Today is March 24th, and we’re here with details on The Bug Club’s new long-player, Very Human Features! Out worldwide on Friday, June 13th from Sub Pop, the album, includes the singles “How to Be a Confidante,” “Appropriate Emotions,” and today’s tour de force, “Jealous Boy.” It was produced and mixed by Tom Rees at Rat Trap Studios in Cardiff, Wales, and mastered by Mikey Young.
Very Human Features is available to preorder now on CD/LP/all DSPs from Sub Pop. LP preorders from megamart.subpop.com in North America, MM2 in the UK + EU, and your local record store, will receive the limited Loser edition on Purple (NA) and Bio Pink (UK/EU) vinyl (all vinyl color editions whilst stock lasts!).
The Bug Club will spend a good deal of time on the road in 2025 performing songs from Very Human Features, along with some from their previous Sub Pop release, 2024’s On the Intricate Inner Workings of the System by Means of Popular Music, or the Contemplation of Pretty Faces, Tinned Bubbles and Strife, as well as some of their older songs.
Their Spring North American tour begins tomorrow night, Tuesday, March 25th in Toronto at Longboat Hall and currently runs through Friday, April 11th in San Diego at the Whistle Stop.
Additional international touring highlights for the Spring and Summer of 2025 include The Bug Club’s European club shows (April 29th-May 15th), and festival appearances (May 15th-August 31st; select dates). Additional live dates will be announced soon.
Please find a complete list of current tour dates below.
North America, Spring 2025 Tue. Mar. 25 - Toronto, ON - Longboat Hall ! Thu. Mar. 27 - Portland, OR - Polaris Hall Fri. Mar. 28- Seattle, WA - The Vera Project [Sold Out] Sat. Mar. 29 - Baker City, OR Churchill School Sun. Mar. 30 - Boise, ID - Treefort Festival Tue. Apr. 01 - Denver, CO - Hi-Dive Thu. Apr. 03 - Oklahoma City, OK - 89th Street Fri. Apr. 04 - Austin, TX - The Ballroom Texas Sat. Apr. 05 - Denton, TX - Rubber Gloves Sun. Apr. 06 - Houston, TX - White Oak Music Hall Wed. Apr. 09 - Las Vegas, NV - Swan Dive Thu. Apr. 10 - Los Angeles, CA - Lodge Room Fri. Apr. 11 - San Diego, CA - Whistle Stop
! @ the We Are Busy Bodies 20th Anniversary Festival
Europe, Spring 2025 Tue. Apr. 29 - Brugge, BE - Cactus Club Wed. Apr. 30 - Eindhoven, NL - Altstadt Thu. May 01 - Nijmegen, NL - Doornroosje Fri. May 02 - Utrecht, NL - De Nijverheid Sat. May 03 - Groningen, NL - Vera Mon. May 05 - Berlin, DE - Privatclub Tue. May 06 - Hamburg, DE - Molotow Skybar Wed. May 07 - Köln, DE - Blue Shell Fri. May 09 - Milan, IT - Arci Bellezza Sat. May 10 - Ravenna, IT - Bronson Tue. May 13 - Paris, FR - Supersonic Wed. May 14 - Lille, FR - L’Aeronef Thu. May 15 - Brighton, UK - The Great Escape Festival @ Paganini Ballroom (Early) Thu. May 15 - Brighton, UK - The Great Escape Festival @ The Old Market (Late)
US/UK Summer Festivals / Support Shows 2025 Sat. May 31 - Cheltenham, UK - Wychwood Festival Fri. Jun 20 - Nelsonville, OH - Nelsonville Art & Music Festival Sat. Jun. 21 - Nelsonville, OH - Nelsonville Art & Music Festival Sun. Jun. 22 - Nelsonville, OH - Nelsonville Art & Music Festival Sat. Jul. 26 - Thirsk, UK - Deer Shed Festival Wed. Aug. 27 - Sheffield, UK - Don Valley Stadium ^ Sat. Aug. 30 - Dorset, UK - End of the Road Festival
^ w/ Queens of the Stone Age
Last Month, The Bug Club released “Have U Ever Been 2 Wales,” a joyous ode to their beloved home country that features upbeat, regionally referential lyrics like “Have you ever been to Wales? It’s good, it’s goo-ooh-ooh-ooh-hood” and “…every choir from Caldicot to Treorchy will sing it proud.” The spirited song, doubtless soon to be the new ad jingle for Visit Wales, is also out now worldwide (including Wales) on all DSPs from Sub Pop.
The Bug Club has seen support from the likes of NME, BBC, KEXP, Bandcamp Daily, Brooklyn Vegan, PASTE, Stereogum, see/saw, Dusted, The Stranger Rosy Overdrive, Glide, and more. NME said of their 2024 release On the Intricate Inner Workings of the System…., “…its 11 songs crackle with incisive melodies and funny pop culture-addled lyrics – they reference The Great Escape’s Virgil Hilts one minute, and move on to the horror of Lonsdale slip on daps the next – but they’re in and out in under 26 minutes. Zero fat.”
More on The Bug Club’s Very Human Features:
The Bug Club are back, again, for their annual appointment at the garage rock makers’ market, where they’re flogging yet another pedigree record.
LP number four, Very Human Features, arrives June 13th, hot on the heels of the band’s first Sub Pop release, 2024’s On the Intricate Inner Workings of the System. That record saw the band continue their love affair with BBC Radio 6, start up a new one with KEXP thanks to a session with them, and crop up in the pages of the NME. Anything else from the bucket list? Oh yeah, festival slots including packing home ground Green Man’s Walled Garden to its non-existent rafters. Then shows across the US in those venues us Brits tend to hear about and that’s as far as we get. This record gives the band an excuse to continue their never-ending tour and feed their baying fans, engorged and expectant thanks to this band’s relentless record-releasing hot streak, a new batch of typically playful, riff-laden, smart Bug Club Tunes.
But first, a standalone single, because that’s how things are done here. “Have you ever been to Wales?”, asks the band in “Have U Ever Been 2 Wales.” If not, why not? It’s good. A new, discordant national anthem, if they didn’t already have a decent harmonious one. Oh, to be from a country where national pride is something other than the mark of a tosser. Starting as a classic, chugging chantalong, it’s interrupted by what sounds like an alien choir before they let rip. Think Dinosaur Jr. with a job at the tourist board. And Welsh. Definitely Welsh (read more at Sub Pop).
The Bug Club Very Human Features
Tracklisting: 1. Full Grown Man 2. Twirling in the Middle 3. Jealous Boy 4. Young Reader 5. Beep Boop Computers 6. Muck (Very Human Features) 7. When the Little Choo Choo Train Toots His Little Horn 8. How to Be a Confidante 9. Living in the Future 10. Tales of a Visionary Teller 11. The Sound of Communism 12. Blame Me 13. Appropriate Emotions
Debby Friday is sharing “1/17”, an anthemic and salacious new dance pop single for 2025, available now worldwide from Sub Pop and in Canada from Royal Mountain Records.
Written and produced during a whirlwind European tour, “1/17” marks an exciting evolution for Debby Friday as she unveils a softer, more playful side of her artistry. Featuring hypnotic vocals and cheeky lyrics with nods to ancient Greece and nude selfies, the track exudes charm and lightness. With threads of experimental dance-pop woven seamlessly throughout, “1/17” is a refreshing addition to Debby Friday’s sonic world and a promising kickoff to her new era.
“1/17” was produced by Friday and Darcy Baylis, mixed by Alex Gamble, with assistance by Taylor Finnigan, and mastered by Levi Seitz.
Its soaring and singular shot official video is directed by Friday and frequent collaborator Kevan Funk (“WHAT A MAN,” “SO HARD TO TELL”), and filmed at Toronto’s historic Massey Hall.
Friday says of the visual, “It’s based on an amalgamation of two experiences that I had. The first was when I won the Polaris Prize at Massey Hall, which felt like a peak moment in my career. The second was when, nine months later, I played a festival show to absolutely no one in the audience. I’ve spent the past year detaching myself from the highs and lows of this business and trying to see everything as a sign. Of what? I don’t know. But I’m sure in the end, it’ll all mean something.”
Debby Friday has scheduled two performances for the Spring and Summer of 2025: Thursday, May 15th in Brighton, UK at The Great Escape Festival and Sunday, August 3rd in Montreal at Osheaga Festival—additional live dates to be announced soon.
Debby Friday is currently at work on the upcoming follow-up to GOOD LUCK, her acclaimed Polaris Music Prize-winning, full-length debut, out now worldwide on Sub Pop.
Past praise for DEBBY FRIDAY:
“With perhaps the most confident and promising debut album of the year, the Toronto-based electronic musician Debby Friday creates an alluringly dark, industrial backdrop for her slinky self-mythologizing and galvanizing pep talks to herself. “Speak up, speak up, Friday Child,” she intones on the intention-setting opener. “Say what you came to say.” Does she ever.” [GOOD LUCK] “The Best Albums of 2023” - THE NEW YORK TIMES
“Album of the Week” [GOOD LUCK] - STEREOGUM
“GOOD LUCK is an assured and frequently surprising debut that feels like a trip into the lascivious, eclectic wormhole of Friday’s world – and with so much to take in, and so much fun to be had, you won’t want to leave.” 8/10 - CRACK
“Debby defies easy categorization, mixing rap, electro, post-punk, industrial, techno and more into a glitchy, bruising and bitcrushed blend that is fiery, magnetic and all her own.” [GOOD LUCK] - BROOKLYN VEGAN
“Album of the Week” [GOOD LUCK] - TREBLE
“There’s an extraordinary elasticity across GOOD LUCK’s
masterful production that makes repeated listens not just enjoyable but irresistible.” “8/10, Album of the Week” - LOUD & QUIET
“Fans of Azealia Banks, JPEGMAFIA, SZA, Yves Tumor, and even Nine Inch Nails could all find themselves at home in her world. And soon enough, with her innovation and confidence, it seems like the rest of the world will, too.” “The Rising Artists You Need To Know” - ALTERNATIVE PRESS
“Packed into a succinct, live-wire 33-minutes, GOOD LUCK is testament to how effectively Friday can capture life in all its dense, unpredictable emotions.” - CHICAGO READER
“In contrast to the pulse-quickening tempos and noisy synths of her past music, her production is deft and graceful, with a skipping beat and cascading backing vocals. ‘Lady Friday/All you do is rеbel,’ Friday chastises herself—tough talk against a fragile, gorgeous sound.” [“SO HARD TO TELL”] “Best New Track” - PITCHFORK
“One of the young year’s most audacious bangers” [“SO HARD TO TELL”] - BILLBOARD
“Hyperpop can sometimes come off as abrasive but in the hands of Canadian singer Debby Friday it’s soulful, even elegant.” [“SO HARD TO TELL”] - NYLON
“A graceful entrance into yet another territory: lush R&B”[“SO HARD TO TELL”] “Now Playing” - NPR MUSIC
On Friday, May 30th, Sub Pop Records will release With Trampled by Turtles, the sophomore solo effort from Alan Sparhawk of Low. With Trampled by Turtles is a record exactly as its name implies: a collective, communal, fraternal and empathetic record, recorded with the assistance of long-time friends and fellow Minnesotans, Trampled by Turtles.
With Trampled by Turtles was recorded at the end of 2023 at Pachyderm Studios in Cannon Falls, Minnesota. Alan Sparhawk came in towards the end of Trampled by Turtles’ session there, with several songs in development. Some had never worked in Low; others were fresh and waiting for the right setting. For years, the two parties had talked about making something together, but the talk was never more than hypothetical. When Sparhawk needed it most, the promise reemerged, sharper than ever. “When the opportunity seems right,” Sparhawk says, “you jump.”
Today, they share an official video for the album’s debut offering, “Stranger.” Voices are abundant, and a full chorus harmonizes in their new video, which was edited by Jacob Kasar. Watch here.
With Trampled by Turtles follows the release of Sparhawk’s 2024 solo debut, White Roses, My God, which received praise from outlets such as such as The Guardian, Stereogum, Pitchfork, Clash, MOJO, Uncut, The Line of Best Fit, Under The Radar, Brooklyn Vegan, and The New York Times.
With Trampled by Turtles is available to preorder now from Sub Pop. LP preorders from the Sub Pop Mega Mart (North America), Mega Mart 2 (UK/EU) and independent retailers worldwide will receive the limited Loser Edition on Sunflare Vinyl (US) and Cream White (UK/EU) while stock lasts!
Sparhawk will continue touring in support of his recent releases through the remainder of 2025. Please find a current list of dates below.
North America: Wed. Mar. 26 - Bloomington, IN - The Bishop Thu. Mar. 27 - Knoxville, TN - Big Ears Festival Sat. Mar. 29 - Atlanta, GA - The Earl Mon. Mar. 31 - Carrboro, NC - Cat’s Cradle Back Room Tue. Apr. 1 - Washington, DC - Atlantis Fri. Apr. 02 - Brooklyn, NY - Elsewhere Thu. Apr. 03 - Boston, MA - Sinclair Fri. Apr. 04 - Hamden, CT - Space Ballroom Sat. Apr. 05 - Philadelphia, PA - PhilaMOCA Mon. Apr. 07 - Toronto, ON - Horseshoe Tue. Apr. 08 - Detroit, MI - Loving Touch Wed. Apr. 09 - Chicago, IL - Thalia Hall Thu. Apr. 10 - Minneapolis, MN - First Ave (w/ Mount Eerie) Fri. Apr. 11 - Milwaukee, WI - Turner Hall (w/ Mount Eerie)
Europe/ UK Wed. May 28 - Liverpool, UK - Arts Club Thu. May 29 - London, UK - EartH Fri. May 30 - Portsmouth, UK - Wedgewood Rooms Sat. May 31 - Utrecht, Netherlands - TivoliVredenBurg (Cloud Nine) Mon. Jun. 02 - Turin, IT- Spazio211 Tue. Jun. 03 - Rome, IT - Largo Venue Wed. Jun. 04 - Bologna, IT - Express Festival (Locomotiv Club) Thu. Jun. 05 - Milan, IT- Unaltrofestival - Magnolia Sat. Jun. 07 - Barcelona, ES - Primavera Festival Mon. Jun. 09 - Madrid, ES - Sala El Sol Wed. Jun. 12 - Porto, PT - Primavera Festival Fri. Jun. 14 - Istanbul, TUR - Blind Sat. Aug. 02 - Tasov, CZ - Beseda Festival Sun. Aug. 03 - Katowice, PL - OFF Festival Tue. Aug. 05 - Copenhagen, DK - Lille Vega Sat. Aug. 09 - Sicily, IT - Ypsigrock Festival Mon. Aug. 11- Cambridge, UK - Junction 2 Tue. Aug. 12 - Newcastle, UK - The Cluny Wed. Aug. 13 - Nottingham, UK - Rescue Rooms Thu. Aug. 14 - Norwich, UK - Norwich Arts Centre Fri. Aug. 15, 2025 - Glanusk Park, UK - GreenMan Festival
Alan Sparhawk With Trampled by Turtles
No one can help you build something beautiful quite like those who know you best. Alan Sparhawk knows this well. In his years in Low, he built decades of stirring music with his wife and lifelong creative partner Mimi Parker. In recent years, he has performed with his son Cyrus in DERECHO Rhythm Section, a funk band that also frequently features his daughter Hollis on vocals. There’s an irreplaceable naturalism that comes with this kind of dynamic. Those who know you understand you. They love you. They want to help you bring your greatest passions to fruition.
And so, it only made sense that Sparhawk would turn to fellow Duluth musicians Trampled by Turtles to realize his latest record. As friends and mentees of Low’s, taken under Sparhawk and Parker’s wing from their earliest days as a bar band—Trampled by Turtles have performed with Sparhawk countless times over the years. The Duluth ties run deep: “There’s a certain vibe that has to do with underdog syndrome, coming from a small town,” Sparhawk muses. “Some of it is the weird grind and slackness that being at the mercy of Mother Nature puts in you. It humbles you.”
The two artists hold the kind of ironclad, lifelong bond where they stand by one another as artists and people. Following Parker’s passing in 2022, Trampled by Turtles invited Sparhawk to join them on tour to give him a space to be surrounded by friends. Occasionally, he would join them onstage. The outpouring of love was palpable every time they played together, a surge of warmth. Nurturance was in every note.
“When playing together is that powerful an embrace, why stop there?”Why indeed? Read more here…
Alan Sparhawk With Trampled by Turtles
Track Listing: 1. Stranger 2. Too High 3. Heaven 4. Not Broken 5. Screaming Song 6. Get Still 7. Princess Road Surgery 8. Don’t Take Your Light 9. Torn & in Ashes
Today, March 14th, Canadian punk icons Fucked Up release a limited 7” single, “Disabuse” b/w “Self-Driving Man,” on Sub Pop Records. The two blistering punk tracks leap out of the speakers, bearing the indelible stamps of Pacific Northwest punk icons Poison Idea’s 1990 anti-oppression anthem “Discontent” and Japanese punk masters Paintbox’s “The Door.” The two songs are perfectly suited for a Sub Pop single, and fans who buy direct from Sub Pop and the band can grab a limited-edition alternate sleeve based on Poison Idea’s classic 1990 Sub Pop Singles Club 7”.
“Disabuse,” is a song Damian, the band’s singer, wrote for his daughter, who experienced bullying and intimidation. The B-side, “Self Driving Man,” wrestles the out-of-control automation of our world onto the pavement and into the abyss of faceless progress.
Clipping’s Dead Channel Sky, their long-awaited, forthcoming Cyberpunk and Hip Hop project, will be out this Friday, March 14th, 2025 worldwide on Sub Pop.
Clipping has added new, headlining shows for the UK and Europe in support of Dead Channel Sky. The new dates begin Sunday, September 14th in Wroclaw, PL at Avant Art Fest and currently run through Wednesday, September 24th in Glasgow, UK at The Garage/Slay.
The band’s previously announced North American dates for Spring and Summer 2025, begin this Friday, March 14th with a hometown show in Los Angeles at The Echoplex and run through Sunday, August 17th in Asheville, NC at Eulogy. Clipping will also appear at Knoxville’s Big Ears Festival on Saturday, March 29th.
Please find a complete list of dates below.
Fri. Mar. 14 - Los Angeles, CA - The Echoplex [Sold Out] Sat. Mar. 15 - San Francisco, CA - The Independent [Sold Out] Sat. Mar. 29 - Knoxville, TN - Big Ears Festival Thu. Apr. 24 - Phoenix, AZ - Rebel Lounge [Sold Out] Sat. Apr. 26 - Salt Lake City, UT - Metro Music Hall Sun. Apr. 27 - Denver, CO - Larimer Lounge [Sold Out] Tue. Apr. 29 - Portland, OR - Holocene [Sold Out] Wed. Apr. 30 - Seattle, WA - Neumos [Sold Out] Thu. May 01 - Vancouver, BC - Rickshaw Sat. May 03 - Sacramento, CA - Goldfield Trading Post Thu. Aug. 07 - Minneapolis, MN - The Fine Line Fri. Aug. 08 - Madison, WI - Majestic Theatre Sat. Aug. 09 - Detroit, MI - El Club Mon. Aug. 11 - Toronto, ON - The Great Hall Tue. Aug. 12 - Montreal, QC - Theatre Fairmount Wed. Aug. 13 - Cambridge, MA - The Sinclair Thu. Aug. 14 - Brooklyn, NY - Elsewhere Fri. Aug. 15 - Philadelphia, PA - Ukie Club Sat. Aug. 16 - Washington, DC - 9:30 Club Sun. Aug. 17 - Asheville, NC - Eulogy Sun. Sep. 14 Wroclaw, PL - Avant Art Fest Tue. Sep. 16 - Berlin, DE - Gretchen Wed. Sep. 17 - Hamburg, DE - Hafenklang Thu. Sep.18 - Amsterdam, NL - Paradiso Fri. Sep. 19 - Brussels, BE - Botanique Sat. Sep. 20 - Paris, FR - Le Machin Du Moulin Rouge Sun. Sep. 21 - London, UK - Koko Tue.Sep. 23 - Leeds, UK - Project House Wed. Sep. 24 - Glasgow, UK - The Garage
Clipping’s Dead Channel Sky includes the singles “Run It,”“Keep Pushing,”Change the Channel,”“Welcome Home Warrior (Feat. Aesop Rock),” and “Code,” and also features guest appearances from Nels Cline, Bitpanic, Tia Nomore, and Sub Pop labelmates Cartel Madras. Dead Channel Sky was produced and mixed by Clipping and Steve Kaplan and mastered by Levi Seitz at Black Belt Mastering.
Dead Channel Sky will be available on CD/2xLP/DSPs from Sub Pop. LP preorders from megamart.subpop.com (US) and Mega Mart 2 (UK/EU), your local record store, and at Clipping’s live shows will receive the limited Loser edition vinyl on Emerald/Forest Green Ghostly Mashup (North America) and Neon Pink (UK/Europe). There is also a Silver vinyl edition available from independent retailer Rough Trade in the US and UK (All limited edition vinyl colors are available while stock lasts!). The Dead Channel Sky album art was created by Designers Republic.
What People Are Saying About Clipping:
“This music here is less the atmospheric synthesizers of a Vangelis score and more the kind of neural buzz and ecstasy rush of the Crystal Method, the Chemical Brothers and the Prodigy soundtracking films like the mid-’90s inside-the-computer action of Hackers. However block-rockin’ their beats might be, clipping. aren’t excavating the past just for the sake of nostalgia.” 8/10, Exclaim
“Named after the static-filled sky in William Gibson’s sci-fi novel Neuromancer, the album’s cyberpunk-inspired production - courtesy of Jonathan Snipes and William Hutson - imagines an alternate reality where a fusion of electro, Dutch hardcore, drum ‘n’ bass and industrial noise is the norm, while rapper Daveed Diggs explores abandoned pasts and doomed futures in his signature rapid-fire style.” CRACK
“…rather than focus on opening up a discourse solely fixated on what a dystopian future might look like, the sixth album from Clipping creates an aural assault on the potential present in the name of all we have, and will, fail to overturn.” “Album of the Week,” Louder Than War
Clipping Dead Channel Sky
CD + Digital Tracklisting: 1. Intro 2. Dominator 3. Change the Channel 4. Run It 5. Go 6. Simple Degradation (Plucks 1-13) (with Bitpanic) 7. Code 8. Dodger 9. Malleus (with Nels Cline) 10. Scams (feat. Tia Nomore) 11. Keep Pushing 12. “From Bright Bodies” (Interlude) 13. Mood Organ 14. Polaroids 15. Simple Degradation (Plucks 14-18) (with Bitpanic) 16. Madcap 17. Mirrorshades pt. 2 (feat. Cartel Madras) 18. “And You Called” (Interlude) 19. Welcome Home Warrior (feat. Aesop Rock) 20. Ask What Happened
2xLP Tracklisting: A1. Intro A2. Dominator A3. Change the Channel A4. Run It A5. Go B1. Code B2. Dodger B3. Malleus (with Nels Cline) B4. Scams (ft. Tia Nomore) C1. Keep Pushing C2. Mood Organ C3. Polaroids C4. Madcap D1. Mirrorshades pt. 2 (ft. Cartel Madras) D2. Welcome Home Warrior (ft. Aesop Rock) D3. Ask What Happened
