On September 14th, Sub Pop will release 1 Time Mirage, the otherworldly debut long-player from the hermetic duo Knife Knights. The 11-track album features standouts “My Dreams Never Sleep,” and “Light Up Ahead (Time Mirage),” along with the previously released introductory single (+ official video) for “Give You Game [see here].” 1 Time Mirage features guest appearances from labelmates Shabazz Palaces and Porter Ray, along with Stas Thee Boss, OC Notes, Thaddillac, El Mizell, Marquetta Miller, Gerald Turner, and Darrius Willrich. The album was produced by Ishmael Butler and Erik Blood at Protect and Exalt: A Black Space in Seattle.
In further exciting news, Knife Knights make their live debut on KEXP in Seattle today. Watch now [see interview & live stream July 19th; noon PST]!
Knife Knights 1 Time Mirage will be available on CD/LP/DL/CS worldwide from Sub Pop. Preorders of the album through megamart.subpop.com and select independent retailers will receive the limited Loser edition pressed on blue and white marbled vinyl.
Knife Knights 1 Time Mirage Tracklisting
1. Bionic Chords (feat. OC Notes & Darrius Willrich) 2. Drag Race Legend 3. Give You Game (feat. Marquetta Miller & Stas Thee Boss) 4. Light Up Ahead (Time Mirage) [feat. Porter Ray, Gerald Turner, Darrius Willrich, OC Notes & Shabazz Palaces] 5. Seven Wheel Motion 6. Low Key (feat. Shabazz Palaces) 7. My Dreams Never Sleep (feat. OC Notes, Marquetta Miller & Shabazz Palaces) 8. Light Work (feat. El Mizell) 9. Can’t Draw the Line (feat. OC Notes) 10. Come On Let’s Go (feat. OC Notes & Marquetta Miller) 11. Mr. President
[Photo Credit: Justin Henning]
Knife Knights were born of the love of mystery.
A decade ago, Ishmael Butler—the architect of the groundbreaking but long-disbanded hip-hop group Digable Planets—was preparing at last to emerge from years of near-complete silence. He unveiled his new outlet, Shabazz Palaces, in the summer of 2009 through a pair of self-released EPs, surrounding his hyperlinked verses with webs of psychedelic textures and refracted rhythms. From the start, confidentiality seemed essential: Butler wanted Shabazz Palaces to stand on its own strength, not his outsized reputation, so he adopted a nom de plume for himself.
As the project’s network expanded, though, he needed new monikers for his partnerships. Knife Knights is the name he gave to his work with Seattle engineer, producer, songwriter, and film composer Erik Blood, a vital force in the Shabazz Palaces universe. Now, after more than a decade of collaboration and the development into of a rich friendship, Butler and Blood have made a proper full-length record together as Knife Knights: 1 Time Mirage, an eleven-track odyssey that finds the pair and a cast of their friends weaving together a singular world of soul and shoegaze, hip-hop and lush noise, bass and bedlam. 1 Time Mirage represents a playground for Butler and Blood, a free space for unfettered exploration, and a radically adventurous start to something much more than a mere production duo or side project.
Butler and Blood met in 2003 at a Spiritualized show in Seattle, introduced by a mutual friend who was soon set to record Butler in his studio. A Digable Planets zealot, Blood was floored, passing a bootleg copy of Blowout Comb to his friend for an autograph (which Butler dutifully provided). For the next few years, they’d run into one another by chance and sometimes make small talk about working together. When Butler finally sent him a few tunes to mix, the kinship seemed obvious and immediate. Though Butler had grown up as a hip-hop student, he’d started absorbing shoegaze rock and ambient soundscapes, too. Blood, meanwhile, was an ardent hip-hop fan who had always been an inclusive listener. On every Shabazz Palaces album, Butler and Blood have delighted at that artistic intersection, constantly indoctrinating hip-hop in new worlds of sound. “He takes my ideas and clarifies and pronounces them, helps me realize them,” explains Butler. “He helps me get to the essence.”
Recorded in three fertile sessions interrupted by Shabazz Palaces tours and Blood’s recording projects, 1 Time Mirage is a profound fulfilment of that partnership, realized at the crossroads of Butler’s and Blood’s mutual enthusiasms. Their shared interests have been split into pieces and fused together with enviable imagination. Take “Give You Game,” where Butler and Blood weave their distant voices through a landscape of synthesizers and drums that bubble up sporadically, like geysers. Marquetta Miller and THEESatisfaction’s Stasia Irons soon join, their round tones lacing around those sounds and giving them shape. It is an abstract anthem to astral love.
“Low Key” suggests a radiant daydream, with kaleidoscopic synthesizers and faded harmonies pirouetting over puzzle pieces of dizzying percussion and understated funk. “Can’t Draw the Line” rushes headlong like some narcotized disco fantasy, with its four planted firmly on the floor but Butler’s breathy voice and an armada of synthesizers stretching skyward. They splice doo-wop harmonies to scattered dub rhythms during “Light Up Ahead (Time Mirage),” hard-edged verses to industrial din during “ Mr. President.” Colossal drums puncture walls of labyrinthine noise sculpted from deranged synthesizers and mutated guitars during “Seven Wheel Motion,” an absolute powerhouse. Butler seems to rap in dialogue with himself, detailing a threatening streetscape and shaping the experience into personal realizations. “Smooth landings, queens in tandems, cash in grand sums,” he declares at one point. “Life is random/I roll the dice and bet on me.”
In the decade since Butler launched Shabazz Palaces and first christened his partnership with Blood as Knife Knights, much of that project’s external mystery has, of course, fallen away. And 1 Time Mirage is a very public step forward for the pair. That early sense of secrecy has given way to a spirit of friendship and creative candor, to the doors of experimentation being thrown open by old pals thrilled by the prospect of testing new ideas.
Still, these eleven songs retain a core of intrigue and, indeed, mystery; each listen reveals yet another connection between infinite and interlocking pieces. To wit, Robert Beatty’s brilliant cover for 1 Time Mirage depicts a futuristic vehicle, being coolly steered with one hand into some great, mildly ominous unknown. That’s how these songs feel, too—confident conquests of the dark that unlock sounds and spaces you have yet to imagine.
In celebration of the bands impending tour dates, Frankie Cosmos have delivered a new video “Duet” which was directed by Eliza Doyle. The new visual stars Greta Kline and depicts a CPR Training video, one in which she becomes completely smitten with an object, and a one-sided romance is born.”
Road warriors Frankie Cosmos have spent the better part of 2018 on tour in support of their latest and greatest, Vessel, available now worldwide via Sub Pop. The band currently have a handful of overseas dates in August including an appearance at the UK’s Green Man Festival on August 19th.
Then on September 13th, Frankie Cosmos will then begin a 20-date North American run with shows in Baltimore, Durham, Atlanta, New Orleans, Austin, Detroit, Pittsburgh, returning to their hometown of New York, playing area shows at White Eagle Hall in New Jersey on October 5th, Music Hall of Williamsburg on October 6th and The Bowery Ballroom on October 7th. These shows will mark the bands first headlining dates in NYC since the release of Vessel.
Frankie Cosmos will follow the early fall run with a string of west coast dates, beginning on November 2nd at the Regent Theater in Los Angeles. They will make their way up the coast, with an appearance at Tropicalia Festival in Long Beach, Calif (Nov. 3rd), with shows at The Fillmore in San Francisco, Wonderland Ballroom in Portland, The Biltmore in Vancouver and The Neptune Theater in Seattle. Along the way, the band will be joined by Kero Kero Bonito (Nov. 2nd, 5th-10th).
Jul. 27 - Denver, CO - Underground Music Showcase
Jul. 28 - Denver, CO - Underground Music Showcase
Jul. 29 - Denver, CO - Underground Music Showcase
Aug. 17 - Paredes de Coura, PT - Vodafone Paredes de Coura
Aug. 19 - Brecon Beacons, UK - Green Man Festival
Aug. 21 - Belfast, UK - Voodoo Belfast !
Aug. 22 - Galway, IE - Roisin Dubh !
Aug. 23 - Dublin, IE - Button Factory !
Sep. 13 - Baltimore, MD - Ottobar *
Sep. 14 - Durham, NC - Motorco Music Hall *
Sep. 15 - Asheville, NC - Mothlight *
Sep. 16 - Atlanta, GA - Masquerade *
Sep. 17 - Birmingham, AL - Saturn Birmingham *
Sep. 19 - New Orleans, LA - Gasa Gasa *
Sep. 20 - Houston, TX - Satellite Bar *
Sep. 21 - San Antonio, TX - Paper Tiger *
Sep. 22 - Austin, TX - Barracuda *
Sep. 23 - Dallas, TX - Deep Ellum Art Company *
Sep. 24 - Oklahoma, OK - Tower Theater *
Sep. 26 - Minneapolis, MN - Fine Line Music Cafe *
Sep. 27 - Milwaukee, WI - Back Room @ Collectivo Coffee *
Sep. 29 - Champaign, IL - Pygmalion Festival
Sep. 30 - Detroit, MI - El Club *
Oct. 01 - Cleveland Heights, OH - Grog Shop *
Oct. 02 - Pittsburgh, PA - Cattivo *
Oct. 03 - Harrisburg, PA - Stage on Herr *
Oct. 05 - Jersey City, NJ - White Eagle Hall *
Oct. 06 - Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg *
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever’s debut full-length Hope Downs, was released just over a month ago, and the critics seem to agree that it’s one of the best of the year. In fact, it’s currently sitting at 84 on Metacritic, making it the 39th best album of the year according to aggregate scores. This included big love from The AV Club, Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, Paste, SPIN, Uncut, Mojo, Under The Radar, and more. Luckily, the fans agree, which led to a big opening week for the band and a virtually sold-out US tour back in April.
[Photo by Maclay Heriot]
The band is gearing up to return, and in advance of this, they’re sharing a new Austin Wilson directed video for their brief-but-wonderful song “Time In Common.” It captures a band on the move, a group of friends rolling up their sleeves, touring the world, and putting in the work (with no small measure of fun, of course).
Sun. July 22 - North Byron Parklands, AU @ Splendour in the Grass Sat. Aug. 4 - Katowice, PL @ Off Festival Tue. Aug. 7 - Aarhus, DK @ Tape Wed. Aug. 8 - Copenhagen, DK @ Pumperhuset Fri. Aug. 10 - St. Gallen, CH @ Sur Le Lac Festival Sat. Aug. 11 - Rees-Haldern, DE @ Haldern Pop Festival Mon. Aug. 13 - Munich, DE @ Milla Tue. Aug. 14 - Luxembourg, LU @ Rotondes Thu. Aug. 16 - Trondheim, NO @ Pstereo Festival Fri. Aug. 17 - Bigginghuizen, NL @ Lowlands Festival Sat. Aug. 18 - Kiewit, BE @ Pukkelpop Festival Sun. Aug. 19 - Brecon Beacons, UK @ Green Man Festival Tue. Aug. 21 - Dublin, IE @ Whelans Sat. Aug. 25 - San Diego, CA @ Soda Bar Mon. Aug. 27 - Los Angeles, CA @ Teragram Ballroom Tue. Aug. 28 - San Francisco, CA @ The Independent Thu. Aug. 30 - Portland, OR @ Doug Fir Fri. Aug. 31 - Vancouver, BC@ Fox Cabaret Sat. Sep. 1 - Seattle, WA @ Bumbershoot Mon. Sep. 3 - Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby Court Wed. Sep. 5 - Denver, CO @ Larimer Lounge Fri. Sep. 7 - St. Paul, MN @ Turf Club Sat. Sep. 8 - Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall Mon. Sep. 10 - Detroit, MI @ El Club Tue. Sep. 11 - Toronto, ON @ Horseshoe Tavern Wed. Sep. 12 - Montreal, QC @ Le Ministère Thu. Sep. 13 - Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair Fri. Sep. 14 - Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s Sat. Sep. 15 - New York, NY @ Bowery Ballroom Mon. Sep. 17 - Washington, DC @ Black Cat Thu. Sep. 27 - Brisbane, AU @ Brisbane Festival Fri. Sep. 28 - Sydney, AU @ Factory Theatre Sat. Sep. 29 - Wollongong, AU @ Yours & Owls Fri. Oct. 5 - Perth, AU @ Rosemount Sat. Oct. 6 - Adelaide, AU @ Jive Bar Fri. Oct.12 - Geelong, AU @ Workers Club Sat. Oct.13 - Melbourne, AU @ Corner Hotel Fri. Oct. 19 - Manchester, UK @ Manchester Academy 2 Sun. Oct. 21 - Leeds, UK @ Stylus Tue. Oct. 23 - Brighton, UK @ Concorde 2 Wed. Oct. 24 - Portsmouth, UK @ Wedgwood Rooms Thu. Oct. 25 - Oxford, UK @ 02 Academy Mon. Oct. 29 - London, UK @ Koko Sat. Nov. 3 - Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso Noord Sun. Nov. 4 - Nijmegen, NL @ Doornroosje Wed. Nov. 7 - Oslo, NO @ John Dee Thu. Nov. 8 - Stockholm, SE @ Nalen Fri. Nov. 9 - Lund, SE @ Mejeriet Tue. Nov. 13 - Cologne, DE @ MTC
Australian tour dates begin July 18th w/North American shows to follow.
Bully has shared a new video for their song “Guess There’ off the bands 2017 release, Losing. The video, directed by Aleia Murawski and Samuel Copeland, follows a day in the life of a snail, who ponders on life’s bigger meanings.
Bully, who have toured non-stop since releasing Losing, is heading to Australia on July 18th, playing legendary club The Tote in Melbourne with additional shows at Lansdowne Hotel in Sydney. They will then return to the US on July 22nd for a performance at this year’s Capitol Hill Block Party Festival in Seattle, WA with additional performances at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame & Museum on August 1st in Cleveland as a part of the museum’s “Women Who Rule Rock.” They will then meet up with labelmate Father John Misty for in DC & Pittsburgh, with additional festival performances at Riot Fest in Chicago, Venus Festival in Toronto, The National Presents: There’s No Leaving New York at Forest Hills Stadium in Queens and Prize Fest in Shreveport, LA.
Jul. 18 - Melbourne, AU - The Tote Jul. 19 - Sydney, AU - Lansdowne Hotel Jul. 22 - Seattle, WA - Capitol Hill Block Party Aug. 01 - Cleveland, OH - Rock and Roll Hall of Fame & Museum (“Women Who Rule Rock” summer series) Aug. 02 - Washington, DC - Anthem $ Aug. 03 - Pittsburgh, PA - Stage AE $ Sep. 07 - Nashville, TN - Nashville Municipal Auditorium Sep. 14 - Spring Green, WI - Shitty Barn # Sep. 15 - Chicago, IL- Riot Fest Chicago Sep. 16 - Chicago, IL - Riot Fest Chicago Sep. 17 - Fort Wayne, IN - Brass Rail @ Sep. 18 - Bloomington, IN - Bishop Bar Sep. 19 - Grand Rapids, MI - Pyramid Scheme Sep. 21 - Buffalo, NY - Mohawk Place Sep. 22 - Toronto, ON - Opera House (Venus Fest!) Sep. 28 - Cambridge, MA - Sinclair Sep. 29 - Hamden, CT - Space (CT) Sep. 30 - Queens, NY - Forest Hills Stadium (The National Presents: There’s No Leaving New York) Oct. 6th - Shreveport, LA - Prize Fest
$ w/ Father John Misty # w/Michigander @ w/ The Meat Flowers
What The People have been saying about Bully: “Instead of recreating the Rorschach blot scream-a-thons of the ’90s, Bully choose to inflate that decade’s raw timbre with words that feel intimate and necessary.” - Pitchfork
“Alicia Bognanno has the loveliest snarl this side of Nirvana’s Live at Reading. That it’s in a pop-punk setting, with lyrics reckoning with adulthood, only strengthens its power.” - New York Magazine
“full of tough-earned wisdom and egalitarian rage, Losing is a high-energy, high-impact emotional workout for everyone involved.” -Wired
“The bass hops around nervously in nearly constant eighth notes, with drums syncopated against it à la the Police; a guitar on the left offers a neat new-wave hook while another one on the right grumbles occasionally with dissonant, distorted squawks. And as those tensions flare into multiple little crescendos, the singer Alicia Bognanno gets herself more and more worked up.” - New York Times
“Expect lots more of Bognanno’s sharp, cynical emotional insights and impassioned yells, all backed by Bully’s gnawing, ’90s-inspired sound.” - SPIN
“The record once again faces down youthful angst, but with a notable growth in Bognanno’s maturity” - Consequence of Sound
“Alicia Bognanno has a way of channeling her inner struggles into tightly-constructed and toiled-over rock songs with a classic touch.” -Stereogum
Father John Misty’s tour dates in support of God’s Favorite Customer resume July 20th in Jacksonville, OR at Britt Pavilion and run through November 18th in Lausanne, Switzerland at Les Docks. Upcoming highlights include headline performances at Seattle’s Capitol Hill Block Party on Sunday, July 22nd and Red Rocks on August 15th (with TV on the Radio).
Jul. 20 - Jacksonville, OR - Britt Pavilion ! Jul. 21 - Troutdale, OR - Edgefield Amphitheater ! Jul. 22 - Seattle, WA - Capitol Hill Block Party Jul. 26 - Buffalo, NY - Canalside % Jul. 27 - New York, NY - Panorama Music & Arts Festival Jul. 28 - Newport, RI - Newport Folk Festival @ Jane Pickens Theater [Official Aftershow] Jul. 29 - Portland, ME - Thompson’s Point ^ Aug. 01 - Raleigh, NC - North Carolina Museum of Art Park Theater ^ Aug. 02 - Washington, DC - The Anthem *** Aug. 03 - Pittsburgh, PA - Stage AE *** Aug. 04 - Toronto, ON - Historic Fort York & Garrison Commons Aug. 10 - San Francisco, CA - Outside Lands Festival Aug. 12 - Boise, ID - Knitting Factory Concert House % Aug. 13 - Salt Lake City, UT - The Union % Aug. 15 - Morrison, CO - Red Rocks Amphitheatre ** Aug. 17 - Kansas City, MO - Uptown Theater @ Aug. 18 - Omaha, NE - Maha Music Festival Aug. 22 - Mexico City, MX - El Plaza Condesa Aug. 25 - Rio De Janeiro, Brazil - Queremos! Festival Aug. 26 - Sao Paulo, Brazil - Auditório Simón Bolívar - Memorial da América Latina Aug. 29 - Buenos Aires, Argentina - La Trastienda Club Sep. 01 - Santiago, Chile - Espacio Riesco Sep. 09 - Vancouver, BC - SKOOKUM Festival Sep. 14-16 - Chicago, IL - Riot Fest Sep. 18 - Madison, WI - Orpheum Theater $ Sep. 20 - Milwaukee, WI - Pabst Theater $ [Sold Out] Sep. 21 - Indianapolis, IN - MacAllister Amphitheater at Garfield Park $ Sep. 22 - Cleveland, OH - Agora Theatre $ Sep. 25 - Charlottesville, VA - Sprint Pavilion Sep. 26 - Charlotte, NC - The Fillmore $ Sep. 28 - Miami Beach, FL - The Fillmore at the Jackie Gleason Theater $ Sep. 29 - Orlando, FL - Hard Rock Live $ Oct. 01 - Athens, GA - Georgia Theatre $ [Sold Out] Oct. 02 - Athens, GA - Georgia Theatre $ Oct. 03 - Birmingham, AL - Iron City $ Oct. 05-07 - Austin, TX - Austin City Limits Festival Oct. 06 - New Orleans, LA - Civic Theatre Oct. 09 - Knoxville, TN - The Mill & Mine $ Oct. 10 - Oxford, MS - The Lyric Oxford $ Oct. 11 - Oklahoma City, OK - The Jones Assembly % Oct. 12-14 - Austin, TX - Austin City Limits Festival Oct. 26 - Gateshead, UK - Sage Gateshead ^^ Oct. 27 - Liverpool, UK - Olympia ^^ Oct. 28 - Portsmouth, UK - Portsmouth Guildhall ^^ Oct. 29 - Leicester, UK - De Montfort Hall ^^ Oct. 30 - Bath, UK - The Forum Bath ^^ Nov. 01 - Antwerp, Belgium - De Roma ^^ Nov. 02 - Eindhoven, Netherlands - Effenaar ^^ Nov. 03 - Groningen, Netherlands - TakeRoot Festival Nov. 05 - Amsterdam, Netherlands - Paradiso ^^ Nov. 06 - Darmstadt, Germany - Centralstation ^^ Nov. 07 - Berlin, Germany - Huxleys Neue Welt ^^ Nov. 09 - Weissenhäuser Strand, Germany - Rolling Stone Weekender Nov. 10 - Copenhagen, Denmark - Forum Black Box ^^ Nov. 11 - Gothenburg, Sweden - Konserthuset ^^ Nov. 14 - Budapest, Hungary - Müpa Budapest, Béla Bartók National Concert Hall ^^ Nov. 15 - Vienna, Austria - Arena Wien ^^ Nov. 16 - Rust, Germany - Rolling Stone Park Nov. 17 - Zurich, Switzerland - Rote Fabrik ^^ Nov. 18 - Lausanne, Switzerland - Les Docks ^^
! w/ Blitzen Trapper ** w/ TV on the Radio *** w/ Bully ^ w/ Jenny Lewis % w/ Lucy Dacus @ w/ David Beeman $ w/ King Tuff % w/ Broncho ^^ w/ Bedouine
God’s Favorite Customer, Father John Misty’s fourth album, is available now through Sub Pop, with the exception of Europe through Bella Union. God’s Favorite Customer was produced by Tillman and recorded with Jonathan Rado, Dave Cerminara, and Trevor Spencer and was written largely in New York between Summer 2016 and Winter 2017.
