If you’re among the first 200 people to pre-order Diaper Island by May 17th from Sub Pop, you’ll receive a limited edition (of 500) Chad VanGaalen print signed and hand-numbered by Chad himself.

Chad took all of these prints and turned them into an animation. Here it is!

Chad VanGaalen is a wildly talented artist, illustrator and animator from Calgary. And on May 17th, we at Sub Pop Records have the very great privilege of releasing Diaper Island, Chad’s fourth full-length record for the label. With this new album, Chad has distilled his approach, producing his most sonically cohesive album to date, and the closest thing he has done to a rock album. As with all of his albums, Chad is single-handedly responsible for all of the artistic efforts that went into Diaper Island—from album art to music videos and everything in between. No doubt you see what we were talking about with that “wildly talented” stuff at the beginning of this paragraph. Because we are such great fans of Chad’s art, in all of its manifestations, we’ll be giving the first 200 people to pre-order Diaper Island from subpop.com a free 5” x 6.5”, limited-edition, hand-numbered art print. This print will feature art from Diaper Island and Chad has promised to write or draw something on each of these. That’s for the first 200 people to order this record – when those are gone, that’s it. But! Everyone who pre-orders Diaper Island on CD or LP (and, remember, the LP will come with a coupon for a free, high-quality mp3 download of the album) will receive a couple of free stickers and instant access to a stream of the album in its entirely, providing access to hear the record in the time betwixt ordering and receiving. All of this for you, from us, with affection bordering on the inappropriate.

Pre-order Diaper Island here.

Bundle Diaper Island with a Chad VanGaalen shirt here.

Free Chad VanGaalen MP3s here.

Record Store Day is April 16, 2011

We at Sub Pop Records will be very thoroughly celebrating Record Store Day this year, with a number of releases and events across the country very nearly beyond our meager ability to count. We’ll have limited-edition Record Store Day exclusive releases from Blitzen Trapper, Fleet Foxes and Lower Dens, a free 19-track Sub Pop sampler, and in-store performances by Obits, Low and The Head and the Heart. Plus, the self-titled debut from The Head and the Heart comes out on CD and LP on April 16th as part of Record Store Day. To find a participating store, go here.

Record Store Day Exclusive Releases
Fleet Foxes — Helplessness Blues b/w Grown Ocean 12" single SP920 (limited edition of 3000)

Lower Dens — Deer Knives b/w Tangiers 7" single SP927 (limited edition of 1000)

Blitzen Trapper — Maybe Baby b/w Soul Singer 7" single SP929 (limited edition of 1500)

Record Store Day Release Date
The Head and the Heart The Head and the Heart CD/LP SP915

Record Store Day Sampler
Terminal Sales Vol. 4: Please to Enjoy CD SP932

Our 2011 label sampler, comes housed in an embossed, die-cut package, and includes 18 art prints with information about each of the artists and a folded poster. Sub Pop would like to give it to you.

1. Daniel Martin Moore “Dark Road” from the album In the Cool of the Day (SP860), available January 2011
2. Aurelio “Tio Sam” from the album Laru Beya (NXA002), available on Next Ambiance January 2011
3. The Twilight Singers “On the Corner” from the album Dynamite Steps (SP844), available February 2011
4. Mogwai “Slight Domestic” from the “Mexican Grand Prix” 7" single on Rock Action Records, available February 2011
5. Papercuts “Do What You Will” from the album Fading Parade (SP885), available February 2011
6. Dum Dum Girls “Wrong Feels Right” from the He Gets Me High EP (SP917), available March 2011
7. J Mascis “Not Enough” from the album Several Shades of Why (SP859), available March 2011
8. Obits “You Gotta Lose” from the album Moody, Standard and Poor (SP857) available March 2011
9. Low “Try to Sleep” from the album C’mon (SP905), available April 2011
10. The Head and the Heart “No One to Let You Down,” previously unreleased. The album The Head and the Heart (SP915) is available for Record Store Day, April 16, 2011
11. Blitzen Trapper “Maybe Baby” from the “Maybe Baby” 7" single (SP929), available for Record Store Day, April 16, 2011
12. Lower Dens “Deer Knives” from the “Deer Knives” 7" single (SP927), available for Record Store Day, April 16, 2011
13. Fleet Foxes “Helplessness Blues” from the album Helplessness Blues (SP888), available May 2011
14. Chad VanGaalen “Peace on the Rise” from the album Diaper Island (SP871), available May 2011
15. Shabazz Palaces “lost foundling.” This Shabazz Palaces track is not from the album Black Up (SP900), available May 2011
16. Memoryhouse “Sleep Patterns” from The Years EP (SP925), available at some as-yet-undetermined point in 2011
17. Mister Heavenly “Mister Heavenly” from the as-yet-untitled Mister Heavenly debut album (SP926), available August 2011
18. Niki and the Dove “The Fox” From “The Fox” 12" single (SP930), available June 2011
19. Blouse “Shadow” From the “Shadow” 7" single (SP939), available May 2011

Bands Performing in Actual Record Stores
The Head and the Heart
Sonic Boom (Ballard), Seattle, WA 3pm (acoustic)
Easy Street (Queen Anne), Seattle, WA 7pm (full band)

Low
Electric Fetus, Minneapolis, MN 4pm

Obits
Generation Records, New York, NY time TBC.

Pissed Jeans
Beautiful World Syndicate , Philadelphia 2pm

For more information on Record Store Day visit the Record Store Day website.

“Not Enough” video + song trivia: Chad VanGaalen is the mastermind behind this great video and none other than Ben Bridwell of Band of Horses can be heard singing with J Mascis on the song. That’s a Sub Pop three-fer-one right there!

Chad VanGaalen just posted a new EP entitled Your Tan Looks Supernatural on his Bandcamp page and it’s composed of outtakes from Chad’s upcoming Sub Pop album, Diaper Island, out May 19th.

Your Tan Looks Supernatural will be exclusively available on Bandcamp as a response to the crisis in Japan and 100% of all proceeds from the EP will be forwarded to the Red Cross Aid Effort.

Click HERE to check it out.

Every so often, Chad VanGaalen emerges from his bunker in Calgary with a batch of songs, giving us a window into the private world of this reclusive and enigmatic songwriter. With Diaper Island, VanGaalen distills his approach, producing his most sonically cohesive album to date, and the closest thing he has done to a rock album.

While VanGaalen’s three previous records were made in a cramped basement studio, a move to a larger recording room offered space to develop and refine his sound. Fresh from producing Women’s critically lauded Public Strain, VanGaalen decided to avoid the comfort of working on previous ground, and apply some of the recording techniques and sonic ideas that emerged from those sessions. For the first time, multi-tracked and often overdriven guitar is the instrument at the centre of the songs, which are often spartan and free of the melodic details that embellished previous albums. With this focus on guitar, combined with a beloved vintage tape machine determining the sound, VanGaalen moved towards a leaner, no-frills approach—one that more closely resembles the music that influenced him as a teenager, while continuing the arc laid out in his previous work.

The paradox of trying to assert control in a climate of helplessness winds through the album, whether in the existential pondering on life and death that often pervades VanGaalen’s songs (“Do Not Fear,” “Replace Me”), or in the conflict between control and creativity (“Freedom for a Policeman,” “No Panic, No Heat”). At the album’s heart is “Sara,” a simple and celebratory paean that gorgeously praises the ability of VanGaalen’s partner and muse to nurture his creativity in the face of this uncertainty, and captures the songwriter at his most sincere and powerful.

At this point Chad VanGaalen may perhaps be better known for his illustrative rather than his musical output. As was the case with all of his previous albums, VanGaalen has illustrated all of the art for Diaper Island himself. He’s also in the midst of animating a music video as well. His past videos have been collectively viewed well over a million times on youtube. He’s also animated music videos for folks like J Mascis, Guster, and Holy Fuck.

VanGaalen has been quietly building a catalogue of songs, illustrations, and animations that invite listeners to gently explore his distinctive creativity. Diaper Island extends the adventure into deeper territory, tapping into VanGaalen’s lifeblood and mining the richness of his mind with sharper tools.

Discography
2004 Infiniheart
2006 Skelliconnection
2008 Soft Airplane
2011 Diaper Island

Click here for all things Chad VanGaalen. Get stoked people.