Seattle Culture

Echoes & Sounds

By Seattle Mag February 21, 2024

Lido Pimienta
Lido Pimienta
Jim Bennett

This article originally appeared in the January/February 2024 issue of Seattle magazine.

Seattle institution KEXP has recently launched ambitious new programs highlighting unique Indigenous and Asian music.

Sounds of Survivance, with rotating hosts Tory J and Kevin Sur, showcases global Indigenous music from a variety of genres, including love songs, resistance anthems, and free-flowing jazz. Eastern Echoes is a three-hour weekly journey through the vast realm of music from Asia and the Asian diaspora. The host is Diana Ratsamee.

Another new show, Astral Plane, is described as a “kaleidoscopic world of psychedelic sounds.” It is hosted by DJ Jewel.

“I think there’s a lot of medical interest right now in psychedelic journeys; they’re saying it can be very good for you mentally, but not everyone can just go trip on a Wednesday night,” says Jewel, a Seattle musician. “But maybe theoretically you could do it just via the music. So, that’s what I’m trying to provide.”

KEXP has about 280,000 weekly listeners. Its YouTube channel boasts 2.69 million subscribers and nearly 1.4 billion views, with 75% of those outside the United States.

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