KEXP

Recorded Live on August 11, 2013, KEXP and Nature Consortium presents Cloud Cult performing at Camp Long during the 15th Arts in Nature Festival.

The Sonics are revered by garage rock fans worldwide, but they have always carried a little more weight in the Pacific Northwest. They are to Washington what Springsteen is to Jersey. So in early 2015 when the band dropped their first new record in 50 years, Easy Street Records in Seattle was their destination to celebrate Record Store Day with friends and fans. Performing to a standing room only crowd on RSD 2015, recorded by KEXP, and mixed and mastered by the great Jack Endino, the band ferociously tore through the night joined by a stream of luminaries paying respects to the kings of the Northwest. “Live at Easy Street" is what that evening sounded like. Now, celebrate Record Store 2016, because THIS IS THE SONICS

Mudhoney is a band that never wanted to look down on their fans or anyone else. So to celebrate their first 25 years together, Sub Pop got the band to haul all of their gear up to the top of Seattle's Space Needle to do a half-hour set. This is probably the highest off the ground that the band has ever performed, but the small club atmosphere followed them up there.

By now most have heard about Superchunk titling their new album I Hate Music, that it is the “dark twin” of their 2010 release, Majesty Shredding. But the only reason to care about an album name is if you like the band that’s naming it. And who doesn’t like Superchunk?? The lively rock group that rose to fame in the 90’s, helping to put the Chapel Hill, NC, music scene on the map with quirky, punk-influenced songs, doesn’t make you think of drama first – not like, say, The Phantom of the Opera might – but drama was palpable in the wait for the band’s anticipated new project. And (important information alert!) the band has also shot at least one music video affixing a camera onto a kitty cat.