Russian Circles bring heavy instrumentals to KEXP's studio

Brian Cook's bass is a talking point as the Chicago trio's full session draws an unusually fast audience.

Channel: KEXP Story of October 31, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 117,688 views a day, 9.9 times a normal first day on this channel (11,900).

Russian Circles - Full Performance (Live on KEXP)

One viewer is jokingly warning the neighbors: tonight, they'll be listening to Brian Cook. The bassist's place in the mix has become a talking point beneath Russian Circles' KEXP session, alongside requests for a closer look at Dave Turncrantz's drumming.

The full performance has reached roughly 85,000 views in thirteen hours, already well beyond the channel's usual first-day audience for regular videos. Its comment section is dozens of times busier than a typical full opening day, too.

Recorded in August with host Troy Nelson, the session brings together guitarist Mike Sullivan, Cook and Turncrantz for a set that moves from "Deficit" through "Harper Lewis" and "Empath" to "Eluvial." Russian Circles are an instrumental trio, making one viewer's praise for the vocals a particularly economical joke.

There's some musical history in that running order: "Harper Lewis" appeared on Station in 2008, while "Deficit" opens the band's 2013 album Memorial. The set puts those established pieces alongside "Empath" and "Eluvial," rather than concentrating on a single release.

KEXP has also posted the songs separately. Of those standalone performances, "Eluvial" has drawn the largest audience so far and is itself running well ahead of the channel's usual opening pace. For listeners who want that closing piece without starting the full session again, it has an upload of its own.

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The numbers

Both the full Russian Circles session and the standalone "Eluvial" performance are drawing unusually large opening audiences for KEXP.

the video's first day

usual first day here

11,900

this video

117,688

subscribers

4,110,000

▲ 10,000 in the last 7 days

total views

2,187,005,188

views per day

1,448,278

typical day: 702,596

the video

views

84,929

likes

3,547

comments

354

days online

1

subscribers: this channel and similar channels

BritneySpearsVEVO

4,800,000

BBC Music

4,610,000

KEXP

4,110,000

Epitaph Records

4,020,000

BBCRadio1VEVO

3,460,000

riserecords

3,020,000

As of October 31, 2026 · Data source: Trari Social News, Trari Traffic Trends and Ranking Platform, Google YouTube

Subscriber, view, like and comment counts are YouTube's. Rates, usual days, rankings, comparisons and categories are Trari's own calculations.