Following the release of Stretch the Struggle, Bria Salmena shares her latest single, Hammer, a fractured pop anthem that feels especially timely. Originally written as a love song, Hammer has since taken on new weight—as an empowering affirmation of resilience that is central to Big Dog, and arriving at a time when that feels more essential than ever. “I’ve been struggling lately to find some light, to find strength in this current global dumpster fire,” says Salmena . “My personal troubles aside I feel as though this song resonates in a different way to me now. Whether I realized it or not, ‘you are a hammer’ and ‘you are a big dog’ became words of encouragement for myself, and in a way, the mantra for the record.” The official video for Hammer, directed by Matthew Tammaro and Rebecca Cianfrini (who also shot the album’s artwork and press photos), is out now. Watch it here. Long celebrated as the frontwoman of Canadian post-punk outfit FRIGS and as a vocalist in Orville Peck’s band, Salmena culminates her artistic evolution on her debut solo album Big Dog, set for release on March 28th via Royal Mountain in Canada and Sub Pop for the remainder of the world. Anchored by her commanding voice, the album chronicles a story of transformation–a deeply personal exploration of resilience and a declaration of artistic independence. Click here for more on Big Dog (full bio) Salmena has expanded the previously announced shows in North America, with UK/EU dates to follow in May. See below for a full list of upcoming tour dates. Tickets are now available via Bria Salmena’s official website. Upcoming Tour Dates Wed. Apr. 02 - San Diego, CA - Casbah Fri. Apr. 04 - Pioneertown, CA - Pappy + Harriet’s Sat. Apr. 05 - San Francisco, CA - Make Out Room Tue. Apr. 08 - Seattle, WA - Madame Lou’s Wed. Apr. 09 - Portland, OR - Swan Dive Fri. Apr. 11 - Visilia, CA - Cellar Door Sat. Apr. 12 - Los Angeles, CA - Lodge Room Fri. Apr. 25 - Philadelphia, PA - World Cafe Lounge Sat. Apr. 26 - Kingston, NY - Tubby’s Sun. Apr. 27 - New York, NY - Baby’s All Right Tue. Apr. 29 - Baltimore, ML - Metro Baltimore Wed. Apr. 30 - Richmond, VA - The Camel Thu. May 01 - Nashville, TN - The Blue Room Fri. May 02 - Cincinnati, OH - Southgate House Revival Sat. May 03 - Chicago, IL - Hideout Wed. May 07 - Montreal, QC - Bar Le Ritz PDB Fri. May 09 - Toronto, ON - The Great Hall Mon. May 12 - UK, Manchester - YES Tue. May 13 - London, UK - The Lexington Wed. May 14 - Brighton, UK - The Great Escape Fri. May 16 - Amsterdam, NL - London Calling Festival Sat. May 17 - Rotterdam, NL - Roodkapje Mon. May 19 - Paris, FR - La Boule Noire Tue. May 20 - Köln, DE - Jaki Thur. May 22 - Berlin, DE - Privatclub Fri. May 23 - Copenhagen, DK - Loppen Sat. May 24 - Stockholm, SE - Echo Three Festival Sun. May 25 - Oslo, NO - Revolver Tue. May 27 - Hamburg, DE - Häkken Sat. July 5 - Orillia, ON - Mariposa Folk Festival Big Dog is now available to pre-order on vinyl/CD/digital formats from Sub Pop. A Loser Edition LP on Orchid Vinyl is available through the Sub Pop Mega Mart (North America), Mega Mart 2 (UK/EU), and independent retailers worldwide (excl CA). “Canadian jack-of-all-genres Bria Salmena uses massive sounds and gripping vocals to create a rock track teeming with self reflection”- The Line of Best Fit “There’s a visceral energy to the song, a directness that fans perhaps haven’t seen from her” - CLASH “Salmena’s exciting and boundless [vocal] range is just one of many reasons why we can’t wait to hear the full album when it drops”- CBC “Toronto’s Bria Salmena is poised to be one of the most exciting voices in 2025’s indie rock canon with the release of her debut album Big Dog”- Atwood Magazine |
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More about Bria Salmena’s Big Dog: Big Dog is a record of big emotions and big ambitions. Musically, it hovers between two worlds, gritty punk honesty always simmering below gleaming atmospherics, impossible to ignore. There are alternative rock touchstones—you’ll hear Live Through This, Kate Bush, Mazzy Star —and one genuine alternative rock icon in Lee Ranaldo, who contributes guitar to “See’er.” But there’s also a sleekness that’s just as much a callback to ‘80s coldwave as it is to ecstatic forms of dance music. The split effect can be eerie, as on the clanging “Rags,” a song that seems to groan and shimmer. It can be soothing as on the fractured pop song “Hammer,” Big Dog’s one true love song. Or it can be both at the same time as on the Mazzy Star-esque “Twilight,” the oldest song on the record and one that features a stripped back sound foregrounding its sense of naivety and surrender. Salmena’s rich voice is ever-present, a constant warm glow within a mesh of mechanical sounds. It’s ever-present and impossible to ignore, whether Salmena is angelically harmonizing with herself, murmuring in her lowest registers, or pushing herself into an uncomfortable falsetto and staying there. “I just need it, need it, need it,” she repeats on “Stretch the Struggle,” a song about being suspended in that anguished moment between realizing something needs to go and actually letting it go, her voice slowly becoming subsumed in pulsing electronic beats and bubbling synths. At its core, Big Dog is more than just a record about discovering who you are by processing painful experiences. It’s a record about discovering that you are never really alone.
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Bria Salmena Big Dog Track Listing: 1. Drastic 2. Backs of Birds 3. Closer to You 4. Hammer 5. Radisson 6. Twilight 7. On the Line 8. Stretch the Struggle 9. Rags 10. See’er 11. Peanut 12. Water Memory
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Today, Lael Neale is sharing details on behalf of
Altogether Stranger, her expansive forthcoming new album, out May 2nd, 2025 worldwide on Sub Pop.
Clocking in at just 32 minutes, the 9-song LP covers an unexpected breadth of musical and lyrical terrain—from garage rock nursery rhymes and creation myths to Motorik dance dirges and solitary Omnichord meditations. A brilliant lyricist, Neale has a unique ability to uncover the extraordinary within the mundane, tackling themes of polarity that recur throughout her work—country vs. city, humanity vs. technology, isolation vs. society. This album is her third collaboration with producer Guy Blakeslee who helps expand the tonal palette while staying true to Neale’s commitment to the raw immediacy and hand-made intimacy of home recording.
Lead offering
“Tell Me How To Be Here” paints a stark and haunting portrait of Neale’s return to Los Angeles after 3 years living in rural Virginia. It transmutes a dissociative unease into a woozy, dreamlike reverie, echoing the Velvet Underground with the distant chime of “Sunday Morning” bells. Neale’s crystalline voice floats above Blakeslee’s ambient tape loops and ghostly, disintegrating Mellotron, evoking the disorientation of waking up in a world that feels so ordinary it becomes strange. Its official video, which is directed by and stars the singer, captures the song’s kindred spirit. It was filmed by Neale and Blakeslee in Los Angeles.
The songs on
Altogether Stranger, which include “Down On The Freeway,” “Wild Waters,” and the aforementioned “Tell Me How To Here,” were written by Neale. The album was produced and mixed by Blakeslee at home in Los Angeles and mastered by Chris Coady.
Altogether Stranger is available to preorder on CD/LP/All DSPs from Sub Pop. LP preorders from
megamart.subpop.com (North America),
MM2 (in UK/EU),
your local record store and at Neale’s live shows will receive the limited Loser edition on Lavender (NA) and Magenta (UK/EU) vinyl. There is also a special edition available through Rough Trade in the UK and EU on Cream White vinyl (
All LP colors whilst stock lasts!).
Lael Neale will support
Altogether Stranger with headlining spring tour dates for April and May 2025. In April, Neale and bandmate Blakeslee have two album US release shows – Thursday, April 10th in Los Angeles at Zebulon, and Friday, April 25th in New York City, NY at Public Records. Then, in May, they’ll head over to the UK and EU, beginning May 10th in Dublin, IE at Workman’s Cellar and ending Saturday, May 31st in Glasgow, UK at Hug & Pint. Tickets
for these shows are on sale now.
Thu. Apr. 10 - Los Angeles, CA - Zebulon
Fri. Apr. 25 - New York City, NY - Public Records
Sat. May 10 - Dublin, IE - Workman’s Cellar
Sun. May 11 - Belfast, UK - McHughs
Wed. May 14 - Lausanne, CH - Le Romandie
Thu. May 15 - Dijon, FR - La Vapeur
Fri. May 16 - Paris, FR - Le Hasard Ludique
Sat. May 17 - Brussels, BE - Les Nuits Botanique
Mon. May 19 - Amsterdam, NL - DOKA
Tue. May 20 - Hamburg, DE - Nachtasyl
Wed. May 21 - Berlin, DE - Kantine am Berghain
Fri. May 23 - Copenhagen, DK - Huset
Sat. May 24 - Stockholm, SE - Echo Three Fest
Tue. May 27 - Bristol, UK - The Louisiana
Wed. May 28 - London, UK - Omeara
Thu. May 29 - Manchester, UK - YES Basement
Fri. May 30 - Newcastle, UK - Cumberland Arms
Sat. May 31 - Glasgow, UK - Hug & Pint
About Lael Neale’s Altogether Stranger:
Lael Neale’s minimalist drone pop draws inspiration from the Transcendentalists, the alienation of modern life, and a rich array of musical influences—ranging from Dionne Warwick and John Lennon to primitive American gospel and Spacemen 3. Her expansive new record,
Altogether Stranger, was written and recorded in the early morning quiet of Los Angeles. Clocking in at just 32 minutes, the 9-song LP covers an unexpected breadth of musical and lyrical terrain—from garage rock nursery rhymes and creation myths to Motorik dance dirges and solitary Omnichord meditations. A brilliant lyricist, Neale has a unique ability to uncover the extraordinary within the mundane, tackling themes of polarity that recur throughout her work—country vs. city, humanity vs. technology, isolation vs. society. This album is her third collaboration with producer Guy Blakeslee who helps expand the tonal palette while staying true to Neale’s commitment to the raw immediacy and hand-made intimacy of home recording.
Reflecting on her lo-fi, D.I.Y. ethos
in her newsletter Consensual Sound, she writes: “I love doing things the wrong way. It’s so rare that we get to do that in life. Even as artists, I notice a slow and steady conformity set in as musicians become legitimate. I do it too. How else would we fit into the font, size & waveform of streaming services. I rebel in minute ways—like refusing to follow a recipe. In the end, I’m just like everyone else: I want to belong.”
Altogether Stranger was conceived after three years of oscillating between rural solitude and urban chaos. Neale explains: “On returning to Los Angeles I felt like an extraterrestrial landing on a dystopian planet so I’m writing from the perspective of a being from another realm witnessing the peculiarities of humanity.” The album finds Neale perched at the piano in a hilltop bungalow, looking down on a rare curve of Sunset Blvd. Here, in this daily ritual of writing, singing, and painting—what David Lynch referred to as
“the Art Life”—she creates the space for her most adventurous work to date.
The album’s centerpiece,
“Tell Me How to Be Here
,” paints a stark and haunting portrait of her return to Los Angeles, transmuting a dissociative unease into a woozy, dreamlike reverie, echoing the Velvet Underground with the distant chime of “Sunday Morning” bells. Neale’s crystalline voice floats above Blakeslee’s ambient tape loops and ghostly, disintegrating Mellotron, evoking the disorientation of waking up in a world that feels so ordinary it becomes strange.
Born and raised in Virginia’s idyllic countryside, Neale brought the high-lonesome sound of her home state with her when she moved to California to pursue music. After years of writing songs on guitar and playing small venues in Los Angeles, she discovered the Omnichord in 2019, which sparked a new creative direction. Working with Blakeslee, she recorded an unpolished collection of songs on a cassette 4-track, which Blakeslee sent to Sub Pop Records in March 2020. The resulting album,
Acquainted With Night, struck a chord with listeners during the bizarre days of early 2021.
Star Eaters Delight (2023), deepened the collaboration with Blakeslee, infusing minimalist soundscapes with a heightened electric energy. The album’s subsequent tour included sold-out shows in Los Angeles, New York City, London, and Paris, multiple trips across Europe, and a West Coast run supporting kindred spirit Weyes Blood. This marked yet another return to Los Angeles.
Indeed, Los Angeles is not just the backdrop of
Altogether Stranger but a lead character. The album’s accompanying film - created with Neale’s faithful Sony Handycam - builds on her ongoing series of self-directed music videos and tells the story of herself as an alien in a suit of mirrors stranded on Earth. Wandering through modern-day LA she finds both absurdity and beauty in our fragile, untenable way of life.
“In the course of writing this record there was one song I could never finish. The main line was, ‘I don’t belong here, I am an altogether stranger.’ I meant ‘stranger’ as a noun, not an adjective. Even though I abandoned the song, the lost chorus stuck with me & became the unspoken motif of the record,” says Neale. Over the long year it took to write
Altogether Stranger, she vacillated between childlike optimism and existential melancholy. While she may not have been able to reconcile these opposing states, the attempt led to an ambitious breakthrough for this singular, self-sufficient artist.
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Lael Neale
Altogether Stranger 1. Wild Waters
2. All Good Things Will Come To Pass
3. Down On The Freeway
4. Sleep Through The Long Night
5. Come On
6. Tell Me How To Be Here
7. New Ages
8. All Is Never Lost
9. There From Here
Today, musician and actress Suki Waterhouse is sharing “Dream Woman,” a mesmeric new ballad available today worldwide on Sub Pop. The single was composed by Suki, Jules Apollinaire, and Natalie Findlay, written by Suki and Findlay, and produced by Apollinaire. The official video for “Dream Woman” is directed by Imogen Waterhouse with Madeleine Jean Waterhouse as director of photography.
Suki Waterhouse also just sold out an intimate three-night residency series at the world-famous The Roxy Theatre in Los Angeles, Monday, March 3rd through March 5th, 2025, where fans can expect to hear “Dream Woman” live for the first time.
The announcement of this new residency follows Suki’s headlining 2024 North American tour in support of Memoir of a Sparklemuffin, her acclaimed 2024 sophomore album for Sub Pop. The wildly successful sold-out tour, which included a stop at The Greek Theatre in LA in October, saw her perform over 30 shows. Additionally, last year, Suki opened for one of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour stops in London.
Suki has also scheduled international festival appearances for the Spring and Summer of 2025, which include the Coca-Cola Sips & Sounds Music Festival in Austin, TX, Kilby Court Block Party in Salt Lake City, UT, Lowlands Festival in Biddinghuizen, The Netherlands, Cabaret Vert Music Festival and Rock En Seine in France, Leeds and Reading Festivals in the UK, and the Super Bloom Festival in Munich, Germany. Please find a complete list of live performances below.
Mon. Mar. 03 - Los Angeles, CA - The Roxy
Tue. Mar. 04 - Los Angeles, CA - The Roxy
Wed. Mar. 05 - Los Angeles, CA - The Roxy
Fri. Mar. 07 - Austin, TX - Coca-Cola Sips & Sounds Festival
Fri. May 18 - Salt Lake City, UT - Kilby Court Block Party
Fri. Aug. 15- Sun. Aug. 17 - Biddinghuizen, NL - Lowlands Festival
Fri. Aug. 15 - Charleville-Mézières, FR - Cabaret Vert Music Festival
Wed. Aug. 20 - Paris, FR - Rock En Seine Festival
Fri. Aug. 22 - Leeds, UK - Leeds Festival
Sun. Aug. 24 - Reading, UK - Reading Festivals
Sat. Aug. 30 - Sun. Aug. 31 - Munich, DE - Super Bloom Festival
For updated information on ticket sales and live dates, please visit sukiwaterhouse.tv.
Memoir of a Sparklemuffin is “a sprawling 18-track release that never outstays its welcome and features plenty of shining moments” (Associated Press). The album, which features the Top 10 AAA radio single “Supersad” and Suki’s masterful video for “Model, Actress, Whatever,” along with highlights “To Love,” “OMG,” “My Fun,” and ‘Faded,” is available worldwide from Sub Pop.
The platinum-certified songstress asserts herself as a versatile, vibrant, and vital presence on Memoir of a Sparklemuffin. She brought this body of work to life with the album’s Executive Producer, Eli Hirsch, as well as Jonathan Rado (Weyes Blood, Father John Misty, Beyonce), Brad Cook (Bon Iver, War on Drugs, Snail Mail), Greg Gonzalez (Cigarettes After Sex), Rick Nowels (James Blake, Lana del Rey), and Natalie Findlay and Jules Apollinaire of the band Ttrruuces (with whom she co-wrote “Good Looking”).
All Music says Memoir of a Sparklemuffin is “A dramatic, double-length sophomore LP that puts the musician/actress in the company of artists like Lana Del Rey and Angel Olsen” (4 Stars). The Line of Best Fit says, “Waterhouse offers an immersive journey through the corners of her mind. With stylings reminiscent of Lana Del Rey and Wolf Alice, it’s a messy yet beautiful array of diary-like confessions that weave between cutting balladry and defiant pop-rock.”
The praise for Memoir of a Sparklemuffin also led to Suki’s late-night TV debut performance of “Model, Actress, Whatever” on Jimmy Kimmel Live in October, and more recently, an appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show, with a rousing performance of “My Fun.”
Memoir of a Sparklemuffin is available on CD/2xLP/All DSPs from Suki’s Official Merch Store, Sub Pop Mega Mart in North America, Mega Mart 2 in the UK/EU, your local record store, and all DSPs.
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Sub Pop Records is extremely proud to announce the return (for our 19th year!) of the Sub Pop Loser Scholarship. Further details on the scholarship are below, and even further below is some clarification on what we mean with all this “Loser” business.
Sub Pop Records is offering a grand total of $18,000 in college scholarship money to three eligible high school seniors. There are three scholarships—each for $6,000! As longtime, proud losers ourselves, we’re exceedingly happy to be able, in some small way, to help further the education of art-enthused misfits from the NW. Individuals from all cultures and communities are encouraged to apply. Applicants must be residents of Washington or Oregon and graduating seniors on the way to full-time enrollment at an accredited university or college. We are looking for applicants who are involved and/or interested in music and/or creative media and arts in some way. However, you do not need to be pursuing an education in the arts.
To apply: you must submit an essay, one page or less, using any combination of the following questions as a guide (or write something completely your own, be inspired and creative!). Please list the school you are graduating from and the school you plan to attend in the fall at the top of your essay along with your contact information.
- What are you doing in the arts/music field in your community?
- What does being a Sub Pop ‘Loser’ mean to you?
- What are your influences and/or who inspired you to become involved in the arts?
- Describe your biggest failure and explain how it has brought you closer to your goal(s).
- Discuss a special attribute or accomplishment that sets you apart.
- How has your family or community background affected the way you see the world?
- Why should you be the Loser winner?
Applicants are strongly (!) encouraged to send digital links and/or provide hard copies of their artwork, photos of community involvement, radio show links, videos, etc., along with their essay (we have never had a winner who submitted only an essay w/no extras). However, please be aware that Sub Pop will not return any of this material, so please don’t send originals. Sub Pop will give equal opportunity to all applicants who fit the criteria outlined above.
The deadline for applications is Tuesday, March 18th, 2025.
Please send all submissions and attachments to scholarship@subpop.com by Tuesday, March 18th. We will announce the scholarship winners during the first week of April.
What we talk about when we talk about “Loser.”
Here at Sub Pop Records, we use the word “loser” a lot. You may have noticed. We’ve printed it on things we sell (hats, shirts, stickers, mugs, and more!), we call the first, colored-vinyl, limited-edition pressings of the records we release the “Loser Edition,” and every year since 2007 ish we’ve awarded tuition money to college-bound NW high school students through the “Sub Pop Loser Scholarship.” And, it’s possible we take for granted that you guys catch our drift and understand what we mean when we’re all “loser this,” and “loser that.” So! The following…
Sub Pop’s use of the word “loser” goes back to the foundation of the label and is meant as a celebration of unabashedly being ourselves without conforming to any preconceived ideas of “normal.” To be a loser is central to the very idea of underground art and culture - all of it happening and thriving outside of the mainstream, and not necessarily looking for a way in. Bruce Pavitt’s “New Pop Manifesto” in the 1st issue of Subterranean Pop included, “The important thing to remember is this: the most intense music, the most original ideas… are coming out of scenes you don’t even know exist… Only by supporting new ideas by local artists, bands, and record labels can the U.S. expect any kind of dynamic social/cultural change…” And, since 2007 or so, with the Loser Scholarship, we’ve been adding students to that list and putting our (or our co-founder, big boss, and biggest loser ever, Jonathan Poneman’s…) money where our mouth is. Sub Pop Records strives to bring attention to music and art from the fringes that might otherwise remain marginalized. And, in that same spirit, through our annual Loser Scholarship, we’re looking for art-enthused misfits in NW high schools, losers like us, to help them pay for college. We stand proudly with and support the misfits, weirdos, and losers because we believe that when we’re able to proudly be nothing other than our true selves, we have the ability to make the world stronger, smarter, and better.
So, good luck, Losers!
Again, please send all submissions and attachments to scholarship@subpop.com by Tuesday, March 18th.
Today, February 13th, Bully (aka Alicia Bognanno) has released a reworked version of her stand-out single, “Atom Bomb - Electric Version.” Initially released a year ago in Feb. 2024, this newly retooled single was a fan favorite at her live performances throughout last year.
Bognanno shares, “I think that if a song is written well enough at its core, it should be able to translate a similar emotion regardless of its form. I wanted to test that theory with Atom Bomb. Releasing a solo piano song for the first time and playing it live 10 years into my career to a room full of strangers falling silent without request resurrects a sense of boundlessness in me that reinstates what I try to tell myself anytime I find myself fearful of stepping outside of the box people expect to remain in, and that is - if I really want to grow I should stop fearing what I don’t know. I still have nights where my mind goes blank from performance anxiety, and I have to pause mid-song to regain my composure, but even when I feel like I couldn’t have fallen apart more on stage, I still can recognize that I survived and that it’s okay. I played and mixed all of this version of Atom Bomb in my room except for drums which were recorded and played by JT Daly. Coming from an analog background, it feels good to release something that I know isn’t autotuned or on a grid; it’s genuine and imperfect in a way that I feel suits the song best. Whether or not it translates well is subjective, but regardless, I was fulfilled by the process and experimentation of it all.”
Spending most of last year on the road touring to support her 2023 release, Lucky For You, Bully opened SOLD-OUT shows for Suki Waterhouse and Grouplove. She was also featured on the standalone Blondshell single “Docket.” She’s currently hard at work writing her new album. Bully has a headline show confirmed at Friday Cheers in Richmond, VA, on May 9th.
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