KCRW Exclusive

FYF Fest founder Sean Carlson  joined Jason Bentley on Morning Becomes Eclectic this morning to reveal the initial line up for this year’s festival, happening on August 24 and 25 at L.A. State Historic Park.
It’s the 10-year anniversary and they’ve assembled an extra-special lineup to celebrate, including headlining performances from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and My Bloody Valentine — the latter of which is …

When I set aside a few hours to listen to new music, most of it is fine, but rarely is it special. However, in the midst of all that, the diamonds really shine through.
I’m not a huge folk fan, but when I saw a CD from a band called Holy Folk, I had to listen based on their sense of humor alone.
Come to find …

KCRW DJ Gary Calamar premieres a special track from the upcoming True Blood Vol 4. soundtrack – Eric Burdon and Jenny Lewis dueting on “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood”. Take a listen and read the story behind it below.
“Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” by Eric Burdon and Jenny Lewis
Oh, the summertime is comin’….flowers blooming, fireflies lighting the sky, and the beach is the place …

This past Saturday night, I had the pleasure of welcoming DJ, first-rate/first-wave music blogger turned ESP Institute label boss Andrew Hogge (a.k.a. Lovefingers) into the studio.
 A longtime hero of mine, the man has a rather strange and storied life in music. He played in an early iteration of Ariel Pink’s Haunted Grafitti. Like “bumrocks,” his now retired music blog “lovefingers” was a hugely influential zeitgeist atom bomb. Additionally, his …

I had the honor of being a fly on the wall as Henry Rollins and his friend of over 40 years, Ian Mackeye (Fugazi, Minor Threat, The Evens), took over the airwaves for two hours on Saturday. Not only did they play some very hard-to-find tracks and unreleased demos that Ian has in his possession, but it was a bit of an education about …

We fell in love with Norwegian singer Mr Little Jeans (real name: Monica Birkenes) a few years back when she released a striking – and somewhat haunting – cover of “The Suburbs” by Arcade Fire. She followed that with an excellent dance track “Runaway” and we hear the singer, now based in LA will have a FULL album ready in late June.
We can’t wait, …

Sam Beam (Iron & Wine) and Glen Hansard share many things in common. Soulful, singers. Incredible storytellers. And both of them made me cry in one evening.
Earlier this year KCRW was approached by the manager for both artists and he asked if we would be interested in hosting an acoustic show where they would share a stage, which was met with an immediate “YES!”
The …

When I walked into the studio this morning, there were dozens of candles and lights down low. Rhye was here. And for a band like this, you need some atmosphere.
Shortly after that, I met the wife of singer Mike Milosh and my  immediate internal response was “Wow, YOU’RE the woman!”.
There are few great make out records of late and Rhye’s “Woman” is one of …

Don & Phil Everly, despite being Rock & Roll Hall of Famers, probably aren’t at the top of your Spotify playlists.  If you have any of their songs in your iTunes library, it’s likely one of the half-dozen songs that have reached the upper echelon of our cultural literacy through daily spins on oldies radio stations.  But through the 60s and early 70s, they …

When we hosted Airborne Toxic Event for a live set at the end of February, we were treated to a brand new song from their forthcoming full length “Such Hot Blood“. They also have an EP — “The Secret” — out next week in time for SXSW, but this song in particular really caught my attention as bass player Noah Harmon picked up a …