Strange Wilds’ ear-splitting debut album Subjective Concepts is now available on CD / LP / DL worldwide and can be yours today.
In celebration of today’s release, the band also presents an official video for “Pronoia,” the album’s lead single. Director David Hoejke and young shredders Strange Wilds will test the limits of your eyes, ears and speakers with this audiovisual assault (see FLOOD videp premiere July 24th). Strange Wilds have a few Pacific Northwest shows - see below - in support of Subjective Concepts (including one in their hometown of Olympia, WA) from July 24th through August 10th, including two Seattle record-release shows today, July 24th: an instore at Everyday Music (at 5pm) and a performance at Capitol Hill Block Party’s Barboza stage (at 7:30pm). Do yourself a favor if you’re a lucky Pacific Northwesterner and watch them crush it in person.
We also suggest purchasing the album Subjective Concepts from Sub Pop Mega Mart, iTunes, Amazon, Bandcamp or your friendly neighborhood record store. FYI - All customers who order the LP version of Subjective Concepts from Mega Mart and Bandcamp will receive the limited “Loser Edition” on white vinyl, with a limited-edition poster, while supplies last. (There’s also a new T-shirt design available individually or as part of a bundle with the record. Yeah, we thought you’d like that.)
It Seems ‘They’ Have Something To Say About Strange Wilds’ Album Debut:
“The album is a wake-up call to rock above the hazy summer daze, but then, just like that, it’s gone—a 35-minute sing-along tornado demanding to be played again immediately.” - FLOOD
“Pronoia is the opposite of paranoia, essentially the happy delusion that there is a conspiracy that exists to help people. It’s also the name of the hellish four-minute blast of noise that’s the best song on this debut album by Seattle trio Strange Wilds. The follow-up to 2014’s four-track ‘Wet’ EP, Subjective Concepts sounds like it was raised on ‘Bleach’-era Nirvana and aligns the band with their Washington peers Milk Music and Naomi Punk. They build a monumental wall of hardcore noise on ‘Egophillia’, before taking a wrecking ball to it and screaming wildly into the mess. Elsewhere, there are tight grooves on ‘Disdain’ and ‘Terrible’, and the guttural riffs on ‘Starved For’ offer plenty for bleeding gums to gnaw on.” -NME
“Touch And Go-style post rock with early grunge.” - The AV Club
“Northwestern American trio tap into grunge’s collective unconscious, channeling crushing riffs and ancestral memories of hardcore.” MOJO
“Loud, sneering, and heavy-set, Subjective Concepts could come wrapped in a rain-soaked plaid shirt.” - LOUD & QUIET
“Taut, virile hardcore punk with a seething intelligence… It’s an absolute gem.” - CLASH MUSIC
“An undeniably exciting listen.” - UNCUT
“While the barbed, razor-sharp riffs and tightrope bass thuds ofBleach largely inform the scrappy nature of key tracks like caustic opener “Pronoia” and the pensive “Oneirophobe,” there is an influential undercurrent of the signature sounds of their own city back in the day as well. Shades of K Records classics from Beat Happening and Some Velvet Sidewalk additionally factor into the more melodic elements of Subjective Concepts, particularly within the structures of college radio-ready songs like “Don’t Have To” and “Lose and Found.” - PASTE
“They are a powerful outfit, and Subjective Concepts is cohesive and fierce.” - Pitchfork
“Toggles between a coiled-snake groove and the kind of full scream-along ferocity that makes you want to thrash around in a small, dark room with a bunch of sweaty strangers. This is noisy, heavy, grimy music, and it’s great.” [“Pronoia”] - Stereogum
“A sludged-out mess of hardcore that slam dances with the Seattle label’s past and it wouldn’t be surprising at all to see them on a tour run that’s stacked with Mogwai, METZ, or Pissed Jeans” [“Pronoia”] - BLARE
“‘Starved For’ sounds exactly like what you’d want to be listening to if you lived inside of a Tony Hawk Pro Skater game.” - Noisey
Tour Dates Jul. 24 - Seattle, WA - Everyday Music in-store (5pm) Jul. 24 - Seattle, WA - Capitol Hill Block Party (7:30pm) Aug. 09 - Seattle, WA - Chop Suey ^ (EARLY) Aug. 09 - Olympia, WA - Old School Pizzeria # (LATE) Aug. 10 - Tacoma, WA - New Frontier Lounge
In 2011, prior to the release of Dum Dum Girls’ second album Only In Dreams, Dee Dee met up with friend and director Sam Macon while visiting New York City to shoot a video for song “Coming Down.” “Bedroom Eyes” was tapped as the lead single (Macon also directed that video), but everyone felt “Coming Down” warranted its own introduction. In true DIY fashion, Dee Dee, Sam, and a few friends spent a day shooting in Chinatown, chasing light across the Williamsburg bridge.
Having only previously worked with director Christin Turner on more aesthetically obscure videos, Dee Dee admits, “I couldn’t handle starring in such a straight forward, HD role — it was just too much me. I felt exposed and that made me uncomfortable.”
Against the urging of Macon, Sub Pop, and her management, Dee Dee made the call against releasing it and it was canned. (Future bass player Malia James eventually made the official video for the song.)
Fast forward to 2015 and a sync of the song on the acclaimed television series Orange Is The New Black. Soundtracking Natasha Lyonne’s character in a heartbreaking scene brought on an overwhelming response to the song, and this renewed interest found Dee Dee being asked, yet again, to release the initial video.
“I look like a kid in it,” Dee Dee comments. “I look as young and vulnerable as I actually was at that point in my life — it’s probably the most honest visual I’ve done to date, which is probably why I fought it,” she laughs. She reached out to Macon and he replied simply, “I’ve been waiting for this text for four years (see Stereogum video premiere July 21st)
Dum Dum Girls’
digital single for “Coming Down” (radio edit) b/w “Girls Intuition” is now
available for purchase through Sub Pop Mega
Mart, iTunes and
all streaming services.
You can now sooth your ears and eyes as you watch the video for THEESatisfaction’s “EarthEE”,
the title track from the group’s stellar 2nd album, premiering via I-D
Magazine.
The new video, which director Maikoiyo Alley-Barnes calls a “A
short visual meditation on the textile traditions of home, sacred Geo Metrics,
theta based communication and the whirling dervish. A sonically driven
work of ancient Afro continuum…” stars the group alongside label mates Porter
Ray and Ishmael Butler of Shabazz Palaces.
I-D says of “EarthEE”: “Utterly mesmerizing, this four minute video
employs compelling graphics that helps propel the song even further into the
light fantastic.”
In other news, Pitchfork recently included THEESatisfaction’s EarthEE in
it’s “Overlooked Records 2015”, and said: “You could imagine
THEESatisfaction—the Seattle boho rap duo of Cat Harris-White and Stasia
Irons—recording in accordance with the phases of the moon. Their second album, EarthEE,
is alluringly cosmic, no doubt, but their neo-soul has more resonance given its
powerful sociopolitical critique…Unbound by genre or modes of thinking, EarthEE keeps
tugging at the shapes of music and minds to come (see Pitchfork July
2nd).
THEESatisfaction’s current summer tour schedule in support of EarthEE resumes
Tuesday, July 21st in Madrid, ES at Sala Siroco and ends August 29th in
Seattle, WA with a Black Weirdo DJ Set at Northwest African American History
Museum. Additionally, THEESatisfaction’s SassyBlack has a few DJ sets and
individual performances coming up as well.
Jul. 21 - Madrid, ES - Sala Siroco
Jul. 23 - Lisbon, PT - Galeria Ze dos Bois
Jul. 24 - Barcelos, PT - Milhoes de Festa
Jul. 29 - Madeira, PT - Estalagem da Ponta do Sol
Jul. 30 - Azores, PT - Walk & Talk Fest
Aug. 07 - Seattle, WA - South Lake Union Block Party
Aug. 27 - Victoria, BC - Eventide Music Series @ Continental Square
Aug. 28 - Vancouver, BC - Fortune Sound Club
Aug. 29 - Seattle, WA - Black Weirdo DJ Set @ Northwest African American
History Museum*
*w/ Chocolate Chuck, Topspin
DJ SETS / SOLO PERFORMANCES :: SASSY BLACK
Aug. 01 - Sitka, AK - Homeskillet Fest
Aug. 06 - Seattle, WA - Neumo’s
Aug. 21 - Seattle, WA - KEXP
Need to hear some wise words from a grown up? We sure do. And we greatly encourage you to watch Sleater-Kinney’s installment of Rookie’s “Ask a Grown Woman” feature. Carrie Brownstein and Corin Tucker answer a few questions from Rookie’s readers, recorded during a stop on their sold-out spring U.K. trek in support of No Cities To Love.
Sleater-Kinney’s previously announced 2015 tour schedule resumes Saturday, July 18th with a headlining performance at Pitchfork Music Festival, and their next festival appearance will be November 21st-22nd in Mexico City’s Corona Capital Festival.
Then from December 4th-16th, Sleater-Kinney will embark on a Midwestern-East Coast U.S. For the December 12th-16th dates, the group will play five special shows throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn, moving from the large to intimate. Venues include Kings Theatre (Dec. 12th), Terminal 5 (Dec. 13th), Irving Plaza (Dec. 14th), Music Hall of Williamsburg (Dec. 15th), and Market Hotel (Dec. 16th).
If you’re into things that are “the best,” Sleater-Kinney’s No Cities To Love is already coming up as one of the best reviewed albums of the year with “Best of 2015 (so far)” notices from the likes of Time, USA Today, Billboard, Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, The AV Club, The Guardian, Complex, NME, Stereogum, PASTE, and SPIN. No Cities To Love is available worldwide from Sub Pop.
What are “They” saying about it?
“America’s fiercest punk band....10 songs in 33 minutes, not a dud in the bunch, all surging in uptempo stomp-down-the-door mode. There’s more low-end thud to their sound than before. The whole album crackles with the palpable excitement of three rock lifers in a room, eager to see what happens when they plug in and let it rip.” [Best Albums of 2015 (so far)] - Rolling Stone
“The trio still snap and crackle on their first set since 2005. No Cities… might sound chaotic at first, but each element—Corin Tucker’s sweet snarl, Janet Weiss’ rugged beats, Carrie Brownstein’s noisy solos—is exactly in its right place.” [Best Albums of 2015 (so far)] - Entertainment Weekly
“…33 minutes of unbridled ferocity” [Best Albums of 2015 (so far)] -Time
Tour Dates Jul. 18 - Chicago, IL - Pitchfork Music Festival [SOLD OUT] Nov. 21 - 22 - Mexico City, MX - Corona Capital Festival Dec. 04 - Indianapolis, IN - Egyptian Room at Old National Centre Dec. 05 - Columbus, OH - Newport Music Hall Dec. 06 - Cincinnati, OH - Bogart’s Dec. 08 - Royal Oak, MI - Royal Oak Music Theatre Dec. 09 - Cleveland, OH - Masonic Auditorium Dec. 10 - Buffalo, NY - Asbury Hall at Babeville Dec. 12 - Brooklyn, NY - Kings Theatre Dec. 13 - New York, NY - Terminal 5 Dec. 14 - New York, NY - Irving Plaza [SOLD OUT] Dec. 15 - Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg [SOLD OUT] Dec. 16 - Brooklyn, NY - Market Hotel [SOLD OUT]
Now available for your eyes and ears: The Helio Sequence’s official video for “Battle Lines”, from their self-titled 6th effort, directed by Robin Washburn and featuring animation from Emanuelle Kabu (“Upward Mobility”).
Robin had this to say about the new video: “Exciting to work with The Helio Sequence again, and felt very lucky to have collaborated with Emanuele Kabu. My particular contribution to the look of the “live” portion of this video involved running the motion vector information through a small set of looping “electric” colors, then blacking out the static background, creating a kind of Tron-like world. Once that was in place we sent it off to Emanuele to dream up whatever he wanted… and I think it all turned out fantastic. A really fun project to be involved in.”
The Helio Sequence is out now on CD/LP/DL worldwide from Sub Pop, and you can spend your hard earned dollars (or your allowance) on it via Sub Pop Mega Mart, iTunes, Amazon and Bandcamp. Everyone who purchases the LP from megamart.subpop.com will receive the limited “Loser Edition” on yellow-colored vinyl.
New to The Helio Sequence? Want to hear more?There’s a playlist for that: http://bit.ly/1cvBRve
The band’s U.S. west coast tour resumes Saturday, July 11th in Seattle, WA at The Neptune and currently ends October 1st in Spokane, WA at INB Performing Arts Center. Additionally the band have added an appearance at Victoria, BC’s Rifflandia Festival on September 19th.
Tour Dates July 11 - Seattle, WA - The Neptune Jul. 14 - San Francisco, CA - The Independent Jul. 15 - Los Angeles, CA - The Roxy Jul. 16 - Phoenix, AZ - The Crescent Jul. 17 - San Diego, CA - The Casbah Jul. 18 - Visalia, CA - Cellar Door Aug. 23 - Portland, OR- MusicFestNW Sep. 19 - Victoria, BC - Rifflandia Festival Sep. 30 - Missoula, MT - Adams Event Center* Oct. 01 - Spokane, WA - INB Performing Arts Center* * w/ Death Cab For Cutie
