On September 14th, Robert Plant is releasing a new album of covers called Band of Joy on which he performs two (2) songs by the band Low. Those two songs are “Monkey” and “Silver Rider” from Low’s album The Great Destroyer
This is the same Low whose last two albums, the 2007 release Drums and Guns and 2005’s The Great Destroyer we at Sub Pop released. And, this is the same Robert Plant who was in Led Zeppelin.
No big deal.
Rolling Stone magazine had the following to say about Band of Joy…
“…The two most striking songs are the most left-field, both penned by the brooding, husband-wife indie-rock band Low. “Silver Rider” is a glittering dirge, another showcase for [Patty] Griffin, who’s such a good songwriter that it’s easy to forget what a great singer she is. Plant sings “Monkey” almost as a whisper. “It’s a suicide/Shut up and drive,” he snarls, in what sounds like the opening scene of a David Lynch film. It’s as menacingly restrained as anything he’s ever uttered."
You can hear a stream of Band of Joy in its entirety over at NPR’s First Listen feature on the album. (The photo of Robert Plant that accompanies this post was taken from that NPR First Listen page, and is credited to Gregg Delman, by the way.)
AND! Because, like Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin, we are great fans of the band Low, we are giving away free mp3 downloads of their original versions of both Silver Rider and Monkey so that you can see/hear/feel for yourself just how really, amazingly good these songs and this band are. You can also stream both of these songs through the Soundcloud player below…
Today at Sub Pop, the 3 or 4 of us who opted to come to work/had no better plans on the Friday before Labor Day Weekend, decided that the time felt right for listening to and talking about ourselves. It’s part of a larger project of incessantly talking about our own opinions and enthusiasms we call marketing (and/or trying to convince you to buy our records (and t-shirts!)).
Over the course of the past few hours, we have somewhat diligently emailed one another, listened to music, taken lengthy personal phone calls, reminisced, and did some pretty deep thinking to put together and bring you…
The Sub Pop List of the Top 52 Tracks Sub Pop Released in the ’90s List (as compiled by the people in the office on the afternoon of Friday, September 3rd)!
Sub Pop Staff Lists: Top Sub Pop Tracks of the 1990s: A-K by subpop
Sub Pop Staff Lists: Top Sub Pop Tracks of the 1990s: L-R by subpop
Sub Pop Staff Lists: Top Sub Pop Tracks of the 1990s: S-Z by subpop
Our goal here is to turn you guys on to a bunch of songs we love, some of the music that made many of us want to work here in the first place, and also express our disbelief at being almost entirely shut out of some other list of the best tracks of the ’90s (though, we will be the first to admit that not one of the songs included here is fit to carry the lunch of “Steal My Sunshine”).
ALSO! Because we often pretend to like your opinions, too, we’re trying to turn this thing into a contest. So, in the comments section below (or on our Facebook page), let us know your vote for your favorite track we released in the ’90s (included in the list we put together or not). Everyone who votes will be entered into a drawing to receive all of our 2010 releases on CD. One of you will wind up the lucky recipient of all of the following on CD…
Sub Pop’s recent signing of Seattle’s ascendant hip-hop collaborative Shabazz Palaces highlights an exciting, new example of the city’s legendary and ever-evolving music community. After self-releasing 2 EPs, Of Light and Shabazz Palaces, in 2009, the group quickly gained local acclaim, especially (and most noticeably to us) here within the Sub Pop offices. The Stranger, on Shabazz Palaces:
Shabazz’s almost subliminal messages are universal: ‘Find out who you are and see it/Find out what you are and free it/Find out who you love and need it/Find out what you can and be it.’ It’s a timely sentiment for Seattle hip-hop, which, after years of self-negating/hating or looking too much to the Bay Area and Brooklyn for direction, is enjoying a creative surge and homegrown industry that is—no bullshit—changing the landscape of Seattle music.
With their debut full-length expected and anticipated in 2011, Shabazz Palaces will keep busy playing shows (see below), receiving awards (see below) and turning heads (see them live).
“I think we both have a lot of love, appreciation, respect and energy for music and for each other. Recognizing the fact that business is necessary for maximizing exposure to it, I think we mutually feel that doing business is less a ‘job’ and more an opportunity to exercise those feelings in dope ass ways. Shabazz, we bring a distinct hip-hop mentality from left to Sub Pop, which has established itself wide and deep in r&r from that same field. So, it’s going to be cool to see what gets born from rolling together. And, of course, Seattle is the immeasurable muse, the backdrop, backbone, the foundation to how we all get down. So SP feels a lot of pride around this partnering-up as well. The people, the office, the deal, it all feels super plush. So stay tuned, it’s ’bouts to be on.”—the palaceer, Shabazz Palaces
“It’s in the initials. We SPs need to stick together—and we do. Seattle is our home and that means a lot to both parties. And we’re not stopping at both parties, our professional collaboration will undoubtedly inspire many more parties, with some choice SP music as the soundtrack. To put it more prosaically—but no less sincerely—we at SP are honored, humbled and psyched to have been given the responsibility of further introducing the world to the music of SP.”—Jonathan Poneman, Sb Pop Records.
More about Shabazz Palaces
Shabazz Palaces are the first music recipients of The Stranger‘s Genius Awards. The Genius Awards are given to outstanding visionaries in Literature, Film, Art, Theater, and for the first time ever, Music in the Seattle area. Shabazz Palaces will performing and accept their award at the Genius Awards Party, on September 17th at Seattle’s Moore Theatre.
Shabazz Palaces will also be performing on October 15th at New York’s American Museum of Natural History as part of “One Step Beyond,” a monthly series featuring live music and dancing at the Rose Center for Earth and Space. The series, presented by FADER, has featured performances from Kid Sister w/ Kanye West, Passion Pit, Moby, Animal Collective and more. Details available here.
For press inquiries please contact Kate Jackson at katej@subpop.com or Bekah Zeitz at bekahz@subpop.com
For management questions and artist info, please contact Jonathan Moore at jonjon21@gmail.com
Did you know that No Age, one of the many great bands currently recording for the Sub Pop label, have a new record called Everything in Between coming out on CD and LP on September 28th? Well, they do! And, not only is Everything in Between a huge step in the creative evolution of the band, a culmination of life-threatening and life-celebrating experiences, an album that reflects the process of moving through these experiences, emerging better off for the wear and tear; in short, a revelatory new No Age album, but the packaging for both the CD and LP formats is exceptionally handsome. The LP has a full-on 12″×12″, 48-page book integrated into the LP sleeve, and the mini-gatefold CD includes two attached 10”x10” fold-out posters. Both were designed by Brian Roettinger, the same guy who did the packaging for the previous No Age album, Nouns, and received a Grammy nomination for his efforts. They are both really nice, is what we’re trying to show you about.
So, now that you know about the amazing packaging for Everything in Between, No Age’s best release yet, you should know what else you’ll get with your pre-order. We made a batch of unique note pads featuring art from Everything in Between, and if you’re one of the first 500 people to pre-order the record, you’ll receive one of these. You’ll also get stickers, and access to a stream of the entire record so you don’t have to wait for your order to show up to hear this album. Here are plenty of links that will take you to places where you can buy things from us, and in one case obtain free No Age-related things from us. Click away!
Jaill got sentenced to some manual labor (sorry, couldn’t resist) during their recent visit to the office. We had them modeling our shirts for our store and even had them help us package up some No AgeGlitter singles (quick note – those “Glitter” singles are out tomorrow!). The band was game for it all and we took some photos to remember the good times with these good guys – you can find some of ’em around on our store and also on Flickr and Facebook pages too. We realized too late though that we should have had them put some sort of “Packaged with love by Jaill” note in each single they packed…Dang. Next time.
The guys were in town kicking off their West Coast tour dates with Hold Steady and we think you should check them out if they are headed your way. Plus, who knows, maybe they’d be willing to help you out with some of the stuff you need to get done too?
When they aren’t recording or running all over the planet playing shows No Age keeps themselves busy with a variety of projects. We told you all about their contribution to the Todd Cole film for Rodarte in March. Most recently they collaborated with NYC based artist and musician Hisham Bharoocha on a line of sunglasses for his Phosphorescence eyewear line. Other artists contributing designs include Kim Gordon, Erin Wasson, Opening Ceremony, United Bamboo and Rockers NYC. Dean and Randy also teamed up with frequent collaborator Brian Roettenger on a book for Soundscreen Design. The 24 page book comes with a one sided 10" with three exclusive tracks! Pretty sweet. Brian and No Age Also teamed up on the artwork for their upcoming release Everything in Between. Now stop reading and go make something.
In news of the weird, the still ultimate Postal Service song “The District Sleeps Alone Tonight” will be featured in one of the final solo performances on tonight’s episode of So You Think You Can Dance! Set your Tivos, gang, this promises to be pretty sweet.
The new No Age album, Everything in Between, is due out September 28, 2010 but you don’t have to wait until then to get your hands (and, I guess ears?) on some new No Age music because we’ll be releasing two versions of their single “Glitter” in just a couple short weeks on August 24th.
The two versions are represented in a 12-inch and 7-inch format and while both feature the album track “Glitter”, each single has different, non-album b-sides (the 7-inch has one called “Inflorescence,” and the 12-inch has “In Rebound” and “Vision II”). But here’s where the not having to wait part really kicks in because we are streaming the entire 7" now and even offering a download of “Glitter” for you to have and hold (sonically, anyway) as your very own. So you can enjoy these tunes before you head over to their subpop artist page and pre-order yourself a copy to have and hold (physically?).
Our very close personal friends in Retribution Gospel Choir (whose stellar, early 2010 release 2 you should really already own…) recorded an interview and performance for NPR’s World Cafe a while back. And, it’s going to air this Wednesday, Aug. 11th! Here are the details on how you can and should listen…
National Public Radio’s World Cafe with host David Dye can be heard on over 200 stations nationwide. Fans can find their local station at this link by selecting a state from the pull-down menu…
…or, worldwide, fans can connect to the WXPN Philadelphia stream Monday through Friday, 2pm to 4pm EST, here.
Also worth noting! NPR Music recently posted a video of Retribution Gospel Choir performing live at The Current in Minneapolis. Check that out right here!
After a long, long sabbatical, The Vaselines are back with a brand new and rather remarkable record called Sex with an X. If you are among the first 200 people to pre-order Sex with an X by September 14th, you’ll receive a bonus 7" featuring “White Chapel” b/w “Picked a Cherry”, demos both recorded by Norman Blake (Teenage Fanclub)—the latter not available on the new record.
PLEASENOTE! You will only receive the “White Chapel” free 7" single with purchase of the Sex with an XFULL-LENGTHALBUM (which comes out on Sept. 14, 2010)! You will not receive a free copy of the “White Chapel” 7" single with purchase of the Sex with an X 7" single (which comes out on August 24, 2010)!
And The Vaselines have still more going on between now and September 14th! The song Sex with an X will be available as a 7" single (b/w “Roaster”) on August 24th. There is also a new Vaselines t-shirt featuring art from the liner notes of that first Vaselines compilation we released back in ’92, The Way of the Vaselines (in 2009 we released a deluxed-up reissue of that compilation entitled Enter The Vaselines).
Our beloved and preternaturally talented art director Jeff Kleinsmith and his equally highly-regarded and gifted partner (and a former art director here at Sub Pop) Jesse LeDoux are putting on an 11-year retrospective poster show which opens this Thursday in Seattle. Together, Jeff and Jesse make up Patent Pending Industries and this 11/100 show will assuredly be great. See you there!
11/100 Public Opening:
August 5, 2010: 5 PM – 10 PM
Design Commission
310 S. Washington St.
Seattle, WA 98104
More info:
Jeff Kleinsmith and Jesse LeDoux decided to start making screen-printed rock posters together 11 years ago while working together in the art department at Sub Pop Records. They named their endeavor Patent Pending and used it as a creative outlet and experimental conduit.
As world events have shown, a lot has happened in the past 11 years. The quick version is: They made some posters. Some magazines wrote some articles about them. They opened a screen-printing shop. They did a couple more posters. They attended some Flatstock poster festivals. They taught some classes on poster design. Jesse moved to Rhode Island and opened up Patent Pending East. Jeff started doing some movie posters. Jesse moved the Patent Pending East office to Japan (Patent Pending FAR East?). They did some more posters. They closed the screen-printing shop. Got a couple more Flatstocks under their belt. Broke out of their white paper rut and did a poster on stainless steel (but still did a version on white paper). Jesse moved back to Seattle. They did a few more posters. The long version includes running from creditors due to fraudulent pizza and porn transactions on the company card, trying to hide a 1000-lb paper cutter, run-ins with meth-heads, and a couple major motion picture cameos.
WHICHBRINGS US TO NOW (or this Thursday, to be exact), when Patent Pending will have a retrospective poster show at the Design Commission Gallery in Seattle’s Pioneer Square. Digging deep into the archives, this will be the first time their 11-year body of influential poster work will be seen in its (near) entirety.
11/100 Public Opening:
August 5, 2010: 5 PM – 10 PM
Design Commission
310 S. Washington St.
Seattle, WA 98104
Milwaukee pop rockers Jaill’s debut record That’s How We Burn, is out today! Jam-packed with infectious hooks and grooves, it’s guaranteed to make you want to fling your body into a love fest of indie rock dance.
Because we at Sub Pop learned a long time ago that sharing is caring, we are allowing you the opportunity to stream Jaill’s entire record until tomorrow, Wednesday July 28. Click here to listen. If you pre-order That’s How We Burn by today (July 27th), you’ll receive a free Jaill patch handmade by the same glorious hands who made this unquestionably buy-able record.Pre-order That’s How We Burn!..
Ever wonder what a beach blanket hand-jive, with aliens, flying saucers, palm trees and 4 dudes from the Midwest would look like? Well watch Jaill’s new video for “The Stroller” to find out.
For the first time in his career, Greg Dulli will embark on a solo tour which will see him make stops in five different countries for a total of 29 shows. Beginning in New Orleans on October 8th, An Evening With Greg Dulli will feature Greg along with long-time Twilight Singers guitarist Dave Rosser and multi-instrumentalist Rick Nelson (Polyphonic Spree) performing a stripped down set. Dulli will lead his band through a wide selection of songs encompassing his entire career. An Evening With Greg Dulli will be a limited run tour with only fourteen US shows along with stops in Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Belgium. Dates and on sale information provided below.
These shows will also mark the debut of several brand new songs from the forthcoming Twilight Singers album scheduled for release on Sub Pop Records in early 2011. The new Twilight Singers album will be the first release from the group in five years. More details on the new album will be announced later this year.
AN EVENINGWITHGREGDULLITOURDATES
Tickets for all shows will go on sale later this week. Click here for the most up to date information on where to purchase tickets.
OCTOBER
08 New Orleans, LA- DBA
12 Nashville, TN – Mercy Lounge
13 Cincinnati, OH – 20th Century Theatre
14 Chicago, IL – Double Door
15 Detroit, MI – Magic Stick
16 Cleveland, OH – Grog Shop
18 Cambridge, MA – Brattle Theatre
19 New York, NY – Bowery Ballroom
20 Philadelphia, PA – Johnny Brenda’s
22 Pittsburgh, PA – Brillobox
23 Baltimore MD – Ottobar
27 IRELAND, DUBLIN – Whelan’s
28 IRELAND, BELFAST – Spring & Airbrake
29 IRELAND, GALWAY – Roisin Dubh
30 IRELAND, CORK – Cyprus Avenue
NOVEMBER
02 PORTUGAL, LISBON – Santiago Alquimista
03 PORTUGAL, PORTO – Hard Club
04 SPAIN, VIGO – Teatro Salesianos
05 SPAIN, MADRID – Charada
06 SPAIN, MONDRAGON – Kulturate
07 SPAIN, ZARAGOZA – Lopez
09 SPAIN, SEVILLA – Teatro Central
10 SPAIN, BARCELONA – Sidecar
11 SPAIN, PALMA – Teatre Lloseta
13 BELGIUM, ANTWERP – Trix
16 Los Angeles, CA – Troubadour
17 San Francisco, CA – Cafe Du Nord
18 Seattle, WA – Crocodile Cafe
20 Portland, OR – Doug Fir Lounge
The Midwest has given us so much throughout history: The Replacements, Devo, Husker Du, Prince, Low, Brett Favre, the corndog (I assume), other foods on a stick, and now, rock and roll band Jaill. Jaill hail from Milwaukee, WI, and like much from the Midwest, they are mind-bogglingly awesome. On July 27th, Sub Pop is releasing Jaill’s second full-length, That’s How We Burn, on CD and LP (digital download included with the LP).
When you pre-order That’s How We Burn, we’ll give you a Jaill patch handmade by the band themselves (on what they claim is vintage material). With this patch, your jean jacket will never be more gussied-up. We’ll also give you a few stickers and a link to stream the entire record right away so you won’t have to wait for your order to arrive to hear it. The Midwest is a bountiful place, not infrequently referred to as “the nation’s breadbasket.” With us at Sub Pop, Jaill and their That’s How We Burn record album, this is now more true than ever, or something. Please buy Jaill’s That’s How We Burn from us today.
This lovely young lady is named Hearty McDonough, and her dad is in for a world of pain ten years from now. Let’s pretend they don’t grow up and start dating and just watch this again instead.
Sometimes it’s just nice to have proof that certain events actually took place (especially if your memory is as unreliable as ours). Did I really flash Vanilla Ice on my walk home from the bar? Did I really, prior to seeing/flashing Vanilla Ice, participate in a pie eating contest and then puke on him, post-flashing? Sometimes without filmic documentation of events, it’s as if those events never happened.
Luckily for you/us, we have proof that we did in fact turn 22! You can now see for yourself the level of sonic debauchery that members of Jaill, Avi Buffalo, Happy Birthday, our staff and good friends in Seattle, all enjoyed without experiencing (or perhaps admitting to) an icky hangover or intense cotton mouth. Click here to see what happens when we at Sub Pop throw a 22nd birthday party for ourselves!
And, speaking of Jaill … Their new record, That’s How We Burn, comes out this Tuesday, July 27th! Starting now and until the album’s release on Tuesday, we are giving you the opportunity to stream the record in its entirety. Click here to jam on the band’s new record. Should you like what you hear (and trust us, you will) you can pre-order the album here. In addition to your copy of That’s How We Burn, you will also receive a free Jaill patch handmade by the same talented, nimble hands which made this unquestionably buyable record. And by that we mean the band made these themselves!
One last thing, Avi Buffalo, Jaill and Happy Birthday are all on the road or gearing up to head out on tour. Click here to see if any of these bands or other bands currently recording under the Sub Pop imprint of moderate quality will be passing through your town.
To Dreamers or not To Dreamers that is the question. Actually that is not really a question, especially when we are talking about a new record from a now veritable godfather to the burgeoning San Francisco under/over-ground, Kelley Stoltz.
As on prior albums, Kelley plays most of the instruments heard on To Dreamers himself, though two of the songs here were recorded by Kelley and his band live in the studio. One of these is a cover version of the ‘60s nugget Baby I Got News for You, by Big Boy Pete Miller, who performs on the recording, dusting off the very valve amps and guitar used on the 1965 original, to add vocals and fuzz.
While Kelley Stoltz’s nigh-religious reverence for all things Beatles, Beach Boys and Kinks has been at the fore on recent albums Below the Branches and Circular Sounds, his new album, To Dreamers, blends a bit more post-punk abandon into its layered everyman pop. Tasteful horn adornments blow against tom-tom beats and 12-string guitars meet reverbed mellotrons, under Stoltz’s warm vocals.
To Dreamers will hit stores on October 12th. For more info on Kelley Stoltz visit his artist page
I do radio promotion here at Sub Pop, and to aid in my promoting, I send out newsletters every week to all of the college and community radio music directors out there in RadioLand.
Other than promoting bands and talking endlessly about myself in these newsletters, I hold contests so that I have exciting email to look forward to throughout the day. For instance, last month, I had kids Photoshop themselves with a Sub Pop band of their choice. A cool kid named Jace Brittain from a station in Los Angeles called KSCR submitted members of the station riding dinosaurs with Avi Buffalo. I’m still not over that one. Pretty cool, eh?
The past couple of weeks, I’ve had people send in straight up drawings, and I’ve been super pleased with the results. Maybe you will be too. Or maybe you’ll even be inspired to email me some of your own Sub Pop fan art. (DO IT and I’ll make a new blog post AND the winner will receive all of July’s new releases! sasham@subpop.com)
Descriptions of art above:
*Jace Brittain of KSCR (Los Angeles) – Station Members with Avi Buffalo, medium: Photoshop
*Adrian Zongrone of WUSC (Colubia, SC) – Adrian with CocoRosie, medium: Photoshop
*Paul Gregory Rice of WTHS (Holland, MI) – Brian from Blitzen Trapper, medium: Paint
*Rob Kaiser-Schatzlein (what a name!) of KUMD (Duluth, MN) – Drew from Blitzen Trapper and a Smart Dog, medium: pen and ink
*Erica Zhang of UCLA Radio (Los Angeles) – Marty from Blitzen Trapper, medium: pen and ink ANDWolf Parade Plays Dress Up, medium: pen and ink
Wednesday, July 7th, show your support for KEXP at a Community Meeting at the Seattle Center House.
KEXP is one of nine organizations that recently submitted proposals to redevelop the Fun Forest area at Seattle Center. Our vision for the area includes green space, hundreds of free in-studio performances, an artists lounge, a busking program for local musicians and more.
To learn more about our proposal—and to make your voice heard—please join us at Seattle Center on Wednesday, July 7 at the Center House. Stop by at 4:30 to visit our info table and stick around to share your thoughts at the public forum from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.
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