Strand of Oaks and KEXP have history together, and as they took the stage they were immediately sincere and earnest in their thanks: not being from Seattle can be hard on folks, and they explained that their long involvement with the station, in particular with DJ John Richards, have been what has made Seattle feel like home. Their first song came in hot, especially compared to the intimate energy of the preceding solo shows.
You could see the bobbing, concerned children who were sitting on their parent's shoulders as their mounts began to dance to Oaks hard-knocking rock...
They killed: their hard but patient, mid-tempo rock was equal parts dance-y and atmospheric, and before the final song they gave a special thanks to later-in-the-evening performer Bob Mould "for letting me rip off all his chords." A particular highlight of their set was during a long, melting guitar solo frontman Tim Showalter had to stop playing just to let out a bellowing, powerful scream.
Icelandic heartthrobs Samaris are familiar to KEXP's most loyal fans, but they were clearly a surprise and a radical departure to the newcomers. The trio - vocalist, clarinetist, and beat maker/DJ - had the burden of having to follow-up Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings inside the Gathering Space, b…
