International tour dates include Japan (April) & Europe (May & July)

J Mascis has shared a cover of the classic Tom Petty song, “Don’t Do Me Like That” available today via all Digital Service Providers. This cover is chock-full of the classic Mascis shred that we’ve come to know and love. You can listen to this reconstructed ripper here above, and also on YouTube, Spotify or Apple Music. 

Featured throughout the month of April, J Mascis will be hosting the weekly “Artist in Residence” feature on the Australian Radio station, Double J. You can listen to J share his record collection with you each Sunday Night (AU)/Saturday (US) here. The first playlist features the likes of Discharge, Joni Mitchell, Nirvana, America and, of course, some Neil Young. It’s going to be an exciting month of music, programmed by one of the truly great artists of our time.

[Photo Credit: Cara Totman]

J Mascis Tour Dates

Mascis has confirmed 2 headline shows on April 16th and 17th in Japan before crossing the pond in May, playing shows in Brighton, Leeds, Glasgow, Nottingham, Liverpool, Bristol, and Manchester. He will then return to Europe in late June/early July with shows in Athens, Berlin, Paris, Geneva, and Rome.

Apr. 16 - Tokyo, Japan - Shibuya WWWX
Apr. 17 - Osaka, Japan - Drop
May. 09 - Brighton, United Kingdom - Concorde 2
May. 10 - London, United Kingdom - Islington Assembly Hall
May. 11- Leeds, UK - Belgrave Music Hall
May. 13 - Glasgow, United Kingdom - St. Luke’s [SOLD OUT]
May. 14 - Oxford, UK - O2 Academy Oxford
May. 15 - Nottingham, United Kingdom - Rescue Rooms
May. 17 - Liverpool, United Kingdom - Arts Club
May. 18 - Bristol, United Kingdom - Thekla [SOLD OUT]
May. 19 - Manchester, United Kingdom - Manchester Gorilla
Jun. 15 - Provincetown, MA - Twenty Summers @ The Hawthorne Barn
Jun. 21 - Athens, GR - AN Club
Jul. 01 - Hamburg, Germany - Knust
Jul. 03 - Berlin, Germany - Festsaal Kreuzberg
Jul. 06 - Paris, France - La Maroquinerie
Jul. 08 - Amsterdam, Netherlands - Paradiso Noord
Jul.  09 - Rotown - Rotterdam, Netherlands [SOLD OUT]
Jul. 11 - Genova, Italy - Giardini Luzzati
Jul. 12 - Prato, Italy - Festival Delle Colline
Jul. 14 - Rome Unplugged in Monti - Rome, Italy

The Good News will be available everywhere May 17th, 2019 through Sub Pop.

Minor Poet’s Andrew Carter had this to say about new song “Museum District” , “When Minor Poet became a touring band, I was confronted with just how badly I struggled with social anxiety. Being a musician requires so much public interaction with strangers on top of the soul-bearing of playing intensely personal songs every night. On the other hand, when writing “Museum District,” I wanted to really emphasize how severe social anxiety is not one-dimensional. Everyone who deals with social anxiety also deals with a longing for the life they’re not living, a desire to be there for that one amazing night or life-changing party they’ll always miss because they couldn’t bring themselves to go. All while simultaneously knowing they couldn’t enjoy it even if they were there. Social anxiety is a mess of contradictions that add up to one powerfully limiting state. 

 
The Good News 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, UK and Europe will receive the limited Loser edition on clear with red and blue swirl vinyl (while supplies last).

Available now, worldwide in all the digital places via Sub Pop.

Loma is sharing an official video for its sublime new single “Half Silences,” which is available today through all DSPs worldwide from Sub Pop. The group are currently working on the follow-up to their acclaimed debut, and band member Jonathan Meiburg offered this on the new song and accompanying visual:  “We’re deep inside the new album, but didn’t want to wait to release this song. That’s not CGI, by the way; Dan and I held the fireworks while Emily danced and our friend Sam yelled ‘Lower! Higher! To the left!’. Watch for a cameo by Noodle the cat.”

The new track is also available on Spotify + Apple Music.

Loma, the project comprised of Meiburg (also known as the singer of Shearwater), and Emily Cross and Dan Duszynski of Cross Record, released their self-titled debut via Sub Pop in February 2018 to critical raves—including a nod from Brian Eno, who’s had the song “Black Willow” on repeat.  “I just kept listening to that song over and over,” he told the BBC.  “I don’t often do that these days.”  

What people are saying about Loma:
“A joint project that heightens each member’s individual strengths and shows off their surprising musical chemistry.” - Pitchfork 
 
“Beautiful…” **** - Q Magazine
 
**** - Mojo
 
“A manifestation of brilliant musical minds in organic workspaces.” - The Line of Best Fit
 
“A breathtakingly rich record”  -Drowned In Sound
 
“Compelling”  - Uncut
 
“Sad, slow, dark folk, with delightful homemade touches” - Sunday Times
 
“Immediately engrossing”  - GoldFlakePaint
 
“Hypnotic” - DIY
 
“[Loma] promises to be one of the most fascinating and exciting musical moments of 2018” - For The Rabbits
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Loma is available everywhere from Sub Pop.

Seattle’s own 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 album is their first for Sub Pop, and heralds a more pop-driven and ebullient direction in their sound. 

Today, Stereogum premiered ”Hologram” (as seen here), the second single from the highly-anticipated record. “Just remember if you can, power is a hologram,” lead singer Emily Nokes intones on the track, which smuggles a discourse on power dynamics and the nature of reality inside of a candy-colored pop-rock coating. 

Pre-orders are available now from Sub Pop Megamart, with limited Loser Editions on jade green vinyl.  Read more about Tacocat and This Mess is a Place right over here.

Tacocat Tour Dates + Ticket Links

Tacocat have also announced a run of 2019 North American tour dates. Full list of performances is as follows:

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

[Photo Credit: Helen Moga]

The band will perform Our Endless Numbered Days in its entirety (and with an orchestra) in Cincinnati, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.

Sub Pop and Iron & Wine celebrate the 15th anniversary of Our Endless Numbered Days with the release of a newly expanded deluxe edition on CD/2xLP/DL and it’s in stores now. This version features eight previously never before heard demos, new artwork, and a 12-page booklet including liner notes from author Amanda Petrusich. You can hear the demo version of ”Passing Afternoon” here.

Iron & Wine received its second Grammy nomination in two years as “Best Folk Album” for 2018’s Weed Garden. Their previous nomination was for “Best Americana Album” for 2017’s Beast Epic.

Our Endless Numbered Days (Deluxe Edition) is available from Sub Pop and independent retailers. 

Calexico and Iron & Wine today announce Years to Burn, their first full–length album together, available June 14th via City Slang in the UK/Europe and Sub Pop in the rest of the world. Now hear lead track entitled “Father Mountain” and see that an extensive North American, European, and UK tour has been announced with more dates to be added in the coming weeks. See all dates below.

Listen to “Father Mountain” on YouTube - Spotify - Apple Music

[Photo Credit: Piper Ferguson]

Calexico and Iron & Wine first made an artistic connection with In the Reins, the 2005 EP that brought Sam Beam, Joey Burns and John Convertino together. The acclaimed collaboration introduced both acts to wider audiences and broadened Beam’s artistic horizons, but it was the shared experience of touring together in the tradition of Bob Dylan’s “Rolling Thunder Revue” that cemented the bond. Their metaphorical roads diverged in the years that followed, but they kept in touch and cross-pollinated where they could. Although they often talked about rekindling their collaboration in the studio and on stage, it wasn’t until last year that their schedules aligned.

Years to Burn can’t help but be different from In the Reins. Back then, Calexico entered the studio with a long list of previous collaborations (first in Giant Sand, then backing the likes of Victoria Williams and Richard Buckner) and the knowledge that they loved Sam’s voice and his songs, but wondered if his material was so complete and self-contained that it lacked a way in, so hushed and delicate that it might be overwhelmed. For his part, Beam had been intimidated by their virtuosic playing and their deep comfort in an encyclopedic array of styles. “In my mind, I was a guy who knew three chords and recorded in a closet,” Sam says. “They were playing big stages and were superb musicians.”

Those fears were dispelled quickly. Calexico was bowled over by Beam’s many talents: “The arranging, the writing, his sense of rhythm, the quality of his vocals—and then there’s the experimental side of Sam,” Joey says. “They were the perfect band at the perfect time for me,” Sam adds. “I loved all their different sounds. They’re musical anthropologists, not regurgitating but absorbing what they discover.” Nearly 15 years on, “coming back to the project has to do with acknowledging how much impact the first record had for me in my life.”

Years to Burn was recorded in Nashville with noted producer Matt Ross-Spang over the course of five days at Sound Emporium, a fabled studio founded in the sixties by Cowboy Jack Clement and the site of countless landmark sessions in country and rock over the ensuing decades. It features contributions from veteran Calexico trumpet player Jacob Valenzuela and Paul Niehaus on pedal steel, along with frequent Beam cohorts Rob Burger (Tin Hat Trio) on piano and Sebastian Steinberg (Soul Coughing, Fiona Apple) on bass.

Years to Burn features ten new original compositions. While Beam wrote all the songs for In the Reins, this recording features contributions from both Beam and Burns as well as from Convertino and those featured on the record. While the two may have taken differing approaches to songwriting, the spirit of collaboration was alive and well in the studio; Sam shared demos ahead of time and was ready for the others to contribute with arrangement ideas and instrumental parts, while Joey spontaneous as ever, came in with concepts and an eagerness to improvise.

“Life is hard. Awesome. And scary as shit. But it can lift you up if you let it,” Sam offers. “These are the things Joey and I write about now. And the title can encapsulate a lot of things. ‘Years to Burn’ could mean you’re cocky, you’ve got it made. Or, our life is ours to burn, to be inspired. Or you’re burned by life, brutalized. It’s an ambiguous title, because life is complicated. Let’s not talk like teenagers about love, desire, pain, ‘cause we’re not teenagers. And that’s not a bad thing.”

“This project had to find the right time,” Joey concludes. “We’re all different people than we were in 2004, and music helps to bridge some of the gaps. For all the things going on in our world and in each of our lives, this connection, this friendship, this love that we have—this album is a vehicle for that bond. It’s a chance to see where we’re at, take stock and be there for our friends.”

Years to Burn is now available for pre-order from Sub Pop (and via City Slang in the UK/Europe). LP pre-orders in North America through megamart.subpop.com, and select independent retailers will receive the limited Loser edition on green colored vinyl (while supplies last) PLUS - 225 randomly selected pre-orders will receive a special lithograph signed by the artists. For more information on Years to Burn, the full bio is available here. 

Years to Burn - Tracklisting

1. What Heaven’s Left

2. Midnight Sun

3. Father Mountain

4. Outside El Paso

5. Follow The Water

6. The Bitter Suite (Pájaro / Evil Eye / Tennessee Train)

7. Years To Burn

8. In Your Own Time

Calexico and Iron & Wine Tour Dates

Jun. 18 - Saxapahaw, NC - River Ballroom

Jul. 19 -  Lisbon, PT - Super Bock Super Rock

Jul. 20 - Sat  Arlesheim, CH - Stimmen Festival

Jul. 22 - Milano, 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 - Monoforte 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. 06 - Phoenix, AZ - Orpheum Theatre

Aug. 17 - Tucson, AZ - Rialto Theatre

Aug. 21 - Ogden, UT - Twilight Series at Ogden Amphitheater

Aug. 22 - Boise, ID  - Knitting Factory

Aug. 23 - Portland, OR - Keller Auditorium

Aug. 24 - Vancouver, BC - Vogue Theatre

Sep. 09 - Sun North Adams, MA - FreshGrass Festival

Nov. 05 - Utrecht, NL - TrivoliVrendenburg - Ronda

Nov. 06 - Luxemborg, LU - Den Atelier

Nov. 07 - Thu Antwerp, BE - De Roma

Nov. 09 -Berlin, DE - Tempodrom

Nov. 10 - Linz, AT - Posthof

Nov. 11 - Miunich, 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  -Coventry, UK - Warwick Arts Centre *

Nov. 23 - London, UK - Royal Festival Hall *

Nov 24 -  Sun Bexhill-On-Sea, UK – De La Warr Pavillion *

* w/  Lisa O’Neill