Aminéisn't just up-and-coming anymore -- he's arrived. The Portland rapper made his Seattle debut in probably the biggest way possible -- playing to a packed out crowd at Key Arena at the Bumbershoot Music & Arts Festival. Walking on to the beastly, hyphy-like beat of "Red Mercedes," Aminé kept the crowd going at full force throughout his set. His debut album, Good For You, has only been out for a couple months yet he already has a stadium of people yelling along to every word. He had fun with it too, stopping his mega hit "Caroline" halfway through to run through a stripped-down version of the song and even had the crowd rap one of the track's more challenging verses a capella. He clearly loves catching the crowd off guard too; abruptly ending his song "Spice Girl" to play the actually Spice Girls' own "Wannabe" over the PA system. Seeing a Northwest artist hold down such a massive venue and be showered with so much love from fans was a beautiful sight. Aminé may already be a star, but it's not over here. Next time he comes through to Seattle, who knows where he'll be. Whatever it might be, I can't wait to find out.
Stas THEE Boss lives up to her name. When she's on the stage, she's in total control. It'd been awhile since I'd seen the former THEESatisfaction MC hop on the mic, but seeing her DJ around town (and on KEXP's Street Sounds) has continued to prove that she has impeccable taste and style.
Back in 2015, Conor Oberst stepped away from the Desaparecidos' tour due to "laryngitis, anxiety, and exhaustion." During his recuperation in his hometown of Omaha, Nebraska, he began to create the songs for last year's full-length, the acoustic LP Ruminations. (Earlier this year, he released the f…
"Only 340 more songs to go," said Icelandic soul singer Júníus Meyvant, hiding a sly grin under a thick red beard at the start of his set at the KEXP Gathering Space Stage on Saturday evening. Fans on the concrete floor in front of him, sitting like children arranged around a teacher, chuckled. Tho…
At a festival, it's rare to get a performance that feels "intimate." It's something most fans reconcile with before they ever enter the gates and scan their wristbands. So walking into the KEXP Gathering Space on Saturday afternoon at the Bumbershoot Music & Arts Festival and finding the crowd …
