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.
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.
Available now on all DSPs worldwide through Sub Pop, and from Kiwi Club Records in Canada. Sub Pop has signed the Toronto, Ontario-based Kiwi Jr. to a worldwide deal and will release the band’s full-length label debut in 2021. Ahead of that release is “Undecided Voters,” Kiwi Jr.’s darkly comic new single and official video, which is available today on all DSPs worldwide through Sub Pop, and in Canada through the band’s Kiwi Club imprint.
Shot live on location at a candidates debate between two horse jockeys in a church basement, the “Undecided Voters” video plays with the absurdity of elections as sport and entertainment. Kiwi Jr. provides the soundtrack to the sordid affair, while local news reporters stalk the perimeter trying to piece together the scene inside.
Kiwi Jr. had this to offer on the single: “We all know UNDECIDED VOTERS: democracy’s driftwood, the third planks in the flotsam that purple the pie chart, always on sight and never a part of the scene. Placing imminent demise neatly to one side, KIWI JR. concentrate on the real Issues: the terrible alliance between King Crab and the timezones; 3D printing causing mass sculptor redundancies; and the playlist at the Duane Reade. After all, who is it we’re really voting for: Spartacus or the dead?”
Sub Pop first became acquainted with Kiwi Jr.’s music via the band’s debut, Football Money. The album, which was released in 2019 from the Canadian label Mint Records and eventually internationally in January 2020 through Persona Non Grata/Kiwi Club, was released to unanimous international praise.
Kiwi Jr. is Jeremy Gaudet (mic, guitar), Brohan Moore (drums), Mike Walker (bass), and Brian Murphy (guitar).
What “The People” have said about Kiwi Jr.’s Football Money: “With easy hooks, surprise structural twists, and a gift for non-sequiturs, the Canadian quartet’s debut is a vivid portrait of the big-city struggle…Gaudet has such a witty way with one-liners, and the band is so effervescent in their execution, that it’s easy to overlook the elevated level of craft at work.” - Pitchfork
“Packs a melodic punch — one that, echoing its most infectious track, will you leave you chanting ‘gimme more gimme more more more’.” - UNCUT
“There’s no sense in resisting the playful jangle of Kiwi Jr.” – NPR Music
Don’t Shy Away will be out worldwide October 23rd from Sub Pop.
Loma (Emily Cross, Dan Duszynski, and Jonathan Meiburg) has delivered two new official videos from Don’t Shy Away, their forthcoming longplayer. The aerial shot for melancholic new single “Don’t Shy Away” (the title track) was filmed, directed and edited by Duszynski, while the hypnotic, introspective album opener “I Fix My Gaze” was filmed, directed, and edited by Cross.
Duszynski says of the video for “Don’t Shy Away”: “I knew I wanted a single shot with a gradual reveal to complement the slower enveloping mood of the song. The time-stopping effect draws me in without distracting from the music. I also love Jonathan and the dogs’ cameos.”
Cross offers this on “I Fix My Gaze”: “I wanted to convey the feeling of being free even within a walled-in space. Recognizing that you’re trapped, in a way, but that there is still beauty and joy to be found.”
Meiburg says: “The video for ‘Don’t Shy Away’ was pure serendipity. So many things happen in it—the dogs, the birds, the timing—that could never be replicated, even if we tried. And I love Emily’s vision for ‘I Fix My Gaze.’ Emily was a visual artist before she was a musician, and it comes through in everything she does.”
The Malick-esque visuals were filmed in Texas (“Don’t Shy Away”) and Arizona (“I Fix My Gaze”).
Don’t Shy Away will be available on CD/LP/CS/DL October 23rd, 2020 worldwide through Sub Pop. Preorders of Don’t Shy Away are now available from Sub Pop. LP preorders through megamart.subpop.com, and select independent retailers in North America will receive the album on translucent yellow vinyl. Meanwhile, LP preorders in the U.K. and Europe through select independent retailers will receive the album on dark green vinyl.
What “The People” are saying about Loma: “Atmospheric melodies and Cross’ otherworldly vocals blend to absorbing effect…” [Don’t Shy Away, 8/10] - Uncut
“Loma are making some gorgeous, otherworldly music.” [“Half Silences”] - Stereogum
“Cherish their return, it’s a triumph” [“Ocotillo”] - For The Rabbits
“Cross’ vocals are heaven-sent” [“Ocotillo”] - Beats Per Minute
“power-packed” - SPIN “this is how your rock should be rolled.” [9/10] - Classic Rock “After thirty years, this is an album that remains as relevant as ever, and now sounds just as well as it did when it influenced a generation” - The Big Takeover “has only become more potent with age.” - Irish News
On Friday, September 18th, Sub Pop will release L7’s Smell the Magic: 30th Anniversary Edition, the classic second album from these rock and roll grunge pioneers.
This 30th-anniversary edition includes all 9 songs from the seminal record, remastered and together on vinyl for the first time ever! A multitude of rock music scenes populated the expanse of Los Angeles in 1989: hardcore punk, industrial goth, roots rock, and Sunset Strip hair metal, to name a few. L7 fit into none of them, creating their own unique blend of punk and hard, hooky rock loaded with humor and cultural commentary. Originally released in 1990, Smell the Magic is a landmark of ’90s feminist rock.
Earlier this month, L7’s singer and guitarist Donita Sparks recorded brand new vocals for a feisty performance of “Fast and Frightening” as part of KCRW’s Summer Series, 2020. The video stars Donita Sparks and the Lucha VaVOOM dancers who are seen shimmying on the streets of Los Angeles during a pandemic and pandemonium ensues!
Additionally, Sparks sat for an interview with Lyndsey Parker for Sirius XM’s Volume West show, which airs tomorrow, Friday, September 18th at 5pmPT.
Smell the Magic: 30th Anniversary Edition is now available for purchase from Sub Pop. LP purchased through megamart.subpop.com and select retailers in North America will receive the limited Loser edition on clear with high melt orange, blue, and gray vinyl while supplies last. Meanwhile pre-orders through select retailers in the UK and Europe will receive the Loser edition on neon orange vinyl.
There should be little argument that this year has been challenging, painful, and just profoundly lousy in a whole lot of ways so far. One bright bit of good news is that the US general election on November 3 is an opportunity to seize greater control of our collective future beyond the calamitous slog of 2020. This year’s election is our chance to initiate much-needed change, but we need to act quickly and together to clean up the mess.
To seize change in 2020, there are 2 things we must do:
(1)Register to vote (or confirm your info is current and valid if already registered)
(2)Participate by actually fucking voting for all races at all levels
Iwillvote.com is a handy resource to make and execute your 2020 voting plan, including: registering, confirming your registration, locating your polling place, finding out about vote-by-mail eligibility, and learning how to “own your vote” by knowing the important dates, deadlines, and requirements in your particular state.
So! Please do those 2 things! Really! DO THEM! And then also help us encourage others to do them, too! In an effort to make this easier and, we hope, more successful, we’ve created a shared folder that contains: (i) images to post on websites and social media (on the dates indicated below), and (ii) a google sheet that includes state-by-state voter registration and information links. Please share all of this far and wide, and again, encourage others to do so as well.
IMPORTANT - TO PARTICIPATE IN AND AMPLIFY #2020SeizeChange:
To maximize the impact and visibility of this campaign, we suggest that all #2020SeizeChange public engagement, mentions, social media posts, etc. happen on the following days:
Wednesday, September 16
Wednesday, September 30
Wednesday, October 14
Wednesday, October 28
Monday, November 2
Tuesday, November 3 (Election Day)
Your participation on those days can and should be your own. In short, we invite you to be part of this campaign, start anytime, be creative, and help mobilize people to register and vote in whatever way feels right to you.
Covers features interpretations of songs by Air, Alvvays, Beyonce, Edith Frost, Grimes, Elliott Smith, Muna, Radiohead, The Shins, and Sharon Van Etten.
Listen here | Preorder + get discount tix to her livestream release day show here
Marika Hackman returns with Covers, a darkly beautiful, self-produced new album which showcases a more vulnerable side, available on LP/DSPs November 13th, 2020 in the Americas through Sub Pop and the rest of the world from Transgressive Records. Accompanying the news, Marika has shared her version of Grimes’ single “Realiti”plus details of a NoonChorus live stream with her full band that will take place on album release day. Tickets for the show will be available when fans pre-order the album.
During the extended stay-at-home order of the last few months, Marika felt that creating a covers record was a way of exploring new sound ideas and expressing herself without having the pressure of the blank page. She recorded and produced Covers between home and her parents’ house, then got the legendary David Wrench (Frank Ocean, The xx, Let’s Eat Grandma) to mix it. David also co-produced her excellent 2019 record Any Human Friend. In contrast to her last two albums (including 2017’s I’m Not Your Man), this collection of songs is more akin in tone and feel to her debut We Slept At Last, with a darker and more introspective sound. On Covers, we hear Marika’s emotive voice set against sparse arrangements of guitars and strings with the occasional synth or scattered drum groove.
Breathing new life into the songs she’s chosen, Marika reimagines work by some of the world’s most beloved artists such as Radiohead, Grimes and Elliott Smith. It’s a suitably varied collection, but Marika’s intimate delivery and soft, nuanced and atmospheric touch to production, thread them all together effortlessly.
Marika explains how she came to choose the material: “When it comes to covers, I like to pick songs which I have been listening to obsessively for a while. It gives me a natural understanding of the music, and lets me be more innovative with how I transform it.”
First single “Realiti” is a stripped back piano and guitar based version of the Grimes classic from her most celebrated album Art Angels. Marika’s take is a total reinvention and yet it feels wholly her own. Muna’s “Pink Light” from their 2019 record Saves The World is a slice of dark pop, reminiscent of The Cure. In Marika’s hands, it’s a remarkably seamless switch-up to convert these into slower, brooding soft jams.
Marika’s version of Air’s “Playground Love” is one of the highlights, taken from the soundtrack the group composed for Sofia Coppola’s coming of age TheVirgin Suicides, the result being a moodier, disorientating reworking of a classic modern moment.
Final track “All Night” sees Marika tackling one of the standouts from Beyonce’s Grammy-nominated Lemonade. Again, Marika flips the song on its head. Joined by a choir of stacked vocal harmonies, Marika’s voice transcends to conjure a deep emotional resonance.
Adventurous and versatile, Covers continues Marika’s lineage in turning each body of work into a new take and perspective on her creative vision. She twists and turns, always surprises, and is never afraid to wear her heart on her sleeve. It remains anyone’s guess to imagine where she will head next.
Marika Hackman Covers Tracklisting: 1. You Never Wash Up After Yourself (Radiohead) 2. Phantom Limb (The Shins) 3. Playground Love (Air) 4. Realiti (Grimes) 5. Jupiter 4 (Sharon Van Etten) 6. Pink Light (Muna) 7. Between The Bars (Elliott Smith) 8. Temporary Loan (Edith Frost) 9. In Undertow (Alvvays) 10. All Night (Beyonce)
