News for Chai

NEWS : FRI, OCT 2, 2020 at 6:58 AM

CHAI SIGN TO SUB POP AND RELEASE NEW SINGLE/VIDEO, “DONUTS MIND IF I DO” - 7” AVAILABLE ON VINYL IN NOVEMBER

[Photo Credit: Kodai Ikemitsu]

Today, Japanese quartet CHAI are thrilled to announce their signing to Sub Pop. In celebration, they announce a new digital single and official video for “Donuts Mind If I Do” which is available digitally today

“Donuts Mind If I Do” is lush with layered vocals and dreamy, laidback instrumentation. The track is mellow until the twins’ voices join together and its synth swells as they proclaim “Keep going on!” CHAI says: “When you’re feeling vigorous, when you’re feeling sick, You like what you like!  No changing that! Even if what I like is as simple as a donut <3. It’s this type of song!”

The accompanying video, directed by Hideto Hotta, shows CHAI sitting on a grassy hill, enjoying colorful donuts. Later, they appear as older versions of themselves. “In order for various concepts of society, societal structures to have been built up and exist today, there had to be changes to those concepts, to those structures in every era to continue to lead to the next society…with that said, in this music video we explore the CHAI you know today, and then CHAI as elderly women,” explains Hotta. “On an all-white table cloth, eating donuts, sits CHAI.  They can even sip on the tea in the teapot if they’d like! Ultimately time passes, and the elderly CHAI is still there, enjoying their last supper in the middle of the meadow, white-table cloth and all eating their donuts.  CHAI changes physically, but one thing that does stand still is them living in their truth. If finding true happiness is one of the goals the human race is constantly in search of, then conveying this in this visual, spreading what happiness means to CHAI, to me, is something I feel is important in us living in our truths.”

The song is from CHAI’s forthcoming “Donuts Mind If I Do” b/w “Plastic Love” double A-side single. The second track, “Plastic Love,” will be available on all DSPs from Sub Pop on November 6th. 

Pre-order “Donuts Mind If I Do” b/w “Plastic Love”


Both songs will also be released together as a limited edition 7”, which is available to pre-order now from Bandcamp (on either orange or turquoise colored vinyl), and Sub Pop Mega Mart (on lime green vinyl). All three options will be available while supplies last. The “Donuts Mind If I Do” b/w “Plastic Love” 7” single will be available worldwide from Sub Pop (excl. Japan and Asia) with an estimated ship date in late November.


[Photo Credit:  Kodai Ikemitsu]

CHAI is a revolutionary four-piece, made up of miracle twins Mana and Kana, and the impeccable rhythm section of Yuuki and Yuna. Combining their powerhouse musical prowess with “pinkish punk” sensibilities, CHAI has managed to create a huge splash in the music scene in their homeland, Japan, and abroad. Now ready to build on their infectious sound and musical accolades, CHAI is gearing up with their new label to release even more new music into the world.


PRAISE FOR CHAI AND PUNK 

PUNK leans hard into CHAI’s gift for spiky, wiry aggression, but the group never abandons its sense of playfulness and light” - NPR Music

“terrifically over the top.” - Pitchfork, Best New Music

“Their songs shapeshift, ping-ponging from one idea to the next with dizzying speed, leaving you no choice but to hang on for dear life and go along for the ride.”- Stereogum, Album Of The Week 

“they’re determined to redefine your idea of ‘kawaii,’ and, in the process, there’s no way you won’t become addicted.” - Nylon

PUNK is a huge step forward for CHAI, and easily one of the best albums of the year.” - Exclaim!

“Packed with gum-snapping cheerleader attitude and space disco grooves, it’s a potent distillation of serotonin that offers countless surprises across its thirty-minute runtime.” - The FADER

“Bursting with fun, expanded musicianship, and boundless energy, this is one sophomore record that couldn’t exist more in the now.” - The 405

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Now follow CHAI absolutely everywhere online:

chai-band.com

twitter.com/CHAIofficialJPN

instagram.com/chaiofficialjpn

facebook.com/CHAIofficialJPN




Posted by Rachel White

NEWS : FRI, OCT 2, 2020 at 12:01 AM

Here’s what Sub Pop has in store for Bandcamp Friday, October 2nd

On Friday, October 2nd, Sub Pop artists past and present – new signees CHAI, The Gotobeds (w/ Chicago’s Daddy’s Boy), Loma, METZ, The Postal Service, Chad VanGaalen, and Wolf Parade – will be offering a variety of new and unreleased material, special sales and deals through Bandcamp’s “No Revenue Share Day” aka #BandcampFriday.

Visit Sub Pop’s Bandcamp store to find it all.


CHAI’s “Donuts Mind If I Do” is a new song and the band’s label debut, available digitally now from Sub Pop. “Donuts…” will also be available on the group’s forthcoming “Donuts Mind If I Do” b/w “Plastic Love” 7” single out this November. This limited edition 7” is available to pre-order in two color options through Bandcamp – on either orange or turquoise colored vinyl.

$2 for both tracks, $1 per track (digitally).

$8 for the 7” single (physical + while supplies last). 

Est. ship date for the 7” single is late November.


The Gotobeds “Sunny Youth” / Daddy’s Boy “Family Cat” is a split digital single with proceeds going to Prison Neighborhood Arts Project. “Sunny Youth” was recorded during sessions for The Gotobeds’ Blood // Sugar // Secs // Traffic, their Sub Pop debut, while Daddy’s Boy’s “Family Cat” was recorded earlier this year at Electrical Audio in Chicago by Steve Albini. Both tracks are previously unreleased.

$1 per track.




Kiwi. Jr’s “Undecided Voters” is the just-released, darkly comic and prescient single from the Toronto-based, newly signed Sub Pop band.

$1 per track.



Loma’s self-released “Wheal Owles,” is a long, loose, haunting, and very human 15-minute instrumental. Emily Cross on clarinet, Jonathan Meiburg on guitar, Dan Duszyniski on drums. 

$5 for the track.


METZ’s entire digital discography, including the digital pre-order for Atlas Vending, their forthcoming album out October 9th, 2020 on Sub Pop, is available for sale at 35% off (or $39.65 in total).

Digital discography sale begins Friday and ends Thursday, October 8th.


Chad VanGaalen’s Lost Harmonies is a b-sides compilation of songs that were intended to be part of a synth-focused record called Lost Harmony. VanGaalen says of the project, “They were all improvised live and recorded them — quick and dirty. I was always critical of the way my voice still sounded like my normal voice, and the album got shelved. Eventually I returned to it and tried manipulating the sounds using pitch-shifting and changing tape speeds. I finally felt like it was cool to drool, and it evolved into Lost Harmonies. These are the kind of songs I make to entertain myself late at night.”

Pay what you want for the compilation on Friday, $1 per track after.


Various Artists Good Music to Avert the Collapse of American Democracy: Volume 2 is a fundraising compilation album with all net proceeds going to Voting Rights Lab to help secure, protect and defend the voting rights of all Americans in the upcoming 2020 election. The Postal Service’s “We Will Become Silhouettes (Live from Berkeley, CA 2013)” and Wolf Parade’s “ATA” are among the 77 tracks featured on the comp.

$20.20 for the comp, available Friday, October 2nd only.



Posted by Rachel White