I’m writing to you with a heavy heart, as I must announce that this will be my final installment of the No Fly List blog. By the time you read this, I will be moving my life from Seattle, Washington, to New Orleans, Louisiana. Sometimes I think only a real idiot would leave behind a Corporate Associate position at Sub Pop Records, but the siren call of zydeco and drum buddies is too strong for me to resist.
I’ve been humbled by the many accolades that the No Fly List has received under my stewardship, including “The Only Airport Record Store Blog,” “Most Punctual Monthly Column on SubPop.Com,” and “Best Display of Crass Marketing Disguised as Blogging.” However, as I move on from my Internet throne, the No Fly List will live on, and I am excited to see what other folks from the airport store do with this blog. So stay tuned and get your eyeballs ready for some #fresh #original #authentic #curated #airportstore #blog #content next month.
I would like to use my last blog to air some final grievances and address all my personal vendettas list some of the things I will miss about working at the Sub Pop Airport store.
-The way that ’Sub Pop’ rolls off the tongues of people who are saying it for the first time in their lives. Sometimes their inflection drags on the “B,” and then emphasizes the second vowel so much it turns into an onomatopoeia, making a noise like “subbbbb POP.” For others, it’s more of a questioning, high rising intonation (a.k.a., that thing? Where all your sentences? Sound like questions?) which sounds like “Sup? Pod?”
-The people who desperately want to refold a stack of shirts that they’ve messed up, but just end up making it look worse and harder to fix. I usually try to say something like “I’m a professional shirt folder, you can mess up all the shirts you want, please don’t feel obligated to refold them.” But they try to be helpful anyway, and I love them dearly for this.
-The mystery person(s) that tried to steal our polaroid of (two members of) The 1975, and made us use a bunch of staples to keep it attached to the wall:
-The following people who were gracious enough to let me fumble my way around photographing them for our store’s polaroid wall: Elvis Costello, Nardwuar, Tom Scharpling, Jon Wurster, Jonathan Meiburg, and David Hinds.
-The following people who I met but was not able to photograph at the store, for a litany of reasons, but all seemed very nice: Dan Boeckner, Jemaine Clement, Randy Johnson, Corinne Bailey Rae, Jason Schwartzman, Noel Gallagher, John Curley, and Eric Kretz.
-Adults who put on our child’s-size-only bucket hats. I usually don’t have the heart to burst their bubble, when I know they’re only trying to copy their favorite band’s look.
-The man who saw our “Spanning the Globe for Profit” shirt, and with venom in his eyes, asked me if our company was like Wal-Mart or Halliburton. When I told him we are a medium-sized independent record label with a cheeky sense of humor, he countered with “Well, but do you make the world a better place?” and stormed off before I could launch into some of the things that have made me incredibly proud to work here. (Just kidding, I won’t miss that asshole at all.)
-Everyone who makes Sub Pop the best place to work. This includes my fellow coworkers, the many fans who continue to be psyched to see Sub Pop at the airport, the many more people who have no idea what the hell Sub Pop is (but are open and enthused to learn more about it), and if you’re reading this, YOU.
This past Friday, Beach House appeared on Charlie Rose on PBS. The group sat for an in-depth interview and performed “Rough Song” and “The Traveller” from their latest release Thank Your Lucky Stars. In case you missed it, you can now watch here.
Beach House’s previously announced tour schedule in support of Thank Your Lucky Stars and Depression Cherry is underway with a show tonight, Tuesday, August 9th in Spokane at Knitting Factory and runs through November 4th-6th in Austin at Sound on Sound Festival. Highlights for the trek include: a club and theatre tour August 8th-26th; FYF in Los Angeles on August 28th; And Hopscotch Music Festival in Raleigh on September 9th. Please find a full list of tour dates below.
Beach House recently delivered an official video for “The Traveller,” from Thank Your Lucky Stars. The new visual was directed by Jennifer Juniper Stratford can be viewed right here.
Tour Dates + Ticket Links Aug. 09 - Spokane, Spokane, WA - Knitting Factory* Aug. 10 - Missoula, MT - Wilma Theater* Aug. 12 - Sioux Falls, ID - The District* Aug. 13 - Eau Claire, WI - Eaux Claires Music Festival Aug. 16 - Indianapolis, IN - Deluxe @ Old National Centre* Aug. 17 - Louisville, KY - Headliner’s Music Hall* Aug. 19 - Columbia, MO - Blue Note* Aug. 20 - Kansas City, MO - Uptown Theater* Aug. 22 - Denver, CO - Ogden Theater* Aug. 24 - Las Vegas, NV - House of Blues* Aug. 26 - Los Angeles, CA - Theater at Ace Hotel* Aug. 28 - Los Angeles, CA - FYF Fest Sep. 09 - Raleigh, NC - Hopscotch Music Festival Nov. 04 - Austin, TX - Sound On Sound Festival Nov. 05 - Austin, TX - Sound On Sound Festival Nov. 06 - Austin, TX - Sound On Sound Festival *w/ Entrance
Here for your listening pleasure is “Alarms,” the latest offering from GOAT’s forthcoming longplayer, Requiem (out October 7th). “Alarms” highlights the folk influence that runs through Requiem, with acoustic guitars and hand-percussion instruments driving the song, while retaining the hypnotic vocals and fuzz-drenched guitar leads the band is known for.
Requiem finds GOAT focusing more on their subdued, bucolic ritualism than psilocybin freakouts, with a pronounced folk-rock influence pervading the album. But GOAT hasn’t foregone their fiery charms—tracks like “All-Seeing Eye” and “Goatfuzz” conjure the sultry pulsations that ensnared us on 2012’s World Music and 2014’s Commune.
Requiem will be available in North America on CD / 2xLP / DL / CASS on October 7th, 2016. (via Stranded Rekords in Nordic countries, and Rocket Recordings in the rest of the world.) North American fans can (and should) preorder* the new record here.
*LP pre-orders through the Sub Pop Mega Mart and independent record stores will receive the limited Loser Edition on translucent red vinyl with black streaks (as pictured above) while supplies last.
GOAT recently announced some European shows, with more dates to follow. Current performance schedule is as follows:
Clipping just dropped their official video for “Air ‘Em Out,” another stellar track off their upcoming Sci-Fi/dystopian concept album Splendor & Misery (outSeptember 9th via Sub Pop and Deathbomb Arc.
Lopez Estrada says of the clip, “I met with clipping a few months ago to talk about potential ideas for this video and Jonathan half jokingly said that we should put Daveed in zero gravity. I emailed them back a few days later saying “I know you were kidding, but what if we do?” We then embarked on a wonderful creative journey of scrappy visual effect techniques and ended up with our own janky version of zero gravity, which turned up to be a pretty cool thing, I believe.”
Splendor & Misery is led by the highlights “Baby Don’t Sleep,” “A Better Place,” and the aforementioned “Air ‘Em Out,”and is now available for preorder on CD/LP/DL/CASS from Sub Pop [here] and Deathbomb Arc [here]. Preorders through Sub Pop Mega Mart and independent retailers near you will receive the Loser edition - pictured above - on crystal clear vinyl while supplies last.
Additionally, Wriggle, the group’s recent surprise EP, is also available [right over here].
Clipping’s current tour schedule in support of Wriggle and Splendor & Misery includes: A hometown release show on September 8th in Los Angeles at Highways Performance Space (with Busdriver and Pedestrian Deposit); September 11th at the San Francisco Electronic Music Festival; And September 30th in Los Angeles at the Smell. More dates will be announced soon, and the current schedule is below.
[Photo Credit: Sarah Sitkin]
Tour Dates + Ticket Links Sep. 08 - Los Angeles, CA - Highways Performance Space* Sep. 11 - San Francisco, CA - San Francisco Electronic Music Festival Sep. 30 - Los Angeles, CA - The Smell (Benefit Show)** * w/ Busdriver, Pedestrian Deposit ** w/ The Mae Shi
We have a fond appreciation for the ideafulness of Altamont Apparel when it comes to music, art, and skateboarding. Thus, it seemed like a natural pairing for Sub Pop and Altamont to combine forces for this limited edition capsule collection. We couldn’t be prouder to share (and for you to buy) these new items.
Limited Edition Sub Pop x Altamont Logo Patch Flannel. [None more grunge.]
Founded in 2006 and rooted in the Los Angeles skate industry, Altamont has a long history of collaborating with the art & music worlds. Sub Pop family members No Age, Rick Froberg of the Obits, Tim Kerr, and Mogwai have all partnered with Altamont to bring their unique visions to life.
For Fall 2016 we worked with Altamont to create a collection consisting of 2 printed tees, a flannel shirt, denim jacket, and a beanie.
Take a peek at this short video wherein our very own art director extraordinaire, Sasha Barr, talks about at the record label, the history of Sub Pop music in skate videos and how the collaboration with Altamont came to be realized.
