We
would like to extend a sincere thank you to all of this year’s
applicants for the Sub Pop Loser Scholarship. The breadth of qualified
applicants this year gave us quite an inspiring glimpse into the minds
of many of the freakiest high school Loser brains in the Pacific Northwest.
Every year we get the privilege to be inspired by our applicants and
every year we still manage to get blown away by how many awesome young
people are waving their freak flags high and fighting the good fight
here in our little corner of the U.S.A. GOOD JOB LOSERS, you win again!
This year’s best Sub Pop Losers are…
Noah Philips-Reardon –$7,000
Noah
inspired us all with her heart and dedication to promoting a more
inclusive, productive, and inspred all ages music community here in
Seattle. Her work interning with STG, EMP, Vera Project, Sasquatch and
various other local organizations showed us how involved a young person
can be in the music community. The blog she runs, showed us a self-driven
spirit that looked to promote up and coming artists. The reporting she
did on all ages music for KUOW showed us a high school perspective on a
Seattle scene, that mainly caters to
adults, leaving young people wanting more. She is off to USC to study
the music industry and likely one day take all of our jobs.
For
the first time in the history of the Loser Scholarship, we could not
decide between the second and third spot. After much discussion,
comparison, and debate, we decided to split the remaining money evenly
between the two.
Michael Erickson–$4,000
Michael
strikes us as a very very productive young man, a real go getter.
Reminding us of a young Dntel or The Album Leaf, his band WMD has tons
of material ranging from 8 bit chiptune loop mashups to deep almost
orchestral soundscapes that are really great. The ability to use
technology to create tons of beautiful music that has caught
international acclaim while still in high school is super impressive
stuff. When we found out about Michael’s film scores, volunteer efforts,
strong work ethic and collegiate ambitions we became smitten. Check out
http://wmdchiptune.bandcamp.com/album/sophrosyne for more. Jimmy Lavelle and Jimmy Tamborello have some competition coming their way from this kid.
Isaac
is a music nerd. He seems to be in five to ten different bands that all
sound totally different. His drumming is both technically sound and
innovative. Rock bands, jazz bands, marching bands, prog bands, funk
bands, he drums for all of them. We really appreciate how well rounded
Isaac is while still seeming to be a perfectly wonderful Loser. The
focus on his craft and work ethic that Isaac displays ought to get him a
leg up in his college music studies at Loyola University in New Orleans. To say we were impressed with Isaac would be an understatement.
Sub Pop will release Subjective Concepts, the full-length debut by Strange Wilds, on CD/LP/DL worldwide on Friday July 24th. The album, featuring the highlights “Pronoia,” “Disdain,” and “Egophillia,” was
recorded & produced by the band and Jackson Long at Robert Lang
Studios, mixed by Long at Hear Me Shimmer, and mastered at RFI, all
located in Seattle, Washington. Subjective Concepts follows the band’s Wet EP on Inimical Records (2014), and “Standing” 7” single (2015), also available now from Sub Pop.
Stereogum premiered Subjective Concepts lead single “Pronoia,” and had this to say: “First
single “Pronoia” 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 (see April 28th premiere).”
Preorders for Strange Wilds’ Subjective Concepts are now available from Sub Pop Mega Mart, iTunes, Amazon and Bandcamp. All customers who pre-order the LP version of Subjective Concepts from megamart.subpop.com will
receive the limited “Loser Edition” on white vinyl, with a
limited-edition poster. There will also be a new T-shirt design
available individually and as part of a bundle with the new record.
About Strange Wilds:
Strange Wilds is a musical power-trio from Olympia, Washington.
There are three members: Allen, who plays drums; Sean, who plays bass;
and Steven, who sings and plays the guitar. There is also a freight
train, several buzzsaws, a banshee, and some heavy, heavy Pacific
doom-and-gloom up in the mix.
The group formed in 2012, when Steven met Sean while Sean’s band from
Boise was playing a gig in a house where Steven lived. They became
friends, and several months later Steven called Sean, who had just
relocated to Olympia for college, to form the band. They were called
Wet, and gigged around the West Coast as a four-piece. Allen was added
as a full-time member in 2014 after a line-up change, and the band
changed its name to Strange Wilds
to release a 4-song EP and tour immediately. Sub Pop came calling, and
signed the band last fall. The band is now set to release its
full-length debut, Subjective Concepts, this summer.
Strange Wilds slays with the hellish fury of the Northwest hardcore scene’s best, the heavenly scuzz of a Bleach-era
Nirvana, and the purgatorial punishment of Touch & Go post-rock
meets Devo’s de-evolution machine. The 11 songs here bleed with the
hybrid DNA of Seattle’s past and future, disparate scenes fused together
with sneering menace and intelligent fury in equal shares (read more at Sub Pop).
Strange Wilds
Subjective Concepts
Tracklisting:
1. Pronoia
2. Starved For
3. Autothysis
4. Don’t Have To
5. Egophillia
6. Oneirophobe
7. Disdain
8. Pareidolia
9. Terrible
10. Lost and Found
11. Outercourse
You can now listen to Daughn Gibson’s “It Wants Everything,” a new offering to from Carnation, his forthcoming album. The Line Of Best Fit
says of the track, “It’s a slinky, sizzling piece of Southern Gothic
cowboy-pop: whiskey-soaked guitars slither through rattlesnake rhythms
and Gibson’s inimitable baritone croon - imagine if Ian Curtis was
raised in Louisiana. It’s a subtle track, never wavering into
over-cooked pastiche, instead slowly bubbling up and over the pan…
although overtly sinister, Gibson’s new single is indescribably erotic.
This is Carnation’s bad boy, dressed in leather and smouldering in your ears (see song premiere April 30th).”
Daughn Gibson’s third record, Carnation, is out June 2nd on your (presumably) favorite Seattle record label, Sub Pop. Pre-order here.
