In celebration of Kiwi Jr.’sChopper,the band’s third album out later this week, you can now watch the official video for “The Sound of Music,” directed by Laura-Lynn Petrick (who has also directed videos for Weyes Blood and Jessica Pratt). The song features backing vocals from Canadian singer Dorothea Pass (U.S. Girls, Jennifer Castle).
Jeremy Gaudet says of the song, “Some names are so loaded that I can’t resist inserting them into a song, and Julie Andrews is one. Her name brings up a certain feeling. I didn’t rewatch the movie before writing the song, so it’s from memory, but I knew “So Long Farewell” and “I Have Confidence”. There’s this idea of her marriage falling apart after the success of the movie - she was married young to a production designer. I don’t really know how it all went down, but my version makes for good drama. This is Kiwi Jr at our most melodramatic. The song borders on fanfiction, which is something I usually try to avoid, however this started to get juicy and I had to follow it through.”
Chopperwill be available Friday, August 12th worldwide on CD/LP/CS/DSPs through Sub Pop, with the exception of Canada through the band’s Kiwi Club imprint. The album was recorded and produced in Toronto by Sub Pop labelmate Dan Boeckner (Wolf Parade, Handsome Furs, Operators).
Kiwi Jr. resumes touring in support of Chopper on Friday, September 16th in Paris at La Boule Noire. The UK and European jaunt runs through Sunday, September 25th in Amsterdam at Paradiso. Additional live dates to be announced soon.
Fri. Sep. 16 - Paris, FR - La Boule Noire Sat. Sep. 17 - Orleans, FR - Hop Pop Hop Festival Sun. Sep. 18 - Lille, FR - L’ Aeronef Mon. Sep. 19 - London, UK - Victoria Dalston [SOLD OUT] Tue. Sep. 20 - London, UK - 100 Club Wed. Sep. 21 - Brussels, BE - Witloofbar Botanique Thu. Sep. 22 - Nijmegen, NL - Merelyyn Fri. Sep 23 - Hamburg, DE - Reeperbahn Festival Sat. Sep. 24 - Eindhoven, NL - Stoomhuisje Sun. Sep. 25 - Amsterdam, NL - Paradiso
Bandcamp, in its “Album of the Day” review (Aug. 2nd), had this to say about Chopper, “A central force in the jangle pop renaissance, the Toronto quartet helped curate a transcontinental safe space for Flying Nun admirers—the Slumberland crew in Oakland; Jeanines and UV-TV in New York; Young Guv et al. in Toronto…With their vibrant third LP, Kiwi Jr. swing from the jangle tree and tell the story of an underdog up against an indifferent world.”
Chopper is still available for preorder from Sub Pop. LP preorders from megamart.subpop.com and select independent retailers in North America will receive the limited Loser edition on crystal clear vinyl (while supplies last). Meanwhile, preorders through select independent retailers in the UK and EU will receive the limited Loser edition on clear vinyl (while supplies last).
More on Kiwi Jr.’s Chopper: “Chopper, their third album in as many years, sees the group resetting their posture with ten tracks of surreal summer pop. The sun-drenched synthesisers of opener ‘Unspeakable Things’ showcases this change perfectly. Kiwi Jr. in 2022 are all about the melodies. An overwhelming, keyboard-driven glaze engulfs the band’s signature guitar hooks from the very first second, giving a refreshing, skew-wiff spin on a well-worn sound.” - Loud & Quiet
“Penning odes to disregarded robotic arms, inconveniently placed deer corpses, and extras embarrassed by their films, Toronto singer-songwriter and KiwiJr frontman Jeremy Gaudet walks a tightrope between melancholy and whimsy, between sincerity and irony…he strikes atonal balance that’s all the more compelling for being so precarious, as though a wrong note or misplaced lyric might send a song spiralling into facetiousness. Whenever he does lose his footing, the band’s imaginative take on mid-2000s indie rock — all churning guitars and zigzagging synths — steadies this Chopper.” - Uncut
“Gaudet’s hyper-absurdist approach to songwriting is both sharper and more abstruse than ever.” [Chopper] - MOJO
“…There is a lot to like about these 10 songs, not least the wacky warble of ‘Unspeakable Things,’ which retains a Fountains of Wayne-style pop sensibility, or the slacker-pop swing of ‘Parasite II,’ with its droll nod to Bong Joon-ho’s 2019 film.” [Chopper] - The Irish Times
“With every successive album, the Toronto-via-Charlottetown quartet shows off increasingly sophisticated and expansive songwriting skills.” [Chopper] - Northern Transmissions
“‘Unspeakable Things’ is a jaunty and synth-happy song, and it takes me right back to the mid-’00s blog-rock days” - Stereogum
“A dose of all-out fun…”[“Unspeakable Things”] - CLASH
“‘Night Vision’ “a slashing slice of post-punk…it finds them taking a darker turn that may put those annoying Pavement comparisons to rest for good.” - Brooklyn Vegan
On October 21st, 2022, Frankie Cosmos will release Inner World Peace, their fifth album, on CD/LP/CS/DSPs worldwide from Sub Pop. The album, which features “One Year Stand” and additional standouts “ F.O.O.F.”, “Aftershook,” and “Empty Head,” was co-produced by Frankie Cosmos, Nate Mendelsohn, and Katie Von Schleicher at Figure 8 Recording in Brooklyn, New York, mixed by Mendelsohn and Von Schleicher, and mastered by Josh Bonati at Bonati Mastering. The Inner World Peace album art also features illustrations from band member Lauren Martin.
In the sweet and tender official video for “One Year Stand,” directed by Eliza Lu Doyle, and starring Frankie Cosmos’s Greta Kline and Alex Bailey, Greta does an interpretive dance using the song’s lyrical theme of accepting new love while acknowledging that your past is part of who you are.
Eliza offers this, “We conceived of the setting for the video as a cross between a diorama and an empty arena stage. To me, the interaction between Greta and the camera is almost like an act of faith — a reach toward an absent audience. We wanted to channel the pleasure of half-performing for that imaginary gaze.”
Greta elaborates further, “This music video was created with my best friend Eliza, who makes video and performance art. It feels like an encapsulation of the record in that it’s strange and vast while also being contained and interior. Clowning and playing are a huge part of collaborating for me and Eliza. We wanted to perform a dance without dancing — the kind of movements you fall into in private, banal moments, playing without even realizing. Choreographing together felt like we were in 6th grade again, all id and giggles. The album and the video were made in these environments of love and pleasure.”
Inner World Peace is available for preorder now from Sub Pop. LP preorders from megamart.subpop.com, select independent retailers in North America, the UK and Europe, will receive the album on crystal clear vinyl (while supplies last). There will also be a new T-shirt design available.
Frankie Cosmos has scheduled an Inner World Peace release show in Queens NY on October 7th 2022 at Knockdown Center’s The Ruins. Hannah Jadagu and Ian Sweet will be opening.
About Inner World Peace by Katie Von Schleicher: Several things happened before a warm day when I met the four members of Frankie Cosmos in a Brooklyn studio to begin making their album. Greta Kline spent a few years living with her family and writing a mere 100 songs, turning her empathy anywhere from the navel to the moon, rendering it all warm, close and reflexively humorous. In music, everyone loves a teen sensation, but Kline has never been more fascinating than now, a decade into being one of the most prolific songwriters of her generation. She’s lodged in my mind amongst authors, other observational alchemists like Rachel Cusk or Sheila Heti, but she’s funnier, which is a charm endemic to musicians.
Meanwhile Frankie Cosmos, a rare, dwindling democratic entity called a band, had been on pandemic hiatus with no idea if they’d continue. In the openness of that uncertainty they met up, planning to hang out and play music together for the first time in nearly 500 days. There, whittling down the multitude of music to work with, they created Inner World Peace, a collection of Greta’s songs changed and sculpted by their time together. While Kline’s musical taste at the time was leaning toward aughts indie rock she’d loved as a teenager, keyboardist Lauren Martin and drummer Luke Pyenson cite “droning, meditation, repetition, clarity and intentionality,” as well as “‘70s folk and pop” as a reference for how they approached their parts. Bassist/guitarist Alex Bailey says that at the time he referred to it as their “ambient” or “psych” album. Somewhere between those textural elements and Kline’s penchant for concise pop, Inner World Peace finds its balance.
Instant centerpiece “One Year Stand” is a small snowglobe of intimacy recalling the softest moments of Yo La Tengo’s And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out. Lifted by Martin’s drones on Hammond organ and synthesizer, it could be played on repeat in a loop. I like to think it’s obvious how Greta’s vocals were recorded: late at night as we all sat by in low light, transfixed as she sings “I’m not worried about the / rest of my life / because you are here today / I go back in time / I’m a cast iron.” The voices of Kline and Martin, who have sung together since middle school, blend seamlessly.
The first order of business upon setting up camp in Brooklyn’s Figure 8 studios was to project giant colorful slides the band had made for each track. Co-producing with Nate Mendelsohn, my Shitty Hits Recording partner, we aimed for FC’s aesthetic idiosyncrasies to shine.The mood board for “Magnetic Personality” has a neon green and black checkerboard, a screen capture of the game Street Fighter with “K.O.” in fat red letters, and a cover of Mad Magazine that says “Spy Vs. Spy! The Top Secret Files.” On tracks like “F.O.O.F.” (Freak Out On Friday), “Fragments” and “Aftershook,” the group are at their most psychedelic and playful, interjecting fuzz solos, bits of percussion, and other sonically adventurous ear candy. An internal logic strengthens everything, and in their proggiest moments, Frankie Cosmos are simply a one-take band who don’t miss. When on Inner World Peace they sound wildly, freshly different, it may just be that they’re coming deeper into their own.
Throughout the album there are plays on the notion of feeling seen or invisible, as in “Magnetic Personality” when Kline sings “ask me how I am and I won’t really say,” or in “One Year Stand” when she says “maybe I’m asking myself.” Kline emphasizes that this was her first group of songs in years that weren’t written while on tour, but rather with ample time on her hands. She reflects on past selves in “Abigail” (“that version of myself I don’t want back”) and “Wayne” (“Like in first grade / How I went by Wayne / I always had / another name”). If we’re alone, what becomes of the things we see? As in “Fruit Stand,” Kline asks “If it’s raining and I can’t feel it, is it raining?”
Inner World Peace excels in passing on the emotions it holds. When in the towering “Empty Head” Kline sings of wanting to let thoughts slide away, her voice is buoyed on a bed of synths and harmonium as tranquility abounds. When her thoughts become hurried and full of desire, so does the band, and she leaps from word to word as if unable to contain them all. As a group, they carry it all deftly, and with constant regard for Kline’s point of view.
Says Greta, “To me, the album is about perception. It’s about the question of “who am I?” and whether or not the answer matters. It’s about quantum time, the possibilities of invisible worlds. The album is about finding myself floating in a new context. A teenager again, living with my parents. An adult, choosing to live with my family in an act of love. Time propelled us forward, aged us, and also froze. If you don’t leave the house, who are you to the world? Can you take the person you discover there out with you?”
Frankie Cosmos Inner World Peace
Tracklisting 1. Abigail 2. Aftershook 3. Fruit Stand 4. Magnetic Personality 5. Wayne 6. Sky Magnet 7. A Work Call 8. Empty Head 9. Fragments 10. Prolonging Babyhood 11. One Year Stand 12. F.O.O.F. 13. Street View 14. Spare the Guitar 15. Heed the Call
You can now hear new contributions to the Sub Pop Singles Club Vol. 7 from Hunx and His Punx and The Shadracks, both out today worldwide on all DSPs from Sub Pop. And you can now watch the music video for the Hunx and His Punx track here.
Hunx and His Punx is a West Coast band formed in 2009 by Seth Bogart (aka Hunx) with Shannon Shaw (Shannon & The Clams) and Erin Emslie (Secret Stare). “White Lipstick” b/w “Lose My Mind” is their first new release since 2013’s Street Punk. “White Lipstick” - named after an as-yet-unmade John Waters movie - is about being a queer teenager seeing women perform in bands and wanting to be just like them. “Lose My Mind” is a reflection on how terrible the world is, America’s abundance of guns, and wanting to give up and die, but deciding instead to keep fighting. It’s about thinking Fuck, what should all the women and queers and weirdos that don’t like guns do? Do we need them to protect ourselves? It’s about hating guns. Hunx and His Punx will celebrate the release with three shows: August 25 in Portland, OR; October 29 in Austin, TX; and October 31 in Brooklyn, NY at the 17th Annual NY Night Train Haunted Hop Halloween Spooktacular with Martin Rev (Suicide), Christeene, and many more.
The Shadracks are a three-piece rock n’ roll group hailing from Medway, Kent, and “Time Slips Away” b/w “Hollow and Uncertain” is their contribution to the Singles Club. “Time Slips Away” talks of the tribulations of making peace with the absolute judge. It’s about yearning to find out who you could be, instead of who you’re told you are. With timeless and expert precision the Shadracks play from 37.3 years in the past 33.7 years into the future. The actual origins of the group date back even further with their cultural appropriation of Babylonian ‘Rhythm and Punk’. A mere 4 years ago Huddie Shadrack and Elisa Abednego had a brief encounter in deserted parkland. Discovering a shared interest in vacant park benches, herbaceous borders and beat music it became paramount that they form a group, which they did on recruiting Rhys ‘Nebuchadnezzar’ Webb on bass guitar. The Shadracks celebrate the single’s release with an August 24 show at Paper Dress Vintage in London.
Subscribe to the Sub Pop Singles Club Vol. 7 to get twelve exclusive, limited-to-1,000-copies, colored-vinyl 7” records that you will, undoubtedly, love and adore. In addition to the Hunx and His Punx and The Shadracks singles announced today, subscribers will get 7”s by Bartees Strange, Dummy, Irreversible Entanglements, Party Dozen, Matthew “Doc” Dunn, The William Loveday Intention (feat. Billy Childish!), Sidney Gish, and more TBA. Vol. 7 runs from April, 2022 through February, 2023.
The Sub Pop Singles Club Vol. 6 series included subscription-only 7” singles by John Waters, Kim Gordon/J Mascis, Jeff Tweedy, Duma, LIDS, Washed Out, Hand Habits, Porridge Radio, Sheltered Workshop Singers, TV Priest, BNH Deluxe, and The Black Tones. Hear music from the series via the Singles Club playlist, and grab one of the very few remaining subscriptions here (we only made 1,000 and they’re almost gone!).
A morning trip to the corner coffee spot becomes disorienting and hairy in the new Frankie Cosmos video for “Aftershook,” from filmmaker Andy Rose Fidoten. The song is from Inner World Peace, the group’s forthcoming new album.
Greta offers this on the song, “‘Aftershook’ is about processing the past, and grappling with maintaining a balanced ratio of emotional awareness and hopefulness. The clown represents my fear of growing up into the kind of stunted adult that toxically influenced my youth.”
As for the “Aftershook” video, Greta says, “Lauren had the basic idea for this music video, and we liked it for this song because it has a sort of spooky vibe to it. I love where Andy and their team took it because it feels like it’s about grappling with one’s sense of self/reality, and searching for one’s place in the world/community.”
Frankie Cosmos will release Inner World Peace, their fifth album, on October 21st, 2022 on CD/LP/CS/DSPs worldwide from Sub Pop. The album, which features the aforementioned “Aftershook,” along with standouts “One Year Stand,” “F.O.O.F.”, and “Empty Head,” was co-produced by Frankie Cosmos, Nate Mendelsohn, and Katie Von Schleicher at Figure 8 Recording in Brooklyn, New York, mixed by Mendelsohn and Von Schleicher, and mastered by Josh Bonati at Bonati Mastering. The Inner World Peace album art also features illustrations from band member Lauren Martin.
Earlier this month, Inner World Peace’s first single “One Year Stand” saw praise from the likes of PAPER (“Minimal and impressionistic — a collection of small features that coalesce into a vivid landscape.”), Stereogum (“soft and sad and sweet”), Brooklyn Vegan (“Instrumentally understated, with cheeky and sweet lyrics”), Uproxx (“patient and lush”) and Consequence (“dreamy”).
Inner World Peace is available for preorder now from Sub Pop. LP preorders from megamart.subpop.com, select independent retailers in North America, the UK and Europe, will receive the album on crystal clear vinyl (while supplies last).
Also available now with LPs preorders is a new limited edition Frankie Cosmos Zine, compiled by Greta Kline. It will include the first three issues of the Zine, bound together and will come with the first 400 Loser LPs of Inner World Peace pre-ordered on the Sub Pop Mega Mart.
Greta says of the zine, “You may not have heard of this zine if you aren’t on our mailing list, but I’ve been handmaking these and producing them in small batches, and I’m excited to have the opportunity to print and share more of them.”
Frankie Cosmos has scheduled an Inner World Peace release show in Queens NY on October 7th 2022 at Knockdown Center’s The Ruins. Hannah Jadagu and Ian Sweet will be opening.
Frankie Cosmos Inner World Peace
Tracklisting 1. Abigail 2. Aftershook 3. Fruit Stand 4. Magnetic Personality 5. Wayne 6. Sky Magnet 7. A Work Call 8. Empty Head 9. Fragments 10. Prolonging Babyhood 11. One Year Stand 12. F.O.O.F. 13. Street View 14. Spare the Guitar 15. Heed the Call
An unsuspecting Bret McKenzie gets zapped into a series of strange encounters in the bizarre (and humorous) official video for “If You Wanna Go” from Songs Without Jokes, directed by Ezra Simons (who also directed McKenzie’s “A Little Tune” visual).
Songs Without Jokes is available to preorder from Sub Pop. LP preorders through megamart.subpop.com, select independent retailers in North America, UK and Europe will receive the limited Loser Edition on blue vinyl (while supplies last).
Songs Without Jokes, which features the aforementioned “If You Wanna Go” and “Tomorrow Today” along with “Dave’s Place,” and “A Little Tune,” was produced by Mickey Petralia and McKenzie, mixed by Darrell Thorpe, with songs recorded at East West Studios and United Recordings, and mastered by Dave Ives at 101 Mastering in Los Angeles.
Bret McKenzie Songs Without Jokes
Tracklisting: 1. This World 2. If You Wanna Go 3. Dave’s Place 4. Here for You 5. That’s L.A. 6. Up in Smoke 7. Carry On 8. A Little Tune 9. America Goodbye 10. Tomorrow Today 11. Crazy Times
Flight of the Conchords’ Bret McKenzie has released Songs Without Jokes, his solo debut, today worldwide on Sub Pop. He has scheduled an international tour in support of the album, which begins Friday, September 2nd in Nelson, New Zealand at Trafalgar Center and currently ends Monday, November 14th in Los Angeles, CA at The Fonda.
Bret and his 7-piece band will perform selections from Songs Without Jokes as well as favourites from his previous musical adventures with The Muppets, The Simpsons, The Black Seeds and more. Bret has assembled an all-star lineup of Wellington musicians to accompany him on this tour. Get your tickets fast for what will undoubtedly be a very special intimate night with one of New Zealand’s most successful songwriters and his amazing new eight-piece band.
Bret McKenzie Live! Fri. Sep. 02 - Nelson, NZ - Trafalgar Centre Sat. Sep. 03 - Christchurch, NZ - James Hay Theatre Tue. Sep. 06 - Wellington, NZ - Morgan’s Clubhouse Thu. Sep. 08 - Wellington, NZ - Wellington Opera House Mon. Sep. 12 - Whanganui, NZ - Whanganui Opera House Tue. Sep. 13 - Hastings, NZ - Hastings Opera House Wed. Sep. 14 - Auckland, NZ - Town Hall Concert Chamber Wed. Sep. 15 - Auckland, NZ - Town Hall Concert Chamber Fri. Oct. 14 - Burlington, VT - Higher Ground Sat. Oct. 15 - Boston, MA - Royale Wed. Oct. 19 - Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg Fri. Oct. 21 - Washington DC - Lincoln Theatre Sat. Oct. 22 - New York, NY - Webster Hall Tue. Oct. 25 - Toronto, ON - Queen Elizabeth Theatre Wed. Oct. 26. - Detroit, MI - Royal Oak Sat. Oct. 27 - Milwaukee, WI - Turner Ballroom Fri. Oct. 28 - Chicago, IL - The Vic Theatre Sun. Oct. 30 - Minneapolis, MN - Fitzgerald Theater Wed. Nov. 02 Denver, CO - Ogden Theater Thu. Nov. 05 - Portland, OR - Revolution Hall Sun. Nov. 06 - Seattle, WA - The Moore Mon. Nov. 07 - Vancouver, BC - The Vogue Theatre Wed. Nov. 09 - San Francisco, CA - Fillmore Mon. Nov. 14 - Los Angeles, CA - The Fonda
Songs Without Jokes is available to preorder from Sub Pop. LP preorders through megamart.subpop.com, select independent retailers in North America, UK and Europe will receive the limited Loser Edition on blue vinyl (while supplies last).
Songs Without Jokes, which features the aforementioned “If You Wanna Go” and “Tomorrow Today” along with “Dave’s Place,” and “A Little Tune,” was produced by Mickey Petralia and McKenzie, mixed by Darrell Thorpe, with songs recorded at East West Studios and United Recordings, and mastered by Dave Ives at 101 Mastering in Los Angeles.
Next Thursday, September 1st at 12:30pm ET, Bret joins “All Of It with Alison Stewart” on WNYC for a Songs Without Jokes Listening Party and interview. New Yorkers can tune in on 93.9 FM/AM 820, and streamed online (worldwide) at WNYC.org.
What people are saying about Songs Without Jokes: “Baroque-pop delight. Evocative of Harry Nilsson and Randy Newman at their most extroverted. McKenzie’s songs provide great warmth (8/10).” Uncut
“Its tracks carry notes of Steely Dan, Harry Nilsson and Randy Newman, its contributors include some of Los Angeles’ most-revered session musicians, and while there is unquestionably great wit at play, there is also sincerity and real tenderness.” - The Guardian
“Surely he must see at least the fun in earnestly singing lyrics like “Look around, the planet is bleeding / A child is crying, the parents are weeping / The air is filthy, they don’t recommend breathing” atop the orchestral pop stylings of Harry Nilsson and Randy Newman, right? The songs grapple with today’s problems, but they’re every bit as charming, silly and heartfelt as one would expect from the motherflippin’ Rhymenoceros.” - Exclaim
“Unlike a lot of modern records, there is nothing bedroom-bound about this production, and you can feel the felicity of its live fanfare in a way that can rig up lighting rigs on its own. With this in mind, Songs Without Jokes is a titillating tour de force that we can’t wait to catch on the road.” [Album of the Week] - Far Out Magazine
“Although this is far from a comedy album, McKenzie’s wry sense of humour is still all over songs like ‘If You Wanna Go’ (“if you wanna go, baby, you should go,” shrugs the deadpan lyric), the sardonic ‘That’s LA’ (“drive down Sunset and the tears roll down my face”) and his breakup song with the US, America Goodbye. Musically, the album is drenched in an aviators-tinted nostalgia, ‘This World’ channelling Randy Newman and first single ‘A Little Tune’ a convincing and fun Harry Nilsson pastiche.” - The Age
Bret McKenzie Songs Without Jokes
Tracklisting: 1. This World 2. If You Wanna Go 3. Dave’s Place 4. Here for You 5. That’s L.A. 6. Up in Smoke 7. Carry On 8. A Little Tune 9. America Goodbye 10. Tomorrow Today 11. Crazy Times
