The legendary Preservation Hall Jazz Band will re-release So It Is and That’s It! on CD / LP worldwide June 28th through Sub Pop. You can preorder both albums now through Sub Pop Mega Mart and select independent retailers in North America, UK and Europe. Both albums are also available digitally now from Sub Pop.
So It Is was originally released in 2017, and finds the classic Preservation Hall Jazz Band sound invigorated by a number of fresh influences, not least among them the band’s 2015 life-changing trip to Cuba. A visit to the island, so integral to the evolution of jazz and New Orleans culture in general, had long been in the works when President Obama’s diplomatic opening suddenly allowed for a more extensive journey than had originally seemed possible. Producer David Sitek, a founder of art rock innovators TV on the Radio who has helmed projects by Kelis, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Santigold among others, offered both a keen modern perspective and a profound respect for the band’s storied history.
So It Is Tracklisting
1. So It Is 2. Santiago 3. Innocence 4. La Malanga 5. Convergence 6. One Hundred Fires 7. Mad
Released in 2013, That’s It! is an eclectic album that draws on the collective experience of players nurtured in the New Orleans tradition but determined to build something fresh and exciting on that foundation. It marks an important milestone in PHJB Creative Director Ben Jaffe’s crusade to carry forward the Hall’s original mission while making it relevant to today’s audiences. For his part, co-producer Jim James is convinced that the PHJB has a future as vibrant as its past: “The music will speak forever,” he says. “Will people stop listening to Beethoven? Will people stop listening to Bob Dylan? Will people stop listening to the Preservation Hall Jazz Band?”
That’s It! Tracklisting
1. That’s It! 2. Dear Lord (Give Me The Strength) 3. Come With Me 4. Sugar Plum 5. Rattlin’ Bones 6. I Think I Love You 7. August Nights 8. Halfway Right 9. Halfway Wrong 10. Yellow Moon 11. The Darker It Gets 12. Emmalena’s Lullaby
Preservation Hall Jazz Band Tour Dates
Preservation Hall Jazz Band’s touring schedule for 2019 resumes May 16th in New Orleans at the Fillmore and currently ends with a three-night stand November 29th-December 1st in Baltimore at the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall.
May 16 - New Orleans, LA - The Fillmore ^ Jul. 05 - Elkhorn, WI - Alpine Valley Music Theatre* Jul. 06 - Elkhorn, WI - Alpine Valley Music Theatre* Jul. 28 - Newport, RI - Newport Folk Festival Aug. 02 - Happy Valley, OR - Pickathon Aug. 03 - Happy Valley, OR - Pickathon Aug. 05 - Folsom, CA - Harris Center For The Arts Aug. 06 - Folsom, CA - Harris Center For The Arts Aug. 08 - San Francisco, CA - SFJAZZ Aug. 09 - San Francisco, CA - SFJAZZ Aug. 10 - San Francisco, CA - SFJAZZ (7:00PM) Aug. 10 - San Francisco, CA - SFJAZZ (9:30PM) Aug. 11 -San Francisco, CA - SF Jazz Center - Miner Auditorium Aug. 15 - Philadelphia, PA - Old Pool Farm Aug. 16 - Philadelphia, PA - Old Pool Farm Aug. 17 - Philadelphia, PA - Old Pool Farm Aug. 18 - Philadelphia, PA - Old Pool Farm Aug. 24 - Arrington, VA - Lockn’ Music Festival Sep. 20 - Louisville, KY - Bourbon & Beyond Festival Sep. 21 - Franklin, TN - Pilgrimage Music Festival Sep. 22 - Franklin, TN - Pilgrimage Music Festival Nov. 29 - Baltimore, MD - Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall Nov. 30 - Baltimore, MD - Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall Dec. 01 - Baltimore, MD - Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall *with Dave Matthews Band ^with Foo Fighters
Recently, Preservation Hall Jazz Band released “Kreyol,” a spirited tune from “A Tuba To Cuba,” the forthcoming soundtrack to the critically acclaimed documentary directed by T.G. Herrington and Danny Clinch. The song is available now worldwide on all DSPs from Sub Pop.
“A Tuba To Cuba” follows Ben Jaffe of New Orleans’ famed Preservation Hall Jazz Band as he seeks to fulfill his late father’s dream of retracing their musical roots to the shores of Cuba in search of the indigenous music that gave birth to New Orleans jazz. “A Tuba To Cuba” celebrates the triumph of the human spirit expressed through the universal language of music and challenges us to resolve to build bridges, not walls. The film is available through Amazon Video, iTunes, DirecTV, Google Play, YouTube Movies and more. Check your local service provider for additional listings.
The New York Times says of the film, “This joyous, wide-ranging account of a New Orleans jazz band’s 2015 visit to Cuba is crammed with fascinating facts and toe-tickling tunes.” And the LA Times offers this, “Jaunty, at times poetic chats and drop-ins with many Big Easy and Cuban jazz artists, discussion of their music’s African lineage (the Atlantic slave trade factored in), stirring examples of native instrumentation, and pulsating performances combine with colorful, travelogue-type shots (love those old Cuban theaters) and vivid archival footage to create a vibrant and joyous portrait.”
Catch the band on the road in June, July & August.
The Gotobeds have released a new video for their song “2:15.” The video was animated by the band’s guitarist, TFP, who had this to say about the video:
“Hey, thanks for checking out my cool lil video for ‘2:15.’ Wow, I can’t believe I actually finished this thing. What an undertaking. I worked on this off and on for two years on a crappy freeware animation program that would crash if the clip was longer than a few seconds. The number of hours I put into this thing are countless and, honestly, I’d rather just get maced again. Enjoy!”
“2:15” features a guest appearance from Matt Barnhart of Tre Orsi/Mint Mile.
We can all watch this cinematic gem right now via Paste, who premiered the video today, May 7th.
The band will play an album release show in their hometown of Pittsburgh, PA on May 25th at Babyland, with midwest, eastern and southern US shows in June, July and August. See below for a full list of dates.
Debt Begins at 30 is out on LP/CD/digital and cassette Friday, May 31st, and it is now available for preorder at the Sub Pop Mega Mart. Preorders of the LP through megamart.subpop.com, select independent retailers in the US and select European and UK retailers will receive the limited, orange-vinyl Loser Edition while supplies last.
Tour Dates: May 25th - Pittsburgh, PA - Babyland (album release show) Jun. 20 - Pittsburgh, PA - Babyland % Jun. 21 - Chicago, IL - Sleeping Village Jun. 23 - Columbus, IL - Ace of Cups Jul. 16 - Philadelphia, PA - Boot & Saddle Jul. 17 - Brooklyn, NY - Union Pool Jul. 18 - D.C, Washington - Comet Ping Pon Jul. 19 - Kingston, NY - Tubby’s Aug. 01 - Bloomington, IN - Bishop Aug. 02 - Nashville, TN - DRKMTTR Aug. 05 - Dallas, TX - Ruins Aug. 06 - Austin, TX - Vegas Aug. 07 - Houston, TX - Satellite Aug. 08 - New Orleans, LA - Santos Aug. 09 - Atlanta, GA - The Earl Aug. 10 - Cincinnati, OH - NSYC Oct. 17 - Millvale, PA - Mr. Smalls Theatre ^
Years to Burn is out June 14th on Sub Pop Records.
Today, Calexico and Iron & Wine share the gorgeous second single from their upcoming album, Years to Burn, entitled “Midnight Sun.” In “Midnight Sun,” Calexico’s Joey Burns and Sam Beam of Iron & Wine trade haunted-sounding verses over shimmering steel until the song devolves into a corrosive electric lead from Burns, like a dying siren. The video makes use of over 100 paintings Beam did for the creation of the new album’s cover. Working with animator Jonny Sanders, the video brings to life in a spirited and fun way, the many images of Burns, Beam and Calexico drummer John Convertino. Watch the video HEREthen playlist it on YouTube - Spotify - Apple Music.
Years to Burn is their first full–length album together and will be available June 14th via City Slang in the UK/Europe and Sub Pop in the rest of the world. Of the track, Joey Burns says “Sam sent some demos the week before we met to record the album. Based on the feel of those demos I wrote the song “Midnight Sun” the day I got to Nashville. I arrived at our rental house the day before everyone else and was happy to find a piano, old pump organ and guitar to do some writing. I was up late and came up with a tune that would bridge both bands’ worlds. I started with a drone in F# and was curious as to where it would take me.”
Calexico and Iron & Wine previously shared the lead single off of the album called “Father Mountain”. Listen to “Father Mountain” HERE. The two will head out on an extensive North American, European, and UK tour this summer through the fall, including the just announced free show on June 21stat Prospect Park Bandshellas part of the Celebrate Brooklyn Festival. These shows will have the two sharing the stage for one-of-a-kind performances, focusing on music from Years to Burn, their previous EP together, In the Reins, as well as surprise covers and classics from each bands’ catalog. All tour dates can be found below.
Years to Burn is available June 14th via City Slang in the UK/Europe and from Sub Pop in the rest of the world.
Jun. 18 - Saxapahaw, NC - River Ballroom Jul. 19 - Lisbon, PT - Super Bock Super Rock Jul. 20 - Arlesheim, CH - Stimmen Festival Jul. 22 - Milan, IT - La Triennale di Milano Jul. 23 - Gardone Riviera, IT - Anfiteatro del Vittoriale Jul. 24 - Rome, IT - Villa Ada Jul. 25 - Florence, IT - Cavea del Nuovo Teatro dell’opera Jul. 26 - Monforte D’ Alba, IT - Auditorium Horszowski Jul. 28 - Vienna, AT - Konzerthaus Jul. 29 - Palma, ES - Auditorium de Palma de Mallorca Jul. 31 - Hamburg, DE - Stadtpark Aug. 02 - Cambridge, UK - Cambridge Folk Festival Aug. 03 - Leuven, BE - M-idzommer Festival Aug. 04 - Crozon, FR - Festival Du Bout Du Monde Aug. 16 - Phoenix, AZ - Orpheum Theatre ~ Aug. 17 - Tucson, AZ - Rialto Theatre ~ Aug. 19 - Denver, CO - Denver Botanic Gardens ~ Aug. 21 - Ogden, UT - Twilight Series at Ogden Amphitheater ^ Aug. 22 - Boise, ID - Knitting Factory Concert House ^ Aug. 23 - Portland, OR - Keller Auditorium ^ Aug. 24 - Vancouver, BC - Vogue Theatre Aug. 25 - Port Townsend, WA - The Thing Sep. 18 - Grand Rapids, MI - Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park “Meijer Gardens” Sep. 19 - Pittsburgh, PA - Roxian Theatre Sep. 20 - Philadelphia, PA - Union Transfer Sep. 21 - Boston, MA - Rockland Trust Bank Pavillion + Sep. 22 - North Adams, MA - FreshGrass Festival Sep. 24 - Richmond, VA - The National Sep. 26 - Birmingham, AL - Iron City Sep. 27 - New Orleans, LA - House Of Blues Sep. 28 - Austin, TX - Stubb’s Waller Creek Sep. 29 - Dallas, TX - Majestic Theater Sep. 30 - Oklahoma City, OK - Tower Theatre Oct. 02 - Las Vegas, NV - House Of Blues Oct. 03 - Los Angeles, CA - Orpheum Theatre Oct. 04 - San Diego, CA - Humphrey’s Concertsby The Bay Oct. 06 - Saratoga, CA - Mountain Winery Nov. 05 - Utrecht, NL - TrivoliVrendenburg - Ronda Nov. 06 -Luxemborg, LU - Den Atelier Nov. 07 - Antwerp, BE - De Roma Nov. 09 - Berlin, DE - Tempodrom Nov. 10 - Linz, AT - Posthof Nov. 11 - Munich, DE - Muffathalle Nov. 12 - Budapest, HU - Müpa Nov. 14 - Mannheim, DE - Musensaal Rosengarten Nov. 15 - Cologne, DE - Palladium Nov. 16 - Paris, FR - La Cigale Nov. 18 - Edinburgh, UK - Usher Hall * Nov. 19 - Liverpool, UK - Philharmonic Hall * Nov. 20 - Manchester, UK - Bridgewater Hall * Nov. 21 -Conventry, UK - Warwick Arts Centre * Nov. 23 - London, UK - Royal Festival Hall * Nov. 24 - Bexhill-On-Sea, UK – De La Warr Pavillion *
~ with special guest Madison Cunningham + with Andrew Bird *with special guest Lisa O’Neill ^ with Orville Peck
Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever have delivered an intense new video for “Read My Mind” from their “In the Capital” b/w ‘Read My Mind” 7” single out today on Sub Pop.
The sobering visual was directed by Warwick Baker and edited by Bill Irving. The band had this to say, “We gave the song to our close friend Baker, a respected Australian photographer, to interpret visually.”
And Baker elaborates, “I hoped to observe and document the spectacle of the rodeo, focusing on the performers rather than the audience. Being a vegetarian I found the event confronting, but wanted to document the theater and ritual of the rodeo without glorifying or condemning it.”
Rolling Blackouts C.F’s North American shows in support of Hope Downs and “In the Capital” / “Read My Mind” single begin May 26th in Boston for Boston Calling and end June 13th in Manchester, TN at Bonnaroo. The group’s European and the UK run begins July 3rd at in Roskilde, DK’s Roskilde Festival and ends July 27th in Thirsk, UK at the Deer Shed Festival. Additional international festival highlights for the May-July timeframe include Governors Ball (May 31st), Lattitude Festival (May 31st), Down the Rabbit Hole (July 5th), and Mad Cool Festival (July 12th).
May 03 - Castlemaine, AU - Theatre Royal May 04 - Melbourne, AU - Croxton May 10 - Sydney, AU - Manning Bar May 26 - Boston, MA - Boston Calling May 28 - Philadelphia, PA - Underground Arts May 29 - Washington, DC - U Street Music Hall May 31 - New York, NY - Governors Ball (early) May 31 - Brooklyn, NY - Warsaw (late) Jun. 02 - Toronto, ON - The Mod Club Jun. 04 - Chicago, IL - Thalia Hall Jun. 06 - Seattle, WA - The Crocodile Jun. 07 - Vancouver, BC - Rickshaw Theatre Jun. 08 - Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge Jun. 10 - San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall Jun. 11 - Los Angeles, CA - The Lodge Room Jun. 13 - Manchester, TN - Bonnaroo Jul. 03 - Roskilde, DK - Roskilde Festival Jul. 05 - Ewijk, NL - Down the Rabbit Hole Festival Jul. 07 - Paris, FR - Le Point Ephémère Jul. 09 - Liverpool, UK - Invisible Wind Factory Jul. 11 - Dublin, IE - The Iveagh Gardens Jul. 12 - Madrid, ES - Mad Cool Festival Jul. 13 - Lisbon, PT - NOS Alive Jul. 15 - Glasgow, UK - St. Luke’s Jul. 16 - Sheffield, UK - The Leadmill Jul. 18 - Cardiff, UK - Clwb Ifor Bach Jul. 19 - Bedford, UK - Esquires Jul. 21 - Suffolk, UK - Latitude Festival Jul. 22 - Birmingham, UK - Mama Roux’s Jul. 23 - Reading, UK - Sub89 Jul. 25 - Nyon, CH - Paleo Nyon Festival Jul. 27 - Thirsk, UK - Deer Shed Festival
[Photo Credit: Pooneh Ghana]
What people are saying about Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever: “Hope Downs more than delivers on the promise of the Melbourne quintet’s two early EPs, doubling down on the melancholy pop it forged on 2015’s Talk Tight and last year’s The French Press while also polishing its sound.” - [Hope Downs, Grade: A-] - The AV Club
“Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever have more tricks up their sleeves, it seems. For a debut, though, a couple tricks are enough, especially when you’ve already mastered them. [Hope Downs, 8.9/10] -PASTE
“A three-guitar front line — plucked, sustained and most often busily strummed — gives this Australian band its brisk pacing. Topped with semi-spoken, Dylan-tinged vocals and lyrics that switch between candor and drollery, its music is like folk-rock wrapped around a post-punk armature.” [SXSW Review] - NY Times
“Sophisticated and subversive in equal measure, their staccato sing-alongs come on pristine and precise, then unspool in surprising directions as decorum gives way to abandon.” [Hope Downs, 8.1/10] - Pitchfork
“Every amp tone on this album is just sweet enough, every jangling rhythm hits exactly where it should. Rolling Blackouts are playing an old game, but they’re damned good at it.” [Hope Downs, 4/5] - Rolling Stone
“Even at their most fervent, the characters of Hope Downs remain soaked in sun, able to convince themselves that one great night could be enough to set them straight again. At about 35 minutes, Hope Downs is a brief vacation, and so are many of its songs.” [Hope Downs, 4/5] - SPIN
Watch Kyle Craft & Showboat Honey’s official video for lead single “2 Ugly 4 NY” from Showboat Honey, their forthcoming new album, available worldwide July 12th, 2019 from Sub Pop. The video is directed by Eleanor Petry, and stars bandleader Craft as Hobo Grimm, a skeleton-faced busker. He says of the video, “Eleanor and I were aiming to snag that “day in the life” feel, following old Hobo Grim around downtown tryin’ to make the illusive busker’s dollar and then heading off into the night to blow it.”
Showboat Honey was recorded and produced by Kyle Craft, Kevin Clark, and Billy Slater at their own Moonbase Studios in Portland over 2018. The album was mixed by Trevor Spencer (Father John Misty) and mastered by April Golden at Golden Mastering.
Showboat Honey is now available for preorder through Sub Pop Mega Mart. Preorders of the LP through megamart.subpop.com and select independent retailers in North America, the UK and Europe will receive the limited Loser edition on a clear blue translucent mix with spots red hi-melt (while supplies last). There will also be a new T-shirt design available.
Showboat Honey Tracklisting:
1. Broken Mirror Pose 2. O! Lucky Hand 3. 2 Ugly 4 NY 4. Blackhole/Joyride 5. Bed of Needles #2 6. Deathwish Blue 7. Blood in the Water 8. Buzzkill Caterwaul 9. Sunday Driver 10. Johnny (Free & Easy) 11. She’s Lily Riptide
[Photo Credit: Peter Karaviaw]
About Showboat Honey: There is this curious equilibrium to existence: In order to create balance, the universe must giveth, and the universe must taketh. Kyle Craft, along with his now solidified backing band dubbed Showboat Honey, know this all too well. And this is why their self-titled album, the contemplative yet restless Showboat Honey (Sub Pop Records, July 12th, 2019) reflects that sturm und drang. “This is basically an album centered around bad luck and good fortune hitting at the same time,” Craft explains “Then, out of nowhere, I find love. Everything went to shit except that. I guess that’s how life works.”
No track better captures this duality than the sweeping “Sunday Driver,” about sticking to your guns, despite a universe of blowback. “At this point, you get baptized by certain fires and start to walk with the dead a little bit, like nothing can harm you anymore,” says the Portland-based musician. “That’s what self-love sounds like to me, as aggressive as that sounds.”
The sticky-sweet title of the album is lifted from the brightly choral “Buzzkill Caterwaul” (“Once you were the showboat honey/ But your ship sailed out”). “I wanted to make something that sounded like a raucous collision of Leon Russell and Patti Smith,” he says, “But ‘Buzzkill Caterwaul’ was the only tune that ended up showcasing that vision.”
Though aesthetics veer from song to song, Showboat Honey’s steadfast formula remains the same. Drummer Haven Mutlz holds down the machine with a ’60s/’70s fast-molasses groove that locks in with the slinky rolling bass of Billy Slater. When Kevin Clark isn’t bouncing across the piano, his mellotron strings swell in and out of frame. Jack of all trades Ben Steinmetz’s organ parts well up from the deep of the songs, while lead guitarist Jeremy Kale’s solos rip through them like electricity. On top of it all, sits the tongue-in-cheek phantasmagoria created by Craft’s lyrics.
Lyrically, perspectives shift to imbue life into a cast of intriguing, mysterious characters, à la Bob Dylan. (“There is not a single thing in my life that has affected me more than the first time I heard Dylan,” says Craft. “It immediately changed my life.”) “Johnny (Free & Easy)” is seemingly about a date gone awry at a swinger’s party in the Hollywood Hills. And the twangy pop of “O! Lucky Hand” appears to shadow a poor sod desperate to elude a hex. Its antidote is the stunning, cinematic “Deathwish Blue,” which sounds like a deep cut from the book of John Lennon, about the lovesick salvation found in his bride to be, Lydia.
If that’s not head-trippy enough, the carefree sing-along “2 Ugly 4 NY” features a lyrical reference to a previous incarnation of Craft. Its lyrics—“Don’t wanna see Death strum for cash downtown/ Or the look on his face when the change hits the case on the ground”—call out his early days in Portland when he went by the moniker of Hobo Grim. Busking downtown, he’d cover country tunes while dressed as the Grim Reaper so as to conceal his true identity.
Craft started writing about as soon as he could play the guitar at the age of 15. He grew up in the isolated Mississippi River town of Vidalia, Louisiana where his chops weren’t honed in a woodshed, but rather an old, dingy meat freezer that was out of commission. When asked about the first song he’d ever written, he laughs, saying it was an “angsty-rock tune” and “a rare bird of how bad a song could be.”
After years of touring, two LPs with Sub Pop Records, and solidifying the band, he’s since grown into a prodigious songwriter, to say the least. The band recorded Showboat Honey—co-produced by Craft, Clark, and Slater—at their own Moonbase Studios in Portland over 2018. “We approached this record differently for sure,” Craft says. “I’d make a demo, and after putting the songs together, shoot it to the band for ideas.” Tracks such as “Broken Mirror Pose” ended up being highly collaborative, while others settled into Craft’s original vision. “Deathwish Blue,” for instance, was tracked in a similar fashion to his solo debut, Dolls of Highland, with Craft tracking every instrument by himself.
Kyle and the members of Showboat Honey worked at such a feverish wine-fueled pace that they actually ended up with two completely different albums. But at the end of the day, they decided to combine the two into what is now Showboat Honey,a moonstruck rock ’n’ roll record teeming with reckless abandon.
“We thought we had the album done at one point. But at the last minute, I was like, ‘Shit, this isn’t the album. This isn’t it,’” Kyle says. “It was just a gut feeling. I’m glad for that because I feel like I ended up writing some of the best songs I’ve ever written.”
Seattle band Tacocat are set to release This Mess Is a Place, their new full-length album on LP/CD/Digital and Cassette on Friday, May 3rd. The sparkly new record is their first for Sub Pop, and heralds a more pop-driven and ebullient direction in their sound. Starting today, you can stream the album in its entirety via NPR Music’s First Listen right over here.
Tacocat will be touring the US this summer. See below for a full list of performances.
May 09 - St. Paul, MN - Turf Club May 10 - Milwaukee, WI - Cactus Club May 11 - Chicago, IL - Lincoln Hall May 12 - Grand Rapids, MI - The Pyramid Scheme May 13 - Pittsburgh, PA - Club Cafe May 15 - Cambridge, MA - The Sinclair May 17 - Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg May 18 - Philadelphia, PA - Boot & Saddle May 19 - Washington, D.C. - U Street Music Hall May 21 - Durham, NC - The Pinhook May 22 - Atlanta, GA - The Drunken Unicorn May 23 - Nashville, TN - The High Watt May 24 - St. Louis, MO - Off Broadway May 25 - Kansas City, MO - The Record Bar Jun. 08 - Seattle, WA - The Showbox at the Market Jun. 12 - Spokane, WA - The Bartlett Jun. 13 - Boise, ID - Neurolux Jun. 14 - Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court Jun. 15 - Denver, CO - Larimer Lounge Jun. 17 - Dallas, TX - Club Dada Jun. 18 - Houston, TX - White Oak Music Hall Jun. 19 - Austin, TX - Barracuda Jun. 21 - Sante Fe, NM - Meow Wolf Jun. 22 - Phoenix, AZ - Valley Bar Jun. 23 - San Diego, CA - The Casbah Jun. 25 - Los Angeles, CA - The Bootleg Theater Jun. 26 - San Francisco, CA - The Chapel Jun. 28 - Portland, OR - Aladdin Theater
