News from 2016

NEWS : FRI, MAR 4, 2016 at 8:00 AM

Listen to Kyle Craft’s “Pentecost” from Dolls of Highland (via NPR Music)

Kyle Craft’s “Pentecost” is the latest offering from Dolls of Highland, his forthcoming Sub Pop debut.

NPR Music’s “All Songs Considered” had this to say of the track, “Pentecost” sees Kyle Craft…return to his hometown in Louisiana, haunted by the ghost of a friend who took his own life. Paired with his knack for great melodies, it demonstrates Craft’s emotional power as a songwriter (see premiere via “New Mix” March 1st).”

NPR Music also discussed Craft’s ‘Lady of the Ark” for its “Songs We Love” feature this week. They said of the track, “Like many artists from the South, Craft has a conflicted relationship with the region’s cultural duality, a topic he tackles on “Lady Of The Ark.” Shrouded in guitars and organ, he caustically wails, “Swing low, low sweet heathen / Swing for the wretch and the rock and roll kid,” a line he says he wrote in response to the “shame, shame thing that ‘church folk’ tend to do so often,” and which doesn’t sit well with Craft. “Roam this earth repeat it / All this sin until this wicked world makes sense in time,” he defiantly growls near the song’s end. Craft’s roaming days may be done for now, but “Lady Of The Ark” shows his music as wild-eyed and restless (“Songs We Love” feature March 2nd).”


Kyle Craft will release Dolls of Highland, his label debut, on CD / LP / DL / CASS worldwide April 29th through Sub Pop, and preorder is now available from Sub Pop Mega MartiTunesAmazonGoogle Play, and Bandcamp. LP preorders from megamart.subpop.com will receive the Loser edition on pink vinyl with black swirl.

Dolls of Highland was written, recorded and produced by Craft, mixed by Brandon Summers and Benjamin Weikel of The Helio Sequence at the Old Jantzen Building in Portland, and mastered by Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound.


About Kyle Craft:

Kyle Craft grew up in a tiny Louisiana town on the banks of the Mississippi, where he spent most of his time catching alligators and rattlesnakes instead of playing football or picking up the guitar. He’s not the born product of a musical family, and bands never came through town–it was only a chance trip to K-Mart that gave him his first album, a David Bowie hits compilation that helped inspire him eventually to channel his innate feral energy into songwriting and rock and roll.

That self-made talent drives every note of Dolls of Highland, Craft’s exhilarating, fearless solo debut. “This album is the dark corner of a bar,” he says. “It’s that feeling at the end of the night when you’re confronted with ‘now what?’”

Craft knows the feeling well–Dolls began to take shape when everything he took for granted was suddenly over, including an eight-year relationship. “All of a sudden I was left with just me for the first time in my adult life,” he says. He decided to get himself and the music he’d been working on far away from the ghosts of his home in Shreveport, Louisiana, to make a new life for himself in Portland, Oregon, living under a friend’s pool table while he demoed new songs and started to tackle his own question about what came next.

Dolls of Highland crashes open with “Eye of a Hurricane,” a whirlwind of ragtime piano and Craft’s dynamic, enthralling vocals. He calls it a “jealous song,” stirred up by the memories of an ill-fated crush and a drama of “weird little connections, a spider web of what the fuck?”

The swinging, resonant “Lady of the Ark” is also tied up in that web, “a very incestuous song,” says Craft. “It’s about these messed up relationships, maybe involving me, maybe revolving around me.” Most of the characters and atmospheres on the album come from in and around Shreveport, where Craft briefly returned while recording the album for an intensely productive reckoning with his past. He stayed in a friend’s laundry room in the Highland neighborhood, where he recorded the whole album in two months on a home studio rig. “I dedicated the album to Shreveport and called it Dolls of Highland for all the girls and ghosts in town who influenced it so strongly.”

Craft eventually returned to Portland where Brandon Summers and Benjamin Weikel of The Helio Sequence helped refine and mix the album to move it from its DIY beginnings to a more fully realized work. Craft played most of the instruments on the album, but the recorded songs transmit the power of his live performance. “It’s just letting go,” says Craft. “I think it’s just all about feeling it in your chest.”

And then there’s Craft’s unforgettable voice–”I’m fully aware that I have a very abrasive, very loud voice, but Bob Dylan is the one that taught me to embrace that,” says Craft. “I stray away from him from time to time, but always come back. I don’t want to come off as antique, but I also don’t want to be afraid of paying homage to the stuff I’ve always loved.” With those influences as inspiration, Craft’s talent and singular creativity move the conversation into new and unpredictable places.

And no question, this album is very much about moving forward. “After everything fell apart, it didn’t take very long for me to learn who I was and what I should be doing,” says Craft, who is walking out on the other side with Dolls of Highland.


What ‘The People’ have said about Kyle Craft:

“Craft admits his voice sounds a good deal like Bob Dylan’s, and that his muse has come to him many, many times. Still, “Lady of the Ark” hints that Craft’s music is so full of its own weird singularity that he’s on to something far beyond idol worship.” -  Billboard

“With inviting, yet imperfect vocals and a jangly guitar melody, “Lady of the Ark” is a sweeping goodbye to a long-term relationship. It’s somehow warm, melodic, and rough at the same time.” [The Weeks Best Tracks”] - FLOOD

“It’s thrilling. It’s the sort of music that can only come from a somewhat unique musical outlook, a track that instantly sounds like nobody other than Kyle Craft. The huge sound of pounding drums, the almost mariachi handclaps, the frankly bizarre fairground-organ interlude, the lyrics than hint at a complex incestuous web of lives and lies, and all that before you even get to the voice…he has said that listening to Bob Dylan inspired him to embrace his voice and make the most of it. Kyle has suggested he shares a tone with Bob, but to our ears it’s more like the love child of Withered Hand and Neutral Milk Hotel’s Jeff Mangum, and that’s a very good, if slightly divisive, place to be.” - For The Rabbits

“Hard to believe given the innate sense of pop heritage that blossoms from every ounce of his fruitful, endearingly scorched lead vocal but it wasn’t until Craft stumbled upon a David Bowie that he began to take an interest in music. Lucky for us that he did – debut track ‘Lady Of The Ark’ is a stormy, rugged gem, led by one of the most distinctly impressive new voices in the game. A mighty fine introduction.” - Gold Flake Paint


Posted by Rachel White

NEWS : THU, JAN 14, 2016 at 10:00 AM

Heron Oblivion Announce West Coast Tour Dates

Heron Oblivion have announced U.S. west coast tour dates in support of their forthcoming self-titled debut.  You can listen to lead track “Oriar” right now on YouTube and Soundcloud.
 
Shows include: February 7th in Portland at Sabertooth Music Festival (with Built to Spill and Mikal Cronin); an album release show on March 3rd in Oakland at Starline Social Club; March 5th in Los Angeles at Resident (with labelmate Morgan Delt); And March 6th in San Diego at ‘Til Two. Additionally, Heron Oblivion will appear at Marfa Myths in Marfa, Texas on March 11th and Austin’s Levitation Festival April 29th-May 1st. (All dates below)
 
Heron Oblivion will be released on CD / LP / DL / CASS worldwide March 4th through Sub Pop, and
is now available for preorder from the Sub Pop Mega Mart, iTunesAmazonGoogle Play and Bandcamp. LP preorders from megamart.subpop.com will receive the limited “Loser” edition on clear vinyl with white swirl (while supplies last), and there’s a T-shirt available on its own or in a $ saving bundle!

More on Heron Oblivion from WFMU’s Brian Turner:
Pastoral pummel. Listening to Heron Oblivion’s album feels like sitting in a lovely meadow in the shadow of a dam that’s gonna heave-ho’ any minute. Members of this new San Francisco combo have put in time in both raging and relatively tranquil psychedelic sound units—this is the premise and the synergy behind this very unique and special new album (read more at Sub Pop).



Heron Oblivion, which features the highlights ”Oriar”, “Beneath Fields”, “Your Hollows” and “Sudden Lament”, was produced and mixed by the band and Eric Bauer in San Francisco at The Mansion. 


What people are saying about Heron Oblivion:
“…A raging new psych band.” - Uncut
 
“Expressive guitar lines laced with feedback sprawl out again and again without trailing away too far. Meg Baird’s serene voice harkens back to ’60s folk singers, subdued in a way that lends special gravity without being bombastic. Frankly, the group sounds exactly like what psychedelic rock should sound like” [“Oriar”] -Stereogum
 
“Not much of HO’s music lives online at the moment, but what’s there suggests a group— Ethan Miller, Noel V. Harmonson, Meg Baird, and Charles Saufley—who like to jam for long durations in the fuzzy, fiery guitar-laden zone where Neil Young’s Zuma meets Joe Walsh-era James Gang. (One track is called “Funeral Funk 49,” and while it’s not as funky as James Gang’s 1970 hit, it takes you deeper into trance land.) Heron Oblivion also claim influences from the Japanese power-psych label PSF and UK electric folk rock, and Baird’s vocals counterbalance the swarming sound with a dulcet breeziness. - The Stranger
 
San Francisco band Heron Oblivion (who just signed with Sub Pop) opened the night. Fronted by singer/drummer Meg Baird of the Espers (and a Philly ex-pat who’s sung backing vocals for Vile), the band set the tone for the night with some moody psych-folk/noise rock that was made all the more impressive when paired with Baird’s powerful, haunting voice. - Three Match Breeze 


 
Tour Dates:
Feb. 07 - Portland, OR - Sabertooth Music Festival (Crystal Ballroom)*
Mar. 03 - Oakland, CA - Starline Social Club
Mar. 05 - Los Angeles, CA - Resident**
Mar. 06 - San Diego, CA - ‘Til Two
Mar. 11 - Marfa, TX - Marfa Myths
Apr. 29 - May 01 - Austin, TX - Levitation Festival
* w/ Built to Spill, Mikal Cronin, Snakes
** w/ Morgan Delt

For ticket links, head on over here.

Posted by Rachel White

NEWS : THU, FEB 25, 2016 at 11:00 AM

Watch: Sam Beam And Jesca Hoop On Their Album ‘Love Letter For Fire’

Sam Beam (of Iron & Wine) and Jesca Hoop present the story behind Love Letter For Fire via this short film. The two discuss the process of how their collaborative album came to fruition and how two people not in love wrote an entire album of love songs. The clip also features exclusive performances of the two in a stripped down and intimate setting [link here].

Love Letter for Fire features Beam and Hoop on vocals and guitar along with Robert Burger (keys), Eyvind Kang (violin, viola), Glenn Kotche (drums, percussion), Sebastian Steinberg (bass) and Edward Rankin-Parker (cello).  The thirteen-track album features the single “Every Songbird Says” and was produced, recorded and mixed by Tucker Martine (Modest Mouse, Decemberists, Neko Case) at Flora Recording & Playback in Portland, and mastered by Richard Dodd in Nashville.


Love Letter for Fire will be available on CD / LP / DL / CASS worldwide April 15th through Sub Pop/Black Crickett Recording Co.; you can preorder now via Sub Pop Mega MartiTunesAmazonGoogle Play, and Bandcamp. LP preorders through megamart.subpop.com will receive the limited Loser edition on Smoke-colored vinyl (while supplies last).


Sam Beam and Jesca Hoop have scheduled a North American tour in support Love Letter for Fire, which begins Tuesday, May 17th in Ann Arbor, MI at The Ark and ends Saturday, June 11th in Chicago, IL at Thalia Hall. (complete tour dates below.)


More on Love Letter for Fire:
The inspiration behind Love Letter for Fire was Sam’s love of classic duets, most of which are ones he grew up hearing on the radio. “Some of my favorite songs are 
duets, because the narrative is expanded. It’s not just a monologue.  It’s a conversation, and so it gets complicated. I had melodies over the years that I’d been compiling that I thought, this sounds like a classic Kenny and Dolly, ‘Islands in the Stream’ kind of thing, or George and Tammy”.  While the record itself is not Countrypolitan in nature, the two have carved out something that feels wholly original and should have no trouble appealing to fans of their previous work.

Over the course of thirteen songs Love Letter for Fire brims with a joyful energy, contrasting Beam and Hoop’s songwriting styles yet never feeling forced, nor pandering. Veering from disparate pop (“Every Songbird Says” / “Chalk It Up To Chi”) to introspective folk (“One Way to Pray” / “Soft Place to Land”) to a few things in between (“Welcome to Feeling” / “Midas Tongue”), the record never rests solely on just the two voices but rather showcases the new chapter of songwriting each found in the collaboration. Beam notes: “(
Jesca) brought a lot of energy and a lot of heart in places where I would be cerebral, she would bring heart.  In places where I would be steady, she would add an exclamation point.”  

Recorded in Portland, Oregon with the steady hand of Tucker Martine, the album features a collection of handpicked musicians. The band includes Rob Burger, a frequent Iron & Wine contributor, Sebastian Steinberg (Soul Coughing, Fiona Apple), Teddy Rankin-Parker (Primus), Eyvind Kang (Decemberists/Tzadik and Ipecac labels) and Glenn Kotche (Wilco). This particular set of musicians had never worked together, but quickly found themselves on equal footing.  For Beam it was a bit of a dream team: “It was a really funband, and a lot less guitar than I usually have on my [Iron & Wine] records.  Tucker and the band were able to help bring out what’s inside of you that you might not know is there (read more at Sub Pop).”

 

Tour Dates
May 17 - Ann Arbor, MI - The Ark*
May 18 - Toronto, ON - The Danforth Music Hall*
May 20 - New York, NY - The Town Hall*
May 21 - Washington, DC - The Lincoln Theatre*
May 22 - Boston, MA - The Wilbur Theatre*
May 24 - Philadelphia, PA - Union Transfer*
May 26 - Atlanta, GA - The Buckhead Theatre*
May 27 - New Orleans, LA - The Civic Theatre*
May 28 - Dallas, TX - The Kessler Theater*
May 30 - Tucson, AZ - The Rialto Theatre*
May 31 - Los Angeles, CA - The Fonda Theatre*
Jun. 02 - San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall*
Jun. 03 - Portland, OR - Aladdin Theater*
Jun. 04 - Seattle, WA - Neptune Theatre*
Jun. 05 - Boise, ID - The Egyptian Theatre*
Jun. 07 - Boulder, CO - Boulder Theater*
Jun. 08 - Omaha, NE - Slowdown*
Jun. 09 - Minneapolis, MN - Varsity Theater*
Jun. 10 - Milwaukee, WI - Turner Hall Ballroom*
Jun. 11 - Chicago, IL - Thalia Hall*
* w/ Marlon Williams

Ticket links reside in this place.


Posted by Rachel White

NEWS : MON, FEB 1, 2016 at 10:00 AM

Listen: Heron Oblivion’s “Your Hollows” From Their Forthcoming Self-Titled Debut

We suggest that you click on over and listen to “Your Hollows”, the new track from Heron Oblivion’s self-titled debut, premiering today (please and thanks).

Loud & Quiet says of the track, “‘Your Hollows’ is a six-minute snake of a song culminating in a hurricane of distortion. Baird’s delicate voice still, somehow, manages to rise above it all. It’s impressive stuff (see track premiere Monday, February 1st).”
 
Heron Oblivion’s previously announced U.S. tour schedule spans February 7th-May 1st.  
Shows 
include: February 7th in Portland at Sabertooth Music Festival (with Built to Spill and Mikal Cronin); an album release show on March 3rd in Oakland at Starline Social Club; March 5th in Los Angeles at Resident (with labelmate Morgan Delt); And March 6th in San Diego at ‘Til Two. Additionally, Heron Oblivion will appear at Marfa Myths in Marfa, Texas on March 11th and Austin’s Levitation Festival April 29th-May 1st. (complete dates below.)


 
Heron Oblivion will be released on CD / LP / DL / CASS worldwide March 4th through Sub Pop, and 
is now available for preorder from the Sub Pop Mega MartiTunes, AmazonGoogle Play and Bandcamp. LP preorders from megamart.subpop.com will receive the limited “Loser” edition on clear vinyl with a white swirl (while supplies last). 

The album, which features the highlights ”Oriar”, “Beneath Fields”, ”Your Hollows” and “Sudden Lament”, was produced and mixed by the band in San Francisco at The Mansion.


More on Heron Oblivion from WFMU’s Brian Turner:
Pastoral pummel. Listening to Heron Oblivion’s album feels like sitting in a lovely meadow in the shadow of a dam that’s gonna heave-ho’ any minute. Members of this new San Francisco combo have put in time in both raging and relatively tranquil psychedelic sound units—this is the premise and the synergy behind this very unique and special new album (read more at Sub Pop).

 
Tour Dates:
Feb. 07 - Portland, OR - Sabertooth Music Festival (Crystal Ballroom)*
Mar. 03 - Oakland, CA - Starline Social Club
Mar. 05 - Los Angeles, CA - Resident**
Mar. 06 - San Diego, CA - ‘Til Two
Mar. 11 - Marfa, TX - Marfa Myths
Apr. 29 - May 01 - Austin, TX - Levitation Festival
* w/ Built to Spill, Mikal Cronin, Snakes
** w/ Morgan Delt

For ticket links, click on over here.

Posted by Rachel White

NEWS : THU, FEB 25, 2016 at 8:00 AM

Beach House Announce 2016 Spring Installation Shows

Beach House are thrilled to announce a series of “installation” shows interspersed throughout their upcoming 2016 headlining tour in support of Thank Your Lucky Stars and Depression Cherry. 

These performances will be held in art spaces, galleries, community centers, and various alternative venues in the following cities: Chicago, Toronto, Montreal, Boston, Philadelphia, Brooklyn, Baltimore, Austin, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle. Venues will be announced 24-48 hours before each show for those who have purchased tickets.
 
Each show will have Beach House performing in their original formation (as a duo), within a special installation the band created for this tour. A majority of the material will focus on tracks from Thank Your Lucky StarsDevotion, and their self-titled debut.  
 
Tickets for the March installation dates will go on sale Friday, February 26th at 11 am ET and available from http://www.beachhousebaltimore.com/installation/.  Tickets sales for April and May will be announced in the coming weeks.
 
For more details on the Installation tour, see below.
 


Beach House’s 2016 North American and European tour schedule resumes Monday, February 29th in Cleveland at House of Blues and has been extended through August 12th-13th at Eaux Claires Music Festival in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. New highlights include:London’s Field Day June 12th; Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago July 15th-17th; Pickathon in Happy Valley, Oregon August 5th-7th.


Depression Cherry (released Aug. 28, 2015) is the second consecutive top 10 album for Beach House, coming in at #8 on theBillboard Top 200 chart, and spent 5 weeks at #1 on the CMJ Top 200.


Thank Your Lucky Stars  (released October 16th,  2015) entered at #38 on the Billboard Top 200 chart and peaked at #5 on the CMJTop 200 chart.
 
Beach House’s Thank Your Lucky Stars and Depression Cherrywere recorded during the same two-month span, and produced by the band and Chris Coady at Studio in the Country in Bogalusa, Louisiana. Both albums are available now in North America from Sub Pop, in Europe from Bella Union and in Australia from Mistletone.
 

MORE FROM BEACH HOUSE ON THE INSTALLATION SHOWS:

PLEASE READ BEFORE PURCHASING A TICKET
We are very excited to announce a series of performances interspersed throughout our North American spring tours. They will be taking place in galleries, art spaces, community centers, and various other alternative venues. Here are the cities and dates:
 
March 2nd - Chicago                              April 10th - Austin
March 4th - Toronto                                April 21st - Los Angeles
March 8th - Montreal                              April 26th - San Francisco
March 12th - Boston                               April 29th - Portland
March 20th - Philadelphia                       May 1st - Vancouver
March 22nd - New York                          May 3rd - Seattle
March 23rd - New York
March 24th - Baltimore

 
WHAT TO EXPECT
We are going to install a design we have created and play as a two-piece within this “installation.”  The performance will be continuous without breaks.  Due to the lack of stages, the audience will be expected to sit on the floor (bring a pillow!).  The show will feature songs mostly from Thank Your Lucky StarsDevotion and our self titled record (songs we can play as a two piece). This is by no means a “stripped down” or intentionally intimate performance. The design requires a maximum audience of 200, so that all can see the performance space.
 
THE CONCEPT
It has always been difficult to carry the initial moments of creativity that inspire our music through the process of making and releasing a record. There are many chances along the way for the feeling to get lost. A lot of “bedroom” bands experience this when they get to the studio or the stage. This installation performance is an attempt to elicit this pure, embryonic state of mind for ourselves and our audience.
 
A NOTE ON TICKET PRICES
The ticket costs for these alternative-space performances are much higher than our normal shows. This is due to the very high production costs and low ticket number. The ticket price is set as low as possible in order to cover our costs and not lose money on the show.  We sincerely apologize if it’s unaffordable for any fans who may want to attend.
 
2016 Tour Dates
Installation Shows (All venues TBA)
Tickets on sale: February 26th at 11am ET.
Mar. 02 - Chicago, IL
Mar. 04 - Toronto, ON
Mar. 08 - Montreal, QC
Mar. 12 - Boston, MA
Mar. 20 - Philadelphia, PA
Mar. 22 - Brooklyn, NY
Mar. 23 - Brooklyn, NY
Mar. 24 - Baltimore, MD

Ticket on sale TBA:
Apr. 10 - Austin, TX
Apr. 21 - Los Angeles, CA
Apr. 26 - San Francisco, CA
Apr. 29 - Portland, OR
May 03 - Seattle, WA
 
Theatre / Club Performances
Feb. 29 - Cleveland, OH - House of Blues [Sold Out]
Mar. 01 - Chicago, IL - Vic Theatre [Sold Out]
Mar. 05 - Toronto, ON - Danforth Music Hall [Sold Out]
Mar. 06 - Toronto, ON - Danforth Music Hall [Sold Out]
Mar. 09  - Montreal, QC - Rialto Theatre [Sold Out]
Mar. 11 - Boston, MA - House of Blues [Sold Out]
Mar. 14 - New York, NY - Webster Hall [Sold Out]
Mar. 15 - New York, NY - Webster Hall [Sold Out]
Mar. 16 - New York, NY - Webster Hall [Sold Out]
Mar. 18 - Philadelphia, PA - Union Transfer [Sold Out]
Mar. 19 - Philadelphia, PA - Union Transfer [Sold Out]
Apr. 09 - Dallas, TX - Bomb Factory
Apr. 11 - Austin, TX - ACL Live at Moody Theatre [Sold Out]
Apr. 13 - El Paso, TX - Tricky Falls
Apr. 14 - Tempe, AZ - Marquee Theatre [Sold Out]
Apr. 17 - Indio, CA - Coachella
Apr. 19 - Pioneertown, CA - Pappy & Hariett’s [Sold Out]*
Apr. 20 - San Pedro, CA - Warner Grand Theatre
Apr. 24 - Indio, CA - Coachella
Apr. 28 - Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom [Sold Out]
Apr. 30 - Vancouver, BC - The Vogue [Sold Out]
May 04 - Seattle, WA - The Paramount
Jun. 01 - Bordeaux, FR -  Theatre Barbey
Jun. 03 - Barcelona, ES -   Primavera Sound
Jun. 05 - Nimes, FR   This Is Not a Love Song
Jun. 06 - Nantes, FR -  Stereolux
Jun. 07 - Toulouse, FR - Bikini
Jun. 10 - Porto, PT -  Primavera Sound
Jun. 12 - London, UK -   Victoria Park
Jun. 13 - Bexhill, UK  - De La Warr Pavillion
Jun. 14 - Paris, FR - Casino de Paris
Jun. 17 - Hilvarenbeek, NL - Best Kept Secret
Jun. 18 - Aarhus, DK - Northside
Jul. 15 - Chicago, IL - Pitchfork Music Festival
Jul. 16 - Chicago, IL - Pitchfork Music Festival
Jul. 17 - Chicago, IL - Pitchfork Music Festival
Aug. 05 - Happy Valley, OR - Pickathon
Aug. 06 - Happy Valley, OR - Pickathon
Aug. 07 - Happy Valley, OR - Pickathon
Aug. 12 - Eau Claire, WI - Eaux Claires Music Festival
Aug. 13 - Eau Claire, WI - Eaux Claires Music Festival
* w/ J. Mascis

Theatre/Club ticket links are here.


Posted by Rachel White

NEWS : TUE, FEB 2, 2016 at 8:00 AM

So Pitted shares new live video featuring ‘neo’ tracks “holding the void” & “the sickness”

So Pitted have premiered a new live video featuring the songs “holding the void” & “the sickness”, from neo, their forthcoming Sub Pop debut. The new visual was directed by Seattle director Ty Ziskis.
 
Brooklyn Vegan had this to say of the video, “
a fitting visual accompaniment to the band’s melted sound. (see premiere Tuesday, February 2nd).”


So Pitted’s previously 
announced tour schedule for 2016 spans February 19th in Seattle at Everyday Music and now ends March 20th in Austin for SXSW. Highlights include: February 25th in San Francisco at Noise Pop (at Brick & Mortar Music Hall with The Thermals); and a European tour March 4th-12th. (See dates below.)



Sub Pop will release neo on CD / LP / DL worldwide on February 19th, 2016. The album, featuring the highlights “rot in hell”, “holding the void”, and “feed me”, was co-produced & mixed by So Pitted & Dylan Wall and recorded at The Old Fire House, Media Lab, Spruce Haus, the band’s practice space and Tastefully Loud in Seattle. neo was also engineered by Wall at Tastefully Loud and mastered by Eric Boulanger at The Bakery in Los Angeles.

So Pitted’s neo is now available for preorder from Sub Pop Mega MartiTunes, Amazon, Bandcamp and Google Play. LP preorders of neo through megamart.subpop.com will receive the limited 
“Loser”edition on white vinyl. There will also be a time-limited edition T-shirt, hand-bleached by So Pitted, that will be available only during pre-order; also available with LP and CD bundles (during pre-order only).

More about So Pitted’s neo:
These eleven tracks are lean and snarling rebukes, torch songs not in the traditional, unrequited-love sense, but songs that
willtorch your fucking house down. Screams and howls overtake chants and muttering, equal parts dejection, rejection, and convection, the hot, muggy air circling continuously. It’s fuzzy, angular, throbbing, and pounding, and still, ingrained in the songs by their makers, breathes that catchy quality present in so much of the music they love. Songs like “holding the void,” “rot in hell,” and “woe” crash over and over, turning under themselves like waves, but as the measures tick off, the dog-eared melodies and familiar themes begin to reveal (read more at Sub Pop).


[Photo Credit:  Sarah Cass]


What “they” have said about So Pitted:

“Ragged, nonlinear, a little dangerous, “rot in hell” was one of the first tracks So Pitted wrote together, and the video is funny and surreal, featuring a friend of the band playing various band members. It feels like being at home at a basement show, ready to hit your head on a low ceiling bringing your amp down the stairs, buzzing with a little bit of nausea and excitement. It burns with the urgency of the music you need to make or you’ll crumple, music you’d be making whether other people heard it or not.” [“rot in hell”] - Impose
 
“Maddeningly loud, loosely formed, disgusting like a romantic weekend trip down the local sewers.” - DIY
 
“Snotty, snarling and belligerent.” - Uncut
 
“It’s grimy and tormented all right, but intent on subverting the many adolescent cliches and connotations that come with grunge.” [“rot in hell”] -The Guardian
 
“…A raucous, inspiring noise, the buzzsaw melody is matched to wailing feedback - imagine Bikini Kill set against early Mary Chain and you’d probably be in the same ballpark.” [‘rot in hell”] - Clash Music
 
“…making a name for themselves with a sneery, warped, post-apocalyptic punk sound and wild stage show.” - Brooklyn Vegan
 
“It’s early in the year to make this sort of claim, but we can say with confidence that in ten months’ time you’ll be looking back on neoas one of 2016’s best debuts, by some distance.” - The Skinny
 
“So Pitted’s set called to mind Metz, Minutemen, Big Black, Pere Ubu, and Nirvana at their wildest” - FLOOD
 
“So Pitted are poised to start a riot that’s very much their own.” -Record Collector
 
“[A] Seattle trio who are basically unmatched in terms of sheer gonzo ingenuity. Live, the band combines anarchic heaps of guitar and childish melodies with plodding, sludgy rhythms. They understand just how powerful their live show is, too” - Portland Mercury
 
What’s special and unique about So Pitted is that they not only clench to the demonic punk downpour and logger-heavy rock of the Northwest, but also to the nihilistic musical cannibalism of San Francisco weirdos Chrome and late-’90s San Diego 
artcore groups like the VSS and the Gravity Records camp. There’s a caustic demo quality to their sound that’s alien and distorted, liquidated to move units at the Gross Out. It’s not only thorny, horny, and repulsive, but angular, tangled and mangled.”  - The Stranger
 


Tour Dates
Feb. 19 - Seattle, WA - Everyday Music
Feb. 25 - San Francisco, CA - Noise Pop / Brick & Mortar Music Hall*
Mar. 04 - Paris, FR - La Mecanique Ondulatoire
Mar. 05 - Amsterdam, NL - Butcher’s Tears
Mar. 07 - London, UK - Shacklewell Arms
Mar. 08 - Leeds, UK - Brudenell Games Room
Mar. 09 - Brighton, UK - Green Door Store
Mar. 10 - Lille, UK - La Peniche
Mar. 11 -
Brussells, BE - Homeplugged
Mar. 12 - Berlin, DE - West Germany
Mar. 15 - Austin, TX - SXSW
Mar. 16 - Austin, TX - SXSW
Mar. 17 - Austin, TX - SXSW
Mar. 18 - Austin, TX - SXSW
Mar. 19 - Austin, TX - SXSW
Mar. 20 - Austin, TX - SXSW
* w/ The Thermals

Ticket links are right over here.


Posted by Rachel White