Open Water

show 36 lends its voice to the refugee crisis, but ultimately doesn’t take itself seriously enough to steer straight after that… or end error-free.

show 35 is all about new-ness, with all-too-timely releases from Japandroids, Cloud Nothings, Heat, Priests, Teen Vice, Camp Cope and a buncha other stuff that sounds good at the desk, better in the car, and best at the beach. even in January.

show 34 starts in a shoegaze-y way, then feels a bit bad for itself, before finding its snark, then bouncing its head in bemusement. why not, indeed.

show 33 cannot be brought down by fake news. it offers only testimonials from Sleaford Mods, Kim Gordon, Chavez, Japandroids and and and and and and

the new year brings a fortune cookie of hope that might just sing loud enough to drown out abject fear, as conveyed through the strains of The Pop Group, Uranium Club, Faux Ferocious, another Tweedy and more more more...

show 31 offers up one installment from each of the best albums of 2016 — “best” being a relative term befitting beauty pageants and barstool arguments.

show 30 is a 2-hour holiday music extravaganza, with more than a few that got away. happy festivus, y’all.

show 29 fittingly resembles a 29-year-old — brash in its assertions, rambling between angst and grace, and quite unable to get to 30. The Shacks, The Seams, Crystal Fairy, At the Drive-In, Faux Ferocious, more.

show 28 features a special guest in the form of new KX intern Adeline, who makes her radio debut (at about the 26-min. mark) and shows dignity in the face of the host’s technical gaffes. also onhand: The Seams, Tim Darcy, Jeff Rosenstock, Dams of the West, and more-ish

I came breezing in from the motorway at 4:59, just to bring you this bag of independent. you basked in the warm glow of Total Slacker, Magnetic Fields, Mick Harvey, Preoccupations and the Lucy Show. we both came away fulfilled.

show 26 is about Giving Thanks — to the stewards of indie rock. (specifically, Wolf Parade, Merchandise, All Them Witches, LIV, His Clancyness, Joyce Manor, Power, Broncho, and a veritable cornucopia of other goodness.) will you ever be full?

show 25 heralds the swanson of A Tribe Called Quest, and transitions seamlessly into some goth-y goodness from Savages, The Chameleons and Protomartyr, and hitches a ride in the Wayback Machine for some Trip Shakespeare and Big Star. now how much would you pay?

show 24 lives in a post-Election haze interrupted by the death of Leonard Cohen. what can be said, when the title of the Joan As Police Woman track says it all?

show 23 has election fever, so — fittingly — it’s a bit manic and not too focused. new cuts from Duchess Says, CC Dust, Soft Kill & Cloud Nothings, plus the return of Earwig, and a PUP take on Phantogram. VOTE!

Happy Halloween from Open Water — a little Concrete Blonde to kick things off, alongside new cuts from The Shins, Pond, The Radio Dept., Futurebirds, The Oh Sees, and so so so so so much more unsafe candy.

show 21 shines brightly with the pleasing strains of the Matt Pond PA and Everyone is Dirty, but finds its angst again with Minihorse, Faux Ferocious, Year of Glad, Lovely Bad Things & Diarrhea Planet. yes, Diarrhea Planet.

show 20 casts the net wide, with new drops of goodness from Midnight Faces, Valley Queen & Crying, yet another from Cass McCombs’ fantastic new record, a Pond headtrip, and a deep cut from Fischer-Z

show 19 starts off on a mellow vibe, with Kate Bush's extended live prologue from her sold-out 2014 UK dates, goes abroad for a little Nena & Francis Cabrel, and brings it all back home with new Pixies, White Night, We Are Wolves and that good ol’ Beach Slang

show 18 is therapeutic, with some cathartic work from Joseph and Cymbals Eat Guitars, new stuff from Shovels & Rope, Phantogram and Beach Slang, and a Morphine drip

show 17 is all about great new cuts from Grandaddy, Beach Slang, Cymbals Eat Guitars and the man Leonard Cohen. plus a Kevin Shields remix of an Undertones classic, and a little something from… Ferris Bueller’s Day Off?