“Lala Lala’s songs needle and probe: they’re emotional, sure, but they’re also exacting, and that’s why they can feel so visceral.” - The FADER
Lala Lala, the project of Lillie West, announces her signing to Sub Pop and releases the new single/video, “Does This Go Faster?.” Set against a backdrop awash in synths and distorted drum beats, “Does This Go Faster?” is existential and propulsive. With airy vocals, West sings: “Nothing on earth is free // Even in ecstasy // Hell is the day after the party // Nothing on earth is free // Oblivion seems heavenly, but // Hell is the day after the party.” The song was co-produced by West (vocals, guitar, synths) and Melina Duterte (bass, synthesizers, guitar), and features Abby Black on drums and Sen Morimoto on saxophone. It’s the first taste of new music from Lala Lala since the release of 2024’s instrumental album, if i were a real man i would be able to break the neck of a suffering bird, and the first vocal track since the 2023 singles “HIT ME WHERE IT HURTS” and “Armida.”
Commenting on the song, West says, “I blew up my life and spent two years with my things in storage, traveling around. I wrote this in Iceland during the time I started to feel a little like… What did I do? What happened? What now?” The song’s accompanying video was directed by Jackson James.
On the heels of a packed Millennium Park Summer Music Series concert in August, Lala Lala will support Current Joys on their North American tour, kicking off on Saturday. A full list of dates is below.
Sub Pop has signed underground music powerhouse sunn O))) for the known universe.
sunn O))) and Sub Pop kick off this exciting partnership with three towering monoliths of low-end drone, delivered just in time for the dark weight of winter, in the form of Eternity’s Pillars b/w Raise the Chalice & Reverential, out now on maxi 12” and digital. The maxi 12” is available in two limited vinyl variants: gold vinyl via Sub Pop online (US and UK/EU), and clear vinyl via sunn O))) online and on their current European tour. It is also available to stream at all DSPs. A widely available vinyl pressing will be released later in 2025. Limited-edition merch is also available from sunn O))) and Sub Pop.
sunn O))) describe the release thusly:
“Eternity’s Pillarsb/w Raise the Chalice & Reverential is sunn O)))’s premier work on the maxi 12” medium for Sub Pop.
“It consists of three brand new tracks created and performed by the iconic duo of Stephen O’Malley and Greg Anderson and co-produced by sunn O))) and Brad Wood. Brad Wood recorded the material at Bear Creek Studios in Woodinville and Sea Grass in Los Angeles in 2025. The tracks on this maxi 12” are the first official sunn O))) studio recordings to feature only the original core duo on heavily saturated electric guitars and synthesis.
“sunn O))) gave extreme focus and care to each step and aspect of the recording, each tone and level of saturation, each gain stage and speaker, each arrangement and harmonic. The Pacific Northwest forest is our guide.
“‘Eternity’s Pillars’ is named for the mid-1980s television program created and hosted by jazz visionary and spiritual guru Alice Coltrane Turiyasangitananda, focusing on her incessant belief in music’s capacity to attain spiritual transcendence. ‘Raise the Chalice’ is named for a rallying cry often uttered by Northwest legend Ron Guardipee throughout the mid-1990s. ‘Reverential’ equally pays respect and sends loud praise to those who came before us with the heaviest burdens, expressions with music and art being the materials of an antiphon.
“The front cover of the maxi 12” depicts the duo in the woods northeast of Seattle, through the lens of Charles Peterson.”
Today, Flock of Dimes’ The Life You Save, her gorgeous and intimate new album, is available worldwide from Sub Pop. The 12-track long player features the highlights “Long After Midnight,”“Afraid,”“Defeat,” and today’s new offering, the luminous official video for “Keep Me in the Dark,” directed by returning collaborator Spence Kelly.
Flock of Dimes’ Jenn Wasner offers this on the video: “To celebrate the official release of The Life You Save, I’m so happy to share what is perhaps my favorite song I’ve ever written. ‘Keep Me in the Dark’ is a love song–the type of love rooted not in control or selfishness, but grace and acceptance of each other’s mutual imperfections. To heal in a relationship is to learn to see yourself with greater clarity and compassion through the eyes of someone who sees all of your bullshit and loves you anyway.”
Across the last few decades – whether it be as Flock of Dimes, as half of beloved duo Wye Oak, or via one of her many collaborations with Bon Iver, Sylvan Esso, and a sprawling list of other musical juggernauts – Wasner’s extensive catalog displays her gift for balancing authenticity and directness with an unmistakable left-of-center sensibility. Her songwriting has always found her as a keen-eyed observer, a deeply empathetic and thoughtful storyteller with a skill for probing memory, heartbreak, and unhealed trauma, a shroud of syncopation or off-kilter guitar taking a song somewhere quietly prodigious.
Her last solo album, the critically lauded Head of Roses, took on heartbreak from a dualistic perspective, following a winding thread of intuition into the unknown and into healing. Her new album, The Life You Save, takes that a step further; put simply, it’s the most honest, intimate, and personally revealing record of Wasner’s career. As heart-wrenching as they are hopeful, its twelve tracks delve the depths of addiction and codependency, inherited and experienced trauma, and the process of finding peace in the face of others’ suffering. The Life You Save is resonant, unflinchingly exposed – like a missive from the eye of a storm. But while it somehow manages to feel both viscerally raw and vulnerable, above it floats a sense of quiet peace, a sheen of hindsight, or perhaps of acceptance. It is the story of how it feels to be trapped between two worlds—the one you came from, and the one you’ve escaped to; about the belief that somehow, you can take the ones you love with you to this place; about the grief of realizing that the only person you can save is yourself.
The Life You Save was produced by Jenn Wasner and recorded at Betty’s in Chapel Hill, NC, and Montrose Recording in Los Angeles, CA. The Life You Save also features additional production from Nick Sanborn (tracks 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 11), is engineered by Adrian Olsen & Alli Rogers, mixed by Adrian Olsen, and mastered by Huntley Miller.
The Life You Save is available to buy on CD/LP/stream on all DSPs from Sub Pop. LPs purchased from megamart.subpop.com in North America, MegaMart Europe in the UK + EU, Flock of Dimes’ live shows, and your local record store, will receive the limited Loser Edition on Citrus (NA) or Pearl (UK/EU) vinyl (all vinyl color editions whilst stock lasts!)
Ahead of Flock of Dime’s previously announced headline touring for November and December are two Los Angeles-area-based in-store performances: Tonight, October 10th at Fingerprints in Long Beach, and Saturday, October 11th at Healing Force of the Universe in Pasadena. Please find a full list of dates below.
US Tour Dates Fri. Oct. 10 - Long Beach, CA - Fingerprints (Free! 7PM) Sat, Oct 11 - Pasadena, CA - Healing Force of the Universe (Free! 2PM) Thu. Nov. 06 - Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda’s Fri. Nov. 07 - New Haven, CT - Space Ballroom Sat. Nov. 08 - Brooklyn, NY - National Sawdust Sun. Nov. 09 - Somerville, MA - The Rockwell Tue. Nov. 11 - Washington, DC - The Atlantis Wed. Nov. 12 - Saxapahaw, NC - Haw River Ballroom Mon. Dec. 01 - Seattle, WA - Barboza [Sold Out] Tue. Dec. 02 - Portland, OR - Mississippi Studios Thu. Dec. 04 - San Francisco, CA - Rickshaw Stop Fri. Dec. 05 - Los Angeles, CA - Zebulon
What People Are Saying About Flock of Dimes: “Her thoughtful, intricately layered ballads on The Life You Save, grapple with codependency, addiction, responsibilities, and limits, with how much anyone can help someone they cherish.” New York Times
“Clear-eyed and unflinching… She articulates her feelings in lush folk ballads, whose effortless warmth belie the challenges facing Wasner.” 8/10, Uncut
“Another warm, twilit ballad.... In the video, directed by Spencer Kelly, Wasner is surrounded by projections of her younger self. It looks as pretty as the music sounds.” [“Afraid”] Stereogum
“Beautiful new song ‘Long After Midnight’ is sharply poetic, the dulcet acoustic guitar line reminiscent of Joni Mitchell’s jazz-adjacent chording. The tender, single-take visual stars Jenn and is directed by Spence Kelly – highly evocative, it feels like a courageous step forwards.”CLASH
“A beautiful acoustic meditation about offering help against your better judgement.” [“Long After Midnight”] The Guardian
“In true Wasner fashion, it’s honest, raw, and beautiful.” [“Long After Midnight”] The AV Club
Flock of Dimes The Life You Save
Tracklisting: 1. Afraid 2. Keep Me in the Dark 3. Long After Midnight 4. Defeat 5. Close to Home 6. The Enemy 7. Not Yet Free 8. Pride 10. Theo 11. Instead of Calling 12. River in My Arms 13. I Think I’m God
Weird Nightmare, the power pop-leaning project from METZ guitarist and singer Alex Edkins, has shared an official video for the new single “Forever Elsewhere,” available today on all digital service providers. Co-produced with Jim Eno of Spoon “Forever Elsewhere” is an upbeat and invigorating blast of rock guitar and irresistible hooks. It illustrates a clear departure from the lo-fi bedroom recordings of the Weird Nightmare debut LP and a big step forward into wide screen high-fidelity, shout-along anthems.
Edkins says about the song: “‘Forever Elsewhere’ is the most optimistic song I’ve written to date. I wanted to send an unequivocal positive message into the world. The line ‘Love, it will come,’ summarizes the overall theme: if things feel hopeless and the world is bleak, don’t give up, keep pushing. I like to think of it as a pep talk wrapped in fuzzy guitars.
I recorded with Seth Manchester (he engineered the last two METZ records) and Jim Eno (Spoon), and we tracked this one really quickly. Drummer Loel Campbell (Wintersleep) and Roddy Kuester (Julianna Riolino/Sadies) nailed it in 2 takes, and you can really hear the ramshackle energy in the song where the wheels almost fall off a couple of times. We tried to keep it loose.”
You can watch the charming and very fun new video here and now, shot on Super 8 film, and directed by long-time collaborator and friend, Colin Medley.
The band is confirmed to perform live on Oct. 10th at Nowadays Festival in Halifax and Oct. 11th at Sportsmans in Charlottetown, Canada with more North American touring to follow in 2026.
Best known as the vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter of Toronto noise rock legends METZ, Edkins has allowed his pop sensibilities to flourish under the Weird Nightmare moniker, releasing a full-length album in 2022 and a series of ultra-catchy singles on Sub Pop Records. Imagine The Breeders covering Big Star, or the gloriously hissy miniature epics of classic-era Guided by Voices combined with the bombast of Copper Blue-era Sugar—just tons of red-line distortion cut with the type of tunecraft that thrills the moment it hits your ears.
What people have been saying about Weird Nightmare:
“Weird Nightmare is all about hooks and melody. Still delivered with levels in the red, but these are ultracatchy powerpop songs first and foremost, and really good ones at that.” - Brooklyn Vegan
“The debut Weird Nightmare album from METZ guitarist/vocalist Alex Edkins is a hook-filled set of blown-out power-pop with distorted guitars, punchy rhythms and bright pop melodies.” - KEXP
“‘Wrecked,’ Weird Nightmare’s third and latest single is a driving and ardent guitar pop anthem centered around big hooks, enormous power chords and sweetly, lived-in lyricism.” - [“Wrecked”] Joy of Violent Movement
“All chiming chords and smart harmonies, ‘Wrecked’ is a boisterous ode to ’90s indie-rock and everything that followed.” - [“Wrecked”] Guitar World
Sub Pop is currently accepting resumes from energetic, responsible, detail-oriented, and dependable candidates for a Part-time sales clerk, weekends, seasonal (temp) for the holiday season at our terribly impressive store at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. This guy.
Responsibilities include:
• Greeting and assisting customers in a friendly manner. • Full compliance with Sea-Tac operation rules and strict TSA regulations and restrictions. • Efficient handling of cash and credit card transactions. • Ability to work collaboratively and communicate effectively. • Availability to work nights, weekends, and holidays. • Assisting in organizing and restocking the store. • Maintaining the general appearance of the store. • Contributing to the team retail effort by accomplishing related tasks as needed.
Qualified candidates will have:
• Previous experience in the retail environment. • Knowledge of the Sub Pop catalog, Pacific Northwest music, the Seattle music community, and the City of Seattle. • A friendly and enthusiastic disposition with customers and staff. • Strong and clear communication skills. • A general understanding of retail Point of Sale systems. • Flexibility in schedule and willingness to work early or late hours.
Store hours - 6am-9pm everyday
Salary: $21 per hour
Benefits: Competitive pay, flexible scheduling, paid time off, holiday pay, store discount, and more!
