We’re beside ourselves with glee about publishing I Apologize in Advance for the Awful Things I’m Gonna Do, a collection of haiku by celebrated author and musician Danny Bland on September 22nd in Europe and September 23rd in North America. …Awful Things… features photography by Greg Dulli (leader of The Afghan Whigs and The Twilight SIngers) and calligraphy by Exene Cervenka (co-founder of the band X) and is a 120-page, full-color, paperback edition.  …Awful Things… originated from work that Bland has posted to his Facebook page, presented here with Dulli’s photographs, some of which appear on his Instagram feed. By capturing these elements in print, ...Awful Things… rescues this material from slipping away downstream in their respective online feeds. Combining the profane and profound, the irreverent and touching, the hilarious and beautiful, …Awful Things… is the perfect hybrid art piece, or complementary physical artifact of these sources.

Musician Dave Alvin, in his foreword to the book writes, “[Danny’s] deeply personal haiku are funny, serious, painful, and fearless. At times shocking, then abruptly, surprisingly tender, his poems constantly question accepted beliefs and attitudes, both society’s and his own. Like the classic blues singers, Danny is able to use a limited form to express the limitless.”

And, our head honcho, Sub Pop president Jonathan Poneman, offers: “What Danny does to dainty haiku would land a lesser man in the hoosegow. Perfect for my attention span.”

I Apologize in Advance for the Awful Things I’m Gonna Do is now available for preorder through the Sub Pop Mega Mart, Amazon and Insound. And, preorders of ...Awful Things… at the Sub Pop Mega Mart will come with a free 6” x 8” print from the book, autographed by both Danny Bland and Greg Dulli (while supplies last).

Bland is the author of the novel In Case We Die (2013, Fantagraphics Books), as well as a longtime musician (former member of Sub Pop bands Cat Butt, Dwarves, Best Kissers in the World) and tour manager. This is his first book of poetry, but please don’t call it that.

About Greg Dulli:
dark prince, bon vivant
or is he just a mistake
you haven’t made, yet

Dulli is the leader of The Afghan Whigs and The Twilight Singers. He makes a living exorcising demons (read more at at SubPop).

Melbourne, Australia’s Deaf Wish will release St. Vincent’s, their 4-song single and North American debut, on 7” vinyl and DL October 6th in Europe and October 7th in North America via Sub Pop.  You can listen to the title track now! 

Pre-orders for Deaf Wish’s St. Vincent’s are available now via Sub Pop Mega Mart, iTunes, and Amazon.  There will also be a limited-edition version of the single on blue-colored vinyl available exclusively through megamart.subpop.com (while supplies last).

About Deaf Wish:
Deaf Wish is not a band. Rather, a cruel joke that collides personalities that shouldn’t share oxygen let alone creative impulses.  Their seven-year history could be condensed to a flash of intense love, separation and science fiction.  This is a group stuck together with tape and spit. This is a guitar band. For­­­ the ages. Deaf Wish embrace abrasive and primal elements to make a sound that is loud and unhinged, but sewn together with a sense of sincerity and emotional abandon. It is wild volume, the explosion of the torment and ill ease.  Rarely does life vexation and desperation seem so heartfelt, and disconnectedly optimistic.

Deaf Wish consists of Sarah Hardiman (guitar, vocals), Nick Pratt (bass, vocals), Jensen Tjhung (guitar, vocals), and Daniel Twomey (drums) and hail from Melbourne, Australia. Their live show has been documented as “one of the city’s fiercest, most unhinged and chaotic live acts”.  The first Deaf Wish album was recorded in one day and released three days later as a CDR in a vomit bag. It will now be reissued for a second time on Homeless Records. Their follow up, Reality & Visions (2009) was a toothless bastard child on a savage inward journey. Mercy (2011), their third album, was recorded in a feverish week (read more at Sub Pop).

Take a couple minutes to watch the latest visual effort from Chad VanGaalen, the magical brain behind a number of fantastically weird and wonderful Sub Pop records and also the animated music videos that accompany many of his songs including this one for the Shrink Dust track, “Monster”, you won’t be disappointed.

Pick up Shrink Dust from Sub Pop right here.

“I Dig You”, this week’s #TBT, comes to you from Look What the Rookie Did, the 1995 indie classic by Zumpano. Get into it with a single click on the embedded video. 

Add Look What the Rookie Did to your digital music collection here.

Lese Majesty’s been on record store shelves for almost a month and has garnered universal acclaim from critics and fans alike. Today we bring you the first official music video from that record for the album standout #CAKE, a delightful, post-apocalyptic romp. Enjoy.

Pick up Lese Majesty from us here at Sub Pop.

We here at Sub Pop are absolutely elated to welcome Seattle MC Porter Ray to the family, who’ll release his label debut in 2015. In the interim, if you’re curious (you really, really should be) you can listen to his just-released Fundamentals mixtape through porterray.bandcamp.com.

Porter Ray has earned praise from outlets in Seattle for his three self-released efforts – BLK GLD LP (May 2013); WHT GLD and RSE GLD EP’s (October 2013) – and his live performances. The prolific and ascendant MC caught the attention of Ishmael Butler, Shabazz Palaces’ founder and member of Sub Pop’s A&R team, who brought Ray to the label.

On a related note, Porter Ray will support labelmates Shabazz Palaces tonight, Friday, August 1st with a hometown show at Neumos. You should come. I’ll be there, say hi.

What other, less biased, people have said about Porter Ray:
“A son of Seattle’s Central District, Porter Ray namechecks [Ishmael] Butler and revered Seattle MC Infinite as influences. Appropriately, “5950’s” is 206 from head to toe; named for a model of New Era baseball cap, it’s described as sporting Mariner teal throughout Porter’s stunning debut, BLK GLD. Here, Porter reels off the minutiae of murder, betrayal and narcotic sales with a poetic eye that recalls vintage Nas, tempered with a numb, gray-sky detachment (and aided by a sterling verse from Nate Jack) all over shimmering piano keys, a subdued drum shuffle and quiet-storm rain effects. In this city — built on, around, and seemingly under water — it’s even easier than you’d think to get washed, depending on where you’re standing.” [“5950’s” / Heavy Rotation] - NPR  

“Porter’s debut album, BLK GLD, came out last spring, and it is one of the must-downloads of Seattle rap music in 2013. It’s an online song bundle that holds together as a complete musical thought, beats working with the rhymes, to showcase Porter’s sparkling voice—a light, slangy, and relaxed instrument he should be thanking the stars he doesn’t have to go to the trouble of putting on. He has a gift. In conversation, it’s the same voice. That’s just the way Porter sounds. The highlight of BLK GLD is “Blackberry Kush,” a song that’s trippy and rainy like Seattle, and deep and compassionate like Porter.”  - The Stranger

“His firmly structured flow is more vehicle than destination, its strong, consistent template allowing space for narrative detail. Production, handled by a committee of seven beatmakers, plays the billowy background, propped on lush, emotive soul samples.” [RSE GLD / Album of the Month] - City Arts

Upcoming shows:
08.15 - Portland, OR - Redbull Sound Select/Music Festival Northwest w/ Flatbush Zombies
08.17 - Seattle, WA - 95 Slide Rooftop day party w/ JusMoni, Nate Jack

Fundamentals
Tracklisting
01 Dice Game Diagrams [Ft. D-Bleeze]
02 Ruthie Dean [Ft. Nate Jack]
03 Corner Bop
04 Retrospect
05 On the Slick [Nate Jack]
06 Fatal Attractions [Ft. Nate Jack]
07 166
08 AquaMarine
09 Visions
10 Woman [Alana Belle Interlude]
11 French Kiss [Ft. Alana Belle]
12 Blackcherry  [Ft.Cam The Mac]
13 Mind of a Mack
14 Jewelry [Ft. D-Bleeze]
15 Searching 
16 Sunrise [Ft. JusMoni]
17 Meditate [Ft. D-Bleeze]