CHAI — the beloved Japanese quartet composed of identical twins MANA (vocals/keys) and KANA (guitar), drummer YUNA, and bassist/lyricist YUUKI — are “professional purveyor[s] of whimsy” (The New York Times). Today, the four-piece unveils their first new single/video of 2023, “We The Female!” Following CHAI’s acclaimed 2021 album, WINK, which “exudes a newfound sense of serenity, even as they remain committed to exuberant self-love” (Pitchfork), “We The Female!” continues expanding CHAI’s canon of anthemic dance jams. The accompanying video, directed by Cezan Iseda, is a charming collage of 80s television homages. 

Of “We The Female!,” YUUKI adds: “We are human and were born as female, but we have both female and male aspects in each of our souls, each with our own sense of balance.  We can’t just label ourselves into clear-cut, simple categories anymore! I’m not anyone else but just ‘me,’ and you are no one else but just ‘you.’ This song celebrates that with a roar! Yooooooooo!!”  

WATCH CHAI’S “WE THE FEMALE!” VIDEO

WINK followed CHAI’s beloved 2017 debut PINK, and their superb 2019 sophomore effort, PUNK. Surrounding WINK’s release, CHAI was profiled in V Magazine, The New York Times, NPR  and more; it was named one of the year’s best releases by Under The Radar and Paste, who hailed: “CHAI make every moment feel like a treat.” 

“WE THE FEMALE!” is a small taste of what CHAI has in store for the year.

Today, DEBBY FRIDAY is sharing an icy new remix of “HOT LOVE,” from her acclaimed debut album GOOD LUCK, reworked by electronic music duo Boy Harsher and available today on all DSPs from Sub Pop. 

Tomorrow, Friday, April 28th, FANGORIA will premiere DEBBY FRIDAY’s accompanying album short film GOOD LUCK, a pseudo-autobiographical tale, largely drawn from her own life and experiences growing up as a zillenial anti-heroine. A surrealist reflection on the tumultuous whirlwind that is the end of adolescence and the emotionality of youth, GOOD LUCK is co-directed by FRIDAY and Nathan De Paz Habib (Chino Amobi’s Eroica, and The Bicycle).

 
Photo Credit:  Chinelo Yasin

DEBBY FRIDAY’s headlining tour and festival dates for the UK and Europe begin May 2nd in Brighton, UK at Crofters Rights and run through May 13th at The Great Escape Festival (@ Patterns).
 
Her international tour schedule has also been extended through November 11th in London at The Roundhouse for Pitchfork London (with Yaeji). New highlights include June 3rd in Toronto at Boiler Room; June 8th-18th for an Australian club and festival tour; July 28th at Hillside Festival in Guelph, Ontario; and two Canadian shows supporting Tegan & Sara on July 29th in Saskatoon, SK at TCU Place, and July 31st in Winnipeg, MB at Burton Cummings.

Of her recent appearances at SXSW, Rolling Stone raved: “Welcome to Planet Debby: If you wandered into the back room at Empire Garage and Control Room at the right moment on Thursday afternoon, you found yourself in the middle of an interstellar rave in full swing. Toronto experimental artist Debby Friday was onstage, performing a thudding electro-rap song with hints of Azealia Banks and Donna Summer… Leaping off the stage into the small crowd, she demanded that they come closer — “I need your energy!” — and kept on chanting, in a long vamp that bent space and time. It was the kind of serendipitous moment that makes SXSW one of the best places in the world to discover a new favorite.”

Tue. May  02 - Bristol, UK -  Crofters Rights 
Wed. May 03 - London, UK - Corsica Studios #
Fri. May 05 - Krems, AT - Donau Festival 
Sat. May 06 - Brussels, BE - Botanique (La Rotonde)
Wed. May 10 - Lisbon, PT - ZDB
Thu. May 11 - Leeds, UK - Headrow House
Fri. May 12 - Manchester, UK - The White Hotel
Sat. May 13 - Brighton, UK - The Great Escape @ Patterns
Jun. 03 - Toronto, ON - Boiler Room
Thu. Jun. 08 - Melbourne, AU - Rising (Max Watts) ^
Fri. Jun. 09 - Hobart, AU - Dark Mofo
Sat. Jun. 10 - Hobart, AU - Dark Mofo
Mon. Jun. 12 - Sydney, AU - Vivid Wavyland Metro Theatre
Wed. Jun. 14 - Sun. Jun. 18  Melbourne, AU - Rising
Sat. Jul. 08 - Québec City, QC - Festival d’été de Québec (FEQ)
Fri. Jul. 28 - Guelph, ON - Hillside Fest
Sat. Jul. 29 - Saskatoon, SK - TCU Place *
Mon. Jul. 31 - Winnipeg, MB - Burton Cummings *
Sun. Sep. 03 - Seattle, WA - Bumbershoot
Fri. Oct. 27 - Chicago, IL - Sanctum @ Thalia Hall
Sat. Nov. 11 - London, UK - Pitchfork London %
* w/ Tegan & Sara
^ w/ Desire Marea
# w/ Grove
% w/ Yaeji, Jessy Lanza

GOOD LUCK is available now from Sub Pop. LP purchases from megamart.subpop.com, select independent stores in North America, the U.K., and E.U., and DEBBY FRIDAY’s live shows will receive the limited Loser edition on metallic silver vinyl (while supplies last).
 
GOOD LUCK features “SO HARD TO TELL,” “I GOT IT,” “WHAT A MAN,” and “HOT LOVE,”  was co-produced by DEBBY FRIDAY and Graham Walsh (METZ, Holy Fuck) at Candle Recording Studio in Toronto, and mastered by Heba Kadry in New York.

 
What people are saying about DEBBY FRIDAY:
“The Nigerian-born, Toronto-based singer and rapper Debby Friday’s ambitious, charismatic album “Good Luck” is one of my favorite debuts of the year so far…She’s a shape-shifting, swashbuckling dynamo journeying through different tempos and genres, always on a heroine’s quest for self-discovery.” “The Amplifier” - The New York Times
 
“Her first full-length is sweaty and determined, eager to deliver on its teeth-chattering beats with a feverish intensity. The influences are obvious, but the ways that Debby Friday crashes those sounds together are not.” “Album of the Week” - STEREOGUM
 
“GOOD LUCK is an assured and frequently surprising debut that feels like a trip into the lascivious, eclectic wormhole of Friday’s world – and with so much to take in, and so much fun to be had, you won’t want to leave.”  8/10 - CRACK
 
“There’s an extraordinary elasticity across GOOD LUCK’s masterful production that makes repeated listens not just enjoyable but irresistible.” “8/10, Album of the Week” - LOUD & QUIET
 
“[Her] most fully realized set of songs to date. The abrasion and urgency of her early EPs remains, but the 10 songs here lean more heavily toward the pulse of the club—and often a vampiric underground den at that…Friday more openly embraces pop on her debut album, but rarely does so outside the presence of the shadow and mystique her music so often casts.” “Album of the Week” - Treble
 
“DEBBY defies easy categorization, mixing rap, electro, post-punk, industrial, techno and more into a glitchy, bruising and bitcrushed blend that is fiery, magnetic and all her own.” [GOOD LUCK] - Brooklyn Vegan
 
“Imagine you walk into a club and there’s industrial playing, then the next track is house, the next cybergoth, and the next alt-pop. Maybe that would sound like sonic whiplash — but in the world of DEBBY FRIDAY, that’s all possible, and the club is bumping… The Nigeria-born-Toronto-based DJ-turned-recording-artist just released her first album with Sub Pop, GOOD LUCK, and it’s an expansive display of her influences, from heavy rock to alt-R&B. Fans of Azealia Banks, JPEGMAFIA, SZA, Yves Tumor, and even Nine Inch Nails could all find themselves at home in her world. And soon enough, with her innovation and confidence, it seems like the rest of the world will, too.” “The Rising Artists You Need To Know Right Now” - Alternative Press
 
“Friday strikes a remarkable balance on her forthcoming debut LP, GOOD LUCK: between the boisterous and the tranquil, the erudite and the crass, a packed dancefloor and quiet isolation. Featuring unequivocal bangers like “I Got It,” “Pluto Baby,” and “Heartbreakerrr,” Debby Friday is destined for bigger stages in 2023.” “15 Artists to Watch in 2023” - SPIN
 
“…An album that testifies to the liberating potential of making a racket.” [GOOD LUCK] - SLANT
 
“On Friday’s previous EPs, 2018’s Bitchpunk and 2019’s Death Drive, she reveled in messy synth-punk exuberance. That energy is amped-up on GOOD LUCK…Packed into a succinct, live-wire 33-minutes, GOOD LUCK is testament to how effectively Friday can capture life in all its dense, unpredictable emotions.” - Chicago Reader
 
“An explosive, pounding, relentlessly calisthenic dance-floor banger with attitude to spare. A pulsating beat flickers like a strobe light as Friday and Chris Vargas of the duo Pelada, appearing here as Uñas, trade braggadocious bilingual verses. ‘Let mama give you what you need,’ Friday shrieks before calmly assuring, ‘I got it.’” [“I GOT IT”] “The Playlist” - New York Times
 
“In contrast to the pulse-quickening tempos and noisy synths of her past music, her production is deft and graceful, with a skipping beat and cascading backing vocals. ‘Lady Friday/All you do is rеbel,’ Friday chastises herself—tough talk against a fragile, gorgeous sound.” [“SO HARD TO TELL”] “Best New Track” - Pitchfork
 
“One of the young year’s most audacious bangers” [“SO HARD TO TELL”] - Billboard
 
“Hyperpop can sometimes come off as abrasive but in the hands of Canadian singer DEBBY FRIDAY it’s soulful, even elegant.” [“SO HARD TO TELL”] - NYLON
 
“A graceful entrance into yet another territory: lush R&B”[“SO HARD TO TELL”] “Now Playing” - NPR Music
 
“If you’ve ever deep-dived into Debby Friday’s discography, you’ll know she slammed this single into left field, but man is it a hit! This edgy extraordinaire has taken a dip into the darkside via falsetto pop.”  ” [“SO HARD TO TELL”] - MTV

In due acknowledgment of Mudhoney’s 35th Anniversary in 2023, King County Executive, Dow Constantine has declared April 7th to be Mudhoney Day in King County, WA. This official proclamation highlights their contributions to the Seattle music scene and beyond, crediting them for “35 years of brilliant musical mayhem.”  

On April 6th (now officially known as Mudhoney Day Eve…), from 4-6pm, Mudhoney’s Mark Arm and Steve Turner will also take to the ones and twos, DJing a live set at Sub Pop on 7th (the label’s retail store at 2130 7th Ave.) in Seattle. This event will feature exclusive, new band merch, including a Mudhoney-branded flannel shirt (the “Flat-Out Flannel”), Autograph Series Reading Glasses, a Plastic Eternity T-shirt, a Plastic Eternity snapback hat, and a new set of Mudhoney album cover postcards. Wine aficionados (or “Winos”) can grab a bottle of the Schloss Mudhoney Riesling, a collaboration with Washington winery, Sleight of Hand, that will also be available for purchase in Seattle at the Sub Pop Airport Store, Sleight of Hand tasting room, and Easy Street Records. Attendees will also be able to purchase the new album, Plastic Eternity, on all available physical formats – one day early – at the event!

Plus! Mud Ride: A Messy Trip Through the Grunge Explosion, Mudhoney guitarist Steve Turner’s new book chronicling the birth and evolution of Mudhoney and the Seattle grunge scene, is available for pre-order now and will be out June 13, 2023!

Mudhoney’s previously announced international tour dates in support of Plastic Eternity are below. Tickets for these shows are on sale now.

 
Plastic Eternity is available for preorder on CD/LP/CS/DSPs from Sub Pop. LP preorders from megamart.subpop.com, and select independent retailers in North America will receive the limited Loser Edition on “shiny gray matter” vinyl. In the UK, and in Europe the Loser Edition will be available on silver vinyl (both editions available while supplies last). There is also a new T-shirt design available.

Mudhoney 

Plastic Eternity
 
Tracklisting:
1. Souvenir of My Trip
2. Almost Everything
3. Cascades of Crap
4. Flush the Fascists
5. Move Under
6. Severed Dreams in the Sleeper Cell
7. Here Comes the Flood
8. Human Stock Capital
9. Tom Herman’s Hermits
10. One or Two
11. Cry Me an Atmospheric River
12. Plasticity
13. Little Dogs 

Sub Pop kicks-off the eighth and latest round of its legendary Singles Club with new music by Brontez Purnell and Margarita Podridas, both out today worldwide on all DSPs from Sub Pop. The very limited 7” vinyl versions can be had only by subscribing at the Sub Pop Mega Mart.
 
Brontez Purnell has been making music since the ‘90s. He started in The Social Lies, a hardcore Afro-punk duo in Alabama in his teens, and later Gravy Train!!! He then went on to lead his long-running project, The Younger Lovers. He is also a dancer, filmmaker, choreographer (The Brontez Purnell Dance Company), and the author of eight books.
 
Brontez says, “‘Jaboukie’ was originally called ‘100 Boyfriends,’ but I found out that apparently I can be sued for calling that song that since I named my book that (though the song was written waaaaaaaaaaaaay before the book). So then I was like, ‘so which N**** am I gonna @ with this song.’ And Jaboukie was the one who sent a DM text right after I had that thought! True story! So it’s for him❤️. Also, it’s Sub Pop, so I had to rep with my fave Nirvana song from middle school.” Check out the video for “Jaboukie” here.
 
Hermosillo, Mexico-based quartet Margaritas Podridas was born out of admiration for the underground rock landscape of the ‘90s, culling from the distortion-laden songwriting of the grunge scene, the scuzz-coated pop of shoegaze, and the noisy sojourns of that decade’s college rock’s guitar icons. Sonics aside, there’s a political streak and DIY ethic in Margaritas Podridas that recalls the confrontational idealism of their musical forebearers, evidenced in their underage scene-building efforts in their hometown, their negation of the English language despite their growing international fanbase, and their penchant for giving the middle finger to sexism in both the music industry and the broader world.
 
Carolina Rivera of Margaritas Podridas says, “‘Filosa’ is one of my favorite songs we’ve ever done. It is a very playful song composed by Rafael, but the lyrics were written by me about feeling stuff you can’t say, hurting the one you love by being indecisive, with anger, and desperation. We had the opportunity to work with very talented friends while recording and producing these songs, such as Jack Endino, who produced Bleach, one of our favorite albums by Nirvana. It was such a dream for us, as well as Felipe Garcia, who has been recording with us since the beginning in our hometown Hermosillo, Sonora.”
 
Rivera continues, “‘Vómito’ is composed by Poncho. This song is also one of our favorites to play live; it is a song about intense emotions that make you puke. The dynamics of both songs are very playful and exciting, we are very happy with how they came out. It is a dream come true to release them through one of the coolest labels in the music industry, which has had many of our favorite bands that we love, in its catalog.”
 
Subscribe to the Sub Pop Singles Club Vol. 8 now to get twelve super-limited 7” vinyl records featuring exclusive music by today’s finest musicians! It’s limited to a mere 835 subscriptions, because it’s volume 8, and 2023 is Sub Pop’s 35th birthday! In a world of over 8 billion people (all of whom are record collectors – we checked!), that clearly qualifies this product as MEGA RARE. So, join the .00001% by treating yourself to a subscription immediately! You’ll get 7”s by Margarita Podridas, Brontez Purnell, Vanishing Twin, Suki Waterhouse, and more artists to be announced in the very near future. And, to top it all off, you’ll get a lavish storage box, with art by @oldsweaty, to keep the records together. Trust us, this thing’s gonna be the belle of your bookshelf!
 
You will get two singles in the mail roughly every other month, starting April 2023 and ending February 2024. Computer users: fear not! You will also get digital downloads of the tracks through your Sub Pop Mega Mart account.
 
Hear music from the series via the Singles Club playlist, and subscribe here.

Roll out the red carpet for these winning Losers! This year are we had an exceptional bunch of applicants to our Loser Scholarship, which made finding our Loser Winners no easy task. Luckily, our Loser Chooser (TM) scholarship committee  was game to spend hours reading through hundreds of applications, and at the end of a very difficult decision-making process, the committee has come up with three ultramega-OK, life-affirming scholarship winners. Congratulations to the winners and heartfelt thanks to all who took the time to apply, you have brightened up our days and inspired us all!

In no particular order, we are thrilled to present our Loser Scholarship winners:

This year we had so many great applicants for the Loser Scholarship, it was really hard to choose our winners. For those losers who didn’t win this year, thanks for playing, we loved your applications too, and know many of you will go on to inspire us in your future endeavors. 

This Friday, April 21st, Lael Neale will release Star Eaters Delight on CD/LP/CS/DSPs worldwide from Sub Pop. Today, she shares an official new video for “Must Be Tears,” a bittersweet standout from the album that invokes Nico with its pulsing Mellotron strings.   
 
Neale, who directed the video, reflects, “Even though I’ve lived through many Springs, the season never fails to disappoint me with its lingering cold & dreariness. Flowers are Nature’s apology.”
 
Lael Neale has extended her international tour schedule for 2023 in support of Star Eaters Delight, resumes this Saturday, April 22nd in Los Angeles at Permanent Records Roadhouse, and now runs through Saturday, June 3rd in Düdingen, Switzerland, with an appearance at the Bad Bonn Kilbi Festival. Highlights for this tour include an appearance at Brighton, UK’s The Great Escape Festival Wednesday, May 10th through Saturday, May 13th (exact date TBC),  Tuesday, May 30th in Barcelona, ES at Heliogàbal, and Wednesday, May 31st at Madrid, ES at Sound Isidro @ Siroco. A current list of dates is below, and tickets for these shows are on sale now.

US 2023
Sat. Apr. 22 - Los Angeles, CA - Permanent Records Roadhouse
Mon. Apr. 24 - Phoenix, AZ - Trunk Space
Wed. Apr. 26 - Austin, TX - Chess Club
Sat. Apr. 29 -  Nashville, TN - drkmttr
Wed. May 03 - Washington, DC - Comet Ping Pong
Fri. May 05 - New York, NY - Public Records
Sat. May 06 - Northampton, MA - Parlor Room
Sun. May 07 - Philadelphia, PA - Dolphin
 
UK/EU 2023
Wed. May 10 - Brighton, UK - The Great Escape Festival  
Thu.  May 11 - Brighton, UK - The Great Escape Festival  
Fri. May 12 - Brighton, UK - The Great Escape Festival  
Sat. May 13 - Brighton, UK - The Great Escape Festival  
Sun. May 14 - Leeds, UK - In Colour Festival
Mon. May 15 - Manchester, UK - The Castle Hotel
Tue. May 16 - London, UK - The Lexington
Wed. May 17- Paris, FR -  La Boule Noire
Thu. May 18 - Tourcoing, FR - Le Grand Mix
Fri. May 19 - Brussels, BE - Botanique (Witloof Bar)
Sat. May 20 - Amsterdam, NL - Paradiso (London Calling Fest)
Mon. May 22 - Berlin, DE - Kantine am Berghain
Tue. May 23 - Hamburg, DE - Aalhaus
Wed. May 24 - Copenhagen, DK - Huset
Thu. May 25 - Oslo, NO - Krosset
Fri. May 26 - Stockholm, SE - Nomad
Sat. May 27 - Gothenburg, SE - Oceanen
Tue. May  30 - Barcelona, ES - Heliogàbal
Wed. May 31 - Madrid, ES - Sound Isidro @ Siroco
Thu. Jun. 01 - Lisbon, PT - ZDB
Sat. Jun. 03 - Düdingen, CH - Bad Bonn Kilbi Festival

The beguiling Star Eaters Delight reveals an expansion of Neale’s sonic collaboration with producer and accompanist Guy Blakeslee and arrives on the heels of her Sub Pop debut Acquainted With Night,  which won international acclaim for its crystalline vocals, clever songwriting, and excellent use of Omnichord to build a world of beautiful reveries.
 
In April of 2020, Lael moved from Los Angeles back to her family’s farm in rural Virginia. Looking at the world from a distance and getting in tune with her own rhythms, she wrote and recorded steadily for two dreamlike years, driven by a need to make order out of chaos. Forged in isolation, Star Eaters Delight is a vehicle for returning, not just to civilization, but to celebration. She explains: “The unbroken silences on the farm compelled me to break them with sound. This album is louder and more external, calling out to the world.”
 
Shindig! raves “The spellbinding Star Eaters Delight signals an expansion of her sonic sensibilities that feels metropolitan and voracious (conjuring scenes where lo-fi, post-punk, and avant-garde were in deep conversation) and flirts with the noisy and angular (5/5).”  Meanwhile, Uncut offers this, “An elegantly spare showcase of her radiant voice, a tremulous yodel tinged with gospel and country inflections. Bathed in antique analog acoustics, spine-tingling ballads of romantic yearning like “If I Had Wings” and “Return To Me Now” blend guitar with vintage instruments including Mellotron and a Suzuki Omnichord.”
 
Star Eaters Delight was written by Neale, with arrangements and production by Guy Blakeslee. The recordings were made on cassette in Virginia and mastered by Chris Coady in Los Angeles.
The album is available to preorder from Sub Pop. LP preorders from megamart.subpop.com, and select independent retailers in North America, the UK and Europe, will receive the Loser edition on gold vinyl.

Lael Neale

Star Eaters Delight
 
Tracklisting:
1. I Am The River
2. If I Had No Wings
3. Faster Than The Medicine
4. In Verona
5. Must Be Tears
6. No Holds Barred
7. Return To Me Now
8. Lead Me Blind