer meant that the album release schedule was on its way to a vacation until the fall. That's definitely not the case this month. It used to be that the coming of summer meant that the album release schedule was on its way to a vacation until the fall. That's definitely not the case this month, which features new sounds from hall-of-famers like the Beach Boys, Neil Young & Crazy Horse, and Patti Smith, as well as eagerly anticipated records by buzzed about acts like Big K.R.I.T., Japandroids, and Liars. And [...]