News

Grand Archives are on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson on Wed. April 30!

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 13:07:49 -0700

Earlier this month, the remarkably talented and genial men of Grand Archives recorded their very first television performance, playing the song Torn Blue Foam Couch on the CBS program, The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. “Torn Blue Foam Couch,” of course, appears on Grand Archives’ recently released debut album, The Grand Archives And, this episode, the Grand Archives episode of the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, will be airing this Wednesday night, April 30th!

Allow me to boldly reiterate…

Grand Archives will be appearing on the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson this Wednesday, April 30th!

As an added bonus, and for those of you who don’t already know this, Craig Ferguson is actually a really funny, manic host! And, the other guests on this particular episode are great as well – Jeff Bridges and Sophia Myles!

Please tune in!

SP20 Festival - Details

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 16:24:20 -0700

As you have hopefully already read elsewhere here on the Sub Pop Interweb Tendency, we’re 20 this year. And, we plan to make kind of a nuisance of ourselves about it. More so than usual, even.

To celebrate the label’s twentieth birthday, Sub Pop will release a series of re-issues starting with Mudhoney’s Superfuzz Bigmuff: Deluxe Edition (which, like their brand new album The Lucky Ones , comes out May 20, 2008), launch a limited run of the Sub Pop Singles Club (more on that soon-ish), and throw a series of over-the-top birthday parties for itself this summer.

Herewith the scoop on these birthday parties:

SP20 Comedy Show – Friday, July 11th at The Moore Theatre with…

Eugene Mirman Patton Oswalt Todd Barry and, of course, “special guests.”

Buy SP20 Comedy Tickets

Prohibited Items, Accessibility and other Moore Theatre FAQs

SP20 Festival – Saturday, July 12th at Marymoor Park, Redmond, WA

Fleet Foxes Flight of the Conchords The Fluid The Helio Sequence Iron and Wine Low Mudhoney Pissed Jeans Seaweed

SP20 Festival – Sunday, July 13th at Marymoor Park, Redmond, WA

Beachwood Sparks Comets on Fire Foals Grand Archives Green River Kinski No Age Red Red Meat The Ruby Suns Wolf Parade

Buy SP20 Festival Tickets

Prohibited Items, Accessibility and other Marymoor Park FAQs

Getting to SP20 Festival

Information on SP20 Beneficiaries Coming Soon.

Record Store Day is Saturday, April 19, 2008

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 18:41:35 -0700

In a more perfect world, every day would be Record Store Day (and every week would include No Pants Friday). But, until that time comes, until each and every delicious day includes (as most of Dean’s do) a lunch-time trip to one of our nation’s many wonderful record/tape/compact disc/water-pipe emporiums, let’s all be thankful that a rogue consortium of independent record store owners have banded together and mustered the AUDACITY TO INVENT A HOLIDAY! Rejoice, for Saturday April 19, is Record Store Day, people! And on this day, this Saturday, April 19, 2008, hundreds of independently owned music stores across the country will celebrate, with special performances and giveaways and all sorts of cool shit!

Seriously! If you value record stores (as you should) for the culture they help to foster and create, and the community that surrounds and permeates them, you should spend some time in one (or several!) of these stores on Saturday. You’ll be glad you did!

And, if you do, you’ll be able to pick up, free of charge, the new 2008 Sub Pop Records sampler, Terminal Sales Vol. 3: Happy Birthday to Me! The new sampler has 18 tracks in all, many of them as-yet-unreleased, and is handsomely/expensively packaged (yes, we are pretty pleased with ourselves).

Here’s the full list of stores participating in Record Store Day!

Sub Pop 20th Anniversary Festival

laceys@subpop.com (Lacey Swain) — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 15:17:22 -0700

In unabashedly conspicuous celebration of 20 years of not going out of business (sometimes only barely), Seattle’s Sub Pop Records will gather past and present label-mates for a series of events, including a two-day festival at Marymoor Park on July 12 & 13 and a comedy show on July 11 at Seattle’s Moore Theatre. Proceeds from the sale of tickets will go to support beneficiaries of each participating act’s choosing. Tickets go on sale April 26 at 12 PM Pacific at SubPop.com and all Ticketmaster locations. More ticket information provided below.

Though Bruce Pavitt had been using the title SUBTERRANEAN POP since sometime in ’79 for fanzines, cassette compilations, radio shows, and the like, somewhere along the line he and co-founder Jonathan Poneman decided that April 1, 1988—the day they quit their jobs and rented a tiny office in the Terminal Sales Building in Seattle—was the day Sub Pop Records was born. To celebrate the label’s twentieth birthday, Sub Pop will release a series of re-issues starting with Mudhoney’s Superfuzz Bigmuff: Deluxe Edition (which comes out May 20, 2008), launch a limited run of the Sub Pop Singles Club, and throw a series of over-the-top birthday parties for itself this summer.

The SP20 Festival is happening July 12 & 13 at Marymoor Park just outside of Seattle in Redmond, WA. In addition to reunited bands, acts currently on the label’s roster, and everything in between, the festival will also host a half-pipe featuring both Nike and Girl + Chocolate sponsored skaters. While the full day-by-day line-up will be announced in the coming months, the festival will include:

Beachwood Sparks / Comets on Fire / Fleet Foxes / Flight of the Conchords / The Fluid / Foals / Grand Archives / Green River / The Helio Sequence / Iron & Wine / Kinski / Low / Mudhoney / No Age / Pissed Jeans / Red Red Meat / The Ruby Suns / Seaweed / Wolf Parade, and more to be announced.

Proceeds from ticket sales will benefit a variety of charities chosen by both Sub Pop and each act performing. Ticket information provided below.

The SP20 activities will commence with a comedy show on July 11 at The Moore Theatre. Among the performing comedians are Sub Pop artists Eugene Mirman and Patton Oswalt, label friend and fan Todd Barry, and special guests.

Discounted $30 single-day or $50 two-day passes to the SP20 Festival go on sale Saturday April 26 at 12 pm Pacific at SubPop.com, at Ticketmaster outlets, at Ticketmaster.com or by calling 206.628.0888. Tickets can also be purchased at the Marymoor box office Monday through Friday 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, with all service charges going to benefit the parks department. Ticket prices will increase to $35 single-day or $60 two-day passes on May 10.

Tickets for SP20 Comedy Show are $20 and go on sale April 26 at 12 pm Pacific at SubPop.com, at Ticketmaster outlets, at Ticketmaster.com or by calling 206.628.0888. Tickets can also be purchased at the Moore Theatre box office, which is open Tuesday through Friday from 11:00 am to 2:30 pm and again from 3:15 pm to 6:00 pm.

Proceeds from ticket sales will go to benefit a variety of beneficiaries, chosen by both Sub Pop and participating bands.

Vh1 Does Us a Solid on our Birthday

laceys@subpop.com (Lacey Swain) — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 12:54:44 -0700

The fine folks over at vh1.com and vh1classic.com went above and beyond and have provided us with our best birthday present yet—a Sub Pop Turns 20 celebration with over 50 Sub Pop videos from the dawn of time til now. Check it out—there’s Tad, SDRE, Mudhoney, Band of Horses, The Shins, CSS, and more!

James Mercer and Stephen Malkmus are playing a benefit together in Portland April 11th

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 11:33:37 -0700

To help raise money for Portland’s Buckman Arts Focus Elementary School, The Shins’ James Mercer and Stephen Malkmus will be playing the 18th annual Buckman Art Show & Sell at The Jupiter Hotel on Friday April 11th! You should go!

Full details, including a link to buy tickets, can be found here

The Medium Give

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 16:57:22 -0700

As close to quarterly as we’re able to manage, we here at Sub Pop have the very great privilege of discreetly siphoning money from the company coffers to far more deserving, industrious and admirable organizations. In light of the fact that we’re here crowing about it, “discreet” may be the wrong word. But, the point here is somewhat less a matter of patting ourselves on the back (although, yes, we enjoy that as well), and more a matter of maybe bringing some of these organizations to your attention. They are all likely more deserving, industrious and admirable than you too.

Here’s where you can read all of the details on this stuff, including info on previous recipients, etc.

And then, proudly, here are the most recent additions:

The return of the Sub Pop Loser Scholarship for 2008

Children’s Hospital

FareStart

First Place School

Hollow Earth Radio

Nature Consortium

Northwest Film Forum

Rock ‘n’ Roll Camp for Girls

Summer Search

The Art of Sub Pop, Straight from the Horses' Mouths

laceys@subpop.com (Lacey Swain) — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 16:33:39 -0700

Come see, live and in person, the living legends that are Jeff Kleinsmith and Dusty Summers—Sub Pop’s Art Directors and Regional Comedy Duo Champs—as they share the inside creative story behind Sub Pop Records. You’ll discover that a steady diet of designing posters, apparel, and packaging for some of Seattle’s top musicians (such as The Shins, Mudhoney, and The Postal Service) is every bit as good as it sounds.

Tuesday March 25 6:30-8:00pm School of Visual Concepts Seattle. Register online at SVC Jeff Kleinsmith is also having his very own retrospective at Seattle SVC for the month of April. The opening party will be April 11 5-9pm and there will be BEER!

And finally, Jeff and Dusty will be tag teaming co-eds with their art knowledge in their very own class at the SVC. Check out the website for details.

Gutter Twins Play/Slay Letterman!

laceys@subpop.com (Lacey Swain) — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 14:46:11 -0700

Make sure to tune your TV knobs to CBS on Wednesday night so that you don’t miss the magic that is The Gutter Twins doing it to it on The Late Show with David Letterman. Lanegan and Dulli will be performing “Idle Hands” and it will be amazing.

We need a new Andrew

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 18:13:09 -0700

UPDATE (3/31/08): This position is now filled! Thanks!

Sadly, we need to replace this guy. Here are the details…

Sub Pop Records is currently seeking a new part-time IT/Help Desk professional at our world headquarters. Based in Seattle, WA the beacon of grunge has become a leading force in the increasingly self-important and intolerable world of indie rock and/or pop. The duties for this position include, but are not limited to:

Support of the Microsoft office suite, mainly Outlook/Exchange.
Software upgrades, repair and support for a variety of programs including Quickbooks, iTunes, Photoshop, Firefox, antivirus, Filemaker, and more.
All desktop support questions for a 30 user network.
Print queue management.
Computer hardware building, upgrading, and repair.
Proactive upgrading of network hardware and software.
Basic level server support for Active Directory, DNS, Domain Controllers and Exchange.
Working knowledge of TCP/IP networking principals and network hardware.
Ability to diagnose, organize and solve problems on the fly.
Knowledge of relevant media types and their various uses, IE: .wav, .mp3, .mov, .mp4, .avi, .mpeg, .zip, .rar, .tiff, .jpeg, etc.
Hardware/Software purchasing and implementation of hardware devices such as printers, phones, scanners, BlackBerries, monitors, etc.
Must be an independent thinking troubleshooter who can self-start all projects.
Ability to organize and execute a plan from beginning to end with little supervision.
Ability to learn and use new technology related skills and theories to solve network issues.
This person will also coordinate IT support and planning with our contracted technology services partner (All Covered).

Our ideal candidate will work 20-30 hours a week on site in our Seattle office 5 days a week for 3-6 hours a day supporting all office desktop support needs.

This position will be paid hourly, depending on experience, and will include opportunities for ongoing professional technical education, paid for by Sub Pop.

~~Please send resumes to: andrews@subpop.com~~

Official SXSW Sub Pop Showcase

laceys@subpop.com (Lacey Swain) — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 15:36:58 -0800

The mighty Sub Pop is having a HUGE showcase at 2008’s SXSW in Austin this year. How huge is it? Two stages huge!

Our showcase will be on Friday March 14th at Bourbon Rocks and Bourbon Rocks Patio which are both connected, but not really connected. Bourbon Rocks is located at 508 E. 6th St. (6th and Neches) and doors are at 7:15pm.

Here’s how the whole shebang will go down:

BOURBON ROCKS STAGE (inside) Love As Laughter – 8pm Sera Cahoone – 9pm Grand Archives – 10pm Kelley Stoltz – 11pm Fleet Foxes – 12am Blitzen Trapper – 1am

BOURBON ROCKS PATIO STAGE (outside) The Ruby Suns – 8:30pm Pissed Jeans – 9:30pm Handsome Furs – 10:30pm The Helio Sequence – 11:30pm No Age – 12:30pm

Also, click HERE for day party info.

VOTE BRUNETTES ON MTVU

laceys@subpop.com (Lacey Swain) — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 12:15:29 -0800

MTVU is trying their darndest to get some Sub Pop music to the people, what with Pissed Jeans and Foals appearing on the Freshman. Now it’s time for the Brunettes to get their shot at fame and glory so c’mon and VOTE!

SXSW Day Parties. Free Booze + Bands

laceys@subpop.com (Lacey Swain) — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 13:23:50 -0800

Hoping to see all that Sub Pop has to offer but you can’t make it to our sure to be sold out showcase? No problem! Here’s a list of parties where you might be able to catch some Sub Pop bands:

The Ruby Suns will be playing 3/12 at the Fader Party (4:30), 3/13 at Waterloo Records (3pm), 3/14 Home Slice Pizza (4:45), 3/15 Outside Music/Exclaim! Party (2:30).

Grand Archives will be playing 3/13 at the Noise Pop/Little Radio Party (1:30), 3/14 at the Other Music Party (2pm), 3/15 at the Filter Magazine Showdown (4pm).

No Age will be playing 3/13 at the Rhapsody Party (TBA) & the Jelly NYC/My Open Bar Party (10pm), 3/14 at the Pitchfork/Windish Party (TBA), 3/15 at the Stereogum Party (3pm) & the Don’t Mess with Texas Party (5pm).

Fleet Foxes will be playing 3/13 at the Under the Radar Party (1:35), 3/14 at the Pitchfork/Windish Party (3:30).

The Helio Sequence will be playing 3/13 at the Under the Radar Party (3:15), 3/14 at the Noise Pop Party (TBA).

Blitzen Trapper will be playing 3/13 at the Schubas Day Party (2-4pm), 3/14 at Hot Freaks Party (3pm), 3/15 at Stereogum/Paste Party (2pm) & Current Day Party (5pm)

Handsome Furs will be playing 3/14 at KEXP at ACL mainstage at KLRU (3:30).

Kelley Stoltz will be playing 3/14 at WFMU Showcase (8pm).

Pissed Jeans will be playing 3/15 at the Don’t Mess with Texas Party (5pm) & the Chunklet Party (9pm).

Eugene Mirman will be doing comedy all over the place at the Don’t Mess with Texas Party on 3/15.

PLEASE DO VOTE FOR FOALS ON MTVu FRESHMAN

laceys@subpop.com (Lacey Swain) — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 19:20:27 -0800

Lo and behold, we have another musical act on the chopping block at ol’ mtvU, purveyors of music videos direct to your dorm. This week we need your vote for ”Balloons” by Foals and you can get down to business right HERE REMEMBER—VOTE EARLY, VOTE OFTEN, AND VOTE BY FRIDAY!

The Helio Sequence on Jimmy Kimmel Live airs Monday, February 25th

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 16:44:21 -0800

As we mentioned just the other day, our very close, personal, close friends in The Helio Sequence are recording a performance of their song Keep Your Eyes Ahead on The Jimmy Kimmel Live late-night TV talk/variety program this very evening in Los Angeles. And, this just in…

This performance will air this coming Monday, February 25th. So, naturally, you should watch!

False Alarm on Grand Archives Radio Appearance

stuart.fletcher@gmail.com (Stuart Fletcher) — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 17:29:52 -0800

If you saw an item in this space earlier about Grand Archives playing on The END today at 6pm, please disregard. They are not playing on the radio on 2/21.

They will be on The END February 29. It will still be at 6pm, just 8 days later.

We’ll remind you as it gets closer. Thank you for your patience.

This part from earlier still applies:

If you couldn’t be there, the Triple Door shows Grand Archives did last night were fantastic. Be sure to check their tours page and go see them if they’re playing near you!

The Helio Sequence on Jimmy Kimmel Live!

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 15:38:00 -0800

On Friday, February 22nd, our close personal friends in The Helio Sequence will be in Los Angeles, recording a performance of the song Keep Your Eyes Ahead from their almost unbelievably amazing new album of the very same name (Keep Your Eyes Ahead) on the Jimmy Kimmel Live TELEVISION PROGRAM! This episode will be airing at some later date in the next week or so (ON TV!), but if you happen to live in the Los Angeles area (or will be there this Friday), you might be able to go see The Helio Sequence on the Jimmy Kimmel show. Here’s the shinola on how to do that:

Guests must be at least 18 with a valid ID. They will need to be available form 5:30PM to 8:00PM on Friday, Feb. 22nd. They can get tickets at www.1iota.com or by calling 866-JIMMYTIX.

Seems easy enough! DO IT! Plus, Sarah Silverman might be there!

Grand Archives Record Now Out! Live Appearances!

stuart.fletcher@gmail.com (Stuart Fletcher) — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 11:38:11 -0800

Grand Archives record The Grand Archives is OUT NOW. It is even available in MP3 format! (As usual the vinyl version comes with a coupon to download MP3s of the entire album.)

And not only but also! They are playing today (that’s 2/19/08) on KEXP at 3pm AND playing an in store at Sonic Boom Ballard tonight at 7pm. That is a free in store performance.

And as if that weren’t enough, they are playing two shows tomorrow night (that is Wednesday 2/20/08) at The Triple Door. Both shows are with Sera Cahoone and a band called S. Early show doors at 6:00 (early, right?), late show doors at 10:30.

If you don’t happen to live in Seattle, check Grand Archives tour page as they are playing a bunch of other cities soon.

Flight of the Conchords won a damn Grammy!

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 16:32:18 -0800

Somewhat unbelievably, though no less deservedly, Flight of the Conchords won an actual Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album the other night! For a record (The Distant Future) that we, here at Sub Pop, released!

Whoa!

Ever since David Cross’s Shut Up, You Fucking Baby lost to Weird Al’s Poodle Hat album back in ‘04, we kinda figured we’d never win one. But, maybe David just shouldn’t have used the word “Fucking” in the title of his album?

Anyhoo, congratulations on your Grammy Bret and Jemaine! We’re surpassingly proud to bask in your reflected glory.

And, congratulations also to The Shins on their Best Alternative Album Grammy nomination! Though they didn’t win (The White Stripes did), it’s an enormous honor just to be nominated. And their album Wincing the Fucking Night Away is no less amazing for not winning.

Helio Sequence: The Hardest Working Band In Showbiz

laceys@subpop.com (Lacey Swain) — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 12:55:04 -0800

Brandon and Benjamin are not the type to sit around and wait for opportunity to come knocing on their door. No, they are the type of guys that go out there and seize the day and play instores and make videos and do interviews, and not just because we make them! It’s because they want to!

The Helio Sequence are at the tail end of making their video for “Keep Your Eyes Ahead”, directed by Portland’s own Whitey McConnaughey. Our pals at MTV’s Subterranean will bringing you the behind the scenes photos from the video shoot so be sure to check it out here.

Also, the Helios were here last week to play an amazing instore at Easy Street Records and these photos prove it. Read more about the instore here.

Oh geez, and if you haven’t already you should BUY the record!

Celebrate Two Dudes Day With Sub Pop

stuart.fletcher@gmail.com (Stuart Fletcher) — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 11:46:09 -0800

Today is the release date for the surpassingly excellent Keep Your Eyes Ahead by The Helio Sequence. Those two dudes played on KEXP this morning at 9:30 AM (I know, right!), and will be playing at the Easy Street Records on Queen Anne this evening at 7pm. If you live in Seattle you should attend. It is free and will be sweet. Easy Street is having a huge sale so you probably need to get over there anyway.

And then, in further two-dude news, No Age play The Showbox tonight before the Liars and after Past Lives. If you’re lucky enough to live in Seattle you should also attend that.

In other words, Happy Two-Dudes Tuesday.

Pissed Jeans on MTVu?

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 18:13:43 -0800

The excellent video for Pissed Jeans also very excellent song I’ve Still Got You (Ice Cream) has, a little bizarrely, we’ll admit, been nominated as a “Freshmen” contender to be added into rotation on MTVu.

Go figure!

You should also go vote! The voting begins Monday, January 21st at 11am EST HERE and will run for a week.

Don’t let us down. Don’t let Pissed Jeans down. And, most of all, don’t let yourself down. Demand Pissed Jeans on MTVu!!

Eugene Mirman on Comedy Central and the campaign trail!

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 12:36:58 -0800

We have news from our esteemed colleague Eugene Mirman!

This news:

COMEDY CENTRAL PRESENTS EUGENE MIRMAN 2/1/08 You can watch my Comedy Central Presents Friday night February 1st. Like a campaign rally, you can get together with your friends and watch my inspiring words. But unlike a campaign rally, I won’t be revealing my plan for America. Instead, I will be telling jokes for a half hour.

NEW HAMPSHIRE PRIMARY COVERAGE WITH EUGENE MIRMAN I went to New Hampshire this last week and covered the primaries for 236.com. Here’s the video again, but on youtube. The video holds many treats, including Chuck Norris. Don’t forget to blog about it.

Plus, we have some new tour dates for Eugene! Those are here

Did you ever buy Eugene’s wonderful CD+DVD that we put out? If not, you should! It’s called En Garde, Society!. If you already did buy it, thank you! Seriously!

Ex-Rogue Wave member Evan Farrell

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 12:19:44 -0800

In decidedly terrible and sad news, former Rogue Wave bass player Evan Farrell died December 23rd as a result of injuries he suffered in an apartment fire in Oakland, CA. There’s a news piece on Billboard.com with more details here.

To make an already awful situation worse, Evan leaves behind a wife and two kids. A memorial fund has been set up through PayPal to help his family get through this time. You’ll find that here. Please donate if you’re able.

Some remembrances of Evan can be found at the links following:

From his friends at Secretly Canadian From Jonathan Cohen at Billboard From Whitney Pastorek at Entertainment Weekly From Zach on the Rogue Wave blog

Our hearts go out to Evan’s family and his many friends.

Remembering a Fellow Music Nerd

sams@subpop.com (Sam Sawyer) — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 17:37:31 -0800

I’ve met many of the Sub Pop Megamart customers in this crazy virtual world through e-mail, but I’ve only developed a friendship with one of them. His name was Kenny. Kenny had been a long-time customer at subpop.com when he had an issue with one of his orders and he sent me an email; that’s how we met. After we got to talking, we found out that we had a lot in common and we kept emailing for the past year and a half.

I regularly check Patagonia’s blog, The Cleanest Line. Yesterday, while making my routine blog rounds, I got some really bad news, Kenny passed away. It was the first time I had ever seen a picture of him and it hit me much harder than I expected it would.

Though Kenny and I never actually met face-to-face, I really felt like we were friends, it seems like he had that affect on everyone he met. He had such a positive energy about him that came through in all of his emails. He’d tease me with stories about the surf sessions or the bike rides they’d have during lunch at the Patagonia headquarters or the BMX races he and his son would have. Kenny was a big fan of Kelly Stoltz, The Shins, Handsome Furs and many other non-Sub Pop bands as well. We’d often trade emails with reviews of new records or shows I should check out.

Kenny had a young son and daughter who were really big fans of The Shins and The Postal Service. When very young children are into great music, it generally means that they have really great parents; that definitely seems to be the case here. Some of Kenny’s friends and co-workers have set up a fund for Kenny’s family that you can read about here.

When I told my co-workers about Kenny, one of them said that it just goes to show you how many people one person can affect in their life. I was really lucky to have met Kenny, even if it was only via the internet.

Kinski is doing a live score for this incredibly cool-looking dance performance in NY Dec 5-8

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 18:33:38 -0800

Our friends in Kinski will be performing an original score with the choreography team robbinschilds for their new live performance installation C.L.U.E. (color location ultimate experience), Dec. 5th-8th at New York’s Performance Space 122.

Here’s a description from the PS122 website:

Choreography team robbinschilds are known for creating acutely visual works that explore the intersection of human movement and architecture, be it natural or man-made. C.L.U.E. (color location ultimate experience) seamlessly combines a movement-based video with an acutely visual live dance performance and an original score performed live by Seattle rock band Kinski.

“The performance as a whole is a kind of choreographed rainbow, with each band dancing its own dance. And they are wonderful dances.” – Holland Cotter, The New York Times “Art in Review” March 30, 2007 (C.L.U.E. – the video)

And, here’s some further information about robbinschilds, lifted from their website:

robbinschilds, founded in 2003 on the choreographers’ (Sonya Robbins and Layla Childs) shared interest in performance and installation, is focused on presenting highly visual dance works which explore the intersection between architecture and human movement. With a particular attraction to empty places, public spaces, geological formations, time travel and psychedelic filigree, the choreographers’ intricately structured movement vocabulary traverses through the inanimate, human and extra-pedestrian states. In a style that is obsessive, persistent and often humorous, robbinschilds’ observations of the human imprint on the world are revealed.

All of which makes this sound like an incredibly and uniquely cool event. The dates are listed here, along with Kinski’s other upcoming tour dates.

Performance Space 122 is located at 150 First Avenue at East 9th Street.

The photos we’ve used here are by A.L. Steiner.

The Go! Team on MTV's TRL?

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 18:04:12 -0800

Somewhat inexplicably but also completely excellently, The Go! Team’s video for the song Doing It Right will be featured tomorrow, Tuesday November 20th, as a “First Look” on MTV’s TRL!

Yes, it’s weird.

Yes, you should watch.

And yes, above all, you really should vote for The Go! Team. The world being in the state it is, we have a hunch they’re going to have a bit of an uphill battle.

So, vote!

You can also see the video for Doing It Right, right here

No Age profile in The New Yorker

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 18:08:02 -0800

Though they are undeniably Angelenos, our new friends No Age are the subject of a profile in the Nov. 19th issue of The New Yorker magazine, by Sasha Frere-Jones.

We are excited about No Age and we are excited about this New Yorker article. You should really read it!

(We helped ourselves to the photo here, from the No Age photo blog.)

Lots of MP3 Albums Added

deanh@subpop.com (Harry Dean Hudson) — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 11:20:40 -0800

We just finished a pretty massive import of MP3 albums into our store, giving us close to 200 full-length albums in the digital format! In case you haven’t noticed yet, we think this is pretty great. We’ll be working to add singles and EPs and fill the holes in the catalog in the coming weeks and months, and we have every intention of making rare and out-of-print titles available exclusively through our shop.

So take a look around and let us know how it works for you. For more details on the downloads and how the sales work, take a look at this longer and more detailed post.

UPDATE: You can now see all the mp3 downloads we have for sale in one place. Click me

CSS is what we are trying to show you about

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 15:55:48 -0700

Have you seen this new iPod Touch commercial?? We’re pretty sure a couple of you have, since it aired during last night’s broadcast of something people have been referring to as “The World Series.”

Anyway, the real big news here is that this new iPod commercial features the song ”Music is My Hot, Hot Sex” by none other than our weird Brazilian friends CSS! I know, right?!

And, the story behind this whole thing is a little crazy.

Apparently, a guy in the UK by the name of Nick Haley, inspired by the line “Music is where I want you to touch,” in the aforementioned CSS song ”Music Is My Hot, Hot Sex,” from their excellent album Cansei de Ser Sexy, made his own advertisement for this new iPod Touch gizmo and posted it on YouTube. The people at Apple (or, presumably, the people at Apple’s people) caught wind of this and emailed young Nick, who is a first-year student at the University of Leeds, with some variation on, “We know what you’ve done and want to speak with you about it.” We like to imagine Nick’s reaction to this email as being something like when George Burns first starts talking to John Denver in the 1977 blockbuster Oh, God! Long story arguably somewhat shorter: Nick and Apple worked it out, tightened up the ad, and, viola, CSS is in an iPod Touch commercial.

CSS is our king-sized bed, MF’ers.

Nick Haley’s original video is here The final iPod Touch ad is here.

Note to other potential advertisers: the CSS track “Fuckoff Is Not the Only Thing You Have to Show” is still available!

Sub Pop Invents the "mp3"

laceys@subpop.com (Lacey Swain) — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 16:16:06 -0700

R Buckminster Fuller once said, “I just invent, then wait until man comes around to needing what I’ve invented,” and this would be wholly unremarkable but for the fact that Harry D. Hudson, Sub Pop’s Master of Technolo-something, said nearly this same thing to me about a new product that he is now prepared to offer for sale exclusively on this very website. What is this mysterious invention that will revolutionize the world as we know it? What ungodly creation has Dr. Hudson and the somewhat evil-seeming Professor Fletcher brought to life in their old-timey laboratory? They’re called mp3s! “Mp3” apparently stands for “music product 3”: a mysterious, invisible computer thingy which can be made to produce sounds not unlike music. It is just this sort of devotion to innovative, cutting edge technology that has made Sub Pop Records the unwitting industry leader it is today. Take that, everyone else—Sub Pop has invented the mp3! And now, we’d like to sell some of these things to you.

Since this program is in its infancy we have only a very limited number of mp3s available at this time, and we’re only offering full album downloads. We’re no dummies so we went ahead and mp3’d the big guns—all the Shins albums, the Postal Service, Flight of the Conchords, the new Band of Horses and new Iron and Wine albums are all available as downloadable zip files containing 192k mp3s and high quality cover art for $9.90 per album, except for the FOC ep which is a mere $5.94. We will be adding to this list just as soon as we’re able. This is the future—bask in its glory before someone steals our idea. Oh also, please email Dean at webmaster@subpop.com with questions, concerns, or failures.

mtvU premieres the new Band of Horses video today

laceys@subpop.com (Lacey Swain) — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 10:20:21 -0700

Go visit our friends at MTVu and see the new Band of Horses video for “Is There a Ghost”, directed by Brian Savelson. CLICK ME

Sub Pop at CMJ '07

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 17:29:38 -0700

On Saturday, October 20th, at the Bowery Ballroom in New York, we at Sub Pop will be celebrating the annual CMJ Music Marathon with a live musical performance! And, we’ve somehow convinced both The Brunettes and Band of Horses to take part! This already star-studded bill will also feature the considerable talents of Le Loup (courtesy of our friends over at Hardly Art) and the UK band Foals (courtesy of our far more geographically distant friends at Transgressive Records).

Here’s the line-up:

Saturday, October 20, 2007 at The Bowery Ballroom – 6 Delancey Street Doors at 7pm 8pm – someone going by the name of DJ 9pm – Le Loup 10pm – Foals 11pm – The Brunettes 12am – Band of Horses

Also! Playing on other days, at other times, and in some cases at other venues during this same CMJ Music Marathon, the incomparable No Age!

Like this:

Wednesday, October 17, 2007 6pm – free in-store at Other Music 10pm – at The Bowery Ballroom (as part of the Windish Agency showcase)

Plus! Our friends at De Stijl are teaming up with Force Field PR and having a showcase from 2pm to 7pm at Cake Shop on Thursday, October 18th! Ed Askew will be playing!

Full details on the De Stijl show can be found here.

Get a free Band of Horses song at Starbucks tomorrow (10/9)!

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 12:17:57 -0700

Last week Starbucks kicked off the Song of the Day promotion through which they’re giving away a free song download every day for 37 days at more than 10,000 of their stores. And, the Band of Horses song “No One’s Gonna Love You” will be featured as the “Song of the Day” on Tuesday, October 9th! That’s tomorrow!

So, tomorrow, October 9th, you can go into a Starbucks, get one of these “Song of the Day” cards and use the code on the back for a free iTunes download of “No One’s Gonna Love You.” They are giving away over a million of these things! Tomorrow (October 9th) is also, not at all coincidentally, the release date for the new Band of Horses’ album Cease to Begin, which we are not giving away for free and are in fact, in an adorably anachronistic sort of a way, attempting to sell for money.

To recap: Tomorrow, October 9th, go to Starbucks to get the Band of Horses “Song of the Day” free download card, and then buy their not-free-but-attractively-priced album Cease to Begin.

The Shins will be on the Tonight Show on Monday, October 8th!

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 11:41:25 -0700

After yesterday’s news about Iron & Wine the following is the sort of thing that, as recently as 2002, would have been akin to us proclaiming that Beachwood Sparks were scheduled to play a unicorn rodeo in Narnia. But, it’s true!

On Monday, October 8th, The Shins will be performing the song “Sealegs” from this year’s Wincing the Night Away on NBC’s Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

Seriously!

You should watch!

A really great documentary about The Go! Team, part 2

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 10:49:58 -0700

Remember that news piece we posted a little while back about that Go! Team documentary? Sure you do!

We said this:

The Go! Team, whose really very excellent new album Proof of Youth we at Sub Pop just released last week here in the US of A, have put together a great documentary about their band and their new record. Directed by Bob Jarocs, this film really captures the exuberant cut-and-paste spirit of the band – it’s enthused, raucous, fun and occasionally funny. And, there is lots and lots of jumping; rampant jumping on a scale you might have previously, and not unreasonably, thought unattainable.

And, the second part is now up on YouTube!

Go watch part 2 of the Go! Team film now!

Iron and Wine will be on Letterman October 5th and on NPR's World Cafe October 19th

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 16:26:40 -0700

On September 25th, we had the decidedly good fortune of releasing the new Iron and Wine album The Shepherd’s Dog. In the coming weeks, you will have the equally good fortune of enjoying Iron and Wine both on the National Public Radio and the talking picture box!

Firstly: This coming Friday, October 5th, on CBS’s Late Show with David Letterman Iron and Wine will perform the song “The Devil Never Sleeps,” off the above-mentioned new album The Shepherd’s Dog And, as if that weren’t reason enough to watch (which, come on, it is), also appearing on that episode: Angela from The Office and Bob “The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart” Newhart! Holy crap!

And, then secondly though no less awesomely: On Friday, October 19th NPR’s World Cafe will be broadcasting a very recently recorded 4 or 5 song performance by and interview with this same, much beloved by us and hopefully also by you, Iron and Wine. To listen to this broadcast, you can:

Find your local NPR radio station here and tune in to listen.
Listen online to the WXPN/Philadelphia stream between 2pm and 4pm Eastern Standard Time here
Or, later that same day the audio will be available on the NPR website here.

Also, as part of NPR’s Live Concert Series, you can hear their recording of the entire show Iron and Wine played in Washington, DC on Sept. 29th here.

The Comedy Train Stops HERE. And by Here I mean Sonic Boom

laceys@subpop.com (Lacey Swain) — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 16:18:58 -0700

Woot Wooooot! The speeding locomotive of comedy that is The Comedians of Comedy makes a special stop at the Capitol Hill Sonic Boom on Thursday October 4th at 5pm. I asked Heather Hydra, press liaison at Sonic Boom for a rundown on the festivities and she said, “They’re going to come to the store (Brian, Patton, and Maria, etc.) and sign the Comedians of Comedy DVD or your face or your boobs and party. There should be snacks and/or candy for the general public. I am going to offer Patton a BJ.” Hey, why don’t you buy Patton’s CD?

Go vote for Band of Horses!

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 15:08:29 -0700

The song Is There A Ghost from the new Band of Horses album Cease to Begin is a contender for Steve Lamacq’s Rebel Playlist on the UK’s BBC 6 Music this week! And you can vote for your favourite (note the extra “u” – that’s authentic Anglophilia!) of three tracks here (scroll to the bottom of the page) until midnight on Sunday, September 30th. The winner gets played every day on Steve’s 6 Music show next week.

We’re into it. You should get into it. Vote for Band of Horses now!

A Frames play Austin on Saturday

laceys@subpop.com (Lacey Swain) — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 12:13:21 -0700

The good people of Austin, TX have flown the A Frames down for a show on Saturday at Emo’s and you’d be a fool to miss it. I mean, THEY FLEW THEM DOWN! FOR ONE SHOW!

The Shins and CSS are up for Woodie Awards!

laceys@subpop.com (Lacey Swain) — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 13:57:43 -0700

Remember when we invented the wooden record for sales of 100K a while back? Well, MTVu liked the idea so much they have a whole awards show about it now and they would like to bestow an MTV brand Woodie on two of our bands—The Shins and CSS! The Shins are up for 3 awards,and the viral one requires voting NOW! DO IT!

VOTE HERE for the Shins Viral Woodie VOTE HERE for the Shins Woodie of the Year VOTE HERE for the Shins Alumni Woodie VOTE HERE for the CSS Left Field Woodie

Help Sub Pop take Back the Wood!

There are still some Eric's Trip dates left

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 13:02:35 -0700

Though we didn’t manage to say something about this when it was first announced, we’ve been hearing really great things about this current Eric’s Trip reunion tour. And, because there are still some of these shows left, please consider yourself encouraged to attend one (or several!) of them if you can. Here are the remaining dates:

Sept 20 : Waterloo, ON : Starlight Sept 22 : London, ON : Call the Office Sept 23 : Guelph, ON : Club Vinyl Oct 5 : Ottawa, ON : Barrymore’s Oct 7 : Montreal, QC : Ukranian Federation (POPMontreal) Oct 19 : Moncton, NB : Paramount Oct 20 : Halifax, NS : Marquee (POP Explosion)

Maybe also helpful: the Eric’s Trip Myspace page.

A really great documentary about The Go! Team

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 12:02:50 -0700

The Go! Team, whose really very excellent new album Proof of Youth we at Sub Pop just released last week here in the US of A, have put together a great documentary about their band and their new record. Directed by Bob Jarocs, this film really captures the exuberant cut-and-paste spirit of the band – it’s enthused, raucous, fun and occasionally funny. And, there is lots and lots of jumping; rampant jumping on a scale you might have previously, and not unreasonably, thought unattainable.

The first part of this film was recently posted on Youtube and you can check it out here. The entire film is somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 minutes in length, so they had to chop it into pieces for consumption on the internets. The subsequent portion(s) of the film will be posted subsequently (you’re welcome).

Go watch part one of the Go! Team film!

If you haven’t already, we’d strongly suggest that you purchase a copy of Proof of Youth immediately.

This is probably our last news piece about the Constantines

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 11:19:11 -0700

Our friends in the Constantines have recently made some changes. And, in the interest of maybe combating any rumor-mongering and the sort of baseless speculation that comment boards seem doomed to engender, we’d like to offer the following official comment:

At the end of their recording contract with Sub Pop, the Constantines decided to work with their friends, the Toronto-based label Arts & Crafts. Arts & Crafts will be releasing the next Constantines album throughout the world. We at Sub Pop are incredibly proud of the records we’ve released with the band and have thoroughly enjoyed our professional and personal relationship with them. We fully expect the latter to continue and wish them nothing but the best in their new version of the former with Arts & Crafts.

Those guys are right now in the midst of recording a new record, to be released by Arts & Crafts in March of 2008. I’m certain the new record will be amazing and I can’t wait to hear it.

You can read more about all of this here, here and here (among, I’m sure, many other places).

Good luck with everything, fellas. Don’t be strangers. And, thanks!

Iron and Wine limted-edition fancy poster set

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 14:57:36 -0700

Partly because no one has yet figured out how to upload posters to Oink, but also because we rely upon the assumption that some of you might actually pay money for things that we think are really cool, we have recently produced a pretty nice limited-edition Iron and Wine poster set!

We might describe (and in fact have described) this thing thusly:

This is a set of 3 prints of Sam Beam’s original artwork that was used to create the covers for the new Iron and Wine album The Shepherd’s Dog and the recent Boy with a Coin single. Each set comes in a heavy-duty, silk-screened kraft envelope and one of the prints has been signed by Sam Beam himself.

What better way to celebrate Iron and Wine’s new album AND give us $40??

Buy the Iron and Wine limited-edition fancy poster set now.

Vote VanGaalen!

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 18:11:07 -0700

Chad VanGaalen, history’s most talented and charming very tall Canadian person, currently recording for the Sub Pop Records Entertainment Group of Seattle, Wash., was very recently nominated for The ECHO Songwriting Prize. For the uninitiated, The ECHO…

”...is designed to identify what’s next and what’s best in current independent music. The prize honours (sic) some of the most innovative, creative and artistic songs created in the past year by emerging songwriters in Canada. Five songs, determined by a panel of respected, knowledgeable tastemakers in the music community, are posted for you to listen to and vote on. The writer(s) of othe winning song will receive a $5,000 CDN cash prize. You can vote for your favourite (sic) once a day, from now until the deadline of 4:59 p.m. on September 28, 2007.”

Anyone even passingly familiar with Chad’s excellent 2006 release Skelliconnection or his equally fantastic 2005 album Infiniheart will find themselves with ample reasons here for unabashed ballot box stuffing.

Now’s the time, people! Vote early and vote often!

http://www.echoprize.ca/echoen/index.jsp

Yes No Age, Yes!

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 17:15:56 -0700

Hey, here’s something exciting: we just signed No Age! No Age is Dean Spunt and Randy Randall, formerly of the band Wives and still, currently of the city Los Angeles. They just recently released the really fucking excellent singles compilation Weirdo Rippers on the Fat Cat label (if you don’t own this already, consider remedying that situation) and we are genuinely thrilled to be working with these guys. Here’s the description of the band we just lifted from their own website:

Two parts of Wives make up this new group. Not perfect in the normal sense, but perfect in the sense that they think it is. Pretty and ugly meet somewhere in the middle of punk and art. You will see very soon. One guy broke his neck and had brain surgery, and the other guy got in a car accident and got a lot of money, it kinda sounds like that.

No Age is right now working on a new record, which we hope to have out sometime in the spring of 2008. They’re also touring a bunch on the coming months. Here’s a list of those dates

And, here’s a link to their video for the song “Boy Void” on YouTube…

Welcome, Dean and Randy. We can’t wait.

Pre-order The Go! Team's new album Proof of Youth!

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 11:14:04 -0700

Right now, we are offering $2 off the regular price of Proof of Youth (and that regular price through your pals here at subpop.com is already a steal at $14), making it only $12 all the way through the album’s release date of Sept. 11. We will also, of course, throw in The Go! Team stickers and buttons! AND! The first pressing of Proof of Youth on CD will include a BONUS DISC with four extra tracks! On this bonus disc: “Milk Crisis,” “Phantom Broadcast,” “A Version of Myself,” AND “Grip Like a Vice (Black Affair remix)” – all of which are B-sides from new UK singles. When this first pressing of the CD is gone, this bonus disc will be gone. As with so many things, your snoozing is your losing.

Seaweed Reunion shows!

chrisj@subpop.com (Chris Jacobs) — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 11:39:17 -0700

Our old pals in the mighty ‘Weed have scheduled a couple of upcoming reunion shows here in Seattle! Like so:

Sept. 1 at The High Dive Sept. 2 at Bumbershoot (they play at 9:30 on the EMP Sky Church stage)

Here’s the full scoop from the Seaweed Myspace page...

Seaweed is an aggressive, melodic, and powerful unit originally formed in mighty Tacoma, WA. Formed in 1989 by high school friends Clint Werner, Aaron Stauffer, Wade Neal, John Atkins, and Bob Bulgrien, Seaweed quickly earned a reputation as a powerful and energetic live band. Seaweed joined the 7” revolution and put out several cuts on local fave Leopard Gecko. The kids seemed to love them dearly, so Sub Pop Records took a mild interest and signed the band. At Sub Pop, Seaweed produced an EP and two albums: the middling, yet endearing Despised, followed by hardcore-emo classics Weak and Four (Weak and Four are both currently out of print on CD and LP, but much of the Seaweed catalog is available through iTunes here). As a result of incessant domestic and international touring, the band inexplicably attracted the attention of several major labels. Seaweed decided to brass ring it on Hollywood Records in 1995. Later, as a result of many recording sessions gently steered by producer Adam Kaspar, the majestic, yet understated Spanaway was released. The band earned slots on the first Warped Tour and opened for Bad Religion and Green Day on several of many nationwide excursions. Although artistic visions were realized, album sales did not accrue as quickly as the suits had hoped. Suddenly finding themselves too indie for the majors due to cruel corporate cost-cutting measures, they signed with beloved Merge Records for 1999’s Actions and Indications, a raw and clever set of melodic and punkish tracks. The band was also joined for the project by the great Alan Cage of Quicksand on drums, Bob Bulgrien having left the group in 1996. Despite lovely tours to Brazil and the US, the band found itself broken up by the end of the millennium. However, happier times are upon the group now. Reunion feelings have been brewing for some time, and the band has decided to make its first re-appearance at Bumbershoot 2007 in Seattle. Although they have not graced the stage for years, Seaweed has impacted many, many slightly younger and much more talented bands (See Hot Water Music, Alexisonfire, Elemae, The Receiving End of Sirens, This is Hell, Fall Out Boy, etc.) A tribute album is set to be released on Engineer Records in early 2008. A new album of original material is in the works.

As well, our friends at KEXP will be broadcasting Seaweed’s Sept. 1 performance live from The High Dive. Those of you unable to make either of these shows should avail yourselves of this broadcast, via KEXP’s radio transmission or on the WWW.

New Handsome Furs Video Premieres on Subterranean

laceys@subpop.com (Lacey Swain) — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 11:27:05 -0700

The Handsome Furs have a new video for “Cannot Get Started” directed by Matt Moroz, Canadian directorial superstar and all around weird video maker. “Cannot Get Started” has its television debut this Sunday on MTV2’s Subterranean but you can see it now on the Subterranean Blog here. Hip Hip Hooray!