Today, March 25th, Guerilla Toss releases their Sub Pop debut, Famously Alive. Guerilla Toss have expanded their North American tour, which now begins on Thursday, April 7th in Greenfield, MA with a show at Hawks & Reed, ending at the Waking Windows Festival in Winooski, VT in May. See below for a full list of dates.
Thu. Apr. 07 - Greenfield, MA - Hawks & Reed Fri. Apr. 08 - Catskills, NY - Avalon Lounge Sat. Apr. 09 - New Haven, CT - Space Ballroom Wed. Apr. 13- Richmond, VA - Richmond Music Hall Thu. Apr. 14 - Carrboro, NC - Cat’s Cradle Fri. Apr. 15 - Atlanta, GA - Aisle 5 Sat. Apr 16 - Nashville, TN - The Blue Room @ Third Man Records Sun. Apr. 17 - Louisville, KY - Zanzabar Tue. Apr. 19 - Milwaukee, WI - Cactus Club Wed. Apr. 20 - Chicago, IL - The Empty Bottle Thu. Apr. 21 - Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop Fri. Apr. 22 - Toronto, ON - The Garrison Sat. Apr. 23 - Montreal, QC - Bar Le Ritz P.D.B Mon. Apr. 25 - Portland, ME - Space Tue. Apr. 26 - Somerville, MA - Crystal Ballroom at Somerville Wed. Apr. 27 - Providence, RI - Columbus Theatre Thu. Apr. 28 - Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda’s Fri. Apr. 29 - Queens, NY - TV Eye Sat. Apr. 30 - Queens, NY - TV Eye Wed. May 11 - Washington, DC - DC9 Thu. May 12 - Kingston, NY - Tubbys Fri. May 13 - Winooski, VT - Waking Windows Festival Sat. May 14 - Winooski, VT - Waking Windows Festival Sun. May 15 - Winooski, VT - Waking Windows Festival
What people are saying about Guerilla Toss:
“Camp art-pop songs matching Kassie Carlson’s surreal lyrics with burbling synths and booming basses, it might snag GT the audience they crave” -MOJO
It’s pop in the sense that it bursts through your speakers like neon bubblegum filled with big open guitar chords and it’s weird in the sense that it’s got extreme metal vocals growling along to the anthemic sugar-rush chorus- Stereogum [Best New Tracks]
…sees them undergoing another really exciting sound change and it’s some very funky weirdo pop music that I’m excited to hear the band dive into.-The Needledrop
“Playful tropical drums and glitches underscore Kassie Carlson’s unnerving harmonies, clashing with fuzzy guitars.” [“Cannibal Capital”] - Paste
“simultaneously their most accessible and most unabashedly maximalist record” - The Wire
“…” Famously Alive” is a full-throttle pop track [Famously Alive] - FADER
“Cannibal Capital’ leads the way, merging distorted guitars with heavenly vocals and layered of DIY electronics.” - Clash
“From the second bar, you know you are about to be floored by yet another ferociously bold offering.” - Podcart
This coming Friday, March 25th, Guerilla Toss will release their Sub Pop debut, Famously Alive. On the heels of their latest single, “Cannibal Capital” and “Famously Alive” comes the new single “Live Exponential.” The band’s frontperson, Kassie Carlson shares of the song: “The song Live Exponential is about living to the fullest and beyond. It’s about having all the experiences possible and using them to build your understanding of yourself and the world around you. It’s about telling yourself you’re special until you believe it and feeling Godly just for yourself. It’s about severing the primal need for outside approval and taking active action to get what you want and need.”
Guerilla Toss have expanded their North American tour, which now begins on Thursday, April 7th in Greenfield, MA with a show at Hawks & Reed, ending at the Waking Windows Festival in Winooski, VT in May. See below for a full list of dates.
Thu. Apr. 07 - Greenfield, MA - Hawks & Reed Fri. Apr. 08 - Catskills, NY - Avalon Lounge Sat. Apr. 09 - New Haven, CT - Space Ballroom Wed. Apr. 13- Richmond, VA - Richmond Music Hall Thu. Apr. 14 - Carrboro, NC - Cat’s Cradle Fri. Apr. 15 - Atlanta, GA - Aisle 5 Sat. Apr 16 - Nashville, TN - The Blue Room @ Third Man Records Sun. Apr. 17 - Louisville, KY - Zanzabar Tue. Apr. 19 - Milwaukee, WI - Cactus Club Wed. Apr. 20 - Chicago, IL - The Empty Bottle Thu. Apr. 21 - Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop Fri. Apr. 22 - Toronto, ON - The Garrison Sat. Apr. 23 - Montreal, QC - Bar Le Ritz P.D.B Mon. Apr. 25 - Portland, ME - Space Tue. Apr. 26 - Somerville, MA - Crystal Ballroom at Somerville Wed. Apr. 27 - Providence, RI - Columbus Theatre Thu. Apr. 28 - Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda’s Fri. Apr. 29 - Queens, NY - TV Eye Sat. Apr. 30 - Queens, NY - TV Eye Wed. May 11 - Washington, DC - DC9 Thu. May 12 - Kingston, NY - Tubbys Fri. May 13 - Winooski, VT - Waking Windows Festival Sat. May 14 - Winooski, VT - Waking Windows Festival Sun. May 15 - Winooski, VT - Waking Windows Festival
What people are saying about Guerilla Toss:
“Camp art-pop songs matching Kassie Carlson’s surreal lyrics with burbling synths and booming basses, it might snag GT the audience they crave” -MOJO
It’s pop in the sense that it bursts through your speakers like neon bubblegum filled with big open guitar chords and it’s weird in the sense that it’s got extreme metal vocals growling along to the anthemic sugar-rush chorus- Stereogum [Best New Tracks]
…sees them undergoing another really exciting sound change and it’s some very funky weirdo pop music that I’m excited to hear the band dive into.-The Needledrop
“Playful tropical drums and glitches underscore Kassie Carlson’s unnerving harmonies, clashing with fuzzy guitars.” [“Cannibal Capital”] - Paste
“simultaneously their most accessible and most unabashedly maximalist record” - The Wire
“…” Famously Alive” is a full-throttle pop track [Famously Alive] - FADER
“Cannibal Capital’ leads the way, merging distorted guitars with heavenly vocals and layered of DIY electronics.” - Clash
“From the second bar, you know you are about to be floored by yet another ferociously bold offering.” - Podcart
On March 25th, Guerilla Toss will release their Sub Pop debut, Famously Alive. After a decade sprinkling glitter into grit, building a reputation as one of the most ferociously creative art-rock groups working, the upstate New York band have eased fully into their light. This is Guerilla Toss at their most luminescent – awake, alive, and extending an open invitation to anyone who wants to soak it all up beside them.
On the heels of their latest single, “Cannibal Capital,” the band has shared a new video/single for their self-titled track“Famously Alive,” directed by Jonny Kosmo. The song is about “living with purpose and excitement whether you’re famous or not, accepting your strangeness and thriving even if your successes look different than other people’s,” notes the band’s singer and lyricist Kassie Carlson. Multi-instrumentalist and band member Peter Negroponte offers this, “To me, ‘Famously Alive’ means flipping the notion of dying famously to living famously. I also like to think of it as a way to describe living through something traumatic and coming out of it a stronger, wiser person.”
Guerilla Toss have expanded their North American tour, which now begins on Thursday, April 7th in Greenfield, MA with a show at Hawks & Reed, and ends Thursday, May 12th in Kingston, NY at Tubby’s.
Thu. Apr. 07 - Greenfield, MA - Hawks & Reed Fri. Apr. 08 - Catskills, NY - Avalon Lounge Sat. Apr. 09 - New Haven, CT - Space Ballroom Wed. Apr. 13- Richmond, VA - Richmond Music Hall Thu. Apr. 14 - Carrboro, NC - Cat’s Cradle Fri. Apr. 15 - Atlanta, GA - Aisle 5 Sat. Apr 16 - Nashville, TN - The Blue Room @ Third Man Records Sun. Apr. 17 - Louisville, KY - Zanzabar Tue. Apr. 19 - Milwaukee, WI - Cactus Club Wed. Apr. 20 - Chicago, IL - The Empty Bottle Thu. Apr. 21 - Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop Fri. Apr. 22 - Toronto, ON - The Garrison Sat. Apr. 23 - Montreal, QC - Bar Le Ritz P.D.B Mon. Apr. 25 - Portland, ME - Space Tue. Apr. 26 - Somerville, MA - Crystal Ballroom at Somerville Wed. Apr. 27 - Providence, RI - Columbus Theatre Thu. Apr. 28 - Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda’s Fri. Apr. 29 - Queens, NY - TV Eye Sat. Apr. 30 - Queens, NY - TV Eye Wed. May 11 - Washington, DC - DC9 Thu. May 12 - Kingston, NY - Tubbys
Tracklisting: 1. Cannibal Capital 2. Famously Alive 3. Live Exponential 4. Mermaid Airplane 5. Wild Fantasy 6. Pyramid Humm 7. Excitable Girls 8. I Got Spirit 9. Happy Me 10. Heathen In Me
Sub Pop is ecstatic to welcome Guerilla Toss to their iconic roster of artists. The label will be releasing their latest effort, Famously Alive on March 25th. After a decade sprinkling glitter into grit, building a reputation as one of the most ferociously creative art-rock groups working, the upstate New York band have eased fully into their light. This is Guerilla Toss at their most luminescent – awake, alive, and extending an open invitation to anyone who wants to soak it all up beside them.
Singer and lyricist Kassie Carlson, multi-instrumentalist Peter Negroponte and guitarist Arian Shafiee wrote Famously Alive at home in the Catskills during the pervading quiet of the pandemic year. Together with guitarist Arian Shafiee, Carlson and Negroponte cultivated a sound that spliced together psychedelic texturing and Krautrock syncopation with the gloss and glow of contemporary pop music.
The group’s debut single and album opener, “Cannibal Capital,” is a song about the exhaustion and dread of social anxiety. The song came together in a flurry toward the end of the album’s sessions. A taut bass groove erupts into competing squalls of guitar and synth that support one of the most immediate and arresting vocal hooks of Guerilla Toss’s catalog to date.
The band will embark on a 16 date North American tour beginning Apr. 13th in Richmond VA. With additional shows in Atlanta, Milwaukee, Chicago, Toronto, Montreal, Philadelphia, and Queens, NY. See below for a full list of shows.
Tour Dates:
Wed. Apr. 13- Richmond, VA - Richmond Music Hall
Thu. Apr. 14 - Carrboro, NC - Cat’s Cradle
Fri. Apr. 15 - Atlanta, GA - Aisle 5
Sat. Apr 16 - Nashville, TN - The Blue Room @ Third Man Records
Sun. Apr. 17 - Louisville, KY - Zanzabar
Tue. Apr. 19 - Milwaukee, WI - Cactus Club
Wed. Apr. 20 - Chicago, IL - The Empty Bottle
Thu. Apr. 21 - Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop
Fri. Apr. 22 - Toronto, ON - The Garrison
Sat. Apr. 23 - Montreal, QC - Bar Le Ritz P.D.B
Mon. Apr. 25 - Portland, ME - Space
Tue. Apr. 26 - Somerville, MA - Crystal Ballroom at Somerville
Dig deep enough inside yourself – start treating your body as your sanctuary rather than your enemy – and eventually you’ll find yourself blooming right back out into the sun. That’s the transformation Guerilla Toss trace on their newest album Famously Alive, their effervescent Sub Pop debut. After a decade sprinkling glitter into grit, building a reputation as one of the most ferociously creative art-rock groups working, the upstate New York band have eased fully into their light. This is Guerilla Toss at their most luminescent – awake, alive, and extending an open invitation to anyone who wants to soak it all up beside them.
Singer and lyricist Kassie Carlson, multi-instrumentalist Peter Negroponte and guitarist Arian Shafiee wrote Famously Alive at home in the Catskills during the pervading quiet of the pandemic year. The uncertainty of COVID-19 lockdowns and the total disruption of routine forced Carlson to negotiate with herself in new and challenging ways. “You have to be with yourself all the time during the pandemic,” she says. “I had to figure out a way to manage my anxiety. The pandemic was hard, but it helped me get comfortable inside my own body. My peace of mind came out of being thrust into the deepest shit. This album is all about being happy, being alive, strength. It’s meant to inspire people.”
The album’s title derives from a poem written by a close friend of the band, Jonny Tatelman, who supported Carlson through the early stages of her recovery from opiate addiction. The poem comprises the entirety of the lyrics to the title track, an exuberant ode to loving your own survival and charting a course into unconditional self-acceptance. “The song ‘Famously Alive’ is about living with purpose and excitement whether you’re famous or not, accepting your strangeness and thriving even if your successes look different than other people’s,” notes Carlson. “To me, ‘Famously Alive’ means flipping the notion of dying famously to living famously,” Negroponte adds. “I also like to think of it as a way to describe living through something traumatic and coming out of it a stronger, wiser person.”
Songs like the expansive, gleaming “Live Exponential” similarly invite the listener to lean into the light. “It’s about loving yourself and finding a way to be comfortable in your own body – to live life to the fullest and beyond,” says Carlson. Throughout the record, Guerilla Toss meet themselves with curiosity, generosity, and acceptance even for the harder parts of being alive. Opener “Cannibal Capital,” a song about the exhaustion and dread of social anxiety, came together in a flurry toward the end of the album’s sessions. A taut bass groove erupts into competing squalls of guitar and synth that support one of the most immediate and arresting vocal hooks of Guerilla Toss’s catalog to date.
Together with guitarist Arian Shafiee, Carlson and Negroponte cultivated a sound that spliced together psychedelic texturing and Krautrock syncopation with the gloss and glow of contemporary pop music. “I like to combine as many musical influences as possible,” says Negroponte. “We thought the sleekness of current radio pop would make our dense wall-of-sound aesthetic both more bizarre and more accessible and fun at the same time.” Carlson was similarly inspired by a wide range of artists from around the world after diving deep into obscure 7-inches for her weekly show on Radio Catskill, Rare Pear Radio.
While writing the album, Carlson took voice lessons online for the first time. Though she has been singing since she was four years old, at first with a vocal harmony group in her family’s church, she hadn’t formally trained her voice since joining Guerilla Toss. The lessons allowed her to deepen and broaden her range, helping her feel more embodied and connected to her voice. Underneath ripples of Auto-Tune, playful, searching vocal melodies suspend lyrics about reaching for yourself and holding fast in your own love.
Famously Alive finds Guerilla Toss coming into the fullness of their power, celebrating their prismatic idiosyncrasies from a place of optimism and abundance. “It felt like I didn’t need to force myself into this dark place to create anymore,” Carlson says. “For the first time in my life, I feel like I’m finally comfortable inside my body.
Clarke and the Himselfs and Guerilla Toss’s contributions to the Sub Pop Singles Club Vol. 5 are available now for the first time at all DSPs.
NYC (via Boston) band Guerilla Toss present “Human Girl” and “Own Zone,” two new, exclusive tracks that perfectly capture the exuberant, danceable fusion of post-punk, funk, and experimental rock that Guerilla Toss have been serving up since 2012.
LA’s Clarke and the Himselfs has been releasing compelling, catchy, heart-warming rock and roll since starting as a solo project in Boise in 2011. “Mary Rae Says” and “Crystal Blue” are new, exclusive tracks produced by Don Bolles (Germs, 45 Grave), who also contributed drums, bass, and vocals to “Crystal Blue.”
Both singles will also be released as limited-edition 7”s only available to Sub Pop Singles Club Vol. 5 subscribers. The series will also include singles by Father John Misty, Moor Mother, Ohmme, Julia Jacklin, Sumac, TEKE::TEKE, Redd Kross, and more. Subscribe to Single Club Vol. 5 right here.
Redd Kross, Julia Jacklin, Guerilla Toss added to the upcoming Sub Pop Singles Club Vol. 5 series, now open for subscriptions over here.
Two new singles from the Sub Pop Singles Club Vol. 4 are now available on all digital music services.
Japanese psychedelic rock group Kikagaku Moyo present a stunning, hypnotic cover of the traditional folk song “Gypsy Davey,” as arranged by Sandy Denny’s band Fotheringay in 1970, backed with a new, original song called “Mushi No Uta.” Both tracks were recorded in 2019 at Wilton Way Studio in London, and the single features cover art by Portland, OR artist Hailee Va.
About Kikagaku Moyo: Kikagaku Moyo started in the summer of 2012 busking on the streets of Tokyo. Though the band started as a free music collective, it quickly evolved into a tight group of multi-instrumentalists. Kikagaku Moyo call their sound psychedelic because it encompasses a broad spectrum of influence. Their music incorporates elements of classical Indian music, Krautrock, Traditional Folk, and 70s Rock. Most importantly their music is about freedom of the mind and body and building a bridge between the supernatural and the present. Improvisation is a key element to their sound. Go & Tomo run their own record label Guruguru Brain currently based in Amsterdam. Guruguru Brain has released about 10 artists from Asia including Kikagaku Moyo since 2014.
Australian post-punk/pop quartet Terry – featuring members of Total Control, Constant Mongrel, Primo, and more – present two new originals: the catchy-as-hell A side “Take the Cellphone,” recorded by Mikey Young (Eddy Current Suppression Ring, Total Control), and the self-recorded instrumental B side “Debt and Deficit Disaster.” The vinyl versions of both bands’ singles were limited to 1000 copies, and were only available to subscribers of the Sub Pop Singles Club Vol. 4.
About Terry: Terry is a band from Australia. Divide Terry in half and you split the genders, into quarters and you get Amy Hill (also of Constant Mongrel, School Of Radiant Living, Primo), Xanthe Waite (Primo), Zephyr Pavey (Eastlink, Total Control, Russell St Bombings) and Al Montfort (UV Race, Dick Diver, Total Control). Guitars, bass, drums, all four sing. Terry are busy people and Terry is a particularly active project too, having released three EPs, three albums and conducted three European tours with the help of London’s Upset! The Rhythm before having a crack at the American market with this spiffy single for Sub Pop subscribers.
About the Sub Pop Singles Club Intermittently, since 1988, Sub Pop has roped artists into letting us release a couple of their songs on the 7” vinyl format, resulting in releases by Nirvana, Soundgarden, L7, The White Stripes, Bright Eyes, and a ton more. We then shipped these singles to people who had the forethought to subscribe, in advance, to the Singles Club. Many of these singles have since become very rare and sought-after. (Ok, so a few haven’t, but who’s counting?) Most recently, we somehow pulled off the Sub Pop Singles Club Vol. 4, running from April 2019-February 2020 (and totally closed for subscriptions since February, so don’t ask!). You can hear many of the past Singles Club releases via the Sub Pop Singles Club Playlist.
The Sub Pop Singles Club Vol. 5 will keep this fine tradition of excellent new music and logistical headaches going for yet another year. These singles are one-time, limited pressings with exclusive tracks by each artist. Subscribe now or assuredly regret later!
12 vinyl 7” singles pressed by our friends at Third Man Pressing, with artful packaging lovingly designed by the musicians and the Sub Pop art department!
A nice box to store them all in!
An official Sub Pop Singles Club Vol. 5 membership card!
Coolness! Conversation pieces! Things to have and hold over people who don’t have them! Relatives and acquaintances who are surprised to find out they still make those things! And other side-effects of record collecting!
How much? This much: $130 for the U.S. $170 for Canada $185 for Mexico $195 for the rest of the world. Shipping is included in each of those prices.
